#I could just skip to shippuden but a part of me is like I made it this far I might as well see it through

[tanjir0se]

Not to be gatekeepy but I literally never want to hear someone complain about filler again unless they’ve watched the last three seasons of Naruto

[evilkitten3]

#It being a phenomenon that people ship two characters that would have an entirely fucked up relationship#And you would EXPECT that that's the appeal and therefore what the content is like and then it's like oh nope. Fluff#How did we get here

EXACTLY

like this happens so many times in so many different fandoms. if you wanna fantasize about your ship talking about laundry in a coffee shop then. you do you i guess, but that seems incredibly boring to me. why not have them do something more interesting, like aggravated assault

ngl my biggest issue with tobi/izu as a ship or as a friendship or even as a foemance is that there's no reality where it's not a thousand times funnier if they just straight-up hate each other's guts

[luffythinker]

I'm glad your back cause I've had next to nobody to talk about Naruto/mha Au's with I have a lot of thoughts idk what this ask is but just my thoughts

Gaara is so Todoroki but also Sai is so Todoroki

How do you think Naruto would get along with Deku? I think his loud personality would be a sharp contrast to how quiet Deku is but also I can see him understanding but also not agreeing with Deku alot on different things. Both of them definitely end up getting a lot of hero costume upgrades due to destroying them. I think Naruto wouldnt like the way Bakugo sort of bullies Deku in the beginning and he would try and pick fights with Bakugo, Naruto would bring out the worse in Bakugo and try to rival him and square up him they would be so choaticlly funny together like can you not see Naruto getting angry someone compared to Bakugo because of his brashness?

Your just like that class A punk

I think Sakura would always be flailing her arms at "don't you care how Naruto's making our class look?" At either their homeroom teacher or classmates who dont give a damn about how they represented like Sasuke.

20 kids in the class idk id Kakashi would be a pro hero or their homeroom teacher but I'm going for homeroom I know that's not how it works but I'm gonna say Naruto's class is class C I know class C isnt hero course but let's pretend it is

1st years Naruto Sasuke Sakura Kiba Shino Hinata Shikamaru Ino Choji Maybe Gaara Tamari? Sai? Hanabi?

My exception for Hanabi is she skipped a grade I could say this for Konohamaru as well but I dont want him in Naruto's class he isnt exceptional enough

I'm running out of characters so I might pick up some side characters from filler arcs like

Sumaru from the star village cause I like that arc

Menma from the menma memory mission

Sora from shippuden filler

Sasume from the fuma clan

Yakumo from the Kurenai filler she was really cool character

Amaru from the Shippuden movie cause I super ran out of characters and needed one and I didnt wanna turn someone into a child

Sai gets transferred over to class C? Or he was put there to be a spy idk I never finished Shippuden so I dont know enough about Sai ( I made it to the part where Shikamaru comforts Naruto about Jiraiya's death) you can spoil me I know a lot of how everything transpires just not the details in between

For the sake of trying to fill the class I put Gaara in this class cause idk if he should actually be in another school, the sand village gives me poor people vibes I know they are not but I feel like Gaara is either really poor or really wealthy and got in on recommendation but also hes too destructive as a kid but also idk how this world would shape Gaara cause the sports festival seems to be for UA only? I feel like it shouldn't be but it is

Tenten Lee and Neji are 2nd years

Kankuro is in support course probably a 2nd year? The reason Temari isnt a 2nd year is because in gonna say she failed her test on purpose to stay with Gaara cause I remember she didnt take the Chunin exam for some reason canonly cause I remember Kankuro saying something about this to her in the Gaara chunin exam arc

Lee would so hype up Deku, Lee is the only quirkless kid going to UA hear me out, think of every character who's quirk has next nothing to do with how strong they are? Now ask yourself do you think they could still do half the stuff they've done I'd having the quirk doesn't matter

I think Bakugo wouldnt like Lee XD he'd call him bowl head or something, Tenten would not like Bakugo XDD I think Tenten should be in hero course but I also think she would do good in support

The first incident is the land of waves incident and while Deku is helping Iida with stain Naruto and Sasuke are fighting Zabuza and Haku that's where their internship lead them

I like to think everyone wanted to intern Sasuke after the sports festival but Sasuke wants to go with Kakashi cause their quirks are similar and he can teach him stuff, Sakura picks Kurenai cause in the anime Kurenai could have taught Sakura genjutsu so maybe their quirks are not so the same but Kurenai can teach Sakura something

Naruto goes with Jiraiya cause he spent a lot of time with him when he was teaching him about the frog thing when he fell off that cliff so Naruto is training with him cause hes the only person who wanted Naruto

Somehow they were lead to the same place and Kakashi figures out something and rush's over cause he has to save his students

Naruto ends up killing Haku I dont know how Zabuza would die but I want them to still go out cause this shaped Naruto very much he makes recalls to this a lot this is a pivotal point in his life Kakashi Naruto Sakura and Sasuke are there to witness Stain save Deku from the Nomu and feel his blood curdling wrath, they are taken to the same hospital as Deku Todoroki and Iida and told the same thing by the chief police cause they should not have been allowed to fight Zabuza, Naruto agrees with Todoroki and agrees to calling the chief police a mutt XD he adds mangy mutt but the situation is explained. Kakashi cant loose his teaching license like Gran torino but he loses taking on interns for a year

This point Naruto and Sakura really try to befriend Deku and his class because they were both put into terrible situations I do not think Sasuke would get along with Todoroki and I dont think he would care for Iida's personality however he would admire his speed

I dont know how to feel about Gaara getting humbled early cause his fight with Naruto in the sports festival would probably be the thing that put Naruto in the hospital with Deku during the sports fes but again I think he could meet him in the license exam but there isnt enough time to focus on truly going all out in a fight in the license exam

In the calvary battle I think Sasuke would form his own team and Naruto would form his own team as well, I think Sakura would want to be on Sasukes team but he dismisses her because from his perspective shes useless and hasn't really done anything so Sasuke would probably try and team up with Lee maybe? When they had their little fight before the tournament cause I plan to have Sasuke get his ass beat by Neji so Lee doesnt fight Sasuke in the tournament.

Naruto's team is Sakura Hinata I wanna say Shikamaru cause again my heart goes out to them but if not Shikamaru Sora cause nobody wants to be on Sora's team cause I remember him being really hyper aggressive starting a fight with Kiba and just being really jerk I do like Sora but he was mean lol Naruto is a rider while Sakura,Hinata and Sora or Shikamaru are horses

I think actually I will go with Shikamaru

Sasukes team is probably just Neji Tenten and Lee cause they might not wan a part with eachother and from Sasukes perspective these people are stronger then the fools in his class but theh wont let Sasuke be a rider which makes him mad, they either want Lee or Neji as the rider in leaning towards Neji he either completely disagrees and leaves the team or just swallows his pride cause beating the other teams Is the focus here.

Kiba Shino are a little mad Hinata ditch them maybe they will team up with Sai?

Just because Kankuro is in support doesnt mean he doesnt take part in this like Mei so sand siblings are back together here Gaara is riding and they are horses, I feel like Gaar would pick anybody to have a 3rd person here so maybe he picks Yakumo cause shes insanely quiet and murderous lol

Neji and Naruto definitely fought in the sports festival, Neji definitely fought Sasuke, I think for the sake of wanting Naruto to fight Neji and not having Naruto fight Sasuke yet I'm gonna say Neji beat Sasuke's ass in the final round for two reasons, Neji has more experience cause hes a 2nd year and I think it would be funny cause Sasuke did have a little rival dynamic with Neji

Making Sasuke more insane that Neji beat him along with Lee then watching Lee fight Gaara has to have pissed him off severely.

They also fight Kabuto maybe and he reveals to them hes evil and drops out of the competition after getting whatever he wants like in the Chunin exams, allowing someone to move up cause hes not there for his fight, I think Kabuto before they knew he was evil was Sasuke's second gay awakening cause Kabuto was kinda really nice to them and saved Sasuke at some point lol I remember pausing it on a scene where Kabuto jumps over on top of Sasuke to save him from an attack at the end of the Chunin exams

Sasuke almost gets disqualified for breaking that sound ninja's arms this is before he fights Neji but somehow he doesn't lol

Sakura having her fight where she cuts her hair. I have a headcanon that Ino gets scared of Sasuke when she witnesse him brutally beat those guys in the Chunin exam so Ino is afraid Sasuke at this point and doesnt pretend to have a crush on him anymore cause ya mans fucking psychopath.

So yeah, i'm gonna say Gaara he was humbled early on that is if he goes to UA I'm very leaning on yes he does go to UA

Sakura and Ino knock eachother out like Kirishima and Tetsutetsu and they have to determine a winner but both girls have 0 want for a rematch idk how this would end I personally think Sakura should win but maybe it would humble her in some way if Ino won showing Ino is still somewhat a stronger person than Sakura like when they were kids idk

I think Kakashi went to UA with Aizawa and Mic along with Gai Obito and Rin that sounds right

I think Sakura and Ino should be paired for the final exams for lesbian reasons/j but no yeah they need to have their argument. I would love Sasuke and Naruto to be paired I ready would but my Shikanaru heart tells me it should have the smartest kid and the dumbest kid working together Tsu and Tokoyami passing depended solely on it Tokoyami would listen to her so it's not far fetch to think Naruto and Shikamaru would depend on Naruto listening to Shikamaru I also kinda want to Sasuke Sakura pair up but Sasuke maybe Hinata because Hinata needs to learn how to have a backbone idk how pairing her with sasuke would do this but it might cause he might need her somehow we are getting

Kiba/Shino cause they are gay

Gaara and Tamari cause he needs to have a moment with his sister and apologize to her again for treating her the way he used to and they can have a heart to heart, and come out on top kinda like Todoroki and Momos final exam

If not Hinata and Sasuke, Hinata and Hanabi so they can work out their issues of Hinata being whatever she is in this AU with their dad and stuff, cause I'm thinking if Hinata is on Sasuke team shes gonna wanna only do as he says but she might try and take charge with Hanabi to protect her but she doesnt believe in her self enough and when something happens Hinata blames her self where Hanabi says she never blamed Hinata for anything that happened however their famliy plays out in this setting

I'm gonna be real with you, I dont really care for Choji and I'm not gonna pair up everyone else cause it's not really important and I dont remember a damn thing from those filler eps but I do remember Sora got on my nerves and Sasume whole thing was pretending to be a boy, Menma died with his ocarina, Sumaru thought he knew better then Naruto, Yakumo was overpowered and just really wanted to kill Kurenai so I have to rewatch those eps to give them plot and relevants

Everyone passes with flying colors

I like the idea we had where Naruto thought they weren't going to training camp and he wanted to go so he convinced Sakura and Sasuke to sneak onto the bus even though they were going anyway and there was no reason for that, that's funny as hell, Sasuke caught acting like a fool moment XD

In the training camp Class C is allowed along and I think either Kakashi or Iruka should be the one taking them cause Iruka having a falling out with Kakashi over the Zabuza thing and not trusting him with Naruto's safety from my AU is my golden goat. It's funny cause when the training camp gets attack hes unable to protect Naruto the way he thought he could.

I think Hinata would get along fine with class A girls, she kinda looks like Jirou, you mentioned before you think Kiba and Kirishima would get along I think they could be friends but Kiba is kinda mean and that's why Kirishima gets along with him cause he gets along with Bakugo. I think Shino scare the piss outta present Mic for fun. I think Kirishima would try to befriend Sasuke I think the Bakusquad would be sort of drawn to being his friend cause hes gloomy.

What does Naruto's training at the camp look like? I should elaborate on their quirks but this is overly long dnfjdjfjf

I'll end it on everyone's location when the camp gets attacked.

Naruto wants to save Sasuke I dont think the league of villains wants Sasuke but the Akatsuki wants Naruto so they maybe either came as a opposing force or are pretending to work with the vanguard squad to get what they want. They sent Itachi and Kisame only and this is where Sasuke gets in his "fight" that fucks his shit up so bad Naruto is running through the forest looking for Sasuke i was gonna say he runs into Deku and Shoji hiding from Dark shadow but I wanna say he runs into Todoroki and Bakugo fighting moonfish I say this so Deku doesnt get help fighting Muscular and saving Kota cause I think Kota would remind Naruto of Konahamaru but he wouldnt like him at first so Naruto and Deku get kicked in the balls by Kota and Naruto has 0 interest in him after that lol he just wants to fight the little kid. Bakugo and Sasuke share a tiny moment of smirking at this before Bakugo turns to yell at Todoroki for saying he reminds him of Bakugo and Sasuke. Kibas laughing his ass off while Hinata goes over with Iida to ask if they are ok, Sakura holds Naruto back so he doesnt attack Kota

"hes just a little kid naruto!"

"I dont care how old he is I'm gonna cream that kid!"

I'm going to say Hinata and Sakura are with Tsu and Uraraka when they get attacked by Himiko idk how this plays out but Hinata vs Himiko would be really fucking cool, Himiko ends up getting blood from Hinata as well

Kiba and Shino are there with Kendo and Tetsu fighting Mustard cause his smoke fucks with having bugs and Kiba's nose

The devastation in Naruto having to watch Bakugo get taken when they get Tokoyami calmed down and mr compress takes them, Naruto feels for people and I feel like he would really feel for Deku here he might feel responsible for not doing enough, Itachi having knocked Sasuke out they dont want Sasuke they want Naruto so the vanguard squad is free to take Sasuke but I feel like Itachi would have a heart and not want this to happen cause I believe itachi should be allowed to show love to his brother, he let's Naruto take Sasuke

Either Jiraiya is zooming over there when he finds out what happened so he can save Naruto and have his fight with the Akatsuki members or Iruka is gonna get hurt fighting them to save Naruto in leaning more Iruka but Jiraiya does get there but not in time, hes there to tell Naruto Sasuke shit got rocked and his brain is probably damaged from itachi's quirk

Temari would be with Iida and the rest of them when the pussycats fight spinner and Magne I think she would want to stay and help fight which unevens the oods but Mandalay says they want the students so they should go back to where Kirishima and them are, idk how this plays out shes worried about Gaara

Either Gaara is out there fighting the Nomu that was chasing the class B student and Momo when Momo put a tracking device on it or Gaara didnt do well on his final exam and is with Kirishima and thw rest of class A plus Monoma when Mandalay uses her quirk to tell them they are after Bakugo

Ino Shikamar Chojj were definitely part of the group running to get to the save haven

So either they take Sasuke captured with Bakugo cause they saw him in the sports festival and Shigaraki is like "yeah that one is really evil energy too, his quirk is strong we can get him on our side"

I dont remember what we talked about Sasuke being there when Bakugo got captured but I do remember we said did talk about the akatsuki and the league of villains at this part I'll have to find it and go over it.

This whole situation was terrible for everyone.

If Sasuke is stolen it isnt hard to convince Naruto to go with Deku to save Bakugo and Sasuke and fully agrees with Kirishima. Sakura is sort of on Iida's side that they shouldn't and she goes with them for that reason. If Sasuke is not stolen he has his fight with Naruto cause hes pissed and he leaves then

I think this is the "bring Sasuke back to me" scene my phone is at %15 so unfortunately I have to bring this Ted talk to an end I WANT ALL YOUR THOUGHTS even if you wanna build onto any part of this I think this is interesting thing I've written up >:) sorry is didn't get to have input on Sai I dont know what hes doing here I do t remember enough of his back story so if you find a way to fit him in and tie in his story be my guest he hasn't really interacted because I think Sai starts becoming friends with Naruto either in the license exam or when they move into the dorms

Also apologize for ambiguous Sasuke fate either way hea gonna leve UA and team up with Orochimaru somehow and Naruto is gonna be sad cause dorm life with Sasuke would have been fun despite everything they were friends :)

love how yall just write whole essays here!! let me get into it

What if we think of Gaara as Dabi (reformed) and Sai as Shoto?

Personally, i think Naruto and Izuku would get along really well, even if deku is quieter, i think Naruto would respect him a lot for aiming for his dreams, they're also both lowkey outcasts in society so they would bond over that. If we think about it, being quirkless is like not being able to use ninjutsu, so i think he would also get along super well with Rock Lee!! Can totally see Naruto not liking Bakugo, they would fight as rivals, but i don't see them getting along until Katsuki has his shift as a person.

Kakashi could be both tbh, working as a teacher and underground hero in the after-school hours!!

the random konohamaru shadekjdfkjdf, not all these extras making the cut into the class helppp

may i ask why u never finished shippuden?? i felt like i couldn't stop until i got through everythingkjfgjkf

i mean to me it makes sense that the sports festival is for U.A. only, i feel like it would get way too big and out of control if it involved everyone in a bunch of other schools. but i can see gaara making it through recommendation, cause he's super rich (kinda like momo)

Lowkey feel like Lee would hate bakugo lmao, his morals are just too strong and rigid, i don't think he would appreciate seeing him put other people down, tenten and neji would also keep to themselves

About sasuke, i just don't think he would give a fuck about anyone reallykjdfjk he just wouldn't care about the other class or anyone, too busy being a angsty emo gay

i like the matches u created for the sports festival (naruto version), it would be interesting to see them fighting and working in different challenges like this.

the training bus partjhdjdj its giving haikyuu/hinata, naruto so would convinve them to do that even though it was not necessary

i do think they could take sasuke and bakugo together, but that's a lot fo wild energy to control, i wonder if the league of villains/akatsuki could handle both of themfjkkfdj

i think naruto would go even if sasuke wasn't captured cause that's just his nature, he would help a friend save anyone even if he isn't particularly fond of that person, but with sasuke in the picture he would have things moving in a heartbeat

i have no idea how to fit sai into this, especially this early into the story ?? i think we could view sai here more like shinso maybe, where we know he's there but he's not quite part of the main story/events yet

also sorry for not giving this a proper reaction and analysis, it was quite long and my attention spam was fighting me to concentrate and retain everything, but i tried my best !! thank you for all this <3

[captnjacksparrow]

Hey, I'm glad I came into your blog! The analysis you provided helped me better grasp Naruto and Sasuke's relationship. To be honest, I didn't like Sasuke at first, but after reading your analysis I came to understand why he did what he did, and I now like him. I wasn't expecting Sasuke was actually a complicated character. So, thank you! 🥰

By the way, I've always loved opening 9 Naruto Shippuden and I recently realized that the lyrics meaning actually represent Naruto and Sasuke's feelings for each other.

In that song there is lyrics :

· You keep trying to act tough and refuse to show your tears.

· But deep inside you’re afraid.

· You desperately ran this far.

· So that you wouldn’t lose what’s important to you.

It's like Naruto talking to Sasuke isn't it? Sasuke was never seen crying in the series. Sasuke was always good at concealing his emotions. But there are moments when he can't keep his emotions hidden, and that moment was when Itachi died and his final battle with Naruto in the Valley End.

· Enticed by someone softly spoken words.

· I was dancing in the trap.

· The thing that was important to me was the “You” I remembered in my heart.

· Scared of beliving, i forgot how to cry.

These lyrics sound like Sasuke is speaking to himself. He was willing to go to Orochimaru despite knowing it was dangerous for him. He was willing to take that risk because he did not want to kill Naruto in order to become stronger.

· In such a vast world.

· You will probably be all alone.

· I will take up your overflowing thoughts.

These lyrics remind me of the moment when Naruto told Sasuke that he would bear all of Sasuke's hatred.

The fact that the opening title is "Lover" makes me overjoyed. This is equivalent to implying that Naruto and Sasuke have had feelings for each other all along. I don't think this can be a coincidence.

So, I wondering what's your thought about this?

Thank You, Anon. Can't believe that I could make someone like Sasuke (???).

And to be honest, I never knew about the meaning of those lines in that Opening. Because On my First watch, I usually skipped that particular one. LOL. Partly because, I watched that Kage Summit Arc starting from 8PM and I pulled an All-Nighter to finish it. That Arc was damn good and irresistible. But the Opening Visuals were pretty Sakura-esque. It's almost she was portrayed as if everything revolves around her tears and kunai and I was like, 'WTF, Just fast-forward this dumb asshole already'. And the Song's opening lines were too loud for my ears in that silent Night (1 AM). All the more reason to skip it altogether.

In that song there is lyrics :

· You keep trying to act tough and refuse to show your tears.

· But deep inside you’re afraid.

· You desperately ran this far.

· So that you wouldn’t lose what’s important to you.

It's like Naruto talking to Sasuke isn't it?

I think it's like Naruto speaking to himself, I guess. Especially, this is the Arc, where Naruto stopped lying to himself and started to being honest with himself.

He acted tough in front of Sasuke as if he hated him and refused to show how he really felt about him (In Part 1) (And he ended up confessing Under the Bridge as to how he felt about him all along and he finally stopped doing that 'Brother' bullshit and acknowledged that he is his 'Friend')

And he desperately chased Sasuke to save him in all the Arcs that came before.

So that he won't lose what's important to him. And that's Sasuke.

The fact that the opening title is "Lover" makes me overjoyed. This is equivalent to implying that Naruto and Sasuke have had feelings for each other all along. I don't think this can be a coincidence.

Firstly, I don't know who decides these Song choices which always made me go 'Wait a Second... What was that about!!'.

Secondly, How could people not take the hints from these Lyrics and still call them as 'Brothers'.???

Atleast, when it comes to the production team who animates or picks these songs, they definitely know the Nature of SNS bond. That's for sure. Probably they are making up for all those censorship nonsense they did to portray Naruto as this Hetero boy and they ended up doing these in OPS and EDS.

The Opening title "Lover", I think it implies, the way Naruto declares that he will die along with Sasuke by bearing all the burdens of his Hatred like a Lover. This is a Lover trope who commits double suicide in order to be together even in the Afterlife. And they had feelings ever since they smiled at each other near that Lake Pier.

[turboacek-blog]

What a Naruto remake/Kai would do/be

So they released some illustrations and a video to celebrate the anime’s 20th anniversary

And it was said more was coming in the celebration

Leaning a good number of to think that they’re going to remaster or at least do a Kai version of the anime

I don't think is going to huh happen but I did want to explore what if?...

So first what would this mean?

Filler would be reduced, so all those filler arcs would be cut including those that can be argued added to the story like Kaguya’s backstory

That would cut the 720 episodes to about

88ish (Naruto) and 192ish (Shippuden) making at least 270 episodes cut (rounded down from 280 from my potential bad math)

So reducing 720 to 450 already improved the pacing and such

But then there’s the actual pacing of the episodes

Like there are episodes called “mixed” canon as in it had a decent amount of filler moments to go with canon/manga stuff

Like side characters' backstories for example and even some fights

And if that gets cuts that could reduce it by about half (exaggerating but you would be surprised how much anime filler was thrown in episodes)

For simplicity, I’ll say 300 episodes with the mixed filler and recaps and such cut

This may seem low but again rough estimate could be closer to 400 depending on what they would do

And to be safe could make it stay at 300 or make it lower when you improve the pacing

Pacing as in that almost all 2000s anime and media, in general, were slower paced compared to today

So if that pacing is sped even just to meet today's standards one episode back then could be half an episode now

For example, the bell test was 2 episodes that could easily be made into 1 episode now

Let alone the more “annoying” aspects that were in the show like the moments they repeat a “punch” or something to sell the epicness or when they pause on something or a shot too long (like when it could be 1 second but it’s 5 seconds)

There’s also the seasonal route where they do it in bunches of 12/24 episode seasons

The beginning to the end of the land of waves was 19 episodes

But that could be cut to be 12/13 having that be a “season”

Chunin exams were from around episode 20 to about 50 for the preliminary and 68 for the transition into Konoha Crush/end of the finals

If that could be reduced to 24 episodes (and if possible 12) that’s another bunch of episodes cut/reduced

Like without checking literally every episode count for arcs

Land of waves 12 episodes

Chunin exams 24 episodes

Konoha crush 12 episodes (including Naruto vs Gaara)

Tsunade arc 12 episodes

Sasuke retrieval 24 episodes

Naruto total: 84 episodes

And for Shippuden

Kazekage 12 episodes

Tenchi Bridge/Sasuke and Sai 6-12 episodes

Hidan and Kakuzu 12 episodes

Itachi (pursuit, Jiraiya, Sasuke vs Itachi) 24 episodes

Pain 12/24 episodes (depends on where you want to cut off the lines between this and Itachi's)

Five Kage 12 episodes

War 24 episodes

Ten tails and Kaguya 24 episodes

Ending 12 episodes

Shippudden Total: 138-156 episodes

So based on this at most 240 episodes

Obviously, this isn't me rewatching every episode and rereading every manga chapter to see the exact percentage of filler canon, etc

But everyone knows the filler in naruto was a problem and that it's just a common thing to skip it now so having a version that reduces it naturally without having the weird attempts the studio did to weave the filler into the canon (like the three tails arc)

As for the animation part, I've seen that they loved the updated look from the video and a whole anime looking like that would be marvelous

I agree, but I don't think original naruto and especially Shippudden are “outdated” yet

Like yes some fights like the infamous Naruto vs Pain an update could be nice but in general, the animation and art are still good

And I do understand people that don't like the updated look, it's like with Dragonball the cell-shaded look was normally for specials and such but now it's the norm

Like now it's the Boruto look but was the movie style previously

I think it's one of those we all just got to get used to it as we're never getting back to the 80s-00s look mostly just because of the workload

So should they make a Kai/remaster?

Yes just having a “definitive” version would be great

Now?

No, doesn't feel like enough time has passed, at most Naruto would get updated and not Shippudden, plus Boruto is still ongoing and would rather that conclude or reach a time skip otherwise we'll be having 2 Naruto's

Also random but I would like if it's called Naruto: Chikara / Naruto: Power to play off the filler arc that most liked

(I know Kai means updated so Kai still works)

[marvelmymarvel]

Beauty (Part 9)

Jiraiya x Reader

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

Synopsis: At the age of 14, you begged the 3rd Hokage to let you raise the brand new baby, who just like you lost his parents to the nine-tailed fox. People thought you were crazy, but the strange new man who was training Naruto saw you as something else.

A/n: Jiraiya’s back bitchesss. Also, there are going to be a couple more parts after this. A huge time skip and then the ending.... So like, 2 more parts? Idk the next ones gonna be sad and a spoiler so you may wanna hop off now if you dont know (or haven’t gotten that far in Shippuden) what happens... Thats all :)

Tags: @brithedemonspawn​

Your feet carried you faster and faster the closer you got to the Hokage’s office, word of Jiraiya and Naruto’s arrival reaching your ears only minutes ago. You had left Jiraiya bewildered, rejecting his proclamation of love thanks to your own fears. Now, things were different. You wanted him. Needed him. You had to tell him how you felt, but you hoped that it wasn’t too late. 

The guards didn’t stand a chance of stopping you and instead chased after you as you climbed the stairs to where you’d find them, heart racing as fast as your feet carried you. Shoving the door open, you skidded to a halt in the hall, head whipping around violently as you searched for them.

“MOM!” 

A sigh of relief flowed from your lips as your eyes landed on the boy running to you with open arms. For a second, you could have sworn he was four years old again, but the minute he crashed into you was the moment you realized how much he had grown in such a short amount of time. The ninja who chased you realized that you were no threat and went back to their posts, leaving you and Naruto in the empty hall. Ignoring the extra weight, you picked him up and set him securely on your popped out hip. His grip around you was steel-like and even though he had his face shoved into your neck, you could still hear him rambling about all he had encountered on the journey. 

It was sweet to see this side of him, but it was over once he heard the sound of his friends coming down the hall. Pushing from you, Naruto landed on his feet and shoved his hands into his pockets, acting as if he hadn’t clung to you only seconds before. You opened your mouth to tease him although something caught your eye. 

White hair.

Your heart seemed to skip a beat as Jiraiya rounded the corner, but the sight of the blonde beside him had your blood boiling. His arm was thrown over her shoulder, laughing and flirting with her as if he hadn’t proclaimed his love for you only weeks prior. Jiraiya caught your eye mid-laugh, immediately shutting his jaw and pulling away from her. Naruto gazed up at you, knowing better than anyone how you were feeling despite the fake look on your face. 

“You’re jealous of Grandma Tsunade, arent you?”

You loved Naruto, you really did. But at that moment, as he loudly proclaimed those words... You wanted to kill him. Your jaw dropped in shock as you looked down at the child, completely ignoring the fact that this Tsunade was giggling and that Jiraiya had turned as pale as a ghost. 

“Oops?” Naruto muttered out sheepishly, blush crawling up his neck as he averted your angry gaze. “Don’t worry. You can have him” Tsunade called out as she playfully shoved Jiraiya before walking towards the office, leaving the three of you alone in the hall. If looks could kill, you would have killed Naruto 1000 times by now as you gripped his shoulder tightly in your hand. 

Crouching down beside him, you took a deep breath before leaning in. “I need to talk to him... Go get some Ramen” your soft whisper made Naruto breathe a sigh of relief as you shoved some money into his hand. Without another word, the blonde went running off to get some food. 

Finally...

Rising from your spot on the ground, you turned towards a still stunned Jiraiya. A smirk formed on your lips at the thought of shocking a man like him so much into complete and utter silence. Confidence replaced the embarrassment as you began to walk towards him, now dead set on telling him yourself how you truly felt. 

“I-I didn’t know you felt that way-”

“Shut up” you snapped out, silencing him as you threw yourself onto him. Your lips crashed onto his, fingers lacing in his white hair as you kissed him like you’ve been wanting to kiss him for a long time now. It took only a second for him to snap out of it, but he too joined in and kissed you back with more haste and need. “I lied. I love you too” you whispered out as you began to pepper his jaw and cheeks with kisses. A smile formed on his lips as he pulled your body closer into yours, finally...

“Tsunade is no threat... I only have eyes for you. Even when you rejected me” he whispered out shakily as your lips traveled to his neck. Naruto had told him all about your jealousy and how easy it was to rile you up, but now that he’s seen that sad look on your face... Well, he never wants to do that again. Your fingers dug into his shoulders, something you only do when you feel possessive. You didn’t want anyone or anything to take him away.

“I love you. Please tell me you still love me” you pulled your lips from his skin, chest heaving violently as you tried to catch your breath. Everything was intoxicating. His scent, his warmth, his touch, his voice. All of it. You just wanted to drown in him forever. Jiraiya smiled at your pleading eyes and trembling lip, you were so silly to think he didn’t and yet his silence bothered you. He brought his large hand to your face and rested his thumb on the trembling lip, stopping it in its place.

“Your worries are silly... I love you more than you know” 

A smile of contentment bloomed on your lips before you once again brought him down onto them. The kiss wasn’t as hungry but it was full of comfort and love, he was going to be your one and only till the end of time.

That's what you thought at least.

[im-still-watching-anime]

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

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

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

- both devoted to the same boy their entire lives

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

in regards to sasuke, naruto:

- is extremely devoted

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[blackvelvetwriteson]

Hey dear, it's me again, I wanted to say that I LOVED Holiday blues, it was so cute and I wonder if you could write a nsfw sequel, please? (only if you feel comfortable with it, otherwise feel free to ignore it).

Hi again! I love seeing your requests in my ask box it makes me feel amazing! I’m so glad you liked my writing, it means more to me than I can even express! I’ve got that request for you in; it was supposed to be done yesterday, but my tics were kicking in and I couldn’t concentrate- I hope this didn’t disappoint, and again thank you so much!

𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐈����𝐀𝐘 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐒 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟐

                                  (  ~ Kakashi Hatake x Black Female                                                                   Reader Insert ~ )

GENRE: Smut and Fluffy Fluff!                                                                  

FANDOM: Naruto Shippuden

TRIGGER WARNINGS: SMUTTY! Kakashi’s not too kinky, but for today we have a breeding kink at play and light choking. It’s not too hardcore, but it’s still worth mentioning!

SUMMARY: This is a continuation of PART ONE and this time, Reader-Chan and Kakashi spend some time together after decorating the house for the holiday season.

Find Part 1 Here

WORD COUNT: 7572

(Headers are mine, but the art inside of them are not! Please don’t steal or repost without credit!)

      You relished in seeing your boyfriend’s sleeping face before you walked back into the kitchen. In truth, you’d already started dinner since hotpots were generally dishes that took too long to make. You sashayed into the kitchen and turned the heat up a little before skipping to a small closet you had where you’d hidden some holiday decorations; candles, tinsel, wreaths, and statues of little angels in a small box, your eyes gleaming as you bit your lip excitedly. You kneeled beside the box still in your boyfriend’s getup, happy that he wasn’t pissed at you for wearing his clothes, smiling because you figured out that he was in his funk because he hadn’t been sleeping well. You moved quickly to make sure everything got done so that you could go pumpkin hunting, or maybe you’d ask Sasuke or Naruto to go see if there were any that even grew in this region, I mean “Village Hidden in the Leaves,” should have plenty of different plants and such right? You giggled softly to yourself as you took out a string of lights that you’d never gotten to use and you plugged them in and stretched them out completely, watching all of the purples and blues, magenta, orange, reds and yellows glow and illuminate your living room, though they couldn’t compete with how your bright smile beamed around the room. “Woah,” you whispered softly as you gently touched the dull tips of the lights, watching the reflection on your hand.

“I forgot how much I loved these things,” you laughed softly looking in the box, seeing how many more lights you had than everything else. “…. Apparently,” you say quietly as you bite your lip. You move immediately to playing holiday music quietly as to not disturb your sleeping boyfriend, and then you get to work after checking the hotpot which was still simmering quite nicely under its cover giving the house scents of sweetened soy sauce, garlic, meats and other ingredients. You danced around happily to “Mary Did You Know,” even though you weren’t necessarily religious, the holiday music of the time really brought out your festive interior designing skills. You skip over to your open window as the skyline turns purple and blue with the seafood greens fading a little more prominently now. You kneeled down and waved at the kids who loved to observe you- mostly because you were so nice to them and actually interacted with them- and they giggled and grinned, waving back in return, deciding to stay a little longer just to watch. They could smell your dinner and one of them even approached as you climbed on your window sill, weaving the first strand of lights through the curtain rod deciding that you’d add more later if needed. You swayed your hips to the music startled by one of the small voices and you looked down with a closed eye grin. 

“Hey there! What can I do for ya today sweetheart,” you chime out happily as you look at the little girl and she smiles back up at you. 

“U-Um oh yeah! Mrs. Hatake- Sensei,” she said softly and your eyes widened a little as you shook your head.

“Oh, u-uh honey that’s not necessary. We ai… We’re not married- yet,” you say softly. She nodded and corrected herself.

“R-Right… I-I’m sorry,” she said softly as she tilted her head. “How’s Ms. Hatake- Chan?” She looked up at you cautiously before proceeding. You gently pet her head and smiled a little, wiping a little bit of glitter off of her cheek with your thumb. 

“That’s just fine sweetheart. What’s up?” You say softly as you sit down on the window sill with your feet hanging out of the window. “Just remember to keep it down y’all,” you say softly as you slowly moved one finger over your lips. “Kakashi -Sensei is sleeping right now,” you said cheerily while the other kids approached and surrounded you. 

“O-Oh I just wanted to say that y-your dinner smells really good,” she said softly starting to scratch behind her ear under her pigtails. “A-And I was also wondering what’s that?” She pointed inside at the tinsel. 

“Oh that?” You looked over your shoulder and smiled a little. “I’m just working on decorating the house… I mean… For the h-holidays. Where I’m from this is what we do and Kakashi- Sensei is letting me do it after a talk we had,” you say with a sweet smile as she nuzzles your lap. You gently pet her head while looking at the other kids. “Don’t worry your pretty little heads about a thing I’m gonna have something for all of y’all here soon. Actually,” you say with a soft grin, leaning forward as they gathered around. “Y’all can help me out right now. Y’all ever heard of a pumpkin,” you ask as you tilt your head. Only about 3 of them nod, the rest of them stared at you blankly ready to help you however you needed. “Y’all go with these three, they’ll show you, I promise. I’mma need about 4 or 5 of them, so if y’all work together and get some, I’ll have special treats for y’all by tomorrow night,” you say with a soft grin. Instantly they grouped up and set off in search of the pumpkins you needed all shouting “ARIGATO MS. HATAKE- CHAN,” at you over their shoulders once they were far enough away they thought they wouldn’t disturb Kakashi’s sleep. You watched until they were out of eyeshot, sliding back in your home and skipping over to the tinsel pile. You looked it all over and took a white tinsel string in your fingers, gently massaging the soft materiel through your fingers before hopping back up on the window sill, gently weaving the strand through the lights so none was obstructing the other. 

“Ooh this is so pretty,” you whisper softly as you finished braiding the tinsel and the lights with the curtain rod, hopping down and dancing around a little more as the song changed to one you haven’t heard since you were little about chestnuts roasting on an open fire. You giggled again and gently twirled around the living room with a red string of tinsel and sashayed over to your fireplace, setting it up so that you could place candles on the counter inside of the tinsel. You also decided, while you were at it, to spark up your  fireplace and turn your music up just a little. Your house already started to look more festive and you decided that, for the moment, you were done with the lights and tinsel so you didn’t overdo it. You gathered up some candles and some of the angel statues and you smiled as you hopped back over to your fireplace, setting the candles up in such a way that there was a fall one after a winter one surrounding the three angel statues you put up. You stroked their porcelain cheeks with your nail and hummed softly as you smiled a little. You sighed quietly as you hummed sweetly to the song, sparking up a couple of the fall oriented candles, not noticing that Kakashi had walked out of the room and closed the curtains and was now leaning against the wall staring at you with his arms crossed. You still swayed your hips slowly, deciding that there was a strip that could benefit from an extra string of lights, and because of said thought you made your way over to the box again, gently unrolling it and plugging it in. This time they were more neutral cream colored, your eyes glistening at the soft glow. “Woah,” you whispered softly as you wrapped the lights around your body and looked for something that you could stand on and a couple of sticky anchors that wouldn’t be too hard to take down after the fact. You licked over your bottom lip and hummed softly trying to look around for a chair. 

Meanwhile, Kakashi had followed you closely and quietly, smirking a little, gently kissing your neck, taking you by the lights and pulling you back into him. You jump a little before you hear his voice and you smiled a little.

“K-Kashi,” you whined softly as you tried to fight your way out of the lights but you were tangled and you didn’t want to mess anything up. “Y-You’re s’posed to be sleeping,” you say as you look over your shoulder and peer at his vague smirk. “What’s that look for? So help me, I’ll force your ass back into bed,” you say with a slight pout.

“Shhh, baby,” he hushed softly as he kissed your neck again, gently allowing his teeth to graze your neck. Then he started to speak again, kisses punctuating every other word. “You know… I did get some sleep though… Right,” he said as his hands made his way to your hips and he pulled you in more. “You’re… Still wearing my clothes,” he said softly as he nipped at your ear.

“Y-Yea so? What about i-it,” you said shakily trying to stifle your soft whimpers. “Why aint you asleep again? Wet dream or something,” you tease before he nodded.

“Actually, yes. It started as nightmares… Then I eased myself back to sleep after reading a book… Then I started thinking about you and I woke up grinding against a pillow,” he said bluntly causing your skin to burn with a practically scalding invisible blush. 

“I-IT WAS A JOKE,” you said as you turned your face away from him to hide as if he could see your blush even if he wanted to. 

“Was it? Oh… Well, I wasn’t joking,” he said softly as he pressed his bulge against you and your legs started to shake a little. “Can you feel it? This is what you wanted.. Right,” he asked as he turned your head to look at him and his vague smirk grew a little less vague. 

“K-Kakashi! B-Behave yourself,” you tried to command as you bit on the inside of your cheek. “D-Dinner should b-be done soon and I have kids that should be back soon… I asked them to pumpkin hunt for me,” you say as you fight your way out of his arms. “Can you please untangle me so I can go check our hotpot,” you ask as you spin on your heel and look at him. He just stands there with a challengingly teasing stare and then he walks over to the couch, tilting his head some. 

“I’m sleepy, baby,” he said in that deep raspy voice he took on when he was both tired and turned on. You were practically dripping just hearing him talk, and as much as you would have loved to hop on him right there, you had to behave yourself. He stared at the fireplace and ran his fingers through his fluffy icy white hair and turned the TV on but had it on mute so you could listen to your music. “Everything looks good though.”

“…. Fine if you wanna be like that,” you grumble before looking around for something and you spot a small cup on the counter. “Substitution Jutsu,” you mumble under your breath, making the hand sign needed just barely before you took the place of the cup and the cup was in the tangle of lights. “You aint gotta be like that,” you say softly as you move to untangle the lights, extremely relieved that the cup was empty. You sighed softly and looked over at where your future husband sat on the couch, just waiting a moment to stare at him. 

He had a pillow in his lap and his breaths were shaky and labored. You should’ve known that he’d take care of it himself, as he wasn’t much of a fighter when it came to things like this. He was too dense to realize when you wanted him and when you didn’t in actuality, and as a result, he never pushed because he never wanted you to be uncomfortable. He was only halfway paying attention to the TV, his eyes fluttering as he bit his lip and rutted his hips up into the pillow. His eyes glistened as he let out a sort of loud moan, his fingers digging into the cushion, his legs trembling a little as he moaned out your name sort of forgetting you were there in the same room as him. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes as he tried to edge himself. You just sat there with butterflies erupting in your stomach, feeling your nipples get a little hard and press against your bra, and without even checking you knew that you were already completely soaked just hearing his smoky tone as he called out for you and only you. 

You pulled yourself out of your trance before going to check on your dinner, catching an earful of Kakashi orgasming on the couch, his breathing stalled as he broke out in a fit of small moans that were a bit whinier than usual and you noticed that they were also a little louder. You bit your lip before looking down at all of the boiled ingredients and sniffed it causing your eyes to water a little. “Goddamn,” you whispered softly as there were excited knocks on the door. “Perfect timing because dinner just finished,” you mumbled to yourself, shaking all of the perverse thoughts out of your head before hopping to the door. “Hey babes,” you say to all of the kids as you kneel down to their height. Each one of the kids carried a big pumpkin and a little one. “Oh my goodness! Look at all of these pumpkins,” you say with teary excited eyes. You thought for a moment before looking over your shoulder at Kakashi who was standing over you with a sort of aloof grin on his face. “You guys can come in for a moment if you want, just to put the pumpkins inside and say hello to Kakashi- Sensei,” you say as the kids start to shovel in your house looking at the pristine festive wonderland in awe.

“Right there in the pantry will be fine,” you say with a soft giggle as you watch them neatly stack the pumpkins. They all give a bow to Kakashi who, in turn, bows back. The other kids bounded outside with giggles of goodbye to play a little bit longer on their way home while two kids lingered back in the house hearing Carol of the Bells playing in your home.

“W-What’s this?” The little girl says softly as she looks over her shoulder at you. 

“Oh this? This is music… I hear you and your friends singing and chanting all the time… But this is a holiday song, actually it’s one of my favorites,” you say with a sheepish grin as you take the girl and her brother by the hand. Here, you guys can take a look around if you’d like,” you say softly as you look over at Kakashi. He just watched with that formal and withdrawn expression he usually carried, pulling his mask up once more around others. You led them into the living room and smiled a little at everything as the two kids looked around the room with dropped jaws.

You twirled the girl and she giggled as she stumbled into you and she looked up at you. You twirled the boy and he laughed softly as he looked around and then you started to sing, his eyes locked on you as you started to dance around with them in the living room.

“Hark how the bells sweet silver bells, all seem to say, throw cares away,” you sing quietly as you dance with the children who were giggling and swaying and with you. Kakashi had heard you singing before but only in soft mumbles, but as he heard you now singing and teaching the song to the children in the room, he felt a pang in his chest, his breath drawn from him, his eyes widening a little as he watched you dancing with the kids in your house. 

“Merry merry merry Christmas, merry merry merry Christmas,” you giggle softly as you sing and the kids mimic you laughing and spinning around the room as you smile wide at the kids and your eyes fall to Kakashi to see if he was irritated or if he wanted you to wrap your little encounter up but you just saw his starstruck eyes absolutely adoring you as you started to dance around with a soft twinkle in his eye, an opaque smile on his face. You grin at him and lift the little girl onto your shoulders, her legs draped over your shoulders as she looked down at you dancing with her brother. Kakashi took the sight in and he sucked in a sharp breath trying to keep himself calm, wishing that these village kids were his own with you as his wife. He looked down at his feet and he listened to the chiming giggles and your soothing singing voice.

“Yeah! It’s just like that sweetheart,” you giggle as you teach the boy some basic footwork that went along with the song, and as most of the shinobi kids did, he caught on rather quickly and he started to sing having caught onto the song quickly. “Hark how the bells sweet silver bells,” you broke out into a fit of giggles before you could even finish the line. You picked the little boy up in the middle of his spin and twirled with them in the middle of the room letting him rest on your bicep. “Say, have you little ones had dinner yet? I think we have more than enough to share,” you say softly as you kiss the side of the little boy’s head and he looked away.

“N-Not yet… B-But we won’t intrude! We’ll get dinner on our o-“

“Nonsense,” you giggle softly as you dance your way into the kitchen with the both of the kids and grab a couple of bowls out of the cupboard. “We’ll feed you… I know you two don’t take too kindly to sleeping in other people’s homes, but just know that if you guys need a place to stay at least through some rain or through the winter or something, our door is always open to you,” you breathed out quietly as you kissed the side of the girl’s head and the little boy’s cheek, spooning a bit of the hotpot into the bowls for the both of them, leaving the heat on simmer. “When’s the last time y’all had a MEAL to eat,” you questioned as you grabbed out two pairs of chopsticks and took them over to the table and set them down in their chairs, their eyes sparkling as they accepted your chopsticks. You gently run your fingers through their hair before looking up at Kakashi. You walk over and lead him over to the table as well, pulling a chair out for him and gently pushing him to sit into it. You walk back to the kitchen, the center of his attention as the kids started to poke around their bowls with salivating mouths. “Well… I m-mean I guess it’s been awhile,” they both whispered before taking small bites. 

Meanwhile, Kakashi’s eyes were locked on you, his eyes sparkling as he watched you make his bowl, his mind running. It raced with how natural you looked with kids, how when you walked he could tell that you could do everything on your own. He adored everything about you, how you don’t look at him like he needs to save you, with how you seem to always have a level head about anything and everything, how selfless and compassionate you were; especially when it came to the kids of the village. He let out a dreamy sigh as you walked back over to him with his bowl and a pair of chopsticks in hand. You giggled softly as you caught onto the gaze realizing this was one of the first times you were able to show him how good you were with kids. You set the bowl in front of him, handed him the chopsticks, hugged him from behind and gently kissed his cheek. “Let me know how everything tastes, alright? I’m not used to making Japanese foods, but I think I’m gettin’ a little bit of the hang of it,” you giggled softly as Kakashi leaned forward. 

“That’s false. She’s an amazing chef,” he ‘whispered’ to the kids and they both giggled and nodded in agreement. Your heart swelled as you squeezed his shoulders gently and made your way back to the kitchen to prepare your own bowl. Like with everything you do, you did it with tact, your eyes glistening as you did so, quickly skipping to the table to meet with everybody else. Like usual, you took your seat next to Kakashi, one of your legs in your lap as you bow a little.

“Itadakimasu,” you whisper softly before stirring everything up, gently scooping up some food and nibbling on it with glistening eyes. “Oh wow… I don’t know how it should taste, but I think this is pretty good,” you say softly as you look at everyone with your friendly grin. Kakashi nodded a little and kissed your cheek gently. 

“Don’t worry, baby,” he said in that seductive tone of his. “This is VERY well done… And in this very… Comfortable home… I could get used to this,” he said with a soft grin, kissing your cheek gently, his hand resting on your inner thigh causing your toes to curl a little and your breath to waver. 

“W-Well… I’m glad you like it, baby,” you say sweetly, kissing his forehead before pushing his head away so he could eat. The kids giggle as they quickly continue to shovel their food in their mouths, mumbling softly with mouthfuls of food in their mouths. “Hark how the bells sweet silver bells,” they managed to mumble before giggling softly. “I’m never gonna stop saying that,” the girl said quietly. You tilted your head a little and bit your lip a little before speaking up, brushing your curly hair out of your face. The glow cast through the home gave your skin a sort of golden aura and Kakashi couldn’t take his eyes off of it. He bit his lip and continued to eat, that same distant expression on his face upon first glance. You looked at the kids and your heart melted at how they teased each other, how they were so close because they didn’t necessarily have anywhere else to go. 

“You both are precious,” you say under your breath as you noticed they were close to finished eating. “Did y’all want some more or are you both good to go?” You stood up and grabbed their bowls and took them over to your sink, grabbing down 2 thermos jars and 4 large mason jars, filling every container to the brim with the remainder of the hotpot.

“I think we’re okay Ms. Hatake-Chan,” the boy said softly as he hopped down and he helped his sister out of the chair. They made their way to the door and you stopped them with frowning faces, kneeling in front of them with the armful of containers you prepared for them. “H-Huh?”

“Do you little ones have names,” you asked softly as you looked at each of them in the eye. They both shook their head and you sighed softly. “Alright… How about you,” you point to the girl. “We call you Lily-Chan because you’re as pretty as water lilies,” you say and that causes her to giggle and play with her fingers. “And you,” you pointed to the boy. “How ‘bout we call you… Sora- Chan, because Sora means universe in Japanese if I’m remembering correctly… And there’s nothing, absolutely nothing, in this universe that’s greater than you,” you say softly as you kiss their foreheads gently and slide the thermoses and the mason jars in their bags. “I hear it’s supposed to be cold tonight, so you guys take care of yourselves,” she said as they both fought back tears. Lily and Sora stood side by side and bowed holding their hands and sniffing quietly.

“Arigato gozaimasu Ms. Hatake- Chan,” they said softly and you picked their heads up to make them look at you. 

“You’re very welcome darlings,” you said quietly as you fluffed their hair and opened the door for them and smiled watching them walk out of your home. You made sure to wait until they were out of eyeshot and then you closed the door and looked over your shoulder at Kakashi who’s arms were crossed as he stared at you. 

“You’re… So… Amazing,” he said slowly as he pulled his mask down and moved his icy white hair out of his face so that you could see him completely. 

“W-Well… I mean… It’s just being a decent h-human being and caring for them kids.. I always do anyways… And it looked like they hadn’t been eating. I didn’t invade space d-did I? I don’t want you to be uncomfortable in your own home either. 

“No no no,” he said softly as he took you by the waist and pulled you closer. “If anything it made me realize that much more how bad I want to have a family with you,” he said before pressing a soft kiss into your plush lips, his tongue wasting no time, swiping over your bottom lip, soft groans escaping his lips. You whimpered softly, gently pushing your hands against his chest, allowing him to have the lead. He pushed you into the door and he bit your lip more rough than he had before. You whined as you ran your hand down his side and his back on down to his thigh, trying to force his leg in between yours. He smirked against your lips, his breathing slow and labored, soft growls threatening to spill out, his eyes halfway opened staring at you. His leg slipped in between yours and you immediately started to grind against his leg, his breathing only picking up a little, his free hand now running up your shirt, unclipping your bra in one slick move, his hand gently groping your chest as he let out low moans. His enthusiastic hand worked at teasing your nipples, his teeth bore at you a little as he watched you grinding needily against his stocky thigh. “You like that? Hm? G-Grinding on Sir’s thigh like that,” he said as he jolted his leg up into your cunnie causing your back to arch as you let out a soft cry. 

“Answer me, baby,” he said softly as he bit his lip, one of his hands moving to grip your neck, his finger squeezing a little as he growled near your ear. “And tell me how much you want me inside of you,” he growled before he bit the shell of your ear causing you to gasp, your core hot as you felt you became even more soaked, your lip quivering to the point that you could barely even answer.

“I-It feels so good, f-fuck~ K-Kakashi,” you whined softly, gripping to his shirt. “Baby!~ F-Fuck- P-Please keep teasing my nipples like that, sir,” you whispered softly looking up at his keen gaze staring into you. “I-I want t-to feel you inside of me,” you whined softly before reaching to kiss him again wanting to feel his satiny smooth tongue in your mouth again. You felt extremely needy, your legs damn near giving out under you. “Baby!” You threw your head back and leaned into him, your hips jolting into him, his eyes glistening as he looked you over. He picked you up and took you over to the couch, tossing you on the couch before crawling on top of you, gripping your neck again and pushing you into the couch as he peered down at you. He started to grind into you wanting your legs to pull him closer, trying to fight through his sensitivity just to please you. He couldn’t wait too much longer, however, lifting the shirt you stole from him, his lips locked around your nipple as he lazily pushed his pants down and he pulled yours down too, one hand kneading your breast as his fingers pushed themselves in between your legs, his slender fingers plunging into your tight dripping hole. Your back arches a little and you let out a loud whine as your legs’s hold on his hips firm a little and he smirked a little, the tips of his fingers stroking against your special spot without any effort from him, and every single time his fingers curled up, your toes curled too, and so did your back. Within minutes, the accuracy of his fingers; the pressure, the stroke of his fingers, the way it swiped right against your sweet spot; had you a babbling drooling mess underneath him and the only thing that you could mumble out was “Sir please,” and “More!” He felt how you clenched around him, slowly and surely losing control of your babbles, whines, and loud moans, already practically crying because of how overstimulated that g-spot of yours it. Your legs were trembling and already you were teetering on the edge of cumming for him, but you wanted to hold out for him. He saw how much you were struggling with just his fingers and with one swift movement you were sitting on his face, one leg hanging off of the couch. 

OH, it’d been awhile since THIS had happened. 

You couldn’t even ask a question or catch your breath before you felt his slick slippery tongue enter you, probing your insides to find that spot you loved to have stimulated so much. Your thick thighs suffocated him practically, but you didn’t care, his shaky breath against your drenched throbbing pussy only added to the feeling. Your back arched with each time his tongue fell flat against your slit and lapped up every single las drop of your juices, pushing hard against your clit before diving deep inside of you once again, sucking you down before cleaning you up again, repeating the process all over again. Each time, your leg jolted, your abs tightened, your nails dug into his thighs- making his cock twitch in his pants just for you- and you threw your head back trying to keep your moans quiet but failing. “K-KAKASHI! P-Please I ca-can’t take a-anymore o-or I’ll go c-crazy,” you whined out loudly as you started to bounce a little on his face, your whole body tremoring as you came over his face and his tongue. He decided that a soft laugh and his teeth gently nipping and tugging at your clit would be perfect for the moment and all you could do was orgasm, your eyes widening before clamping shut, your breaths drawn out, your hips grinding into his face, your hand squeezing and stroking at his bulge causing him to push his airy soft moans into your pussy as his tongue continued to circle and plow at your insides. He loved how it felt to have you clenched around his tongue, and he loved especially how it felt to have your throbbing clit grinding into him, your hand pleasing him as he tongue fucked you. All of his lewd noises made it back to you, his slurping, his moans, and the faint drunken mumbles of your name he managed in between bites and sucks, the way his tongue stirred you up making you practically fall apart on the same couch he pleased you on. At this point, you were still cumming, and you couldn’t stop, but the fact that he wouldn’t let up either was new so you weren’t quite sure how to handle it. Your body tried to jerk away from him, your hips jolting up and away from him, your tears streaming down your face as you mumbled please over and over and over again wanting him to stop but wanting more at the same time. He only responded with a harsh slap to your ass before locking his arms around your waist and holding you down on him while he finished basking in your flavor. You figured the only way to get him to stop was to return the favor, so while he was busy eating you out, you took his cock in your hands, sucking on the plush tip that was dripping with precum already. He let out a soft moan into your cunnie and you felt his back arch under you, his cock twitching in your hands as you swirled your flat tongue around his tip to collect any of the escaping precum, your fingers steady stroking the rest of his length, your fingers feeling out every single vein and detail as you continued to try and jerk your hips away from Kakashi’s face. You couldn’t help but to let your moans and harsh breaths dance on his cock as you pleased him and he pleased you. You completely ate his flavor up, your eyes glistening before they shut and you continued to ride his tongue. You sucked hard, your cheeks hollowing out causing his back to arch even more, his dull nails trying to work into your thighs as you teased him by the inch, your tongue pressing him into the roof of your mouth which drove him absolutely insane. He whined out as his legs jerked a little, his arms not budging with letting you go. 

“Please,” you whine softly. “I-Inside,” you slurred out as you took him all the way down your throat, gagging around him, making sure your throat choked his cock out. His eyes glistened as he looked down at you, gagging and choking on his dick, his hips jolting trying to get in deeper but he couldn’t. It got to the point where you felt you were going to pass out so you stopped and came up for air, your soft whines barely audible to him. You tried your best to hold your noises but you couldn’t, squeaking as he pushed you forward a little. He hugged onto you as he slid himself inside, his lips pushing out his soft shuddery moan into your ear as you arched your back and slowly started to push yourself back on him. He already felt like he was going to pass out just from how well your throat choked his cock out and you couldn’t help but to bury your face into the couch as Kakashi gyrated his strong hips, grinding you into the palatial cushion. You couldn’t help but to push yourself back against him, even the slow pace he was known for about to make you cum again. He reached deep inside of you, and you forced him to go even deeper as you grinded your hips against him. He reached under your hair and grabbed your neck from behind, squeezing gently as he leaned forward again to nibble at your ear, whispering sweetly to you, your eyes barely even able to stay open. You clenching around him made him see stars, practically drooling over you, but while you couldn’t keep it together, he had to in order to drive you all the way to home base with pleasure. 

“Do you l-like it like this,” he whispered quietly in your ear, his labored breaths and soft moans melted into your ear again as he slowed down even more, his hips still strong as he reached inside of you. “H-Hm? A-Answer me, Blossom,” he commanded as he pulled your hips against him and held you in place feeling your slick riding all the way down his cock, his back arching a little. 

“P-Please, Sir,” you whine out quietly barely even able to speak that’s just how braindead you were from how much pleasure you were receiving. “M-More! N-Need… More,” you gasped out and he smirked with a soft hum of approval, his hands gripping the arm of the couch now as his legs became a little more stable and solid, his lips still touching your ear, his teeth nibbling away at the outer shell, his eyes glistening as he edged himself at your expense. You looked over your shoulder at him and he truly looked like a divine icon; the way he started to rock into you, a small bulge forming in your stomach because of it, the way every single one of his muscles flexed with even the smallest move, the way that the candles, fireplace, and the faint light from the TV cast a glow on him that was unmatched, carving his features out more, his body blanketed by a body of sweat, his expression quirked with how well you clenched around him. 

“I want you,” he mumbled softly in your ear, his speech and breathing short and choppy as he pounded into you a bit quicker, not meaning to be as rough as he was. “I w-want to e-expand our family,” he breathed out as his moans became more needy, his hips slapping against yours sloppily. Honestly, this was the fastest he’d ever fucked you, and at this point you were stuck seeing stars with your tongue lolled out of your mouth, your golden glow cast by the lights around you only making Kakashi more aroused. It was obvious that he was way more vulnerable, you could hear it in his moans, feel it in every single movement that he made, you saw it in the way that one of his hands moved from death gripping at the arm of the couch to tenderly slap, tug, and caress your beautiful brown skin. Tendrils of his hair fell just before his eyes, his eyes halfway closed, his body encompassing your own as you both fell into a quick rhythm. Your body was on fire with his next words, your eyes widening and glistening with tears that fell down your cheeks from how good he was making you feel; “I-I want to ma-marry you,” he groaned out in a choked moan before he slowed to an almost stop and he turned your head towards him, gently pressing his lips against yours again, his hand riding your side as he tried to catch his breath, his fingers feeling over your soft stomach, all the way up to grope at your chest so gently, even as your back still arched up into him. You both were a mess of moans, drooling over each other as you tangled your tongues, your teeth nipping at one another gently, your hand on one of his, your eyes now completely closed as he pushed you into the couch more, your clammy bodies trembling against one another before pulling away just to stare at each other.

“Please,” he said softly as he started to pound into you again. “I’m g-going to cum… D-Don’t look away from me,” he said softly, his glazed eyes holding back tears as he gritted his teeth a little. “I want t-to look in your eyes as w-we watch each other… F-Fall apart,” he choked out quietly, towering over you, tilting your head up so that you were staring at him. He fed you sloppy kisses as he pushed against your special spot, and it took another hard clench from you to send him orgasming again, his teeth clamping down on your lip before he pulled away, his eyes rolling into the back of his head, his body quaking and vibrating the whole couch as he allowed his body to tense up, his hips to slam into you one final time, sharply chasing after air that didn’t want to come down, choked moans leaving him, his lips barely brushing against yours as he reached his climax, painting your insides white as they overflowed with his cum. Your own body gave out as you came, pressing your body up against his, your nails digging into his hand, your eyes crossing as you drooled out, screaming out his name, your trembling body falling against the couch as you allowed Kakashi to gently and slowly ride out his high, every single stroke hitting you at a different angle making your body twitch and tingle before you felt him pull out. He watched his cum mix with yours as it spilled out of you and he smiled at the bulge he could feel with his tender fingers as he caressed your body. He laid down behind you, his muscular body now completely relaxed as he just tried to catch his breath. He looked up at the movie playing on TV, spooning you from behind, covering the both of you with the throw that you decorated the couch with earlier. His strong arms made you feel protected, and when you were like this, both of your guards were let down and you let the love that you had for one another protect you both. His fingers danced over your skin and he moved your hair as he gently fed you kisses to your neck, your shoulder, and the top of your back as you absentmindedly played with his fingers and watched the movie that was on TV; which by the way was Home Alone. 

“I meant what I said,” Kakashi chimed sweetly in your ear and suddenly those butterflies were back in your stomach. “I want to marry you, Blossom,” he whispered softly. “I want you to be the mother of my kids… I want to spend the entire rest of my life with you,” he said softly, sounding like he was about to cry. You heard his breath shake and you could tell his sincerity and that made your heart absolutely melt for your man. 

“I would absolutely love to be Mrs. Kakashi Hatake,” you say softly, leaning your head back into his body, your eyes peering at him from below. He looks down at you, a blush nipping at his cheeks as you giggle softly, your hand reaching up to caress his tensed jaw. “And I would love to mother your children… I want you,” you echoed back to him softly, a small smile showing itself as he held your hand against his face. He couldn’t do anything but allow himself to truly fall apart, burying his face in the crook of your neck as he let himself cry quietly, still kissing your shoulder and neck whenever he could. “Aww… My beautiful boyfriend,” you whispered softly, gently playing in his hair as he wept into you, clinging to you, trembling, completely emotional, raw, and vulnerable. You adored that he trusted you enough to show this other side of himself to you, and you also relished in his confessions to you, having never been told such sweet things before. “Is that what you were thinking about when I was taking care of Lily and Sora,” you ask sweetly, smiling at him over your shoulder. He looks up at you with puffy red eyes, smiling just a hint as he nodded at you. 

“It’s just… How you… Always look after people, especially kids I just… I admire it a great deal Blossom,” he said softly as you giggled. “You invited them into your home, and danced around with them… And fed them and gave them food… And opened your home up to them…. I can’t just… Ignore that. Especially because you’re the life of this village,” he chimed softly. “I have never seen these people so hopeful or lively… I have never seen the kids so open to playing outside… I have never seen people support each other here like they do now until you got here and spread a little bit of your magic around… And yet nobody takes care of the village kids… Ever. You love them, I can see that, and they love you too. Every day I have people coming to me; ‘hey can you tell Ms. Hatake-Chan thanks for’ this that or whatever,” he said softly, his eyes peering deep into yours and you tried to fight back your own tears. You didn’t realize how much of a role you played in the village because it didn’t even feel like a chore. It was what came natural to you, and you loved that you could create such a difference in just a couple of years. 

“I’m just doing what I love to do,” you whispered softly as you kissed along his jawline. “I love you so much, Kakashi Hatake,” you say as you lull him to sleep again, not wanting to until he was at ease. You sat up a little and allowed him to use your chest as a pillow, his arms still holding you tight, keeping you close, and you never felt more safe. “You’re my king… And I’m your queen… You’re all mine, nothing’s gonna change that,” you whispered softly as you watched his eyes close. 

“I love you too,” he mumbled sleepily, a small half smile creeping on his face as he slipped off into dreamland and you divided your attention between the movie and your sleeping boyfriend wanting to watch both of them over until you allowed your drowsiness to take over completely.

[itsnothingofinterest]

Have you heard? Apparently, Horikoshi said Hero Academia might be headed to a conclusion soon. This was surprising to say the least; not just because fans don’t want it to end but because it doesn’t really feel like it’s anywhere close to it’s end (plenty think it’s closer to halfway, with a select few like me thinking it’s closer to the 1/3 point). This has led some to speculate, partially in denial, if the conclusion Horikoshi is talking about is not actually the series’ “conclusion” concussion, but instead a Naruto Shippuden style “new name for the next part” type of deal. (Or if he’s just having the word “soon” put in some serious work.)

So I want to discuss that; go over as many reason I can think of for why the series could end within the next year or 2, or for why it could see another 5+ years to it’s life. It mean it sounds fun, right?

(Going into this though, I would like to state my bias. I don’t want the series to end soon; and if it kept at it’s current pace to conclude Deku’s academic life in chapters 800~1000, I would be a very happy camper. I’ll try not to let this affect my judgement, but I’ve got no oversight but myself here so...)

Anyway, here we go.

Reasons for the series to end soon.

I think a good point to start is that Horikoshi once stated he planned to end the series at around 30 volumes, roughly what’s already been covered, before finding he needed to expand the series further than that. That’s understandable, it’s easy to see how this arc could’ve been the end of the series had things played out differently enough in the last few chapters; but if he’s already said he’s expanded beyond that, what does that have to do with this discussion? Well for this side of the argument, it means 2 things: 1) all that’s left can be considered the ‘expansion’ on Horikoshi’s original idea, so how likely is it that there’s a lot of that, & 2) that Horikoshi likely didn’t intend for the series to last for Deku’s full school life, a major belief for those expecting the series to last a significant time.

And when we look at the actual content of the series, yeah there’s certainly things that could point to the series ending soon; namely all the arcs and plot threads that kinda just got resolved rapid fire. Dabi’s reveal, Mirio getting his quirk back, Hawks launching the attack he’s been orchestrating since his first appearance, Compress’s face, Bakugou letting go of his resentment for Deku; just to name a few. True, this is nowhere near all of the arcs & plot threads; but it’s a sizable enough portion if we’re assuming the rest have the next year or 2 to resolve themselves. A few more arcs like this last one and yeah, the series won’t have anything really tying it down from ending.

There’s also Deku’s rate of vestige quirk acquisition to consider. I mean in the 3 arcs featuring him since we learned about his extra quirks, he has acquired 3 quirks. At that rate, he’d have them all in 3 more student arcs and basically be at all but full power by then. Not that him keeping up this rate of quirk acquisition is guaranteed, but it sure seems like a sign of the series not lasting too long.

It’s also worth mentioning that there are ways for the series to end soon, easy paths to the finish line available to Horikoshi. It wouldn’t be that hard, for example, to get to confronting Dabi & Toga and resolving their arcs in some timely fashion. And AFO’s presence as a bigger bad over Tomura could allow for him to pull a Kaguya to his Madara, allowing for the plot to resolve with his defeat without really needing to address a lot of Tomura’s issues. And heck, that might’ve even become more likely after this latest chapter, wherein AFO acquired his very own army. That would likely involve finding too-easy solutions a lot of the more complicated issues, or worse, brushing them under the rug; but it can’t be denied that this is an option for how Horikoshi could resolve the series in just a few years.

Last piece of evidence worth mentioning is the simple nature of shorter series being the “path of least resistance.” You can argue all you like how the series lasting longer makes more sense or might result in a better story (and I’m basically about to); but in the end it can’t be denied that the less the series has left, the less work it is for Horikoshi. And that’s just gonna make it inherently more likely; a largely equivalent result for less effort is never not gonna be attractive for people.

Reasons for the series to last a long time.

Okay, I’ve done my best to be fair and included as many points as I could think of in favor of a shorter lifespan; but I won’t lie, this 2nd half is gonna be the fun part of this post for me.

Let’s start at the opposite end of the other side’s first point; Horikoshi planned to originally end the series at around 30 volumes. This past arc, ending in Volume 30, took place in the space between Deku’s 1st and 2nd school year, or you could say it took place during the end of his 1st year. This implies that while the original plan was not to go through Deku’s whole school life, he did intend it to end at a point of significance; the end of a school year. And what that implies is that he won’t end the series smack in the middle of the 2nd year, which would be where the series would end if it only lasted less than 3 more years. It implies he’d likely aim to end the series at the end of year 2 at the earliest, a significant ways away. (And before you ponder about a time skip; remember that year 1 had a time skip and still lasted ~30 volumes & ~6 years.)

Another reason to think the series is gonna last a while; it’s quite slow, in an overall sense at least. It’s hard to describe but; It doesn’t always feel that way because the moment-to-moment pacing is very good & it always feels like something is happening and stuff is getting tackled. But this is because it tends to tackle plots one at a time; so while plots make good development while in the focus, they can stay out of focus for a significant duration. For example; the ‘Shinsou becoming a hero’ plot was introduced in the Sports Festival, only saw real development during Joint Training, and has still yet to resolve with year 2 not starting yet. Or for another example, we learned over 150 chapters ago that All Might had his future predicted where he’ll die at the hands of a villain, setting up a plot where he’ll try to twist his future and survive this unknown threat to his life. His life has not once been in danger since. Not even in a broad sense like someone’s targeting him; no, this man has not has one risk to his life since the plot thread was introduced. There’s tons for plot threads like that, I’m barely scratching the surface here. And that’s actually fine...if the series has a long future ahead of it. This system of pacing actually works wonders for BNHA; because while people can occasionally miss their faves and their plots, crying out “where’s Shinsou” and all that, they generally like what’s being focused on when it’s handled and paced well (which it usually is). As long as the series itself has time to get to all of these plots and develop them to their resolution, this pacing system works like a well oiled machine.

Deku especially is a useful measuring tool for how slow this series can be. He’s not like the other plot points see, because he’s almost always around so he’s made to develop at a more even pace until the end. This is in contrast to characters like Shinou, Aoyama, Kirishima, Toga, or Shigaraki; who get bursts of development because they don’t spend consistent time in the spotlight and Horikoshi can’t be entirely sure when he’ll get the next chance to make use of them. So with that said, how slow is his development & how far along is it? Well, not very actually. Aside from in terms of powers, his development has been a bit lacking. Not to say he hasn’t had character moments, but they have been a bit scarce & minimal; and a lot of his major flaws (such as his self-destructive tendencies, his self-esteem issues, and his toxic hero worship) have barely been addressed, let alone resolved. In general, his character feels like it’s barely changed since he got into UA; in stark contrast to characters like Shigaraki, Todoroki, Shinsou, & even Bakugou. And that kind of implies a long road a head of him.

To bounce off another point from the “short future section” I mentioned how a lot of overarching plots just ended. The thing about that is, I actually made a post talking about that and how a lot of how they ended seems to set up more overarching plots then they seem to end. To not repeat myself too much, because this post is already really long; it’s like the series resolved the greater part of 6 years of content only to set-up up to 6 more years of content, and all in one arc. (Goodness that was a busy arc.)

And that’s just the advancement of already existing plot points. There’s a lot it can feel like he hasn’t even touched on yet. Mostly characters. There are just. So. Many. Characters in this series. That are in positions of seeming importance, but have done nothing. For example, Horikoshi’s been known to suddenly focus on class 1A students to make them feel important, and has gotten through maybe over half; but hasn’t really touched on Sero, Sato, Koda, Ojiro, Hagakure, & especially Shoji (who really, really feels like he has something planned, but nothing’s happened yet). And that’s just the guys below Mineta’s development level, which itself is pretty low. To say nothing of Class 1B, or Ms. Joke’s students, or most of the 30 faces known in the PLF, the main antagonistic group of the series! And yeah, this could all just be because Horikoshi likes introducing characters in larger groups than he’s actually equipped to handle; I’m not denying that. I’m just saying it’s also possible that he could be doing this because he feels like he has the time to explore them whenever he wants. (Heck, it could very well be both.)

Conclusion:

...I don’t know dude. I mean a longer series looks more likely to me; but I am very well aware that I’m not unbiased enough to make any real conclusive statement. Maybe I should consider that to mean it’s more even than that.

Perhaps we’re just too far away from the ending to really be able to tell either way. I mean low estimates still give the series at least a year. But even so, I do think this was all worth considering; because if nothing else, I did get a feel for all that’s likely to happen between now and the inevitable end. And I guess it turns out to be kind of a lot. So that’s neat.

[fireblight]

sasuke :-)

favorite platonic/familial relationships: ( accepting! )

a song that reminds me of them: we're a hivemind on this one because grandson - blood in the water is a Huge Sasuke Tune

what they smell like: if we're considering your sasuke then just like. the fucking worst. real gross bear grylls living and fighting in the woods bullshit like sweat and burning and mud and grease

an otp: in general i must admit i do have sns brainworms i love those boys :( also sasukarin has always been one of my og ships. surprise to none. i do also love sasusui and sasujuu but i hate to break u and raz's hearts but i lean more towards sasujuu like "i'll be your cage" bitch... the poetics of it all. i think that's literally all of my sasuke ships though i only see him with naruto or taka lmfao but i'm open minded if it's Done Well. i just think sasuke is like incredibly difficult to actually ship without sacrificing his characterization. ACTUALLY WAIT!! gaasasu has potential but i mostly like gaara just fucking hating the guy and sasuke has a weird crush on him . narugaa and sasunaru working in tandem is so peak

a notp: the one that ended up canon :/ although I think I COULD have liked it but actually it becoming canon made it even more of a notp lol. i like them as divorced best friends though i read a sns boruto fic and sasuke and sakura were just hanging out and discussing the divorce and being Friends and sakura was a lesbian it was very good . if canon had given us literally any inclination that sasuke liked her either platonically or romantically in a way that wasn't like tacked on at the end i would have been down to clown since i get it vibe-wise, i think canon didn't deliver and actually canon made it even more unlikable bc it's just so miserable :( they deserve better tbh. Mostly sakura. fuck weird sasuke stans who think sakura is the problematic one in that relationship leave her alone xo

favorite platonic/familial relationships: DESPITE WHAT I SAID EARLIER I LOVE SARADA!!!! she never did anything wrong whatsoever. i've only seen a bit of them but i think sasuke being an embarrassing terrible but trying his best dad is so good actually "peanut" and the icha icha novel lives in my head rent free. his dynamic w boruto is also super cute. i love kakashi as sasuke's surrogate dad too they're both freaks and they deserve to smoke weed together

a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with: i cannot stand soft boy sasuke in fics honestly where he just feels like a self insert. i DO think sasuke has tons of potential to BE soft and weird ( his characterization in boruto and pre-skip show that imo ) but it's always so rushed or ooc imo. but i'm a slut for slow burns and awkward re-getting to know each others and whatever. melancholy. realizashuns etc

the position they sleep in: i imagine he sleeps really lightly and very on edge, part of me wants to say he sleeps sort of defensively curled up but also i think ever since he lost his arm he'd try and keep his available arm free and ready for any attack tbh. weird cunt probably sleeps upside down like a bat

a crossover au i’d love to see them in: i only ever watch like horror movies period romances or fucking like. family movies. fuck it let sasuke be in paddington 3

my favorite outfit they’ve ever worn: i love his early shippuden look that's such a serve. tits out for the win. i also like him in boruto he looks very cute :)

[harbinger-of-derp]

I can’t believe the immense bullshit move Hori pulled on us. He gonna try a shippuden on the series? Really? 

We’ll lose all that is familiar with the series, all that we loved. Cuz we won’t see the healing process, the way things will change. When “part 2: electric fuckaloo” begins, it won’t even be “My Hero Academia” (yes, I know, the academia part, but you get what I mean). It’s going to be a whole different series with a whole different mood, characters so revamped that we might see the face but we won’t even know who they are anymore (again, cuz we’re being made to skip a very important part of the story).

And with this comes... lack of consequences! We’re not going to see Enji pay for the shit he did. Hawks won’t pay either, who’s gonna do it? The Commission that is in shambles? The government that can’t even get off their asses to get international help? I doubt they’d do it anyway but my point stands.

There was never an atonement. Now that surpassing All Might is no longer his main objective, it became catching the serial killer he created (don’t come @ me, this has been discussed to hell and back, he’s to blame and you know it). And if you’ve seen the leaks, that last panel of him with that bastard face back while igniting his beard is a clear sign he’ll be back to who he was, atonement be damned.

There was never consequences for heroes that break rules. Hawks said he was sowwy and bowed and this is it. Yes, Twice WAS a very dangerous villain, his quirk was OP as fuck. But Hawks had so many chances to bring him down quietly, he could have handled the thing so differently instead of saying things he knew Twice would never accept but... yeah, a “my bad, oopsie daisy” is what we get. It’s what Twice gets for dying like that. Stabbed in the back, thinking he failed his friends again and not really knowing if they were ok since the one that said goodbye was a clone.

So this is what’s happening. Me personally, I’m sticking with the anime to get all that Giran goodness. After that, I dunno. I’m not happy and there’s many that feel the same. I been seeing folk gradually drop BNHA to go to JJK and Monster Slayer. Hori might have made a bad shogi move with this one. 

I hope not. But what do I know? I’m just one fan that is upset at how badly the story has gone.

[apathycares]

Enraged

Warnings: high school AU, cursing, angry Sasuke

Pairings: implied Sasuke x Reader

Enraged, he slams his arm against the board, his long fingers itching to rip off the paper and burn it along with his crushed ambition. No one would see him do it as the halls were yet to be filled for another hour and the staff busy conversing in a closed-off area, but he was certain there were cameras everywhere and lifts his arm away.

The words glare at him and he glares back, willing it to burn as he wishes but he knew from past efforts that nothing could be done after this.

Konohagakure High School’s Top Twenty Honors Students 1.  [Last name], [Name] 2. Uchiha, Sasuke 

He never bothered to read the rest, as he was too preoccupied wondering how could this one person hold his deserved rank so unabashedly? He had spent too much time with his nose in his books and sleepless nights cramming, and he was yet again unable to outdo whoever this girl was. 

He hears footsteps behind him not long after he sees a girl he had grown accustomed to. She would always come a half an hour after him and before the students and glance at the very sheet he spends seamlessly staring at. They’ve never spoken a word to each other and he sometimes wonders why she never seems discouraged but he doesn’t ask because that isn’t his business.

As per usual, she takes her glance and isn’t bothered by his presence, before sighing slowly.

“Are you unimpressed?”

He is just as surprised as she is by his random initiative to speak, but she recovers quickly and mats her hair as if in thought.

“Not really,” she says slowly, looking up at him with slightly squinting [colour] eyes.

He turns back to the large pin-up board and narrows his eyes at the first slot, before mumbling under his breath.

“Did you say something?” She asks while adjusting the large books onto her right arm, a sign that he’s come to know indicates she’s about to leave. 

“I need more books.” He repeats a little louder, a frown marring his pale face when she laughs and waves him off.

“Studying isn’t everything Sasuke Uchiha.”

His frown becomes deeper and he stares as she turns away, and he doesn’t understand what comes over him when he asks, “What’s your name?”

Her eyes twinkle and she cringes a bit, a reaction which seems uncommon to him before she takes a deep breath and animatedly gestures flipping her hair off her shoulder.

“[Name].”

The air is basically knocked out of him as his lungs constrict and all the choice words he’d been saving up if he ever met her could not escape his lips. He had unintentionally been entertaining the enemy for years now and he never knew it?

She struts away sickeningly confident after shooting him a half-smile, and his hand unknowingly ball into fists. How hadn’t he known?

He finds her in the girl’s bathroom on the second floor, leaning against the basins while formerly reading what seemed like some notes. Her eyes are wide and she looks around dumbly and he wonders how on Earth she had kept the first rank when clearly she had no –

“You’re not supposed to be in here.” She states cutting off his internal monologue, though she is calm and her eyes momentarily stay on him.

“How are you first?” He asks impatiently, his teeth clenched and his fists balled.

  “Well great magicians don’t tell their secrets, right?” She smiles as she jabs a finger to him, but he is not amused. [Name] drops her hand and purses her lips as she gazes at him in wonder. “You’re a hard worker, aren’t you?”

“Aren’t you?” He asked incredulously, before scoffing. “Are you really….” He choked slightly, before furrowing his eyebrows.

“Oh, dude,” she sighed, “you can’t even say my name? Do you hate me that much?”

He didn’t. He actually thought she was the most laid-back girl, whenever they stared at the board together every morning for the past five years in silence, and assumed she could be the only friend he’d accept.

Before he realized she and his ultimate nemesis were the same person. How could he have not realized it? More so –

“Did you know?” he asked quietly, looking at her with disappointment. She nodded slowly and confirmed it. “I can’t believe this…”

They are quiet for a moment, for very different reasons, before [Name] smiles and attracts his attention back to her.

“I have a proposition,” she says while glancing at her watch, fifteen minutes before the first few students appeared. Sasuke folded his arms, and she took it as a sign that he was listening. “I can help you improve your grade without more cramming or new books.”

He scoffed indignantly. “Why do you assume I need your help?”

“I have this thing where I assume, and my assumptions are right, so I always go with the flow, you know? Hey, that rhymed! I’m a total genius!” She sighed and stared off for a moment. “What was I going to say?”

Sasuke stared at her incredulously. Did she have some sort of mental illness? Was it contagious?

“I must admit, the many years you kept growling at the board kind of made me remorseful, especially since I catch you studying more than you breathe, so I promised myself the moment you break the trend and talk to me, I would tell you where you went wrong and help you, okay?”

She spoke in such a sincere way; he almost apologized for snapping at her before.

Almost.

“Starting today, you will spend every free moment with me, and I promise you will see some improvement very soon.”

He raised an eyebrow. “And how do I know you’re not lying?”

[Name] checked her watch, seeing only ten minutes left, before facing him with a bright smile, one which he’d correlated to ambition-less people. 

“We have a pop quiz at the end of this week on Human Transport Systems, and I know for one your average score in Biology is 94 percent,” he narrowed his eyes suspiciously and she sighed loudly. “I keep track of you just as much as you keep track of me, okay? Anyways, you follow my methods this week and I can guarantee you’ll get at least a 98 on this quiz. Though I need one thing and one thing only in return.”

There is a pregnant pause as he re-evaluates her claim. He had nothing to lose, as the coming quiz would not affect their overall grade and therefore if he did score lower than his average, it would not harm him too much. She seemed really genuine throughout her little explanation and he was planning on cramming to no end anyways. Was there really an easier method? 

“Alright,” he decides, dropping the defensive stance and folding his arms across his chest nonchalantly. “What do you want?”

“It’s very simple really,” he has a clue on what she’d like just from her little smirk of triumph. “Your cooperation.”

…

What?!

“That’s it?”

“Well, yeah,” she shrugged, “It’s not like I proved anything yet so I’m in no place to ask for things.”

He recoiled abruptly. That made so much sense; why didn’t he think of it? Maybe she was really smart.

"Well then," [Name] awkwardly shifted her weight and looked away from his piercing gaze. "I guess I'll see you later."

Sasuke stayed rooted as she brushed past him in a blur and left him in the girls' bathroom. He was trying to recollect what had just happened, when he realized she hadn't mentioned a time he was supposed to meet her. He narrowed his eyes.

"Idiot."

-break- His lips were pursed in infuriation as he sat picking at his food. He was suddenly hungry and started to genuinely dig in, when his father erupted into a hearty, yet uncommon laugh. His elder brother received a pat on the back and the usual gushes of pride from the otherwise stoic Uchiha patriarch. He slumped his shoulders and his eyes stayed fixated on his plate.

"How about you Sasuke?" 

The silence that followed his kind mother's question was suffocating. He hid behind his bangs when his father's smiling eyes turned stone cold when it landed on his youngest son, scrutinizing and unimpressed, just as they always were. He muttered a quick reply and got up abruptly. His mother stared sadly as he walked away.

Sasuke slammed his door shut, locked it, and lay back on his bed. Papers and books were sprawled all over the room, and he reminded himself grudgingly of the test at the end of the week he had to cram for. Consequently, a certain girl with a stupid grin popped in his thought. He couldn't understand how someone like her could ever achieve higher than himself, more so when she blatantly stated how she didn't study as much as him.

He sat up. Maybe she cheated some way or another?

Later, he was seated at his messy desk, highlighting important information in his biology text book and making notes on the side. The digital clock read 23:43, so he dropped his highlighter and pen and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He still had seven sections to go until he completed the unit.

Sasuke grabbed his phone and found a text message from an unknown number. He stared at the bright screen for a moment, before tapping on the notification.

Step one: No studying after dinner, assuming you eat by seven. And if you don't eat dinner then we have bigger issues. No skipping meals either dude. Please retire for the night.

He blinked comically. This was certainly her.

  Sasuke growled under his breath and glared at the message as if it was [Name]. Who did she think she was telling him to go to bed?!

His phone vibrated and another notification came from the same number.

Remember our deal; you agreed to cooperate. Gosh Sasuke, I felt your malice all the way where I live.

Fine. Stop texting me.

He slid under his sheets and stared at his phone. Maybe this was his ticket to freedom; his route to receive that pat on the back from his father. He wanted to see how this turns out.

~fin

This was actually the beginning of a sasuke x oc story I wrote way back and never posted. I’ve got about a thousand of these and thought I’d edit this one and throw over here. Let me know what you think!

Tip Jar | Naruto/Naruto Shippuden Masterlist | part 2 ->

[shikadainara]

an in-depth breakdown of b*ruto episode 178

sorry i’m late i was lost on the path of life

tl;dr yeah ok i can have my hopes and dreams about what specifically i would want but. BUT. honestly yeah the episode was more or less what i expected would actually be in it from the preview, so i can’t complain. i still sobbed!!! that’s all i really wanted!!

time to rewatch it! (warning: long post. LOL)

obviously this is nothing new but i still can’t get over how nice the exterior to the nara household is, good for them. i don’t think i noticed the solar panel before? good for them!

i’m entertained at how the episode does open with shikadai tying his hair as he walks, i just think it’s neat. i love how the camera frames it like seeing a nara with their hair down is something forbidden we’re not mean to see

temari has purple slippers i dedicate her commitment to her favorite color. (also i am Just Saying... purple........ the bisexual flag--)

yeahhhh ok so. i get the need for wanting to frame the narrative like this, but this really doesn’t make any sense. shikadai is 12, and is also a chuunin, like... he should know by now that his dad is always kinda a mess on this day of the year, and why that is. and even if he honestly really did just forget, the fact that he’s still asking his dad why he’s not at work while looking at the way his parents are dressed... did this not clue you in or what????

the fact that shikamaru’s up and ready (i really don’t think he gets much sleep on this day, every year...), and it’s shikadai who’s just getting up. i do think it’s cute that we do get to see a tiiiiiny bit of temari’s parenting that doesn’t involve being an out of character irrationally angry woman when she tells shikadai to not come crying to her when he’s late in getting ready, yeah that definitely sounds way more like her lol

temari says she told him about all of this the other day (shikadai blatantly forgot, he tries to pretend he didn’t but she doesn’t press him for it)... that does make me emotional thinking like. she is pretty painfully aware of how hard this is on shikamaru, and days in advance told shikadai about it, to try to make sure he understands what his father is going through........ she really does care about him so, so much.

i said this based off the preview, but... i would like to interpret that temari is purposefully doing the dishes(/rest of house chores) to give him space to grieve....... 

the fact that while explaining what today is, shikamaru has to get up, leave the room, and talk while not facing his family, as if he wouldn’t be able to say the words as easily while looking at them........ god. that. that hurts.

\

tsunade being the one to give this speech kinda feels random? like yeah she was the one that was kage during the war but...? i do feel like it would have been more fitting to have naruto say the speech since the whole entire point of the war was to protect him (and bee) but ????? ok

no one in the uzumaki family talks during this episode which is fine by me LOL. i would assume the memorial is on the day the war ended (which would also make it naruto’s birthday/memorial of the kyuubi invasion) but if it is, it’s never stated. maybe it’s the day the war started, idk

the collection of people up front feels pretty random??? kakashi as the previous hokage, sure, guy i guess because of how important his contribution the war against madara was and also because he is kakashi’s husband, shizune kinda has to be there if tusnade is, but... iruka? like yeah he is vital to the narrative, but to konoha? he is the headmaster of the academy i think now so i guess...? but then? ibiki??? anko??? i say this as someone that REALLY loves anko, she was my favorite character as a kid and i still love her but,,, huh? SHE WAS KNOCKED OUT DURNG THE WHOLE WAR!!??!?

then you see everyone that was in naruto’s class + team guy + sai except hinata is in the crowd. which of course to the narrative, to us the readers, those are the main characters (if you ignore how more or less everyone was super shafted throughout all of part 2) but!!! team guy’s only real connection to the rest of them is that they took the chuunin exams together, and neji and hinata were are cousins. that’s about it. was it that specifically all of these characters made such a contribution to the war compared to every other single shinobi from konoha that lived ??????

shikamaru staring up to the sky did made my heart clench... no matter how different he is now than he was when he was a 12 year old genin...... i do feel like he’s never entirely ditched his true self of just wanting to stare at the clouds all day.... i’m not entirely sure what the intent was here, but i’m sure there’s supposed to be some symbolism here. the sky is actually nearly entirely clear (the way is framed, there’s only a tiny cloud in the corner,) and then he closes his eyes and hums. maybe it’s supposed to be about the closure he gets in this episode...

\

ok and then here’s ao cool whatever. since i only skim through b*ruto for the characters that i care about i do not really careeeee since i won’t watch again until something interesting happens to said characters that i care about LOL

?? who voiced the receptionist they sound familiar but i can’t place it at all

katasuke is the bitch that made the scientific ninja tool for b*ruto so he could cheat in the exam right

what is ao doing here. is he supposed to be doing something evil. it sure looks that way

... who is the glasses orange scarf guy??? he kinda looks like a mix between udon and ebisu and aoba but i know he’s not any one of them lol

\

TEMARI AND KARUI STANDING NEXT TO EACH OTHER... i don’t think in any media they’ve ever??? ACTUALLY TALKED TO EACH OTHER???? BUT THEY SHOULD BE CLOSE FOR THE OBVIOUS REASON....... I’LL TAKE THESE CRUMBS THOUGH THANK YOU

OKKKKK admittedly like. in terms of Pleasing Me, Personally, it’s a damned if you do, dammed if you don’t situation like.... they do kinda HAVE to acknowledge that neji died during the war so. i appreciate that hinata like........ cares. i guess. i’ll try to not post the whole rant about why neji’s death was (logistically how he died aside) narratively and thematically absolute bullshit, kishi (i believe) saying that neji died so he could play cupid for naruto and hinata like!!! fuck off with that shit!!! maybe if it wasn’t for the goddamn “naruto-kun’s big warm manly hand” line i would feel a little bit actual sad but no.

WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOSHINO AND CHOUZA HELLO!?!?!?!? COULD YOU REALLY NOT HAVE PUT THEM IN THE CROWD??

ino also has an unnamed mother that the anime made up that i believe was only in like a single episode (and was cameoed in RtN i think?) but she should still be like. Alive. so her too.

MITSUKI PLACING FLOWERS IS SO FUNNY TO ME LIKE YOU DO KNOW YOUR PARENT’S SUBORDINATE/DOUBLE CROSS TRAITOR WHATEVER DID CAUSE THE WAR RIGHT BFIOBU*EHW$

\

aaand. here’s shikamaru and ino’s conversation. i’m not sure if i can put this into words, but... just... the way that they talk to each other, the weight of 15+ years of sadness about this, the way that they just!! fully know what the other is going through, the way that they’ve known each other for their whole lives and survived through everything together, the way i feel like they’ve avoided talking about this topic as much as possible over the years, hell even during this conversation the way they’re almost bickering to avoid having to directly confront their feelings, but it is unavoidable....... 

i also do wonder what their relationship with each other’s parents were while growing up: shikamaru does refer to inoichi as “inoichi-san” here, contrast to how their kids all call each other’s parents just “uncle” or “aunt”

siri play sad naruto flute.

ok since i did go back to rewatch the episode from shippuden right before watching this one for the first time i do wish a liiiittle less of the episode was about this flashback with the same reused footage like i get that they do have to put it in here but Still.

THE FACT THAT SHIKAMARU IS SMILING WHILE RECALLING WHAT HAPPENED, AND THAT THERE’S A LAUGH IN HIS VOICE........ I WANT TO CRY AGAIN

ino saying that it was so unfair how cool they looked in the end, and then giggles...... ino............. this must be so, so painful for her to recall, and yet.........

IT IS SO FUNNY HOW THEY SKIP OVER THE IMAGE OF SASUKE THERE AHAHAHAHA god i hated that so so much i can’t believe that’s manga canon. the line is perfectly fine and makes me cry just DO NOT RELATE IT TO SASUKE!!!! literally the only time they “”interact”” is when ino is introduced and ino just, for lack of a better word, glomps him???? THAT’S IT??? i feel like they might’ve changed it just because, well, you know the endgame pairings. but still. bye sasuke

damn you know what i do kinda wish they didn’t skip over the “get rid of that box before your mother finds it” part i AM curious as to what it was i mean it’s implied it’s something adult related so SP probably couldn’t show that on TV BUT!!!

ok ok all week i tried to not imagine what shikamaru and ino’s conversation would be since i wanted to go all “surprise me!!” BUT??? BUT. SHIKAMARU ASKING INO IF SHE THINKS THAT THEIR FATHERS HONESTLY, TRULY BELIEVED IN THEM?? HE’S BEEN THINKING ABOUT THAT ON EVERY SINGLE DAY THIS YEAR THESE PAST 15+ YEARS, AND SURELY IT’S ALWAYS BEEN AT THE BACK OF HIS MIND ALL THIS TIME!?!?! of course. OF COURSE HE WOULD FEEL THIS WAY!!! HE’D HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING FOR SURE OR EVER FINDING OUT!!! like of course we as the readers know that shikaku and inoichi absolutely 200% felt that way but... from his perspective... you know what i don’t even think this idea ever crossed my mind HOLD ON THAT IS THE SOUND OF MY HEART SHATTERING--

and then he just... smiles. says that he won’t let that get him down, since it’s not like they’ll ever find out anyways. sure, it’s been 15+ years, he has had to have largely come to terms with everything by now, but...... still....

then he talks about the idea that the day will come and leave everything in the hands of their sons (now looking over at team 10′s turn to place flowers) just like their dads did... it is worded like a question, but showtaro morikubo’s absolute masterful performance does. it does portray a tone like he is absolutely 100% sure that it’ll happen, one day...

i’ve said this before but. i KNOW shikamaru has definitely spent so much time thinking about this. sure it hasn’t ever really been brought up on-screen (yet), but....... i want to see him talking about a direct contrast on what his grand plan through life he thought of by age 12, ending with him passing away by old age. obviously he did a complete 180 on they type of person he wanted as a wife LOL. it is kinda brought up at the start of shikamaru hiden while he visits the grave, says he hasn’t found anyone he’d give his life to protect... (well. now he has a son where if you see the recent chapters he is very, VERY protective of.) but i would like to see this change in his character be directly be brought up and examined

........ that being SAID. i sure hope neither of them actually like. die. i’m GOOD, thank you. they sure as hell can’t until they’re ready to pass things down to their sons, at least. until then, absolutely zero narrative reason to do so, but...... still. we don’t need to make everything an EXACT copy of what happened in naruto you can let them live kthx

they both say “what kind of half-baked response is that!” and then laugh just. I LOVE THEM SO SO MUCH TEAM 10 IS FOREVER

/

there is some symbolism in how ao walks over from a really dark shadowy area into the light when he decides that he has to pay his respects...

i do like how he does reflect on how he really should have come here earlier, but better late than never i suppose

i was expecting a... more elaborate explanation for how he lived??? especially since he was standing RIGHT NEXT to shikaku and inoichi... he just. happened to survive for whatever reason while every single other person died on impact

that survivor’s guilt does hurt to see

i do like seeing how he chooses to do something with his life, aside from being a shinobi, and live it to the fullest for the sake of everyone that died in the explosion. that’s nice

/

ino saying “i’m sure are fathers are happy!” AAAAAAAAAAA

IN HINDSIGHT....... I ABSOLUTELY SOULD’VE PREDICTED SOMEONE WOULD DROP A “YOU LOOK SO MUCH LIKE YOUR FATHER” AT SOME POINT IN THE EPISODE...... and. i did kinda chuckle, because like, no shit duh lmao. i’m sure shikamaru heard that all the time as a kid!!! and hell, i’m sure he still gets it from time to time over the years up to this day. BUT LIKE... SHIKAMARU’S FACE. HE LOOKS LIKE THAT, RIGHT NOW, IT’S ACTUALLY SOMETHING HE REALLY, REALLY NEEDED TO HEAR. LET ME CRY

hearing shikamaru say oyaji, and then the way his tone suddenly shifts to something very... quiet and somber? when he says “nara shikaku”..... something about that. man.... also it’s hard to see but there is a sweat drop on his face as he says all of this...

“sometimes, i end up wondering...” don’t lie to yourself. you think about this so, so much........

the flashback where ao says “listen to me calmly” when he says the bomb is coming this way sure reminds me of ino telling shikamaru to stay calm as she tells him that his son has a bomb around his neck

THE ADDED PART OF THE FLASHBACK WITH THEIR VERY LAST MOMENTS...... THE WAY THEY’RE SMILING AND JUST??? BELIEVE IN THEIR KIDS IN THE VERY END. just like how it’s described in shikamaru hiden where the narrative says that shikaku was a shinobi until his very last breaths-- actually, no. in the very end he was a father.......

“THEY BELIEVED IN YOU, WITHOUT A HINT OF DOUBT.”

AAA?A?AAAAAAAAA?A?A?A??A!??!!??!!

INO STARTS TEARING UP BUT I CALL ABSOLUTE BS THAT SHIKAMARU WOULDN’T ALSO JUST BURST ONTO TEARS ON THE SPOT, HE MAY BE 32 WHATEVER YEARS OLD NOW BUT... HE IS STILL SUCH A CRYBABY AT HEART, HIS ENTIRE CIRCLE OF LOVED ONES KNOW THIS.

you know who DID start crying though??? ME

/

i do wonder, is this the same hillside that shikamaru went to after asuma’s death...? (only in the manga tho, the anime had him on a rooftop instead)

is that??? someone watching them in the back left?? when shikadai finds him? i cannot tell what that is

i am. trying to follow temari’s logic of telling shikadai to go find shikamaru and... not also going with him?? i mean i figured from the preview that, yeah it does look like it’s only the two of them, but... i can’t come up with a reason. not a super big deal but. obviously my heart yearns for that shikatema content that’s ok i can write my own fanfic i guess!!!!

also like...... i imagine it can’t be THAT hard to find him, i’m sure that he only has a small handful of Spots Good For Coping(™) when he just needs to be by himself, that i would Think his wife would know where they are. and said wife would tell shikadai. but idk

after all of this, shikamaru wants to just treat his son to go eat out whatever he wants...!! what a good father

....... now like. the logic of “temari is currently making dinner and that’s why she’s a) not there and b) told shikadai to go fetch is father” would make perfect sense. but... if they’re going out to get food then... no?? shikadai would interject to say so if that was the case..... that makes this all make no sense seriously what the hell is she doing

i do wish that like. shikadai like.... uh. actually learned about more shikaku?? this scene is more brief than i thought it would be idk i felt like it would be part of the middle of the episode and not at the end, oh well. he’ll find out in due time

THAT BEING SAID...  STILL. THE ENDING WHERE HE JUST CARES SO SO SO SO MUCH ABOUT SHIKADAI!!!! WONDERING IF HE’S WATCHING HIS BACK!!! I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEMMMMM

/

not quite sure whatever ao is doing at the end of the episode???? IS IT EVIL??? i mean like that it’s him catching a leaf seems like he’s going against konoha but i mean konoha fucking sucks so. that is not evil i guess LOL

whatever not like i’ll care to actually find out!!!!! anyways let me know when the nara family (or anyone adjacent to them) does anything so i can care LOL

in conclusion. good shit.

[fiercyy]

Chapters: 14/? Fandom: Naruto Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura & Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi, Team 7 - Relationship, Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy Characters: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi, Tsunade (Naruto), Orochimaru (Naruto) Additional Tags: AU, Post-Chuunin Exams, post chuunin exams attack, Minor Character Death, Trauma, Team 7 Family bonding, Genin Era, Everybody moves in with Sasuke, he's got room, semi-au, Plot Twists, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Roommates, Friends to Enemies, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, BAMF Haruno Sakura, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto) Feels, BAMF Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto), Team as Family, Slow Burn, Post-Naruto Time Skip | Naruto Shippuden, Mutual Pining Series: Part 1 of Post-Chuunin Exam AU Summary:

Sakura always wished she could relate to her teammates better. She wishes she could take it back.

In which Sasuke acquires some unwanted roommates and a team becomes a family.

(Now at Shippuden Era)

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a/n: Anyway, everyone’s bi now.

Chapter 14:

I am compromised.

Safe for now.

Don't think O knows.

Kakashi glances from one scroll to the other. Naruto is back in the village and Sakura is… at least willing to be in the same room as him. Sasuke is in danger. In two years, his family has been flung far and wide, but it seems that now they're destined to be reunited.

He should recall Sasuke. He should report his intel to Tsunade. He should go find Sakura and let her yell at him some more. What would do the most good? Probably the intel, even if seeking out Sakura would feed his masochism streak.

Taking on ANBU missions again has eroded his sense of reality. ANBU allows him to drift, rudderless in a stream that carries him down. He is goalless, living in an eternal period of waiting. Waiting for someone else's mission to end. Waiting for someone to come back. Waiting for someone to forgive him. He has no thought for a life put on pause. He'll continue to hold his breath until it's all over, but it probably won't ever be. So here he'll stay, shallow breath and panicked heart, prematurely gray and sick with grief.

When will it be enough? When will kids stop having to give up their lives in senseless, ceaseless war?

He thought that time was over. He thought that his generation would be the last. But then again, he supposes all generations fight to be the last. Everyone fights for their children to live better, don't they?

Kakashi doesn't have any children, but he has Team 7. A tragedy as old as the world, yet still in the making.

It's over. He's calling it. He'll go to Tsunade, give her the intel and demand they bring Sasuke home. It just isn't worth the risk to keep him in the field. Sure Sakura and Naruto will be a little confused when he tells them the truth, but they'll be happy in the end, won't they?

He slips his shoes on and is about the poof across town, when he's enveloped in someone else's smoke.

"Welcome back, Rival!" Gai exclaims with his usual excess of enthusiasm. "Got a minute?" he winks. Because of course he does. The man has no shame.

He sighs very deeply. Gai is yet another thing that he long ago tried to put on pause, but the man is by no means cooperative. "If I must."

Gai grins. "I insist."

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.

There are days when focus is difficult, anxiety's high and Sakura has to run away from her own spiralling thoughts.

She goes to the hospital first, but Hatsune turns her away. "It's your day off." she says, "you deserve a break!" she exclaims. "Leave or I'll tell Tsunade," she threatens.

Fair enough.

Without permission, her feet carry her to the bridge where Team 7 used to meet. It doesn't matter how many years have passed, she can't forget it. Whenever she's lost in thought and wandering, she always finds herself here.

She hoists herself up on the bannister and twists so she's straddling it. Then she lays back and stares at the perfect, blue sky. Below, the stream rushes by. In the distance, birds chirp. A gentle breeze stirs her hair—it tickles her nose. Sakura can breathe here. And think.

She wonders what her parents would think of her life. The only thing they'd ever asked her for was her share of the chores and good grades. They never told her what future they wanted for her. Sometimes she wishes for a roadmap; she's not lost, but there's too many directions to choose from.

Would they understand her, as she is now? Is she doing enough to make them proud? Would her parents tell her to work things out with her team?

Mebuki made them change grocers once because Urashi-san gave her incorrect change and refused to correct the mistake. She never spoke to him again. She could be petty like that. She demanded her due and accepted no less. Sakura tries to take that lesson from her. When she's put on missions with sexist jerks or an older doctor doesn't listen to her because of her age, she fights back.

So she thinks Mebuki would understand why she's mad.

She thinks about them all the time; what they would say. She wishes they could have met her team, wonders why they never did.

Nothing to be done about it now.

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.

Gai is a good listener, but the best thing about him is that he's perfectly able to fill a silence all on his own.

Kakashi pours tea and Gai talks.

"-It was an innocent misunderstanding. Everything could have been avoided if Neji hadn't skipped the sharing circle."

In the choice between snorting and rolling his eyes, Kakashi does both. "Sharing circle, huh?"

"It prevents all manner of misunderstandings!"

All teams have lots of those to go around.

"It's always best to know peoples intentions," Kakashi concedes. "Wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea."

Gai's foot, which has mysteriously found a resting place against Kakashi's ankle, jerks back. "No," he clears his throat. "I'd much rather know where I stand."

He avoids looking at Gai's face, though he knows he'll find no disappointment there. He stands up anyway, taking the still warm teacups and placing them delicately in the sink.

"I have to go." Which is the truth. "I owe Lady Hokage a debriefing."

Gai's empty hands fist against the table as he pulls them back. He awkwardly knocks on the wood and laughs to himself. "Of course. I won't keep you."

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.

The purpose of not speaking to Gai was, in its own way, self-flagellation. When Sasuke's life was put on pause. Kakashi's was as well. Most waking moments, when not on a task, have been absorbed by worrying about his wayward student's wellbeing. It wouldn't be right or fair to anyone…

So they leave the apartment together and part at the foot of the stairs. He feels Gai's eyes on his back until he turns the corner.

.

.

Tsunade reads the scroll Kakashi has handed to her and bites her thumbnail while she thinks.

"He has not asked for an extraction."

Kakashi's eyes narrow. "I'm asking for one anyway."

"He clearly does not feel that it is appropriate at this time."

"He's a child!" he shouts, which takes her aback.

Tsunade rolls up the scroll and carefully places it on the corner of her desk. He's too close to this, she knows she must be delicate. "He's a leaf nin, same as you. He knew the risks." And worst of all. "You're in constant contact. If he feels he's in danger, he will let you know. In the meantime, I'm sending you and your team to follow up on his intel on Orochimaru's base in the Land of Waves."

He shuts that idea down too. "They're not ready. We haven't functioned as a team in two years, we're unfamiliar with each other's skillsets and we're a man down. I need more time."

"Kakashi," Tsunade sighs, "Make up your mind. Do you want to extract our operative in Sound or do you want to keep the rest of your team in the village forever? Because these are conflicting points."

"Godaime-"

"Shut up," she lazily waves him off. "You're like a protective mama bear. My word on this matter, is final."

But of course he doesn't shut up. Why would anyone around here make her job easy?

"Let me take my team on a retrieval mission to the Kusagakure base. Under the guise of recapturing a missing nin. This way we preserve his cover, but provide an escape route if necessary." He takes a deep breath, "And we can confirm that Sasuke's intel is good."

This gives her pause. "Is there reason to believe it isn't?"

He shakes his head, but now that the doubt is in her head, the suspicion won't leave. "Only that they might be feeding him false information as a test."

Sasuke has successfully passed along dozens of tips over the past year, all of them have been good. There's no reason to suspect that will change, but she doesn't say it. She weights her peace of mind against Kakashi's proposition. What could it hurt?

Sakura, for one.

"Fine," she agrees. She's so tired of this. "But an additional team member will be selected to fill out your ranks."

"Fine," he replies in that false cheery tone that she hates so much. Now that he's gotten his way, he wants to be downright delightful. Well, if she can't relax no one else is allowed to pretend. "Will that be all ma'am?"

"What will you tell them?" Sakura and Naruto think the brat's a traitor. How's he going to stop them from accidentally killing him? Then again, she's not sure either of them have that in them. Sakura doesn't talk about it much, but they must have loved the kid. He loved them a lot anyway, enough to fight that hard for a goodbye.

"That they're finally getting what they want."

.

.

"This isn't where I wanted to be either," Sakura growls, arms stiffly crossed in front of her chest. "Waiting around for Kakashi again… I could kill him."

"Ne Sakura, maybe calm down a little, uhn? Sensei's consistent at least. Consistently inconsiderate of other people's time is what he is!" He starts out trying to defend him but midway through, his own annoyance pushes forward.

She punches his arm, but it doesn't bruise so he knows it's a friendly jab. She's so different. He notices more and more, but at least she'll never stop hitting him. That's kind of comforting, right?

One of the first lessons Kakashi taught Team 7 was to expect the unexpected. The unexpected arrives with paintbrush in hand, insults on his tongue and blank, blank eyes.

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.

Kakashi's arrival is overshadowed by the intense shouting match already taking place on the bridge. This day is turning out no better than yesterday, that's for sure.

"Children," he greets from his crouched position on the bridge railing. Sakura decides she's standing too close and takes three long steps to the left. This puts her within kicking range of the squabble between Naruto and a stranger.

Naruto's big toe nicks her ear, which zaps her of any patience she possessed. Sakura shrieks and punches the ground. Earth rockets up around her, like a meteor falling to earth. Naruto and the stranger fly apart, rolling into the river with a splash and a tree with a thud. Both boys seem stunned. He doesn't blame them, he's only ever seen Sakura's destructive potential once in person. That little girl is scary.

The stranger looks familiar, now that he can get a better look at him. Could be he's seen him around. Maybe ANBU? Or maybe just on the street. Kakashi's got good recall, but he's struggling to place him. Which is strange, because he's very distinctive looking. Pale as a blank page and just as unreadable, inky black hair and eyes and fashion choices that would make even Gai incredulous. Seems like no one follows regulation these days; everyone wants to show their midriff.

"I don't understand why you are so upset, Uzumaki." He doesn't ask why; he just expresses confusion with an eerie smile.

"Don't talk about my penis!" Naruto shrieks and cups his hands protectively in front of the appendage, like the other boy's going to lunge for it.

"Alright, I didn't mean to offend you, Dickless. I can do that."

Naruto groans and covers his ears. "Don't you see how that's worse?! Don't call me that!"

"But everything I've read about team building indicates that nicknames and jokes facilitate trust between teammates."

Ah. I see.

"Children," Kakashi tries again and three sets of eyes fly to him as they remember his existence. "I see you've already become acquainted." To the stranger in the crop top: "You must be the fourth member of our team."

He uses the tree to push himself to his feet and bows slightly at the hips. The back of his head is matted in blood but he doesn't so much as flinch. "I am Sai."

"Him?!" Naruto demands, running up the riverbank. Kakashi wonders if Jiraiya has robbed him of all critical thinking skills with his indolence. Genius and dissolution so often go hand in hand when it comes to great artists.

"Shouldn't you have figured that out by now?"

"Hello to you too," Naruto grumbles and wrings out his jacket.

Kakashi smiles beneath his mask, "It's good to see you Naruto." He reaches out to ruffle his hair and it strikes him that he's so much taller than he was when he left. He reaches his chin. Sasuke is a little taller and when they hugged, his hair tickled his nose. This is a thing he knows now and they do not.

The boy beams up at him and Kakashi feels a little less like a failure.

"If we're all going to be on this team, we need to learn to work together," Kakashi proclaims, "And what better way than a test?"

He produces two bells from the breast pocket of his jounin vest, makes eye contact with Sakura and smiles so big his eyes crinkle at the corners.

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Turns out, Kakashi has not in fact seen the extent of Sakura's potential. And Team Kakashi is mission ready.

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Gai's mind is still on his not-talk with Kakashi when he reports for duty alongside his team. He's unhappy and Gai understands this. If something bad were to happen to Lee or Tenten stopped speaking to him or Neji betrayed them all, he would be a wreck. He cannot blame Kakashi for his pain, but wishes that he would share it. A burden is lighter, carried by two. He supposes this liminal space is better than a definitive 'no'. They've spent so many years as rivals. When the possibility of more came into view, it was a wonderful surprise. Maybe is better.

"Sunagakure's emissary, Temari of the Sand requires an escort to return to her village," Lady Tsunade doesn't have a scroll to hand him. It's a simple mission, requiring no further details than the prescribed task. "You may remain a day before returning. When would you like to leave?" This, she directs at Temari.

The girl shrugs, "Now's good."

It's been a while since Gai has travelled to Suna. He likes the food, it's spicy enough that it helps with the heat. This will be fun!

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.

"Maintain cover, expect us."

Generally, Sasuke and Kakashi communicate by written letters because it is the quickest and most accurate way to communicate information. It ensures that Pakkun does not remain in enemy territory overlong and his chakra isn't likely to be sensed. When he delivers messages by word of mouth is means that Kakashi was in a rush or he expected follow up questions.

Pakkun's face is always grim, but he has an air of resignation as he tells him that two years of work are crumbling.

"He's overruling me?"

Pakkun hesitates. "More like checking up on you. It's up to you how you receive them."

Sasuke understands, "So I have not been ordered to return."

"They're coming under the guise of a retrieval mission. You can use this as an opportunity to stage a capture or earn more trust by fighting back. In the meantime, try and find out who's discovered you."

Wait. Does this mean-? "A retrieval mission. So it's Team 7 coming."

He and Kakashi discussed them when they met covertly. Naruto hasn't been in the village for a while, but he was due back soon. And Sakura's doing well, according to their teacher. She's a chunin now.

"Yes."

Team 7 on a mission without him. To come get him.

"…Do the others know?"

Pakkun is not a very demonstrative dog. But he puts a paw on Sasuke's knee as he tells him, "No."

a/n: You may notice that I'm doing this thing where I skip over scenes from canon. This is because I don't want to rewrite scenes from canon, that's no fun to write or read. Instead, I'm letting you infer stuff, if it's confusing at any part, please let me know!

I've also moved around the Akatsuki stuff. It never made sense to me that they basically delayed their plans for 3 years for no reason? So I'm choosing to stretch out the Akatsuki arc so we can deal with Orochimaru properly first. This means that YES, we are headed to Suna for the Gaara/Akatsuki plotline, but other Akatsuki things are getting pushed back.

RE: KakaGai. Why? Dunno. My hand slipped and I love it./p

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you so much for sticking with me through this very weird journey. I love knowing what y'all think, don't be shy!

[myentertainmentthoughts]

Naruto - a 15 year journey

I'm not sure if the above statement/title of this post says more about me than anything else. But I finally finished episode 500 of Naruto Shippuden this week, and it's a little unbelievable that it has taken me this long to finally wrap up an anime that I still to this day, acknowledge as one of the most instrumental series in getting me into anime as a genre. Period. (I guess it takes a global pandemic, and the world falling apart for me to hunker down and actually invest time into watching TV, lol.)

While I'm sad to say goodbye to Naruto, I'll admit that finishing Shippuden was actually a bit of a relief. The characters in this show will always have a deep and special place in my heart, and the strength of said characters is what makes this series so iconic. That being said, digesting the writing in the final arc of Shippuden was a labor, not a joy.

I think where the series shines the most is in the first parts of both the first Naruto, and Naruto Shippuden. This is where we get to see the characters grow in strength, and in motivation. First and foremost with title character Naruto, but also arguably with most if not all of the side and supporting characters. Again - I feel that Naruto as a series is outstanding in large part to how interesting and likeable its characters are. They're the kind of characters you truly root for - it's what kept me watching hundreds of episodes of content.

I also think the themes of Naruto are extremely relevant, especially now in 2020 where we are all experiencing very tumultuous and turbulent times. I am a huge fan of the primary message of this show. While the cycle of humanity's hatred is nearly impossible to break because of how difficult it is to understand one another's pain - we will find more success at prevailing and breaking this cycle when we stand together united. No one is able to solve their problems alone.

Lastly - the world of Naruto is just cool and creative. I like this concept of entire villages of ninja, and it's fun to see each clan and each ninja's different unique abilities. There are a lot of stand out arcs throughout Naruto and Shippuden in terms of the fights. I think that this property clearly excels in 1v1 battles. I would've liked to see much better teamwork battles, and this is probably why the last arc of Shippuden was particularly painful for me to slog through. Nonetheless - there are tons of fun fights to see throughout the show. Lots of solid action.

That said, this series is flawed. I'm not going to lie - I feel that Kishimoto got lazy with the writing in trying to wrap up the main storyline. There's too many plot twists involving the villains in the last part of Shippuden that it just isn't really that believable anymore. The last fight involving the final villain vs. our heroes being probably the most ridiculous. By the time they circle back to Naruto and Sasuke's final confrontation and resolution, it feels very short, anticlimactic, and even empty. I felt that this was a disservice to this relationship that is so central to the series.

I am also going to call out Kishimoto's writing when it comes to the female characters. I know that I am not alone in my frustrations with this, and that many in the Naruto fanbase have voiced this opinion as well. But straight up, the kunoichi in this series serve to be plot devices for their male counterparts. Which is incredibly disappointing, because I actually find the female cast of this series to be likeable, and equipped with some formidable and interesting abilities. 

This was particularly frustrating for me in regards to Tsunade - one of, if not my favorite character in the series whose character and strengths are essentially abandoned, even pre-Pain arc. And sadly, this fault in the writing for female characters most affects Team 7's only girl – Sakura. Her considerable and admirable growth from the first series to Shippuden quickly reverts back into "useless" category, especially with Sasuke's reintroduction, and it’s grueling to watch it. Especially with all the hate her character receives from the fanbase when I feel that her storyline of rising up from sidelined, to useful and strong with her own unique skills, was relatable and had so much wasted potential.

Luckily, my experience with Naruto didn’t span over the actual air time of the show. I got into this series in late junior high/early high school, never finished it, attempted to go back several times, and failed because of all of the filler content. It wasn’t until just now that I made the resolution to finally give the series a proper watch through (skipping the filler episodes, of course, was the key to being successful).

I do strongly believe that this affected my perception on the series – I think that my disappointment with the writing quality in the later part of Shippuden has been helped out by not waiting for so long for the series resolution. I think that Naruto, much like any popular, long running content suffered from pressure on the creator to deliver an ending that could satisfy the hype that the series gathered through the years of its run time. So that being said, I could accept Naruto as a whole for what it is. A solid, action-based shonen series that will always be special to me for how long I’ve been acquainted with, and loved these characters.

But is it worth the time investment of 720 episodes? It’s a lie if I say that I think the ending truly paid off and satisfied. I will always recognize and understand why Naruto has played such an important role in manga/anime, and why the series remains so beloved. But I would caution anyone who is going into the show, that it is far from perfect. Come into the fandom with a filler list handy, preparation to skip through huge portions of repeated flashbacks, and with an expectation that the writing of Shippuden in its second part dives significantly.

Regardless of my opinion on the consistency of this series, Naruto and his friends will always be special to me. A real thank you to Masashi Kishimoto for this series that has meant so much to so many people, despite its flaws. Now, onwards for me to digest new content!

[shikastemari]

promise - k. h.

pairing kakashi hatake x reader

summary you heard your ex boyfriend were in some spy’s mind and you promptly offer yourself to follow them as an ANBU member.

word count 3,308

when it happens kakashi love song filler in naruto shippuden!!

warnings lots and lots of angst

a/n so LET ME EXPLAIN WHY I AM POSTING SOMETHING THAT WASN’T A REQUEST!!!! basically, i went to a lunch party on saturday and it was open bar, so summing up, i got really drunk, got home and was like I SHOULD WRITE A FIC WITH KAKASHI WHY NOT and i did.... ofc when i woke up the next day and read it i was shocked because the whole thing was a mess and apparently i forgot how to write a lot of english words, so it was a bilingual fanfic. but once i fix it i realize the idea was really good, and i was like how come i didn’t think about it when i was sober? so i fixed it even though i should be studying really hard and decided to post because i thought it was really good.

but i didn’t give up on your requests, don’t worry. 

please enjoy this one

masterlist on my profile bio

“Here is something I wasn’t expecting, like... At all.”

The voice of your ex boyfriend should have startled you, but you didn’t even flinch. Perks of being used to someone’s chakra that much. 

“Kakashi.” You greeted the shadow clone next to you, while not taking your eyes from the real one, next to a pretty girl. The thick branch you were currently standing made a strange noise when Kakashi appeared, so you were ready to move in case it fell. “I gotta say, babysit you was not on the top of my list for today... Or any day, actually.”

“I got everything under control, y/n. She is not going everywhere.” His tone was harsh, his pride showing. He stood by the tree trunk, hands tucked in his pants pocket as he watched you. Kakashi sighed deeply as he looked at your eyes, which were locked on the real him, shining bright with what he wanted to believe it was fondness and love. But he knew you better before assuming anything about you. “When did you stop believing my abilities?”

You couldn’t hold the sight that left your body. Never, you wanted to reply, but you kept your mouth shut.

"That cloud looks like Naruto." You heard the original Kakashi speaking, his voice echoing through the tree while he was trying to get anything out of the woman - Hanare, you remembered. "And the next one... Is it Sasuke?" 

From where you were standing, you could hear perfectly every word they were saying, and Hanare did get your attention once she started to talk about how a younger Kakashi taught her to look in the clouds when she felt alone. Breathing heavily, you tried to push to the back of your mind the thought that you were the one who told him that.

The fact alone that he used it with some random girl - even though it was ages ago - was enough for your blood boil in your veins.

“She could easily use some jutsu on you and get away. We are not aware about her abilities, just that she can get through Ibiki's torture. She is tough. I am not to be blamed if I am the fastest from ANBU.” You frowned when you saw, between the leaves, the way the spy were looking at the original Kakashi. The look was way too familiar for you. It was the same you gave him.

“You seem jealous.” He simply stated, his clone rolling his eyes even though you weren't watching. He bit back an annoyed groan, not knowing how to deal with the whole situation.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” You hissed at him, your heart skipping a beat once you realized you were indeed jealous.

The clone shot his eyebrows up, eyeing you in suspicious, so you did what you did best. Change subjects.

“Your students are on the top of the three now. The blond one is almost falling.” You moved your glance up for a second, before looking down again to the couple.

“They are not known for their hiding abilities.” Kakashi shrugged, while watching the feet of his team. “Even Sasuke is there, no one can run away from curiosity, I guess.”

Following his gaze, you saw the raven boy there. A sad smile spread across your face. “He looks like him, doesn’t he?”

“No, actually. He is nothing like him.” Tilting your head, you noticed a sparkle shining on the corner of his eyes. Amusement, maybe.

“You really like being a sensei, huh?” It slipped before you could contain yourself. “It suits you.”

“I do, actually.” By his squinted eyes, you just knew he was smiling. “But I miss being an ANBU. The thrilling missions. Being feared by the bad guys. Fighting them with you. You, in general.”

You swallowed hard to keep yourself from admitting for both of you how much you have missed him. How much you still loved him.

Breaking up with him was the hardest thing you have done in your life. You two went from sleeping next to each other every single night, touching every time you had a chance to nothing.

The day your best friend killed his entire clan was still a vivid memory inside your head. Thoughts about the hundreds of people dead by his hand have haunted you for so long and you still didn’t understand what happened. How your loving, caring friend become a cold machine capable to murder his family without thinking, leaving only his little brother behind. You have thought about the reasons why he had left Sasuke live, and a spark inside you always shined, hopefully. Spending so much time in the Uchiha complex, you have met Sasuke when he was little a million times. It was always your favorite thing to make him blush, but since what happened you never spoke to him again. It was too painful for you to realize that something was bothering your best friend and you didn’t even notice.

Losing Itachi Uchiha was one of the worst things you have dealt with.

It affected every single relationship in your life. You didn’t know how to trust anyone anymore. Not even the guy you loved the most.

“Did she say anything else?” You questioned him, not showing any signs of being touched by his words, for his sake and mostly yours.

“No, actually. What did Ibiki and Inochi tell you?”

“Everything I needed to know to complete my mission. They didn’t get much though, she had training. Or they are getting soft.”

“Right.” He passed his hand on his face. “So you know.”

“About she not being able to forget you? Yeah, pretty aware, and after hearing this cute cloud story you told her, I kind know why.” You shot back, the words were jumbled as they came out of your mouth.

"Althought you changed a bit, I recognized you when I saw you because you are always in my heart, you are my hope." Every word that came from Hanare's mouth reached your ears. It was like your heart broke into tiny pieces after hearing that, not being able to gaze away from Kakashi's face. Desperation was getting the best of you, you needed to hear his answer.

But his clone had another plan.

He approached you, making you finally lost eye contact with the original one, to stare at his abrupt move. He was watching you with a displeased look on his face, very different from his general deadpan facial expression. You had never seen him like that and to be completely honest, it kind of scared you but at the same time, a part of you was deeply intrigued by what he had in store for you.

“Stop acting like a jealous girlfriend.” Kakashi finally retorted, as you licked your lips under his burning gaze and rested your body against the tree truck he was once standing next to.

But as soon as you opened your mouth to give him a comeback, it happened.

His whole team have fell from the tree, directly on the original Kakashi. The bump made him to collapse on the girl, taking her to the ground with him.

It didn’t take much until you realized his body wasn’t the only thing pressed against her.

His lips were too.

You couldn’t fight against the reactions your body had. Your jaw clenched, as your hands turned into fits.

“y/n...” It was all the clone said before it vanished in a gray smoke, right after you stabbed him with the closest thing you got - which happened to be a sharp branch.

Once it happened, you saw the original Kakashi glance over the tree, as trying to find something. Someone. But you knew the leaves were camouflaging you, unless he activated his sharingan, he wouldn’t see you. Although, he wouldn’t do it. It could raise suspicious from Hanare.

And you were glad for that, because as Kakashi tried to control his genin team, you turned to the other side, trying to run away from him and the tears. 

-

 “You didn’t go make the exchange.”

Once again, his voice didn’t startle you. Sitting on a random bench on the street, as the night fell, you could see his eyes shining due the orange light coming from behind the walls across the Village.

“Inoichi said y’all didn’t need me.” You lied to him, as he sat next to you, but still keeping a big distance.

“Funny. He told me you requested to be dismissed from the mission.”

You let out a sigh. “And he agreed to that, see? I was not necessary there.”

“You were right before, he is getting soft.” Kakashi let out a dry chuckle next to you. "Didn't cross your mind that maybe I needed you there?"

You sighed exasperatedly, ignoring the thudding in your heart.

“I read your report. She died, huh?” You tried to hold back a scoff, but you didn't manage to do it.

That got his attention, making him turning his head at you, confusion and admiration crossing his face. “Why are you talking like that?”

“I know her type." What you meant was I know how she feels. "I would guess she asked to die by the hands of the guy she loved and you didn't do it. You wouldn't kill her, no way.” You mumbled, glancing over the last ray of sunshine disappearing, the sky ready to fall into darkness.

The lack of an answer gave you the confirmation you needed. Kakashi could do everything, except lying to you.

“Bold move. What if she comes back in the future and actually manage to steal some big information from Konoha?” You started and the beginning of this assumed-to-be argument confused you because he seemed bothered when he first reached you but now he was calm and laid back, despite the fire in his eyes and the fact that he looked like he was waiting for the right moment to drop a bomb on your lap.

“She could have done it already, but she didn’t. I think we are good.” That words alone made your skin tingle and for a moment you had the feeling you were playing a game with him. Although you were not excited at all for that, you decided to play along.

“Yeah, she didn’t do it because of you. What about the next time? What if you are not here anymore?” The words left your lips before you could do much to stop them and you realized your mistake too late when his eyes darkened just a shade and he lift his right eyebrow. The whole situation made your voice cracked on the last question, and as usual, it didn't pass unnoticed to his trained ears.

“I am not Itachi, y/n. I am not leaving.” Your heart stopped for a mere moment as your best friend's name slipped his lips, voice swallowed by assurance. Even trying to turn your head to the other way around, it didn't worked, as he stopped you with a swift movement by gripping your jaw in his fingers and pulling your face to peer at his piercing eyes.

“You can’t be sure about it.” You finally spoke, your tone of honey and milk but your eyes burning with a fiery passion as you looked down, eyeing the floor that was lined with melted ice creams, and swallowed harshly.

“Look, I know the feeling. Losing someone.” The moment he got closer to you passed unnoticed until the moment he placed his hand on your own.

Trying to take his hand away, you felt sick to your stomach as you felt the words sitting in the back of your throat, but for the first time, you decided to give it a shot.

“No, Kakashi, you don’t." You bit your bottom lip, head spinning as guilt settled in the pit of your stomach, but Kakashi did nothing but nodding, encouraging you to keep talking. "I have lost someone close to my heart, just like you did with Obito and Rin. I lost a father figure, like you with Minato. But you don’t know how it feels to lose someone who chooses to leave. Those people had no choice. They died. Itachi did, he had a choice and still he chose not to stay. I am sorry, Kakashi, but it is not the same thing.”

It took some time until he pounded every word, carefully, and as he did it, you couldn't stop but admiring his sculpted face for a moment. Words along the line of gorgeous, stunning, perfect ran around in circles between waves of nervousness and regret.

Eternity had passed until he spoke again, and when he did, you just couldn't believe the words that left his mouth. 

“Is that the reason you broke up with me? Because you think I will deliberately leave you?”

You tried to hold a gulp, but it didn't work, feeling your mouth suddenly run dry as you decided that you necessitated to put if off because you were sure that if you kept talking to him, you would end up hitting the nearest thing out of pure frustration and that was the last thing you wanted to do. Especially because the nearest thing happened to be Kakashi.

“Just... Forget it." Coming back to your usual, you kept quiet about your true feelings and you hated yourself for that. Kakashi deserved to know everything that was going through your mind, the guy had always helped you to figure whatever you told him out and was deadly honest with you. 

Riddle with emotions you were too afraid to express, you stood up, ready to leave him, but you hesitated for a second, and it was enough for him to grab your wrist. The action itself gave you the feeling your lungs were starting to burn, causing your breathing to heave.

"I don't understand. First, you ask to participate on my mission."

Wait, what?

"Yes, y/n. I know."

But how?

"Inoichi told me."

Eyebrows arched, you got a little shocked he was even answering the questions inside your head.

"You acted like a jealousy girlfriend the whole time. Now, you are acting like you can't stand be near me. So?" The frustration was showing on his tone, clearly. There was a few times when you saw Kakashi actually mad about something, inside his usual deadpan look. Fewer things could cause this reaction on him. You being one of them.

"Kakashi, drop it." You felt a wave of anxiousness fall upon you, as you wet your lips, feeling uncomfortable with where the conversation was heading. How it even landed on the two of you? Again. You were unsure.

"Sorry if I can't be as cold as y-"

You interrupted him, before he could say anything he could regret later. "You can. You do it all the time, except when you are with me. No one can see what you are thinking. No one can wonder what is going inside your head, but I can, because you let me. It is not my fault, Kashi." 

The nickname simply slipped of your throat, and even through the mask, you could see him biting his lower lip.

"Fine, I get the part that you broke up with me because you don't love me. What I do not get is-"

The second time interrupting someone was always easier, especially when it was a outburst. 

"I didn't break up with you because I stopped loving you, I did because I am afraid to lose you, you idiot!" You blocked everything out, focusing on easing the pain that comes with relationships and working your feelings down until your heart that beat almost for him, each individual beat coursing blood through your veins, metaphorically turned into ice.

Except that, Kakashi managed to melt everything inside you just with a shining glance.

"Wait, you still love me?" He spoke every word slowly, as trying to absorb it and the same time, trying to make you realize what you have just spilled. It was just something he wasn't expecting from you. Not at that moment, not never.

"Of course I do, Kakashi. I love you so much. I'd rather die than lose you, I can't even stand the thought of it." You bit your lip and nodded at your own words. His hand came back to your face again, holding your jaw. More than once, you did your best to look away but his grip on your jaw tighter every time, stopping you from doing it.

"You are not going to lose me. I promise." Your breath hitched at the sound of his voice, and the way his eyes squinted, a proof he smiled carried a warmth that caught you entirely off guard.

"Stop making promises you can't keep!" You choked out, fearful that you were about to cry in front of him and ruin your hard-built reputation. It was like you had fallen to the bottom before and you just didn't know how to go back.

"I promise I will keep that promise." His comment stoke you like a knife and your mouth fell open. What had started as a normal evening had ended in a way that was completely unseen by the two of you.

"Kakashi..." His name on your tongue was more a warning than anything else. It was basically a request from him to stop because everything was so much.

If he noticed it was an advice to be away from you, he ignored it promptly, as he pushed your arm to place you sitting on his lap, each leg on one side of his. 

He pulled his mask down, the sight of the lips you were dying to kiss one more time right next to your mouth. "Stop pushing me away. I am not going anywhere. Please, don't make me spend another day away from you."

Kakashi's hand ran down your waist, fingers wrapping around the trousers you wore, body resting against his. His touch was warm, practically radiating confidence after your confession. 

"It will be easier for both of us if we keep our distance." You tried to reasonable with him, already trying to get up, but the grip on your pants got tighter.

"Fine. Let's do it, but first." He smashed his lips against yours with urgency, catching you completely off guard. There was no running away from him, from what you had. If one day you lose him, your world would crash down, for sure. Although, little did you realize, you already had lost him. 

Honestly, you were the one to blame for that.

Now, he was giving you a chance to get him back, and you hated yourself for not being sure about it. It was simple, actually. He was everything to you. So, for the first time, you decided to have faith on his promises.

He parted the kiss, panting. "Fuck, I thought we needed a last kiss before going separate ways, but now I don't feel like stopping."

"Good, because you are not." You gave him a little peck on his lips, pulling his mask up. "But we are taking this to your apartment."

"Last sex?" He questioned, holding you tight with both arms, noses pressed against each other.

"First last sex." If you were afraid you were going to lose him, you might just well live like it would be the last time you would be seeing him.

"Promise?" You expected that your eyes were mirroring his, filled with love and adoration for the boy with the gray hair you had grown up with, the teenager you had fallen in love with and the man you had needed your entire life. Everything was easier with him around and you just hoped this would be just one more thing on the list.

"Promise."