#Ino-Shika-Cho trio

[watermelonsloth]

I wouldn’t normally have more than one poll up at a time, but the one I currently have up (about your least favorite part of Naruto) has mostly stagnated and the results are pretty much decided unless something major changes.

[yunos-housebunker77]

[enchantingpeachfury]

[lazyenemygladiator]

Sakura in chapter 14

[thehealing-brutus]

[clearpatroldefendor]

[sweeteaglecreation]

[colorfulfoxengineer]

[pushpressure]

Reorganizing the Konoha teams

I know this is an old discussion that doesn't matter anymore, but I got back into Naruto and watched a video rearranging the teams, and it was weirdly bias for Sasusaku and added team 3/team Guy which was weird. So I decided to try my hand at it for fun:

So here are our teams

Okay to start with, we have to acknowledge the purpose of why they're together.

Team 7 is together because they're meant to help Naruto become a better ninja. Kakashi was Minato's student so there's the whole vow of protecting your master's son thing going on. Sasuke is there because he was the second top student in the academy (Ino being the first) and Kakashi has the sharingan, and Sakura was placed there because of her intelligence and chakra control. On paper, the combination made sense, but when you look at their grades on cooperation...

Putting two of the least cooperative people together with Kakashi as a sensei in a 4 man team was not a great move. I'm guessing they were hoping that Sakura could pull the team together, but did not take into account of her crush on Sasuke which set this team up for failure. Also, Kakashi's teaching method to solely use real life missions and his tardiness was not effective. These kids needed a more hands-on strict approach. Team practices back-to-back as if they're trying for the Olympics.

Team 8 is together because they're meant to be the manhunt team. They all have abilities to track people and take them down. With a sensei who doesn't play favorites, they're very effective as a group and as individuals unlike team 7.

Team 10 are together because of the Ino-shika-cho tradition which are absolutely perfect balance for reconnaissance missions.

If we had to choose which team is the best between Team 8 and Team 10, it naturally has to go to Team 10.

With 15 generations of team work perfected with the help of the Sarutobi clan who carries the Will of Fire, they have every angle of their team work covered. Yes, Team 8, is an effective team, but their skills are too similar that they don't blend well together on the battlefield and work better as individuals.

So taking that into consideration, we're going to have to permanently split the ino-shika-cho trio.

Because in all honesty, you can take out Choji and replace him with anyone else except maybe Shino. I'm sorry! I know Choji is a good boy, but as unique as his attacks are, he's just the muscle. And in all honesty, Naruto being in Team 10 would've helped him a 100 times more than team 7 because Shikamaru is a genius and actually likes Naruto, so he can help Naruto utilize his shadow clones better, and Ino actually cares about cooperation and her abilities that leave her vulnerable will give Naruto a sense of responsibility.

But we want Team 10's skills to be shared with everyone, so they cannot be together. In order for that to make sense, I guess imagine that they have older siblings who is already upholding the tradition as the 16th generation.

Moving forward, naturally one student on each team cannot leave their appointed sensei because they're compatible:

Team 7: Sasuke has to remain with Kakashi because of the sharingan, the lightning jutsu and their similar personalities. Yes, Kurenai uses genjutsu, but it's not a genjutsu at Itachi's level, and can't provide much more than that on the matter of skills. She may be able to provide a more motherly support, but taking Sasuke's background into consideration, I think a male role model similar to Itachi is more effective.

Team 8: Hinata has to stay with Kurenai because I can't imagine the other two giving Hinata the much needed attention and confidence she needs, especially from one female to another.

Team 10: Shikamaru obviously needs to stay with Asuma because they have that special bond as if Asuma is a second father to him.

Now we move on to the student who actually needs this sensei to help enhance their skills:

Team 7: Kiba would do better under Kakashi because the man uses dogs who he personally raised as his main summoning animal. Kakashi could've had Pakkun or his other dogs help train Akamaru with Kiba as his partner.

Team 8: Sakura is supposed be talented with genjutsu so naturally she should've gone with Kurenai in the first place in order to tap into that talent. I also think Sakura would've also seen a role model in Kurenai as a kunoichi.

Team 10: Naruto naturally has to be teammates with Shikamaru, but also because Naruto has a natural affinity for wind chakra, Asuma would've been perfect in training Naruto to wield it just as Kakashi taught Sasuke to use light chakra. It also helps that Asuma is the son of the hokage, so he can help Naruto on that as well.

And so we move on to the last three students:

Who I honestly struggled to place since again, Choji is a close-combat person which the other teams already have covered. So I had to consider where he would be the most useful.

I wanted to make an all-girl group with a flower-theme going on:

Hinata being the Sunflower, Sakura the cherry blossom and Ino the florist and they have a teacher who uses floral genjutsu. It was perfect! But then I thought about how they would actually perform starting out, and while Hinata does know some taijutsu, she's not very proficient at it, and the girls can't really help her in that department early on in this teamwork.

So here we go:

Team 7: I placed Ino under Kakashi more for Kakashi's sake than Ino's because the man would be inspired to actually train them as a team in order to take Ino's skills into consideration. Ino is a Sasuke fangirl like Sakura, but Ino is the heiress of the Yamanaka clan so she has more important responsibilities, and has applied herself in the academy to become its top student and likes to take the lead. She won't let her feelings for Sasuke get in the way of making everyone work together.

Team 8: I placed Choji in this team to provide some muscle, and be the training partner she needs to put more oomf in her strikes.

Team 10: I placed Shino in this team in order to do Sasuke's job and that was to cover Naruto's weaknesses and act as the tactician to Shikamaru's strategies. The poor boy also needs the spotlight, and the gags would be funny.

With all these teams covered, how would they work:

Team 7 (The Cool Group): The show makes it seem like Kiba is a copy of Naruto, but honestly, he's a lot more chilled (granted he's not a hated orphaned boy with a demonic animal inside), so with Sasuke, I can only see them having a friendly rivalry if not at all. If anything, even on different teams, Naruto would still declare himself as Sasuke's rival, and the chunin exams would alight that intensity. But even before that, it's not like they won't see each other and fight on sight so the bond is still there. Other than that, Kakashi would train them each separately (not just Sasuke) and together to help Ino use her jutsu which will instill that necessary teamwork. And with Ino's assertive attitude and Akamaru being everyone's support animal, they would have them eat meals together, and won't let Sasuke or Kakashi get out of it if they didn't have something urgent going on. Is it wrong to say this is the more functional version of team 7? Of course, shit hits the fan when Orochimaru attacks, and I'll leave how that turns out for others to imagine. Comment cuz that'd be interesting.

Team 8 (The Gentle Group): I believe Kurenai would've trained Sakura in not only genjutsu but on how to be the team leader in order to fully use her intelligence. She would have Sakura on mock survival trainings in the forest in order to not crumble under pressure, and use her team effectively. Kurenai would have Choji and Hinata train together to strengthen their taijutsu and their confidence.

Team 10 (The Weirdo Group): I believe Asuma, Shikamaru and Shino would collab together to help Naruto become a respectable ninja. Asuma would help Naruto learn taijutsu before introducing him to wind chakra. Shino would help teach Naruto what should've been drilled into him in the academy and under Asuma's observation, help Naruto on his tactics which Naruto is pretty good at since he's a clever prankster, but Shino helps him refine it. Naruto respects Shino for that, but is incredibly weirded out by his attempts to become friends and doesn't know how to break Asuma to do as he wants since the sexy jutsu doesn't work on a womanizer like him. As for Shikamaru, he's more involved in Naruto's training when actual missions are involved since he actually has to use his brain for them.

I could say more, but that's all I should say.

[weirdleeenough]

Drabble, Frenemies

Choji's friends are not friends with each other.

He's not quite sure, but he thinks its a lot more than that.

Childhood Enemies! Frenemies to Lovers! Young Love, SFW.

Shikamaru Nara / You

When you're young, it's easy to think the world revolves around you.

Your toy, your snack, your mom, and most importantly, your friend.

Maybe as you grow older, some things would change. You'd learn compromise, and what it means to be tolerant if not welcoming. Skills necessary for being a kind and reliable adult.

Yet for some reason, you had to learn these skills way earlier than most.

Why?

Because your friend wasn't just your friend.

He was Shikamaru Nara's friend too.

Shikamaru who was lazy, who cared for nothing more than staring at clouds and counting how much seconds it would take to hit REM sleep.

He who was so blatantly two-faced and a slob, and way smarter than you to boot. Shikamaru always got his way.

And that meant Choji Akimichi would have to be a friend to you both.

It wasn't a trio. God forbid! That fate was saved for some narrow minded tradition with the name Ino-Shika-Cho attached to it. Where they'd tickle the bottoms of each others feet in a random deer forest, whispering secrets in each other's ears.

Whatever!

Shikamaru Nara was not your friend. Not even close. He was the plus one, an add-on, buy one get one if you will.

He pulled your hair, and sighed, and rolled his eyes, and called you names! He just complains and complains, "Oh, why is she here? What a drag!" Yes, what a drag! Shikamaru Nara was that kind of guy.

Unambitious! A laidback loser! No-good slacker! He pinched you during the middle of third year exam! He slept through your 12th birthday party! He told his dad, and your dad, and Choji's too about your super, super, SUPER secret sleepover party! He, he..., he...

He kissed you!

He kissed you...

Today.

On the hill.

He just held the back of your head, gave you some weird look that made your heart stop, pulled you close.

It's warm, but the sun isn't even out yet. It's soft but he's barely touching you. It's breathy but you're not even sure if you're breathing.

And he sighs. Relieved, like he's been waiting years. He clings onto you so suddenly, grappling at your hips, pressing you into the grass. In a whisper, he calls out your name, then kisses you again.

Shikamaru Nara tastes like rice and mint.

He smells earthy. His hair is soft. His eyes are brown, and they're staring right at you, eating you alive.

Just looking at you like he loves you. As if you both weren't just stupid sixteen year olds. As if you hadn't spent the last ten of them bickering like the worst enemies. As if it was only natural, set in stone, aligned with a distant future.

"Say something," he says to you.

But you don't.

You simply lay back down as you were before. Nestling into his shoulder and the grass, head facing down the hill. You pretend you're waiting for Choji, scoff and tuck your hair behind your ears.

Hiding your joy, your smile, and the blossoming of your first love in the grass.

He smiles too, but he doesn't care to hide it.

Definitely not friends.

[watermelonsloth]

Why I Don’t Ship the Ino-Shika-Cho Trio with Eachother

(Disclaimer: When I talk about the trio, I’m predominantly talking about Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji, but it does apply to the other trios to a lesser extent.)

I just want to put this out there and see if anyone agrees.

I usually ship based on how much sense a ship makes to me. Not based on amount of canon content, I think I’ve made it clear by now that I don’t give a shit about what canon has to say about relationships. It’s based on how I imagine their dynamic and how potentially romantic I can imagine that ship being. So, going off of that, I “should” ship the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. They have history, they’re closely knit, and there’s no problem that sticks out about their dynamic. But I don’t ship it and I’ve finally deduced why.

The Ino-Shika-Cho trio is a sibling dynamic.

Imagine being raised alongside two people for the express purpose of becoming a close knit team that works well together and never abandons each other. Your parents are also super close and spend all your childhood together, from when you learned to walk through your teen years. Can you imagine wanting to fuck them? Can you imagine wanting to marry them? My answer is, obviously, no because I can’t imagine seeing them anything other than a sibling. That’s really what it is that disturbs me about the ships; they don’t just have history, they were raised together. Even in canon, their dynamic never comes across as romantic, and I don’t think I want it to.

[synergysilhouette]

Rewriting "Naruto" (Part I)

If this looks familiar, that's because it is. I decided to delete the OG post and repost this with a couple more changes, and I'm actually gonna start working on rewriting Part II now--which will probably have more changes than Part I.

Prologue--Land of Waves: Definitely create a more healthy team dynamic with team 7; Kakashi isn't biased towards Sasuke (though he does admit it's easier to train a fellow sharingan user), Sakura is more compassionate and a better listener, not being Sasuke-obsessed or high-strung (with her feelings for him coming from sympathy before getting to know him and becoming more substantial), and Sasuke, while still planning on killing Itachi, is more open to forming relationships again (because that's the only way I buy the series ending like it did with him), privately contemplating on how he's grown to care for his sensei and teammates. Following Naruto and Sasuke's battle against Haku, Sakura realizes she has to get stronger, vowing to be of better help in the future. It's also established from the get-go that Sharingan, while extremely powerful, isn't OP; it's genjutsu can still be avoided and it can't see through all genjutsu, but it can only be outdone by a powerful opponent.

Chunin Exams: I'd introduce Sakura's parents here, who voice their concern of her becoming a ninja, explaining her insecurities. It also brings to light the backstories and families of other characters (ie Tenten's family and last name, whether or not Lee is an orphan, the Ino-Shika-Cho family relationship, Naruto growing up with Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji as friends, Asuma being Sarutobi's son, Kiba's dreams of being Hokage, etc.) I'd also enjoy seeing Kabuto give Sakura little medical tips to help her team, foreshadowing her future potential. Her battle against the sound ninja are much cooler, as she performs genjutsu for the first time, involving Inner Sakura, perhaps it being a family kekkei genkai (maybe even connected to a dojutsu). Along with this, Ino can use her mind transfer jutsu to create hallucinations in Sakura's mind while she possesses her, only to be booted out by Inner Sakura--or maybe Ino performs a flower-related genjutsu that distracts Sakura while Ino possesses her. Ino and Sakura's friendship is expanded upon, and it's revealed their relationship has ebbs and flows independant of Sasuke, with Ino occasionally being fake/petty and Sakura stooping to her level. This is largely driven by shared insecurity, with Ino trying to live up to her family's reputation and Sakura trying to defy her family expectations. Sakura manages to beat Ino narrowly, and she battles Dosu in the finals at beats him before he's killed. It's also implied Sakura may be developing feelings for Lee. Not to mention, despite Naruto being the main character, he doesn't have to be the only person to inspire others. I enjoy the idea that Hinata's will is what truly opens Neji's eyes, not just Naruto's conviction, as well as Lee inspiring Gaara.

Konoha Crush: I'd also expand on Hiruzen's relationship with Orochimaru and the first two hokages, giving us a bit more to work with than the extended tug-of-war sequence. We get more childhood flashbacks of the sand trio, especially their relationships with each other, their parents, and Yashamaru. I'd also like for Baki to reveal to Gaara that Yashamaru was made to lie to him about his and Karura's love for him, under threat that the Kazekage would kill Gaara if Yashamaru didn't emotionally scar him. Sakura uses her blossoming genjutsu (inspired by Ino's bush clover genjutsu if we go that route) in order to distract Gaara/Shikkaku, but only manages to hide Sasuke before Gaara incapacitates her. After Naruto and Gaara's battle, Sakura and Sasuke come to Naruto's aid, as Temari and Kankuro do for Gaara, making him see how they care about him. Plus put a bit more focus on Asuma, as he loses his father in this arc, just as Konohamaru loses his grandfather.

Search For Tsunade: Give Kurenai a better battle with Itachi. He's SUPER powerful, but Kurenai is supposed to be the best genjutsu user in the village; she'd have to at least be a good distraction for him. After Itachi beats Sasuke, Sasuke wonders if his friendships are holding him back, but simultaneously fears losing them to Itachi once more. And the whole "Itachi revelation" from part 2 is hinted at a LOT more (I was gonna write it off, but it's a big motivator for Sasuke later on, so I think it'd make more sense if Itachi wasn't super toxic) by having him take down Sasuke easily without torturing him and prolonging his pain. It's also vaguely alluded to that while the Akatsuki are dangerous, they weren't without their own humanity, with some of them being less evil than others. While it'd be a bit weird, I like the idea of Sakura joining Jiraya and Naruto to find Tsunade, as she's concerned about Sasuke and wants to learn medical skills from Tsunade. I'd like more flashbacks with Dan and Nawaki to be spread out a bit more for more emotional impact. I also think Kabuto should be hyped up a bit more; he's apparently a ninja whose jutsu exceeds Tsunade in her prime. Given this, it'd be cool to see him doing a grander battle against Tsunade, as well as Orochimaru taking an almost passive role in the fight against Tsunade and Jiraya. Given advice by Kabuto in the past, Sakura is able to clear Jiraya's head a little after Tsunade drugs him, and she and Naruto try to defend Tsunade against Kabuto. Tsunade still has an aversion to blood after the battle, but it isn't as bad as it was before.

Sasuke Recovery Mission: Sakura trains with Shizune and Kurenai before Sasuke leaves to join Orochimaru, becoming advanced for a ninja her age. She manages to incapacitate Sasuke and Naruto before they harm each other at the hospital, only further fueling Sasuke's feelings of inferiority. Sasuke laments throwing away his friendships, but hopes that after he kills Itachi, perhaps he can pick up the pieces--you know, actually thinking about what comes after his revenge. Sakura attempts to stop him, but he refuses to acknowledge any feelings he has for his team, and leaves. Sakura manages to inflict minor damage on him via poison needles, slowing him down, though he still defeats her. The girls join the boys to rescue Sasuke, with the defeat of the sound ninja only coming from the combined efforts of the Leaf and Sand ninja, not the Sand ninja alone. Sakura and Naruto team up against Sasuke, but given Sasuke's curse mark and Naruto's 9-tailed chakra, Sakura's outclassed in this moment (having not gained the Strength of a Hundred seal), though she manages to use genjutsu following the battle to convince Sasuke not to deal further harm to Naruto, and she promised (similar to Naruto) that she would drag him back to the village.

I may tweak some more details later, but for now I'm moving onto Part II. (Edit Nov 2024: Still working on that; just put on the backburner)

[teatitty]

Expanding more on my Mizuki thoughts actually I do have a headcanon that in shinobi culture it is completely normal to have some people who work so well together they're pretty much always a pair regardless of the mission, like Kotetsu and Izumo. If you were on the same genin team there's a good chance you still take a lot of missions together unless you pursued completely different nin careers [one of you became jounin, the other does desk work and the third is a medi nin for instance] but if you're the same rank and/or do the same jobs then having you in pairs is more advantageous

So we have Kotetsu & Izumo as a pair, and then Hinata, Kiba & Shino as a tracking team and the generational Ino-Shika-Cho trio. And this is what I believe Mizuki and Iruka were - one of those dime-a-dozen shinobi pairs that worked so seamlessly well together they almost always went on the same missions

I write them in the sense that Iruka is a great support nin with an emphasis on traps, seals and barriers but with a surprising arsenal of water and fire style jutsu's whereas Mizuki was an expert in weaponry and used to be Ten-Ten's personal weapons instructor before his betrayal. His chakra nature was Wind but all of his jutsu were neutral's -- like the transformations, shadow clones and body flickers

Most of their missions were therefore very stealth based and had a focus on espionage, breaking & entering, intel gathering etc and they always made up for what the other lacked - Mizuki's combat prowess to cover Iruka's back and lead enemies into his traps and barriers, and Iruka's skillset to do crowd control and put distance between Mizuki and their opponents when necessary

[awesomecitys-blog]

I was talking with some friends at lunch today, and we brought up Sakura via looking at your month is your anime character deal on TikTok. One of my friends said that she was weak, and when I tried to defend her, both of them started saying that I was wrong, that her character and her storytelling were flawed and not good, that she had nothing worth defending, and that anyone who was defending her was just doing it because they loved her. I gave trying to talk to one of them because he refused to listen to what I had to say, but other did and agreed that her abilities and her struggles to make them useful were defendable, but the way the story wrote Sakura and her character made it hard to see that. Which is fair, Sakura got the short end of the stick when it comes to character development.

I chose to defend Sakura, and always will, because ignoring her abilities because she isn't utilized right in the story is, in my opinion, disingenuous. Sakura started out the weakest amongst her peers because she was the only one who didn't have a clan technique or a special power or skill set. Naruto had the Uzumaki clan's big chakra reserves and Kurama, Sasuke was an Uchiha, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio had their clans respective techniques, Neji and Hinata were Hyugas, Kiba and Akamaru were from the Inuzuka clan, Shino was an Aburame clan member, Rock Lee was an expert in taijutsu and Tenten was an excellent weapons user and great with sealing scrolls. Sakura just had her smarts and a decently sized chakra reserve, and she put that to great use, becoming the second user of the Strength of a Hundred Seal alongside Tsuande, gaining vast medical knowledge allowing her to create an antoide to a poison and saving Kankuro's life when no one else could, fighting and healing people while constantly putting chakra into the Strength of a Hundred Seal, and more.

Sakura is a flawed charcter with many story writing elements stacked against her, but to say that people are unable to defend her or are only doing so because they want to have her as some sort of womanly prize is wrong and some might even say hurtful.

[bestnarutoduo]

Propaganda

Legendary Sannin

They all kick ass on their own and the war flashback scenes are very cool.

 It’s also funny to submitter that 1/3 of them want to be Hokage and it’s the only one who doesn’t get the job offer.

Team 10

17 generations of this alliance!!! Hot damn

Most kids inherit jewelry or trauma from their parents. Sometimes both. – These kids inherited a bloody battle strategy and best friends! That slaps!

 Imagine being so good at something it last 17 generations!!!

 Fun personalities, leader varies each gen, and every generation tends to grow up successful!

 They’re so good they roped the Sarutobi’s into being their senseis!

 THIS TEAM FORMATION PREDATES NINJA VILLAGES!!!

No single member of their team is remarkably strong and they have to rely on one another’s special skills to succeed. I don’t see such powerful teamwork in other teams.

The Ino-Shika-Cho formation in its best rendition. Shikamaru’s intelligence, Ino’s sass and Choji’s heart fighting together make an unbreakable team.

[sweeteaglecreation]

Saving Sai.