#I feel as if I draw better now... or at least I draw Anko better lmao

[nell0-0]

The dichotomy of T&I Obito at its finest

[chemicalmagecraft]

Foresight is 20/20 Chapter 13

I sighed, then took another bite of my dango. The page of my book flipped and my frown deepened. Poison-making looked hard... And more than that, it was complicated and boring. Sure it was practical, but nowhere near as fun as, say, the chakra threads I was using to "levitate" both my dango and my book (I didn't want to get dango on my book or book on my dango).

"'Sup, kid," a familiar voice said, and I extended another thread to catch the hand that reached for my dango. "Almost didn't recognize you there with that tan, but who else casually uses a jutsu like that?"

"Anko," I greeted faux-angrily. She was somehow almost always there whenever I went to get dango, and I eventually managed to talk to her. "I do believe that I told you not to touch my dango." The thread around her wrist went slack and dissipated, allowing her to withdraw her hand. She just shrugged, sat down across from me and started eating her dango.

"So is that a book about poison?" she asked me.

"I don't really understand it, but yeah it is."

"I happen to know a thing or two about poison, especially after..." Her expression soured. "Him."

I closed my book and licked my lips. "Speaking of him," I said. "I do believe I've figured something out." I raised my hand to one of my demon gem "earrings" and it floated to the back of her neck, where her curse mark was. "Ah, I was right. I should be able to partially nullify your seal."

Her eyes widened. "You can?"

"I mean, I don't think I'll be able to remove it without causing major damage to you, at least not without the original notes, but this..." I used the demon gem to extract the natural energy from the mark, then placed a seal on it to prevent it from drawing in more. "Feel better?"

She rubbed the curse mark. "Yeah, lots..."

I smiled slightly and my gem returned to my ear. "That's because I just removed its ability to accumulate natural energy, and drained it too. Basically halted most of its functions. Now that I've become more adept at using these things, I can use them to detect the natural energy around me. Orochimaru's mark certainly is interesting, shame the man himself was terrible."

Anko grinned at me. "You know, I actually have access to all his stuff, seeing how I was his apprentice and all. He didn't like the idea of anyone else touching his notes, so me giving it to someone is probably a good way to spite him. Plus I could teach you way more about poison than some dumb old book!"

My grin widened. I'd have sealed her mark either way, but finding a dialogue tree that got me Orochimaru's notes and explanations on it was a godsend. "Looks like I found myself a teacher, then. Oh, and by the way."

"What's up, kid?"

"That seal was probably screwing with your metabolism. You'll probably have to actually work off all those sweets now."

Anko winced. "Dammit..."

kukukuku~

I meditated under a tree again, paying some attention to Hinata playing with Naruto and Tenten as with before. This time, though, I was just doing the regular sage training and not my weird convoluted separate-recombine approach. I'd managed to use a single demon gem to make a really thin barrier that pivoted like the platforms on the spires the toads had that also made it look like I was just mildly floating. "What are you doing?" a voice asked. I couldn't see him with my eyes closed, but Chikage within my shadow shared her sight with me. And then I would've figured it out anyway from the sound of someone eating chips behind the original speaker.

"Why hello, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji," I said, not even opening my eyes. "I am meditating on the energy that abounds in nature, and surrounds us all. With it, a true sage can do incredible feats."

"That can't be true," Shikamaru said. "Wouldn't we know more about such a troublesome power?"

I smirked, and a random falling leaf that got too close to me was shredded from a disturbance in the surrounding natural energy.

"Woah!" Choji exclaimed. "What was that?"

"Mendokuse..." Shikamaru muttered. "So why don't people use this more often?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I think it has something to do with how the only other user of the sage power that I know of with no relation to the snake or toad summon animals was Senju Hashirama, who at the same time one might argue had a slight relation to toads through his distant ancestor. And I have a theory that he actually had some sort of natural energy-related power even beyond normal sage powers, one tied to his bloodline."

"Mendokuse... How do you know this?"

"Magic. While I don't suggest you actually draw in natural energy without supervision from someone who would be able to expel the natural energy from your body, you seem like the type to be content to lie still from elongated periods of time, which you could use to try and sense the natural energy in the air, which is the basis of using sage power."

Shikamaru blinked. "So you're saying I could potentially get a lot more powerful just by sitting around?"

"You need to draw in natural energy for a bit before you can actually use it, but yeah. Also, you need a good amount of chakra before it's safe to do it, so don't expect to just take a nap and get superpowers."

"Well then why are you doing it?" Choji asked. "Even if you have more chakra than normal, you're a kid like us. Is it really that safe?"

"Tseseseseh~" I chuckled. "Nnnope, I'm just an idiot with a lot of chakra."

"You're the one kid Ino told us about, aren't you?" Shikamaru asked. "The weirdo."

"Yup."

"Mendokuse..."

I felt a wave of bad vibes through Chikage and heard some shouting. I bolted upright, forgetting that I was in the middle of absorbing natural energy. My leg gave out from under me, causing me to drop to one knee and suck in a breath. "Are you okay?" Choji asked me.

I rolled up the pant of the offending leg, revealing skin that was half crystallized and half scaled. And some of the scales were made from crystals, too. "Ah, that's not good," I muttered, then licked my lips. "This is why you don't mess around with natural energy without adult supervision, kids..."

"Mendokuse... Is there any way we can help you?"

"No, hang on. I got this. Let's see here..." I concentrated, using my experience manipulating natural energy with my various unconventional forms of sage jutsu to help me. The problem was that I had natural energy concentrated in my leg. I didn't have much in the other parts of my body, so I just redistributed the natural energy. My leg returned to normal as I felt the surge of power from a proper sage mode. Thanks to Chikage, I was able to see that the markings around my eyes changed to be the yin-yang symbol thingy, and moon symbols appeared on my cheeks.

"There, that's better," I said. "Really hope this stuff isn't carcinogenic... Let's go check out that shouting." Before either of them could object, I shot off. Even with my sage chakra not quite as potent as it could have been on account of my age and chakra capacity, I was still a lot faster than the two. I did go at a pace that they could easily catch up to, though, on account of the fact that I didn't want to burn through all of my sage mode. At what Chikage told me was the source of the negative emotions, I felt two familiar chakra signatures, very much in a panic. I came upon the scene. Thankfully, there were only a few people there, and they all appeared to be too afraid to do anything.

"Get back!" the guy holding the knife to Ino's throat shouted. He appeared to have taken her and Sakura hostage. Judging by the sack of loot on the ground by him, he'd robbed someone and was trying to get away. I could tell that neither he nor any of the onlookers had much shinobi training with the exception of one man who was probably a low chunin judging by his chakra, which was probably why there was such an impasse. "I'm not afraid to use this!"

"Really?" I asked. "This is the third young clan heiress that I've had to save. This is starting to be bad writing."

The man pointed the knife at me. "What are you gonna do, kid?"

I gave him a twisted smile. "This." I flashed through a series of practiced seals as fast as I could, drawing on the power of my demon gems, punctuated with a technically-superfluous slam surface seal. "True Demonic Illusion: Summoning of the Shadow Demon!" I shouted as an illusory seal made of some sort of dark energy formed underneath me. As I stood back up, a false, distorted Chikage rose from the ground behind me with chains made of an ethereal, shadowy material connecting it to the seal, forming from the dark energy. The illusion of Chikage looked older and larger (and larger, because we felt like it), and it had sharpened teeth, claws, and eyes of pure shadow. To add to the dark imagery, it was wearing Chikage's new outfit, which she'd made inspired by the gothic lolita style to go with her whole "demon of a thousand shadows" shtick, plus shackles on her wrists and ankles.

The shackles usually only had a few links of chain on them for the aesthetic and to act as foci for a variation of the Adamantine Chains jutsu we'd make, but for the illusion they were for the chains that were linking it to the seal. You know, the outfit actually looked rather good on our tanned skin. The illusory shadow demon beckoned to the man, the sound of jangling chains causing a feeling of unease in the bystanders.

To the would-be kidnapper, though, the illusion caused a pressure of unrelenting foreboding as the sun went dark and the land turned to shadows. "What the hell is that!?" He dropped his knife and hostages and tried to run.

"I think not," I said dully as my shadow, the true Chikage, reached his shadow, causing him to freeze up and my shadow to return to normal from Chikage entering his. "You've been possessed by my demon." In truth, the entire genjutsu was just smoke and mirrors, albeit elaborate ones. The illusory Chikage was both a medium to the hallucination suggestion and misdirection from Chikage's shadow movement. The reason that that worked, though, was because Chikage had the ability to possess people by entering their shadows, which was awesome. Without need for the genjutsu, I dropped it, letting the phantasmal copy fade from existence. I snapped my fingers, causing the man to stand up straight so he wasn't stuck in an awkward position, then walked up to Ino. "You okay?" I asked, holding a hand out to her.

She sniffed. "My neck hurts a bit and I scraped my knees, but I'm good now." She smiled and let me pull her up, and I placed two fingers on the thankfully small cut on her neck. Green-hued chakra sprang from my fingers and sealed her wound. I moved on to her knees, then walked over to Sakura.

"What about you, Sakura-chan?" She whimpered and showed me her hands, which were all scraped up. I smiled at her and placed my hands on hers, but before I could even use my basic healing jutsu something weird happened. The natural energy flowed out of my body and into her. Whatever she was doing, I could tell she didn't even know she was doing it. Once my sage mode was depleted I pulled her up and removed my hands from hers, revealing perfectly unscathed palms.

"Thank you, Kouki-kun," she said. Whatever the heck happened, she was now naturally passing natural energy through her body. If I had to bet, she'd automatically heal any injuries that happened to her. Not that I'd test it... Interesting.

"Thanks, Kouki," Ino said. I looked over to her and noticed she was smiling and blushing slightly. She probably didn't have an actual crush on me considering her age, but I knew how she would probably think about the dashing knight in shining armor who saved her...

"Mendokuse..." I internally sighed.

"Mendokuse..." Chikage telepathically agreed.

"Mendokusai desu ka?" Usagi asked.

"Mendokuse..." Chikage and I mentally chorused. At least if she kept that up I'd save Sasuke a bit of trouble and she wouldn't ruin her friendship with Sakura, but... ugh... I'd probably have to deal with that at some point...

"Where's the thief?" an Uchicop asked as he landed, then saw the guy standing there and whipped out a kunai. "You! Stop!"

"He's under my spell, he literally can't move without my say-so," I said. "Or at least I'm assuming the guy who took some hostages and had a sack of what appeared to be ill-gotten goods was also a thief."

"What do you mean, under your spell?" he asked. The thief's shadow morphed into Chikage's for a moment, just a flash.

"A genjutsu that I thought of after hearing of the Sharingan's genjutsu-casting abilities," I lied. "It uses a special ability of mine with an illusion as a visual medium to place a suggestion on a victim that allows me to control them. Unfortunately I can only do one person at a time so far and a powerful enough shinobi would probably be able to resist it, but hopefully it'll get a lot more useful when I'm older."

"Right," the cop said, then cuffed the crook. "Well, thanks for the help." If I had to guess, he was one of the more good-natured Uchiha. I doubted he'd have anything to do with the rebellion. "I'm sure you'll be a good ninja when you're older. For now, though, maybe you should stay out of trouble, kid."

"No promises." He snorted and escorted the guy away, taking the sack with him.

"What was that?" Shikamaru asked me. "And don't say genjutsu, because I know the difference between an illusion and shadow-manipulating jutsu."

"Definitely not your clan's jutsu, don't worry," I muttered so only he'd hear. I leaned over just a bit so that the tip of my shadow touched a nearby shadow, letting Chikage come back to me. "I was telling the truth when I said it was a special power of mine."

"It have anything to do with that weird meditation thing you did earlier?"

I smirked a bit and licked my lips. "Let's go with that, though there's also a bit more to it that's, as far as I know, unique to me. You'll never be able to use it, if that's what you're asking."

"Mendokuse..."

kukukuku~

I sighed, lying down on my bed. "What are we going to do about Ino?" I asked Chikage.

She shrugged, floating around as always. Not that I could blame her. "We... let her down gently?"

"Yeah, but how? Relationships are hard..."

"Gonna have to get back to you on that one..." We both sensed someone coming to the clan compound.

"Hey, is that..."

"Lemme check." She shadow-travelled there and back, only gone for less than a second. "Yup, Aburame Shibi. And it looks like those bugs we spared earlier were kikaichu, 'cause he's bringing a couple mutant ones in a bug cage." I nodded, then we became whole again. I silently walked to the front door, where the clan leader already was.

"...apologize for the intrusion, but earlier a member of our clan's kikaichu were drawn to an unusual source of chakra located within your compound," he explained to my father. "She managed to regain control of them, but not before some had died and others had... changed." He brought out the mutated bugs, which had rune-like markings much like the first-stage curse marks. They were acting pretty crazy. "They may not be able to escape this cage, but they are still far livelier than the normal variety and much harder to control. I am not accusing you or any of your clan of anything, but I would very much like to know what caused this, as it might prove useful to our clan."

"Well, the thing about that is..." Dad said.

"Would you trust him, father?" I asked, announcing my presence.

He nodded. "Go ahead, Kouki."

"Right, let's go somewhere more private," I suggested.

"So," I said once we went to a suitable room, "what the kikaichu felt was... let's just say a jutsu of mine." I brought out the half-sized demon gem that fed on the Aburame's bugs. "This is called a demon gem. Despite all appearances, it's a living thing that generates special chakra that, among other things, can be used to make more demon gems by compressing and cannibalizing living animal tissue. Unfortunately that's the only way to make it, though, and since I don't want to mass-murder people or large animals, that pretty much means I have to use its animal-attracting properties to occasionally draw in and cannibalize insects. I was doing that earlier, which is why you're here." On a hunch, I reached out to the demon kikaichu, influencing them through my power within them. They instantly calmed, becoming absolutely still. "Could you release them?"

"I see..." He opened the small cage. I commanded the bugs, causing them to fly out of the cage as one. They entered a formation on my command and began orbiting my body.

"Don't worry," I said, noticing a small shift in his emotional state. "I have no interest in usurping the kikaichu jutsu and even if I did I can only control these mutated ones through my power that they absorbed, if that's what you're worried about."

"I understand. It is interesting, though, that you're able to control them so easily."

"I doubt I could control anything more complex than them with so much ease. Not without a lot more of the special chakra, anyway." A thought occurred to me. "Actually, I thought of another thing I'd like to try, though this one might possibly have the potential to be arguably a usurpation of your clan secrets, so I'll only try it with your permission."

Dad sighed. "Why am I not surprised... I apologize for my son, Shibi. He... can be rather focused on power, even if he tries not to overstep boundaries."

"I am fine," Shibi said. "Why? Because he asked for my permission, and clearly wishes not to overstep his bounds. Tell me, Kouki-kun, what is it you wish to try?"

"I don't have much data to go by, but I think I might be able to gain special chakra-related powers by granting my special chakra to a subject and then absorbing it once it's fused with their chakra," I explained. I'd noticed, after the whole demon sage seal debacle, that I'd gained extra, Uzumaki-like vitality. After a talk with Ai, I found out that I could still manifest the adamantine chains that I used against her, despite that chakra having been fully processed by my body, much like how absorbing enough of Shukaku's chakra combined it with Kurama's chakra in me.

It made sense, all things considered, that a combination of my red chakra, which was easy to transfer from body to body, and natural energy, which had mutagenic properties, would allow my body to adapt to others' chakra intead of just adapting other chakra to me. In fact, I could also make my chakra signature almost identical to Ai's, which was probably useful somehow. Though that part I tested and found out that all I need for that is to have my red chakra exposed to someone else's chakra signature, like my red chakra was somehow easily imprinted with other people's chakra signatures.

"I'd like to see if I could gain the kikaichu's ability to drain and absorb regular chakra by, well, killing some of them by draining them dry," I requested. "With your permission, of course."

Shibi nodded slightly. "An interesting power. Could you grant that ability to another?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. I mean, I didn't exactly come with a manual, but if you want me to see if I could grant some of your people kikaichu powers then I'd certainly be willing to find out. Plus, the possibilities..." I grinned. "Tseseseseseh~" I hiss-chuckled, then licked my lips. "It's certainly something I'd be willing to do for you. Is that a yes?"

"I would prefer if you left a few for us to study, but take as many as you need."

"Alright, then. Let's see if half works, shall we?" Half of the beetles returned to the cage, while the other half landed on my hand. They didn't bite me, but I had them start draining me to get a feel for how their power worked. "Assimilation Jutsu." Safisfied by what I felt, I reversed the flow of the chakra, capitalizing on the connection the chakra-draining gave us to more easily suck the chakra out of their bodies. Despite the enhanced lifespan and vitality granted from their mutation, they stilled and fell from my body as all the chakra left them. "Do you want the corpses or can I try to resuscitate them to add to one of my gems?" I asked.

"Do as you please. We can always drain more, if we need to. Did it work?"

I commanded the demon gem to go at the recently-deceased beetles, then looked inward. "It feels like it's working, but my body has to 'digest' the chakra before I can use it. And it might be partially physical, in which case I might not have the power. I'll get back to you on it. Now." The demon gem, slightly bigger now that it was done absorbing the bugs, floated over to Shibi. "Don't worry, it's harmless unless it's specifically made to attack someone."

He took the gem. "Why are you giving this to me?"

"As Father said, I'm... more than a little obsessed with power, I admit. It doesn't have to be my power, though. I'm also interested by my allies' power, even my enemies' power. And giving my allies power?" I grinned slightly. "Well, I'm sure you can tell how I feel about that. I'm not even worried about if you turn against me for some reason. We've already established that those things are less than useless against me. Not to mention, I'm getting something else out of this too."

"How so?" Shibi asked.

"Kikaichu, like most insects, have a low lifespan, and can reproduce at a rapid rate because of that. It wouldn't be too much to ask, then, to sacrifice any of your kikaichu at the end of their lifespan when they start to become less useful to you to that gem to produce more demon gems for me, would it?"

"We feed our dead kikaichu to the living, but we can feed some to it, if that is the price for having it to study."

"Good. Make a snake seal and pulse some chakra at the thing to send it into 'eat' mode for a couple of minutes, which'll make it eat any insect-sized organism that touches it. Hopefully. Just in case, don't touch it while it's in eat mode."

"Suddenly I feel as though I should not be holding this," Shibi said, then placed the gem in a little baggie that was probably for dead bugs. Fair.

"Probably a good idea, once it's fully out of my influence. This close to me, though, I don't have to concentrate on it to have some measure of control over it. It should stay more or less inert, though, in a state where it'll produce chakra enough to fill its stores and not resist kikaichu draining. Tell me if it doesn't work quite right, though, and I'll try to make adjustments."

Shibi got up. "Thank you for this, Kouki-kun. I will do my best to make you not regret giving it to me."

I gave him smile. "Goodbye. Make sure to only let people you trust near that thing, or even aware of its existence for that matter. Good luck!" Shibi faltered a bit, then continued on. "This is going to be fun," I said.

[decadentboat]

That replies post again

Lets start with a qt Kirara bc almost nobody liked how she died lol.

I had to log in here in the laptop. Since it’s not mine I don’t feel comfortable... So far I’ve been posting and replying via phone which is an eternal hassle.

Again, thank you from the bottom of my boat heart for your kind messages!!(boat heart emoji bc I can post them here lol)

.....I’m sorry I didn’t realize I had missed so many of them!

@mdlouie No prob!! I think it’s totally OK to start with student grade supplies. I mean, buying artist grade right out of the bat it’s not wise in my own opinion since it doesn’t guarantee their particular propieties will be benefitial to you(Like there are watercolor brands that are super easy to re-wet and very vibrant, but they tend to be kinda lifting so layering may be difficult, other brands are the opposite) There is always a learning curve with art supplies, whatever the grade they are. To me, learning using both of material grades is not a waste of time, new adquired knowledge will never be a waste of time!

Now, what I didn’t come to agree at first but now I have to admit it was a big improvement is to use cotton watercolor paper. In special for characters with dark skin like Chouchou. I struggled so so much with having a flat wash on the skin, and I blamed the watercolors(The pigments, because earth color pigments tend to create granulation) But for example this:

The wash on her face came out really nicely! I think you can have both papers(I def have more of the student grade/not proper watercolor paper than the artist grade/cotton haha)And practice on both.IMO watercolor is a lot about water control but also a lot of learning where to place your brushstrokes. Practicing your brushstrokes in cheaper paper is good bc you don’t have that fear of ruining expensive paper with your practices. Water control is better to be practiced in the expensive one. Uhm I hope I’m making sense!

@letherebewisdom Aw! Thank you!! I defenitely don’t want to stop yet!

@kiagumo Perdón por la gran demora en responderte!! No, no! Muchas gracias a ti por dibujarlos!! Sé que dibujo mas de lo necesario y probablemente alguien piensa que eso me basta pero no...NO! Yo también quiero ver fanart, quiero ver dibujitos lindos de mis OTP!!! Que alegria que uno de tus ships favoritos sea Mitsucho, porque tu arte realmente es muy lindo!!

Por cierto no necesitas pedirme permiso para dibujar algo que te interese de mis dibujos! Si deseas puedo dibujarte un diseño de Metal y Shinki playeros jajaja. Muchas gracias, de verdad fue un dibujo muy precioso!! *bote llorón*!!

@alinakz-97 Well, your guesses could be right. I’m def curious lol!

@mdlouie Yay for them indeed!!

@miss-akimichi It’s Chouchou! I added to much red there haha. Perhaps the sameface syndrome is strong in me. But when I draw Karui I try to make her eyes sharper and her skin darker than Chouchou.

@sugarriene I think I read Choji being scared of lizzards somewhere! Maybe Chouchou is scared of snakes? I still think it was a little weird but 100% sure that’s...all in my head lol.

Now, what I meant with medic...Or perhaps should I have said doctor? Like Sakura or Tsunade being perpetual doctors... In special Sakura that has it as her daily job. I can’t see Inojin like that(Maybe a little with Mitsuki because of the team 7 karma... I’m still unsure of this. The biggest mystery of Boruto is who is going to get the frog and the slug... Since it looks like everyone is getting snakes XD) I wish the Yamanaka flower shop being a cover for the sensing division was brought up sooner in the manga because it’s damn cool(Someone correct me, or was it added after the Pain attack?) The future I see for Inojin is being that handsome guy that runs the flower shop and he is seen painting ocasionally, but it turns out he has this secret agent thing going on.

BTW anybody remembers the Nara being skilled in medicine/pharmaceutics? Why are they never the medics of their teams? In the prev gen it was understandable since Ino’s ability was more in the support side, but the current gen, they are very able to haddle by themselves(Considering both Shikadai and Inojin inherited other techniques like wind release and the beast scroll)

Welp, I didn’t want to write this tldr haha. I may be wrong with this reasoning, I just hope I’m not straying out too much of the facts.

@hotmonkeelove Let’s hope they show more Anko interacting with the kids. I keep thinking there must be a reason why Chouchou and Anko were afiliated aside from “lol chubbies“ I want SP to deliver but they have dissapointed me so many times...

@ascrolluponthemoon  I think it would be cool! And honestly I think snakes match their personalities better. Katsuyu for Mitsuki? Their colors match and they are both very polite but it feels wrong xD? Same with Sarada and HOT BLOODED ACTION Gamabunta(Or is it going to be Gamakichi?) Dunno, feels weird, but it is one of the things I’m looking forward to see.

@nite-baron Thank you so much for your hard work!! I’m looking forward to it.

@miss-akimichi  Yes!! Defenitely. But you have to babysit the sites and its annoying. If I find cute Mitsuki and Chouchou merchandise, I will let you guys know. Just in case it might interest you alll and you want to get it before it’s sold out lol.

@miss-akimichi No prob! Thanks to you for posting such cute headcanon! I...uh.. I was drawing a comic but I’m unsure of posting it. They came to be a little touchy with each other since they are married adults and stuff(Defenitely it’s not nsfw! But I can see some people be bothered with it haha) Perhaps I will post it under a read more... or simply ask you guys if you want me to post it.

@mdlouie Thank you!! You are very kind! We are def better! At the very least we recovered our voices XD Since it’s a virus, you have to wait for it to pass. But yes, we are better now.

@flyflywingedbear -_- Yeah me too! Its painfully obvious the Mitsuki arc is just an extender for the anime not to catch the manga. Who is popular? Mitsuki? Well, let’s drag the story with this LONG arc that promises to focus on his background but it turns out we will not touch it haha. The max offender was both the OP and the ED XD We got a bunch of cute inoshikacho moments and development tho, I can forgive those parts. But for a “Mitsuki arc” it lacked of the Mitsuki POV. How many episodes had to pass for him to say he felt like he was not reaching his friends? I felt cheated and offended. As expected of a series named Boruto, son of Naruto.

Thank you so much for the cutest messages in the lastest comic! I told you this was going to be very cute XD The only reason why I felt to doing more than the Valentine one(Which is more romantic, also they are a tad older, like 13 to 14)

[nottsubakiichan]

Love Live! Sunshine!! Season 2 Episode 5 Reactions

precious. both of them.

Oh they’re all in their practice outfits now

leave it to kanan to think about safety first

“Nice n’ warm Pocket warmer”??? HAHAHAHA

So yoshiko will be walking home alone

will she really be alright like that

BYE-NNY

ooh the wind is pretty strong

poor yoshiko

oh this is where she discovers that dog isnt it

this is akin to that dengeki g’s illustration of yohane finding a cat in the rain

OP theme

ahahaha she’s trying to help her get over her fear

oh it opened its eyes

and it doesnt work

and it happens again

that riko bomb

OMG MARI HAHAHAHAHA

THE RETURN OF THOSE EYE COVERS

OH WOW SAINT SNOW HAS A NEW SONG

SOUNDS LIT

MARI AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

looks like she’s got the attention span of a goldfish

yoshiko is gone too lol

maru chuuni translator :’)

oh yeah yoshiriko’s moms are chummy

ofc she’d leave her phone at their house

this be a fanfic prompt

oh it’s the dog

that kidnapping tho lol

ofc yoshiko would be the one taking care of it

from the looks of it, she’s prepared stuff for the dog

“can’t you tell? it’s a dog.” “yeah.” riko :’(

oh it’s actually pretty cute

riko :(((((((

OMG SHE SICKED IT ON HER HAHAHA

run riko run

that leap tho wow

riko still looks rather uncomfortable

oh so the dog is being cared for here because pets aren’t allowed at yoshiko’s place

i know where this is going

come on riko you can do it

AND SHE SICS IT ON HER AGAIN LMAO

and she actually agrees to take it in

of course the dog can’t eat when the food is outside its cage riko

is that how she’s gonna feed it? pretty clever but poor doggo just wants to be friends with her aw

come on riko just warm up to it

okay she hasn’t run away screaming yet this is an improvement

nice formation

we’re gonna get a new song soon aren’t we

excited to go home aren’t you, riko?

don’t tell me… she’s actually getting attached to the dog??

yohane knows what’s up

aw she’s so excited here riko’s so cute

she got it something? cuuuuute

that giggle. SO PRECIOUS.

riko i know you wanna make the dog happy and all but it cant really play with that toy if you keep it trapped in the pet carrier like that haha

oh my god yoshiko came over

oh my god riko’s actually looking for an excuse to keep it longer

oh my god yoshiko wants the dog back

“Nocturne”??

THAT’S what riko named it???

okay yoshiko wants to call it “Laelaps”????

how is that a greater name it’s not any weirder than “Nocturne” lol

HAHAHA "LOVE LIVE”

oh... oh god

looks like that dog belongs to someone after all

its real name is anko??? lol

both of them look so despaired haha

ooooh first successful contact with a dog good job riko

what’s with the solemn expression kanan

“This will be my last Love Live” :’(((

oh god no now they finally introduce the topic of the third years graduating

how will you handle this aqours… will you follow the same thing µ’s did

what? problem?

what about riko and yoshiko

“emotionally unstable”…?

OH MY GOD THAT’S RIKYAKO’S DRAWING I CAN’T BE MISTAKEN HAHAHAHAHA

AND AIKYAN’S DRAWING

THAT SYNCHRONIZATION THO LMAO

truly quite the pair aren’t they

zuramaru’s impression of yohane :))))

they can’t really concentrate on practice can they

wtf is that line of thinking yoshiko

??????

“We’ll go get the dog back.” Excuse me what?????

isn’t that gonna be illegal

that’s like… stealing private property isn’t it

yoshiko i understand you’re still hung up over that dog but this is madness

riko do something

but she misses the dog too haha :’(

at least she’ll keep yoshiko from doing anything too absurd

okay now this is just trespassing

wrong house lol

will this summoning actually work

oh my god spotted the jig is up

run

in the end they couldn’t even push through lmao

oh my god this is the place in the preview

wtf is she serious about waiting

that’s some dedication

at least with waiting you two will get more time together if u know what i mean ;)

oooh riko needs to go home though

mother’s getting worried

ah so riko left after all?

and it rains

oh she came back? and with food? how sweet

don’t be stubborn yoshiko

and she takes it :)

so riko really did want to see the dog

haha they even synchronize in eating

oh yoshiko gets serious

ah yes ive read about her penchant for attracting misfortune in SID

this is fine. she’s opening up to Riko

she’s aware fallen angels dont exist but she’s doing it as a way to make her bad luck feel less bad

and bc it’s just nice to believe in shit like invisible forces and destiny

so she believes that dog was brought to her by fate

oh the rain stopped. this is new.

“Here. Some Laelaps”?

OH IT’S BECAUSE THE DOG IS NAMED ANKO AHAHAHAHA

love that riko still protests it should be “nocturne”

oh the dog actually came out

well there’s your chance to go grab it and run :))))))))

not that i think yoshiko can actually do that

oh will it notice her

it actually worked??

oh it doesnt recognize her anymore :(((

yoshiko looks so miserable haha :(

aw riko’s cheering her up

“invisible powers” :’’’)

you said it riko

“I, Yohane, hereby certify you as one of my elite little demons!” OMG

is she gonna call her “riri” now come on please

oh she didn’t

BUT THIS IS BETTER THAN ANYTHING I EVER HOPED FOR THANKS

THE SHIP HAS SAILED

congrats riko

SHE CALLED HER YOHANE

both of them are so cute huhu

and we’re back to chika

yoshiko’s way of thinking inspired riko to try approaching shiitake again :”))))

OH SHE FINALLY DID IT! SHE PET A DOG!

i feel so proud of her wtf sdfasdfd

you’re doing great sweetie <3 <3

and this was all thanks to yoshiko

those two are so pure and cute otp material right there

OMG THE ENDING THEME!!

IT’S A YOSHIRIKO DUET??? IS THAT AIKYAN AND RIKYAKO IM HEARING????

THE CREDITS CONFIRM IT OH MY GOD YES!!

OH MY GOD YOSHIRIKO ARE THE FEATURED CHARACTERS FOR THIS ENDING THEME IM IN HEAVEN

SKJFDASFSFSFASDF

IM SO HAPPY WTF THANK YOU SUNRISE SDZFZDSFSFSF

ASDSFTRETRETREGTHRTH

GRTHTRHRTHJYTJT dskjfgslgkpttkp’ewrkt’retw

a

wa

trtereyuu6i76i78itjuyk

that’s it im dead. now i’ve got more reasons to ship yoshiriko

i hope we at least get to see them progress to the nicknames in the later episodes. at least they’re friends now

Looks like I’ll be rewatching this episode for the next two days. My yoshiriko heart has thoroughly been slain. Congrats staff.

[jouissezduprintemps]

Masquerade

Rating: T Words: 3380 Fandom: Naruto Summary: Another incredibly self-indulgent fic with Halloween themes, just to cover all the cliche fanfiction bases. The gang puts on a Halloween bonfire on top of Hokage mountain. Tenzo is disappointed when Kakashi doesn’t attend. Kakashi ANBU era. KakaYama.

It was a longstanding tradition for the young ninja of Konoha to spend Halloween on top of Hokage mountain. For the most part, the distance from the village proper kept them out of trouble and, more importantly, away from any impressionable children. It was a fair compromise; the older adults had them out of their hair, and they could do pretty much whatever they wanted without getting into trouble. So long as the Uchiha police force was left out of it, no one bothered them. Naturally, it became a cherished event that required a community effort each year on the part of its participants.

As the son of the hokage, Asuma put on a show of organizing the event. He did it to try to build up some good standing with his father in case things went sideways, but Lord Hiruzen didn’t need to know that. It was dusk on Halloween when he and Kurenai arrived to set up. Wood needed to be gathered for the bonfire, tables set up for food and drink, and a general eye kept on the situation.

Asuma was a sight, bare-chested and wearing a leather skirt, which he insisted on (incorrectly) calling a tunic, piling firewood in the middle of a well-used pit. His cape, shield, and gladiator mask sat out of the way where Kurenai busied herself setting up the sparse furniture.

Like her companion, she also wore a cape tied around her shoulders, black overtop a ruby red gown. Her eyes were heavily lined and her lips were painted dark, while her fangs made her the perfect vampire. Asuma only stopped making terrible innuendos at her choice of costume when she threatened to leave him alone with the set-up, and a temporary truce had been called for his sake.

Iruka, ever-helpful, arrived just as the sun set, bringing several bags of snacks along with him. At sixteen, he was one of the youngest members of their little group, and he had almost been forgotten in the preparations. With less time to come up with a costume than he would have liked, he settled on a makeshift werewolf outfit. Without a mask, he’d painted the tip of his nose and wore a pair of ears he’d found at one of the stores that were still open. He’d taken an old pair of gloves and added fur to the backs, creating ‘paws,’ and his hair was down and purposefully disheveled. He hurried to Kurenai and helped her get the food he’d brought out into bowls.  

It was painfully obvious that Izumo and Kotetsu had just finished their shift at the gate. What little forethought they put into the event had them trade clothing and accessories, which they proudly declared as a stroke of genius to go as one-another. Asuma was going to berate them, but the cases of alcohol they’d procured quieted him before he could. At least they put a little effort into something.

Anko arrived with Genma in tow just as Kurenai threw a match onto the bonfire. Genma was wrapped from head to toe in medical bandages, clearly attempting to dress as a mummy. Anko apologized for taking so long; Genma had gotten halfway through when he decided that wrapping himself was too much trouble. Genma blamed Anko, who wouldn’t let him go ‘as a mummy-human hybrid,’ for their tardiness. She made a sound too much like a hiss for comfort, and he couldn’t be sure if she did so because she was dressed as a cat or if he was about to be on the wrong end of her serpentine jutsu.

Bickering broke out between Anko and Izumo when they realized they’d both brought alcohol, insisting that the other had agreed to bring food. Iruka attempted to step in, informing them that he’d brought snacks of his own accord, but he retreated before they could turn on him. He received a pat on the shoulder from Kurenai for his valiant effort.

The fight came to a sudden halt when Tenzo appeared, walking backwards as he guided Guy down the path. Guy was wearing an inflatable sumo wrestler costume, much to his own delight and Tenzo’s inconvenience. Unable to see his own feet, Guy had required his assistance getting up the uneven mountain terrain, and Tenzo had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course, Guy could have waited to inflate his costume until he reached the top, but that would have been far too easy.

Tenzo was dressed like a knight in shining armor, only missing a horse to ride in on. He was fighting with the faceplate of his helmet as he continued to motion Guy forward, stopping him when the ground became even. “There. Just… try to watch where you’re going?” he requested, large eyes filled with worry that his friend might just fall off the mountainside.

“Thanks for your help, friend!” Guy beamed his trademark smile and slapped Tenzo on the back hard enough to make his faceplate fall. With a huff of exasperation, Tenzo removed the helmet altogether, earning a gasp from Kurenai.

“Your hair!” she exclaimed, drawing attention to the newest arrival.

Tenzo smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head, where his now-short hair stuck out at odd angles. “Yeah, I cut it,” he admitted, as though it wasn’t obvious. “Is it that bad?” He’d hoped that cutting his hair would make him a little less androgynous, as his frame had started to fill out in his shoulders and chest. To him, it just didn’t look right anymore.

“It’s not bad at all,” Asuma assured him. “Hell, you could pass for my age, now!”

“You look hot,” Anko added her support. “I mean, you were cute, but now you’re hot.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Tenzo chuckled. He brought the bags he was carrying over to Kurenai, who was relieved that he’d brought more food. They’d probably have people coming and going most of the night; their small group would ride it out, of course, but not everyone wanted to spend their night drinking around a bonfire.

The moon began to rise as familiar faces came and went from the gathering. Hayate stayed for just a few minutes before leaving for guard duty, unable to stay. Those who had the night off were making the most of it. Someone brought along music and a stereo, which livened the crowd considerably. The space between the bonfire and tables became a makeshift dance floor that Anko didn't hesitate to join.

Tenzo sat by the fire, bottle in his hand as he scanned the crowd. He'd assumed that Kakashi would be here; if his friends extended the invitation to Tenzo, he almost always made sure to show up. As of yet, his senpai hadn't shown his face. Despite his best efforts not to look depressed, Iruka noticed his aura and sat down beside him. The werewolf bumped him lightly with his shoulder, inquiring "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Tenzo lied. "I'm just not good at parties." To his relief, his companion seemed to buy it.

“Me, either.” Iruka spared a glance over his shoulder at their companions, most of whom were thoroughly enjoying themselves. “Kurenai invited me when we ran into each other at the store. I felt like I couldn’t say no. And, well, she and Asuma disappeared almost a half hour ago.”

“Yeah, sounds about right,” Tenzo chuckled, setting his empty bottle down by his side. He extended a gauntleted hand to his companion. “Tenzo,” he introduced himself.

Iruka shook his hand, responding in kind. “Iruka. So, don’t know anyone here, either?”

Tenzo shook his head. “No, but look.” He used his index finger to indicate his friends in the crowd. “Like you said, Kurenai and Asuma are just gone. Izumo and Kotetsu,” he pointed to the pair, who were engaged in a drinking contest, to the amusement of those around them, “no way I’m getting in the middle of that. Then there’s Anko and Genma,” he gestured to the group dancing nearby, “who definitely don’t want a third wheel, the way it’s going.” He shook his head in amusement. “And then, there’s Guy.” His flamboyant friend was dancing erratically in the way only he could, as others gave him a wide berth due to his costume. “I’m pretty sure Kakashi stayed home, so here I am.” He shrugged.

Iruka snickered in amusement. “I’d toast to that.”

“One sec.” Tenzo pushed himself up from the ground and skirted the edge of the dance floor, slipping past to the tables of food and drink. He grabbed an unopened bag of chips and two drinks to bring back to his new friend, in a much better mood now that he had someone to talk to. Rations in hand, he turned around and ran headlong into another partygoer. “Shit, I’m sorry,” Tenzo apologized, dropping his cargo to catch the man’s forearm, keeping him from stumbling at the impact.

“No, it’s my fault.” The man steadied himself, clearly trying to save face. He was clad from head to toe in black, his eyes covered by a mask and his hair hidden by a black bandanna. A sword hung from a belt around his hips, and the apologetic smile he gave made Tenzo forget to breathe. For a fleeting moment, the beauty mark on the left corner of his chin and his dark eyes gave Tenzo a feeling of déjà vu; his thoughts were interrupted when he was handed the provisions he had dropped.

“I believe these are yours, Sir Knight.”

The man’s eyes glinted in a way that Tenzo couldn’t read. He felt frozen in place, somehow managing to ask, “I’m sorry, who are you?”

The man held his arms out to either side of him in a vibrant gesture. “I’m a pirate. I guess it’s not as obvious as I thought.” He drew his sword for emphasis, twirling it in his hand once before sliding it back into his scabbard.

“No,” Tenzo shook his head. “I mean, what’s your name?” To prompt his acquaintance to answer, he added “Mine’s Tenzo.”

A smirk pulled at the corner of the man’s lips. “Ah, but, see, you’ve ruined it. There’s no mystery left to the knight in shining armor.” He made a tutting sound as he took a step closer. Leather made contact with Tenzo’s skin as the man ran his index finger just below his jawline, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. “I’m disappointed.” The man broke his gaze away from Tenzo to look past his shoulder. His eyes darkened in a way that made Tenzo’s pulse rise. “It seems you’re wanted elsewhere, Sir Tenzo.”

He’d completely forgotten about Iruka. The poor guy probably thought Tenzo had abandoned him. Although, if he was honest with himself, he was incredibly tempted to do so. He turned around and saw Iruka standing, looking through the crowd from beside the bonfire. When Tenzo looked back, the man was gone. Heart pounding, he purposefully made his way back to the fire, conscious of every step he took. Apparently, he appeared as shaken externally as he was internally.

“You okay?” Iruka asked, voice filled with genuine concern.

“Yeah,” Tenzo murmured unconvincingly. He sat back down and opened his bottle, draining half in one go. The last few minutes were best kept to himself. Who would believe him if he told the story? He stared into the flames, trying to forget what was almost certainly a drunken daydream. If he didn’t know better, he would have sworn he saw jealousy in those eyes.

Iruka decided not to press him. Trying to regain the cynical merriment they felt earlier, he lifted his bottle to Tenzo, asking, “To shitty friends?”

Tenzo chuckled. “You know it.” He clinked his bottle against Iruka’s, and they both drank to their toast. Iruka launched into a story about his latest mission, and Tenzo paid him half of his attention, just enough to nod and respond at the appropriate times. His eyes searched for the man dressed in black, and he used his sensory perception to probe for unusual chakra. There were too many foreign chakra signatures for him to sift through, and he didn’t think to get a reading when the man was in front of him. Remorsefully, he decided that the man in black had probably left.

Two drinks later, and Tenzo was able to give Iruka his full attention once more. Both men had forgotten their disappointment at being left by their friends, and they thoroughly enjoyed one-another’s company. Iruka finished the last of his drink and sighed, looking up at the sky. He studied the crescent moon before declaring, “I think I’m gonna head out. It’s getting late, and I was asked to substitute at the academy tomorrow.”

Tenzo snorted his amusement. “You’re going to be hungover around a bunch of kids?”

Iruka laughed, scratching the back of his head. “Yeah, maybe I didn’t have the best judgement tonight.” He smiled at his companion. “But I had a really good time.”

“Same,” Tenzo agreed, sitting up straight. “Think you’ll be hanging out with us now?”

Iruka smiled to himself. “I’d like that.”

“Hey,” Tenzo spoke as Iruka got to his feet, “Study hall. Keep the kids quiet, and you can take a nap.”

“That’s a good one. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks. It was really nice to meet you, Tenzo.”

“You, too. See you around, Iruka.”

The werewolf gave a friendly wave as he left the light of the fire, and Tenzo felt content. He’d managed to become friendly with Iruka on his own, without any forced interaction. He made a point of planning to invite him to the next get-together, if Kurenai didn’t beat him to it. It would be nice to have someone his age and a little more his speed to spend time with, more so if Kakashi arbitrarily decided not to attend.

With nothing left to entertain him, Tenzo got to his feet and collected the trash he and Iruka had accumulated over the last several hours. The bonfire had begun to die, but the stragglers that remained didn’t seem to have any intention of going home soon. He disposed of their garbage and went in search of firewood; his jutsu wouldn’t be any good in this situation. The wood needed to be dry, and any he produced was still alive enough not to burn.

He did his best to skirt the edge of the party, avoiding getting in the way of any of the various pairs that had formed through mutual attraction, alcohol, or both. Once he lent Asuma and Kurenai a hand by rekindling the bonfire, he intended to head home, where he could get a much-needed shower and sleep off his drinks. Absentmindedly, he wondered if Kakashi bothered to call or send a message with today’s flimsy excuse. Doing so would be an acknowledgement of wrongdoing on his senpai’s part, so it would depend on Kakashi’s mood.

Tenzo rounded the back of the building in the direction of the nearby forest. Before he could react, his back thudded against the wall, knocking the wind out of him. He began a series of handsigns to protect himself, but he halted midway when he could assess his situation. The man in black stood in front of him, gloved hands against the wall on either side of Tenzo’s shoulders. His smile was playfully predatory. He made no move to force Tenzo to remain, but Tenzo didn’t try to escape. He felt like he couldn’t move his body even if he wanted to.

“I thought you’d left,” Tenzo stammered, inwardly cursing that the wall was made of stone that he couldn’t phase through.

“I was waiting for you to get bored of that puppy.” His eyes held the same dark look as before. “It took longer than I thought.”

“Sorry,” Tenzo apologized out of habit before realizing with a start what he’d said. What surprised him more was that he meant it. Cautiously, he lifted his hand, extending his fingers to the edge of the man’s mask. His fingertips barely brushed the cloth when his wrist was forced back, ruining his effort.

“If you keep doing that, I’ll have to leave.” The smile that followed felt like an electric shock. Slowly, the fingers around Tenzo’s wrist unfurled, releasing him.

His brain had stopped working, and Tenzo’s signals were crossed; he could blame the alcohol or the hour, or even this man in front of him. Before he knew exactly what he was doing, he had closed the distance between them, one hand on the back of the man’s neck as he kissed him hungrily. The only thought that crossed his mind was Fuck it.

Taking this as permission, gloved hands tightened around Tenzo’s hips as he fell back against the wall, pinning him in place. When teeth captured his lower lip, Tenzo moaned before he could stop himself, making way for the other’s tongue to slip inside. Tenzo’s arms moved his face to his shoulders, where a hand on the back of his head kept them together. His fingers twisted in the black fabric, unable to get ahold of the hair underneath.

They broke apart for air, and Tenzo was left panting as lips and teeth caressed and worried the skin below his jaw, trailing down to his collarbone. The temptation to give in was powerful, but the one part of his mind that remained lucid kept throwing thoughts such as ‘You’re in public,’ ‘You’re drunk,” and ‘You don’t even know this man.’ His body screamed that none of these things mattered, and when the hands on his hips moved down to roughly grab his ass, the first two were forgotten.

In desperation, Tenzo’s fingers worked against the knot of fabric that stood between him and the chance to wrap his fingers in the hair of the man dragging his tongue across his pulse point. Once he succeeded in loosening it, he tugged it away with a single, swift motion, regrettably removing the lips from his neck as he took more than the cloth back.

From beneath unruly silver hair, a now-familiar set of dark eyes looked at him in betrayal. Half-lidded as they were, they still shone in disappointment, compounded by the downward turn of the corners of his mouth. “Maa,” Kakashi groaned in frustration, “Tenzo, why do you have to ruin all the fun?”

“S-senpai?!” Tenzo was going to have a heart attack. This is how he would die, horny and surprised. It had been almost two good decades, he supposed.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t know.” The pout in Kakashi’s eyes was reflected in a slight pursing of his lips, which Tenzo found overwhelming. His puppy-dog eyes were hard enough to resist when he didn’t have to see the rest of his face. “My kouhai is supposed to be one of the best sensory ninja we have.”

Flustered, Tenzo shook his head, trying to hide the color in his cheeks. “You were suppressing your chakra! Don’t try to make me feel bad!”

Kakashi leaned in to nuzzle the crook of his neck, speaking with his lips against skin. “So, I was just some ruffian with a bunch of lucky guesses? You wound me.”

“Kakashi-senpai...” Tenzo tried his hardest to sound exasperated.

“Mm?” He clicked his tongue when he didn’t get a response. “Maa,” he repeated, “at least now I know why you spent so long with the puppy. I didn’t think you wanted to find me.” Kakashi pulled back, his fingers brushing through Tenzo’s short hair. “You cut it.” He wrinkled his nose. “My Tenzo has long hair and would have recognized me. Who is this imposter?” His tone was playful, but he did his best to look disapproving.

“You’re dramatic.” Tenzo rolled his eyes, doing his best not to focus on the possessive Kakashi used.

Growing impatient, Kakashi pressed his body into Tenzo’s, letting his hand slip underneath his shirt. “How long are you going to complain?” he demanded, nipping at his ear. “We were having such a good time. I can put the mask back on, if it’d help.”

“Pervert.”

Kakashi hummed in dismissal, choosing to focus on something much more pleasant.

[ninja-scenarios]

Kakashi x reader

Warning: character death

The rain pattered against the window, lining up raindrops for a speed battle. I followed them with my eyes as they ran all the way down the glass pane one by one. Outside was one of the nurses, hurrying to collect the laundry before it got all drenched. Somehow it seemed like it rained quite often in this part of town. It was the calmer part, where a lot of elders lived. There were also a lot of them here around me, although I was barely in my twenties. It was a soothing yet terrifying feeling to be here, shrouded from the busy life of town and most importantly, from the other ninjas. My old uniform hung above a chair, feigning a false image of the long since forgotten hope.

There was no way to deny I missed being a ninja. Sometimes, my old reflexes still kicked in when one of the nurses startled me. But like this, it was impossible to escape reality and the fact that my days as a Jōnin were over. This was the dark side of being a ninja. They didn´t teach that to the young kids at the academies.

The spot in front of the window was the best place to spend most of the day. It was relaxing to let the bright rays of sunshine warm your face while hearing the birds sing and chirp. Some of the staff was worried about me and tried to talk me into going out into the garden instead. I hated when they talked to me like that, I wasn´t a goddamn child! And it saddened me to visit the garden since the other people that lived here were there all the time. Seeing them just constantly reminded me of my own situation.

No matter the circumstances, I still knew how to entertain myself with drawing and reading. My favourite thing to do was watching opera and theatre plays, but ever since I lived here, I had not been to an opera hall many times. It wasn´t like I was hiding. At least not completely. I was simply scared to go outside. People could easily attack me and I was helpless if they did so. This feeling gnawed on me down to my very nerves. The children stared and sometimes even giggled and laughed while adults tried to act normal around me and scolded the young ones for their behaviour. No, it wasn´t like I was hiding, I just couldn´t take all this for long so I barely went outside.

No one forced me to be here. At the start I´d not wanted to come here and thought I could still live on my own. Though after a short time I´d accepted that this was the best solution for me.

My old friends sometimes came for a visit. Anko tried to visit me as often as she could, but the life of a ninja was very busy. She often gave me new books or some souvenirs from the places her missions had led her to. Of course I was jealous since I was used to taking missions and traveling but I did my best to look strong whenever she came for a visit. I gave my best to look strong to everyone. The thought of some of my friends or the nurses pitying me was disgusting.

Being engrossed in thoughts like I usually was, I didn´t notice that someone approached me until I heard the footsteps a few metres before they reached the door to my room. It pushed open and my old friend came in. Actually, he wasn´t only my old friend, but also my old crush. More like current crush. Or rather the one guy I knew I would always have a thing for.

“How did you come here in all of that rain?” My greeting seemed rather could hadn´t it been for the soft smile on my lips.

“Oh it rained? I didn´t notice.” Kakashi said in his usual dry tone, but this time it held a small wave of amusement. The sarcasm literally dripped down from him in the wetness that dripped down from his clothes and messy silver hair. I tried not to calculate on my head how long ago his last visit had been. I tried my best to only feel happy that he was here right now. I´d really missed this little bastard.

Kakashi took his time to take off his soaked flak jacket, throwing it casually onto an empty chair. Then he sat down next to me, pulling up another chair to the window and I couldn´t help but watch how his muscles flexed under his blue clothing.  

“Let´s talk for real now. How are you?”

My gaze drifted away from him, out of the window. The raindrops pattering against the window was the only sound in the room. I knew what he wanted to ask with that question. My condition was what he really wanted to know. I mustered up all of my physical strength and very slowly stood up. Because I was so close to the window, I could steady myself on the sill, only with my right arm though.

Kakashi was as silent as I was and I couldn´t stand this lack of words, the anticipation that was almost visible in the room.

“It could be better.” I finally managed to say. Small tones of repressed anger found their way into my voice as I leaned my head against the window. I was angry at myself for everything. It was my fault that I had to be here, that I like this. My condition wasn´t getting any better. In fact, it had only worsened since I got here. I didn´t blame the medic ninjas that tried their best, my case was just hopeless. I should have never went on that mission that day, I should have-

“y/n-chan.” Kakashi´s voice roused me from slumber. Immediately I blushed, disappointed that I´d let my thoughts drift like this when he was around. I felt sorry. My legs gave up under me and for a second I threatened to hit the ground, but strong arms wrapped around my waist and kept me up. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back at Kakashi, enjoying his closeness. He didn´t say a thing and only held me. Probably he understood.

The silver haired Jōnin had been my crush for so long. I had wanted to make a move on him after I came back from that mission but since it didn´t play out as planned I´d never gotten to that. My insecurities had taken their best on me after that accident and like this, confessing to Kakashi was not manageable. My confidence was balanced again, but the nurses had talked about rumours… Oh Kakashi.

“There´s a theatre play tonight. I thought you would like to go there.”

His words shook me.

“That would be great.” I appreciated him trying to lure me out of my self-declared seclusion. Normally, Kakashi would never do something for others. That bastard was way too selfish for that. Maybe he did it because he thought my days on earth were restricted. Well, I wasn´t going to go down that easily!

After the rain had settled, Kakashi made his way into town with me. The copy nin carried me on his back since neither of us were interested in carrying the wheelchair around. And it was way more embarrassing this way. Well, at least for everyone else than me. Being this close to him, it brought back old memories. I did my best to not let the rumours sadden me too much, but it did not always work. The nurses had talked about seeing Kakashi with a young Kunoichi particularly often in the last months. There was no way I could be angry at him about that. In my physical state, no one could seriously plan on spending his life together with me. The sweet pain that seemed to crush my heart whenever I thought about it was all too familiar. I tried to ignore it as I leaned my head on the silver haired ninja´s shoulder. With him, I did not feel vulnerable. He made me feel strong and protected. Probably Kakashi felt the same way when he was around that Kunoichi.

My thoughts kept tying a knot inside my head, and no matter in which direction they went, it kept tangling. As the curtains lifted and the stage play started, my mind went blank for a second, blinded by the excitement and anticipation. Fifteen minutes into the play I first spared my comrade a glance again, and was surprised to see Kakashi actually staring at the actors on stage. His expression seemed rather bored and normally he would´ve gotten out his book to read instead of torturing himself with this evening that was obviously not to his liking. But tonight was different. Tonight he paid attention. Whenever I looked back ahead, there was a pair of eyes glued to the back of my head. I pretended not to notice and the feeling disappeared soon. The only thing I did was letting my mind fully focus on the play as I listened to the words that I already knew by heart.

Afterwards I remember being so sleepy that I had missed the end of the play. Even though I didn´t want to admit it, it had been hard for me to stay at the brink of consciousness before I fell into the depths of sleep. Kakashi had carried me back to my room. I had felt so calm while he was around me, but as soon as my head hit the pillow and I heard him say goodbye, my mind was engulfed in my restless, irregular sleep pattern.

The next day I woke up to a bird chirping outside. Kakashi must´ve left the window open for me. It was a nice yet strange gesture. As if he wanted to tell me that although I lived here, I could still escape and come to the “outer world”. Even though it was the same town, this part of Konoha felt so repellent and devouring. But maybe that was just my point of view.

Getting dressed took it´s time but when I was finished I rolled onto the small hallway. There were other people that lived here besides me, temporary patients or basket cases like me. When I passed the other rooms I did my best not to look through the open doors. Being constantly reminded of all the illnesses made me examine my own wounds. On the surface it was tough, underwater it was much harder to stay sane with the small battles I fought against myself when I looked at my reflection.

Midday was spent in the garden. The nurses had convinced me to enjoy the weather outside since it had rained so much yesterday. I closed my eyes as the warm rays of sunshine warmed my face and forget about the world around me. Time didn´t matter anymore. Since that incident, seconds and days had started speaking another language and I was lost in translation. Whether it was Monday or Friday, I´d spend this day like a Sunday and lazily enjoy the sun. Since I didn´t pay attention otherwise, a visitor came into the garden, unnoticed. Only when I heard my name being said I opened my eyes. This voice was very recognizable.

“Tsunade-sama. How can I help you?”

My words were a mockery of the picture I was. Of course I knew I couldn´t help her in any way. Something flickered over the Sannin´s face. She hadn´t come here for me. Probably she´d needed to talk to an elder and had found me here by coincidence.

“y/n-san. How´s the facility so far? I hope it´s comfortable living here.”

Her tone told me she didn´t really care but it was simple formality to ask.

“It´s alright.”

Suddenly her expression changed and the blonde Hokage looked as if she had just remembered something very important.

“Chizune told me a few days ago that she read in an old scroll about a healing method. It´s a very complicated surgery but it could fix you. Think about it and then contact me, I have to head back to my office.”

Her words hit me like a stone to my face. “Fix me”. She couldn´t have meant that, did she? Nothing could fix me. I don´t remember saying goodbye to her but I think I did because when I looked next to me, there was a small scroll sitting on a close by bench. I picked it up with some difficulties and enrolled it. What I saw there made my hands go numb in anxiety. The procedure of the operation was shortly described. Even though it didn´t contain many words, they managed to turn everything up and down. The scroll had barely mentioned the aftereffects and risks of the surgery, but that wasn´t necessary. I knew everything there was to it. The change of dying was higher than fifty percent and if something went wrong, it could end up destroying even more of my body. Still though, Tsunade-sama was a very skilled medic-nin and if there was only a small chance of being able to heal, being able to go back to the way I was…

Hours later, I was still engrossed in thoughts about the contents of the scroll. I barely noticed how another visitor burst into my room. Some of the nurses must´ve brought me back here.

“y/n-san!”

I looked up.

“I hadn´t expected you here, Gai.”

Even though his big smile and positive attitude seemed kind of ironic at this place, it felt good to see him.

“I came as soon as I heard from Tsunade-sama that she´s planning a surgery for you. I overheard her talking to Chizune and demanded to know what this was about. It looks like there isn´t a high risk, but I still need to convince you to take it! I know you, Dou-san. You love being a ninja. If everything goes well then you can fully recover, just like Lee did. I have faith in Tsunade. Please consider getting the operation.”

I was a bit overwhelmed with the already defined opinion of my former comrade. In fact, my opinion was still in the grey area even though I had thought about it the whole day. But none the less, I forced myself to smile at the always bright shinobi and nodded.

“I`ll consider it. Thanks so much for coming, Gai.”

He gave me a thumps up and eventually left to go back to his duties. Left me here in more thoughts than before. If Gai had heard it, maybe Kakashi knew about it too? He hadn´t come straightly here, though. Thinking about this particular shinobi made me uneasy. It was like a fire inside of me started burning. It gave me strength but at the same time, it used my insides as fuelwood. The determination that it gave, forced me to put everything at risk. Imagining Kakashi with that kunoichi did the rest, then. I was gonna get the surgery. Maybe, if it went well, there would be a future for Kakashi and me. How should I live on like this anyways? I was a living corpse. Not even that, but I knew that I was slowly dying. This wasn´t my first surgery, there had been countless of them before, but none of them had been able to cure me, they had only slowed down the progress. This new method Tsunade had talked about could work. I never knew you could use Chakra like this. It all seemed so promising. I was gonna do it. For myself and for Kakashi.

These thoughts were the last ones in my head as I laid on the cold metal stretcher. They had wrapped belts around my legs and arms. It felt very ironic but they also gave me some kind of mental support. It had been four days since Gai came to me. Kakashi still hadn´t showed up again. But I was gonna fight for us, with or without him at my side. That kunoichi could quit right away. A smile grazed my lips and I slipped into a slumber.

My hands grabbed into white, soft sheets. Free from restraint, I moved through fields of light grass and flowers, down into the ground of the dark, comfortable sea. Nothing could touch me, nothing could break me. High up in the star filled sky I heard someone say my name. Bits of blue coloured pieces stuck to my wrists and the earth underneath was painted in light, mindless colours.

“y/n-chan.”

I remember my mother kissing my forehead.

“y/n-chan!”

The sun tickling my cheeks whenever I faced the sky.

I remember all of the moments I shared in laughter and happiness. They were there, colourful like rainbow and so comforting I couldn´t help but to laugh out in joy. It was all here with me and I didn´t mind getting washed away by the falling tide.

“Dou-chan, I´m sorry. I wanted to tell you, but… I was scared of getting left behind and hurt. I loved you, I always did. But I chose to try and forget, because I knew you would die.

Forgive me.”

[snickiebear]

OHMYGOD SNICKIE I—

so i just finished going through your index and OH MY GOD??? i wish i’d done that earlier *facepalms*

thanks for the tip, i kinda see now who the shadows were referring to… 😉😉😉 (but not all because im slightly stupid)

BUT ALSO akdjbshdj im so glad ur open to the prequel idea and if it does happen i’ll be in the front row seat with hearts in my eyes 😍 what’s even crazier was that i was reading the war chapter in the index and i had to take maybe seven pauses because my imagination was considering the many possibilities!!! and i know i said prequel but oh my god this whole world you’ve built can be like whole series on its own — and im not yet even thinking about what’s going to happen post-OL&W!!! it’s just me thinking about the characters’ stories during the violent era, the first guild war, and the second guild war!!! i-

i seriously can’t even—

i’m gonna try to articulate my thoughts but if you can imagine smoke bombs exploding into vague plot lines, that’s what’s happening in my head right now so apologies in advance for the mess (also im going backwards lol):

Second guild war — hypothetically,,,, if there were an itasakushi era sometime in the history of men falling on their feet for sakura, i believe the itasakushi would have developed in the course of this war, although they may have been acquainted with each other earlier. common enemy: danzo, and what better way to wreak havoc and violence than to have him die by the hands of this (im calling it) legendary trio (but that’s also because im quite invested in them). the five-year captivity is also a huge plus because i imagine shisui and itachi running around like headless chickens looking for the apple of their cursed uchiha eyes

quick question (if it’s not a spoiler) - which naruto characters would fall under thundersins? ibiki is the guildmaster, so does that mean his guild is composed of t&i people? im not quite sure who (in the naruto-verse) can get fooled by danzo into waging this war…

First guild war — can u tell us who was the mage who killed a witch? who was the witch? what were they fighting about??? was it a serious badass battle? were they secretly friends?? lovers??? did danzo have anything to do with this??? or maybe hanzo??? HOLY SHIT WOULD THE AME CHARACTERS BE INVOLVED HERE??? AKATSUKI??? but it’s ok if it’s still a secret… we can go detective on this one

speaking of ame and the other nations in the canonverse — will they also be part of this au? i mean we’ve already seen suna folks in OL&W but maybe like chojuro from kiri and other notable characters from the other hidden villages?

And to the violent era — using canonverse as basis, this would most likely be the counterpart of the hashirama-madara founding a village arc and/or the period before that, since they were also just fighting to death and using child soldiers. but actually im more curious about the guild wars than this era unless something dramatic happened lol other than the self-indulging satisfaction of blood thirst 🤣🤣🤣 im just really more invested when sakura is around. i would say tho, the lore is still interesting because im quite curious as to why the beginning is violent? was it because the gods had a fallout and all they really knew was to be violent about it? if it’s something similar, i’m getting a little bit of mythology-percy jackson vibes (which i LOVE) so Y A Y

ok so that’s basically me vomitting my smoke bomb thoughts *deep breaths* P H E W thank you AGAIN for the brain workout 🥰 it feels nice to lose myself in this world hahaha! you don’t really have to answer my questions; i literally just typed what’s on my mind 😂 INDEX WAS AWESOME! it’s like super clues to the mystery that lead to MORE mystery so yeahp you have just seen the effects on my mind

so sorry to hear about how your day was faring! i’m grateful my ask came to you at the right time. 🥰 i was actually worried about not sliding in your inbox earlier because i already saw that there was a new chapter but it was only then that i had time to check it out. i’m glad i was able to uplift your spirits even just for a little while 💕💕💕

i hope you have a better rest of the week ahead! ❤️❤️❤️

P.S. i cant believe u think my joke was top tier, im seriously bad at cracking jokes irl so thank you for believing in my limited-to-no-successful-experience in joke making

🐱

🐱🐱🐱🐱!!!!!!

LMFAOOOO don’t worry if you don’t figure it out now :) it’ll all be revealed in due time!! Honestly?? Since you brought up the prequel thing i have been thinking not-fucking-stop about how else the world coud be explored. Like?? There is SO MUCH GOING ON!!!

we have the whole Inuzuka tribe, the different temples, so many different characters... there is so many rocks to turn over!!!

OKAY SECOND GUILD WAR ITASAKUSHI YES. we are on the same wavelength 🐱, bc i was thinking the same thing. They would probably meet during GW2 and hit it off pretty well. 1) because Shisui is one charming motherfucker, and 2) Itachi would def draw Sakura in with his smooth humor. Plus, as reclusive as Sakura is in this, she does enjoy being friends with them.

“shisui and itachi running around like headless chickens looking for the apple of their cursed uchiha eyes” this imagery fucking killed me. Oh my god. THATS SO FUNNY WTF

(okay so in the OG draft of OM&G it starts with saku not knowing any of the boys and meeting them for the first time. she knew sakumo [who was dead in this one] and itachi + shisui [they were close friends].

and sasuke was being a total asshole [as usual] and sakura shuts him up with telling him that she's slept with both itachi and shisui. and then all three of them together. to which sasuke has an ANEURYSM LMFAO

but in this one, ItaSakuShi DEF goes on missions together after GW2 and totally fuck and get drunk and hang out. its verified, it has happened, i am comfirming this.)

Ok so!!!! Thundersins would consist mainly of non clan people in Nart. So, Lee, Tenten, Gai, Anko, Genma, ect. Though, we won’t be seeing Gai, Genma, or Anko until much, much later :) Though, Shisui is a part of the Thundersins guild, because he’s just more suited for assassinations rather than wizarding.

so basically, i'm just kind of putting people wherever i think they'd be suited best!

Danzo himself is a tricky bastard and at the time of GW2, Thundersins is still a relatively “new” guild, and they’re mainly human at this point, meaning that they were the weakest guild. It mostly comes down to the fact that Danzo, the manipulative asshole, was able to get their aid. He kept the entire kidnapping a secret for years (i’m estimating at least fifty or so) because the war and then it came to light by some spies or sum

As for the first guild war LMFAO i have absolutely no idea at all which mage killed what witch, i didn’t really think about it tbh! Maybe it was one of sakura’s bullies,,, LMAO honestly? I’ll leave all of that lore to you!!! I like keeping some details vague just so readers can take it and RUN AHAHAHHA. So yeah! Maybe they were lovers! And the entire killing was an accident! Who knows!

OKAY SO! This is going to make sound TERRIBLE. But i hadn’t even thought of Mist or Ame or any of the other villages until you said something LMAOOO

Well… the akatsuki plays a HUGE role in the next two fics,, so i can’t really say much about them hehe…

I do love chojuro and mei and haku and just LKSMDANFKSLD yeah. Going to be honest: they totally slipped my mind which is awful. Head in hands frfr. But i can tell you this:

Mei would be a mage, Chojuro would be either an assassin or a mage… one of the two… haku and zabuza are assassins. Ao would probably be a wizard too.

As for the other Jinchūrikis,,,, you’ll have to wait for the next two (if i have...write them… haha..)!

THE VIOLENT ERA! And yes! So, this is basically the time where the Living are the most… animalistic? Especially since the gods’ “fallout” as you call it! Thepheria served as a balance to both Peace and War, she is Balance in the very sense of the word so… if something happens to her, the entire world goes into cause and it can take a long time for it to find equilibrium!

Nothing huge happened here, this was like the “stone age” of this world and very self indulgent with the whole savagery of it, but also highlighting that deep, deep down these Living (and humans) are angry and violent at their cores. Its their roots and no matter how they progress, it will always come back to war and bloodshed.

AND OMG!! A FELLOW CAMP HALF BLOOD CAMPER HELLO!!!! I love pjo so much!!!! My first series that got me loving fiction and the worlds we can build!!!

I’m so glad you liked the index!!! Its both for you and me because half the time i can’t keep track of what information i want to use/verified so… it keeps me consistent (because i am horrible at it LMAO)

Please don’t ever worry about sliding in here “late”!!! Life is busy and the chapters are a little long, plus time will always keep marching on (omg that rhymed)! And! Please don’t feel obligated to come scream with me! Just knowing that you’re enjoying my work is enough to fuel me!!! :))))))

I feel you on the jokes 🐱, i am not funny irl at all HAHAAHA but your joke was hilarious, im crackin up just thinking about it LMFAOOO

Have a great week 🐱!!!!!! <33333333

[chemicalmagecraft]

I Would Totally Kick Jiraiya’s Butt Chapter 13

I sighed, then took another bite of my dango. The page of my book flipped, and my frown deepened. Poison-making looked hard... And more than that, it was complicated and boring. Sure it was practical, but nowhere near as fun as, say, the chakra threads I was using to "levitate" both my dango and my book (I didn't want to get dango on my book or book on my dango).

"'Sup, kid," a familiar voice said, and I extended another thread to catch the hand that reached for my dango. "Almost didn't recognize you there with that tan, but who else casually uses a jutsu like that?"

"Anko," I greeted faux-angrily. She was somehow almost always there whenever I went to get dango, and I eventually managed to talk to her. "I do believe that I told you not to touch my dango." The thread around her wrist went slack and dissipated, allowing her to withdraw her hand. She just shrugged, sat down across from me and started eating her dango.

"So is that a book about poison?" she asked me.

"I don't really understand it, but yeah it is."

"I happen to know a thing or two about poison, especially after..." Her expression soured. "Him."

I closed my book and licked my lips. "Speaking of him," I said. "I do believe I've figured something out." I raised my hand to one of my DSC earrings, and it floated to the back of her neck, where her curse mark was. "Ah, I was right. I should be able to partially nullify your seal."

Her eyes widened. "You can?"

"I mean, I don't think I'll be able to remove it without causing major damage to you, at least not without the original notes, but this..." I used the demon sage core to extract the natural energy from the mark, then placed a seal on it to prevent it from drawing in more. "Feel better?"

She rubbed the curse mark. "Yeah, lots..."

I smiled slightly and my core returned to my ear. "That's because I just removed its ability to accumulate natural energy, and drained it too. Now that I've become more adept at using these things, I can use them to detect the natural energy around me. Orochimaru's mark certainly is interesting, shame the man himself was terrible."

Anko grinned at me. "You know, I actually have access to all his stuff, seeing how I was his apprentice and all. He didn't like the idea of anyone else touching his notes, so me giving it to someone is probably a good way to spite him. Plus I could teach you way more about poison than some dumb old book!"

My grin widened. I'd have sealed her mark either way, but finding a dialogue tree that got me Orochimaru's notes and explanations on it was a godsend. "Looks like I found myself a teacher, then. Oh, and by the way."

"What's up, kid?"

"That seal was probably screwing with your metabolism. You'll probably have to actually work off all those sweets now."

Anko winced. "Dammit..."

kukukuku~

I meditated under a tree again, paying some attention to Hinata playing with Naruto and Tenten as with before. This time, though, I was just doing the regular sage training and not my weird convoluted separate-recombine approach. I'd managed to use a single sage core to make a really thin barrier that pivoted like the platforms on the spires the toads had that also made it look like I was just mildly floating. "What are you doing?" a voice asked. I couldn't see him with my eyes closed, but Chikage within my shadow shared her sight with me. And then I would've figured it out anyway from the sound of someone eating chips behind the original speaker.

"Why hello, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chōji," I said, not even opening my eyes. "I am meditating on the energy that abounds in nature, and surrounds us all. With it, a true sage can do incredible feats."

"That can't be true," Shikamaru said. "Wouldn't we know more about such a troublesome power?"

I smirked, and a random falling leaf that got too close to me was shredded from a disturbance in the surrounding natural energy.

"Woah!" Chōji exclaimed. "What was that?"

"Mendokuse..." Shikamaru muttered. "So why don't people use this more often?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I believe it has something to do with how the only other user of the power of the sage that I know of with no relation to the summon animals of snake or toad was Senju Hashirama, who at the same time one might argue had a slight relation to toads through his distant ancestor. And I have a theory that he actually had some sort of natural energy-related power even beyond sage powers, one tied to his bloodline."

"Mendokuse... How do you know this?"

"Magic. While I don't suggest you actually draw in natural energy without supervision from someone who would be able to expel the natural energy from your body, you seem like the type to be content to lie still from elongated periods of time, which you could use to try and sense the natural energy in the air, which is the basis of using sage power."

Shikamaru blinked. "So you're saying I could potentially get a lot more powerful just by sitting around?"

"You need to draw in natural energy for a bit before you can actually use it, but yeah. Also, you need a good amount of chakra before it's safe to do it, so don't expect to just take a nap and get superpowers."

"Well then why are you doing it?" Chōji asked. "Even if you have more chakra than normal, you're a kid like us. Is it really that safe?"

"Tseseseseh~" I chuckled. "Nnnope, I'm just an idiot with a lot of chakra."

"You're the one kid Ino told us about, aren't you?" Shikamaru asked. "The weirdo."

"Yup."

"Mendokuse..."

I felt a wave of bad vibes through Chikage and heard some shouting. I bolted upright, forgetting that I was in the middle of absorbing natural energy. My leg gave out from under me, causing me to drop to one knee and suck in a breath. "Are you okay?" Chōji asked me.

I rolled up the pant of the offending leg, revealing skin that was half crystallized and half scaled. "Ah, that's not good," I muttered, then licked my lips. "This is why you don't mess around with natural energy without adult supervision, kids..."

"Mendokuse... Is there any way we can help you?"

"No, hang on. I got this. Let's see here..." I concentrated, using my experience manipulating natural energy with my various unconventional forms of sage jutsu to help me. The problem was that I had natural energy concentrated in my leg. I didn't have much in the other parts of my body, so I just redistributed the natural energy. My leg returned to normal as I felt the surge of power from a proper sage mode. Thanks to Chikage, I was able to see that the markings around my eyes changed to be the yin-yang symbol thingy, and moon symbols appeared on my cheeks. 

"There, that's better," I said. "Really hope this stuff isn't carcinogenic... Let's go check out that shouting." Before either of them could object, I shot off. Even with my sage chakra not quite as potent as it could have been on account of my age and chakra capacity, I was still a lot faster than the two. I did go at a pace that they could easily catch up to, though, on account of the fact that I didn't want to burn through all of my sage mode. At what Chikage told me was the source of the negative emotions, I felt two familiar chakra signatures, very much in a panic. I came upon the scene. Thankfully, there were only a few people there, and they all appeared to be too afraid to do anything.

"Get back!" the guy holding the knife to Ino's throat shouted. He appeared to have taken her and Sakura hostage. Judging by the sack of loot on the ground by him, he'd robbed someone and was trying to get away. I could tell that neither he nor any of the onlookers had much shinobi training with the exception of one man who was probably a low chūnin judging by his chakra, which was probably why there was such an impasse. "I'm not afraid to use this!"

"Really?" I asked. "This is the third young clan heiress that I've had to save. This is starting to be bad writing."

The man pointed the knife at me. "What are you gonna do, kid?"

I gave him a twisted smile. "This." I flashed through a series of practiced seals as fast as I could, drawing on the power of my sage cores, punctuated with a technically-superfluous slam surface seal. "True Demonic Illusion: Summoning of the Shadow Demon!" I shouted as an illusory seal made of some sort of dark energy formed underneath me. As I stood back up, a false, distorted Chikage rose from the ground behind me, forming from the dark energy. The illusion of Chikage looked older and larger, and it had sharpened teeth, claws, and eyes of pure shadow. To add to the dark imagery, it was wearing Chikage's new outfit, which she'd made inspired by the gothic lolita style to go with her whole "demon of a thousand shadows" shtick. It actually looked rather good on our dark skin. The illusion beckoned to the man, causing a feeling of unease in the bystanders.

To the would-be kidnapper, though, the illusion caused a pressure of unrelenting foreboding as the sun went dark and the land turned to shadows. "What the hell is that!?" He dropped his knife and hostages and tried to run.

"I think not," I said dully as my shadow, the true Chikage, reached his shadow, causing him to freeze up and my shadow to return to normal from Chikage entering his. "You've been possessed by my demon." In truth, the entire genjutsu was just smoke and mirrors, albeit elaborate ones. The illusory Chikage was both a medium to the hallucination suggestion and misdirection from Chikage's shadow movement. The reason that that worked, though, was because Chikage had the ability to possess people by entering their shadows, which was awesome. Without need for the genjutsu, I dropped it, letting the phantasmal copy fade from existance. I snapped my fingers, causing the man to stand up straight so he wasn't stuck in an awkward position, then walked up to Ino. "You okay?" I asked, holding a hand out to her.

She sniffed. "My neck hurts a bit and I scraped my knees, but I'm good now." She smiled and let me pull her up, and I placed two fingers on the thankfully small cut on her neck. Green-hued chakra sprang from my fingers and sealed her wound. I moved on to her knees, then walked over to Sakura.

"What about you, Sakura-chan?" She whimpered and showed me her hands, which were all scraped up. I smiled at her and placed my hands on hers, but before I could even use my basic healing jutsu something weird happened. The natural energy flowed out of my body and into her. Whatever she was doing, I could tell she didn't even know she was doing it. Once my sage mode was depleted I pulled her up and removed my hands from hers, revealing perfectly unscathed palms.

"Thank you, Kouki-kun," she said. Whatever the heck happened, she was now naturally passing natural energy through her body. If I had to bet, she'd automatically heal any injuries that happened to her. Interesting.

"Thanks, Kouki," Ino said. I looked over to her and noticed she was smiling and blushing slightly. She probably didn't have an actual crush on me considering her age, but I knew how she would think about the dashing knight in shining armor...

"Mendokuse..." I internally sighed.

"Mendokuse..." Chikage telepathically agreed.

"Mendokusai desu ka?" Usagi asked.

"Mendokuse..." Chikage and I mentally chorused. At least if she kept that up I'd save Sasuke a bit of trouble and she wouldn't ruin her friendship with Sakura, but... ugh...

"Where's the thief?" an Uchicop asked as he landed, then saw the guy standing there and whipped out a kunai. "You! Stop!"

"He's under my spell, he literally can't move without my sayso," I said. "Or at least I'm assuming the guy who took some hostages and had a sack of what appeared to be ill-gotten goods was also a thief."

"What do you mean, under your spell?" he asked. The thief's shadow morphed into Chikage's for a moment, just a flash.

"A genjutsu that I thought of after hearing of the Sharingan's genjutsu-casting abilities," I lied. "It uses a special ability of mine with an illusion as a visual medium to place a suggestion on a victim that allows me to control them. Unfortunately I can only do one person at a time so far and a powerful enough shinobi would probably be able to resist it, but hopefully it'll get a lot more useful when I'm older."

"Right," the cop said, then cuffed the crook. "Well, thanks for the help." If I had to guess, he was one of the more good-natured Uchiha. I doubted he'd have anything to do with the rebellion. "I'm sure you'll be a good ninja when you're older. For now, though, maybe you should stay out of trouble, kid."

"No promises." He snorted and escorted the guy away, taking the sack with him.

"What was that?" Shikamaru asked me. "And don't say genjutsu, because I know the difference between an illusion and shadow-manipulating jutsu."

"Definitely not your clan's jutsu, don't worry," I muttered so only he'd hear. I leaned over just a bit so that the tip of my shadow touched a nearby shadow, letting Chikage come back to me. "I was telling the truth when I said it was a special power of mine."

"It have anything to do with that weird meditation thing you did earlier?"

I smirked a bit and licked my lips. "Let's go with that. You'll never be able to use it, if that's what you're asking."

"Mendokuse..."

kukukuku~

I sighed, lying down on my bed. "What are we going to do about Ino?" I asked Chikage.

She shrugged, floating around as always. Not that I could blame her. "We... let her down gently?"

"Yeah, but how? Relationships are hard..."

"Gonna have to get back to you on that one..." We both sensed someone coming to the clan compound.

"Hey, is that..."

"Lemme check." She shadow-travelled there and back, only gone for less than a second. "Yup, Aburame Shibi. And it looks like those bugs we spared earlier were kikaichū, 'cause he's bringing a couple mutant ones in a bug cage." I nodded, then we became whole again. I silently walked to the front door, where the clan leader already was.

"...apologize for the intrusion, but earlier a member of our clan's kikaichū were drawn to an unusual source of chakra located within your compound," he explained to my father. "She managed to regain control of them, but not before some had died and others had... changed." He brought out the mutated bugs, which had rune-like markings much like the first-stage curse marks. They were acting pretty crazy. "They may not be able to escape this cage, but they are still far livelier than the normal variety and much harder to control. I am not accusing you or any of your clan of anything, but I would very much like to know what caused this, as it might prove useful to our clan."

"Well, the thing about that is..." Dad said.

"Would you trust him, father?" I asked, announcing my presence.

He nodded. "Go ahead, Kouki."

"Right, let's go somewhere more private," I suggested.

"So," I said once we'd come to a suitable room, "what the kikaichū felt was... let's just say a jutsu of mine." I brought out the half-sized demon sage core that fed on the Aburame's bugs. "This is called a demon sage core. Despite all appearances, it's a living thing that generates special chakra that, among other things, can be used to make more demon sage cores from living animal tissue. Unfortunately that's the only way to make it, though, and since I don't want to mass-murder people or large animals, that pretty much means I have to use its animal-attracting properties to occasionally draw in and cannibalize insects. I was doing that earlier, which is why you're here." On a hunch, I reached out to the demon kikaichū, influencing them through my power within them. They instantly calmed, becoming absolutely still. "Could you release them?"

"I see..." He opened the small cage. I commanded the bugs, causing them to fly out of the cage as one. They entered a formation on my command and began orbiting my body.

"Don't worry," I said, noticing a small shift in his emotional state. "I have no interest in usurping the kikaichū jutsu and even if I did I can only control these mutated ones through my power that they absorbed, if that's what you're worried about."

"I understand. It is interesting, though, that you're able to control them so easily."

"I doubt I could control anything more complex than them with so much ease. Not without a lot more of the special chakra, anyway." A thought occurred to me. "Actually, I thought of another thing I'd like to try, though this one might possibly have the potential to be arguably a usurpation of your clan secrets, so I'll only try it with your permission."

Dad sighed. "Why am I not surprised... I apologize for my son, Shibi. He... can be rather focused on power, even if he tries not to overstep boundaries."

"I am fine," Shibi said. "Why? Because he asked for my permission, and clearly wishes not to overstep his bounds. Tell me, Kouki-kun, what is it you wish to try?"

"I don't have much data to go by, but I think I might be able to gain special chakra-related powers by granting my special chakra to a subject and then absorbing it once it's fused with their chakra," I explained. I'd noticed, after the whole demon sage seal debacle, that I'd gained extra, Uzumaki-like vitality. After a talk with Ai, I found out that I could still manifest the adamantine chains that I used against her, despite that chakra having been fully processed by my body, much like how absorbing enough of Shukaku's chakra combined it with Kurama's chakra in me. 

It made sense, all things considered, that a combination of my red chakra, which was easy to transfer from body to body, and natural energy, which had mutagenic properties, would allow my body to adapt to others' chakra intead of just adapting other chakra to me. In fact, I could also make my chakra signature almost identical to hers, which was probably useful somehow. "I'd like to see if I could gain the kikaichū's ability to drain and absorb regular chakra by, well, killing some of them by draining them dry. With your permission, of course."

Shibi nodded slightly. "An interesting power. Could you grant that ability to another?"

I shrugged. "Maybe. I mean, I didn't exactly come with a manual, but if you want me to see if I could grant some of your people kikaichū powers then I'd certainly be willing to find out. Plus, the possibilities..." I grinned. "Tseseseseseh~" I hiss-chuckled, then licked my lips. "It's certainly something I'd be willing to do for you. Is that a yes?"

"I would prefer if you left a few for us to study, but take as many as you need."

"Alright, then. Let's see if half works, shall we?" Half of the beetles returned to the cage, while the other half landed on my hand. They didn't bite me, but I had them start draining me to get a feel for how their power worked. "Assimilation jutsu." Safisfied by what I felt, I reversed the flow of the chakra, capitalizing on the connection the chakra-draining gave us to more easily suck the chakra out of their bodies. Despite the enhanced lifespan and vitality granted from their mutation, they stilled and fell from my body as all the chakra left them. "Do you want the corpses or can I try to resuscitate them to add to one of my cores?" I asked.

"Do as you please. Did it work?"

I commanded the demon sage core to go at the recently-deceased beetles, then looked inward. "It feels like it's working, but my body has to 'digest' the chakra before I can use it. And it might be partially physical, in which case I might not have the power. I'll get back to you on it. Now." The demon sage core, slightly bigger now that it was done absorbing the bugs, floated over to Shibi. "Don't worry, it's harmless unless it's specifically made to attack someone."

He took the core. "Why are you giving this to me?"

"As Father said, I'm... more than a little obsessed with power, I admit. It doesn't have to be my power, though. I'm also interested by my allies' power, even my enemies' power. And giving my allies power?" I grinned slightly. "Well, I'm sure you can tell how I feel about that. I'm not even worried about if you turn against me for some reason. We've already established that those things are less than useless against me. Not to mention, I'm getting something else out of this too."

"How so?" Shibi asked.

"Kikaichū, like most insects, have a low lifespan, and can reproduce at a rapid rate because of that. It wouldn't be too much to ask, then, to sacrifice any of your kikaichū at the end of their lifespan when they start to become less useful to you to that core to produce more demon sage cores for me, would it?"

"We feed our dead kikaichū to the living, but we can feed some to it, if that is the price for having it to study."

"Good. Make a snake seal and pulse some chakra at the thing to send it into 'eat' mode for a couple of minutes, which'll make it eat any insect-sized organism that touches it. Hopefully. Just in case, don't touch it while it's in eat mode."

"Suddenly I feel as though I should not be holding this," Shibi said, then placed the core in a little baggie that was probably for dead bugs."

"Probably a good idea, once it's fully out of my influence. This close to me, though, I don't have to concentrate on it to have some measure of control over it. It should stay more or less inert, though, in a state where it'll produce chakra enough to fill its stores and not resist kikaichū draining. Tell me if it doesn't work quite right, though, and I'll try to make adjustments."

Shibi got up. "Thank you for this, Kouki-kun. I will do my best to make you not regret giving it to me."

I gave him smile. "Goodbye. Make sure to only let people you trust near that thing, or even aware of its existence for that matter. Good luck!" Shibi faltered a bit, then continued on. "This is going to be fun," I said.

kukukuku~

A/N: The next chapter's going to be a time skip. Well, an even longer time skip.

And I'm actually going to do a poll! I'm not entirely sure how the Hyūga clan would take Kouki having the power to copy their bloodline, but the subject would definitely come up over the course of the time skip, so I'll leave that up to you guys!

A: Kouki is allowed to gain the Byakugan, on account of being a Hyūga.

B: Kouki isn't allowed to gain the Byakugan, on account of not being born of the clan.

I'm leaning more towards B, but I won't not do A if enough people want to see it. And by the way, I'm welcome to and invite other suggestions.