#// people really need to stop expecting sasuke to be as powerful as other members of his clan

[every-sasuke-uchiha]

[synergysilhouette]

Been on a Naruto streak lately, and I wanted to list some changes I'd have made to Sakura Haruno's character, mostly based on personal preferences, but partially from "what ifs" I've seen online with people speculating aspects of her growth. Namely:

Tone down her aggressiveness towards Naruto. I don't mind if she occasionally blew up at him for not taking things seriously or being disrespectful, but keep the physical abuse to a minimum.

Flesh out her relationship with Sasuke. While I was happy for her, the ship felt forced on Sasuke's part, as they have random intimate moments in the series that feel like they come from almost nowhere. I could imagine her crush starts out shallow at first, and then she becomes a good friend who just listens if he ever has to verbally state his feelings--serving as a counterpart to Naruto, who he uses to physically express his feelings. Eventually the crush turns to friendship which turns to love. During the interim, you can see her feelings shift and change, possibly considering returning Lee and Naruto's affections at different points before she realizes Sasuke is more than a crush (this would be especially apparent after she cuts her hair, symbolically untethering herself from her obsession since she heard a rumor that Sasuke likes girls with long hair). Make Sasuke see her as someone just as important as Naruto because of her love and empathy for him. And honestly, I'd be fine if she offered to join him at the end of the rescue mission, playing the lovesick girl, and Orochimaru lets her stay to distract Sasuke, sending Kabuto to kill her, but she incapacitates him as Sasuke absorbs Orochimaru, and they form Hebe together, with Sasuke planning to use Sakura as an aid if he needs help with dispelling Itachi's genjutsu. She's the only one he trusts to prevent him from being re-traumatized.

Make her a stronger fighter and give her more opportunities to do more. Her fight with Ino, the sound ninja, Gaara, and approaching Sasuke were some of the times when we really could've seen her let loose. It'd be cool to see her train with Kurenai to make use of her genjutsu potential, which would also make her go well with Sasuke, both as a team member and a rival/enemy. She could've tried to stop him before he went to join Orochimaru (either at the gate or joining Naruto in battle). I'd also be fine with a draw between her and Ino at the Chunin Exams, but if she won, maybe we could've seen her face Dosu (who would fight her before he died), or possibly Shino or Shikamaru (seeing as Kankuro forfeited anyway, he could've been the one slated to fight Dosu; Temari could've gone a similar route).

Give us more details into her family/background. Her parents (only seen in an anime movie) thinking she can't make it as a ninja is PERFECT. They'd show up during the Chunin Exam arc and essentially try to make Sakura reconsider because they think she's not strong enough, making her push herself to be stronger. Plus it'd be cool if she had a family jutsu similar to Ino-Shika-Cho and the Uchiha clan. Maybe her power could involve an Inner Sakura genjutsu, making her and Ino's fight even better. Her family having no expectations of her makes her a good foil to other prodigy characters who come from renowned families. In fact, she'd be a great contrast to her team, being the only one to grow up with both of her parents up to this age. This could be used to make her represent the family that Team 7 makes while the other members represent what she stands to lose if she became a kunoichi.

[captnjacksparrow]

if you had to rank your fav naruto characters how would it go? love your blog btw!!

Hmmm... Complicated ask, anon.😂

[My personal life would be splashed here and there. Please bear with me]

Before 5 months, if you asked me about Naruto, my response would be ‘What the fuck is that?’. I absolutely had no idea such a treasure existed. For me, it started out like a blockbuster movie for the sheer variety of fights and the resulting emotions it brought within me. 

However, there was a point I stopped and thought, ‘Wait a fucking second. This resembles my family dynamics. This person is speaking the exact same lines I spoke to my parents few years ago. This person’s situation resembles mine. Did this creator a time traveler?’. Naruto is the only piece of media that gave me such feel. Am not even exaggerating, believe me. 

I really liked so many characters very much but am going to try my best to list just 10. 

The only characters I hate in this series are Danzo, Sakura and Hinata in no particular order. Meaning, I absolutely cannot see any positives in them. They are crassy, cringey and completely detestable.

FAVOURITE NARUTO CHARACTERS

10. Killer Bee

HaHaHa :-) Just seeing this character makes me smile and light-hearted.

It’s a pity that he is the only character who don’t belong to Konoha in my Top 10 rankings who was developed well apart from Gaara.

I loved him from Frame 1 onwards and I sincerely wished Team Taka should be packed up with their ass beaten up mercilessly. And that’s what happened.

Despite being a Jinchurikki, he never bothered to mind his surroundings and filled his heart with love from his over protective Brother alone was nice to watch.

He makes a great Tag Partner with Naruto next to Sasuke. No doubt.

The way Killer Bee treated Team Taka like some annoying flies and his cool and don’t care attitude was top notch. It’s not just with Sasuke, Bee treated Naruto with the same IDGAF attitude at first.

Best Moments:

Lariat punch to Sasuke (TBH, Sasuke deserved it. LOL)

Blasted off every member of Team Taka like a doll

His entire conversation and fight sequence with Kisame (Their banters and exchanges are way too hilarious)

His dynamics with his Elder Brother (God!!!! Whenever Raikage gives him an Iron Claw.... What a hilarious duo!!!!)

9. Hatake Kakashi

Kakashi was my most favourite character when I started the series for simply being ultra-cool with the way he conducted the Bell-Test and taught a valuable lesson for those bratty kids in Team 7 called ‘Team Work’. 

Best Moments:

Kakashi vs Obito Hand-to-Hand Combat (the best in the series)

Kakashi in the Gaara retrieval arc (His fight with Itachi & Deidara gave a good start to the shippuden series. His Mangekyou reveal was surprising).

Kakashi & Guy teaming up with Naruto to reveal Obito in a twisty and tragic way. (Kakashi couldn’t handle the truth at all and neither did I)

Kakashi vs Zabuza (That’s when I realized that the series was getting real serious)

8. Jiraiya

Jiraiya was my next favourite to Kakashi during my Part 1 days. His open perversion and his entire dynamics with Naruto was one of the best things during the Chunin Exams arc. Taught Naruto about Chakra Control and about the way of a shinobi by just enduring. Naruto follows this even today.

Best Moments: 

Kuchiyose No Jutsu training (Man, I never expected him to push Naruto off the cliff)

Rasengan Training (One of the best arcs in part 1 and it was soo satisfying to see Naruto punching his first Rasengan on Kabuto, He also acted like a quasi parent to Naruto... heartwarming)

Jiraiya Vs Six paths of Pain ( 6 vs 1 was always doomed but still he had the guts of a shinobi and plunged ahead)

7. Uchiha Madara

Geez. What is there to not like him?? 

Everything he did was absolutely wrong ever since he broke up with Hashirama in a romantic way much similar to how couples break up in my country.

I am an Uchiha. You are a Senju. I wish it had been different.

This roughly translates to how 75% of lovers break up and marry someone else from their own clan in my state. (Duh!!!)

I am from XXX clan, you are from XXX clan. So we can’t love each other and my parents won’t accept this relationship. So let’s break up.

Alright, my first shipping couple in this series is HashiMada for this exact reason. (I started shipping SNS only after episode 478). 

Just like Hashirama, Madara had an extensive build up right from episode 1 where Kurama compares Sasuke with Madara. And flashbacks from Itachi and Tobi spiked my curiosity and I wanted to see his face so badly ever since.

But the moment he landed gracefully like a diva in episode 321.... Woaahhhh!!!! He literally danced in the battlefield and ate up 100′s of guys with just a fucking Sharingan. 

Best Moments:

Going Shirtless before 1000′s of people with Hashirama’s face, no less (Well, I literally went heart-eyed for 5 minutes. Sorry Sasuke, your ancester was way much sexier than you in the Orochimaru hideout and beats you by a million points).

Screaming Hashirama’s name like a cockatoo for 300 times even till the very end (Sorry Naruto, your obsession towards Sasuke for about 6 arcs is pale in comparison to Madara’s obsession which was established in just 6 or 7 episodes.)

I have 25 clones now. Do you want me to put Susanoo or not? You can’t answer. The answer is yes. (Man, his I don’t give a fuck attitude is just an alien level thing)

Openly admitting Only Hashirama Can Beat Me (Say what you will about Sasuke, Madara has no qualms about accepting his inferiority in terms of power. An absolute Straight Forward diva-queen)

Awakening Sharingan for breaking up with his ‘friend’ rather than for his 3 dead brothers. (Geez, Poor Soul. He is the forefather of a Romantic Uchiha. That romantic blood still flows in Sasuke)

6. Senju Hashirama

Man, I would have placed him somewhere in top 5 if only he was introduced early or had more scenes. I started watching Naruto only because of this very name. There is a local podcaster in my state who goes under the alias of Senju Hashirama and in his podcasts, he hinted about this character and how he was inspired by his ideals. I just googled and saw that this character belonged to Naruto series and I considered watching it. Here I am, making analysis on that very series.

There was this excellent build up for him right when we got introduced to Captain Yamato. He was constantly referred in flashbacks from Itachi and Tobi especially.

But the moment he was reanimated again..... Geez..... It was an hilarious ride all throughout. Out of all the flashbacks we got from this series, Founders Era flashback was my absolute favourite.

From where I come from, we are still under the stupid influence of Clan infrastructure and are not growing up in many aspects like people in western countries do. For me, I hope, one day, someone like Senju Hashirama appears in our state and change our lives for better by uniting all clans as one and treats everyone equally without the shitty favouritism for their own children, friends, parents, siblings.

That’s why this dialogue struck a thunder in my heart

“Be they a friend.... Be they a sibling.... Be it even my own child. I will not forgive anyone who threatens the village.”

Because the clan leaders in our place are absolutely selfish, trash bastards who serves their own needs with no regards for other people from other clans. For a person like me, Hashirama is not just a fictional hero, he is someone who many aspires to become. No wonder that podcaster chose this name as his alias.

He rightfully deserved the title ‘God of Shinobi’. And no one can surpass him, not even Naruto.

Best Moments:

Wood Style vs Eternal Mangekyou sharingan + Kurama powered Madara (He just beats Madara’s ass by a wide margin. This shows he was a whole fucking different level than Naruto + Sasuke combined. In terms of strength, nobody surpassed him YET. Sorry Naruto and Sasuke, you guys are no match even now with your Rinnegan and Kurama lost forever).

His entire banters with Madara (ROFLLLL. Without him, it would have been just another lifeless arc.)

5. Senju Tobirama

Hmmm, let me tell you something about him.

First off, he is not a racist or fascist as many hardcore Sasuke fanatics claims. He is one of the best hokages according to me. He is abso-fucking-lutely practical, rational, logical and holds no grudge. And Sasuke resembles Tobirama with all these characteristics as compared to soft and naive Naruto. If only he had more screen time, he would be easily in my top 3. 

Just because he didn’t lick the boots of Uchiha (many people’s favorite clan or may I say the only clan that was given any shit about in this series), it doesn’t make him a racist or fascist.

No, he never persecuted the Uchihas. Danzo, the crass bastard, driven off the Uchihas only after the Kyuubi incident. It was explicitly mentioned in the databook and was clearly explained in the series. 

He literally gave the highest position in the village for the entire clan. That is, a military power inside a military village. ‘Shinobi who can cause crimes can only be stopped by shinobi who are even better’. In my state, if a powerful clan decided to persecute another clan, they simply start by cutting off basic amenities like Water and Electricity. Compared to what I’ve seen, Tobirama did nothing but given the Uchihas, the highest position in their village. 

Orochimaru only said giving such a power made them conceited (arrogant). Tobirama had a trusted subordinate called Kagami, an Uchiha in his team. He suggested Kabuto to help Sasuke and even teleported him on his request. He even spited Madara for killing Sasuke, an Uchiha. He openly claimed Uchiha clan exceeds Senju in terms of Love. He openly appreciated Itachi and Kagami as someone who sees beyond their clan. In what world, would a racist or fascist do all this for a clan he hates??? 

Yes, he was cautious of Sasuke at first because he saw him with Orochimaru and even went full-on battle mode because of Sasuke’s carefree threat to destroy the village. But once he decided to go to the battlefield to fight Madara, he simply forgot everything that happened before and started to work with him as a comrade, and even helped him twice. In which world, a racist or fascist behave this way?

Believe me, a person like me who was grown with these clan politics surely can say who is a fascist. He was not. He was just cautious of them because of their ability to attain superpowers with just emotions alone. Let me ask you all this, ‘Would you be okay with people getting crazy powers whenever they are depressed?’. Being cautious is not racism. It really disrespects people who faced real oppression under fascism.

What Madara and Danzo did was a classical example of fascism. 

And No, Izuna didn’t die only because of Tobirama. He died because Madara was too arrogant to instigate war with Senju clan. And this was way before forming Konoha. If Tobirama killed Izuna after the alliance between Uchiha and Senju, I would agree that he was a racist. Izuna lost his life just like any other Uchiha and Senju soldiers in that battlefield. 

Just because he shitted your beloved ‘Sasuke-Kun’ doesn’t mean he is a racist too. Tobirama saw Sasuke along with that scoundrel Orochimaru who once used this very two hokages to destroy the very village they strived hard to create and protect. What will you do, if you were in his place?? Please don’t lie and say ‘I wouldn’t be judgemental’. 

And Imagine you are Tobirama, Sasuke is threatening to commit genocide against the entire village who had no idea about this coup detat instead of going against those old hags. Will you sit quiet as a Hokage?? 

He was the first person to suggest his brother, Itama, that Revenge against Uchihas are futile. All we need is an agreement to make truce. That gave the idea for Hashirama to pursue his dream. And Tobirama was happy to follow that dream and very supportive. 

It’s because of all these reasons I placed him above Senju Hashirama.

Best Moments:

Amazing power display against Sasuke & Co with just an index finger (It was a pleasure to see everyone’s face trembling with mild sweat including Sasuke).

Acted as a decoy to save his young subordinates. (The way he sacrificed his life saying young wills of fire must be protected is just Woow!! I wish his subordinates listened to his words and passed the mantle to the younger ones rather than playing game at such an old age and screwed up many lives. Pfft!!!)

Any time he says ‘Shut Up’ to Hashirama (ROFL)

His absolute ‘I don’t give a fuck’ attitude to Naruto, Sasuke, Hashirama, Minato and Madara (He trolled them all mercilessly and I love it)

4. Senju Tsunade

It hurts me to say that Tsunade is the only female character in my list because every other female characters were written in a much more piss poorly way. Only Konan came close to Tsunade but her role was very short. 

Despite her character’s purpose revolved around another male character (Dan) and a blatant objectification of her breasts, I liked everything about her other than those mentioned above. 

She is the Second Best Hokage who took Konoha right after the destruction made by Orochimaru, excellently handled the aftermath by making friendly relations with Suna (Sand village), provided her best medical support to Konoha in the Pain Arc and successfully handled the fourth Shinobi world war. 

She is such a badass who developed her own original jutsu called Byakugou no Jutsu, which can heal herself. 

She is just way too amazing and it’s a pity that we got very less scenes in Shippuden.

Best Moments:

Took 25+ stabs from Madara’s Susanoo like a piece of cake (Man, I simply couldn’t describe that scene. All the other Kages were shocked and even Madara too)

Lifted her advisors like a cabbage sack (Those fucking old hags deserved it. Those shits should’ve died)

Her index finger flick assault on Naruto (Aww, Naruto was definitely bratty in his first meeting and Tsunade didn’t hold back at all)

Played Orochimaru like a basketball (In that same arc, she fought Orochimaru mercilessly like a devil left and right. Someone who claimed to have surpassed Tsunade never even dared to fight Orochimaru’s student and crying for his attention after just receiving one stab from Madara. Just saying)

3. Uzumaki Naruto

Naruto is the titular character and your emotions evolve along with him. He surely deserves a spot in Top 3. The only reason I didn’t place Naruto even more higher is because he didn’t experience something very important which many characters in this list faced. That is, Losing a loved one before his eyes. Every villain in this series became what they are because they lost someone important before their eyes like Nagato, Obito. (Nope, I don’t count Neji as his loved one). I think this tests the mettle of any character and Naruto failed to experience this. The only person he ever lost was Jiraiya and that too from off-screen. That’s why I felt his journey to his dreams seemed little easier compared to the rest of the characters.

His best block of episodes will always be the part 1 Episode 1, 2, 3. Episode 1 is the character defining episode for Naruto and what he learned there will be applied everywhere till the very end of the series. He learned 3 things

Forgiveness, Empathy and Acceptance

Talk-No-Jutsu

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu

From then on, this boy wins many friends to his side, not only from Konoha but from other villages too and even made them to acknowledge his strength only through his sheer hard work. 

However, there is this person, whose acknowledgement he wants the most.  That person is his most important bond along with Iruka Sensei. He is none other than Sasuke. One day, Sasuke left him alone for some unavoidable reason at the end of part 1 which left a huge scar in him and he vows to bring him back to the place where he belongs. That becomes his ultimate goal rather than becoming an Hokage.

The way he goes to any extent to protect the people he cares about is just simply entertaining to watch.

Every time he makes an heroic entry to save the day was never boring, not once. 

Best Moments:

Sobbing from his heart after hearing Iruka Sensei acknowledging him (It just makes me feel heavy for no reason. The anime team did an awesome job to capture his emotions convincingly)

Awakening Kyuubi Mode for the first time after seeing Sasuke die in his arms (Man, out of all the collective hatred he got from the villagers, this moment affected him a lot speaks volumes)

Punching Neji from the underground to win the Chunin exams (God, I honestly believed Naruto lost but he just surprised us heavily from nowhere. And that failure speech was just pure bliss to watch even today)

Pain Vs Naruto (One of the best arc for Naruto. Because unlike other arcs, where Naruto fought with a team, this arc he was all alone fighting a person with Rinnegan. Be it the exuberant landing from the frogs with a dramatic kabuki music, creating multi-step attacks, coming up with novel solution in that difficult situation, finally ending the conflict without killing the enemy, becoming an hero. Superb journey. The only thing I didn’t like in that arc is some shitty selfish proposal. PUKE!!)

Bearing the burdens of his most important person and die along with him (This boy always shouts he will never die until he becomes an Hokage. But for Sasuke, he was ready to die along with him in order to not leave him alone proves how much he loves him. This shows his emotional maturity rather than shouting at Sasuke like he always did before which never reached his ears. This time it did)

Final Good Bye to Minato (Honestly, I was bawling just like Naruto in that scene no matter how many times I watch it. It started out slow but as he speaks more and more, he simply couldn’t hold back and wept a sea of tears 😭😭😭)

2. Uchiha Sasuke

One of the well written characters in this series, with all the flaws and positive stuffs which makes him more of an Anti-Hero. He always subverts my preformed opinions and never ceased to surprise me.

Despite being aloof and cold, his warmer side will always be exposed towards Naruto. This is evident by many things he had done for Naruto which he don’t have to or no reason to. Starting right from roasting Sakura, offering lunch, asking for tips, enquiring about breakfast, protecting him many times and dying for Naruto. 

Why I placed him above Naruto is because of his unavoidable decision to tread in a complicated dark path primarily due to the trauma he carried and was stirred up again by collective factors such as Orochimaru’s cursed seal, Itachi’s arrival and Naruto’s growth. Compared to Sasuke, Naruto had an easier path because he never saw anyone die before his eyes and hence he don’t carry any trauma which can divert his path.

Even after watching his entire clan and family members murdered before his eyes at an age 8, he managed to pull himself and never snapped out like many other good characters does. But the moment when he found out that Itachi was good all along, he simply couldn’t tolerate the truth and gave himself to Vengeance. Because, he loved his brother more than he hated him all these years. This shows he loved his brother more than his parents. His resolve to destroy Konoha was perfectly understandable. But is it good? Nope. He can kill Danzo and those old hags but killing other people was never justifiable.

But still, his resolve to have his vengeance was diverted by Naruto and weakened by Itachi, at some point. So, he decided to know the truth and when he heard it, he understood the Hokages also sacrificed many precious things to protect this village just like his Brother Itachi. He understood the mistakes of his clan and decided to protect the village which he swore to destroy. [Many Sasuke fanatics think that he succumbed to the Government and Kishi wrote Sasuke to bootlick them. Their idea was to tackle genocide with another genocide. What a stupid idea!!!!]

And No, I don’t consider him trying to kill Sakura, Karin and Kakashi as his bad moments (though I feel bad for Karin). For the simple reason being, he became a monster by losing himself in the darkness who lost the rationality to differentiate friends from foes. Much similar to how Naruto lost himself to Kyuubi’s hatred against Orochimaru and in Pain Arc. It’s so hypocritical to ignore Naruto and accuse Sasuke here. Plus, Sakura had no business to be there otherwise Sasuke would not have tried to kill her. 

But does it mean Sasuke did nothing wrong???

Nope.

He definitely shouldn’t have joined Akatsuki and hunted Killer Bee like an animal. Because, he knew that Tobi was the one who helped Itachi massacre the clan. When fighting Itachi he specifically vowed to kill Madara (Tobi). On top of that, Itachi passed on Amaterasu in his eyes specifically to stay away from Tobi. Why did he ally with him? Plus, Sasuke was one of the few characters who was exposed to the name ‘Akatsuki’ in part 1 itself. He clearly knew that this organization targets Naruto, his closest bond. Why did he join there? This is where the stupid part of Sasuke came out. I was grunting... ‘Oii Where did that clever Sasuke, who faced 1000 soldiers without killing any of them, went??’. 

And his plan for Revolution???? I thought it would be reasonable. But his vision was eerily similar to Danzo’s vision. Grrr..... Danzo also wanted to create his ideal village by destroying the current Hokage. He wanted to unite the Five Village and put himself on top of everyone as evident from the Kage Summit arc. 

I appreciate him that he finally adopted the Will of Fire, by wanting to protect the village at all costs just like Itachi and Hashirama did. But his methods are not very democratic. Plus, he wanted to do it alone. I was screaming at him... ‘Grrr, Sasuke, did you listen to Itachi at all???. He failed because he did everything alone. Why can’t you understand????’ This is also another instance, Sasuke’s stupidity glanced out.

I am happy Naruto knocked some sense into him by telling him not to do it alone but together.

Many fanatics also ask, ‘What did Sasuke do wrong to atone for his sins at the end?’.

I was like ‘Reallly????’

He joined Akatsuki, an organization which terrorized all the 5 villages and he hunted someone like an international criminal.

He spoiled the Kage Summit and attacked Raikage who lost his arm because of him. I know what happened over there is not Sasuke’s fault. But these are the kages who was loved by many people in their own villages. How can the world forget it and simply let him go?

It’s exactly because of all those lovely stuffs he did in Part 1 and all these mistakes he did in Part 2 but willing to correct his mistakes by sharing the burdens of his other half in the end made him more interesting, complicated and exciting and that’s why I love this character.

I also have a personal bias to love this character sooo much because of the character on top of my list.

Best Moments:

Defending Naruto before Sakura (Awww!!! Such a good boy he was. Eventhough I thought he was a typical arrogant K-Drama hero, he just subverted my opinion in that one scene. I always have a thing for people who stands up for someone even though they don’t have to. This is where I started to like Sasuke)

My body moved on its own. (Is there anything that trumps this scene in terms of emotions and love in this series?. This moment is where I understood the depth of Sasuke’s emotions towards Naruto).

What is a Clan? What is a Village? What is a Shinobi? (I was really hoping for Sasuke to question himself something similar to this. Because he was so self-absorbed in his hatred and failed to look outside him ever since he left the village. It was so gratifying that he did that)

Killing Orochimaru (I always thought Sasuke will kill him only after he tries to take over the body. Never imagined that he will strike the snake first)

Killing Danzo (Man, what an amazing battle!!!. It was so gratifying to see such a crass bastard die many times over and over).

His dramatic confession through his monologue (After the mystery of Who is this Tobi, Sasuke’s obsession towards Naruto remained a mystery for me. Why did he listen to Naruto under the bridge? Why did he protected Naruto in the War? I got the answer only after this confession. It was so heartwarming to see this mellow side of Sasuke)

1. Uchiha Itachi

I could write pages about him. The foremost reason I like Itachi and earns the top spot in my rankings is because he shockingly resembled me in many ways. As I already said, I come from a place where clan politics plays a major role and when I see Sasuke’s flashback in part 1, I was simply dumbstruck by such a detailed similarities.

Elder child of the family - ✅

Have an adorable younger sister who loves me more than my parents - ✅

Same age gap (5 years) with my sister as Itachi and Sasuke - ✅

Parents paying total attention on me while ignoring my sister completely - ✅

Parents constantly comparing my achievements with my sister - ✅

A sister who bear hugged me every time I entered the home after returning from my school - ✅

Despite my mom being a teacher, my sister always prefers me to teach her stuffs as she considers me to be way too better than my mom -  ✅

Love my sister more than my parents - ✅

Clan-Obsessed parents - ✅

Used me as a tool for the benefit of the clan - ✅

Sending another person from my clan to spy on me - ✅

Strained relationship with my parents - ✅

Disgusted with my clan - ✅

Most importantly, this dialogue from part 1 episode 129,

Clan? Clan?

Obsessed with the organization, Obsessed with the clan, Obsessed with the name, that’s merely the detestable action that restrict yourself.

I have given up all hope in this worthless clan

Because, people obsess themselves to their clan, a thing so petty, they lose sight of the things that are truly important.

A real change cannot occur under restraints and controls

I confronted my parents with the exact same dialogue (almost 98% similar) in my own native language some years ago. 

I didn’t even know the existence of Naruto series at that time. I was simply shell-shocked by all these similarities with this character. 

And Yes, The moment I heard these dialogues, I knew Itachi, was a good guy, who had a very strong reason for his actions and I instantly knew Sasuke’s revenge will not bear him any happiness. 

It is exactly because of all these striking similarities of myself with Itachi, and my lil’l sister with Sasuke, my family dynamics with the Uchiha family.... I could understand the magnitude of Sasuke’s love towards Itachi. 

And precisely because of that, I could understand Sasuke’s love towards Naruto is not fucking ‘brotherly’ one but something that leans towards Attraction. 

No wonder, Itachi left Sasuke in Naruto’s care. 

Anyways to speak objectively, 

Itachi is an extremely self-sacrificial person whose life is full of pain and miseries but never blames it on the world unlike other Uchiha members like Madara, Obito and Sasuke to an extent.

He did things considering the bigger picture which never benefitted himself in anyway and was willing to go to any extent even at the expense of his own family and his brother’s happiness. That is, Uchiha Clan Massacre and Joining Akatsuki. None of this benefitted him in anyways but he did it anyway, for the village of Konoha. 

His ideals are shockingly similar to Hashirama, Which Sasuke pointed this out and Hashirama acknowledged that Itachi was a better shinobi than he was. ❤️❤️❤️

Now, does this means I support Uchiha clan massacre?

No way. Even Itachi didn’t.

This massacre happened because of the huge clusterfuck from Hiruzen’s incompetence, Danzo’s paranoid arrogance, Uchiha clan’s devious plan to over throw the government by force rather than approaching it in a peaceful way, say, a peace talk or a protest. 

All these people acted on their own self-interest. Itachi and Shisui caught in their whirlpool, bear their burdens and paid for it with their life. Sasuke suffered for it.

But, it’s not the only reason I love this character. It’s because, the moment he decided to massacre everyone, he marked his own death by the hands of his beloved brother. I love people who owns up their mistakes and face the consequences rather than making excuses (even though it’s not entirely his mistake).

Itachi is also the only character in this series who realized his failures on his own without anyone’s interference or Naruto’s Talk-No-Jutsu. 

And he apologized for everything he did to Sasuke.

Again, some hardcore Sasuke fanatics criticize/hate him for torturing their poor ‘Sasuke-Kun’ with his Tsukuyomi. I was like ‘Hmmm...What?’. 

First off, Itachi apologized to Sasuke for not thinking out from his point of view and also for not telling him the truth earlier.

Second off, Sasuke never even blamed Itachi for anything (even he didn’t hold him for killing their parents). If Sasuke himself, forgiven Itachi... Why are his fans being so rabid?

Third off, for all of his supposed ‘crimes’, he paid for it by dying as a disgraceful Madman rather than a Hero who really saved the village. He is someone who should be celebrated like Naruto but instead died proudly as a Traitor of Konoha.

All in all, One of the wonderfully written character I have ever seen in the media. 

Best Moments:

Itachi vs Sasuke (That battle was a pure brilliance and highly emotional especially after knowing the truth. When Sasuke released his Kirin, Itachi showed off his ultimate armour Susanoo like a badass. Seeing Susanoo for the first time gave me chills. No, Sasuke didn’t kill him. Itachi died on his own)

Itachi vs Orochimaru (Man, Itachi may look mellow but when it comes to Orochimaru he is a pure Sass. He screwed that snake up both the times by a wide margin. It seems Uchiha brothers like to fuck up Orochimaru, LOL)

Talk-No-Jutsu’ing Naruto (Geez, Naruto was being completely bratty and was full of saviour complex like he was going to bear everyone’s hatred by himself. I was almost annoyed. Thanks to Itachi, he realised. Probably he is the only character to shut Naruto using his own jutsu)

Izanami’ing Kabuto (Other than Naruto, he is the only character to go out of his way to empathize with a villain and put extreme effort to change him. I think this is why Sasuke loves Naruto, for seeing these similarities??? ).

Goodbye to Sasuke (The first time when he said ‘Forgive me, Sasuke. This is the last’ by poking his forehead and finally closing the distance by butting with Sasuke’s head softly saying ‘I will love you always’.... It always evokes uncontrollable tears in me, no matter how many times I watch it 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭)

HONOURABLE MENTION

Uchiha Obito

God, Am such a sucker for Uchiha guys individually, though collectively as a clan they fucked up big time. I simply couldn’t find the place for him in the top 10. He is a classic example of What Naruto will be like if he becomes a villain?

However, all those horrible stuffs he did just for a girl whom he had a crush on which was never reciprocated seems childish. That’s why I couldn’t put him in Top 10.

And his understandable but weird obsession on Naruto was always enjoyable to watch. 

One cute thing I liked about him was, whatever criminal stuffs he may have done, he was never a cheapskate though. He had every chance to take back Kakashi’s Sharingan to activate his own Susanoo. But he never even thought of such an idea. He was a bad guy. But a good friend, no matter what. 

Pure Baby!!! But lost his way!!!

Best Moments:

Importance of Team Work (’In the ninja world, Those who break the rules are  scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum’. This very legacy he left to Kakashi came to defeat him later. And Naruto follows this motto even today)

Sacrificing his Sharingan (’I am giving you my Sharingan. No matter what the villagers say, you are a great Jonin. Please take it’. Awww!!! Obito. He left his Sharingan which helped Kakashi to complete a jutsu called ‘Chidori’, which is a go-to jutsu of Sasuke)

Thanks for the ask, anon. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this. ❤��

[thefairyletters]

Ships and their wingmen

Part 2

Read -> Part 1

Because we can't be the only one who ship them. Or those who don't.

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MinaSaku

In time-travel AU, Sakura will possibly the only one who will not ship it, if only because that will change the future. But casting that aside, Team Minato will do everything in their power to make sure the two adults soon sire a pink-haired, blue-eyed kid or blond-haired, green-eyed kid, or any combination of those colors for that matter.

Kushina will be conflicted whether to pursue Minato and fight her best friend/soul-sister (because Sakura is Kushina in pink hair) or allow Sakura get Minato and keep their relationships as it is. If she chooses latter, she will give up on Minato, simp on Hokage hat instead, and becomes the best damn Hokage Konoha has ever seen. If not, she puts up a good fight, insert-a-lot-of-angst, a heartfelt moment between Sakura and Kushina later simps on Hokage's hat, and becomes the best damn Hokage Konoha has ever seen. Either way, Kushina sooner or later supports MinaSaku, because she doesn't get Minato then only Sakura gets to have him.

Like Ino and Sakura, Inoichi and Sakura become fast friends, even if it starts with Inoichi flirting and Sakura hitting him squarely on his jaw, and the man is excessively protective of his pink-haired friend. He will probably root for KushiMina just so to protect Sakura's chastity. He will give up soon and will make sure no one gets in the way of his OTP.

If it takes place in canon, let's say somehow Minato selectively gets to be revived for extended periodof time for some reason. Or he time-travels to post-war time and finds himself thrown into a loop. Both, in which, MinaSaku is a very slow burn that even Naruto notices the strange air between his dad and his teammate, and everyone comes to conclusion exactly where Naruto had gotten his denseness from. Kakashi ships MinaSaku because it's his father-no-2 and favourite student together, as weird as it sounds. Naruto doesn't ship, at all, because that would make Sakura his step-mother. Most angst in this MinaSaku will be caused by one Naruto Uzumaki. Ino simps for this ship just because Minato is hot, is loosely Sakura's type and she, being a good friend, completely supports her best friend bedding a heartbreaker like Minato.

Tsunade ships because he is a good man.

Konoha council ships because Namikaze genes need to be retained in the village one way or another.

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HashiSaku

For starters, Tobirama doesn't ship, at all. Hashirama was already very prone to get distracted even without Sakura in the picture, but now with someone of Sakura's colors by his side, it was as if Tobirama got prematurely promoted as the head of Senju clan AND Hokage. Tobirama doesn't appreciate it at all. He subtly tries to get Sakura killed, to ship her overseas without Hashirama noticing, and convince her to marry someone who wasn't tan-skinned, longhaired and a Senju to boot. When all failed, he tries to seduce her himself as a last-ditch effort to help her move on from Hashirama. He only manages to gain a black-eye and a harsh rejection on top of it. Then, it look a while, but he figured she would be a good leader and a competent backup if Hashirama remains distracted in all his future meetings.

Mito is a proud, powerful woman, and she desires strength in things that catches her attention. So when she found Sakura, she wanted her for herself but instead found herself in competition with Hashirama of all people. Regardless to say, they hate each other.

Madara sees Sakura as the second and the last brain cell of the Senju clan, next to Tobirama. He supports HashiSaku if only so his best friend can learn a thing or two about how to use his bright but otherwise inactive brain cell. He is always ready to adopt her into his clan should Senju throw her out, courtesy of Tobirama.

Izuna likes Sakura and if she likes Hashirama, then he will support it. Easy as that.

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MitoSaku

Madara doesn't care because his best friend is married to not one but two beautiful but powerful beasts of women. Hashirama has no room for complaints.

Hashirama is a third wheel in his own marriage.

Tobirama doesn't know if he ships it or not because his brother is married to a woman who is in love with another woman and that woman insists that they all remain together for the better of future.

Izuna ships, to say at least.

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TobiSaku

Hashirama is the biggest fan of TobiSaku. He grins his annoying grin in a way that makes everyone present in the room with him blush in embarrassment. He dubbed Sakura as his sister-in-law the moment he saw his brother with her.

Madara doesn't think someone like Tobirama deserves Sakura, but thinks someone like Sakura can persuade Tobirama to chill. It's better for Senju clan in a long run, so he supports their relationship.

Mito simps hard for this ship because she wants Sakura as her sister-in-law. Half of the TobiSaku moments happened because of HashiMito's meddling.

Izuna flirts with Sakura at every chance he could, if only to rile Tobirama. He might like Sakura as a bit more than a friend, but he also finds TobiSaku relationship precious in a passive-agressive way so he doesn't mostly get in their way because they make up to about 65% of his daily entertainment quota which he doesn't wish to lose.

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MadaSaku

If there's one person who is a die-hard fan of this ship then it's one Izuna Uchiha. He enjoys teasing his older brother at every chance he gets, ruthlessly and sadistically. He enjoys the way his brother softens at the very mention of Sakura and he thinks that is the most precious thing he's seen his older brother do for anyone who's not him. Sakura gets along with Izuna so well that he often thinks she knows him better than he knows himself, and for that he cherishes Sakura as one of his family. His love for MadaSaku stretches so far that he would kill anyone who dares to get in between two of his most important people.

Tobirama ships them because he thinks Sakura will help Madara lose some of the madness inherent in Uchiha clan. It is because of Sakura that Tobirama becomes less wary of Uchihas and warms up to them.

Hashirama jumps at Madara and Sakura everytime they come for a visit, much to his wife's embarassment. Sakura is considered one of the Senju clan, and with her marrying into Uchiha clan, strengthens Senju-Uchiha alliance. Hashirama, like Izuna, is very happy to see Madara at peace and wishes the best for the couple. Like Izuna, he teases Madara mercilessly everytime Madara does something even slightly uncharacteristic of him. Sakura isn't teased often only because her becoming flustered results only in bodily harm.

Mito approves of the pair, if only because it gets her husband's attention away from Madara and his clan. She respects Sakura and knows the Uchiha clan will thrive with her as their matriarch.

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IzuSaku

Madara doesn't ship it at first because his brother is easily charmed by beautiful women and she looked a little too much like a Uzushio woman. Mito and Madara aren't in the best of the terms, regardless of the alliance. He suspected it to be trap when he saw his brother smile a little too gently, his eye softening a little too much than he was accustomed to seeing. He didn't ship IzuSaku at all because he loves his brother first and foremost. Sakura and he started off in bad terms but he soon discerns her good intentions and her honest reciprocal of feelings for Izuna, so he gives them his blessings and promises his protection.

Tobirama doesn't believe it until he sees it. He thinks she is too good for someone like Izuna, but seeing Izuna happy and content with Sakura, he comes to an understanding that this arrangement does save a lot of women from falling his prey.

Hashirama doesn't hold a particular opinion on Izuna but knows his notorious reputation and thus fears for Sakura's heart. He doesn't get in their way but tries to make sure Sakura is safe. When he is assured Izuna is courting her with intention of marriage, he gives them his blessings as well because Sakura is part of his family.

Mito doesn't understand why Sakura chose someone like Izuna given his reputation, and how Izuna really fell hard for the woman like Sakura.

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SaiSaku

Sai doesn't have lot of friends to support him, but luckily for him, Sakura has.

It is Ino who digs their relationship. Ino who helps Sai learn a thing or two about women. Ino who helps him learn new ways to impress Sakura (failed everytime). Sai and Ino became close friends the more she stayed around as his part-time trainer/babysitter everytime Sakura is away on a mission/hospital (because Sakura doesn't trust Sai alone without her for long). It is through Ino that they ultimately got together in the end.

Naruto, as if on a clock, becomes sceptical if she didn't see Sasuke in Sai, but that idea goes out of the window everytime Sai opens his pretty mouth. He supports Sai and Sakura because he could. As much as Sai pisses him off, he is still one of his good friends that he treasure, but one he would never admit to about his feelings.

Sasuke never thought his position in Team 7 would be threatened, much less by an ANBU/Root member, and he most definitely didn't think it will be that member who will ultimately date Sakura. As much as he knew the world wouldn't have stopped moving when he left, he also didn't expect new faces to join his team and take what had been promised his. Sakura punches him square on his face when he vocalises his thoughts. Regardless to say, he isn't happy with this arrangement.

Yamato is most pleased to see Sai flourishing as a person instead of a killing machine they were made into. He thinks Sakura is scary and will keep Sai on his toes, but also that she will be patient and guide him on the right path. They couldn't be more different, but he knew they understand each other like no one else.

Yamato and Naruto becomes the best men in SaiSaku wedding, and no sightings of Sasuke is observed anywhere.

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ShiSaku

Surprisingly, Shisui gets green signal from all the members of team 7. When asked, he is told many reasons ranging from – "You're the only decent Uchiha" to "You're not emotionally dead.", which ultimately means he is approved because he is everything Sakura expects in a man, and that age is hardly a reason of disapproval from them if it is not a problem for Sakura.

Naruto sometimes – particularly on days when Shisui steals their female teammate to spend time with him – think if Shisui had not brainwashed Sakura into giving in to his vile intentions, because that's exactly what his Sharingan is specialized to do, but when Sakura hears a word about this, she always punches him hard enough to make him reconsider his words. Sasuke and Kakashi are smart enough to keep their opinions about her love life to themselves.

If Itachi thought Shisui was annoying when he was not in love, he thinks Shisui is downright nuts when he is in love. Sakura is all he ever talks about, and while Itachi is pleased to see his cousin and Sakura, who's a good friend to him, so happy in love, there's a line that need not be crossed. He is thankful that both make a lovely couple together who can make Uchiha clan a happy place with their shared positivity. But. But, Shisui is also a jealous idiot and those two words never make a good combination. Itachi blesses the couple for all happiness in the world, but he is just not the person they should come to looking for relationship advice whenever one of them (always Shisui) screws up.

You'd think since Shisui is not part of the main house and having no living family of his own, there'll be no family drama surrounding him and his love life, but you're dead wrong. Once Mikoto and Fugaku hear a word about ShiSaku being canon, they call Shisui in, gives him the earful of the lifetime, demands of him to propose marriage to her, and proceed to prepare for the big wedding. Sakura accepts but that's hardly a point, because next thing Shisui knows is getting adopted into the main house. There goes his freedom.

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KibaSaku

Tsume loves Sakura. She wants to adopt Sakura. Inuzuka clan loves Sakura. KibaSaku is real, so what happens? Tsume threatens to disown Kiba unless he proposes to Sakura and make her one of the pack soon. According to Tsume, Kiba has finally chosen "the one who will make up for his lack-of-thereof brain and strength".

When the word gets out about his entanglement with Sakura, Team 8 is pleased – especially Hinata and Shino. Kurenai looks at him like she doesn't believes him. Shino repeats Tsume's sentiments on the matter. Hinata only smiles in a way that screams 'finally!'.

Team 7 is not happy that their precious teammate is getting it on with someone who smells like dog.

Kurenai who is like a mother to both Sakura and Kiba is happy to help them get started with parenting. It got too awkward to further ask Tsume who only said to "break the bed and let nature play its role". Kurenai will take turns with rest of the Team 8 and Team 7 to babysit many kids that KibaSaku will sire because they are wild. Tsume is proud though.

Tsunade blesses the couple and knows she will enjoy spoiling her many grandchildren rotten. Shizune is only happy for her sister-figure, even if she is a bit worried for the children.

Ino smirks at Sakura like a sly cat, every time they meet, all the way until her friend is happily married. Kiba is a catch, even if he smells like a dog. And they both know it.

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GaaSaku

Baki cries in joy when GaaSaku reveals their relationship public. He had thought Gaara was a lost cause when it comes to romance. His son-figure made him proud that day.

Temari threatens Sakura if she breaks "her-precious-bean's-fragile-heart", she will see through that her body gets never found in the sand. When it became clear that Sakura was serious about Gaara, Temari crushes the other woman to her chest and cries over how lucky she was to have Gaara as her husband (because there's no way her precious bean, Gaara, is undeserving of someone).

Kankuro breaks down crying, thankful that his little brother Gaara was not asexual and that he only had high expectations of himself because there was no way Sakura wasn't the best bride for Gaara. A match made in heaven, he said. It doesn't help that Kankuro and Sakura are best friends who often conspire ways to make Gaara blush prettily like he does, much to Gaara's chagrin.

Tsunade stans GaaSaku and is aware of the political advantage in their marriage to back up their relationship. Temari marrying into Konoha and Sakura into Sand, is a fair exchange.

Konoha council begs to differ.

Naruto wants to feel betrayed but doesn't because Gaara deserves the love he will get from Sakura, and he knows him and knows her. That doesn't help him from sending threatening letters, dripping on rabbit's blood, to Gaara who isn't alarmed at all and patiently writes back about his feelings concerning his female teammate. Naruto cries like a baby on their wedding because Kazehime is such a fitting title for his precious Sakura-chan.

Sasuke never sees it coming. He is betrayed, but not because Sakura moved on but because it is Gaara she moved on to. He takes personal offence to it, confronts personally about it to her in Suna and Sakura isn't impressed. If Sakura gives him a beating that leaves him in Suna hospital for a week, that's not on Sakura.

Kakashi cannot care less whom his old genin team fucks and marries but he admits he is a bit impressed that Sakura marries Gaara of all people.

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ShikaSaku

Team 10 is ecstatic when Shikamaru and Sakura makes their relationship public. Ino is on cloud nine when she hears Sakura gets to be official part of Ino-Shika-Cho. She breaks into Sakura's apartment to crush her best friend in a hug that might as well suffocate her to death but a girl gotta express her joy one way or another. She demands Shikamaru to invite Sakura for all future clan get-togethers so Sakura will feel comfortable in future.

Choji is happy for his best friend. He secretly meets with Yoshino to prepare for the big day. He exclusively invites Sakura for all Akimichi parties when he hears about her passion for cooking, even if she's bad at it. It's safe to say Sakura became part of Ino-Shika-Cho even before her marriage to Shikamaru.

When Sasuke hears about it, he corners Shikamaru and inquires about all the intentions Shikamaru has towards his teammate. He might not like Sakura like she once wished to be liked by him, but she was still part of his family that is Team 7 and he cares enough to make sure she doesn't get heart broken the way she had with him. When he gets right answers, he drops his arm against his throat, draws back his kusanagi and walks away like nothing was amiss.

When Naruto hears about it, he pokes fun at Shikamaru for his taste in women – first Temari, now his teammate. To onlookers, it would look like two friends playfully teasing each other, but if you look closely, you'd notice the red of Naruto's eyes, how the grip on Shikamaru's fingers were tad too tight and the way Shikamaru looked like he would rather be anywhere but there. After a measured shake and few more teasing jabs, Naruto returned to his goofy self.

When Kakashi hears about it and comes across him, Shikamaru doesn't let the older man get a word in. With Kakashi, it might as well be chidori to heart so Shikamaru rushed to firmly asserted his very pure, no vile, feelings for his sole female student. By the time he is finished with his monologue, Kakashi has left.

Tsunade is neutral when the news gets to her. As simple as Shikamaru was, he was also not the most committed person so she decides to test Shikamaru before she gave him her blessings.

Temari flips the table when the word reaches Suna. She immediately leaves the village to make sure Shikamaru was truly serious, this time, about her friend. Gaara follows after her because he is still pissed at the certain man for breaking his sister's heart. Kankuro passes the hat to Baki for the meantime and leaves after his siblings to beat certain someone if this is just another ugly fling for him. Also, because he isn't going to miss on a good show.

If some ink tigers pop out of nowhere and attempt on Shikamaru's life or some carnivorous plants tries to taste the meat on his nether region, he doesn't speak of the incidents to anyone, let alone Sakura. It is only after Sakura is pronounced a Nara that the attempts on his life cease.

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The part 2 y'all wanted.

I think I nearly covered all the popular pairings. There's still ShinoSaku, YamaSaku, DeiSaku, KisaSaku, KarinSaku, LeeSaku, HidaSaku and ChoSaku, AsuSaku and IndraSaku though. Maybe next time.

[aliceinreverselondon]

You Really Got Me – part 2: First Impressions (Kakashi Hatake x Reader)

(note: part 1)

“Will you finally tell us what she is, Kakashi sensei?”

Sakura’s question came before they even reached the elevator which meant she lasted a good two minutes before demanding answers. Letting out a long sigh, Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck. He sure hoped she would soon grow out of this slightly annoying habit of hers. Especially since Naruto was the same, but there was no chance he would change in the near future.

But he really did promise them to explain what exactly happened so he couldn’t back out now. Surprisingly, Sakura had hit the nail right on the head with her question. If he wanted to explain who you were, he had to begin with what you were. When it came to how well you knew each other, though, he would have to be careful not to give away too many personal details. No one needs nosy kids in their life.

As he pushed the button to close the door of the elevator, Kakashi let out a thoughtful hum. “Well, Y/N is a phantom. Do you know about them?” While Sakura and Naruto both shook their heads, Sasuke remained silent as usual. But this time it could be because he had already heard about her kind, as one could expect from a kid who grew up in the Uchiha Clan. “They are considered a type of tricksters, although they’re a lot more powerful as adults than your average trickster. Because of their unique abilities and backgrounds, phantoms are members of an organization that operates worldwide. It’s a lot like ANBU, except they’re independent of governments and only answer to one person.”

“So she’s an Alpha?” Sasuke asked, sounding slightly surprised for some reason. When he received a quick nod in response, he folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the metal wall. “I thought they were more… serious.”

Kakashi shrugged and didn’t even try to hold back a short chuckle. “They’re not robots, they have different personalities. Y/N is… a wild one,” he added with a grin under the mask.

“Wait, what is an Alpha?” Naruto wondered out loud as his eyes scanned the faces of people around him, waiting to see who was ready to provide an answer.

“Are they the phantoms or the members of the organization?”

“Both, actually,” Kakashi replied as he glanced over at the girl. “Phantoms that aren’t good enough or simply refuse to be members of the organization are executed, this is why the two are the one and the same at the end of the day. Alpha is a nickname some gave them because you can say they are on top of the food chain. They usually work alone but every now and then they ask for the help of… specialists, humans or other supernatural creatures who have abilities or knowledge they need for the job. Those people, especially those who become regular aides, are called Betas,” he explained, this time looking at Naruto as he spoke.

The four of them left the building and Kakashi began to think about what else he should tell them about you. Your abilities? No, it would be better if you gave them a demonstration. How you met? Definitely not, his reaction to Sasuke’s question regarding your personality gave away more than enough already. To avoid further questions from the kids, he eventually decided to pull out his book and read on the rest of the trip to the restaurant.

For his luck Sakura and Naruto discussed this between themselves, occasionally trying to get some information out of Sasuke now that he wasn’t paying much attention to them. As long as they left him alone, Kakashi was okay with that. Especially because he wanted to think about the upcoming dinner with you. He wished it was just the two of you, though. After what he had done, he really wanted to make it up to you somehow. Well, maybe you could meet later to make this happen, once these three went to sleep.

Oh, how he loved and hated at the same time what you did to him. You were like a drug he just couldn’t get out of his system. But, to be honest, he had truly missed this high he was experiencing now thanks to you. He may have forgotten to call you but it didn’t mean he hadn’t thought about you once. In fact, every time he read one of the Make Out books, he couldn’t help but think about the two of you. Strangely enough, this was by far the most stable relationship he had ever had. Okay, not like he had so many other relationships in the past to compare it to but… It was still different. And special.

“You took your time, guys.”

When Kakashi looked up, his eyes fell on you as you watched them with a wide grin on your face. Tilting his head to the side for a moment, he put away his book and glanced at his watch. “You said fifteen minutes. It’s only been ten.”

“Duh, I thought you were ninjas, not a group of elderly people who went on a nice evening stroll,” you told him with a roll of your eyes.

He really wanted to laugh because he missed your stupid sense of humor, but it would’ve probably ended with him kissing you. And he wouldn’t have stopped at a quick kiss on the lips. Oh, no. If it was just the two of you, you would have skipped dinner altogether. But his mind was wandering too far again. He had to stop, damn it. “Very funny,” was all he said in the end.

“Is that blood?” Sasuke suddenly spoke up, pointing at your shirt.

“What?” You looked down and noticed the bloodstain on your chest. While you quickly zipped your red jacket to cover it up, you flashed a reassuring smile at the kids. “Don’t worry, it’s not mine.”

All three of them. All three of the kids opened their mouths at the exact same time, probably to ask for details, but Kakashi was fast enough to stop them with a pointed look. You had said it yourself back on the rooftop: there was something you quickly had to take care of. Knowing you, it was most probably an assassination and he didn’t want to talk about things like this tonight. Was it too much to ask for? Was a normal, delightful evening too much to ask for? Just one damn night.

After clearing his throat, Kakashi spoke up. “So we were about to get something to eat, right? Naruto, I’m sure you’re starving as always.”

But Naruto hesitated and scratched the back of his head as he flashed a sheepish grin at him. “Actually, as weird as it might sound, I have so many questions that I can’t even think about food right now.”

“Shoot.”

Were you seriously planning to answer his questions? “Y/N, come on,” he tried with a sigh.

“Don’t come on me. If he has questions, let him ask them.”

“We can do that inside.”

He had no luck because you clearly weren’t about to go inside anytime soon. Shaking his head, Kakashi pulled out his book and leaned against the wall of the restaurant. At least he had time to read a little more while the four of you talked. He already had a bad feeling about this conversation but for now, he decided to only listen and keep his opinion to himself. There was no need to interrupt you, he could do that if something went wrong. Which, knowing you, was highly likely.

“What kind of missions do you go on?

“Kakashi told you a few things about me, didn’t he? Well, covert missions, assassinations, manhunts… Usually, we go after supernatural creatures, but there are times when we assist in different cases too, like hostage situations. Since it’s really hard to kill us, we often help out when the situation is too dangerous for humans.”

“Cool. So what can you do?”

“Alpha’s are supposed to be powerful, right?” Kakashi looked up from his book and turned to Sasuke. Back when he had told the team about you, Sasuke didn’t seem very convinced about you being an Alpha. Sadly, he already knew where the kid was going with this, and he also knew perfectly well how you would react. But maybe he was wrong. “I can’t take you seriously enough to believe you’re one.”

“Excuse me?!”

Yes, this is exactly how he had expected you to react. “Oh, no, here we go,” he whispered under his breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

You took a threatening step toward Sasuke who didn’t even flinch at first. “You wanna see powerful?”

But when your eyes turned black, all three took a few cautious steps back to build some distance. “Y/N, please, just let it go,” Kakashi told you as he put a hand on your shoulder.

“No, no, no, if he wants to see what I can do, fine, I’ll show him. And I know just the place,” you explained hurriedly. At least your eyes were back to normal which meant you managed to calm down a bit already. That was good. He didn’t need more drama out on the street. You pulled out your phone and quickly dialed someone’s number. “Hey, Kisuke, I’d like to ask for a favor. Can I use your underground training facility tonight? I need to teach some stupid brat a lesson… No, I don’t want to kick his ass, but he pretty much called me weak so I nearly threw hands with a thirteen years old kid… Cool, thanks, we’ll be there soon.” Once you ended the call, you turned to the kids and said, “Alright, we’ll order food and eat there. Let’s go, my car’s just around the corner.”

Note: Wow, I wasn’t expecting so many of you to like the pilot. But here’s part 2, I hope you’re not disappointed 😳

tag: @spn-obession​

[marchlione]

rant

started rewatching naruto and ohhhhhhh boy.....

people who call naruto ‘sunshine boy’, like i get that different strokes for different folks but, naruto is straight up annoying. i can excuse 12 year old naruto for being annoying, he’s 12. i hate all the 12 year olds, even sasuke who is my favourite character. like wtf stop being a little shit for two seconds and cut back on your ego. sasuke has no business being that prideful, and he needs to be cut down a little. but he’s 12. again, sakura, i’m a girl too, i was not that insanely boy crazy at 12, stfu and sit down, you’re a child.  

but even at 16 when you’re supposed to be slightly less annoying, naruto managed to get worse. i just want to gag him. sakura gets slightly more bearable when sasuke isn’t around, but i still don’t care for her. and this curse of hatred is such bull shit. like imagine taking an entire ethnic group and telling them, yeah you’re all insane and messed up people. like that’s fucked. can we think of real world examples of this? :)

so anyway, i turn to fanfic because that should make it better. no. the only thing worse than naruto canon is its fandom. good god. if i see one more ‘good uchiha sasuke’ tag where sasuke ‘lets go of all those silly notions about honouring his family because they’re dead and don’t matter anymore’, i will lose it. like do you people not understand what honour and family honour is and what it means? and then we talk about how vengeance is bad but really. how do you expect sasuke to act. “i know that the brother i loved and idolized so much went and murdered everyone that i have known and massacred my entire ethnic group on orders of a military dictatorship that profits off of conflict after years of marginalization and hatred from the village our ancestors helped create because of blood, buuuuuut revenge is bad uwu”. is that what you want??? revenge isn’t good or pretty or right, but you have to admit, sasuke is at least a little bit justified. genocide is considered an awful thing in their world too.

this doesn’t even cover the whole ‘Team 7 family uwu’ thing. they were not a family. they were barely even friends. naruto and sakura eventually became friends, but they weren’t sauke’s. i get being a fan of found family, but this ain’t it. they were a couple of messed up kids who were thrown together for a couple of years at best. sasuke most likely stuck to the uchiha clan kids pre-massacre, and was alone post-massacre. sakura didn’t respect any of sasuke’s boundaries and naruto was obsessed with sasuke. if they really were his friends they would have recognized the horrors that their beloved village had enacted and even if they didn’t help sasuke get revenge, they would have slowly helped him try to heal, instead of trying to kill him when he didn’t fall into line and become another brainless soldier. and naruto most certainly wouldn’t have said that godawful line “i will break all your bones and drag you back to konoha kicking and screaming” if he was sasuke’s friend. that alone should show you how well konoha indoctrinates its soldiers. they took the kid that had largely been abused by the village throughout his childhood and turned him into the model soldier that sprouts the villages propaganda verbatim.

i also don’t understand why fanfic authors feel the need to give sakura a sob story. like the other members of this team are messed up, so we gotta fuck you up so we can have a matched set. i mean you can do that if you can justify it but for the most part, authors write it like they have to give her serious trauma for her to be a strong character or have her become a “BAMF”. you are allowed to have mentally healthy characters, team 7 has suffered enough, give them one sane characters. also you do not need to justify power with trauma, you don’t. trust me. also its ok to not be the most overpowered person in the room. you can be fucked up for no reason, you can be perfectly average and still be valuable. no offence but “uwu sakura queen” won’t make you a feminist, and disliking her doesn’t make me a misogynist. none of the character are written well and least of all the women. kurenai, tenten, sakura, hinata, and karin all had potential. too bad every character was just a representation for one ideology or another with the intention of showing that yes propaganda does work and is effective and repeating something enough times will make it true. after all, we need not look further then the fandom itself. after all, if everyone took the time to peel back the fluff and padding and look at the themes and ideas presented in the story, you’d see how problematic some of the ideas conveyed by canon are. in conclusion i hate everything about canon AND fanon

[ithilloktewrites]

Unposted Fanfiction Masterlist

This is the Masterlist of my fanfic that is not posted, but I intend to write and post them all. I hope you enjoy what I have for fic ideas. I write many pairings, and am not afraid of rarepairs. I hope to inspire others to write for all the different eras of time that could be written for, as the well, jewel, and god tree can all be used to move Kagome or others into other worlds, at different eras of those worlds. I will update this list with any new ideas. 

Feel free to ask about anything that might catch your eye, or make you a bit curious as to what exactly I’m thinking of with each fic, I’ll be happy to talk about it!

A Twisted Feudal Fairytale - Neji/Kagome

Eventual smut, Rated Explicit

When Naraku tries to send Kagome to another world, he never expected to get caught using the spell in their camp by a bunch of shinobi ready to pummel him into next week to defend her. Who knew that having time and space warped around you would allow you to world hop alongside time hopping?

Accidental Transportation - Kagome/?

Eventual smut, Rated Explicit

The second Hokage had made preparations for the event of the Uchiha’s rebellion after his brother had passed on. The walls he’d had built around the Uchiha compound contained a special seal that had been discovered to be efficient at transportation. All he did was set it to another world, one he’d visited accidentally with his brother when experimenting with a new jutsu. He’d set it to have two triggers. Poor Kagome is one of them.

Akatsuki: Blast To Another World’s Past - Akatsuki/Kagome Harem

Eventual mass amounts of smut. Rated Explicit

Apparently mixing two space-time jutsu had a very high chance of being tossed into another world. But he did not expect the link of the rings all the members wore to transport them with him. He’d seen that the pain and suffering of this world had turned to tranquility and peace. The question was, was it worth staying?

Aspect Of Four Souls: Sakimitama - Itachi/Kagome/Kisame

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit

Midoriko knew Kagome would need a balance for her large soul, or she’d never be able to destroy the abomination she’d made. So she summons two people that would balance her more than the one the Kami had tried to match her to. He was insufficient, and uninterested in her. These two, they would be best for her. They would make sure her Sakimitama was present and in place so she could destroy the Jewel, just as she would heal them as well.

Changing History - Young!Jiraiya/Kagome

The well reopens as Kagome knew it would. But when she materializes in the bottom and climbs out, she finds herself not even in her own world anymore. She finds the well sitting in the middle of a road, and a man with white har, red streaks falling from his eyes that towers over her. When she looks back at the well behind her, she finds nothing. It vanished into thin air. The man is eyeing her suspiciously.  Where is she, and what's going on now?!

Connected Reflections - Kagome/?

Eventual smut. Rated Explicit

Naraku has gone completely silent. No one has seen hide nor hair of him for months. Then the barrier hiding his layer falls. Inside they find a huge bronze mirror. It’s big enough to walk through. Kagome accidentally activates it.

Dreams Of A New Reality - Itachi/Kagome Shisui/Sasuke

Eventual loads of smut Definitely Rated Explicit

The Shikon’s efforts to torture and break Kagome fail. She pulled two men out of the dreams she was having. Now she’s pulled a third. They speak at length on this issue, and easily decide to help her with her task in exchange for finding a way back. In the end, the Jewel tries to force them back, but the bond the well created around them is too strong. Many things have changed in their world with the addition of Kagome, and she didn;t know how many cans of worms she was opening by trying to save them. Including the population of Uchiha that would be living in Konoha. It seems as though a solution has been found for that though.

Dreamwalkers - Itachi/Kagome/Shisui

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit

With dreams of three boys and the fate of the clan they come from clear to her eye at night, Kagome is given a choice. Forsake her world, and save them, or live in a world where she doesn’t really belong anymore

Fugaku had been having dreams of a girl for the past three years. His position weighs heavily on him. He wishes that girl was real, and here to help him resolve the issues between the village and his clan. He didn’t want to stage a coup. But his clan has demanded such of him. He would give that girl anything to stop the extermination of his clan that he sees on the horizon.

Existing Within Each Other - Kakashi/Kagome

Eventual smut. Rated Explicit

Travelling can be a very dull thing to do, especially by foot. Kagome came back one day, reading a series called Naruto. It wasn’t long before she not only had all the books in the series, but all her friends reading it too.

Kakashi had been enthralled by this book that was rated for teenagers. His students started it. He’d even seen Jiraiya reading it! But his curiosity was piqued. This series ‘Inu Yasha’ was good. Only when he finished it, the main heroine, Kagome, materialized on his bed. What fresh Jutsu was this?!

Fighting Hatred - Obito/Kagome

Emotional Angst. Rated Mature

“It’s okay if you like someone else, Obito! I’m used to being left behind!” The painful, watery smile she gave him tore his heart out. Before he could respond, she looked at the ground as the tears streamed down her face. A sob escaped her. He blinked and the stool beside him was empty. The ends of black hair turning the corner like a cat was all he could see of her before she was gone. His chest ached, and suddenly, all he could think of was her. How had he been so blind?

From The Garden Of The Gods: Founders Of The Leaf - Kagome/?

*Please note that I have asked for permission from the original author of ‘From The Garden Of The Gods’ on ff.net, She has abandoned the Suna fic she was writing, and it was plainly stated in her fics as well.

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

Kagome has been dropped into a world she doesn’t recognize, and it’s not long before she realizes that no one understands her. Coming across a village being built, and made of many different shinobi clans, Kagome doesn’t think she could make it on her own in the village.

 Instead she tries to not bring attention to herself, well aware that they would most likely try to kill her or use her horribly. She decides to stay close to the village, but not become a part of it. Her anonymity is scattered to the wind when enemy shinobi attack her small home, hoping to weaken the in-progress village. She’s cornered by three very powerful shinobi, and only her barrier separates her from them.

My Daughter From Beyond The Well - Shisui/Kagome

Rating Unknown. Depends on it I decide for it to be fluffy or not

Marriage within the Uchiha clan meant loyalty to your partner, and while he was never disloyal, it did not mean that he did not have a lover before his marriage was arranged. His wife did as well. What made his so different was the well he had to use to get there. Now, nine years after he was forced to leave her, a small girl arrives in the well. She looks like a carbon copy of him, except for her hair and eyes. They are her mothers. His ex-lover. In her hands, a letter covered with tears, and the strong scent of medicine. Itachi is curious, as he should be. She was another sibling for him to care for. But Shisui, he was enthralled. He had no idea what she was scared of, but he desperately wanted to eliminate it for her. Sasuke wonders why she’s so sad all the time.

Growing Intertwined - Yamato/Kagome

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

The Final Battle did not go as planned. No one expected the Jewel to throw Kagome into another world. Scared and surrounded by people holding weapons in her direction, Kagome throws a barrier up unconsciously. It’s not long before someone realizes that she’s not going to hurt them, but she was too busy crying, calling for Inu Yasha. The gentle, careful knock on her barrier has her looking up into calm, gentle black almond-shaped eyes. He was crouched in front of her, a sign that he didn’t want to hurt her.

“Nice barrier you got there.”

Hatake’s Saving Grace - Kakashi/Kagome

Rating undetermined. Not sure if just fluff is going into this fic.

Sakumo couldn’t thank her enough. Not when she’d saved his life, and given him grandchildren. Beautiful, blue-eyed grandchildren. And her food saved so many lives.

Hokage In The Well - Kagome/?

Rating Undecided. Not sure if this one will have a pairing. BroTP yes, but as far as shipping goes… no idea who to pair her with for this one.

Kagome had no idea what to think when five men appeared in the well, three of which were arguing with each other. The other two watched from the sidelines. She had no clue what a Hokage was, nor why one of them was not one while all the others were. What fresh hell is this?

Kagome Saves Tobirama - Tobirama/Kagome

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

Falling asleep in your dorm room with all the nekomata napping in your sweater resulted in waking up in a different world surrounded by shinobi who were being hunted by other shinobi, and you were the only chance at escape. Who knew?

Last Ditch Effort - Hashirama/Kagome

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

While rooting out and eliminating traitors who wanted the war to continue raging, Hashirama feels a pull. Following it, he finds a girl in the bottom of a well in an abandoned village. She was fighting for her life, and losing. The stinger in her leg would make sure of it. He didn’t know how much the village he’d dreamed of building needed her until he decided to save her.

Like Her Namesake - Neji/Kagome

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

Irony could describe how he’d found her, and how her name had been marked on the underside of his upper arm forever, just as the bird chained to his can seal had been marked on hers. 

“Kagome, Kagome.

The Bird in the cage.

When will you come out?

In the light of the dawn?

The crane and the turtle slipped.

Who will betray you now?”

Little Kagome - Obito/Kagome

Rating Undecided.

After being found abandoned as a baby, Kagome clings to Obito, and he brings her home when the orphanage turns her away. When Fugaku gives them permission to keep her, especially seeing the bond she has with Obito, he feels his priorities shifting to her. Luckily, she is a full trained priestess with lots of experience protecting herself.

Loving the Hate Away - Minato/Kagome

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

When offers of training from each member of the Inu Taichi are rescinded shortly after being made, Kagome wonders if there is something wrong with her. But the really kind man from her dreams gives her a small pointer that uncovers the truth about the person she thought she loved, trusted with her life. When she sees the man in her dreams for the last time, she gives him the ability to summon her as thanks.

Making My Way To You - Kakashi/Kagome

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

Soulmate’s AU inspired by Kakshisninken’s Scribbles series, written with permission to borrow some themes.

Kagome never expected to have a Soulmate, much less one in a different world that paired everyone off automatically. And what’s Chakra?

Marriage Of Protection - Kakashi/Kagome

Smut. Rated Explicit

An illegal, unsanctioned summoning has the Hokage in deep water. He is finally forced to go after Danzo, the problems he’s caused greatly outweigh the benefits to him being the Shadow Kage. The girl he’s summoned now remains a giant target for the rest of the world, and that’s not fair to her. Thus he needs to marry her to someone strong enough to protect her from Danzo and the rest of the world. He cannot select anyone who would be forced to concede to clan politics, which made his selection pool very small. Luckily there is one man, last of his clan. He will do nicely.

Match Made In Hokage - Kakashi/Kagome

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

When Tsunade informs Kakashi that he is to become the next Hokage until Naruto can take over, Kakashi is stunned. However neither Kagome or Kakashi knew why they or the council had to be present for such a decision.

“However, there is a weakness that must be eradicated. Hatake is both the last of his clan, and not married. This could be taken advantage of. We have selected the best candidate to fill this position. We require Hatake and Higurashi to wed, increasing political ties, and to produce heirs to continue the Hatake line. They will be wed before the mantle of Hokage will be passed. The Higurashi Matron has been contacted and has given both permission and support to this motion. Higurashi has expressed a lack of interest in any partner in the time she has been part of Konoha, and Hatake has expressed interest in her. Thus the motion will carry.”

Kagome stood frozen in both shock and anger at the council and Tsunade’s audacity. Kakashi was in deep shit.

Midoriko’s Gift - Shisui/Kagome

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

Shisui wasn’t given the chance to use the erasing jutsu. No, he was taken just after he fell. Waking up in a cave with a pretty girl asking if he was okay wasn’t a bad thing either. But how would he know? Both his eyes were pulled out, and he was blind.

Mission Unexpected - Kagome/?

Rated teen. No smut in this fic, no one to pair her with that isn’t Inu Yasha.

 Minato had gone after his students after they’d been forced into and cornered in an abandoned well. He’d tried to get them out quickly, but hadn’t noticed the activated scroll tossed in on top of them until the ground fell out beneath them, and everything became a large, starry void. Surly this was a genjutsu. Why couldn’t they break it then? Amd who is this girl who jumped in on top of them and disappeared?

No Where To Go - Itachi/Kagome

Eventual Smut/ Rated Explicit.

Naraku tried to escape the Final Battle. He had defeated the Slayer and Monk, targeting them specifically. The jewel had told him they were her ancestors. Yet, he had still been forced to run. She had followed of course, nothing but death awaited her in that world anyways. She didn’t expect to out a corrupt politician when she’d only tried to protect him from Naraku, nor did she expect how high up he was. She also healed a boy accidentally, and found herself the focus of an entire village of Shinobi. The political position she found herself in for completing her task made her wish she had faded from existence in her world. But there is no way back now. 

Perfect - Yamato/Kagome

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit

Inu Yasha’s uncharacteristic behavior has Kagome worried. But he makes her take a vacation. He didn’t know the well had made a second direction, a world slip. After explaining everything to the ‘Hokage’ Kagome makes a deal with him. He sends two ANBU members to assist her in her task, hoping she’ll fall for one of them, and they for her. It would give her reason to stay in Konoha, and the village would be that much more powerful. Yamato and Kakashi never expected the roller coaster that all of them would be forced to ride.

Pop-Up Prophecy - Itachi/Kagome

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

Kagome is dropped right behind two people. An old man with spiky white hair in a low ponytail, who dwarfed the smaller black-haired smooth  ponytail wearer.

“Ah there she is. Take care of her, Itachi. She is the key of salvation for your clan.”

“Of course Jiraiya-sama.”

Preventing Chaos - Izuna/Kagome

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

Izuna is stolen from Madara right before he was supposed to die. He woke up to a girl healin him in a place where he recognized nothing. There was a box talking to him, and are those dog-ears on that boy’s head?

Putting On A Show- Uchiha Style - Itachi/Kagome

Smut very early on, Arranged Marriage. Rated Explicit.

The whole Uchiha clan was moved after the ninetails attack not because they were not trusted, but because of a prophecy a man bearing blue eyes and other-worldly knowledge had given them after proving his abilities, and passing on. Of course any soothsayer would know when their progeny would follow them. The only difference is that now Fugaku had been notified of her arrival, and the Uchiha’s involvement in it. The Hokage asked them for a show, and now that Fugaku understood, he would get the show of his life in the only way his clan knew how to give one. Uchiha-style.

Recall: Shikon’s Return - Akatsuki/Kagome Harem

Smut from the very beginning. Rated Explicit.

She’d finally destroyed the jewel. She was spat into a world not her own. When she is come across by Tobi and Zetsu, they note her precarious position in this world and take advantage of it. She’s to become the Akatsuki’s healer for the main groups of shinobi partners, with benefits. (Nod to AwolAngel’s ‘Maid with Benefits’) Inadvertently, they all end up smitten or very fond of her, and she of them. So it’s a no-brainer when Kagome feels yoki coming from the well she’d arrived in, that they’d all follow her to help her destroy it. But the results of this are mind-blowing when they step into a clearing only Kagome recognizes after all of them are pulled through the well.

“You all know there’s supposed to be a large scar on my side, right?”

The unblemished skin on her side could only mean one thing.

Roof Of The Pillars - Hashirama/Tobirama/Kagome/Madara/Izuna

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

The adorable little girl in the bunny clothes had no idea that she would be the end of the feudal wars in another world, and the glue of an alliance through marriage to two sets of brothers from opposing clans. 

But those big blue eyes held peace for all of them.

Saigo No Akuma - Minato/Kagome

Eventual Smut, Rated Explicit.

Kagome’s lost everything to the jewel. After being trained and then transported to another world, she finds herself protecting the village during the Nine-tails attack, which not only ends up saving the Uchiha, but also Minato and Kushina’s only son. Kushina’s last wish was that Kagome help Minato raise Naruto, since he was the Hokage, and that Minato take care of Kagome.

Shattered Again - The Jewel’s Existence - Madara/Kagome

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

The jewel tried to bring another ally to Naraku, but the Goshinboku interferes and changes which point of Madara’s life he is taken from. The Jewel shatters itself again to keep from being destroyed. This ends up saving both him, and the group he has inadvertently become a part of. With Madara’s addition to the group, Inu Yasha notices how he only has eyes for Kagome. This is a good thing. She’ll be in good hands. He leaves her, and frees her from her promises. Madara is there to pick up the pieces, of both her heart and the jewel.

Shisui’s Resolve: Kagome’s Happiness - Shisui/Kagome

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

After being betrayed and abandoned, Kagome is dropped into a different world, right in front of Shisui. When brought before the Hokage, Shisui makes an offer that will both save his clan, free them of the curse, and bring them into the village as they had originally been promised all those years ago at its founding, so long as she is willing to do so.

Stuck In His World - Kakashi/Kagome

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

After keeping Kagome and her remaining family from returning to her world through a portal, Kakashi brings them to the Hokage. Normally his paranoia pays off. Rarely does it end up getting him into trouble. This is one of those times.

Uchiha’s Heart Of Konoha - Madara/Kagome/Izuna

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

The well prevents disaster in the shinobi world. It takes Izuna from Madara right in front of him, and delivers him to Kagome to save him. When she goes to his world to tell his older brother, she figured she’d only gain some new friends, possibly help for the task in her world’s past. Not two very powerful, handsome, kind, doting men intent on wooing her, and making her happy in return for preventing their grief.

Uncorrupted - Obito/Kagome

Undecided Rating.

Black Zetsu knew there was a chance that Obito could be sucked into another world while practicing his kamui. Whether the real Obito disappeared or not, the Eye Of The Moon Plan would come to fruition.

Wishing For Backup - Kagome/?

Eventual Smut. Rated Explicit.

Waking up to a kunai held at your throat with a demand for answers by a voice you only recognize from an anime is more than a little jarring, especially when the person really is from that person really is from that anime. Kagome wants to strangle the Jewel now.

Wooing A Higurashi - Madara/Kagome

Envental Smut. Rated Explicit.

How dare she? She stole his Gunbai, yelled at him, and forced him into immobilization for an extended period of time! How dare she flash her teeth at him?!

I will update this list as more ideas are added, or if I post a fic. If I write one-shots, then those will simply be posted to the finished fic list. Of course not all the details are in these summaries. Feel free to ask if you have questions or concerns regarding my fics. I’ll try my best to clear up anything, or just gush. Please enjoy!

[bakubabes-tatakae]

The Uchiha In The Leaves (Part Twelve)

Author’s Note: If anyone wants to be in a taglist for this feel free to let me know! Happy to do it for anyone!

(Kakashi x Reader)

Summary: What happens when Y/N finally returns to the Village Hidden in the Leaves? Her life is flipped upside down when not only does she find the man that’s awaited her return, but she finds someone she thought she’d never see again.

Part One, Part Two: *NSFW Ahead!*, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight: *NSFWish Ahead!*, Part Nine, Part Ten, Part Eleven

AO3 Link

Word Count: 3.1k

*Y/n P.O.V*

As Naruto screamed at Haku and their conversation continued I zoned out. I couldn’t break my eyes off of my helpless little brother. I couldn’t believe that there was nothing I could do for him. Any attempt I made would either end in my death or Kakashi not letting me past him, something that would be a piece of cake for him. As I watched Sasuke I saw the kunai that Sakura and I had gotten to him come flying through the slits in the ice wall and straight at Haku’s face. Haku dodged it with ease and Naruto looked over, finally noticing that Sasuke was in there.

Haku began to speak to Sasuke. “I haven’t forgotten about you, not for an instant.” Haku looked over at him. “Some warriors accept defeat gracefully, they know when they are beaten. Others do not so be it. Let us finish our battle then… to death.”

I could feel everything in my body begin to feel heavy. I felt like I wasn’t even in control of my body anymore as Haku started walking back toward the ice wall. As Haki disappeared inside the ice wall I screamed. “SASUKE!” I began to run before I even realized that I was running and before I got far I felt hands around my throat. My feet were lifted off the ground and I saw the gray sleeves that were on Zabuza’s arm as my air was slowly escaping me. 

I heard Kakashi’s anger rise and a little panic set in on his voice. His voice started to sound almost demonic and a growl was present. His change in demeanor sent shivers down my spine. It had been a long time since I’d seen Kakashi truly angry like this. “Let her go Zabuza.” He took a kunai out of his gear bag on his hip and looked Zabuza in the eyes. “If you don’t let her go I’ll finish you myself, right now.”

Zabuza laughed. “One more slip up like this and I’ll kill all the kids and the bridge builder before you even realize what’s going on. Mark my words.” Zabuza’s grip loosened and I fell to the ground on all fours, gasping for air. 

Kakashi bent down and helped me stand back up. I could feel myself wheezing. “Have some faith in your brother Y/n. You never know what he can do.”

I tried to talk, but the words weren’t coming out. I was trying hard to say his name, but nothing but air escaped my lips. I heard more needles flying around and more grunts of pain from Sasuke before hearing him hit the ground. Both Naruto and Sakura screamed his name. When I had my voice back I saw Naruto sneaking his way into the ice wall. Their best bet would have been for one of them to attack from the inside and one to attack from the outside. “Naruto, you idiot!”

Kakashi lowered his head. “Naruto, you sneak up on your enemy, not your ally.” 

Kakashi kept one arm around my waist, ensuring that I didn’t move. Suddenly I saw the Uchiha come out of Sasuke. There was fire flying around in the ice wall. I perked up a little and stopped fighting so much against Kakashi. Fire melts ice, maybe it was a good move, but the ice didn’t waver. More needles flew around and both boys were screaming.

I couldn’t see what was going on, just a lot of yelling, and I was cursing at myself. If I could have seen what was going on then maybe Kakashi and I could yell to them and help them. Suddenly Kakashi spoke. “I knew it, I figured it out, it’s a bloodline trait. Kekkei Genkai.”

Zabuza laughed and Sakura looked over. “What’s that?”

“It’s like Y/n and I’s Sharingan, you can’t learn it, it has to be in your blood. In your genetic code, passed down from generation to generation within a single clan.”

“But that means…” Sakura trailed off. 

“That’s right, even we can’t copy that jutsu and there’s no way to destroy it and no way to stop it.”

I started gasping for breath again. I was hyperventilating now. I hoped Sasuke and Naruto could hold their own in there. I couldn’t lose my only other family member left. Itachi was dead to me. The boys needed to work together if they wanted to get out of this alive. 

Sakura tried to get the boys going. “Sasuke, Naruto, get this guy. You can do it.”

Kakashi looked over at her. “Don’t Sakura. Don’t push them. Even if they somehow found a way to overcome the mirror jutsu, they still couldn’t defeat this ninja.” 

I looked back and Kakashi. “Don’t you dare say that.” I slapped his chest, tears welling in my eyes. “You of all people, don’t you dare.”

“Y/n, they have the desire to win, but they don’t have the instinct to kill. That boy is a whole other breed. He lives for pain. He thrives on it.”

Zabuza laughed. “Exactly. Your village has become complacent. The Mist Village was never like that, was it Y/n?” He looked at me and smiled. “Y/n was trained to kill, that’s why we have a page in our bingo book about her in the assassination unit as well.” He looked between us both, “Your trainees never learned the most important lesson of all… to kill the feelings in their own hearts. To crush an opponent mercilessly. To destroy with no emotion or regret.” Zabuza started to build up his chakra, you could see it radiating off him. 

Sakura was afraid. “What are we going to do?”

Kakashi and I had two options. We could both make a break for it and save Sasuke and Naruto, but he’d slay the bridge builder. If we used shadow clones Zabuza would just match them with water clones, we’d be wasting chakra. We had no choice, it was us or Zabuza right now, we’d have to do it the hard way. Kakashi looked at me and nodded. He began to pull his headband up from his Sharingan and I focused my chakra, shutting my eyes to concentrate. When I felt the power flowing through every inch of me I opened my eyes, instantly activating the Sharingan in them. 

Zabuza laughed at us. “The Sharingan? You guys are no fun. Using the same old trick?” Zabuza ran toward Kakashi before Kakashi could get his headband off his eye. He had no idea what was coming. 

I was the only one that had my Sharingan ready so I jumped for Zabuza as he pulled a kunai out. With his free arm, Zabuza took hold of the leg that I had out toward him and threw me toward the ground, stopping me in my tracks. Kakashi put his hands up and the kunai went into the one that wasn’t holding his headband. 

Kakashi was even more pissed off now. “If it’s such an old trick, why did you stop me?”

Zabuza laughed, still holding the knife into Kakashi’s hand. I slowly stood back up and took my own kunai out. “Let your opponent see your jutsu too many times and he’ll find a way to use it against you.” 

I held my kunai out toward Zabuza. “Move your kunai Zab, before I move it myself.”

Kakashi looked over at me. “This is my fight right now Y/n. Let me handle it.” He looked back at Zabuza. “Count yourself lucky because you’re the only man alive that’s ever seen my Sharingan twice. The show’s over. There won’t be a third time.”

I was taken aback when Kakashi told me to back off, but I knew that he could handle Zabuza on his own. Zabuza laughed. “Even if you did defeat me you’d have no chance against Haku. When I found him he was just a street kid, but I trained him in the most advanced ninja techniques. I taught him everything I know, plus, he had special abilities that he refined on his own. The boy developed quickly. Soon he was able to verse the most powerful enemies, outnumbered, in total darkness, it didn’t matter. He could strike with perfect accuracy. He cared nothing for his own life or the lives of others. He’d become a unique fighting machine; a shinobi.”

“In the end, his power surpassed even mine. His bloodline trait, the Kekkei Genkai, can not be defeated by anyone. I’ve created a tool that can destroy anything that stands in my way, unlike the useless punks that follow you around!” He laughed maniacally. Zabuza pulled his kunai out of Kakashi’s hand and his blood flew around them. I watched in peril as they both stared at the ice walls. “You think those Genin together can defeat Haku? He’s the ultimate. A battle tool of destruction.”

Kakashi still had his hand on the headband over his eye. “Are you done bragging? You’re starting to put me to sleep. Let’s finish this.” He pulled the headband up and showed his Sharingan. “Now!”

“Fine, but there’s one more thing you should know, more bragging as you say.” Kakashi was glaring at him as he listened. “Did you really think our last battle was a win or lose? That I took your attacks like some rank Genin? Haku was there, hiding, watching every move you made, studying your Sharingans. Haku can see a jutsu once and immediately form a lethal counter-attack. It’s one of his gifts. I’ve been waiting to see the look on your faces when you two realize that your Sharingan's are worthless.” He stopped for a minute. “You once said the same jutsu won't work on me twice, well, now I’m telling you that.” Zabuza put his hand up. “Ninja art, hidden mist jutsu.”

The mist started to surround us. I couldn’t see Kakashi or the ice walls anymore. Zabuza disappeared. I didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t see Kakashi so I backed up until I found Sakura and Tazuna. “Kashi!”

“I’m fine. Just stay with the two of them. Keep them safe.”

“I can’t see the boys anymore!”

“Focus Y/n. I need you focused if we’re gonna make it out of here.”

“Sakura, stay with me.” I looked over at her. “Get your kunai ready.” I heard Sakura take out her kunai. “Follow my lead you two and whatever happens, stay behind me.”

Tazuna spoke up. “I’m right behind you.”

I heard Zabuza speak in the distance. “Very skillful, as I’d expect from Kakashi the Sharingan warrior.” There was a pause before I heard him again. “But the next time you see me will be the last time you see anything.” 

I froze. I had to get to Kakashi. “No!” I realized I was speaking out loud. I looked behind me at Sakura. “You stay here with Tazuna. I’m going to help Kakashi.”

Sakura nodded to me and I started running in the direction I was hearing the voices. Zabuza spoke again. “Without your Sharingan you are nothing.” I hoped I would get there in time. “You wanted me to believe you can see through anything, even through time, But your prediction was wrong, I’m still alive. So you’re a fraud Kakashi, you guys can’t read the future and you can’t read me. Sharingan is just a cheap trick that makes you seem more powerful than you really are.”

“I know now that your Sharingan has two separate elements. The piercing eye that sees every detail and the hypnotic eye that mesmerizes your opponents. Employing these abilities you can execute multiple jutsu in quick succession, to make it seem like you can see the future. First, with the piercing eye you copied my movements instantly. This replication of movement makes me doubt my own thoughts. Once I was shaken you infiltrated my mind, waiting for the slightest flutter to anticipate my actions, seeking out any hints to my next move.”

I made it over to the two of them. Zabuza had no idea that I was hiding. I could see Kakashi looking around, Zabuza had vanished from his line of sight, but I could see him. 

He spoke more. “You time it precisely, waiting for the right moment. The instant my mind becomes unfocused you create a new illusion, with your hypnotic eye. You induce me to make hand signs, while you’re making the same signs, so you seem to be copying me when actually you’re controlling my movements. Now that I know this, a very simple plan can defeat you. First, neutralize your piercing eye with zero visibility mist.”

I saw Kakashi go ridged. I had never seen him so out of sorts. Zabuza struck at him and he jumped backward before he hit him. The mist was slowing down his reaction time and I had to wait for the right moment to strike or I’d blow my cover. “Next, neutralize your hypnotic eye by keeping my own eyes closed. You can’t bore into my mind if you can’t look into my eyes.”

Kakashi looked around. “Brilliant, except with your eyes closed you can’t see me either.”

I knew as soon as he said it that he was wrong. Zabuza didn’t have a problem with things like this. He was part of the assassination unit, they were trained for this. “Have you forgotten who I am Kakashi. I’m the Demon of the Hidden Mist, master of the silent kill, I can take you out by sound alone.”

My time was coming. Zabuza would strike soon. I moved away from Kakashi. The next place that Zabuza would strike was going to be Sakura and Tazuna. Kakashi was blind to him, he would use the opportunity. I moved slowly and quietly, using what Zabuza had taught me against him until I could see the two of them, as well as Zabuza. Kakashi must have realized it too, as I jumped toward them and Zabuza reappeared Kakashi appeared in front of them. Zabuza swung his sword and Kakashi let it hit him. Blood started dripping from Kakashi and Sakura screamed. 

Zabuza looked at him and I stood, ready with a kunai. “Kashi!”

“You were late Kakashi.” He looked between the two of us. “You let your concern for those two little punks cloud your mind, adding further to the fog that already hinders your Sharingan.” Kakashi was holding his chest. “Your eyes are sharp Kakashi, but not sharp enough to read my moves.” Kakashi was in pain, I could tell by just looking at him, blood was seeping into his clothes. “Come on Kakashi, I want this to be fun. I want to enjoy this as I exact my revenge. As for those brats, don’t worry, they’re at Haku’s mercy.” He looked at me. “Sorry about your brother Y/n. He’s probably breathing his last breath, right now.”

I couldn’t take it anymore. The taunting was beginning to be too much. I could feel the anger radiating off me and Zabuza just continued. “Relax, you’ll have plenty of time to weep and apologize when you guys see that brat in the next life.” 

Before I could strike at him he disappeared into the mist again. I walked close to Kakashi. “Are you okay?” I put my hand on his hand as he clutched where the sword had just hit him. “Let me see.”

He was breathing heavily. “We don’t have time for you to look Y/n.” He turned to Sakura and Tazuna. “I believe in the boys' abilities. I have faith in them. Naruto, the number one, hyperactive, knucklehead ninja, and Sasuke, one of the last remaining of the most powerful clan in the Leaf Village.” 

Zabuza was just now realizing something about my brother and I. He hadn’t realized exactly who I had meant when I told him I was an Uchiha. Kakashi taunted him. His eyes grew wide. “You mean? All this time, you were part of that group of Uchiha’s Y./n?”

Kakashi spoke for me. “That’s right.” I was proud as Kakashi spoke. “The unique bloodlines from the Uchiha clan run through their veins. The Kekkei Genkai is their birthright.”

“I knew that two young ninjas had survived the attack on the Uchiha clan, no wonder you advanced so quickly in your training with me, and him in his training. But so does Haku. No one can match him. No one has ever stopped his secret jutsu, even the most skilled Jonin fall before him. Just as you will fall before me.” 

Zabuza appeared and I made my move, completely ignoring Kakashi’s yells for me to stop. “You’re mine Zabuza!” 

Before I could attack him Kakashi grabbed me and pulled me back, waving his scroll around. I knew what he was about to do so I back off. “Zabuza, I know how you like to draw these things out, but how about we put an end to this now.” Kakashi let me go and held the scroll in his hand, ready to form his jutsu. “Come on, what do you say? We’re both busy people.”

Zabuza had disappeared again and spoke. “Tempting, I’m curious to see how you’re going to back up such big words. Show me Kakashi!”

Kakashi started his hand signals. “Ninja art summoning, earth style.” He slammed the scroll on the ground. “Fanged pursuit jutsu.”

“I don’t know why you bother. Of what use is your jutsu if you can’t even find me? But I can find you. You’re blindly falling into my trap. You disappoint me Kakashi. I think you’re right, it is time to put an end to this.”

I smirked from where I stood, knowing that what Zabuza was saying was about to end. The ground started to break from under Zabuza and Kakashi and I could hear the dogs barking and growling. Kakashi's ninja hounds were like music to my ears. We looked at each other and smiled. Kakashi stood back up from the ground and walked forward. “I realized that if I couldn’t see you, I’d have to smell you out. That was a summoning jutsu. I was calling forth my ninja hounds. They can track a scent anywhere.”

“When you attacked me I let you get past my guard, I wanted you to cut me, you see, it’s the smell of my blood on your blade that led them to you.” Kakashi chuckled. “Surprised? Looks like I wasn’t the only one that was blind.”

I took the opportunity to taunt him. “Fallen into Kakashi’s trap, you disappoint me Zabuza. So much for the big bad Demon of the Mist.”

Kakashi put his arm around my shoulder, trying to anger Zabuza. “This mist is finally clearing, and you know what I see… your death.”

Taglist 💕@korianrdr​ @nimeryaa​ @o-franzii-o​ @chidori-mint​ @fan-g0rl​ @ari-hatake15​ @praisingkuroosbedhead​ @hunie-hun @puredicks​ @affection-rabbit​ @excitedlysuffering​

[nosybookworm]

Ninja Academy vs Hero School Rant

Naruto was my jam back in the day. I stayed up late to watch the new episodes, bought the dvd box sets and manga volumes, collected toys and cards just to stare at adoringly, even pretended to be sick so that I could stay home and watch a Naruto marathon. Point is, I LOVED Naruto.

I was invested in the characters. My heart ached for every single character that gave me a backstory. I ugly cried on more than ten occasions.

The action and moral dilemmas sucked me in and spit me out, made me the person I am today thinking critically about the stuff I love because wow that universe is in no way safe or sane for the people living in it lol.

The villains absolutely TERRIFIED me DESPITE STILL WANTING TO SEE MORE OF THEM, Orochimaru alone had me sleeping with the lights on and ripping the arms off his action figure just to be safe.

When I started watching My Hero Academia those old happy feelings started slapping me in the face drawing me in. MHA hits a lot of the same points that Naruto had and I didn’t really notice until the end of season 3 because those points weren’t as in-your-face or emotionally impactful as it was in Naruto I guess. Not to say it didn’t have an impact! Just that it rolled off me a lot easier which might just be a me problem.

I Mean:

The main character getting bullied/excluded because of something he can’t control. 

Underdog character then meeting or making an emotional connection with a mentor figure truly feeling “acceptance” for maybe the first time and taking that all important first step toward their life long dream. 

A teacher willing to sacrifice himself to protect the students. 

A school training teens to protect/serve. 

Rivalry that may or may not be actual friendship.

Students fighting against each other to “rank up” by showing how capable they are to their superiors.

Enemies invading to terrorize the kids and escaping to terrorize another day.

Traumatic family backstories that child will now attempt to seek justice through own power.

Previous underdog character actually having a secret power that no one knows about but a select few and that he has to train to learn how to use, but it makes him a powerhouse that is always surprising the enemy and inspiring his fellows.

Sure all that can be tied to any story when generalized like this, but the way MHA presents them is pretty similar to Naruto.

(Okay, ALL OF THIS is going to be my personal opinion. Things I want to say to get out of my system so that I can move on. It’s long too. So, now that you’ve been warned continue on.)

The more I got into it the stranger it felt because despite hitting those same points I loved they hit in a different way that....well... made me a little uncomfortable to sit through.

Like Aizawa

Very clearly the Kakashi in MHA. He’s sly hardly ever telling his students the truth but has incredibly high expectations of them, has been known to expel students left and right until his most recent batch of kids, is ready and willing to throw himself in harms way for them, and surprisingly competent despite his exhausted persona/personality. However the way these two teachers act get two very different results from me. Naruto got a chance to introduce Kakashi in a way that endeared him to me, the bell test was more than just showcasing the kids current abilities it was introducing Kakashi (the Jounin that is a kind of jack of all trades, the known perv that will publicly read porn, the guy that will happily mess with a bunch of kids to “teach them a lesson” and because its funny, the guy that requires the students under his care to care about each other because caring for his team matters to him more than any mission, that guy). MHA gave the quirk test. Aizawa mostly in the background taking notes and jotting down scores after his speech about expelling whoever comes last. We didn’t get to hear Aizawa’s thoughts until the very end when Izuku surprised him. 

I didn’t really feel any connection toward Aizawa until I stumbled across fanfics that wrote him more involved with the students and I think that’s the problem. Aizawa is dedicated to his student’s education, he believes they will all be amazing heroes one day, but he hardly ever interacts with them. He can be seen watching their training from afar, sleeping in a corner as another teacher takes over for a bit, protecting them from danger or fighting along side them, and proudly declaring that Bakugo would never turn villain but all of that means very little emotionally when I can’t see him making connections with these students to make this standoffish confidence understandable. He comes off as one of those super smart teachers that have undecipherable lessons because he has no idea how to connect with his students enough to explain in way they understand. Similarly, he like jots down that he’s taking note of Bakugo and might need to step in before he goes down the wrong path but then does nothing and confidently tells the press Bakugo would never be a villain.

Kakashi was pretty standoffish too, no denying that, and the little episodes when the kids conspire to try to see him without his mask are the kind of outside interactions that would be weird for a modern teacher-student relationship like in MHA, so I get why Aizawa doesn’t really have that with any of the kids. However, Kakashi saw the path Sasuke was going down and spent time with him and confronted him about it (it did nothing to stop him but he tried). He took time to find a teacher for Naruto. He was present and awake for just about every milestone in there education with him. He told them when he was proud of them not other people. He involved himself in some of their high jinks to measure their growth and as such was able to have confidence in them when they went off on their own.

The Villains

And My Hero Academia villains, namely All For One. 

I felt nothing when he showed up. I was all caught up in All Might and his passing of the torch. The guy without eyes didn’t feel threatening, didn’t feel like the big bad he was suppose to be. The League of Villains really didn’t feel like “serious enemies” either cause I actually really enjoyed them when they were on screen for their dynamics with each other. Similar to how I liked the Akatsuki in their more light-hearted scenes when they where super strong idiots banded together by sheer force of will and explosive personalities that refuse to leave a job half finished. With the League I would be just as entertained (probably more so) if they were in a slice of life anime just being terrible people together.

I get the feeling All For One was supposed to be MHA’s Orochimaru. (And I say this despite knowing Orochimaru’s introduction is probably a lot closer to Stain what with the confrontation and all, but his whole “the world is corrupt, I will cut out the wrong and remake it into the pure world it should have always been” aligned more with Pain especially with his quick turnabout saving Izuku.) 

Orochimaru always felt in control even when he was in hiding or on the run, he felt like he had more up his sleeve which is the only thing I got from All For One when he was imprisoned. Both Orochimaru and All For One showed up out of nowhere, very obviously in a class of their own that the teenage main characters had no hope of beating, and a mysterious backstory that clearly put all the adults in the know on edge. But I just don’t see All For One as a villain. Nothing about him screamed “Run for your lives this man will smile as he tears you apart!” like Orochimaru. Nothing about All For One’s secret Mad Scientist lab gave me creepy vibes that left me on the edge of my seat clutching at the nearest pillow the way the Sound Village that practically worshiped Orochimaru and the many base of operations he had did.

Terrible Parents

The Todoroki family. 

...

Look. The world of Naruto has terrible parenting, but they also live in a dictator/military run nation where kids can be a front-line defense or key players in a war zone so it’s hard to measure how to view these people. Cause a father that beats his kid and yells at him to get stronger has genuine reasons to rightfully freak out when children as young as 8 get sent to ninja academy. Families that have a rare genetic trait like the Hyuga or Uchiha have every right to be tough and stern if they feel that will protect their kids when they know putting them out into the world makes them an easier target for enemies that would rip out their eyes. 

I can judge their actions based on their consequences. Like the Uchiha clan planning a revolt forcing their eldest to massacre them to keep the peace and their youngest to live with a crazy amount of trauma. Like the Hyuga clan branding their branch members to protect family eyes, but forcing them into being lesser than the main branch and all the trauma that forced on Neji’s poor head. The stupid level of expectation set on Hinata’s young shoulders that she couldn’t meet in the way her clan wanted that made her self-confidence practically non existent. The Hokage leaving Naruto mostly alone for his entire childhood in a village that openly hated him. The Kazekage trying to have his lonely three-year-old assassinated multiple times once by his beloved uncle - the only person that was kind and loved him - that scarred him so entirely that he carved “love” into his forehead and rampaged around the village and did casual murder intentionally for years before meeting Naruto. 

All that... I can get behind as abuse. I want those sad kids to be happy. They deserved better and I will happily lose myself in a fix-it fic where they get that.

MHA gives me similar scenarios but without the clear-cut consequences that shows when parenting for that world is abuse. 

Endeavor is not a good husband. He is emotionally abusive to his wife to the point she has a mental break and attacks a child. 

However, in a world of heroes, in a world where high school students are trained to protect and serve and that self sacrifice is a noble heroic trait. How do I compare such a society to my own? They put children in harms way with hero internships yet don’t allow them to defend themselves if they don’t have a hero license, that would be like getting a learners permit but not being allowed to practice driving.

All this to say I have a hard time telling when bad parenting falls into abuse when it comes to MHA. Endeavor is not a good parent, he is an abusive husband, but is he an abusive parent? As a hero training up the next generation of heroes can it be argued that he is pretty okay even if his methods are a little harsh? None of his children fear him from what I’ve seen. Shouto happily tells him his plans to never use his fire and all the reasons why without fearing he might be punished for it. The other kids seem to be pretty okay going on with their lives. Toya being the exception but again I don’t know what happened to him and he’s a follower of Stain so did he have a falling out with heroes or did his father push too hard?

Nighteye & Tsunade

Okay so this is where I get super rant-y. I have feelings on Nighteye and none of them good.

Nighteye being the estranged comrade of All Might the underdog’s teacher, Tsunade being the estranged comrade of Jiraiya Naruto’s teacher.

Tsunade has been hurt deeply. She ran because she felt that was the only way to save herself from more pain. Here comes Jiraiya with his new little tag along demanding she come back home, she gets appropriately angry and tries everything she can to get them to leave her alone. Naruto being the special little underdog that he is immediately gets under her skin reminding her of all the loved ones she lost bringing back all of that old pain back, so she gets even. She beats him down and challenges him to an impossible challenge to show him how small he really is and get out of her own responsibilities. But he wins. He wins, and shows Tsunade how closed off she’s become forcing her to face reality head on and face her fears at last. He changes her whole world view through action.

Nighteye has been hurt deeply. He sees the future for every person he touches and as such sees futures in which people he loves get hurt and sometimes die. He believes there is nothing he or anyone can do to change these visions. All Might is his hero, His friend and mentor, his comrade. His friend gets hurt in a way he can never fully recover from and he sees a vision where his friend dies on the battle field. He then tells All Might who refuses to retire and leaves without a backward glance. They don’t speak until years later when Nighteye picks out a successor for One For All, but Toshi chooses Izuku and never meets Nighteye’s pick.

Izuku, needing an internship not Gran Torino, goes to Sir Nighteye All Might’s old side kick. He gets tested, told he’s not worthy of One For All, and has to work under this man as he tries to get Izuku to see how Mirio is more worthy of All Might’s quirk. Facing off against Overhaul when they are at their most desperate Nighteye uses his quirk to see what will happen and sees the worst possible scenario. They lose. Then Izuku flies in sweeps Eri into his arms and fights Overhaul saving the day. Izuku proved, unknowingly, that the future Nighteye sees is not set in stone with his actions and on his death bed Nighteye acknowledges that without acknowledging it.

Nighteye’s treatment toward Izuku makes me uncomfortable. This is a man in a position of power over this student telling him that he is not enough, will never be enough, and that he is a disappointment.

His glorifying of All Might makes me uncomfortable. He was All Might’s partner and yet he practically had a shrine of the man in his office. He made him more than just a man, built him up as The Symbol of Peace and kept him there (as many of Toshi’s friends seem to do except for Nedzu and Naomasa) despite getting close enough trusted enough to learn about One For All. And despite all that “love” and “devotion” he left Toshinori alone to deal with his new normal of a permanently damaged system alone for years then takes out all that frustration and grief out on his friends chosen successor.

Then when all is said and done and he’s dying and he’s confronted by Toshinori and Izuku what happens? Does he apologize? Explain his actions? Get closure in his final moments?

No. Well, Toshinori got some measure of closure. Izuku got a few words that essentially boiled down to “Good job, your better than I thought.” without talking about the newfound hope Izuku’s action gave him that his visions are only possibilities not absolute. All of his attention then goes to his choice for One For All, Mirio. 

Understandably. 

He’s dying and Mirio was always his main priority as a mentor, and you know who Mirio looks like? All Might. He’s blonde, buff, blue-eyed, cheerfully friendly, and with a happy-go-lucky persona about him. Sir Nighteye taught him to smile. Chose him to be the new wielder of One For All and without telling him anything planned to introduce him to Toshinori to make his choice reality. Doesn’t that sound... I don’t know... uncomfortably close to manipulation? Grooming? To taking this child under his wing and molding him to be pretty close to a new version of All Might?

I don’t know. Maybe if Sir Nighteye had lived this uncomfortable impression I have of him would be lessened as he began to internalize the full extent of possibilities for the future that he never thought possible before and acted more hopeful, more willing to take gambles because his visions were no longer a guarantee of what will happen. 

[catflorist]

The Garden (ao3 / ffn) catflorist Summary: SasuSaku. Sasuke left Konoha for a cottage in the woods. One day, Sakura arrives injured at his doorstep. They recall their past and think about what comes next. Slow burn, post-canon, about how Sasuke and Sakura grew close again. Rated T through Chapter 5, then M. 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7

The Garden Chapter 7

They shared his bed. The night was quiet. Sasuke was not asleep when Sakura shook his shoulder.

“Sasuke,” she urged. “I know what to do.” Her eyes shone in the dark.

“Hm?”

“To make the village safe for you. And your clan.”

“Don’t, Sakura,” he warned. Sasuke could not allow himself to be filled with her hope. It was already hard enough to hold her knowing she could not stay.

“Please listen to me,” she insisted.

She told him her idea.  

They talked until dawn.

*

Sakura and Sasuke left for Konoha.

Sakura had some conversations.

She gathered a group.

They went to the elders.

Sakura announced, “I’m here to discuss reparations for the Uchiha clan.”

Unhappy murmurings filled the council room. “With all due respect, Sakura-san, what business is this of yours?” asked Ito-sama, the head of the council.

“The future wellbeing of the Uchiha line is a matter that interests many leaf shinobi,” she replied. She gestured to the crowd behind her.

Knowing Sakura’s reputation, and with the added pressure of a crowd, the council relented.

“I’m giving the floor to Uchiha Sasuke to list his demands,” Sakura stated.

Sakura turned to find Sasuke. He moved to join her on the floor through a tense silence. The elders had not expected him.

Sasuke met Sakura’s gaze for a moment, steeling himself. Then he began.

“A law will pass immediately in Konoha that outlaws organized violence against its own citizens.

“No clan shall be forced to live in isolation from the rest of the village. Representatives from each clan will form their own council to discuss and quell conflicts and disagreement before they arise.

“No shinobi of any clan shall be forced to act in service to the village against their clan.

“Konoha will formally apologize for its role in the massacre of the Uchiha clan. The village will also formally apologize to Uchiha Itachi.

“The history of the Uchiha clan will be taught at the academy to all shinobi to ensure the tragedy will never be forgotten or repeated.

“Future descendants of the Uchiha clan—and members of all clans—will have the right to choose when, if ever, to invoke their bloodline traits in service of the village.”

The room held its breath.

Ito-sama said, “We will need time to consider the possibility of this request.”

Sakura bowed in deference. Except a soft ring in his ears, Sasuke could feel nothing at all.

Their friends and teammates had gathered. Naruto and Hinata. Choji, Ino, and Shikamaru. Sakura’s whole team of medical shinobi. Tsunade and Kakashi. Their murmurs of displeasure filled the room. Words loaded on their tongues. They prepared to fire their voices in solidarity.

Sakura wasn’t done.

 “Thank you for your time, council. We understand completely. Ito-sama, how is your wife?” she suddenly wondered. “I hope the ache in her knee has cleared?”

The councilman blinked at her inquisitive face, then answered, “She is well after the treatment you gave her.”

Sakura beamed at him. “I’m very happy to hear that. Nakamura-sama, is your son still teething?”

One by one, she called out to each member of the council with a voice like sugar. She reminded them of all the times she had personally benefitted the lives of them and their families. Once they were shifting uncomfortably, Sakura smiled. “It is my great honor to serve not only you and your families, but all citizens of Konoha—and to train the next generation of medical shinobi.” She lowered her head. “My whole team cares deeply about this issue, of course. Healing and justice are intertwined efforts. We will wait eagerly to hear your decision.”

Sakura was the picture of innocence. The councilmembers became very aware of all the medical ninja in the crowd.

It was no hidden secret that in a few short years, Sakura had advanced the medical systems and infrastructure of the village decades into the future. The rate of mortality on missions had lowered significantly thanks to her work.

It was also no secret that Sakura had hand-picked and trained a majority of the shinobi that now staffed the Konoha hospital and were deployed on missions. Her team was indebted and loyal to her.

Konoha would fall apart without Sakura and her subordinates.

She had leveraged all of her power.

The council stewed.

* * * *

They were Genin.

Sakura and Sasuke sparred while Naruto and Kakashi observed from afar.

No matter what she did, Sasuke always managed to duck behind her and win the fight. After many rounds with the same outcome, he scolded, “Maybe if you just kept an eye on your opponent, you wouldn’t lose all the time.”

Sakura clenched her fists at her side. “You’re being really mean today,” she snapped.

“You’re so annoying.”

“You’re not that great either, Sasuke!”

They fumed.

He lunged again at her. Pooling chakra in the soles of her feet, she bounded up the side of a nearby tree. Jumping off as hard as she could, she sprung into the air and landed on her feet behind him. She touched the tip of a kunai between his shoulder blades.

The clone substitution disappeared with a puff.

Panting, she spun around to find him. She braced herself for how he might berate her next.

“I told you to keep an eye on your enemy,” he said. She started to scowl. He caught her off guard with a smile. His eyes glinted with pride.

 *

Sasuke held a kunai to her throat. With any wrong move his blade would cut her. He bared his teeth in a cruel smile. For the first time, she was afraid of him. This moment never left her nightmares.

 *

In an uncertain alliance, they fought together on the battlefield. Sakura released her full strength. She healed battalions without breaking a sweat. She ripped open the earth like ripping paper.

To Naruto and Sasuke’s astonished faces, she growled, “Do you think Tsunade is the only Legendary Sanin who failed to teach her student?”

 *

Sasuke had given up on his revenge.

“I’m sorry,” he told her for the first time.

Sakura was not ready to forgive him. She did not care if his apology was sincere. She was so angry.

“You fucking better be sorry,” she snarled.

She could not stop crying.

 *

The war was over. Sasuke did not stay in the village. She did not expect him to, even though she asked him to stay. His absence had not been an anomaly for a long time.

Sakura had her studies and responsibilities, friends and family to worry about. She had ideas on how to make Konoha better and safer for all shinobi.

News of Sasuke’s whereabouts and activities sometimes found their way to Sakura, scrambled through dozens of sources. Only on difficult nights did she wonder if he would return.

 *

Years passed. They were adults.

He came back to the village one spring evening. Naruto showed up after a long hospital shift to tell her the news.

Sakura did not seek him out. First her commitments at the hospital prevented her, and then her apprehension prevented her.

The moment they finally saw each other was unplanned, under a blossoming tree on the outskirts of the village.

Sakura couldn’t decide how to proceed. Anger was familiar and safe. It would feel good, and he spoke the language. Kindness was unpredictable. Did she have kindness left for him?

He stood with his arms crossed, eyebrows drawn together, his mouth weighed down in a frown. They appraised each other. If she didn’t know any better, she’d call him indifferent, cold.

His eyes gave him away. They were too bright. He was waiting for her decision.

She hated him. They were tied together. She was not ready to be close again. She’d always loved him.

She made a choice.

“I’m glad you’re safe,” she said.

Sasuke uncrossed his arms.

He said, “Sakura.”

* * * *

The council had to decide. They could pass laws and meet demands that should have already been fulfilled. Or they could refuse and fall out of Sakura’s good will. They might lose the best medical shinobi in the village and arguably the known world. They risked upsetting the many shinobi who followed her, the very people who ensured the safety, health, and well-being of the entire village.

It came down to this: Konoha could not afford to fall out of Sakura’s good will.

*

The agreement was drawn on the spot and all conditions were met.

In one afternoon, Sasuke and Sakura secured the legal safety and autonomy of the future Uchiha line.

When the crowd erupted in boisterous celebration, Sakura felt dizzy.

The work was not done. Sakura thought of how else she might transform the village. She would disband the village council, for one. She would tear down the structures of power that had enabled even the thought of an organized massacre. She thought about what she wanted for her future. Her children’s future. She reimagined the world. She would start tomorrow.

The room faded away. All she could see was Sasuke, all she could feel was his light touch on her arm.

For now, Sasuke was home.

*

When it was officially done, Sasuke reached out for Sakura to steady himself. He was no longer in the room. He could only see the faces that made up his clan. His mother and father. Itachi. He saw a life spent with Sakura. He saw small hands helping in the garden.

*

*

*

*

Fin.

*

All I wanted is for Sakura and Sasuke to find themselves in a world where they could be honestly and fully together. So they made that world themselves.

References: 1. In Chapter 3, as I already mentioned, the moment where Sasuke tells Sakura what he’s heard of her abilities was inspired heavily by a scene in Folklore by the author BlushingLotus. 2. Other elements of this fic (like Sasuke’s turmoil over the future wellbeing of his children) were inspired by where the daylight begins by ohwhatsherface (sun-summoning on tumblr) 3. The smut fic that first got me interested in SasuSaku was Hot Water by WellHowAboutThat.

I am so grateful to these talented authors for their inspiration in my writing and wanted to give credit where it is due. If you enjoyed this fic, definitely read the work by these authors as well! They have been writing SasuSaku for longer than I have. Their work is all on FFN/linked. This fic was the first piece of creative writing I've done in years. It wrote itself. Thank you so much everyone for following along. Please let me know if you’d like to see more SasuSaku from me. I hope you are all safe and well, and I’m sending you all my love.

[fifi-uchiha]

Born to Live (4/?)

„An ambush...” Tenten panted, still feeling dizzy and exhausted from the fight. “They were ninja from another village.” Naruto raised a brow, seemed confused about the brunette’s assumption. “What?!” Ino asked angrily and more than alarmed. “Are you all okay? Any injuries I need to heal?”

“No, no, we’re alright,” Sakura waved off with a calming smile and moved her eyes to the four bodies. Her green orbs narrowed when she eyed the blank metal of their headbands because she was aware what that meant. “Why do you think they were ninja from another village?” Naruto asked the obvious question, didn’t see how his friend would think that. “Well…,” Sakura started, looking at her best friend. “Just look at their headbands, Naruto. They’re blank.”

The pinkette pointed at the covered head of one of the dead ninjas. “Ninjas with blank headbands are known for being spies from other villages who travel to other places to gain information… or to cause trouble. Like beginning a fight or assassinate a prey. They didn’t carve any symbol on their headbands to cover their heritage so they can hide where they’re from.” The fox ninja nodded understandingly and heard how Ino slapped her forehead. “Oh fuck!” she exclaimed. “And we overkilled those motherfuckers!” “AAAH! Dammit, you’re right, dattebayo!”

“It’s alright,” Tenten appeased, trying to calm everyone down whereas Kiba nodded. “Yeah. ‘Cause we know who’s behind that sneaky shit.” “We do?” Naruto asked incredulously. “Who was it?” “What do you think? Those Konoha-bastards, who else?”, the brown haired ninja barked. “But why?”, the pinkette leader wondered and earned looks that basically screamed ‘Seriously?’’ “Uhm… because they’re bastards..?” Naruto offered her, as if it were too obvious not no notice. “I’m aware,” the pinkette deadpanned dryly. “I just mean… It’s not like them. After all, Uchiha Sasuke declared war and even set a damn DATE, shannaro! Why would they attack us? Bastards or not, Konoha doesn’t fight dirty.” Sakura really couldn’t think of a plan that Sasuke might followed, as much as she tried. “Why blank headbands though? Everyone knows that Konoha declared war, so why would he cover up an assassination mission? “ she continued. “There’s no reason for them to hide, wouldn’t you agree?” “Maybe they did it so other villagers won’t recognize them and warn us?” Tenten offered who still understood where Sakura was coming from. “I think Kiba’s right, though. Konoha-nins are known for being manipulative and sneaky fighters who like to discover their rivals weak points and disable them before a fight.” Ino nodded, made it obvious that she too shared her theory. “Totally agree. They want to destroy us from the inside.” Her blue eyes lingered on the dead bodies and Ino scoffed smugly, folding her arms before her chest. “Well, they tried, I’ll give them that.” “I guess you’re right,” the pinkette sighed, accepting of the only logical explanation. Of course Konoha would use dirty tricks to weaken Timea and demonstrate their power, of course they would try to kill the most powerful ninjas of her homeland. God, that Uchiha was one hell of a bastard, shannaro! “However, we need to make sure to keep unexpected guests outside Timea. I think we should send Rayo and his team to guard the borders.” “I’ll tell him as soon as I can,” Kiba promised, earning a thankful smile from his comrade. “Thank you, Kiba.” “Okay guys, we should go back and rest, dattebayo” A loud yawn escaped his lips and Naruto stretches his arms, making it more than obvious how tired he was. “Naruto’s right. Come on, tomorrow’s a big day- MPH!” To Sakura’s surprise, Tenten covered the Yamanaka’s mouth with her hand, choking her in the process which looked pretty hilarious to her, however, she raised her brows in astonishment because Tenten was actually a calm person in general. “Well… yeah. We should rest. All of us need to sleep, the shades under our eyes look scary to be honest,”, Kiba smiled before he and Naruto grabbed Sakura and pulled her towards the camp. And Sakura could’ve sworn that she heard Tenten calling Ino a blabbering waterwall… “But I’m hungry, shannaro!” .

.

.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sakura was a passionate , hotheaded fighter through and through, however, there were days were she worked as a medic in Timea-gakure. During those days, she worked with Rin Sensei, Ino and other medics to help injured and ill people who were far more important than training to her. But she still didn’t understand why Naruto and Tenten forced her to spend her time in the hospital even though there weren’t any emergency that needed her special attention. Were they trying to get rid of her? “Whooo, look who I found!” The female leader turned to the sudden male voice and immediately recognized the attractive face of Leo, a good looking, brown haired playboy she knew for years. That guy wasn’t just an exceptional shinobi with impressive strength, he was also capable of handling every single surgery which required perfect precision. He was a master surgeon and saved thousands without breaking a single sweat which made him one of the most valuable members of Timea’s army. “Leo. Good to see you, I really need those chakra results of patient 233-” “I already took care of him and told him he’s free to go, pinky. I stitched him up so good, he even started his training session,”, he interrupted with a big grin on his face. “Oh wow, uhm… wow,” the pinkette stammered impressed, making her way to the next patient with Leo by her side. “I mean, that’s really impressive, Leo. You’re a real pro.” “You know what else is impressive, pinky?”, the latter asked. “That a woman like you doesn’t have good enough taste to spend a few nice hours with a man like me. I can’t be the only one who feels the sexual tension between us.” Oh for God’s sake, not again. “Hey Leo? You like your penis, right?” Hearing those calm words, Leo blinked a few times, looking totally surprised about that question. “Yeah..?” “Would you still like it If I cut it off and stuffed it down your throat?” . . .

“No-” “Yeaaah, that’s what I thought. But that’s exactly what’s going to happen should you ever call me ‘pinky’ again, champ,” she explained matter of factly. “And by the way, I’m not your type,” she waved off, looking unimpressed while she kept walking, earning a dumbfounded look from the brunette. “Sakura. Women ARE my type!” “Forget it.” “Ah, come on! One night with me and you’re world will shake.” “I already told you, I’m not gonna sleep with you,”, was her dry reply, sounding disinterested. “More important, how did you manage all those surgeries? I mean… staying up for three days must be pretty hard even for you.” Sakura tried to change the subject, however, Leo snickered lowly, giving her a devilish grin. “You wanna know what else is hard..?” “Hey! Careful, Romeo. Shut it,” Sakura warned. “Sakura, come on. I find you really hot and you know I can’t concentrate with thoughts like that. Give me one night.” “You know who else is hot? My girlfriend,” the pinkette claimed whereas Leo looked comically surprised. Wait… Did that mean..? “You’re right, Leo. I’m a lesbian. Totally gay,” she confirmed Leo’s thoughts. “And my gay, mannish, rough girlfriend Earl -yes, her name is Earl- really wouldn’t appreciate a man like you coming at me like that. She likes to get out her metal hammer and smash every guys head who approaches me. You know, after she started taking those pills and since she got that new penis and her voice started changing, she seems a little energetic. Such an attractive trait…,” Sakura raved, acting like a girl in love. Leo looked totally shocked, not knowing if his comrade was joking or not. “Now If you excuse me, I gotta go. My patient is waiting.” Before Leo could utter any words, the kunoichi turned around and kept walking, leaving the tall shinobi behind who just stared at her retreating back in astonishment. She shock was written all over his face because that was the last thing Leo could’ve ever expected. He then walked to his next patient, shaking his head disbelievingly. . .

. “Earl..?” ………………………………………………………………………………………..

“Oh my God, Sakura, you’re here. The only person next to Tenten I respect.” Yamanaka Ino was one of the most powerful kunoichis of Timea who possessed healing abilities that every ninja barely could dream of. The blonde joined the army a year ago and helped Sakura with her knowledge about medical nin-jutsu. And right now, the Yamanaka was trying to take care of Shino who suffered from a severe injury. “Goddammit, Shino! How in the world did you manage to ram that nail through your palm, shannaro?!” The nail impaled his Hand completely and to all that, it was stuck in a big piece of wood which looked really painful. “I just wanted to help building a new cottage…,” was Shino’s quite, apologetic explanation whereas Sakura nodded, noting every word down. “It’s okay, Shino. We’ll deal with that...” Fast and with perfect precision, Sakura pushed two specific areas on Shino’s palm which caused his skin to glow in a soft green right before Shino felt no pain anymore which made Ino give Sakura a proud smirk. “Seriously, forehead. Your chakra-blocking is fucking crazy.” “Heh, you’re making me blush, Ino-pig. Thanks,” Sakura replied with her cheeks indeed becoming a little redder. To be honest, the sarcastic, moody, scaring Ino wasn’t known for giving anyone compliments, moreover, the blonde kunoichi only shared her soft side with her female members if her group. And her patients of course. “Hey guys, you won’t believe what just hap- Oh my God, this is disgusting.” Kiba suddenly appeared and he seemed caught off guard after he realized how grotesque Shino’s injury looked. “What the...-” “Oh, don’t worry, it looks worse than it actually is. I just blocked his chakra and numbed his pain and due to the fortunate fact that his bones weren’t pierced in the process-” Sakura stopped when Ino and her witnessed Kiba breathing heavily, his eyes becoming a little too… heavy as dizziness was making him weaker and weaker with each second. “Oh Lord, she’s losing consciousness. Let’s show her the bloody side!” Ino smirked who just loved teasing the shinobi whenever she could which was the reason why she hold Shino’s numb, injured hand and started to wave right in front oh his face. “Well look at that, Tina, that’s his palm nailed to this bloody piece of wood. Look close, it’s bleeding like hell, it SNAPPED like a bitch! Look at it, touch it, LICK THE TIP!” Kiba’s dizziness worsened and not a second later, the poor ninja fainted and fall straight in the floor, not seeing Sakura’s pitiful smile when Ino started laughing at him. “Why are you always so mean to him?”, she jokingly demanded whereas Ino simply shrugged. “She’s gotta learn how to deal with tough situations,”, Ino answered, not showing any remorse as she grabbed her bloody glove and threw it at Kiba’s head. “Don’t you worry about her, she’ll be arlight.” . . . ………………………………………..………………………………………… “Rayo is up to something.” Naruto and Tenten were walking through the market, looking for a birthday gift for Sakura who had no idea that her team was planning to surprise her with a little party. With the war coming nearer with each passing day, the group knew that enjoying their last days in peace and freedom were valuable, not to mention that Sakura would never think about her own birthday in times like this. She was a dedicated leader and didn’t care about anything but building a beautiful village without any dangers from outside. “Rayo? What do you mean?” Tenten asked with a raised brow. “Did you two have a fight again?” “No, not this time,” Naruto grinned sheepishly, knowing that he had to be calmer and more mature. But Rayo made it really hard for him, so she shouldn’t blame him for that. “I don’t know, he’s really weird lately, dattebayo.” “He always is.” “I know. But I just… I don’t know, I’m getting more and more bitch vibes from that. I just don’t trust him, ya know?” Tenten listened to him patiently, waited until he was done and tilted her head to look at him directly. “Naruto, he’s a timea-nin, a shinobi who fought with us against horrible enemies. He’s a bastard, there’s no doubt here, but you shouldn’t think too much about him. What’s the worst he can do? Shout and scream at us?” Naruto scoffed and knew she was right. Maybe he really was reading too much into it. “Come on, tell me what else is bugging you,” she suddenly demanded, earning a surprised look. “You’ve been acting really strange this morning. Is there anything you want to tell me?” Naruto seemed a little off this morning which was uncommon for the fox ninja who’s usually in such a good mood that even a war couldn’t change it. “You dodged Sakura’s question earlier, Naruto, but I’m a little more persistent. Tell me.” “Heh. You ability to read people is getting better and better. Kinda scary,” he joked. Tenten didn’t get distracted and folded her arms before her chest, waiting for Naruto to tell her about his problem without saying much. “I’ll take it as a compliment,” she commented dryly, making him laugh. “It was.” Naruto sighed because he knew that keeping everything bottled up wasn’t actually his piece of cake. It just didn’t suit him, so he gave up and started giving her the answer that he denied his pink haired best friend. “Well, I had a few bad nights, is all”, he started and didn’t see the confusion in her face. “What do you mean? Can’t you sleep properly?” she pressed which caused Naruto to lool dejected. “No. I’m having those weird dreams… about Sakura, dattebayo..-” “Sex dreams?” Immediately, Narutos entire face flamed of shame, his cheeks were a burning red and he looked like he saw a ghost. “ARE YOU CRAZY?” he shrieked, making Tenten close her hurting ear. He definitely knew how to hollow, really. “I do NOT HAVE sex dreams of Sakura, of course! That would be disgusting, dattebayo!” Seriously, they were like brother and sister, Naruto would never dare to see Sakura like… like a woman he could desire!

Disgusting!

“Calm down, calm down, it was just a question. Jeez…,” Tenten shrugged off his screams of terror. However, it was kind of interesting to see that even Uzumaki Naruto could feel immense shame and the brunette made sure to remember that next time he would mess with her. “What kind of dreams are haunting you then?” she asked the obvious question which made Naruto look dejected again. “Well… I saw her crying,” ha started thoughtfully. “More than that, she was crying, sobbing as if someone ripped her heart out, Tenten. She didn’t say anything, I just saw her crying her eyes out, she seemed so...-” There weren’t words accurate enough to describe the sadness and the bitterness in Sakura’s eyes, not to mention the countless tears she shed. “And she looked different, dattebayo,” he added a little confused. “What do you mean ‘different’?” “Her hair was much shorter than now. It reached her shoulders and-” “She had short hair when she was 16, Naruto. Maybe-” This time, Naruto interrupted her. “No, that’s not it.” Naruto knew that Sakuta preferred to wear her hair short when she was 16 because it didn’t bother her during training sessions. Apparently, she found it more practical like that, but she let it grow again.

“This Sakura from my dream wasn’t 16. I’d say she was about 23 or 24 years old. But that’s not all,” he said, finding those dreams even more suspect when he talked about them. “Her clothes were also different. In my dreams, Sakura wore a green dress and… I don’t know, Tenten, but it looked like this Sakura came from another… village?” What really bugged him was the fact that seeing this version of Sakura kind of felt.. familiar. “Sakura never wears dresses, Tenten. And the way she cried… It broke my heart, dattebayo...” That picture, that showed Sakura who seemed so bitter, so horribly sad and broken had burnt itself into his brain, clouding his mind like a thick fog. She was sitting on the green grass, her skin far too pale, her dry lips shaking and her orbs red and wet from all those burning tears she had shed. Her sobs were so intense, so loud and broken that it made it impossible for her to say a single word. The young woman seemed alone, broken, as If someone burnt her whole world, taken everything and everyone that was important to her. But he couldn’t do anything to help her, Naruto couldn’t reach out to Sakura.

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up,” Tenten comforted him, giving him a soft pat on his back. “Sakura is stressed because of her secret leadership, not to mention that Uchiha Sasuke declared war. It’s a fact that Sakura doesn’t live like the average woman, that might be the reason why she wore a dress in your dreams”, she offered him a simple explanation. “I mean, we all are pretty worked up, Naruto. Try to relax once in a while and don’t pay too much attention to your nightmares. They’re just dreams that have nothing to do with reality.” Naruto took in a deep breath and sighed, finally accepting Tenten’s comfort and gave her a thanking smile. “Thanks, Tenten”, the Uzumaki grinned.

“No need to thank me. I really don’t like you being too serious and sad. Now come on, we have to hurry before Sakura finds out about the birthday party.” Oh. Right, that was happening right now. “Ah, shit, you’re right! Ino’s gonna behead us if we don’t make it in time!” If there was one thin Naruto and Tenten feared from the bottom of their hearts… It was Yamanaka Ino’s temper. .

.

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……………………………………………………………………………………..

Soundless and secretly, a brown haired shinobi sneaked through the darkness over the borders in the empty land between Konoha and Timea, a land that belonged no one. However, the shinobi wasn’t running away from the upcoming war for he was about to meet one of the most powerful ninja in the word, without paying a single thought to the horrendous treasure he was about to commit. His eyes flashed angrily over the mere thought of the oh so mighty leader of Timea, which was nothing but a facade of a little, weak woman. A girl. He still couldn’t fathom the mere idea of her being the great leader. The dark haired ninja couldn’t believe that it was Haruno Sakura who made herself the leader and actually acted like one. A weak woman had it in her to betray not only her own army, but also every other village who respected Timea’s new power without giving even the slightest suspicions. Who in the world would’ve ever thought a woman without any special traits or power could create a whole army? He sure didn’t. It was a real challenge to sneak away from the others, however, the traitorous ninja didn’t care at all. No, his goal lay right behind the borders of Konoha-gakure, the village that declared war without giving at least a single reason, much less an explanation. “Behold!” Suddenly, the shinobi was surrounded, facing three ninjas who seemed alarmed and ready to fight and it didn’t take an expert to know that these men belonged to Konoha’s guards. The brown haired ninja showed no fear whatsoever nor was he scared in any way because he was here for a reason, a plan he had in mind. “I am a shinobi from Timea,” he introduced himself and he could saw their narrowing gazes. After all, they were a few days left until war which made it more than understandable that his sudden visit was not appreciated. “What do you want?”, one of the guards hissed, making him roll his eyes. God, that was so annoying. “I have to talk to your hokage,” the shinobi demanded without showing emotion. “There is something I need to tell him. You could say… interesting information.” For a moment they seemed to consider his words but suddenly, the shinobi felt a strong chakra signature. Another ninja appeared, walking towards the new visitor as he watched him with light eyes that were shining in the same color as the moon. Pearl colored eyes were watching him like a hawk, the man seemed to analyze him with obvious distrust. He wore white clothing, his blown hair was long and his skin pale. However, his light eyes were enough for him to know who he was dealing with. Definitely a Hyuuga. Hyuuga Neji. “What would a timea-nin possibly want from us?”, Neji directly asked, analyzing the stranger with narrowed eyes to make sure this wasn’t a hidden ambush. “Or are you the mysterious leader of Timea..?” “You are mistaken. I am not our leader,” the brown haired ninja immediately denied. “I came to talk to Uchiha Sasuke,” he continued, not a bit backing down. “For what reason exactly?”, Neji asked with calm distrust. “If you want to talk about the fight, then I have to disappoint you. Sasuke-sama won’t change is mind, you would just waste valuable time.” “I believe what I have to say to your hokage is of high importance,” he pressed. “There is no reason for you to distrust me for I have left my homeland.” Neji saw no lies nor regrets in his eyes but for some reason he still believed him. “What would your hokage say If I told him that the identity of Timea’s leader is no longer a well hidden secret..?” Hearing those words, Neji widened his eyes, seeming surprised for he was told that no one knew the real name of the all mighty leader of Timea, not even their own army. Could it be a trap? A foul trick to attack Konoha? No, he doubted that. Timea was far too powerful and smart to send a single ninja, that wouldn’t make any sense. That’s why Neji finally nodded, accepting the ninja’s offer. “What is your dame?” Neji demanded with controlled voice whereas the stranger gave him a little smirk. “My name is Rayo...” .

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::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Alright… I did it. I kicked my butt and I… well… yeah, I tried, okay? I don’t feel good about this, I don’t like my english chapters but I still want to share my stories with my SasuSaku family and… yeah. I know it’s still a little boring and all but TRUST me- Things are gonna be crazy. Typos are all little presents from me to you, so please keep them ^.^ And please, don’t be too harsh, English is my third language and... Yeah. I’m still trying hehe Xoxo Fifi-Uchiha! By the way, here’s the linkt to the whole ff. And you can find the other chapters on my tumblr account, just use the ‘born to live’ tag :D

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13201822/1/Born-to-Live

[thegizka]

Swift as Wind, Soft as Shadow

Chapter 1  Part I:  Expectations

It's been a few years since the last chunin exams, and the Kazekage has a proposal for the Hokage that might end up being bothersome for a lazy Leaf shinobi and the Kazekage's sister.

Written for ShikaTema Week 2019 Day 1: Chunin Exam

Note:  I do not own any aspect of Naruto.

Read it on Ao3.

Shikamaru was starting to get used to being summoned to the Hokage’s office alone.  As a genin, he had never cared much when he and his teammates were summoned to receive a mission assignment.  Things were different now that he was a chunin. Apparently the new rank meant he was responsible enough for solo missions or leading his own team.  Sometimes he was summoned simply to answer a question or give his opinion. Those meetings were always the most jarring. They felt like a waste of everyone’s time.  The Hokage had advisors like his father and Shizune, so she shouldn’t need the opinion of a kid like him. He was happy simply doing the grunt work of a shinobi, but this new Hokage was interested in incorporating him into her network.  It was a bit of a drag.

Shikamaru knocked and politely waited until he was bid to enter.  Lady Tsunade sat at her desk, piles of papers and scrolls arranged in some semblance of order before her.  Shizune stood holding Tonton behind her, and his father and Asuma stood before them.

“Ah, Shikamaru,” the Hokage greeted as though she hadn’t been expecting him.

“Lady Tsunade,” he returned, stepping forward.  His eyes glanced across his father and Asuma, trying to glean a sense of purpose from the two adults he knew best, but they gave no sign from their usual relaxed demeanors.

“Do you remember the last chunin exams?” Tsunade asked, not wasting any time.  Shikamaru’s eyes narrowed.

“They’re kind of hard to forget.”

“It’s been over two years, which is rather a long time to go without promoting any of our genin,” she continued.  “I have here a proposal from the Land of Wind asking to host a joint chunin exam with us.”

“This was their idea?”

“Yes.  I believe it’s an effort on the part of the new Kazekage to rebuild trust between our nations.”

“Or it’s a trap to get back at us for defeating them last time.”

“Several reliable sources in the Sand have confirmed that the Kazekage’s intentions are genuine,” Shikaku assured his son.

“Unfortunately, they also tell us that not everyone shares his views,” Asuma amended.

“Who is the new Kazekage anyway?”  He had heard rumors that the Sand had finally selected a new leader, but no official announcement had been made to the village.

“I believe you’ve met him,” Tsunade answered.  “Gaara, the Demon of the Desert.”

“Gaara?”  Shikamaru’s initial surprise settled into suspicion.  “Interesting choice, considering his history. I thought nobody in the Sand trusted him.  How did he become Kazekage?”

“He’s been working hard since the last chunin exams to repair relations amongst his people and the other nations.  Apparently something happened to him to give him a change of heart,” Shizune smiled.

Naruto…   That kid had a natural talent for making others want to do better.  Gaara falling under his influence wasn’t impossible. The last time Shikamaru had seen the Demon of the Desert, right after the failed mission to bring Sasuke back to the village, he had seemed much more in control of his rage.  But it was hard to shake the impression of his bloodthirstiness from the chunin exams and the attack on the Leaf. Coming face-to-face with him in Lee’s hospital room and seeing the deep hatred and murderous intent in his eyes was scarred into his mind.

“Shikamaru,” Tsunade continued, bringing his thoughts back to the present, “I believe it is in the village’s best interest to agree to this proposal.  Not only is it an opportunity to show the other nations the strength of our young shinobi, but it will also help cement Gaara’s and my positions as relatively new Kage while drawing our nations into an alliance.”

“Plus it will give us the chance to better monitor the situation in the Sand in case it’s really unstable,” he surmised.

“Right,” the Hokage agreed, standing.  “Shikamaru, I’d like you to be the Leaf’s representative for these exams.”

“What?  Why me? I’ve only been a chunin for a few years.”

“Unfortunately most of our jonin and more experienced chunin have other assignments,” Shizune explained.  “We don’t have very many options to work with.”

“This assignment is about more than just proctoring the exam,” Shikaku added.  “You’d be leading our diplomatic relationship with the Land of Wind. It’s a big responsibility.”

Yeah, and a lot of work , he thought.  What a drag!

“You are capable of reading the nuances of a situation and remaining aware of the big picture,” Tsunade explained.  “I know I can trust you to do what’s best for the village.”

His shoulders slouched in defeat.  The Hokage was entrusting him with a mission, and he could feel his father’s eyes as he waited for his answer.  As much as he didn’t want this responsibility, he knew he couldn’t to disappoint them.

“Alright,” he groaned, “I’ll do it.”

“Good,” Tsunade agreed, and he could tell she had known this would be the outcome as soon as she’d sent him the summons.  “In three days, you will meet the representative from the Sand at one of our outposts on the border to formally agree to host the exams.  I’m sending Asuma and a few other shinobi with as an honor guard, but it is important that we appear as non hostile as possible. This is meant to be an alliance, not an intimidation.  From there, I will leave it up to you and the Sand shinobi to determine where and how frequently you will meet to continue the preparations, though I will expect full reports after every meeting.  I want to know every detail that might tell us something about the state of the Land of Wind.”

“Yes ma’am,” he agreed halfheartedly.  Reports mean a lot of paperwork…

Shizune handed him a scroll with some more details about the assignment, and then he was dismissed.  They watched him leave, slouching under the weight of this work with a hint of despair in his eyes.

“I hope we’re not expecting too much from him,” Tsunade sighed once the door had closed behind him.

“Don’t worry, he can handle it,” Asuma promised, bemused.

“Give him the right motivation,” Shikaku agreed, “and he’ll be just fine.”

-----

Temari’s fingers drummed impatiently against her folded arms.  It was nearly noon, and there was still no sign of the group from the Leaf.  That made her nervous. What if they were preparing an ambush? They should have held this meeting on Wind territory, but Gaara was desperate to display measures of good faith between their nations.  In that vein of logic, he’d sent only her and Baki to this meeting. With just two of them, they’d be hard-pressed to escape if they were attacked. Gaara trusted the Leaf to reciprocate the good will, but the past few months had taught Temari not to trust anyone.

To say Gaara’s position as Kazekage was tenuous would be putting it lightly.  They couldn’t even be sure his guards were on his side, which had her and Kankuro constantly fretting about security risks.  Assassination attempts--unfortunately nothing new to them--remained startlingly frequent. And Gaara himself wasn’t making things easy.  He was careful to appear as non-threatening as possible to build trust, but in doing so, he often left himself exposed to attack. It was driving his siblings crazy trying to keep him safe.

“They’re going to be late,” Temari huffed.  She didn’t like being made to wait, especially when she thought this whole arrangement was a waste of her time.  There were plenty of other qualified shinobi who could play the part of exam coordinator. She ought to be back in the Sand coordinating missions and keeping an eye on Gaara’s enemies.  But the Kazekage had insisted she be the one to work with the Leaf, saying she was the only person he could trust to be aware of their situation and preserve his will in foreign diplomacy.  She knew he was trying to flatter her a little (which was a strange experience coming from a guy who used to threaten to kill her if he was upset), but he also had a point. She understood Gaara’s intentions and could represent him and their village loyally.  She had begrudgingly agreed to the assignment.

“Temari, relax,” Baki suggested.  “We have all day to work out this agreement.  It’s not a big deal if they’re a little late.”

“It’s rude,” she huffed, but she forced her fingers to stop their restless drumming.  She found it harder to relax now than when her littlest brother was a murder machine that might go on a rampage if you looked at him funny.  Baki, on the other hand, seemed more laid back. She suspected he’d felt like she did now back when he was one of her father’s advisors as well as the sensei of the Kazekage’s kids.  Now he had passed a lot of his responsibilities on to his pupils. She and Kankuro were the Kazekage’s new advisors, though they leaned heavily on Baki’s experience and advice. The rest of the council weren’t fans of handing so much power to a trio of teenagers, but they rarely showed their displeasure openly.  In some ways, she and Kankuro were proving themselves just as much as Gaara was.

“They’re here,” Baki observed.  Doing her best to brush off her stormy thoughts, Temari focused on the chakra signatures closing in on the outpost.  There were four, the typical number for a squad on assignment. That meant the party from the Leaf outnumbered them two to one.  She resisted the urge to grab her fan and strike an intimidating pose.

When they made it up the stairs to the meeting room, she was a little surprised that she recognized all of them.  Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane, chunin who often guarded the village gate. Asuma Sarutobi, son of the Third Hokage and former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja.  And Shikamaru Nara, the lazy kid who embarrassed her during her own chunin exam but whose abilities she begrudgingly acknowledged. He always seemed to pop up when she had business with the Leaf.

“Sorry we’re late,” Asuma greeted, smiling disarmingly.  “I had some last-minute business to take care of in the village.”

Shikamaru rolled his eyes.  Evidently he didn’t think his sensei’s business was actually that important.

“No need to apologize,” Baki assured him.  “We barely got here before you did.”

It was a diplomatic lie.  Temari fought to keep her own eyes from rolling.

“Shall we get down to business?” Asuma asked, leading the way to a small table in the back of the room.  Izumo and Kotetsu remained by the door and window, standing guard. Or waiting to signal for an ambush…   Their presence didn’t make her feel any safer.  When had she become so paranoid?

“I trust you brought your copy of the agreement?” Baki asked.

“Of course.”  Shikamaru pulled a scroll out of one of the pockets in his vest and spread it on the table.  Baki did the same with an identical scroll they had carried with them from the Sand.

“As per the agreement worked out between our Kage,” Asuma summarized, pulling phrases from the contracts before them, “the Sand and the Leaf will share responsibility and authority in the next chunin exams, which will be held five months from today.  The Leaf will host the first portion, the Sand will host the second, and the final round shall be held on neutral territory between the two nations. All details will be negotiated between appointed representatives from each of our villages, with the Kazekage and Hokage having final authority.  Does this meet with your approval?”

“It does,” Baki agreed.

“And who is the Sand’s representative?”

“I am,” Temari declared.  “Temari of the Desert, daughter of the fourth Kazekage and sister of the fifth.”

She watched as Asuma wrote her name on the scrolls.

“And your representative?”

“Shikamaru Nara.”  He introduced himself simply, stifling a yawn.  Temari had suspected as much when she saw him here, though she was still a bit surprised.  He was notoriously lazy, and running the chunin exams would be a lot of work. Was he up to the task?

“Are we all in agreement then?” Asuma asked, glancing between the Sand shinobi.  Baki looked at Temari. She nodded, eyes on Shikamaru, daring him to back out like he had during their fight nearly three years ago.  He just shrugged.

“Sure,” he said, the epitome of indifference.  Her eyes narrowed. Working with him might get seriously annoying.

They signed the contracts, then shared a small lunch.  Asuma and Baki, more experienced with diplomatic small talk, carried most of the conversation.  Temari took the time to stew in her thoughts and observe Shikamaru as he picked at his food. She watched him with a mixture of frustration and fascination.  They hadn’t interacted much, but when they had, he managed to get under her skin. He always looked like he’d rather be anywhere else than where he was, even in the middle of battle, but she also knew he was sharply intelligent.  After all, he had nearly defeated her in their own chunin exams. He was craftier than he let on. She suspected even now he was listening intently to the conversation, interpreting secrets from what was said and what was concealed.

“It figures I’d be stuck with a crybaby like you,” she sighed.  If she had to work with him for the next five months, they’d better try and get along.

He glanced at her with his sharp, dark eyes, then shrugged, returning to his food.  “It’s a real drag, but basically I’m the only one with enough free time at the moment.  And when your Kage asks you to do something, you don’t say no.”

“Well don’t expect me to do your work for you.  I’m not exactly without other responsibilities, you know.”

“I figured,” he smirked.  “‘Daughter of the fourth Kazekage and sister of the fifth’, right?  Do you always put such emphasis on your lineage when introducing yourself?”

“There’s nothing wrong with being proud of your bloodline,” she huffed.  “Family histories are important in the Sand. You dad’s the advisor to the Hokage, right?  As his son, that’s something to be proud of.”

“Why?” he asked, grimacing a little.  “What my dad does has nothing to do with who I am.  I’m not my dad.”

“What about familial loyalty and pride?”

“You can be proud and loyal without making a point of it.  When you introduce yourself, you don’t need to include the whole history of your family, too.  Do you want people to judge you on the triumphs and mistakes of your ancestors? Because that sounds pretty messed up to me.  Why should people judge me on what someone else has done just because we share the same blood?”

Temari rolled her eyes.  He was stretching the point, and she was already tired of parrying his arguments.  Though she couldn’t help reflecting a bit on his words. When Gaara was unable to control his anger or the tailed beast inside him, she knew other people would look at her and Kankuro funny and distance themselves.  It wasn’t too significant since their father’s status as Kazekage shielded them somewhat from negative judgment, but the months after his death had shown her how unfair others’ opinions could be.

She shook her head, trying to get rid of these bothersome reflections.  They were nearly done with their lunch and would part ways soon. She was eager to return to the Sand and make sure everything was still in order.  She didn’t need to get tangled in thought webs crafted by a lazy crybaby.

When she glanced at him again, he was looking at her, almost as if he were trying to read her thoughts.  He turned away without saying anything, leaving her wondering what he was thinking.

[kusunogatari]

                                                            [ @redlineoffate ]                                                                   𝕩     𝕩     𝕩                                                                   𝕩     𝕩     𝕩                                                                   𝕩     𝕩     𝕩  

“Remember everyone: this assignment will be due at the beginning of class Monday. I know it’s only been the first week, but there will be a quiz to follow.”

A quiet groan seems to come from most of the class, and the teacher perks a brow.

“It can always be worse - just get the sheet done, brush up a bit, and I’m sure you’ll all do just fine. Other than that, have a good weekend.”

“Yeah, good weekend with that hanging over our heads,” a boy behind Itachi mutters as the bell rings, releasing them from their final class of the day. “Like every other teacher hasn’t done the same thing ‘til we’re overloaded…”

Not having any comment, Itachi simply gathers up his supplies and heads out with the rest of the students. In truth, he’s been waiting for Friday just like the rest of them, but for another reason.

The club he’s been in for all of high school only meets on Friday, and he can finally get back to it: the chess club. Putting away his books into his locker, he makes his way down the hall to the classroom they’ve always used.

But, when he gets there...it’s locked. That’s odd. Carefully testing the knob and looking through the narrow window, he sees the lights off, blinds drawn.

“Ah, Itachi…”

Looking aside, he spies the teacher typically in charge of the club, Asuma Sarutobi, coming down the hall toward him, hands in his pockets. “Mr. Sarutobi...is there no club meeting today?”

“I’m afraid not.” A hint of a scowl colors his features. “I was hoping I’d get here before to explain, but...the club’s been shut down.”

“What?!” Though normally quiet and reserved, Itachi can’t help the outburst. “But...why?”

“There’s a few reasons. The way clubs are set up has changed with some new school rules, and there’s been a...redistribution of funds for after school activities. Sadly, the chess club was at the bottom of the list.”

“But...we don’t need any funding.” What could they be spending money on?

“Well, there’s the driver’s time and gas for any competitions we go to. And the supervisor has to be paid. I told them I’d go without, but it’s a requirement legally, apparently. Add in the ‘used power’ to keep the lights on -” Asuma practically growls at that “- and I guess we’re just not worth the cost.”

Itachi’s heart sinks. He’s been in this club all through high school, and was even in his junior high branch. “...can we raise the funds ourselves?”

“I asked, they didn’t really give me a straight answer. I talked to most of the students in the club previously at lunch, but...most didn’t seem that dedicated. They seemed fine just letting the club go.” Asuma claps a hand on Itachi’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Itachi. That’s just how it goes. It’s honestly a shame...given that most of the funding was rerouted into more legit clubs...in other words, all the sports teams for this season. They bring in more revenue for the school than a chess club.”

The Uchiha bows his head, expression somber. “...thank you for your dedication to the club, Mr. Sarutobi. I’m...sad to see it go, but some things we can’t change.”

“I’m sure you’ll find something else to do and enjoy after class, Itachi. Most should still be accepting members for another week or so, so you’ve got time to find something new.” Smiling grimly, Asuma then offers, “I’d best get going...see you around.”

“Goodbye.” Left standing in the hall, Itachi mulls the situation over for a time before sighing in resignation. About-facing, he instead heads to the large bulletin board near the main school entrance.

There, posters and sign up sheets abound for all of the other clubs still in operation. Most are sports, which Itachi has little interest in. While part of him thinks to simply go without a club activity this year, he knows it looks good on his college applications - the more activities, the better.

“...oh!”

Glancing over at a familiar voice, Itachi can’t help a slight perk in his expression. “Ryū,” he greets, seeing her approach, a poster in her hands. “...here to put something up?”

“Yes, actually.” She gives him a smile, and he can’t help a small flutter of butterflies in his stomach. Excusing herself past him, she fetches a few tacks and puts up her flyer.

It’s for...the theater club?

“Looking for more members?”

“Mhm. Ms. Yūhi was absent for the beginning of the week, so a poster didn’t get done until now. I worked on it during my art class, and thought I might as well put it up! No one will see it until Monday, but…” Her shoulders shrug. “I thought it couldn’t hurt.” It’s then she thinks to look to him curiously. “...doesn’t the chess club meet on Friday?”

Expression falling, Itachi hesitates a moment before explaining.

Looking surprised, Ryū then gives him a sympathetic look. “Oh...I’m sorry. I know you really liked that club.”

“I did, but...well, I can still play chess on my own time. It’s a shame, but -” he gestures to the board “- I’m glad there are still so many clubs up and going.”

“Were you...thinking of joining something else?”

“I was.”

“Well...you could always join the theater club!” Ryū brightens a bit, and her smile begets one of his own. “Even if you don’t want to perform, we could always use help in other ways! People help build sets, manage the lights and sound...it takes a lot more than just the actors to make a show!”

He...hadn’t really considered it that way before. “...I...suppose I could…?”

“Well, I don’t want to pressure you.” Her smile turns sheepish. “I mean...I’ve been in the club all through high school, so...I’m a little biased. But if you do decide to join, we’d love to have you!”

Itachi gives her a smile in turn. “I will think about it. There’s a number of options, after all.”

“That’s fine! We haven’t begun any rehearsals yet, so there’s plenty of time to mull it over.”

“How often do you meet?”

“Well, now that Ms. Yūhi is back, every Monday and Friday! Usually for an hour or two, it depends on everyone’s schedules. Most of the members are underclassmen, so they’re not as busy as us seniors.”

Two nights a week...surely he could handle that. Chess club took less time, and Itachi does typically have a mountain of homework from his upper level classes, but… “I believe I could handle that.”

“Okay! Well, you think it over, and I’ll check back with you on Monday. I guess, either way, I’ll see you then!”

Itachi nods, watching her go before directing his attention back to the bulletin board. The poster she made is quite nice. He doesn’t recognize any of the plays listed that they’ll be doing, but...then again, he’s not overly familiar with plays, anyway.

Already he’s fairly certain he’ll join. Working backstage doesn’t sound so bad, and it’s not too often, or for too long. He should be able to handle his class workload alongside it just fine.

And...there’s another reason.

Itachi has known Ryū since they were fairly young. Her father Jiraiya teaches the literature class in their high school, and Itachi’s father Fugaku - chief of their city’s police - has known him for quite some time. And it helps that their little brothers - Sasuke and Naruto (whom Jiraiya raises as his godson) - are so close.

And, well...over the years, Itachi’s become rather...fond of her. Maybe...more than fond. So, getting to spend a little extra time with her - especially given that so few of their classes overlap - would be...nice.

...that’s all.

With that settled, he retreats to his locker to retrieve his things, mind already buzzing with his weekend schedule...and looking forward to Monday.

Arriving home, he calls out a greeting into the house, prompting his mother to stick her head out of the living room curiously. “Shouldn’t you be in chess club?”

“No...it was cancelled.”

“...the meeting today? Or…?”

Itachi sighs. “The entire club.”

“Oh no...I’m sorry, dear.”

“It’s fine...I think I’ll join something else come Monday.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. The theater group.”

Mikoto blinks, clearly a bit surprised. “...oh! I...wasn’t expecting that,” she admits with a laugh. “What made you decide on that?”

“...there’s backstage work to be done. It would be a change of pace.”

As though sensing her son is leaving something out, Mikoto eyes him curiously. “...I see. Any friends in that club?”

“Just one. At least, that I know of.”

“Oh?”

“Yes.” A pause, but he can tell she’s awaiting a name. Sighing a bit (and going ever so slightly pink around the ears), Itachi admits, “Ryū Suigin has been part of it all through high school.”

At the girl’s name, Mikoto perks up, clearly elated. “Oh, I see!” She gives him a wry smile. “Well, I’m sure you’ll have fun! We’ll have to come watch the plays!”

“I won’t be in them…”

“But you’ll still be part of them! If we can go to your chess competitions, we can go to your plays,” she insists.

Amused, Itachi just gives her a smile before heading upstairs to his room, dodging Sasuke as he runs down the stairs. “Careful!”

“Sorry!” the younger brother calls.

“Be back before dinner!” Mikoto instructs, earning a ‘yes Mom’ in return as Sasuke flies out the front door.

“Heading to Naruto’s?” Itachi asks from the stairwell.

“Of course,” his mother replies. “Something about a new game? I’m not sure.”

Nodding, Itachi heads to his room, shutting his door and preparing for an evening of homework.

For once, the weekend seems to go slowly. Itachi decides to blame it on his eagerness for Monday to arrive. Not something most students do, admittedly. But when the day finally comes, the first thing he does this morning is seek out Ryū.

She’s easy enough to find, chatting with another student before looking over and spotting him. Excusing herself, she walks over to meet him, smiling. “So, going to join us?”

“I am,” he replies, unable to stop a smile in return.

“Oh, perfect!” Hands clap together excitedly. “I really hope you enjoy it! We always end up like a big family, working together so much on each play!”

“Even us in the background?”

“Of course! Every role in the production is important, not just the people who act.”

Before Ryū can explain more, the warning bell sounds before first class. “Well...I guess we can talk about it more after school - see you then!”

“Where do I go?”

“Oh, just up on the stage! We practice there with the curtain closed. We haven’t really started yet given our first meeting was Friday, so you haven’t missed much, don’t worry.”

Nodding, Itachi heads in one direction as Ryū takes another for their first classes of the day.

It’s rare that someone as eager to learn as Itachi looks forward to the school day ending, but...well, this is an exception. Once the final hour block is done, he navigates the hall to the door that leads to the stage. He’s never been up here before. Never had a reason to be. He’s never even gone to see any of the school plays. Something he feels a little bad about, given that Ryū has been in pretty much all of them. It’s just...never really occurred to him before.

The lights are on, which he takes as a good sign. The far wing is filled with old props and backdrops, but the actual stage is clear save for a gathering of folding chairs, and a piano. On this side, out of sight of the open curtain, looks to be all of the sound and lighting equipment. These he looks at curiously, as they’ll probably be what he works with the most.

Itachi’s also not the first to arrive.

Around a dozen other students - mostly underclassmen, from what he can tell - mingle around, talking quietly. His entrance draws a few glances, but they otherwise ignore him.

“Itachi!” Looking up from a stack of boxes, Ryū approaches.

“Hello.”

“Not everyone’s here yet, so we’ll wait a bit. You’ve probably never had Ms. Yūhi as a teacher, right…?”

“I have not.” As the art teacher, she’s not one Itachi’s ever had a class with.

“I’ll introduce you!”

Leafing through a play’s score, Kurenai looks up as the pair approach. “So, this is the young man you wrangled into joining us?” she asks, smiling wryly.

“I didn’t force him! I just...suggested it,” Ryū insists.

“Of course…” Holding out a hand, she lets him shake it. “Kurenai Yūhi.”

“Itachi Uchiha.”

“Miss Suigin’s been telling me all about you.”

Itachi gives her a curious glance, and Ryū’s cheeks go pink. “...has she, now?”

“She’s been very excited to have you join. Ryū is actually the only senior who’s returned this year...which makes you senior number two. I’m willing to bet she’ll end up being voted club president and make sure everything runs smoothly - she’s been very dedicated to the club since she joined. Maybe she’ll even get a lead role, hm?”

“Ms. Yūhi!” Ryū cuts in, looking embarrassed.

“I’m just glad we have someone who’s still passionate about the club,” the teacher replies with a smile. “We were in danger of being one of the after school activities shut down this year, but she fought against it with me.”

“...really?” Itachi asks. “She didn’t mention that.”

Ryū glances aside. “I...didn’t want to make you feel bad about the chess club…”

“Ah, yes...Asu-” Kurenai cuts off, coughs, and then amends, “...Mr. Sarutobi told me about that. A shame...but I guess that’s why you’re here instead, Itachi?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Well, it’s not chess, but I’m sure you’ll have fun. Ryū suggested you’d likely prefer a more behind-the-scenes role than one on the stage, correct?”

“Er, yes.” Itachi itches at his neck sheepishly. “...I’m not sure I’m acting material.”

“That’s just fine - we can always use more hands behind the curtain to make things run smoothly. Today we’re going to do introductions, and see who wants to do what. And there will be time to move people around as they try things out, and maybe change their minds.”

Nodding, Itachi follows Ryū to a few of the chairs, arranged in a ring. “We’ll all sit here and talk about roles! Friday was more of an introduction and explaining about the club, so...we’ll get into actual work today.”

“...should I introduce myself?”

“Sure! Once everyone’s here, we’ll let them know you joined!”

Ten more minutes pass before Kurenai calls the students together. “Welcome back, everyone. First, you may notice we’ve gained one more troupemate since Friday.”

Realizing that’s his cue, Itachi stands, offering, “I’m Itachi Uchiha, a senior. I...hope we’ll get along.”

Kurenai smiles at him, and a few people wave in greeting. “Now, today we’re going to start going over roles for the troupe. We, of course, have our acting cast...but also those who play more supportive roles. The people who handle the lights, the sound, build props and sets...and even handle the camera during the days we film for copies of the play to sell. Usually we figure out those roles first, and then move into who can play who in the play itself. First off, a show of hands of who would like to be part of the support cast?”

A few hands raise, including Itachi’s. Kurenai counts and jots them down. “All right...now, the most important roles there are the lights and sound, since those will be more permanent roles. We’ll need people fully dedicated to those positions. Our actors can also help with prop and sets when we’re not practicing scenes!”

The other students state their preferences, and Kurenai labels them all. “Itachi, any preference?”

A moment to think “...sound, I guess?” He’s worked with equipment like that briefly for presentations and the like. Lights...not so much. “I could also do the camera, if you’d like.”

“Perfect. Once we get all the other parts settled, I’ll walk you and the others through how to use all the equipment, which we’ll need to move back into the overhead room! We store some of it during the summer elsewhere, since it can get pretty hot up there.”

Then begins the casting. Explaining the necessary cast numbers, the group all read through the script before she offers, “Everyone ready for their auditions?”

Itachi blinks in surprise. They have to audition? Aren’t they already in the club? He and the other backstage members move to sit in some of the theater hall seats, watching as the students all give little recitals. Some sing, some dance, some give monologues.

And toward the end is Ryū.

Sitting up a bit as she goes on stage, Itachi listens as Ryū first gives an opening scene, clearly from another play. Then she sings a short song, moving along the stage as she does. It’s clear she’s done this before, a happy, excited expression on her face.

In the back of his mind, he feels a little worse for never having come watched one of her plays before.

A few more students then audition, and Kurenai declares the day almost over. “I’ll work on assigning the cast for this production over the week, and announce it Friday! For now, those of you going to work behind the scenes, follow me - we’ll move and go over the tech you’ll be using.”

They carry up some of the more sensitive equipment, and Kurenai is right - it is hot in the room that overlooks the theater. Heat rises, after all. Once everything is set back up, she walks them through what each device does, letting them test everything. A few students down on the stage try out the microphones, letting Itachi fiddle with sound levels, effects, and managing all of the channels. Lights are shone down on the floor, sliders at their front letting them change color, and both narrow and expand.

“So, think you guys can handle it?”

Everyone nods, and she excuses them for the day. Heading back down to the floor of the auditorium, Itachi finds Ryū still there, waiting for him. “I thought you would have gone home?”

“I wanted to make sure you got through everything okay! Think you’ll enjoy it?”

“I believe so. It will be...interesting to see how this all fits together.”

“It’ll be great!” Hands folding behind her back, Ryū muses, “I hope I get a decent part...especially since this is my last year.”

“Your audition was wonderful.”

“You think so?”

Itachi nods. “I’ve...never heard you sing before.”

At that, Ryū goes a light shade of pink, glancing aside. “...I love to do it. Though I wasn’t brave enough at first. The first two years, I only played little roles with hardly any talking. Then last year, I had a part where I sang with a group. This time, I want to have a solo!”

“I could never do that.”

“But you already do! When you do stuff like a presentation for a class, that’s something in front of a group, by yourself!”

“Yes, but I don’t have to sing it,” Itachi chuckles.

“Maybe they’d be more fun that way!”

They leave the theater hall behind, picking up their things from their lockers. “Do you have a ride home?”

“Oh, I took my bike!”

“Isn’t it a bit far?”

“Well, to be fair, I could use the exercise,” Ryū laughs. “Besides, I need to stop and pick up a few things before I head home.”

“I could take you - I drove.”

“But...my bike -?”

“I’m sure it would fit in the back.” Knowing he’d need to get himself home after the busses had left, Itachi brought his mother’s SUV, which is plenty big.

“...are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all.”

Loading up her bike, Itachi then drives them both to the store she was planning to stop at. A glance shows her looking a bit sheepish in her seat. “...are you all right?”

“Y-yes! I just...feel bad -”

“Ryū, I offered,” Itachi cuts in gently with a smile. “It’s fine.” After a pause, he asks, “Why don’t I just take you home after practice every day?”

“But -?”

“I’ll have to take the car anyway. And I’d feel better knowing you don’t have to go home alone at this hour.”

Having no retort for that, Ryū seems to relax a bit, only moving when she hops out to fetch her few groceries. “I’ll be right back!”

“Want me to come with you?”

“Nope! I’ll just be a minute!”

True to her word, Ryū is in and out, back into the car in hardly any time. From there, Itachi takes her the rest of the way to her house. Once her bike and backpack are out, they stand awkwardly in the driveway for a moment.

“...thank you for taking me home,” Ryū eventually manages to offer, flashing a shy smile.

“Of course. I’ll take you again on Friday.” Another pause, and then, “...I hope you get the part you want.”

“Me too! And...I hope you enjoy being part of the crew. It’ll be...nice to see you a bit more often.”

“Yes...you too.”

The front door then opens, and both teens turn to see Jiraiya in the doorway. Spotting them, he gives a wry grin, leaning against the frame with folded arms.

Flushing even darker pink, Ryū stutters, “I-I better get in and, um...fix dinner! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Er, right - goodnight.”

“Night!” Scampering up the steps, she ducks sheepishly past her father with her things and heads into the house.

Glancing to Jiraiya, Itachi can’t help but feel a bit...awkward. He has an advanced literature class with him, after all…and he doesn’t want him to get the wrong impression. “I...didn’t want her riding home alone.”

The man just nods in thanks, watching Itachi get back into his mother’s car and head toward home. Once he gets there, he parks in the garage, heading in and leaning against the door with a sigh.

“So? How was your first practice?” Mikoto calls from the kitchen.

“We didn’t really do much yet. Things are still being...arranged.”

“Ohhh, I see...well, it’s time for dinner now! Call your brother down, will you? He never listens to me anymore.”

Laughing softly, Itachi puts away this things before fetching his brother.

Come Friday, Itachi finds himself nervous. Not for himself, but for his friend. Given Kurenai’s hinting, and how well Ryū did (at least, he thinks she did well), he has high hopes she’ll get a good part...but still can’t help but worry.

The troupe all sit in their chairs like last time, and Kurenai passes out copies of the playbooks. This time, however, they have names and roles written on the front, their lines highlighted. Sitting beside Itachi, he can see as Ryū’s hands curl and uncurl atop her lap in anxiousness.

Pausing as she reaches the seniors, Kurenai waits a moment before handing Ryū her book. “Congrats,” is all she offers.

Glancing over eagerly, Itachi sees her name, and under it, the character she’ll be playing.

The lead!

In spite of herself, Ryū lets out a squeal, and several of the underclassmen from the previous year whoop in celebration.

“Now, for today, we’re going to do another read through of the play, all with our proper lines. You can all work on things like voices and gestures as we go to get a feel for your new character! To those in the backstage crew...I guess you get seats to an early rendition.”

Itachi doesn’t mind at all he has nothing to read, simply watching the other students as they go through their lines. Already, Ryū starts setting up her character, working on a voice to suit her. Even if she’s just sitting and reading, he finds himself rather enraptured.

From there...practice really begins.

Night by night, they work on scenes, everyone memorizing their lines in their spare time. Itachi lends hands with making props and building the sets for the stage, as well as working on the soundtracks and sound effects he’ll be playing at the proper time for each scene. The actors speak, sing, dance, and pantomime as the weeks pass, the show date looming ever closer.

Then, before they know it, it’s the Friday before the shows: twice a day, on both Saturday and Sunday. Itachi and another student will be trading turns to work the sound, and on his turn off, Itachi will be managing the camera to film the last show for all of the parents and students to buy. That and the ticket sales should help cover all they spent on costumes and supplies.

“All right, everyone...tomorrow’s the big day,” Kurenai announces, a sparkle in her eye. “You’ve all been doing fantastic - I’m sure this show is going to be a huge success!”

Everyone claps, and with their two hours of practice over, begin to disperse. Going to his locker to grab his things, Itachi then realizes he forgot to grab his thumb drive with his copy of the music and sounds!

Taking the stairs back up to the overhead room, he pauses as the piano on the stage starts to play. Odd...he thought everyone left? Looking out the front, he spots Kurenai at the keys.

And in the middle of the stage is Ryū. Seems she wants to practice one more thing before they go.

Hands clasped, she waits for the proper bar before looking up, a forlorn expression on her face. It’s one of the pivotal songs of the show: where the main character tries to make a big decision before the climax.

Funny...he’s heard her sing this many times before now, but...this time, it seems...different. Maybe because she doesn’t know anyone is watching...or because, with him being the only one, it’s like she’s singing just for him.

Either way, it brings a strange calm over him, unable to look away.

On and on she croons, gesturing as she interacts with the set. And all the while, Itachi watches closely, feeling the echo of his heart in his chest slowly get louder.

It’s so beautiful…

Then, the last note lingers out over the auditorium...before silence rings. Down below, Ryū relaxes as she drops out of character, talking with Kurenai. From here, without mics, he can’t hear what they’re saying. But then he remembers, he has to drive her home! She’ll be looking for him once she finishes.

Racing back down the stairs, he jogs up to the door where she emerges, coming up short at his hurried pace. “Oh!”

“Sorry, I had to run and grab some things. Ready to go?”

“Yeah, I think so. Just...wanted to get one last round of practice in. I’ll probably be up all night singing...”

“Do be careful not to wear out your voice.”

“I won’t!”

To Ryū’s house they go first, Itachi dropping her off with a wish of good luck.

“No no! In acting, you say, ‘break a leg’!”

That takes him aback. “...why?”

“Because of an old superstition that saying ‘good luck’ for a performer is actually bad luck,” she explains with a smile. “So instead, you wish them the opposite, which...I guess is usually break a leg!”

“...this is why I’m not an actor,” Itachi replies, earning a loud laugh and having to fight a smile.

“Well...see you tomorrow,” Ryū manages once her mirth calms.

Itachi nods. “Get some rest.”

“You too.”

When he arrives home, Itachi has to stave off questions about the last practice from his mother. “It was just...practice.”

“Think you’re ready?”

“As best I can be.”

“What about everyone else?”

“Well, the final run-through went very well.”

“Anyone stand out…?”

Itachi gives his mother a pleading, deadpanned look.

“What? It’s an honest question!”

Rolling his eyes and fighting back a smile, he counters, “I guess you’ll just have to see tomorrow. Is Sasuke coming?”

“I believe so. Naruto said he was going to go to support his sister, so I’d be willing to bet he’ll tag along to do the same!”

Itachi almost retorts - he’s not in the play, after all - but by now he just lets their enthusiasm go unfettered. At least they’ll be there to watch the show.

Saturday morning, he heads into the school early for one last check of his equipment for the sound. All over backstage are the acting students. Most are already in their costumes for the opening scene, going over lines and singing vocal warm-ups. It takes him a few minutes, but eventually he finds Ryū. She’s oddly still and quiet, looking a bit zoned out as she slowly curls a paper playbill in her hands.

“...Ryū?”

“...oh!” Smiling sheepishly, she gives a hello. “I’m...a little nervous.”

“It’s going to be great. And you’ll be great.”

Her head ducks shyly, smiling with a hint of a blush. “...I’ll try my best.”

As the time draws near, Itachi has to retreat to the overhead room, doing his final adjustments as people begin to find their seats. Playing soft music in the meantime, he watches, spotting both his family and Ryū’s as they sit.

Then Kurenai steps on stage, Itachi fading the music as she introduces the play...and they begin.

With his lamp, Itachi carefully watches both the play and his copy of the script, playing all the right songs and effects at the correct times. And every time Ryū comes on stage, he pays extra close attention.

Then, it’s time for her solo.

Alone on the stage, the spotlight is put on her, taking the same pose as the day before in her practice with Kurenai. Itachi starts the music, watching.

Come on…

Then...she sings.

Just like yesterday, he can’t tear his eyes away. And neither can the audience, watching in hushed anticipation as she goes. By the time the song ends, the silence rings out for several seconds before people start to clap.

Pride fills Itachi’s chest. She did so well!

The rest of the play seems to coast downhill with the big song over, and soon enough...it’s done. The theater hall fills with applause, Itachi setting the last music to play before heading down as Kurenai told him to. He and the other backstage help are meant to join in the last bow. Waiting in one of the stage wings, he and the others behind the scenes take their bow before the whole cast steps up to give the last.

Everyone waves, the curtain slowly lowering until the audience is out of sight. Most people quickly scatter to begin getting ready to mingle afterward. Taking a steadying breath, Itachi glances over to look for Ryū...only for her to find him first.

Clearly still excited, she latches onto him in a tight hug, laughing. “We did it!” Once she lets go, she looks at him with a look so full of pride and happiness, he just...can’t help himself.

Before he stops to think, Itachi just...kisses her.

For a moment she goes stock still, stiff with surprise. But once that fades, she softens, shyly kissing him in return. Slowly they part, looking to each other cautiously.

“...I...I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have -”

“I-it’s fine,” Ryū cuts in, flushing pink. “I...I’ve been waiting for you to do that.”

After a pause, they both give nervous smiles and sheepish laughs.

“...so, should we...go out and see everyone?”

“Yeah...I guess we should.” Beaming again, Ryū takes his hand, and they leave the stage behind.

                                                          .oOo.

     Woo, day four! Today we’ve got @redlineoffate‘s Itachi, and of course Ryū, in a modern high school setting!      I’m not the best at writing modern universes - I tend to prefer fantasy or mythological ones. But I gave it my best try xD Hopefully it’s still fun to read!      Mitsuki, I love our ship so much! I hope you enjoyed reading this, and just know that I love writing with you n_n Thank you for putting up with my shenanigans and building such awesome bonds between our muses~ <3      Anyway, that’s the entry for today! Time to go work on tomorrow’s, lol

[kusunogatari-a]

[ SasuHinaMonth Day Twenty-Two: ANBU ] [ @sasuhinamonth ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Uchiha Itachi ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: A Light Amongst Shadows ]

He’d considered the position, once upon a time. After his return to Konoha, what with his brother rejoining the corps, Sasuke thought that ANBU may have been a proper outlet. Dangerous missions, masked faces, and a direct hand in stopping the greatest threats to the village he’s determined to reshape.

...but in the end, he’s glad he didn’t.

In truth, he wouldn’t have minded the role. But his current path - reforming and revamping the police force - is closer to his most critical goal. That being ensuring that the village soaked in his clan’s blood stays on a better path that he and Itachi started. While his brother and the rest of the ANBU black ops confront the hidden threats, he and the rest of the police tackle that in plain sight. He interacts directly with the villagers, regaining the trust he’s lost...and rekindling his love of the village proper. Not its dark politics or string-pullers...but the people. Those who make the heart and soul of Konoha.

Besides...if he didn’t...he wouldn’t have met her.

Well...re-met her. They weren’t the best of friends, but he knew Hinata from a young age. Hard not to as main family members of major clans, especially with their similar roots and abilities. And as the same age, they’d attended the Academy together. But there’d never been that push or pull toward each other then.

And in all honesty, he hasn’t really intended it now, either.

Despite her prior position as heiress, Hinata is now mostly a regular Hyūga clan member. Advisor to her sister alongside her cousin, she’s mostly your typical shinobi. But when Sasuke brings forth the idea of their alliance extending into his plans to rebuild the police force, she takes the plan to heart...and signs up herself.

“You sure this is what you want?”

“What do you mean?”

Sasuke nods his head toward the other gathered Hyūga currently speaking with his cousin. “...this. It’s a far cry from shinobi work, honestly.”

“Well, what about you? What makes you want to do this?”

A dark eye blinks, his Rinnegan hidden under his slanted hitai-ate. “...it’s what my family did. And I think it’s a good idea - help give the village more internal structure for law enforcement.”

“Oh…” Apparently she wasn’t expecting that answer. “...I guess I...saw you as more of an ANBU sort.”

“You’re not the first person to make that suggestion. And I doubt you’ll be the last.”

“Are you...against it?”

“No. I just think this will get me closer to what I want.”

“Which is…?”

...didn’t he just tell her?

Hinata’s head tilts, looking to him with those pale eyes of hers. “...are those really the only reasons…?”

“What does it matter to you?”

“Well, if you’re going to do this...you should take it seriously. Which I can see you are. It just seems like an undertaking that would take more...motivation than that, is all. You don’t owe me any answers, Sasuke-kun. But...if my clan and I are going to be working with you, shouldn’t we know what we’re getting into, and why?”

He heaves a soft breath. “...it’s true, ANBU do a lot of good in keeping the village safe from the outside...but I want to do something more...internal. At first I thought that meant being Hokage, but...I don’t think I’m a leader. Not on that scale, at least. What I want…” He trails off, gathering his thoughts. “...when we dissolved the old council - took away their power - we made a huge internal change. It’s now up to Kakashi and his administration to build on that. I guess...I want to start small. Work from the inside out. It’s true, there will always be shadowy places and people in the hidden villages. And my brother is managing them. I could join him, true…”

Sasuke looks to the other Hyūga. “...I guess I just want something more...real. More...tangible. Observable. Konoha is more than its most powerful, influential people. I could be one of them...but I want to take that and use it to work on the rest.”

Waiting to be sure he’s done talking, Hinata smiles. “...I think that’s an admirable goal. You have a point...there’s not a lot done on a basic level in the village. Sure, genin do bits and pieces...but most shinobi handle affairs outside Konoha. Maybe it’s time we have some dedicated to what happens inside.”

He nods...and then asks, “What about you? Why give up normal missions for something like this?”

“Hm…” Considering that for a long moment, she replies, “...I think, for reasons similar to yours. I have diplomacy training - even if I’m not heiress anymore, it was still required of me. I know how to talk with people - ensure things go smoothly. And...civilians need that when face to face with those who uphold the law, right…?” Her lips lift. “I’m used to dealing with my clan. I think that, and my abilities, would make me a decent officer, don’t you think? I can stop what happens...but also address the other details, too.

“As for a why...I just think that will be more useful in the long run. It’s true, we lost many shinobi in the war...but so too has the demand for us declined since the war’s end. The world is changing. Maybe roles like this are more suitable. More...important. Those like ANBU are still necessary, but...maybe someday, they won’t be.”

Sasuke gives a soft snort. “Job security it is, then?”

Hinata replies with a look.

“Not cut out for ANBU yourself, are you?”

“...no. I don’t think I could do missions like that. I understand that what they do needs to be done, but...it just all feels a little beyond me. I prefer what’s out in the open. You know?”

“...yeah.”

Silence falls for a time.

“...well, I guess it’s good we’ve got our alternative, huh?”

She smiles. “It is. I’m excited to get started! But also a little nervous...strange, isn’t it? You’d think after a war like the last, nothing could really phase us. But...I don’t know. It’s still a little daunting.”

“Hn...our scale of normal might be a little skewed after all that, but we’re still human. Still have our own doubts and fears. But you’ll do fine - you’re a capable shinobi. This work might have a slightly different tone to it, but something tells me it’s right up your alley.”

“Oh...well, thank you. I guess there’s only one way to find out, huh?”

His only reply is a nod.

While the work they garner in the months that follow is nothing as prestigious or respected as others, the pair find themselves immersed in just what they wanted. It’s not long before the new police force builds a shining reputation, the combined clans’ efforts rewarded as civilians and officers foster a mutual respect and camaraderie. Konoha’s streets have scarcely been safer, nor its people as content.

“It looks like the UHPF is doing fine work.”

Turning to his brother, Sasuke lifts a brow. “Heard that, did you?”

“I did indeed.”

“Funny, never hear much about yours.”

Itachi chuckles, ruffling Sasuke’s already-untameable locks. “...I think that’s as it should be, don’t you think?”

“...guess you’re right.”

     Word count: 1222      Cumulative: 28,198      Blugh, this prompt gave me trouble. While I do like the idea of Sasuke in ANBU, I don’t really have a verse for it, nor Hinata. So I struggled with how to incorporate this prompt. Tbh I’m...not too fond of this piece, but it had to get done. I’m already behind OTL So, apologies if that sort of came through in the writing, but I don’t think I could have done much better with this particular prompt =/      Probably won’t get today’s piece done today - too much to do otherwise, on top of a headache. But I’ll do my best to catch up when I can~

[fiction-queen-blog]

(Naruto) Hogwarts AU

A/N: I have lately been re-entering the Harry Potter fandom Genre:Magical, supernatural, comedy, action Main-pairing: Narusasu Chapter list : Chapter 1

Chapter 2  “The Last Uchiha”

Four years ago, during the dark, breezy night. Uchiha Itachi was standing on top of the astronomy tower, looking down upon the district filled with members of the great and mighty Uchiha-clan. He lowered his hood over his face and tightened the grip around his wand. His pale face seemed even fairer under the light of the full moon. His white almost perfectly straight teeth bit down his bottom lip.

He stood there, observing everybody carefully. His red, glowing eyes hidden behind the black hood.

Itachi suddenly disappeared from the top of the tower, leaving nothing behind but a dark cloud of air. He suddenly appeared in the middle of the street, causing a few people to gasp, but chuckle it off once they seemed to recognise the 13- years old boy.

“Itachi, you scared me.”

“Already proficient in teleportation? As to be expected from the heir of the clan-“The man stood still, a smile still spread across his face as it then slowly faded. His hand reached for his throat that was now revealing a deep, bleeding cut. He fell backwards and laid death on the ground.

Nobody seemed to be able to process what happened right away, they looked at the dead man before looking back at Itachi. He was holding, what seemed like an ancient dagger that now covered in the man’s blood.

A woman screamed, some people starter running; other drew their wands out of their pockets to duel Itachi.

Everything was however in vain. It took mere second and all the people once occupying the streets of the Uchiha district were lying lifelessly on the ground.

Itachi didn’t bend an eye to these people. He stepped over one of the death bodies and walked towards the large mansion at the end of the district. His red eyes didn’t look up for a second when he pulled his wand out; a green light appeared and the man that had attempted to attack him from behind was now instantly dead.

Itachi stopped walking in the middle of the street. He stood still for a mere couple of seconds. He suddenly disappeared into black air, and all that followed was the green light that re-appeared from house to house.

His body  emerged right in front of the entrance of the mansion. He walked inside, the big heavy door loudly closing itself behind him. His steps were loud on the floor, echoing through the house. He entered a room.

It was a big room, decorated with gold and silver all over the place. On the hardwood floor, laid an expensive rug and not too far from it was a big fire-place with two single chairs in front of it, both occupied.

“So…” A heavy man’s voice came from the chair on the left. “You have chosen your side in this war”

Itachi didn’t answer. He took his hoody off, revealing his dark long hair tied in a neat ponytail.  Slowly, he approached the fireplace. Now, standing in front of his parents.

Fugaku Uchiha was sitting on the left chair. Wearing his dark green robes. An Uchiha crest on the left side of his attire. His entire being screamed wealthy and powerful, as he was.

Sitting on the right chair was Mikoto Uchiha. His beloved wife; a beautiful talented witch. She wore a dark blue dress with silver linings. On her raven, thick, long hair, she was wearing a silver head chain. Her hand was holding that of her husband’s. She didn’t look at her son at first. Her eyes were fixated on her husband’s hand. I

tachi figured it she looked away purposely. Not being able to bear the sight in front of her. However, he was wrong.

Her black eyes suddenly stared up at his. She titled her head slightly. Mikoto had always been a proud woman, never looking in fear.

“We don’t run away from death, dear” she spoke.

“We greet him like our friend” Itachi softly whispered the rest of the sentence before raising his wand at her.  

“I am sorry it had to come to this, mother” he spoke the words with no emotion whatsoever.

“Darling, look away” She said, not letting go of her husband’s hand. Fugaku respected his wife wishes as he turned his head away, seeing the reflection of green light coming from the all the sparkling surfaces in the room. He felt the grip of his wife’s hand let go and he knew, she was gone.

Fugaku looked up at his son. Itachi’s wand was now pointed at Fugaku.

“You have betrayed your family…” Fugaku said. He didn’t seem as brave as his wife as he wasn’t able to look his son in the eyes. He sat back in his chair, closing his eyes.

“I am sorry, father. I really am,” Itachi whispered, “Avada kedavra” .

a green light came from his wand and hit his father right in the chest.  When Itachi lowered his wand he could see his father’s lifeless hand letting go of that of his death mother’s.

Itachi stood in front of the bodies, his red eyes didn’t seem to want to look away.

“Brother?”

Sasuke, whom was barley eight years old, stood in front of the entrance of the room. Being able to see his mother’s arm hanging lifelessly over the arm rest.

“Sasuke…” Itachi spoke, his scarlet, red eyes didn’t look away from the death bodies.

“Mommy….” Sasuke looked at the hand before feeling a force jerk him towards his brother. His eyes were filled with tears seeing his brother’s wand pointing at him.

“They are dead, Sasuke. Mother and father are dead,” Itachi said coldly, forcing the boy to look at the dead bodies. “They are dead, and they will never come back. They will never be able to talk to you; Sing to you; touch you; Love you. Your parents are gone, Sasuke. Your family is gone!” Itachi shouted the last part. If Sasuke was able to move he would have flinched from the change in volume.

Itachi put his cold hand on his little brother’s shoulder, turning his paralyzed body around and kneeling to his eye-level.

“You want to know what happened?” Itachi whispered. His red eyes, piercing into the dark ones of his brother.  Sasuke couldn’t answer; he couldn’t look away. He was forced to stare at his brother’s magical eyes that allowed him to put his little brother in a world of illusion.

Everything was a combination of red, white and black. He could see his brother standing in the middle of the street, killing everybody Sasuke once knew. From his third cousin to his own parents. He had to witness their deaths at least a thousand times. He was screaming, crying, begging for everything to stop.

He fell through his knees, panting heavily as he woke-up from the illusion. Saliva was dripping from the corner of his mouth as his throat felt numb from all the screaming.

“Why…. Itachi…. Why…” Sasuke didn’t look up at his brother. He felt his brother’s hand grab his hair and pull him up, throwing him like a bag of potatoes across the room.

“Because none of you are worthy of the pure-blood Uchiha name. You are all blood-traitors’ Itachi said, he put his hoody back on before grabbing his wand.

“You are weak, pathetic and unworthy” Itachi pointed his wand to Sasuke, moving closer to his younger brother.

“Especially you,” he spoke, “Crucio.”

A red light appeared from the tip of Itachi’s wand.

Sasuke started screaming and squirming. The pain was so intense, so all-consuming, that he no longer knew where he was... white-hot knives were piercing every inch of his skin, his body was surely going to burst with pain; he was screaming more loudly than he'd ever screamed in his life.

“You are weak; weak and foolish, Sasuke. I am ashamed to even be associated with you. Your magical ability has always been weaker than mine, weaker than any Uchiha, any wizard I have seen. You are an abomination of the entire wizarding world, Sasuke.”

Itachi lowered his wand, finally causing the pain to stop.

“Oh…Foolish little brother.”

He kneeled and grabbed his brother by his shoulder, forcing him to roll on his back. It seemed like he was no longer talking to the joy-full younger brother he knew. It felt like nothing but an empty lump of flesh.  Sasuke’s dark, now hollow, eyes stared at Itachi.

“Pathetic” Itachi stood up.

“I am not going to kill you… You are not worthy of such release. Live your pathetic live. Hate me. Hate me and know…You will never be able to defeat me.”  

With those words, Itachi kicked his brother on the side of the head, knocking him out completely.

 Oxoxox

 A small red car was taking the first exit out of the high-way. Obito was looking from the road to the wizard next to him. His grey hair was messy, and his hands were on the window as he eagerly looked outside. He almost resembled a dog enjoying a car ride.

“It is magic,” Kakashi stated as he turned his head to Obito.

“It is an engine” Obito said, rather annoyed. “What do you guys do for transportation? Broomsticks?” He joked.

“Yah” Kakashi said seriously, “that reminds me, you will need to get a broomstick too”

“I thought it was on the list as some kind of joke…Or to clean your dorm or something” Obito looked at the rear-view mirror, seeing Sasuke staring right in front of him. He seemed to be deep in thoughts, but it didn’t come as a surprise after hearing what had happened four years ago.

Even Obito still felt rather shocked after hearing the story of the massacre, not to mention the culprit was Sasuke’s brother that was still walking around freely.

“So…Shouldn’t it be easy for you wizards to catch criminals?” Obito asked.

“The problem is…That the criminals have magic too” Kakashi said, pointing at a pub. “There”.

“You brought us to a pub?” A vein popped in Obito’s head as he turned his head to Kakashi.  “He is eleven!” Obito hissed.

“They have butterbeer!” Kakashi, suddenly disappeared in thin air, causing Obito’s attempt to smack him to fail. He reappeared next to Sasuke in the back seat.

“Also, behind the shop is the entrance Diagon Alley. The only place we're going to get all this.”  He indicated to the list.

Sasuke looked at Obito from the mirror, seeing him sigh exhaustedly before getting out of the car. Sasuke followed his example and got out, holding the door open for Kakashi who didn’t seem to be able to open the door from the other side.

“Fascinating…” Kakashi whispered, seeing Sasuke close the door.

“So, we have to go in the pub? This magical shopping centre is behind this pub? This regular pub” Obito raised an eyebrow as he entered the building, seeing all these people wearing robes and pointed hats.  

“What did you say?” Kakashi past Obito.

“I feel like I am the odd one out…” Obito muttered, putting a hand on Sasuke back, guiding the kid forward.

“Hey, I think you are being very cool about all of this.” Sasuke looked at Obito, causing him to smile.  “This couldn’t be easy for you.”

“Nothing in life is…Remember that” Obito said, looking around the pub.

“Hatake, fire whiskey as usual?” the bartender asked, seeing the masked man.

“Heavy drinker, aren’t you?” Obito commented.

“You would be too if your day consisted of teaching magic to brats” Kakashi said, shaking his head to the bar tender.

“Nah, I got to get this kid ready for school” Kakashi said.

“Since when were you demoted?” The bar tended mocked as he leaned against the bar table. He was now able to see the boy behind Kakashi.

His leaned in, to get a better look. His eyes widened.

“That is an Uchiha” He said, causing suddenly the entire bar to quiet down.

“You called the last two kids that entered this pub an Uchiha too” A woman pushed the man away and stood now in his place, looking down at Sasuke.

Her expression suddenly changed, and she straightened her back, not saying anything as she turned away.

“Obito…”  Sasuke grabbed his guardian’s hand, squeezing it tightly.

“Boy, you will get a lot of this. Better get used to it” Kakashi said, walking to the back.

“That was un-called for,” Obito commented. “He is just a child.”

“I slayed dragons when I was your age” Kakashi said.  “Your brother literally slayed your clan and he was around your-“

Kakashi fell towards the trashcan after getting kicked by Obito.

“You better watch it!” Obito hissed, clenching a fist. “He. Is. Just. A. Child!”

“You are getting hotter by the minute” Kakashi muttered as he got up, feeling his back ache from the fall.

“What?” Both Obito and Sasuke asked, not sure if they heard Kakashi wrong or if they just didn’t want to hear him.

“Whatever!” Kakashi grabbed his wand and ticked at the brick wall, causing the wall to separate and reveal a shopping allay filled with witches and wizards.

“Come, come. We have a lot to do,” he said. Indicating for them to follow.

“I think my rude and not so kid friendly teacher has a crush on you…” Sasuke whispered.

“I so hope you have better teachers and this is just the odd one out,” Obito answered.

They followed Kakashi but couldn’t help to look amazed around them. All these shops, all these wizards. Some were young and walked with their parents, doing their school-shopping.  Obito stopped in front of a shop selling robes. He looked down at the price tag and then back to Sasuke.

“What is a galleon?” He asked.

“I was going to ask you what a sickle was,” Sasuke said, looking at Obito.

“You are telling me they are using a different currency?! Couldn’t that shit-head tell us before we came all the way here?”

“Who are you calling a shit-head?” Kakashi suddenly appeared between Obito and Sasuke, straddling both Uchihas.

“Stop. Doing. That!”  Obito hissed annoyed.

“We are heading to the wizarding bank. You won’t even  be needing to exchange any money-“

“How does that even work-“

“Wow, muggle, let me finish for once. Do you always let people hanging mid-way and never let them finish? I am really re-thinking my crush here.”

“Come again?” Obito cocked his head, frowning.

“Believe me I want to cum again” Kakashi muttered before he turned his head to Sasuke, “You don’t think your parents have left you with nothing? The Uchihas were a very powerful and rich clan, and you are the only heir left from the clan.”

“What about my brother?” Sasuke asked.

“You do know how to make an adult uncomfortable” Kakashi said, “I don’t know. I don’t think he is able to just walk in a bank since he is a highly wanted criminal”

“At least muggles catch their criminals” Obito commented.

Kakashi opened his mouth to say something, but then just shook his head.

“Whatever” he said, grabbing both Obito and Sasuke. “Hold on tight”

In a blink of the eye, they were inside Gringotts, the wizarding bank.

“What are those?” Obito accidently took a step closer to Kakashi, which Kakashi only took too well, wrapping his arm around Obito.

“Those are goblins. They have beauty in the inside” He said, causing Obito to hit his elbow right in Kakashi’s ribs.

“You are one feisty muggle” Kakashi moaned in pain as he approached one of the goblins that did not look happy at all. He looked mean and angry. His teeth were sharp and small.

Sasuke swallowed, moving closer to Obito.

“Sasuke Uchiha would like to make a withdrawal” Kakashi said, grabbing a key from his pocket and sliding is smoothly in front of the goblin.

The goblin however remained looking grumpy.

“There is also no beauty in the inside” Kakashi joked as he turned his head to Obito and Sasuke.

After travelling a long path in underground railway. They reached the fault. The goblin opened the door and allowed the three men to walk inside.

“Why am I thinking of a Donald Duck comic, where that one duck dives in gold?” Obito said. Everywhere he looked he could see something shine. Stacks of gold was laid everywhere, covering almost the entire ground.

“Some re-assurance that this will probably cover wizarding college” Obito joked, looking at Kakash who gave him a confused look before just ignoring the comment.

Oxoxoxox

“So, all we need is…A pet…Your books…A robe.” Obito read from the list as they took a break from all the shopping. Sasuke was drinking some pumpkin juice while Obito and Kakashi were having some tea.

“We could go to the robe store next?  How long would it take to find you some robes?” Obito asked, looking at the list.

“Uuuggghhh” Kakashi complained, causing both Obito and Sasuke to look at him.

“That will take forever. They make the robes by size-“

“He is 150cm and weights like 40 kgs. How long does it take to put a cloak around him?” Obito said sarcastically.

“If we go ahead and get the books and pet while he is getting his robes made. We can be finished by 5,” Kakashi suggested.

“Uhm…I don’t like to admit it…But he is right” Obito said, looking at Sasuke. “Will you be fine if we drop you off by….” Obito looked at Kakashi.

“Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions” Kakashi said. “Nice lady.”

“Sure, I will be fine,” Sasuke agreed.

“Then we will meet here?” Kakashi suggested, finishing his tea.

“Sure,” Sasuke said. How hard could it be to memorize the way?

“Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasion’s, is nearby” Kakashi got up and headed towards the store. It is down the street, the first corner on your right.

“That’s it?” Sasuke said, seeing the shop already.

“Yes, just ask for the school uniform. You will be fine” Kakashi said.

“I know” Sasuke muttered, going to the shop.

It didn’t take as long as Sasuke had expected. In less than half an hour he stood outside the shop, looking at both side of the streets.

“Down the street, first corner on your right...” Sasuke repeated. He could hear Kakashi’s voice repeating himself in his head. Only when he followed the instructions he remembered a vital part of the directions. That was towards the store…not away from it.

“Owh chips” Sasuke said out loud as he quickly turned around, but almost walked right into another wizard.

“I’m sorry” Sasuke said. He tried to walk past the man, but the man grab him by his arm.

“Hey, wait a second”

Sasuke tried to pull away, using all his weight to get the man to let go of his arm.

“You…Midnight black hair, onyx eyes, fair skin…You are an Uchiha!” The man exclaimed, causing everybody around them to stop whatever they were doing and to just stare at Sasuke.

“Get. Your hands. Off me” Sasuke gritted his teeth, his bag with his robes fell on the ground.

The man didn’t listen. He just stood there, looking at the dark eyes.

“What is happening here?” A gentle, but rather cold voice spoke from the crowd.

The man finally let go, almost immediately even once he heard the voice that seemed to have startled him.

“Nothing! Nothing at all!” The man said, smiling kindly to the man approaching the scene. He did not seem out of the ordinary…For the wizard standards at least.

He was wearing a blue robe and unlike some wizards, he did not wear a hat. He had blond hair and narrow blue eyes and a strong jawline.  He was a tall man, but rather slim.

All Sasuke could think of that it was not normal to be that level of handsome, that was not normal at all.

“Are you alright?” The man picks up the fallen bag and handed it back to Sasuke. He could Sasuke hesitate at first before carefully taking the bag.

“Nothing to see here. Continue your shopping” The man said, feeling everybody’s eyes still on the boy.

They seem to obey him right away, it made Sasuke wonder if people respected this man or feared him?

“Are you here alone?”  He asked kindly. The coldness I his voice seemed to be gone.

It seemed like a foolish question to ask.

Sasuke looked away, stubbornly.  Not wanting to talk to man.

“Sasuke!” Obito ran towards the boy, “We were looking all over for you”

“How could you mess up such simple instructions? “Kakashi shook his head.

“No wizard college for you, young man” he added sarcastically.

“Ah I see, you have met Minato Namikaze” Kakashi said, looking at Minato and shaking his hand.

“Long time no see, Hatake” Minato said with a smile on his face.

“Shopping for your son? I am surprised he was even allowed to return to Hogwarts after everything” Kakashi joked.

“Yeah, he takes after my wife in that matter” Minato looked embarrassed as he scratched the back of his head.

“This is Sasuke Uchiha. He will be joining Hogwarts this year.” Kakashi introduced Sasuke.

“Nice meeting you, Sasuke” Minato said.

“And this is his legal guardian, Obito. I know he is a muggle, but this muggle you should fear. He shot me in the arm, gave me a concussion, kicked me in the guts, gave me back pain and is going to be my future husband”

“What?”

“What?”

“What?”

Kakashi looked at all three, giving him a questionable look.

“W..What…” He tried to mislead them.

“Nice to meet you, Obito” Minato shook Obito’s hand firmly. “I know how overwhelming this all can be.”

“Really, you do?” Obito scratched the back of his head.

“Yes, I came from a mug-…A not magical family,” Minato explained. “I remember how overwhelming this world has been to my parents…And to me.” He looked at Sasuke.

“You will get used to it, believe me…I did.” Minato winked at Sasuke who felt his cheeks heat up.

The sound of a bomb exploding was heard, followed by some hard laughter. Minato turned his head around and he seemed embarrassed for a moment.

“Your son?” Kakashi asked.

“I am afraid it is my wife…” Minato said. Another explosion sound was heard, leaving a lot of wizards and witches shocked.

“Oh dear…” Minato ran to the direction where the sound came from.

“Head of the aurors, everybody” Kakashi slow clapped.

“Hey, what is that?” Sasuke looked excited at the cage Obito was carrying.

Obito smiled and showing the animal inside it to Sasuke.

“It I your pet.”

“It is a hawk!” Sasuke looked amazed at the hawk.

“And allowed on the list…. We figured a rat would die in your hands, and birds can deliver mail…Hawks are fast. We figured you would like to write a lot to Obito” Kakashi said.

“I love it!” Sasuke seemed very excited.

Read Chapter 3

[the-formerone]

how the music can free her whenever it starts (and it’s magic) Pairing: InoSaku Word Count: 3133 Summary: Yule Ball doesn't go the way Sakura expects it to.

Sakura doesn't have a date to Yule Ball. And it's fine. At least, that's what she keeps telling everyone.

Between keeping Naruto alive during the Triwizard Tournament to making sure Sasuke doesn't actually set that stunning Haku person from Beauxbatons on fire for looking at Naruto, she's kind of had a lot to deal with.

She doesn't even have a dress, not really. She has some nice things that she could probably transfigure into a gown of some sort, but that would take too much work, and brain power that Sakura is sorely lacking at the moment. She's exhausted.

The tournament didn't mean that classes had just suddenly stopped, despite the way that Naruto was behaving. And while Sakura was eternally grateful for the fact that Professor Senju's healing classes had helped Sakura stabilize Naruto after the situation with the kitsune in the Forest of Death (and fucking Sasuke when his stasis charm winked out when he was in the Lake and Naruto dragged him from the grindylows grasp, sobbing because he thought Sasuke was dead. Honestly, they needed more healers on staff. Sakura was still a student, and even though she won fifty house points to Ravenclaw for snatching Sasuke out of the jaws of death, she really wasn't qualified), Professor Senju's homework load was legendary for its difficulty.

So when Sakura hasn't been busy narrowly avoiding her bullies or saving the lives of her best (read: idiot) friends, she's been making sure she's passing her classes with top marks so that when she applies to be a Hit Witch with a specialization in combat healing, she'll get the damn job.

Which means she hasn't had time to find a date for Yule Ball. Which makes her a loser.

ecause Naruto is the Hogwarts Champion. Or, he's one of them. Hinata's name was the one that was pulled out of the Goblet first, and she was doing her level best all things considered. Nobody thought she had it in her to even put her name in for consideration. But when she stood up before her name was called, the hairs on the back of Sakura's neck had stood up. The Hyūga were a long line of oracles, and it was clear that Hinata had something to prove to her pureblood family.

And she had a date to Yule Ball. Unlike Sakura.

Even Naruto and Sasuke managed to get dates, despite the absolute mortification that came with realizing that they were each other's 'precious people' as per the second task's parameters. And yeah, Sasuke was going with Karin because he told her he would when the damn tournament began, and maybe Naruto was going with Sai's weird ass because he was just bold enough to ask Naruto immediately after saying something rude about the size of his dick.

Sakura was left in the dust. She didn't even know if she wanted to go. She kind of just - She hadn't really thought about it. And now it's the night of the Yule Ball, and she's in the library trying to start a research paper on speculative theories about how the tenketsu system came to be so tightly bound to the respiratory system in certain pureblood families, giving rise to the corvustongued, fire breathing Uchiha.

Honestly, it was a miracle Senju even let Sakura use the topic considering Sasuke was one of her closest friends. It had given her an in with the Uchiha; Mikoto was a breathlessly stunning woman who led the family quietly behind her husband's performative iron fist. And she made really, really good scones. And she liked Sakura, which meant Sakura could have access to the family history tomes of the Uchiha, all the way back to Uchiha Madara, himself.

She's just about to scribble down something along the lines of the contract Madara made with the crows, a magical contract which literally altered the DNA of his descendants thereafter, when a slim wand taps on the parchment beneath her quill.

Sakura's eyes snap up. It isn't a threatening gesture, but it wasn't a benign one either. You didn't just put your wand in someone's face like that unless you wanted a fight. Sakura's own wand is tucked into her sleeve, but the offending instrument on her paper could fire off six curses before she could even get her own wand in her hand.

She could always throw a punch. That tended to throw most off their guard. Sakura was muggleborn, and it was an advantage when it came to dueling. She had knocked more blood purists on their asses with her fists than with her wand in DADA. Kakashi always gave her full marks for her 'inventive fighting style'. He'd made her his TA, too, insisting that modern witches and wizards needed to be able to fight wandless and without magic if they wanted to survive the coming war. The war that no one was really supposed to be talking about.

Sakura's got what Senju calls a 'natural aptitude' for wandless magic. Especially when she fights with her fists. Sakura discovered this entirely by accident the summer before the school year started, when Naruto had survived a seventh attempted kidnapping when he was visiting Sakura. She had been backed into a corner by Akatsuki members, Naruto bleeding just behind her, so she did the only thing her mind could tell her to do.

She punched the ground.

Her magic sung a strange song to her, thrumming in her fingers, making a crater so large that Ministry officials were still erasing muggle memories of it afterward. That and her incredible intelligence was why Senju had let her into her healing classes.

And now, Sakura can feel her magic twitch again inside of her at the threat. But when she closes the fingers on her left hand into a fist, she finds that she can't follow through.

Yamanaka Ino is looking down at her, looking as unfairly stunning as she always does.

After that first incident several months ago, Sakura's been studying with Ino. Her marks in Divination have gone up, and Ino's wand work in Charms has received special praise from Professor Umino.

They aren't friends per se, but they are acquaintances. They talk to each other every once in a while. Wave at each other in the hallway. They actually talk a lot more than Sakura expected them to. Sometimes they had meals together, or studied in each other's common rooms even though it was against the rules. Sasuke liked to ask her if she and the blonde were attached at the hip. Sakura would cut her eyes to Naruto, then back to Sasuke, and ask him if he really thought that joke was as funny as he thought it was. Sakura's bullies bother her much less now, which is nice. She already has the Uchiha and the Uzumaki on her side. Having a clan heir like the Yamanaka as a study buddy only increases Sakura's street cred.

And also that time she used wandless magic outside Hogwarts grounds and didn't get thrown in prison because of it.

"You realize there's a party going on tonight," Ino asks, drawing her wand back to herself, "right?"

Sakura snorts and scratches the side of her head.

"You realize I have a paper due on Monday, right?"

Ino rolls her eyes, and waves her wand. She's unnervingly good at unspoken magic, hardly needs to call out the name of her spell before it begins its work. Sakura's parchment and her books all slip into the air just above her head, and organize themselves as they hang in the air.

"I'm not letting you sit in the library on the night of Yule Ball like some kind of tragic peasant."

Sakura barely lifts an eyebrow, by now well accustomed to Ino's particular brand of snide.

"I don't want to go."

Ino scoffs, and the library books Sakura was reading assort themselves onto a nice pile, while Sakura's notes slip inside of her bag, along with the Uchiha family histories.

"That's what everyone who doesn't have a date says."

Sakura puts her elbow on the table, and cups her chin in her hand.

"So where's your date?"

Ino slips her wand into the bodice of her dark purple gown. There are no frills, or any excessive fabric; Ino's gown is straight, dark purple, with shoulder less sleeves that are just as severe. The only thing soft about her outfit is the bush clover of her family crest, hanging on a fine black chain around her throat.

"I don't need a date," Ino says, arching an eyebrow. "I'm a Yamanaka."

"And I'm a Haruno," Sakura quips. "And I need to study."

She goes to grab her bag, but Ino snatches it out of her reach.

"Are you serious?"

"Come on, Sakura," Ino says, "when was the last time you actually had fun instead of making craters or doing homework?"

Sakura opens her mouth, then closes it again.

"I have fun," she says, sheepishly.

But not lately. Lately, she's been stressed, and she knows it's beginning to show. Her schoolwork will be the last thing to suffer, and so will Naruto and Sasuke. But she hasn't been sleeping very well, her dreams plagued with the red clouded cloaks of the men who attacked Naruto, and there are things in the stories about Uchiha Madara that make her stare at the moon with a mix of longing and apprehension.

There is something very strange going on in the world around her. It's something she wants to understand, needs to understand, but doesn't know why exactly.

"Come with me," Ino says. "Stay for a dance. For some punch. The Demon Brothers are playing."

Sakura purses her lips. Ino waggles her eyebrows.

"I don't even have anything to wear," Sakura insists.

Ino clucks her tongue at that, and walks around the table. When she offers her hand, Sakura reluctantly takes it, and Ino helps her stand. She tries not to feel uncomfortable under Ino's assessing gaze. When Ino spins her finger in a slow circle, Sakura purses her lips and turns.

She isn't wearing much. A comfy pair of black sweatpants and a red tank top, all of it under her uniform cloak, which is absurdly comfortable all things considered. She had been wearing it as a blanket over her legs until Ino had arrived.

"Not too bad," she murmurs. "I can work with this."

The Ravenclaw cracks her knuckles and tugs her wand out of the side of her dress. Sakura stares down at the ground, trying not to see the way the wood of her wand just barely pushes against Ino's breast, and tries not to feel like a pervert for staring.

"Arms out," Ino instructs, "and keep spinning."

Sakura does as she's told, and she feels rather like Cinderella as she does.

Magic courses from Ino's wand in a faint blue light the same color of her eyes. Ino's magic is softer than Sakura expected it to be. She's worked with it before, has been near it, but it's never touched her, never has altered something as intimate as her clothes. The magic even moves into her hair, tugging it out of its lazy ponytail and curling it up into the air.

Sakura shuts her eyes to let the feeling wash over her, and wonders if Ino's hands are as soft as her magic.

"Alright, Haruno," Ino says. "Open your eyes, and tell me what you think."

As Sakura opens her eyes, Ino clears her throat and looks away. She pulls out a compact from her little clutch and transfigures it into a full size mirror. Sakura - Sakura is shocked at what she sees.

Her sweats have been transfigured into a terribly elegant looking pair of harem pants, overlaid with a startling pattern of bright red interlocking circles that crest over her right hip and flow down over both her thighs towards her left ankle.

Her red tank top is a long sleeve now, with a square neckline, and her cloak is much more fashionable, all gauzy and transparent, with sleeves that wrap primly around her wrists and around her waist in a thick black line. Her hair has been pulled back into an artfully curled ponytail. Her black flats are the same, but they look almost three times as fashionable as they did before in her current get up.

"Wow," she says, a little breathless.

Ino smirks at the word, but there's a vague dusting of pink on her cheeks that makes Sakura a little self conscious. Does Ino think she looks good?

"My mother is a fashion designer," Ino says, "this look is all the rage in Uzushio."

Sakura nods as if that information means anything to her. She knows Naruto's mom is from Uzushio. Was, before she went into hiding. And he has a lot of cousins from there, too.

Ino pulls a compact out of her purse, and pops a hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"I'm not finished yet," she says. "Sit down."

Sakura does. And the fabric on her cloak is so thin now that she can tell for sure; Ino's hands are as soft as her magic.

"Just some light coverage," Ino murmurs, dusting powder over Sakura's face. "You've got great skin, so you don't need much."

"Thanks," Sakura replies, trying not to sneeze.

"Open your eyes, and look up."

Sakura obeys, and tries not to blink as Ino applies mascara, and eyeliner. Ino replaces the items in her clutch as quickly as she reveals them, and Sakura has to wonder whether or not there's a Bigger on the Inside charm on the damn thing.

"Now lip gloss," Ino says. "Pucker your lips."

Sakura does it, and feels like a fish. Ino snorts at her as she unscrews the cap to her lip gloss.

"Not like a carp," Ino chuckles. "Softer. Like this."

Ino puckers her lips, and looks nothing like a fish. Sakura is pretty sure she's turned beet red.

She wants to kiss Yamanaka Ino. Desperately.

The urge smacks her in the face, and by the grace of Morgana, she somehow manages to mimic the girl in front of her.

"That's it," Ino says, dabbing the shimmery pink gloss onto Sakura's lips. "Now smack your lips together. I'll make my compact a compact again, and then we can go."

Sakura nods dumbly as Ino rises, and sets to her task. She runs her hands down her front, over the elephant pants and her newly red blouse, and touches her cheek to where Ino's foundation has settled into her skin.

She looks at the back of Ino's neck, at the easy way she holds her wand, uses her magic. At how she literally puts Sakura's entire messenger into her tiny clutch, proving Sakura's earlier theory.

It hits Sakura then, that Ino said that she didn't 'need' a date, not that she didn't have one. 'Come with me,' Ino had said. And was that an invitation? To be her date? To the Yule Ball?

Sakura isn't a Gryffindor. She's not all reckless bravery, and she isn't the careful cunning type of Slytherin. She isn't even a Ravenclaw, using logic and reason to get her in and out of tricky situations.

She's a Hufflepuff. Which means she's all of that, and she's so much more.

"Am I your date?" she asks, voice soft and hesitant.

Ino stills for a moment, then turns her head over her shoulder to look at Sakura. It's the first time Sakura has ever seen her look anything other than self assured and confident. Ino looks nervous.

"I mean," she begins. "I wanted you to come as my friend. I really like you, and I knew you weren't going to come out tonight because you're ridiculous, so I thought I'd ask you to come with me - ,"

"As a friend," Sakura asks. "Or as your date?"

Ino purses her lips, then squares her shoulders. She looks like she's being prepared for rejection. Sakura has no fucking idea what's happening.

"As whatever you're the most comfortable with" Ino says.

Sakura swallows, and this time when she opens her mouth, she doesn't even have to think about being brave enough to say what she's thinking.

"Ino," she says. "May I escort you to the Yule Ball?"

She has a split second to wonder if she's made the wrong decision, because Ino is very clearly hesitating. Decisive, ruthless Ino, who has hexed more people on Sakura's behalf than Naruto and Sasuke combined since they became friends earlier this year. Ino who tells Sakura exactly what she's doing wrong when they study Divination, Ino whose pale blue eyes are sharp and critical when Sakura demonstrates fine wand work.

Sakura holds out her hand. Ino looks at her it, her own hands wrapped nervously around her clutch. Like she didn't plan this far ahead, like she didn't expect Sakura to see through her, to want what she wanted, too.

"Or," Sakura says, cracking a smile. "You could escort me. I think that's what you'd prefer, since you're a Yamanaka and all."

Some color comes back to Ino's pale, nervous face, and she returns Sakura's smile with a cocky little grin of her own.

"Mark my words, Haruno," she says, carefully placing her hand in Sakura's. Her fingernails are painted a paler purple than her gown, and the color slowly changes to black to match Sakura's get up. "You're going to have the time of your life. The Yamanaka know how to have a good time."

With the kind of brass that would make even Naruto splutter in shock, Sakura tugs Ino close to her, so close their noses brush together and says, "I hope you're not all talk."

At the end of the night, Sakura will wonder whether or not she should kiss Ino as she walks her back to the Ravenclaw common room. She'll only half listen to Ino's polite good night, and she'll only really be able to focus on the way she looks in the evening light while other Ravenclaws move past them into their common room.

She'll kiss her, and she'll taste the vanilla and shea of Ino's lip gloss on Ino's mouth and her own, and Ino will turn bright pink. And afterwards, Sakura will walk all the way back to her dorm, arms wrapped around herself as Ino's magic keeps her clothes transfigured until she's safely in her room.

In the morning, when Naruto and Sasuke barge into her empty room underneath Naruto's invisibility cloak and will demand to know how she went from not having a date to Yule Ball to having a girlfriend in the same night.