#Mokuton Sakura!!!!!!

[hellcifrogs]

Can we see more of Team 7 with reversed theme colors?

Cuties right?

This is the perfect color formation -> the fire guy in red, the wind guy in blue and the wood girl in green (😏)

[yellowocaballero]

Obito Uchiha will admit that he used to be a supervillain.

Thankfully, a time-traveling ghost cured him of that. He now has a new plan for world peace: kidnap Sakura Haruno, teach her the Mokuton, and start a hidden village of peace and love. A child utopia will definitely save them all. If not, mass brainwashing stays Plan B.

In which the best revenge is living well, and one-upping Kakashi Hatake.

Somehow my joke about Sakura starting a hidden village became a full 70k fanfic, so here. Have BAMF!Mokuton!Sakura, Barely-Not-A-Supervillain!Obito, Unbelievably-Divorced!KakaObi. Go wild.

[holly-natnicole]

I wish Sakura had learned to use Mokuton in canon!! Or at least water ninjutsu and earth ninjutsu (since those 2 are Sakura's elemental affinities). Although I love her super strength, it woulda been nice to see how awesome she woulda been with some mid- and long-range techniques.

[spidersarecannibals]

What if I gave Sakura the Mokuton huh?

[c0smicheartz]

au where everything is the same except sakura has the mokuton and jumps through hoops to avoid her team finding out. she pushes naruto out a window when she accidentally makes a bonsai tree grow. slapping sasuke in the face when there's saplings blooming. wrenching icha icha from kakashis hands and throwing it into a river when she gets excited and the trees respond to that.

she gets their asses and they turn just to see her sitting there all innocent like

[prince-everhard]

Weekly Oneshot Challenge - Week 1

Title: flower girl Rating: gen Fandom: Naruto Summary: Kakashi discovers that his student has the mokuton. Based on this post by @professorsparklepants

-

“Babysitting?!” Naruto and Sakura shout simultaneously. Sasuke doesn’t verbally agree with them, but his glare looks like it could set Kakashi on fire without the sharingan.

Kakashi takes more pleasure in their dismay than he wants to admit. “Yes, my cute little genin. Babysitting.” He rolls the mission scroll back up and tucks it into his vest. “One of the chunin reserve corp had an emergency mission and as such needs their kids watched until their partner can return from his mission.”

“But sensei, you said our next mission would be an important one. Not keeping an eye on some snot-nosed brats, ya know!”

Well. It looks like Kakashi is going to have to be a little serious for his students for once. He sighs. “If we don’t go help our fellow ninja and protect their kids, they can’t go on their critical mission. If they can’t go on their mission, Konoha looks bad to our clients.”

Sasuke doesn’t look particularly convinced, but Naruto and Sakura both look at least resigned if not enthusiastic. “Alright, sensei,” Sakura says. “Let’s go help our fellow ninja.”

-

His genin do better with the kids than he was expecting, if Kakashi is honest with himself.

 Sasuke makes some excuse about keeping watch and climbs into the biggest tree in the client’s yard to avoid the kids, but he isn’t being actively rude to the kids and he is actually keeping an eye on their surroundings, so he gets a pass for that.

Naruto is playing ninja tag with the older two kids- twins, both just young enough that they haven’t yet been enrolled at the academy. His stamina and cheerful attitude are actually a great fit for this mission, and Kakashi feels satisfied in his choice for picking it for today’s D-rank.

Sakura is sitting with the younger kid in the grass, watching him poke the ground with a stick and ask her about the different flowers and weeds in the yard. Kakashi is honestly impressed even if he’s not surprised that Sakura seems to know all of them from memory. He watches as the boy goes to pluck one of the flowers from the grass. The kid’s clumsy hands crush the flower and Kakashi prepares for the inevitable meltdown as the kid screws his face up to cry-

Sakura laughs softly and takes the broken flower from him. She closes her eyes in concentration and Kakashi can sense when she pushes chakra into her hands. The flower not only repairs under her touch but also multiplies. The chakra is familiar and absolutely impossible.

Kakashi can only watch, dumbfounded, as Naruto and the twins bounce over to ooh and ahh at the riotous bundle now in Sakura’s hands. At some coaxing from Naruto she passes the flowers to the no longer crying kid and instead presses her hands into the grass. Even Sasuke is leaning down from his perch as Sakura once again closes her eyes and channels the impossible blend of chakra. Flowers of all kinds bloom in a circle around Sakura and the others, further than Kakashi expected.

As the kids shriek and giggle, throwing themselves into the flowers, Kakashi can only stare. His student has the mokuton.

[tranquil-turbulence]

SS Month ‘23 - Day 2

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

Prompt: Warring States Era AU

Warnings: Trauma, mentions of violence, child soldiers, child death, and war

From the age of four, hardly a day went by without a shuriken in her hands.

In such a turbulent time, any and all help was needed in the eternal power struggle between the Senju and Uchiha - and she was no different; the frail daughter of a Senju woman and a peasant from Water country, her father had immigrated to Fire country in search of a better life and had landed in the middle of a bloody standoff between the two clans.

Her father had been hesitant for their only daughter to become a kunoichi, but her mother had grown up the daughter of a ruthless shinobi and a skilled kunoichi and was determined for her to learn the skills necessary to survive in such a ruthless world.

On the evening of her fifth birthday, she found that she could manipulate plantlife with her hands. Her mother was thrilled. She had said something about studying under the famed Senju Hashirama, but little Sakura hadn’t been listening - she was too busy admiring the gladiolus under her fingertips.

It was on her sixth birthday when she truly understood the gravity of the war - her cousin was slain by an Uchiha, and her mother wept bitter tears for her aunt. Sakura had been too numb to truly process the death for a few days - and when she finally recognized that her cousin was dead, she screamed herself hoarse while her father attempted to hold her back from running out the front door.

That innocent six-year-old had grown into a cold, calculating sixteen-year-old woman under the tutelage of not Hashirama, but his brother Tobirama - the man had seen the potential in her mind and was determined to expand it. Not that the man minded; she hated fighting and preferred to spend hours reading texts from beginning to end, absorbing their words. She had a certain expertise in genjutsu, and was content to let her teacher practice on her.

Everything changed when she met fifteen, soon to be sixteen-year-old Uchiha Sasuke.

The son of a high-ranking Uchiha, he was every bit as battle-hardened and ruthless as his kin; his was a name that was whispered more in fear than reverence, and her teacher found every excuse to keep her away from battle whenever word got out that he and his brother Itachi would be fighting. It was clear he didn’t want them to meet, and she never questioned him.

But today, of all days, she found herself alone by the riverbed, getting water for her ill father. It was a beautiful morning, and she hummed a tune while she filled a bucket.

Suddenly she paused, sensing a presence for a split-second behind her.

Turning her head, she nearly dropped the bucket in surprise when another person emerged from the treeline, long dark hair draped over his shoulder. Deep worry lines creased his face, and despite his youth there was something remarkably aged about him.

She knew him immediately.

Freshly twenty-one-year-old Uchiha Itachi, son of the man they called Kyougan Fugaku, was calm and collected as he nonchalantly strolled up to the river, a cloth in hand.

“Good morning, kunoichi,” he greeted politely, seemingly ignoring the emblem sewn into the sleeve of her kimono top as he knelt on the rocks.

Sakura stared incredulously at the man for several hesitant seconds. Why wasn’t he attacking? She had heard of his tendency for small mercies - on the battlefield he was like a machine rather than a man, cutting down Senju no more coldly than he ate or drank, but supposedly there were rumors afloat that he wished for peace more than war.

Truthfully, there was a certain softness to the way he carried himself. Minutely, she relaxed her rigid stance, seeing no sharpness in his shoulders nor steel in his gaze.

“You’re an Uchiha,” she finally spoke up, almost accusingly.

He paused in cupping his hands around the water. “I am.”

“Why aren’t you attacking me?”

That finally got him to look up, and for a moment she felt a guilty chord for the way he gazed at her with mild surprise.

“Why should I attack? You’ve no weapon and at the moment neither have I,” he pointed out, and she sheepishly looked away, feeling quite chastised. “I am merely here to wash my face, and no more.”

“Forgive me, I meant no offense.” She shook her head and went back to her bucket. “I’m not used to sitting near one of your kin without a sword in my hand.”

Itachi was quiet for several long moments, staring at the cool water. Then, he replied, “It would be a grave offense to my honor as a man if I deigned to strike you unprovoked. You’re no harm to me, and so I am not to you.”

Though his words were meant in good faith, his casual admission bristled her, and she barely held back from shooting him a glare as he dipped his head near the water’s surface, splashing his face.

The silence between them was awkward, and as she went to get to her feet, a sword to the side of her neck immediately raised her hackles, and she belatedly reached for her pouch.

There came a sigh, and Itachi looked up with a disapproving, “Sasuke.”

“Brother,” the younger Uchiha tersely greeted. “What are you doing with a Senju?”

“She was here first, and neither decided it was prudent to begin a quarrel where there is none.”

“Have you forgotten how many of our number hers have callously murdered?” He demanded. “Have you forgotten how they desired to strike down Cousin?”

“You’ve killed just as many, if not more,” she spat with a nasty glare over her shoulder. “My own cousin was murdered in cold blood by one of your kin. I was six; she was eight.”

“Please.” Itachi raised his hand, rising from his knees in one smooth motion. “Sasuke, sheath your sword. Do not shame our father in this manner.”

For a couple of seconds, the young man looked like he would argue, but one sharp look from his brother made him reluctantly pull back, and the katana glided back into its sheath.

Itachi sent the girl an almost apologetic glance as he extended a hand. “Forgive my foolish brother - though our father has raised us with peace in mind, I fear old habits die harder than they must.”

She stared at his hand before her eyes traveled up to his face. She searched it for a long moment before she sighed through her nose and accepted it, allowing his sure grip to guide her to her feet.

“All grudges forgiven, Uchiha,” she answered, letting go and stooping to retrieve her full bucket. “For your sake, I do hope this feud ends soon. I too grow weary of the fight.”

Itachi nodded simply, bowing at the waist before turning. “Come, Sasuke. Mother is expecting us.”

Sasuke stared at her, gaze sure and dubious. He was handsome, despite his blood - a slender nose, high cheekbones, regal brow, soft dark hair - had she not been a Senju, and he not an Uchiha, she might have fancied him.

He nodded dismissively and turned, hand on the hilt of his sword. “Good day, Senju. Be cautious when you make your way back.”

“And to you… Uchiha.” She managed to answer, clutching her bucket to her chest.

[internal-ethics]

Ok im bored and ran out of good content so fuck it lets do this. Decided not to publicize it for so long bc its difficult.

This is my boldest and most prized contribution to this cursed fandom, as well as my dearest tribute to Tobirama, the best political character ive ever read in fiction, and his anija.

warning - this might not be for people with too heavy leaning on anti-konoha, anti-Hashirama sentiments or ships that's not hashimito or tobirama/konoha, or take the timings and numbers of the databook too seriously.

Hashirama is vaguely hinted to canonically have retired as Shodai years earlier, then married Mito, then lived till 10-20 years after VOTE and died in or before the 2nd War.

Tobirama died first in the 1st War. The scene where he sacrificed himself for his squad happened before the VoTE fight, not after. It's his death that signaled the End.

Hashirama losing his power/ability to lead due to possible depression and keeping a low profile (no one could know how and when the Shinobi God died because village situations, and there were sensors and trackers who could find him) is the reason why he didnt know the motive of the Police Force that Tobirama created, and also struggled with Kurama to the point he needed Mito to LEND him power, when earlier he could beat both Kurama and Madara.

Zetsu made up bullshit about Tobirama burying and letting Madara escape with a clone, based that assumption on Tobirama's reputation of creating weird jutsus involving sacrifices, most likely framing him for his surbodinates' doings, because Tobirama totally never knew Tsunade, possibly never even met Mito and dealt with a jinchuuriki, while Hashirama did both, comparing teenage Sakuras power to Tsunade's.

Zetsu also would not have been near there to know what the senju brothers did because they were both sensors that could detect him. Hashirama was the one who buried Madara.

As Onoki said this summit was to end minor conflicts, it happened right after Konoha was founded, not right before the WW. the 2nd kages looked much younger than in the VOTE/WW era. Hashirama likely had other means, more temporary and less effective, to restrain Kurama at this point (his mokuton and necklace) The databook also never said Hashirama died in which war.

Tsunade and Tobirama had no recollection of each other outside Tsunade only calling him distantly 'nidaime' since part 1 and only 'heard' about the ones who killed him.

meanwhile Hashirama was too familiar with tsunade as she with him, and familiar with the village and people, so that he could recall his memories with it despite just having seen it before he died like weve been told.

He talked like he's been through 2 wars with them.

Our second known grandkid of Hashirama was Nawaki, who was 11 years younger than Tsunade. Unless his first son has multiple children in short years which is pure fanfiction, how would he know Tsunade was his 'first' grandkid and how she would turn out 'in the end' if he died when she was this small.

Also the fact that Hashirama didnt wear Konoha headband in the VOTE fight.

But did wear it when he married Mito. Tsunade was not Mito's grand daughter.

As for how he died, its in battle, probably to a nobody mob while protecting his clan or Mitos clan (both conveniently destroyed or disappeared after hes dead). And by the time they killed him and he let them do that, i doubt they even realized or remembered they killed the First Hokage and God of Shinobi. I mean youd think whoever killed him should have been insanely famous, regardless of his power level at the time.

Tobirama said "my role as Second Hokage was to stand between and meditate between brother and Madara while protecting the village" this raised eyebrows because there would have been no one to stand between if he only became Second after Hashirama died and Madara left (forever). Meaning Hashirama was alive when Tobirama became Second, and it had been like that for a long time.

This is what a japanese fan thought of Tobirama's death

Between the two brothers, it makes more sense for the 'normal' one who invented jutsu that defied the law of nature, including

ninja nuclear bombs,

Summoning the dead and giving them infinite chakra

clones only reserved for monster chakra reserves like Naruto with Kurama in him

and a teleportation jutsu that required 5 people in place of an absolute genius like Minato to do- moderately,

rather than a powerful monster with the same annount of chakra as a bijuu AND sage mode that heals himself, to die earlier out of illness.

This is also why Hashirama would ban Tobiramas jutsu and compiled them into HIS scroll seen in the very first chapter - they likely literally shorten ones life. Hashirama wouldnt want random people to drop dead using them...like his brother.

Some more readings on which Japanese samurai characters that have been Kishimoto's references for the founders.

Oda Nobunaga - Hashirama's first concept when he was a scary rugged scarred and big nosed guy, the one who stopped the genenations long wars, unified japan and died right after realizing the dream, but he died partly because of his brutality and crimes in life - he ACTUALLY killed his brother by blood among others of his family who betrayed him. His successor has nickname 'Saru'.

Ashikaga Takauji - Hashirama's later concept, first shogun of his era but softer big brother guy.

Ashikaga Tadayoshi - Takauji's younger brother who stepped up where he couldnt, disagreed with Takauji on politics and died 5 years before his brother did, in defeat but also there are sources that say he suffered some kind of illness before that.

Ko no Moronao - Takauji's close friend who Tadayoshi hated and was later exiled.

More references in Japanese creation mythos involving Izanagi and Izanami, where Izanagi killed his Fire god son Kagutsuchi after Izanamis death, hence his words "my very own child".

[rainybyday]

Second part of the first time travel team 7 idea

So next on the list are Uchiha’s

So the Senju patrol found out about Sasuke and Tenzo

The Uchiha?

They find Sakura and Kakashi

(Yes Sai and Obito are out for now)

So I think the beginning problem is how Team Seven are all separated and are all trying to find each other

Tenzo actually found Obito first but they split up for Obito to grab Sai and Tenzo got Sasuke once they felt both got their location from Tenzo’s ability to be a tree whisperer

Sakura found Kakashi and they both were going to find the rest of the pack but they met a returning Uchiha party from a job well done

The party has Izuna 

This will happen for two reason

One is so that they understand at least roughly at what time they appeared in

And Two is that they have an important figure of the Uchiha clan to see Kakashi. No, he doesn’t have Obito’s eye anymore but the prospect of seeing a Hatake so close to their clan compound is what I’m after here

Unlike the Senju patrol who immediately went after Sasuke, the Uchiha’s just stop

Cus like, that’s a HATAKE

SHIT

Like on one hand there is another clan claimed name on their land without their permission 

But on the other, its a Hatake, one of the few clans you want to be wary of and think carefully about when you interact with them

Even with the mask on Kakashi, they still don’t want to test their limits on getting fucken mutilated by Hatake teeth

Feral or not, a calm Hatake is still a Hatake

So Izuna, politely mediates and tries to understand why Kakashi and his cub? Packmember? Are on their land

Especially when said cub/pack member looks like they went through hell and back

Who is the stupid person whom attacked a Hatake pack/cub member???

I have no clue what this conversation will entitled but Sakura and Kakashi are allowed to leave relatively safe by all means

Even though they are freaking the fuck out of what they are just witnessing because was that Sasuke? No? You're not Sasuke??? Then who the fuck-?

Meanwhile, Izuna and his party are booking it back to their compound to tell Madara about the wild Hatake in their lands and to make sure to warn the rest of the clan because if they make a mistake like, oh i don't know, FIGHTING THE HATAKE, then there will be problems

On their end not the Hatake’s 

The Hatakes, while not animals are very protective of their own, a slight against one is a slight against all Hatakes. 

These issues must be mediated carefully. 

So Team Seven!

Kakashi does not have Obito’s eye and Obito has both eyes and has the classic white hair and half white/half tan body. 

Tenzo and Sai aren’t as worse looking as the rest of the team but that doesn’t mean Tenzo lost a vest somewhere in his dimension or how sai doesn’t have any scrolls or that his ink supplies is all over him

Sakura and Obito look the worse off, no questions asked

Sasuke literally looks all bloody from overuse of his Sharingan and he still has the Rinnegan so thats going to go over so will with everyone else

Ah zetsu will find out about that huh….

Naruto looks… okay

The boys going through it

They are all almost chakura depleted but not empty, still have the little bit to survive you know

Ok so back to story

ON the team 7 side I know they will probably find each other and probably make a makeshift base of operation in the location where Konoha will be

Its temporary for them since its the close place they know of in their time and they need to rest

So they rest for a prompt of a few days without any issues

Why is that?

Well on the senju side they just got reports that a uchiha was seen on their land so they of course are angered that their enemy was so close on their land and will have Madara’s head

But at the same time that very same Uchiha was saved by a Senju with the mokuton of all things

So its a whole political shit show with Hashirama trying to understand that not only are an Uchiha and senju in kahoots with each other but that this implies a missing senju member was left unaccounted for by the clan, Tobirama is more uneasy by the multiple chakra signatures that in the forest and the Senju elders are convinced that the Uchiha’s found and used a senju as a tool for war

Meanwhile, the Uchihas are sweating bullets trying to warn the rest of their members about a Hatake pack most likely near or on their grounds and Madara is going through a mountain full of paper trying to write the best most polite but not-directing-blame-nor-accusing letter to the Hatake clan to ask if they had 1) a that a Hatake pack was seen in their lands and 2) that someone may or may not have attacked said pack (but it wasn’t them they swear on Amaterasu’s sake)

Yeah so Team 7 has a lot of time to rest before everything gets set to motion

Mostly it is Tenzo and Sai getting caught up in what happened in the battle of Kaguya, the realization that everyone they ever known are now gone, and trying to survive in this new environment 

Of course there is a lot of self blame and guilt in this

Obito and Kakashi definitely have guilt with each other and their actions that got reflected in their battle

Everyone but the Uchiha’s are realizing who they left behind in their old world and its just… crashing on them

Sasuke is still on the Itachi thing but he is not as emotionally invested like the rest of this team, probably thinking about the battle and the information that he was told of being Indara’s incarnation or somth

Sai has left the people he wanted to be friends with and his chance of being happy with them, yes he still has team 7 but his dream was to befriend everyone and now that's just…. Gone

Tenzo is not stable either ngl

Yeah so first few days are basically the calm before the storm

Then the Uchiha’s get a letter, a letter they expected but not by who sent said letter

They were expecting the Hatake’s to contact them first, not the Senju’s

Then the Madara is reading a letter from Hashirama about the incident the portal had a few days ago and lost it

Part 1 | Part Three

[hellcifrogs]

I just saw your theme swapped team 7 post with the hint of Mokuton Sakura... if I can ask, how does she learn Mokuton? Is Yamato or Tsunade her teacher? Its a very unique concept and I'm very curious!

Oh for that one she just accidentally develops it on her own. Imagine it is a very rare skill for soneone to have it and even more for them to actually develop it and learn to use it.

Sakura was just lucky to be born with it and then one day while practicing something else, maybe with her chakra nature, she just *mokutons* and surprises herself with it. She thinks it's cool and is a little confused, but Kakakshi seeing this, runs to Tenzou to have him better guide her.

[friday-im-in-love-with-crowley]

My personal favorite is strong innate connection to nature. She can talk to trees bitch. You know how people say the walls have ears? The trees have ears. And sakura’s ears hears the tree’s ears hears. I read that sentance and went to drink a beer. (No i didnt, im just rhyming) anyway i like the idea of sasuke and naruto fucking in the forest and the trees tell sakura and she goes to beat naruto up cause he’s got to do hokage shit or smthn

Narrative reasons for giving Sakura the mokuton, ranked

Experimented on: LAME. Overused even in canon. 1/10

descended from the Senju: this still baffles me because there's absolutely no indication whatsoever in canon that it's a Senju clan ability. I'll allow it if it only because it means team 7 finishes up the village founder trifecta. 3/10

Idk just go with it: I can respect this. 5/10

Strong innate connection with nature: I love that this just boils down to "she's named after a tree??? Why not." 8/10

She's just that good babie: chakra control through the ROOF. What, like it's hard? If the god of shinobi can do it so can this bitch. 10/10

Ate a god: METAL AS FUCK 15/10

[keepyourpantsongohan]

Entertaining Highlights from Naruto Retsuden:

Kakashi being compared to both a mountain goat and a sloth in the span of a single page!!

For some reason, in a world of near entirely names of Japanese (or very rarely, English) origin, there's a blind astronomer named Jean-Marc Tatar, seemingly the only French man in the history in the Naruto universe, who is also friends with Ninja God.

This exchange between Sakura and Naruto: “Same old idiot as always.” “Me? Sasuke?” “Both of you, obviously.”

The reveal that there's a nap room next to the Hokage's office!

The insane reveal that Orochimaru has developed a pair of goggles that look exactly like Obito's from when he was kid but give you the power to use the Byakugan?!

Naruto perfectly landing motorcycle jump over a cat with zero practice while being shot at by laser beam drones??

Naruto's little antisocial scientist friend repeatedly saying how much she doesn't need friends and Naruto going, “I’m not gonna force you to connect with people or whatever, you know,” like that hasn't been how he's resolved every conflict he's ever had.

The incredibly specific take from Yamato that by himself he can raise a mokuton pillar 310,000 feet into the air to support the weight of a motorcycle. Babygirl. Why do you know this!!

Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto having this impressive little adventure in the clouds before it immediately cuts to Sai also thousands of feet in the air slowly suffocating of altitude sickness, who unlike them doesn't have an oxygen tank, because Shikamaru is not a medic but also maybe an idiot.

Sakura realizing that Sasuke is about to do something incredibly dangerous so they share a little kiss above Naruto's head (on a motorcycle, 660,000 feet vertically in the air).

[c0smicheartz]

I love fics where sakura has no clue what's happening at any moment and craves violence.

like yes girl! bite that guy and then do something that a twelve year old shouldn't be able to do!

she's out here water walking and skakashi is looking at her with vague horror because god damn it a prodigy, too? poor man got the angsty ass second son, the jinchuuriki, and a pink genius who's 5 seconds away from causing a national incident cause she didn't realize she isn't supposed to be able to use the mokuton.

[tossawary]

Looking up some things has turned into reading the last 100 or so chapters of the "Naruto" manga for fun, because why not. Some random assorted notes so far (as of finishing Chapter 661):

This end fight is so fucking long, there are so many characters, and the pacing is bordering on excruciating. There's some stuff happening here that's delicious, but there's a lot of messy back and forth of the narrative focus that I personally am not fully vibing with. I cannot imagine trying to follow this split story weekly. This is common enough to a lot of big shounen mangas.

I generally like the basic artstyle here (the use of white and black especially), but the quality of page composition, panel composition, and scene clarity generally is obviously suffering heavily from these chapters being pushed out too quickly. I can barely tell some characters apart and some panels are just messes of lines. This is also common enough among mangas, so eh, it's also whatever.

It's kind of funny to me how Hashirama and Tobirama and Minato suddenly become major characters for like a solid 30 chapters or so. Like, yeah, I can see why Founders Era fic is popular. The flashback chapters themselves are pretty short, but Madara is one of the main villains in this fight, and the undead Senju brothers are suddenly here to kick ass on a level apparently far beyond most other characters. The grudges and betrayal here are delicious. These are also the people who founded Konoha itself, the main location of the manga for hundreds of chapters now, honestly not that many generations ago. It also helps that the Founders feel like they have nicely complete tragic arcs and lives to work with, instead of the relatively open-ended narrative mess that the main Naruto characters live in.

Also, Hashirama can definitely act the idiot and I think some of his choices / opinions are stupid as hell, but he's obviously a very clever and observant and ruthless person. Tobirama went on to become Hokage after his brother and will not hesitate to forcefully give his opinions, but it's also clear in some scenes that Hashirama is still the one in charge between them. Tobirama seems to fairly naturally fall into a very useful support role to whoever he's fighting with, including Minato and Naruto.

I like both Minato and Tobirama because I have a weakness for characters who engage with their magic systems to make new things. Minato improved on the Flying Thunder God technique and Orochimaru improved on the Edo Tensai technique, but Tobirama invented BOTH of those things? PLUS Shadow Clones??? All of which are basically carrying a significant part of the battle right now? Like, damn, Hashirama has his Mokuton, and Tobirama was stubbornly like, "Not being left behind. Fuck you."

So, yeah, the "Hashirama versus Madara", "Tobirama versus Madara", "Minato (plus Naruto & Tobirama) versus Obito", and "Kakashi versus Obito" are probably my favorite parts of this. Not knocking on Naruto or Sasuke or the large background mob of characters here, but they just do not have the same personal, ugly, emotional history in this fight, so I don't really care as much.

Ino can forcibly link hundreds of unknown minds together so Shikamaru can broadcast battle plans??? Holy shit??? The vibe I'm getting is that she was using the link apparently created by Naruto's chakra to do this, but still. Both Ino and Sakura have the potential to be incredibly OP badass characters and they are generally just... Not Allowed to take the spotlight here.

Shikamaru had this big dramatic chapter about surviving to become Naruto's future advisor someday, and I had to repress the urge to holler, "Gaaaaay!" at the screen. I do love the inherent homoeroticism of a right-hand man. (Also, *waves a hand vaguely* Gaara's whole everything.)

To be honest, though, I'm not even sure what Sasuke has spent the past fifty chapters doing. He's there! He sure is there! I think he just got stabbed, so now he gets to be emotional motivation for Naruto again. As far as I understand it, not being sure what Sasuke is actually doing sums up basically everything he does in the manga. There are too many characters here.

On that note, the vibe I'm getting from Orochimaru is that he's also mostly just here to spectate. Like, yeah, I know. Characters like Orochimaru and Sakura and Tsunade are keeping everyone alive with their bare fucking hands right now, but also, give Orochimaru some opera glasses and an alcoholic beverage and it wouldn't feel that out of place.

I'll probably have more to add at some point, but these are the (not that serious) notes off the top of my head.

[yellowocaballero]

I always write the full story and do a bit of edits before I publish, which I plan on doing very soon! Here's a snippet, though:

“Hey, kid. Wanna join a gang?”

Sakura halted, kunai half-buried in the hard packed dirt. She looked upwards, blinking owlishly. 

Obito didn’t have to fight the urge to sweat, because he was partly wood and wasn’t capable of it. The desire persisted. Sakura blinked at him.

He was being ridiculous. The girl couldn’t level mountains with a punch or stop hearts with a touch. She wasn’t head of a hospital and inventor of a dozen medical techniques. She wasn’t even married. Not even to idiots. This was a whole-ass civilian child. She could barely stick a leaf to her abnormally large forehead.

“What kind of gang?” Sakura paused a beat. “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”

“I’m not a stranger, I’m a ninja. That’s trustworthy.” Ninjas were pretty famous for being trustworthy, straightforward people. Granted, there was an outlier that should not be counted. “And it’s a fun gang. With…uh, candy.”

Sakura narrowed her eyes. “Where’s your headband?”

“Laundry day.”

Sakura applied every ounce of her genius intellect towards considering this. Obito carefully crouched down across from her, looking down at the small and crumbling hole she’d created. Wasn’t she a bit too old to dig in the dirt for fun? 

Finally, she said, “Sorry, Suspicious Ninja-san. I have school, homework, and chores. And a class project due next week. I have no time in my schedule for a gang.”

“Not even if it’s a really good one?” Obito wheedled.

Sakura shook her head solemnly.

Obito sighed dramatically, poking a gloved finger into the small hole. He allowed Sakura to smack his finger away with the kunai, ignoring her glare. It was super cute and potentially deadly. “So you’re too busy learning away, huh? Guess you’re just another kid with no intellectual curiosity. If you’re perfectly happy with the normal classes, I guess you don’t need advanced ones…”

Obviously, that got her attention. Obito knew full well that classes weren’t challenging her. Acing all of them across the board was a point of pride, but she knew that she wasn’t reaching her potential. She wanted to ace more difficult exams, which was more pride, and continue onwards towards higher difficulty in her quest for self-esteem. She searched unceasingly for the most difficult questions so she could experience the vain victory of knowing she was better than everybody else. Gifted kids. They were all the same.

“Is your gang a class?” Sakura demanded. “Is it special tutoring? Like the clan kids get?”

Ah. And maybe she wanted to do the impossible just to be as good as everybody else. That had always been the life of Sakura Haruno.

“It’s a group of people bound together by a shared dream,” Obito said mysteriously. Sakura’s eyes widened. “Yeah, we teach each other things. Special secret techniques that only we know. Here, I’ll show you one.” He looked down at the hole, brushing away stray rocks. “You weren’t using this hole for anything, right?”

“I was digging for worms,” Sakura said, frank and even. Somehow, her little dress didn’t have a speck of mud on it. 

“Cool. Uh, why?”

“They have really simple chakra networks.”

“Sorry I asked.” Obito dug his finger a little deeper into the hole, forming a small cavity, before raising his hand and cupping it over the hole. “Watch carefully. A true ninja looks underneath the underneath.”

Anybody looking from a distance - anybody from ANBU to nosy mothers - would have assumed he dug into the hole and pulled it out. But Sakura, ear to the ground and big green eyes fixed on the magic underneath Obito’s hand, saw it clearly.

A wisp of green pushed through the bottom of the hole. It slowly rose upwards, leaves growing and unfurling, as it reached the top of the hole and continued to grow. Petals budded at the top of the plant and unfurled, spreading pink. Spring passed in an instant, and in a slight of hand Obito pulled the plant up by the stem and pretended it had been there all along.

It was a camilla, petals dyed as pink as Sakura’s hair. Obito ceremoniously presented it to her. She was almost unable to take it: she was stupified, surprised stiff. She knew exactly what she had just seen.

She mouthed three syllables to herself: Mokuton. Obito smiled slyly. 

Sakura finally took the flower, inspecting it closely. Somewhat critically, she said, “Camillas don’t come in pink.”

“I thought I’d cater to my audience.” Obito leaned in, and Sakura ducked her head to match him. “I can teach you how to do it.”

Sakura’s eyes narrowed, twirling the flower between her finger and thumb. “It’s a kekkai genkai. You can’t teach kekkai genkais. And nobody would, anyway.”

“I would. I’m even offering.”

“Who are you?”

“Guy who wants to put together a gang. With fun and candy.”

Sakura’s eyes narrowed further into slits. “You said the gang already existed.”

“Let’s just say that we’re getting the gang back together for the very first time.”

“Why would we say that?”

She had not warned him that it would be this difficult. Obito remembered little girls as being way more pliable than this. But most little girls would have run away from strangers offering free rides, so maybe Sakura was more gullible than most. Or more susceptible to temptation. But every great ninja was.

“Flowers have simple chakra systems too.” Obito put his hand over the pit again. “Feel for my chakra this time. Earth and water. Watch what I do.”

He made a small sapling this time, which was far simpler and straightforward than creating a flower that didn’t exist. Sakura watched him carefully, eyes closed shut, and when he finished she reached in and ripped out the sapling herself. She studied the sapling carefully before sticking it in her mouth, running her tongue over the leaves and stem. Then she spat it out, brushing dirt over the plant as if burying a body and placing her hand over the hole.

Sakura screwed her eyes shut and lay there for a long time. Obito’s mind almost started spiraling into megalomania again before she began drawing her hand up. She made several small motions with her fingers, almost pinching, and Obito watched in marked interest as a small sapling rose from the soil. It only grew an inch out of the soil, and it was nothing more than a sprout, but so was Sakura. 

When she opened her eyes and saw what she had made - when she realized that the no-name and do-nothing girl could create a Mokuton as mighty as the god’s - Obito knew that he had hooked her.

Obito smiled at her, stiff and unyielding. “I have a dream. I’m dreaming of a world filled with meadows of beautiful flowers and forests of the tallest trees. You could help me create this dream, Sakura. I can teach you some of it, but you’ll have to make it the rest of the way on your own.”

The sapling sat in Sakura’s palm, and Obito knew that she found it far more beautiful than any flower. When she spoke, she stared at the sapling. “How?”

“Well…” Obito scratched at the back of his neck, laughing slightly. “How do you feel about crime?”

“Crime?!”

In the end, he had to kidnap her a bit. Technically he could have kidnapped her from the beginning, but a little work now saved a lot of work later. She complained a lot at first about her ‘family’ and ‘school’ and ‘desertion’, but she got over all of that predictably quickly. Her village did too: a disappearing child was not noteworthy in Konoha. Worst case scenario they’d accidentally stir up some ‘but I thought you kidnapped her for your child army’ situations.

Obito would create a heaven on earth, come hell or high water. Anybody who got in his way would die, from the lowliest Suna ninja to the Hokage himself. That was what it meant to be an optimist. And this little girl would be key to it all.

The most important thing to remember while writing Obito is that he is a freak. You are legally obligated to have him say, think or do something that will make the reader go "hey obito what the fuck" every other paragraph. He is not allowed to be normal.

That goes double for any time he is anywhere near Kakashi, who is also a freak but in a different way, and who only makes Obito more insane

[prince-everhard]

Weekly Oneshot Challenge - week 12

Title: Timorous Fandom: Naruto Rating: gen Word count: 1725 Summary: Sakura learns a new skill while on their mission to Wave. [part of the mokuton sakura rewrite]

Sakura was so exhausted that she felt like she could sleep through a circus without waking. But apparently her body had other ideas. She woke but laid still, silent and still tired, as the boys stumbled in from training and collapsed into their bedrolls. She wrinkled her face; at least she’d thought to take a quick shower after working up a sweat. The boys either weren’t as thoughtful or just that tired. She rolled over and pressed her face against the pillow, trying to block out the smell of boy that permeated the room. 

She was almost asleep again when something drew her out of her half-doze. Someone was in the room. Someone was in the room. They were quiet, professionally so. But their presence still woke Sakura. She swallowed, fighting to keep her breathing even as she just barely cracked open an eye.  Her heart rate settled a little when she realized that it was just Kakashi-sensei. Still, she hated feeling like this- all jumpy and tense. The mission was getting to her, making her feel paranoid and jittery. She raised her head off the pillow to glare at Kakashi-sensei. What was he even doing? 

He seemed surprised to see her awake; between his mask and the shadows and her own exhaustion, Sakura couldn’t tell what his expression was. But it seemed like surprise. He raised a finger to his lips. Sakura flopped her head back down on the pillow, too tired to even care. By the time Kakashi-sensei left the room, she was already asleep once again.

By morning Sakura had woken up about ten more times, and she was feeling more tired and irritable than ever. At least Sasuke and Naruto were also as tired as she was, so breakfast was a quiet, subdued affair. Sakura noted dimly that this was the quietest she had ever seen Naruto.

Kakashi-sensei seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to the team, because as soon as they finished breakfast he shooed the boys back to the woods to train some more. Sakura helped Tsunami clean up the table before she looked expectantly at sensei. Well, as expectantly as anyone could when they were that tired. She knew Kakashi-sensei had been guarding Tazuna while everyone else had been practicing (or napping, in her case). The threat was still out there. Sakura thought about Zabuza and tried not to shiver.

Sixth-sense-sensei only smiled at her, his visible eye creasing. “You seem tense, Sakura.” He moved a little closer, just enough so that he could speak without anyone overhearing. “Is everything alright? You know sensei is here if you need to talk.”

“I-” What could Sakura say? She was tired, and terrified. Zabuza was still out there. Gato was still out there. They were miles away from home on a mission, in way over their heads, and she was barely even able to walk up and down a tree without feeling like she’d run three marathons in a row. Could she even tell Kakashi-sensei all that? She was a ninja now. She’d earned her headband and graduated and was considered an adult by the village. And yet- Sakura had always been a bit of a teacher’s pet. This was Kakashi-sensei at his most focused and earnest. “I’m scared, sensei.”

Kakashi-sensei just reached out and tousled her hair. She scowled, swatting at his hand, until she was sufficiently too annoyed to be as upset, and then he withdrew. “Someone very wise once told me that bravery isn’t the lack of fear; it’s more pushing through your fear to do what you have to anyway.” Sakura halted her motions of smoothing out her hair, instead looking at her sensei with wide eyes. “Can you be brave for the mission and join me for guard duty today?”

Guard duty. Guard duty with that Demon of the Mist out there. Sakura swallowed. I’m a ninja now. “Yes, Kakashi-sensei.”

After a few full days of guard duty, Sakura’s nerves had managed to wear themselves out and left her feeling less scared and more bored out of her freaking mind. The construction workers were nice enough, and treated her less like a kid and more like an adult than she’d expected, but they were too busy during the day to do much more than greet her and Kakashi-sensei when they arrived. Lunches were kinda nice, because even if she wasn’t involved in the conversation at least it was something other than the bleak landscape to pay attention to. It was about an hour after lunch on their fourth day of guard duty that Kakashi-sensei finally turned to Sakura and said, “Well, is my favorite student ready for her prize from tree-walking?”

Honestly, Sakura had been first too tired, then too paranoid, to really think about the fact that she’d won the tree-climbing exercise. But now, absolutely bored and her fear dulled by time, Sakura was curious. “Yes, Kakashi-sensei. What is it?”

“Follow me,” he said simply, before moving to one of the support beams of the bridge and using his chakra to walk down it.

Bah. Of course Kakashi-sensei would make this as difficult as possible. Sakura went over to the edge of the bridge and peered down. Sensei was casually walking down the support beam, his nose stuck in that stupid book of his. This wasn’t like walking up the tree, where when she switched from vertical to horizontal there’d only be a few inches to fall. From her position to the top of the water below seemed incredibly far down. But- sensei seemed to think she could do it. 

Carefully, Sakura sat down on the edge of the bridge. She planted her feet on the side of the beam and pooled her chakra at the bottom of her feet. Still gripping the edge of the railing, she leaned forward until her arms were straining to hold on but her feet were more under her body. Like a gargoyle jutting out from a castle from one of those medieval movies her dad liked to watch. Thinking about her dad made Sakura smile, and a little of the nervousness left her body. She uncurled her fingers from the top of the bridge and leaned her torso forward until she was a straight line, walking down the beam like she’d done it a million times. Thanks, dad. 

Sakura was so concentrated on her descent that she just barely managed to catch a glimpse of some unknown expression on Kakashi-sensei’s face; she looked up from her feet right as she reached the bottom and righted herself. Whatever it was vanished, replaced with the sort of knowing bemusement she associated with sensei normally.

“Your prize is exactly what the village will expect from you: for learning a new skill, I’m going to teach you another more difficult skill.” Sakura tried not to let the sudden crushing wave of disappointment do more than wash over her. Of course it wasn’t a real prize. This was Kakashi-sensei, after all. Kakashi deliberately backed away from her, closer and closer to the edge of the shore, until he was walking on the top of the water. He wanted her to water walk? Sakura blinked. “I’m sure you can figure it out.” And suddenly his expression, his tone, his whole demeanor was so sharply serious. “Show me that analytical mind that should have taken top spot in the Academy.”

By nature, Sakura wasn’t very competitive. She knew her skills, knew what she was good at, knew so much more than people expected from a little girl with pink hair. But losing out on top student at the Academy- to Sasuke, who was cold and a jerk and still hadn’t figured out tree-climbing- stung right down to her core. She could do this better than him.

She could do this.

Sakura gathered chakra at the soles of her feet. Walking on water was at once both easier and harder than walking up the tree. The tree was stationary, where water moved and rippled. But the water didn’t have chakra like the tree did, and she wouldn’t have to attempt this at a ninety degree angle. Sakura placed a single foot on top of the water, pushing against it with first her foot, then her chakra. It was… weird, she decided. The water gave just like a liquid should when she pushed with just her foot. But making her chakra into a barrier between her foot and the water made it almost like she was trying to step onto a stream-slick rock, or a floating trunk. It wasn’t quite solid or liquid, but something in-between with just enough solidity to stand on. 

Carefully, Sakura shifted her weight from her foot on the shore to her foot on the water. She felt her body move when the water moved. I hope I don’t get seasick, she thought as another little wave bobbed her up and down. She wobbled- throwing her arms out for extra balance once again. One foot didn’t give enough stability, and she quickly pulled her other foot onto the water. 

She’d done it. “Kakashi-sensei! I did it!” She turned to beam up at him and just barely saw the kunai that he flung her way. He just- why would he- panicked, Sakura lost her concentration and plunged into the cold brackish water. Her eyes stung but she managed not to swallow any water, instead recovering even quicker than she would expect of herself and kicking her way to the surface. Soaking wet and miserable, Sakura directed chakra to her hands and knees to pull herself onto the water’s surface.

Kakashi-sensei reached a hand down to her, his visible expression looking a little smug. “You did it. Now we work on your need to concentrate.”

Sakura took the hand he’d offered her. Sensei really was a throw-them-in-the-deep-end kind of teacher. He wouldn’t think this was funny if he was the one getting dunked… the thought crossed Sakura’s mind and she didn’t even give herself time to doubt. She grabbed onto his hand and yanked. He’d been braced to help her up but she guessed he wouldn’t expect her to throw her whole weight into the water to drag him down too.

Even falling into the cold water again was worth the shocked spluttering as Kakashi-sensei surfaced from the water with her.