#and any sealed naruto cards

[lordsecondsenju]

Alright, friends. Two day collectors convention starting today. Most of the day I will be unavailable, I will be back later tonight! I can always try discord, but the convention center is notorious for bad signal.

[shanastoryteller]

happy birthday!

can I request some more hokage's daughter or marrying rich please? or anything else Naruto!

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5

The first part of the exam is a joke.

Sort of literally, because thanks to Naruto the Konoha Twelve all know the real purpose of the test, but also because Sasuke is able to answer all of these questions without even cheating. He knows Naruto can too, and the only reason Sakura even passed is that her theoretical knowledge is so advanced that it carried her past her mediocre ninjutsu and truly abysmal taijutsu, so this is a walk in the park for her.

Hinata, Neji, and Shikamaru are able to answer on their own as well and everyone else had already decided on their cheating strategy beforehand. The answers might not really matter, but they have to keep up appearances here.

When they get to the Forest of Death, Naruto leads them up to the trees, then says, “I’d ask if you were followed, but I figure you’d find that insulting.”

Sasuke has no idea what she’s talking about until the air next to her shimmers and then Itachi is sitting there. “You insult me all the time.”

“Aniki?” he asks incredulously, then glares at Naruto. “I hate when you don’t tell me the whole plan.”

Sakura pats him on the shoulder sympathetically.

She shrugs. “He’s just backup. Just in case. Remember-”

“Keep an eye on Gaara, don’t let him kill any Konoha shinobi, and if he looks like he’s loosing control or if I need backup, send a clone,” Itachi says. “Are you going to tell me why you’re so worried about Gaara in particular? He’s got a high death count, but that’s not exactly unusual.”

At least she hasn’t told Itachi everything either.

“You can trust him,” Sasuke says, even though Naruto knows that, even though he wouldn’t be here if she did it.

Even with those she trusts, it’s hard for her to lay all her card on the table, to trust them with everything. In a lot of ways, she trusts her parents. But she doesn’t tell them – well, most things.

Naruto looks away guiltily, then gives a short nod, but doesn’t say anything.

Sasuke sighs. “He’s like Naruto.”

Itachi is a genius. He understands what he’s saying immediately and his eyes widen. “That’s not in his file.”

If Itachi doesn’t know, then Minato probably doesn’t either. He would have told his Anbu. Sasuke knows that Naruto had worried that he’d hid it from her deliberately.

“I could be wrong,” Naruto says, even though she’s not, even though she wouldn’t be this worried and going to this much effort if she doubted herself at all. “He’s not exactly like me though.”

“His seal,” Itachi says. “It doesn’t keep them completely separate like yours does?”

Sasuke keeps his expression relaxed from years of practice.

“Right,” she says. “So don’t try and fight him head on, okay? We’ll help you.”

Itachi presses his lips together then nods, disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

“Come on,” Sakura says, “the sooner everyone else collects a scroll, the sooner we can get to the tower ourselves.”

Naruto nods, forming the Ram and a half dozen copies of his best friend pop into existence.

Meeting up with everyone would draw too much attention to themselves and splitting up to keep an eye on the teams is asking for trouble. Luckily, Naruto’s shadow clones are able to bridge that gap.

Not that she’s supposed to know how to do those, but Sasuke has lost count of the number of Naruto’s secrets he’s keeping.  

[oh-no-its-bird]

Naruto/Death Note crossover but it's just me zapping Misa into Naruto w the dimension travel beams (and also I stopped reading Death Note after L died bc I got bored)

Deranged hot goth girl fucks with ninjas more at 11

Ok but taking it seriously:

Her Shinigami eyes could actually cause SO many issues for ninja in general. No disguise ever works on her bc she can see your name !! You can not go undercover with this bitch around she'll catch you near instantly!!

Also her being able to see peoples lifespans would fuck so hard there too, what a party trick to pull. I want her to push someone to do some insane shit while going "nah don't worry you won't die for another few months at least so you'll be fine!! :)"

I don't think she came w the death note itself just bc I don't think Misa could prevent someone from taking it from her and it's way too OP to deal with the logistics of what having it just out there in the world would actually mean. Pretty much any naruto character gets it and the story ends in like 3 minutes flat

I know that there are shinigami in Naruto canon, tho I'm not too familiar w the specifics.

Either way, it could be cool if we really got into Misa's relation to them— she can see them with her eyes already, maybe she can sense them too. She's like being drawn to different artifacts and prisons of shinigami, she can sense them from far away and they call to her ooOOoOoo

She ends up freeing that one specific shinigami from the mask or whatevers going on w that. And since she already has the eyes from Rem, instead of going "oh, thanks lmao *kills you*" when freed, they recognize that shes already been claimed by a shinigami and are like "Oh shit, nice contract blondie." and she has an actual opening to talk to them (and maybe get another funky death god contract along the way)

Misa continues to show she has unstoppable, unbeatable shinigami rizz even into the next dimension. They all want her.

(If nothing else, naruto world has PROVEN that if u roll high enough on a charisma stat, you can convince anyone of literally anything, no matter if it was like the driving force of their entire life since they were 5 or whatever. So why shouldn't Misa get to talk shinigami into liking her just by being violently friendly?? No really, why not??)

Shes collecting death contracts like Pokémon cards, causing actual fucking havoc everywhere she goes via unleashing ancient evils for deals for some of their power (thanks Misa!!)

She doesn't know how to fucking fight tho, she's a 2000's goth girl in chunky heels. She's getting by on her insanely high charisma stats, good luck, and the giant shinigami only she can see standing directly behind her with a giant baseball bat waiting for someone to get close enough to hit

Could be cool if her shinigami eyes let her see yokai in general too, and just say there weren't enough back in modern Japan to notice. But there's TONS around now and Misa is making little kissy faces at them trying to be friends

Her eyes keep her safe by marking her as already claimed by a shinigami, also making most yokai reguard her as one of them. That could also maybe be used to get her places she shouldn't be in / have weaknesses a normal guy doesn't

Like, seals designed for yokai work on her too

Her eyes need to be mistaken for sharingan at LEAST once and it must cause as many problems as possible.

It'd be neat if Rem was there too. Maybe Misa collecting all this power from different shinigami is actually in some quest to bring Rem back, via giving her that power she got from the other shinigami. She's like roaming the land in an effort to get as much power as possible to make Rem a new body or smthn.

The rules of how shinigami exist and are allowed to interact with the mortal plane is different than the rules where Misa is from, so there's like tons of wiggle room for creativity n "woahh I didn't know you could do that!!"

Misa herself is such a go with the flow morally grey gal w a very clear potential and allowance for absoloute insanity— I think she'd be super down with joining whoever just happens to be the first person she meets in Naruto world. Like. She bumps into the Akatsuki first? You KNOW she's gonna join in. She happens to land near Konoha first? Hell yeah she's loving the funky ninja village! Military dictatorship? Fine by her!

Shes so undying loyal, no matter how clearly wrong or deranged the object of her affection is. So whoever earns that affection first is gonna keep it p much the whole way through (honestly this world is just lucky she's still hung up on Light, which is why she still has sommee agency here)

I think the most interesting thing to do w her + what parallels her story best would be joining Akatsuki actually. Cmon, a terrorist organization "dedicated to peace" (through murder) she's so there for it, she's asking to pretty please help bc "Light would probably like it <33"

Also the Akatsuki cloak is like the only naruto outfit I can see her really rocking while keeping her signature style. ALSO also, Akatsuki nailpolish code,,,,

[gojonanami]

goddess of hunger y/n is a great idea, but hear me out-

y/n who is the goddess of curses themselves

and she is the one damned being sukuna absolutely fears.

basically a similar concept to Naruto Shippunden's Kaguya Otsutsuki, but in this timeline y/n not only is not a forgotten god, she rules the fates of any and every curse.

and sukuna being sukuna is obsessed with eliminating her so he can be the one and only king of curses and rule with no opposition.

but here's the thing :

you cannot kill a god.

so he is trying to find some loophole, some weakness that will help him wipe her out or at least make her disappear, maybe in a similar fashion to how satoru was sealed despite being the chosen one

and along the way he actually falls for her.

this could be cool if you are looking to explore different power dynamics, with yn the one in power for once, but if it's not your style I completely understand

but hey, this has so much angst and maybe enemies-to-lovers!

also how are you ? is your new job holding well ?

any new merch ?

oh my god yes I love this too — the goddess of curses — maybe one that is in often in slumber and only appears to rebalance the odds.

perhaps Sukuna has gotten to a certain level where it’s not so simple to wipe him out but very possible for her, if she cared enough. but she doesn’t. meanwhile Sukuna is trying to find out her weaknesses — because there must be something, anything he can do, but what is a curse, even a king, to a god?

and then slowly as he chooses to ‘serve her,’ to find out her weakness, she begins to win her favor, but she’s winning his all the same—

I love it 🫣 it would be so fun to see Sukuna have to grovel in a way hahaha

I��m good!! I really like the job. I’ve gotten to do some cool stuff!! I’m hoping I get to take on even more work soon!! 🥹

oooh uh I haven’t ordered anything yet — I have my eye on those gojo and geto suit figures 😭 but idk if I want the nendoroids more or just the straight figures (I’m not gonna get the look up ones because I already have a set of gojo and geto haha)

I have a bunch of little keychains and stickers I got from momocon I should take pictures of and share on here though — one of my favorite things I got were these signed photo cards for haikyuu players — I got ushijima, oikawa, and atsumu 🥹🫣

[starryknight-dragonarts]

Over October I made a bunch of Pokemon versions of some classic Characters from English Gothic Horror: Victor Frankenstein, Count Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde... A little late to the party but I say let the Spooky Season Continue! Day of the Dead is in November, the days are getting darker and colder, and the Wild Hunt Persists through to the Winter Solstice hollering through the sky in pursuit of their spectral prey!

If Vampires are the Nobles of the Undead there is still one higher, The King...Tonight is for the Mummies! Theoretically almost any pokemon could be a Mummy, the Egyptians mummified thousands of Animals as well as Pharaohs and Nobles; From Cats and Dogs to Crocodiles, Baboons, Birds, etc...but I decided to bring back a familiar character. Ozymandias the Lucario. Ozymandias' name comes from a poem which uses the the Greek version of Pharaoh Ramesses II, and Lucario is based on Anubis the God of Funerary Rites and Mummification, so it felt just too ideal to make a Lucario named after an Pharaoh the representative for the Mummy, albeit more along the rehydrated variety than the husk variety, but there is precedent to that in English Literature with there being many stories of Mummies coming back looking as they did before they died and having strong opinions about the future world they have woke up into. Ozymandias certainly has some strong opinions about this world.

(I also took some inspiration form: Madara Uchiha - Naruto Lord Pain - Naruto Dio - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Kars - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Seto Kaiba - YuGiOh and Demon King Ganondorf - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom)

Ozymandias was born to an era of seemingly endless Wars and Chaos between the Legendaries and Yaldabaoth the Usurper and his Dark Forces. In order to survive the onslaught of destruction you needed to be strong, but Ozymandias strove beyond just survival and strength, he fought to establish a land of security and order amongst the chaos and save as many pokemon as possible. By his own effort he became The King of Kings mighty and righteous ruling the greatest empire the world had yet seen, though it came at great personal cost to him including the life of his young daughter Princess Anapi who fell ill while he was away.

Ozymandias firmly believes Rulership should not belong to those who desire power, Rulership is a sacrafice that demands of the leader to constantly fight themself to be greater than themself, but this has lead him to sees the faults and impurities in everyone else around him, and believe that no one else is qualified to be incharge and that it's his duty to take charge and will lead people to overcome their earthly flaws whether they want it or not.

By the end of his life he was laid to rest in a great tomb alongside his daughter, becoming a mummy so he could rest but his spirit would inhabit his temple and offer his wisdom to his successors through the ages till he may rise again revitalized and immortal to lead the world again to a new prosperous age, But following his death Yaldabaoth was finally sealed by the Legendaries and his existance was erased from the memories of pokemon. While Ozymandias was remembered as a great king the context for his rule was lost, and so was part of his legacy, so he never got to pass on his Wisdom.

The world he woke up to, he was not very impressed with, he believes this current world is corrupt and weak, a problem he plans to rectify... An old Absol called Tezoca the Hierophant found him and offered him a role familiar to organization from his era which withstood time by the allowance of the Legendaries; The Major Arcana, a group founded as spies to undermine Yaldabaoth in his era, now they were guardians to protect the world from his return. Fittingly Ozymandias was given the Tarot card of "The Emperor" and he joined with other members in the Major Arcana becoming known as the 7 Heavenly Virtues, representing the Virtue: Chastity, not because he has specifically sworn off Sex specifically though is not particularly interested in anybody sexually...more like he values self discipline. "Ones with this virtue are unhindered by worldly desires. They are able to overcome temptation and show self-discipline not through lack of being tempted, but rather of making the conscious decision to better yourself rather than do what you know is morally wrong." However despite representing Virtues and their initial reputation as heroes they soon became feared! Ozymandias doesn't care though, he is determined to make a better world he rules regardless of what pokemon think of him.

[riversimmone]

Of Hope

RiverOfTheSand

Summary:

He woke surrounded by a flock of birds. Each one a reminder of the life he'd lived. Of the sacrifice he'd made. Neji had come back to life. He was here. No longer caged. For her.

Notes:

For the Neji x Sakura Weekend on @narutorarepaireventhub. Prompt: The Caged Bird Uncaged For The Blossom. I hope you enjoy. :)

End chapter notes:

I had a blast writing this. It took me all day but I got through it. @narutorarepaireventhub is a blog on tumblr dedicated to monthly events for rare Naruto ships. So thank-you to them for hosting this or I'd never have written this and it was so fun and fluffy to do. Thankyou so much for reading. :)

.

This is also on AO3 and FF.NET.

Of Hope.

Neji Hyuuga woke surrounded by a flock of birds.

Cries of hawks in the distance. Sounds of people nearby talking. He blinked heavily, slowly coming out of his sleep. It was as though he was coming out of a dream-like state, but he'd already forgotten the dream.

The birds.

He winced, pulling himself to sit up. The quality of the hospital bed left much to be desired but the smell of chemicals and itching from the linen told him he was alive.

Not dead.

His hand went immediately to his forehead. Neji had always been aware of a feel of residual chakra simmering on his head that served to remind him that the Caged Bird Seal ruled his fate. His whole life it had been there and he never needed Lord Hiashi to activate the seal to remind him.

Weird. He could no longer feel it. Had he truly died? The cage had been opened. Or destroyed, he wasn't sure which was more accurate.

Neji blinked heavily again, sleep clouding his eyes. He almost forgot he was surrounded by birds.

Paper birds.

Dozens of them, hanging from the ceiling by what he presumed were a number of chakra threads. How and why thoughts plagued him. And if any of it could possibly have been approved by the head of the hospital.

It was then that Neji realised this was not the Konohagakure hospital. He had lingering memories of that place, as though his unconscious mind had reached out to touch it while his body healed. But he did not remember being moved from it.

His linen was soft. The room was temperate and there were no chemical smells assaulting his nose. His senses and memories had merged to play tricks on him.

Neji sighed and reached out to touch the closest hanging bird. It took the shape of a falcon and opened up to a small inscription in familiar handwriting.

Strange.

Falcon birds symbolised vision and protection. The irony of which were not lost on Neji. It was from his uncle, speaking on the wisdom of sacrifice and protection.

He could only guess that flowers had somehow gone out of style while he lay unconscious and almost dying. Though this alternative to the traditional "get well" gift was preferable. It felt more intimate. More personal. But not gaudy. And by people who'd taken the time to get to know him and adjusted their gift accordingly.

From my friends.

They'd had a meeting about this, he decided, imagining someone like Lee gathering everyone together and looking for "youthful" gift ideas for his extended hospital stay. Which had clearly turned into a more private location as his body was no longer in critical condition. All of this was just a supposition, however.

Neji returned his attention to the paper birds. He wondered if he could tell which bird had been chosen by whom, by what the avian symbolised. Each bird came from someone, with a hastily written line or paragraph about him.

About me.

Neji swallowed down his emotion and cleared his throat, forcing himself to read the cards without internalising them. HIs body protested the movements as he rose from the bed and forced it to reach up to each gift. His eyes darted over the bird shaped cards as he took it all in, subconsciously looking for one in particular, perhaps neatly arranged differently from the others and by a certain pink haired kunoichi.

One miracle is enough for one day.

He tampered down those thoughts.

His teammates were an easy guess since he knew them all so well.

Pigeon. Friendship.

Tenten, the girl he'd thought of as a potential partner once upon a time before she blew him off and proved they were better off as friends. Of course her card represented friendship and her note emphasised it. But it was welcomed, nonetheless.

Cranes. Hope.

But they also stood for youth and longevity, so it was no surprise to see his sensei's script on the card, alongside Lee's. Together they told him not to waste his youth in this second chance and to cherish every single day.

He waded through the rest of them, unable to temper his emotions as each one brought on a new wave of regret and humility. Naruto and Hinata had crafted a few together, no doubt her skill and not his. But they were beautiful and Hinata-sama's elegant script made him feel loved. Even Naruto's hastily scrawled signature couldn't detract from the beauty of it.

The phoenix of myth. Rebirth. He smiled at that one.

Bluebird. Happiness.

Cousin Hanabi. All she'd ever wanted, even in her most standoffish moments, was for the happiness of their clan. Conditioned and groomed to view it from the top of the tree where her kindness went mostly unseen, she had more in common with Hinata than most people thought.

His teammates. His family. Then his friends, as Neji scoured the messages from what was now referred to as the Konoha Eleven. He made it to the last one, his heart dropping.

Not hers.

There was no representation for whatever she thought of him, in the symbology of birds? He stared at the pile he'd made of the birds on the bed, frowning. Tugging on them lightly had freed them from their chakra strings, and perhaps he was reading too much into it but this felt like symbolism yet again.

But not hers.

He could not and should not be fixating on this. His heart was heavy enough. But Neji could not let the disappointment go. He pushed the birds aside.

With them out of the way, he finally took the time to recognise the decor of the Hyuuga Estate in the design of the room, but this space was unfamiliar. He must be in one of the side rooms of the main branch that he'd never seen before. His mind raced with the possibilities.

Neji was snapped out of his suspicions by a knock on the door.

Immediately, her chakra flared. The familiar warmth of it calmed him even as it sent his heart racing in anticipation.

"Come in," he said, happy that his voice did not betray his anxiety.

Sakura Haruno peered around the door, seemingly alone. Her face broke into an angelic smile when she spotted him and shuffled into the room, closing the door behind her.

His eyes raked over her body, looking for any hint that this was real. She appeared much unchanged from the young woman he remembered from the last time he saw her. Hair short and pushed back. Clothes complimentary to her figure. Hesitantly and kindness in her smile in the unfamiliar situation.

Sakura waved at the birds on his bed. "I see you've read them all."

He just nodded.

Sakura cleared her throat, one hand behind her back as she moved toward him and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I... I wanted to give you mine in person." Her face flushed, her hands trembling slightly, Sakura handed the paper bird to him. Their fingers brushed, hesitated, and then linked together for a moment. White eyes met green and they held fast to one another, neither wanting to shift away. But ultimately, he had to look down to find out what bird she carved while thinking of him.

Doves symbolise love.

It was cliche but he didn't care. Her fingers entwined with his, holding him gently, her thumb rubbing circles over the palm of his hand absentmindedly. For a moment he just held her lightly until she seemed to come to herself and pull away.

Was it friendship? Had he misinterpreted once again?

"How about I get you out of here?" She asked.

"I would like that."

Neji had so many questions. What had happened? Who had been looking after him? Where was everyone else? And so many more. He took stock of the room and found an acceptable dark slate gray kimono-shirt and long trousers to wear, then showered as Sakura waited outside the room and met her at the door. His body was still weak but remnants of her chakra were allegedly still in his system. She'd massaged his muscles daily, she said, which caused Neji's face to tinge pink.

They walked around the Hyuuga Estate, leaving the wings of the main branch and slowly doing the rounds of the branch domiciles before circling back toward where Hiashi was waiting for him. And as they walked, Sakura answered his unasked questions, her arm supporting his weight with her super strength as he struggled not to trip over every pebble and blade of grass.

He almost lost himself in her voice.

Neji appreciated the long way around she was taking him. The pain had eased considerably and the warmth of his carer had lulled him into a form of serenity.

"Let's stop for a moment," she said, and manoeuvred them toward a bench.

Neji recognised it as the bench he'd often sat on while watching main branch Hyuuga spar. Not the head main family of course; he didn't have permission back then. It was only when Hinata became a genin and would move her sparring sessions outdoors that Neji was able to watch.

And realise how much better he was.

He sighed as his bum hit the hard surface of the bench and Sakura sat gracefully next to him.

"I know I said I was taking you to see Hiashi," she said. "But I think I want to have you to myself for a while, first, if you don't mind?"

He shook his head. "I am at your disposal, Haruno-san."

"Please, Neji, call me Sakura. We're not formal with each other."

Had he forgotten a relationship with her where they were close friends or was she remembering their past wrong? He didn't dare ask.

"Of course," he said instead. "Sakura-san."

She giggled and leaned into him. "Better, but not quite there. Drop the san."

"Of course." He hesitated as she raised an eyebrow at him. "Sakura."

She smiled at him brightly and Neji returned the affection. Then she was leaning against him, her head on his shoulder, her arm wrapped around his.

He pondered what alternate reality he'd wandered into. One where Sakura Haruno felt comfortable holding onto him and apparently they were close friends? Close enough to drop the honorifics and spend time together like they'd done this a hundred times before.

Neji liked it, despite how surprising it felt.

He'd always kept her at arm's length. The girl who loved the Uchiha was out of his league. She would never be his. But for right now, none of that was true, it seemed. Sakura trembled slightly and then coaxed his arm to wrap around her shoulders, leaning more into him. Into his warmth.

Neji had been staring at her so intently he didn't notice why she'd chosen this spot.

He looked up.

The orange of the setting sun was just peeking over the main house.

He looked back down at Sakura, who had angled her face to watch the sunset.

Beautiful.

He looked back up again, not wanting to get caught staring. But as he leaned back into the support of the bench, Sakura's arms tightened around him. He took this as a silent assent that this was the beginning of something for them too.

Neji had come back to life. He was here. No longer caged.

For her.

[the-letter-horror-lover]

I'm gonna do sad Naruto Headcanons because I can..

Sad Naruto Headcanons

When Naruto was little, It was rather difficult for him during mothers day and fathers day when his class was set a nice task of making a card for their parents and he never knew his parents and he wouldn't know who to give the card to..and he certainly wasn't giving a father's day card to the third..other made fun of him for that (kids being kids was the excuse and that wasn't fair)

A few months after the Uchiha massacre..a seven year old Sasuke suffered from nightmares about the massacre and would wake up screaming for his parents would never come and he kept it to himself and suffered in silence.

Naruto never had a healthy diet because the villagers would always kick him out of the store when he tried to buy something else other than Ramen..or he was given something rotten or the prices was so high that he couldn't afford it.

Kakashi suffered from the guilt of killing his team and he would absolutely not allow his genin to suffer the same fate.

Every year on Naruto's birthday..Naruto hid in a forest so the villagers wouldn't find him and start a demon hunt to avenge the fourth..Naruto suffered enough from the injuries and he learnt from them.

Naruto was excluded from birthdays and Christmas events because of what was inside him when he was a boy and he was used to it but it was admittedly upsetting.

When Naruto turned sixteen..he discovered the present that his father was going to give him which was the diaries that he often wrote in as a child as a guidance of the various seals and he was going to give Naruto them so he could learn the seals to help him in mission and Kakashi gave them to him..(Minato never realised his demise which would eventually take his life when Naruto was born) and Minato was planning on giving him the diaries..which obviously never happened...

Every year on Neji's death anniversary..Naruto would come alone to his grave and sit next to it and talk as if he was really there..just keep him company for a while.

Sasuke felt guilty for the way he treated the village when he was forgiven after his efforts in the war..if he had went any further than that..he would have ended up like his brother..

[mythriftedfinds]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Sealed Vintage 2002 Bandai Naruto Collectible Card Game 3 Packs.

[depressedhatakekakashi]

People like to get on Kakashi’s case for entering sakura and team seven into the chunin exams, while explicitly forgetting or ignoring the fact that he ultimstly left the choice up to them by telling them they had to enter an application (which they did not need to do at all.) and that if any of them chose not to that was it

They would wait another year

Sakura struggled with the choice but ultimatly chose to put her name forward when Kakashi clearly gave her and the boys the option to back out. We all know Naruto and Sasuke would never back out (as Kakashi also knew) but Sakura was a wild card and ultimatly had the choice of if she was ready

Sakura made the choice herself

She had the opportunity to step back abd say ‘no i am not ready for this’ and Kakashi would have listebed. Sakura struggled with that choice before taking the exams

Kakashi even straight up lied to his students, telling them they could take the chunin exams seperatly, so Naruto and Sakura wouldn’t try and pressure Sakura into taking it against her will

People can be upset he volunteered them for the chunin exams. They can talk about it

But Kakashi never forced Sakura into a situation she was not personally ready for. She had the option to back out and the training from him to handle herself. Yes, she was behind her teammates

How could one not be behind a kid with a bijuu sealed inside of him and prodigy

Sakura chose to take the chunin exams

She decided for herself she was ready. At the end of the day Kakashi left that choice 190% in her and her teammates hands

Also, for those who will say Kakashi ‘didn’t train Sakura’. Before the Chunin exams he trained all three students the same. He didn’t take Sasuke aside until the month before the chunin exam finals. Going into the chunin exams, Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura had the exact same training from Kakashi every step of the way. He didn’t ignore her just cuz you want to act like he never taught her anything

Kakashi even taught Sakura things he did NOT teach the other two. While Naruto was unconscious on the ground from Kabuto’s genjutsu in the finals, Sakura was able ti dispel it on herself and Naruto. Because Kakashi taught her how to. He taught her a Jonin level technique because he recognized her as being capable of learning it, and he was proven right by her ease in using it.

[ino-buta]

can we talk about how hinata did absolutely nothing to get rid of the hyuugas cursed seal? like i know she couldn't do anything as a kid or teen but not once has she showed that she was against the usage of the seal. and even now as an adult she doesn't do anything. we don't see any changes anywhere. and don't use what hiashi said to hiazhi during the war as proof cuz when neji was dying naruto literally says "i thought u wanted to change ur clan". hinata's kids can't be used as proof either cuz u can't put a cursed seal (which puts u under the control of the hyuga main family) under the hokages children, that gives them power over him. oh and fuck naruto too for not changing anything.

what is going on with the tone of this message 😭😭😭??? I have a feeling that you didn’t mean it this way but it’s coming off a little combative and idk where this is even coming frommmmmmm 😭😭😭😭😭

Anyway I’m pulling the Sakura card here and we just have to attribute it to bad writing. I mean name literally ONE horrendous factor of the shinobi system that IS changed/abolished/resolved? Kishimoto wrote ZERO meaningful changes in this fucked up society idk why Hinata gets pointed out specifically. Like bro we’re still funneling kids into battle zones ain’t no way this story is abolishing slavery

[spellcasterlight]

I’ve never met someone who genuinely likes TenTen and the Aburame clan men like you do. What made you fall in love with them out of all the characters on naruto? ☺️

Hi there True Tree Frog Anon! 😊

What a cool question! I love it! 😁

Okay I'll try to be precise because I could ramble all day 😂

Under the cut simply for length!

Thank you for the lovely ask! ✨

Ao3 ✨ |Story Request Bingo Cards 📖 | Hot Chocolate ☕

My Main Girl Chose That Ninja Life 💪

Unlike most of the other main characters the Aburame, the Nara, the Hyugas we know nothing about Tenten's family or past so she most likely wasn't born to pursue the ninja life.

She went out of her way to say "I want to be a ninja as a career" she actively chose a life of round the clock work, potentially life threatening situations and action and adventure and I just I love that, I have just so much respect for that.

This is also a reason I love Sakura and Lee too! ❤️

The Chunnin Exams - That Aerial Flip Was Just 😍

Once I saw her fight with Temari in the Chunnin Exams I went "That's my girl".

A technique that was completely different to anything we had really seen before (I'll go more into that later), flinging that giant array of weapons with precision and the way she flung herself around the hall, it was just so graceful, acrobatic even, I just thought it was really class!

I would have loved to see a dancing or gymnastics background for her, I think it would have been easily and believability brought in. (Would love to write that story omw)

Not to mention the dragons! I mean come on that was cool!

She Had to Come Up With Her Own Technique

Again, unlike the other characters who had been practicing their clan given techniques all their lives, Tenten had to do some soul searching, a lot of trial and error, to find her way.

I adore that episode where we get to see some of that.

She began her Genin career with the firm want to be a medical ninja like Tsunade as she enthusiastically tells Gai and the rest of their team.

When she took the test to become a medical ninja and discovered she didn't have the chakra control needed? Her entire plan for her future shinobi career vanished.

So what did Tenten do? She took a step back and said "let's try things and find out what I'm good at" so that's what she did.

Like that's a lot of knocks to the self esteem and confidence and self reflection for a thirteen year old to take but she took all that in her stride and took something she was good at it and made it into a technique no one used, she made it her own. Tenten took a small good and turned it into a massive positive.

This is one of my favourite things about her by far.

The Weapons Mistress of Konohagakure ⚔️

Let's talk about that technique a bit more shall we?

This woman has a giant collection of metal beauties which she has spent her life researching, learning, experimenting with, pratcising with, she knows every weapon we could think of, and probably more, inside and out.

Because of that knowledge and experience of such a wide variety of weapons she can be both a long distance fighter (shuriken, kunai, bow and arrow) or a short range fighter (swords, bo staff, numchucks)

Her sealing can also hold a wide range of other things as well. Giant walls of fire and an entire ocean from what we've seen to name a few, I don't care what anyone says that's impressive.

Because of her sealing technique she also seems to do most of the heavy lifting supplies wise (food, cooking supplies, medical supplies, tents etc).

Tenten is a fantastic member of any team, both as attack or support.

I Love Me a Woman With Drive And Passion ❤️

Most of the other characters influences to become better are external which makes sense given their stories but Tenten isn't one of them.

She wasn't try to impress anyone, she wasn't trying to earn her place anywhere, she wasn't doing it because of family influence.

Tenten wanted to get better for herself and herself alone and that takes alot of firm unshakeable belief in yourself and I think that should be praised.

This is a reason I love Lee as well! ❤️

She also opened her own shop all by herself, Tenten had a goal and went for it. 👏

She's Super Cuteeeeee! 🥰

When I saw Tenten's wee chocolate coloured hair buns I thought they were really cute! I also love her style, fully functional in a most of her is covered to protect her from the elements way but also kinda stylish!

The Aburame Clan Hive - I Need The Backstory There!

The clan made a pact with the insects to live in their body, feed on their chakra, and, in return they destroy their enemies; like umm I'm sorry what?

How incredible and unique is that compared to the other clans abilities? The story behind that I need in my life. When we saw the Aburame abilities I craved more information about them than any other.

How did that come about? Did it evolve over time? Did their Kikaichu change over time? How does a new member get their hive? Do they get the whole hive right at the beginning? Or only a few and it grows? Does it hurt to get them? Is there only a small window when they can get their hive? How does their skin make those holes for the Kikaichu to move through?

It just creates so many questions and sparks so much creativity!

Shino and Shibi Have This Solid Belief In Themselves And It's Just Inspiring To Me

You mostly see this in Shino of course because we see him far more than his father but they seem to just give off this vibe that they believe in themselves through and through.

That trust in themselves to make the hard decisions, to know that they'll win the fight, that their friends and family have their back, that what they're doing is right.

I think a lot of people wish we could be that firm in ourselves all the time, I know I do! I admire it greatly.

The First Time We See Shibi? Ultimate Dad, Instant Love ❤️

The first time we meet Shibi properly what does he do? Comes to his sons rescue during the Konohagakure invasion. It's one of the first times we see just unconditional love between a child and their parent in the series. Just a hard hitting dad moment that shows his love for his son. Top quality, one of my favourite moments in the entire series ♥

Shino's Personality Makes Me Laugh 😂

He's so unapologetically sarcastic at times and I giggle every freaking time I love his dialogue and way of speaking!

Smart, Loyal, Powerful, Mysterious - What's Not To Like?

The Aburame's are shown to be smart, analytical fighters and I love that style of fighters over brute strength.

They are shown, on multiple occasions, to have unmovable faith in their teammates and family, Torune freely offering himself up to ROOT being only one, is an extremely admirable quality.

From that 'Shino vs Zaku' fight Shino is shown to be more than capable in a fight. Powerful, ruteless, unstoppable right from the beginning. That fight sends chills down your spine and sets the tone for what they are truly capable of.

On top of all that, let's face it, they've got that tall, dark, and mysterious thing going on.

The deep voices, that commanding aura, the sunglasses and tall collars to hide their expressions just all of it yes and that bathhouse episode just sells it (I have a thing for brunettes of all genders! Sue me! 😂)

...Okay Anon apparently I lied I didn't keep it brief at all please forgive me 😂

[pi-cat000]

BNHA: Kakashi dimension hops crossover (6)

Summary: Kakashi gets dumbed into the My Hero Academia universe through random plot devise.

Characters:  Kakashi Hatake

Fandoms: My Hero Academia and Naruto

WARNINGS: Mentions of violence/injury

START  / PREV / NEXT 

As predicted, the day following the seal’s application is miserable. His chest is tight with almost anxiety, pins and needles run up and down his arms making his skin itch, and he is increasingly lethargic. All symptoms of a chakra imbalance and to be expected when one’s normal chakra replacement rate was thrown out. The sensations would pass once his body adjusted as they had with his sharingan.

He is eating three square meals a day, doing the bare minimum when it came to exercise routines and avoiding excess chakra use. It had been literal years since he had had this much bed rest. If he were ever going to slap a chakra collecting seal on himself, this was a perfect time. Okay, so maybe he should have steadily increased the chakra drain over the course of a few weeks for a smoother adjustment period. Hindsight and all that.

What mattered was that he would be fine, and he just had to wait it out. Bright side? No one had commented on the seal yet. Oh, he has definitely noticed serval people throwing the odd confused frown at his shoulder, but that was as far as anyone had gone in acknowledging it. His oh so clever strategy of acting like nothing was wrong worked so much better when he wasn’t surrounded by other shinobi and medic-nin.

“Your blood pressure is still too high. Are you sure you haven’t been experiencing any additional fatigue or other symptoms? Is something about the hospital causing additional stress? If there is something wrong, we should work on strategies to fix the problem.”

Well… it worked on everyone who wasn’t Wada. The man was irritatingly persistent in his doctoring. Apparently, the pressure of adjusting to an increased chakra drain wasn’t doing his body any favours.

“Maybe it’s a part of my quirk. High regeneration. High blood pressure.” Kakashi shrugs loosely not bothering to look up from HEROES and HEROINES May Issue. Unlike his previous reading material, people gave him odd looks when they saw him reading these magazines which immediately upped their entertainment value 100-fold.

Wada undoes the compression sleeve he had been using to measure Kakashi’s blood pressure, lecturing as he goes, “From what I can tell your cells produce more energy-rich molecules, ATP, NADH, then is typical, increasing cellular functions. Where your cells are getting the energy to produce these molecules, I have no idea seeing as you eat about the same amount as any baseline human. What I can safely say is that it should not influence your blood pressure. If anything, your blood pressure should be a bit lower than average. Now don’t dodge the question.”

He pauses, waiting for Kakashi to cave and suddenly confess. Kakashi, an old hat at dodging medical questions, continues reading unperturbed.

“I’ve been at this for over 30 years. An attack like the one you suffered is understandably traumatic, not to mention the stress of severe amnesia. I’m sure, whatever is bothering you, I’ve heard it before.”

Kakashi very much doubts that. “I feel fine.”

Wada huffs, unconvinced, “Young men. You all think that admitting you have a problem is a sign of weakness. High blood pressure can damage your heart and lead to problems  later in life so finding the cause is important.” Good thing a shinobi life spans tended to max out around 30. The odds of him making it to an age where he’d have to worry about the long-term effects of anything were pretty low. He doesn’t voice this opinion, continuing to read.

Wada continues talking with greater gusto, “No matter, I’ll prescribe you something for stress hopefully that’ll help with your blood pressure. However, this is no replacement for healthy habits both physical and mental. You should consider professional therapy.”

Kakashi snorts. Yeah, that sounds about right.

“Oh, you think that’s funny do you,” Wada makes to grab HEROES and HEROIENS and he lets the doctor pull the magazine free from his hand. It gives him a good view of the man’s irate expression.

“No, of course not.” Kakashi attempts to placate and gets a light smack over the head with said magazine for his troubles.

“There is no shame in pursuing a healthy mind!”

“Weren’t we going to test my quirk today?” He complains to derail the current line of questioning.

“I have half a mind to put it off and have you rest another week,” is threatened before Wada’s stern expression relaxes, “Lucky for you, I’ve booked you into serval tests that can’t be rescheduled.”

Kakashi breaths out dramatically. He thinks Wada might have made a good medic-nin if he had lived in Konoha. Sure, he is a little too trusting, but he was also not above pestering his patients into taking better care of themselves. Sakura would approve.

The doctor, with the assistance of an attending nurse he hadn’t bothered to learn the name of, helps Kakashi out of his bed and into a wheelchair, ignoring his protests about his leg being all but healed.

“You’re to avoid putting weight on it until you start physical therapy,” Wada snaps at his continued complaints, “You’ll need to be careful, extended bed rest and surgery can leave your muscles weakened. Also, leave that magazine behind. You’re doing eye tests when do you think you’ll have time to read!”

Kakashi doesn’t push the matter further, resigning himself to being wheeled down the hospital halls like the invalid he was pretending to be. It is not like Wada knew about his frequent excursions to the roof or the fact that he has been running through strengthening exercises on his own time for several weeks now.  Best he keeps that information to himself.

Partway down the hall, he pulls out HEROES and HEROIENS from where he had slipped it into his shirt, enjoying Wada’s exasperated expression. Of course, he stops reading when the doctor threatens to start lecturing again. The man could definitely talk when given the chance.

Wada and the nurse take wheel him to a set of double-door elevators which take them down several floors below the ground level. The hallway they exit of a mirror of every other hospital hallway. Grey and white walls, pale blue lino floor and bright fluorescent overhead lights. The only difference is that this hallway is lined with heavy-looking metal doors. From snooping through patient files, he knows that all quirk tests are carried out in specially designated underground ‘safety rooms.’ That doesn't make him any more thrilled about being several stories underground. It cut down on his escape roots.

“These are some of the more secure recovery wards in the hospital,” Wada explains as their little group stops at a small reception desk where the doctor taps away at a computer screen, “they’re mostly for treating patients with unstable quirks.” Kakashi maintains a neutral expression, accepting the explanation.

Wada wheels him up to a steel door, swiping his ID card which also doubled as a key to many areas of the hospital. The heavy door is automated and slides open. A lot of the doors in the hospital operate this way and always made sneaking around slightly more troublesome.

Inside walls and floor are plain white and there is an odd number of tables and chairs pushed to one side out of the way. Everything stinks of disinfectant. On the far wall is a single solitary painting of a tree in a field, the only splash of colour in an otherwise depressingly sparse room. A poor attempt at living up the space. The opposite wall sports a rectangular, reflective surface which was probably some sort of observation booth. Well, if being underground hadn’t put him on edge, this obvious confinement room definitely did the job. Kakashi eyes the space. Worse comes to worst, he could use the kamui and remove the adjoining hallway wall then climb his way out through the elevator shaft. There are only two other people in the room with him and one woman at the reception desk, all were most likely unenhanced with quirks unsuited to combat, easily removed.  He doesn’t let his body language reflect his unease. He is just a little on edge because the new seal is messing with his body’s natural homeostasis. If this is a trap there would have been other signs of deception before now.

“Yes, I know it might seem like a whole lot of fuss just to run through a few flashcards,” Wada comments, oblivious to Kakashi’s poor mood. He waves to his assisting nurse who wheels over and lowers one of the metallic tables so Kakashi doesn’t have to move from his wheelchair. “But it’s a standard safety procedure when an unknown quirk is involved. Trust me, this is a lot easier than travelling to an external testing range.”

Wada stops to give Kakashi a once over, frowning, “How much do you know about your quirk sub-type?”

Kakashi shrugs, “Nothing much.”

“Ah,” The doctor’s frown grows, and he grimaces, “Of course you don’t.” A sigh.

“Typically, ocular quirks will act to enhanced sight in some way or improve base level memorisation and recall ability. It is also common to have a replicating function, allowing the user to produce some sort of copy of things they see. In rarer cases, ocular quirks result in precognitive abilities.” Wada explanation falters, “They can also have a line-of-sight emitter effect, such as laser vision, optical blasts, a few instances of mind control and other mental effects. These can also be incredibly dangerous if the user isn’t in control. There have even been instances where whole buildings have been levelled.”

“I see.”  He supposes Wada's irritation at this private 'quirk' testing made a bit more sense. A doctor faced with an unknown and possibly dangerous ability would be annoyed if said patient went about experimenting without taking safety precautions.

“I should have checked whether you knew the dangers instead of just assuming. Apologies. That is my own error.”

He peers at Kakashi, almost guilty now, “and you don’t have a phone either so there would have been no way for you to research quirks yourself.”

“Ah,” Kakashi rubs the back of his head not likening how torn up the other man seems to be seeing as Kakashi had ever been in any real danger. “Don’t worry about it,” he reassures.  

His reassurances land flat, the doctor still frowning, “I’ll see if I can get you access to the internet somehow.”

Privately, Kakashi adds 'research' to the list of functions ‘phones’ apparently provided and 'internet' to his growing list of terms to investigate.

Wada sighs again. “Regardless, let’s get these tests done first.” He places a thick folder labelled National Standard for Registration: Kit Type 3 alongside one of those portable keyboard-less computers the doctors tended to carry around.  “Hold on, been a while since I’ve done one of these. Need to find the rights files. Ah, here we go. First, these rooms are monitored, and all tests are recorded. The data collected is confidential, accessible only to the patient and physician unless doing so causes the patent harm. Information regarding quirk function and use is shared with the Registry Office. You have a right to stop testing at any point. You got that?”

Kakashi grunts, his already poor mood souring further. He is not sure he wants the hospital - or anyone - keeping records of anything sharingan related.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Wada continues unperturbed, a testament to his serval weeks of trying to doctor Kakashi, “remember to let me know if you’re experiencing any discomfort. Don’t want you busting anymore blood vessels.

Kakashi lets out a tired breath, “Sure.” The sooner they left this room the better.

“We’ll test memory and vision first to compare to your baseline, then we’ll run through the replication and precognitive tests just in case.”

The nurse, who had been on the opposite side of the room waves, “All ready over here.” There is now a large poster with letters of varying sizes hung on the wall. He recognises the chart from his previous eye tests.

“Okay, let’s start with just uncovering it. Make sure you’re looking away from me as a precaution.”

Kakashi resists rolling his non- sharingan eye at the obvious instruction, shifting his attention to the poster on the wall. He flips his padded eyepatch up with his index finger so it partially rests on his forehead. All the letters, no matter the size, immediately snap into sharp focus. Nothing spontaneously combusts under his gaze. When he glances at the painting of the tree, he can now see a lack of brush texture, suggesting that it wasn’t a painting but a print of some sort. With that useless information now forever etched into his memory, he turns back to examine at Wada.

The sharingan picks out all the wrinkles and pores lining the older face. It focuses in on minuscule muscle movements as the man’s expression shifts from professional and accommodating to curious. The doctor’s fingers twitch ever so slightly over his computer. Most likely an unconscious habit. The man’s breath is slightly uneven like his chest can’t smoothly expand, suggesting some sort of lung problem. A past smoking habit perhaps? Nothing threatening is revealed.

“Doctor.” Kakashi prompts when Wada spends a little too long staring back at him. The sharingun did have a weak hypnotic effect, encouraging extended eye contact to help catch targets in genjutsu. Kakashi rarely uncovered his eye in the presence of civilians so he doesn’t know if the effect is more pronounced or if Wada is just curious.

Wada blinks, “Well…I certainly see where the ‘wheel’ description comes from.” He spends a second more staring then turns to start writing notes and tapping away at his computer screen. “I wonder if those spinning tomoe are purely cosmetic or if they have some other function because they are certainly fascinating to look at. There is also faint bioluminescence to the eye which is a common feature of ocular quirks…”

Honestly, the blatant eye contact is weird. Even his closest allies tended to avoid looking at his sharingan out of habit - expect for Naruto who was an outlier in almost everything - for understandable reasons. He thinks the people here would also exercise caution if an ocular abilities included mind control or exploding a person through eye contact. But no, Wada just goes right ahead and stares. A few seconds later and the unnamed nurse is also looking curiously at his eye. … …

Aside from redoing a standard eye exam, Kakashi runs through a marathon of flashcards to test both his memory and then precognitive abilities. The tests are done with lights on then in the dark and Kakashi is given a perfect 20/20 and an enhancement score of ‘15 grades above average’ for both. There are also several pages worth of words and numbers in progressively complex arrangements to test his information retention. Of course, everything is easily remembered with the sharingun active.

“Well, it seems to give general across the board vision enhancement alongside perfect recall and retention,” Wada finally concludes as he records all Kakashi’s results, “Of course, we’ll have to re-test retention in a few days so see if the information degrades over an extended period and we don’t know whether your quirk effects your long distance eyesight, but, for now, this appears to be all. The link between your quirked eye and the regenerative side-effect is still unknown. Odd that we couldn’t trigger any ‘copy’ function considering the quirks name though  ‘copy’ could also be a reference to memorisation.  If any other features do reveal themselves make sure you alert a medical professional.”

… …

Kakashi despises the process of getting an MRI with a heated passion. He hates having to lie prone in a loud confined space. It is the height of discomfort, making him tense up and clench his jaw. It is only the fact that Kakashi had researched and mentally prepared himself for the experience that stops him from accidentally snapping someone’s neck.

“We’ll have the results back in a few days,” Wada informs once the trying ordeal is over with, “From there we’ll update the Registry so you’re properly in the system. Speaking of which, have you made any progress on remembering a surname? I need something for the forms.”

“Hatake,” he grunts, too irritated to bother evading - he just wants to return to his room and wait out the side effects of his seal in peace- the question like he had every other time the man asked, “I think I prefer Kakashi though.”

It wasn’t like the name meant anything here and, who knows, maybe someone would come looking for him. This way they would have a trail to follow.

NEXT

[aros001]

First time read through light novel vol. 18. Random thoughts.

I somewhat suspect the author was hungry while writing this volume.

Also, wow, I knew Kizuna was short but the prior artworks never gave me the full idea of how short. She

is only chest-high compared to Naofumi and Glass (I suppose that could make Glass happy, though; ease of access for Kizuna and whatnot).

Given that, outside of the natural gluttons like Filo, S’yne, and the killer whale sisters, the only person on Naofumi's side with the "Eat food for EXP" matter is Itsuki, I think this is him falling dangerously close to thinking only in terms of game mechanics instead of reality, much like the other three heroes had been early on. Theoretically, yes, if you can gain levels and strength just by eating, why wouldn't you do a lot of it? But he's almost outright ignoring the physical discomfort and pain it's causing his allies and seeing only the numbers. Not to mention that he himself doesn't appear to be eating nearly as much, as he's focus on the cooking.

That said, it is cute that this is the first time in her life Filo is starting to feel full.

Chapter One: Sloth

OH SHI-! Oh, wait. Wrong franchise. We're good. I did not want to have to imagine Kizuna biting her fingers off (Kizuna: "My brain trembles!!!).

If Kizuna is indeed suffering under the curse of Sloth, I'm curious what triggered that specific sin for her. We only have the four heroes of Raphtalia's world to go off of but each sin applied to that specific hero for a reason. Naofumi: Wrath because of his hatred of what Witch and Trash put him through. Ren: Greed because he wanted more EXP, levels, and loot; a toxic extreme of his solo-adventuring. Itsuki: Pride because he believed only in his view of justice. And Motoyasu: lust and envy because of his obsession with Filo and being kept away from her. Kizuna's obsession with fishing, even when there's other important matters that need to be dealt with, I suppose could be considered lazy and thus lead to sloth as its extreme, but it feels a little bit like a stretch.

As he did so, the books from a nearby shelf whirled up into the air, forming . . . a dinosaur . . . perhaps. No, a dragon. The monster’s name was “Magical Tome Dragon.” Now things were really getting a bit crazy. A dragon created from books! Was this some kind of joke?

I want a Yu-Gi-Oh card of that.

“Don’t tell me, Glass is like the Raphtalia of this world? Could we really get that lucky?”

I mean, that's what the fandom likes to joke when it comes to her and Kizuna.

Breaking the sloth curse through Kizuna's love of fishing was about what I expected. Not complaining, of course. Again though, I'm just wonder what about her coincides with Sloth. She prefers talking it out and making allies as opposed to fighting but I wouldn't exactly call that lazy or slothful either.

Kizuna had a lot of folks like this among her allies—people who had started out as enemies but then became allies. If I fought someone as an enemy, there was generally no coming back—there were exceptions, like Sadeena and Shildina, so it was probably better not to generalize.

Glass and L'Arc are literally standing right next to Naofumi as he thinks this and Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki all tried to murder him at one point or another. S'yne was part of the gladiator fights too, now that I think about it, and while they never fought he and Trash were definitely enemies for a while. This dude turns more enemies into friends than freakin' Naruto. Being kind of oblivious is part of Naofumi's character but I suppose this could be seen as an interesting look as to how exactly he considers someone an enemy. If they fought him for reasons he eventually came to understand and sympathize with, then he perhaps doesn't consider them as ever having been a "true" enemy.

Aww, Glass is jealous of Tsugumi being close to Kizuna. And unlike Raphtalia with Naofumi, Kizuna doesn't have any kind of tragedy that keeps her opposed to relationship and would require Glass to be patient. I suppose Glass could simply be afraid of hurting their friendship by proposing romance or even that Kizuna doesn't swing that way. And this is from Naofumi's perspective, so Glass being gay could be completely off the mark. Still, it'd be nice to get a solid landing one way or another. Even Eclair unknowingly rejecting Ren at least give solid confirmation that he's into her and why they're not together.

“What! I’m the Hunting Hero! I don’t handle the cooking part!” Kizuna complained.

“And I’m the Shield Hero!” I retorted. Not the Stewpot Hero! If anyone called me that, I would kill them with cookery!

And technically, you're not even that right now. Not with that mirror on your arm. The mirror is cool and all but I am looking forward to Naofumi eventually getting his shield back. He just feels incomplete without it.

“Almost feeding time!” one of them said. Others proceeded to chime in.

“Yes . . . the time we’ve all been waiting for.”

“The moment we live for, basically!”

“Even if I only get to eat one mouthful . . . that is the fuel that will keep me alive!”

“I’ll never eat anything but his cooking ever again!”

“I think the schweiz is the best! It has to be!”

“No! The stietz!”

“Hey! No fighting! We’ve been warned about fighting!”

Did they stumble across a food cult?

“It isn’t bad,” Filo said. “It just isn’t as nice as yours, Master.”

“Well, okay . . .” I replied.

“All of the heroes have cooked in the village, Mr. Naofumi, but Filo and everyone else all feel the same way,” Raphtalia told me.

Filo also grew up with Naofumi's cooking since birth, so while he's already a good cook you get the added taste of home for her. I've said it before but out of everyone I consider Filo to be the most like Naofumi's daughter.

“Then you wish to settle the bill,” she replied. I thought it was free. As my suspicions intensified, the girl spread both of her hands and continued. “How was the food at Seya’s restaurant? It was so delicious, wasn’t it? If you wish to become a member, please leave all of your assets or hand over anything that can be turned into money. If you leave some personal items as collateral, you can have some time to go and fetch some offerings.”

Yep, that's a cult alright.

“Master’s food!” Filo said.

“They’ll get a surprise when they taste what you’re cooking, kiddo,” L’Arc said.

“Indeed. Your victory is assured, if that’s the best they can do,” Glass agreed. I was still concerned about how aggressive they were being. Were they hopped up on endorphins or something? They weren’t acting in character at all.

My first thought was that the OOC behavior was some side effect Naofumi didn't realize came with the Mirror weapon's power-up method, but then why wouldn't Raphtalia or Kizuna be effected when they have been eating the food too? Then I thought maybe they were more used to eating Naofumi's food in general and would have a tolerance to any addictive effects, but then why is Filo still effected?

“That’s the best dish Seya’s restaurant has to offer! Seya’s curry bag! And it’s Fifth Floor too!” one of the MCs shouted. I barely stopped myself from tipping over onto the ground. He really was just reheating a premade curry in a bag! So he was allowed to heat and serve already finished dishes? I mean, that might give me some ideas myself . . .

“The flavors that are normally lost in reheating have been sealed in the bag using proprietary technology! Now you get the maximized flavor from the moment you open the bag! This truly is the ultimate culinary technique! Everyone, watch this kitchen miracle closely as it unfolds before your astounded eyes!” The MCs continued their diatribe, but it just made it harder for me to keep a straight face. It was all a matter of perspective. Capturing the flavor in a bag was certainly a worse approach than making it on the spot.

“Naofumi . . . am I imagining things? It looks to me like he’s just adding or warming up instant ingredients using hot water,” Kizuna said.

So, like most other antagonists in this series lately, Seya is just an arrogant, entitled fraud high on his own stolen power. Why am I not surprised? Though he is giving me a bit of a Kazuma from Konosuba vibe with how he managed to figure out how to recreate items the old heroes would have talked about from Japan. It's odd to say he doesn't have nearly the same level of charisma as Kazuma give...well...it's Kazuma and he's deliberately written to be a massive scumbag.

I do like with his magic powers and awesome cape, Naofumi is basically the little muddy boy meeting a superhero, one who will save the day through cooking.

As for Kizuna . . . I handed her some of the fish we had brought in and had her cut it up. She’d finished with the poisonous fish already. Her life as a fishing fool was paying off now. She knew her way around a fish. The blood had been skillfully drained, and overall, she was a step ahead when it came to gutting and cleaning.

...You think the Hunting Tool can turn into something like the Wunder Boner

?

I explained pointedly, looking at Seya, Trash III, and the other MC. Trash III responded by flipping me off. I could taunt with the best of them, and I mouthed some swear words back.

I mean, one of my favorite scenes in Isekai Quartet was Naofumi and Shalltear sassing each other, so I can agree with that.

“Pollution?” Kizuna asked, looking puzzled.

“You didn’t notice that?” I replied. “Well, just watch.” She wasn’t the brightest bulb, that was for sure.

“Hmmm, I think I need to go wash up,” the rotund noble said. “I’ll be right back.” The judges proceeded to take turns visiting the washroom. Once they had all returned, it was time to eat Seya’s food.

“Huh?” Kizuna, L’Arc, and Therese were looking puzzled. The other diners around us too. I guess there was cause for a little suspicion.

...Did Naofumi give them laxatives?

“Ah!” Kizuna finally cottoned on. “So that’s why you used so many medicinal herbs in your dishes!”

“Exactly. The reason they all wanted to go to the washroom after eating was to expel the toxins. I also used other herbs to bolster the lethargic feeling that would bring on,” I explained.

He gave the judges f**king laxatives! That's hilarious! I get the actual explanation he gives is more complicated than that, relating to purifying and digestion and getting them to finally take notice of the toxins in Seya's food now that they're free from its hold, but it's funny to think that's basically what he did. He won a cooking competition through dishes that encouraged the judges to take a sh*t (or a p*ss, I suppose).

“Hey . . . you’ve been reading too many cooking manga. It’s an illusion that delicious and good things will be evaluated highly. What you need is popularity and demand,” I said. Of course, it had to taste good, but putting the emphasis on that as a bare requirement was also a problem. If you were planning on selling food in a restaurant, of course it had to taste good. Customers came because of other elements, because of popularity. If Seya’s restaurant collapsed here, it would cause trouble for all the judges. That was why I’d created an escape for them. In order to realize the future that boy wanted.

While we don't see Naofumi selling his wares so much anymore because he has far less of a need to, it is nice we do still get that cynical and merchant side of him. All that time didn't just go to waste and it's still a key part of his character.

“What, then? What do you want?” Seya asked.

“There’s someone behind all of this, correct? Someone pulling the strings. If you tell us all about that, we’ll let you go. Hey, I have an idea. Write it down on this piece of paper here. I want a record of this.” I said and passed a piece of paper to him. Seya’s expression immediately brightened.

“That’s all you want? Fine, I can—” But the rest of that sentence vanished into an awful grunt. The moment Seya tried to write a single word, his head simply crumpled in on itself. He managed a brief scream, and then his entire melon exploded. I didn’t want to traumatize my allies, so I quickly threw up a cage and blocked out the grisly scene. Then I gave a sigh.

Well...that was kind of f**ked up for Naofumi to do. Don't get me wrong, after what they had to do to get Takt to be willing to confess, this is much less horrific. But Naofumi did basically just give Seya false hope and then trick him into executing himself. I get why he did it and how dangerous the vanguards are, but it is interesting to think that while ROTSH isn't the darkest of the light novel series I've been reading, Naofumi, save for Ainz Ooal Gown, is definitely the most morally grey of the protagonists compared to Kazuma, Subaru, and Goblin Slayer.

“No matter how delicious the food is, if you eat the same thing every time, you’ll start to get sick of it. Once you get sick of it, you won’t overeat simply because you won’t want to. I’ve been applying that concept to my food,”

That is better than what I was thinking with Naofumi getting too into the game mechanics. And boy do I feel for his friends. It's the same thing that killed me off of soda for a few years. Obviously it's worse to starve than be overstuffed but it's still not a pleasant experience.

We were talking about the primary reason why Kizuna was summoned here in the first place. To put it simply, the idea was to revive the Demon Dragon.

YYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

And they Tanya'd him too; reborn as an infant of the opposite gender. So does that make Kizuna or Naofumi Being X?

“Seriously . . . it brings dragon tears to my dragon eyes to see you, the great Shield Hero who defeated me, now reduced to this.” The Demon Dragon placed her front paws against her head and muttered sadly to herself.

“I hope you aren’t looking for sympathy,” I said harshly.

“Just think about it for a moment. The same bunch who shouted about defeating me and saving the world are now back, having screwed everything up, relying on me—their sworn enemy—to save them! Take a look around. Does this world look like it’s at peace to you? Well?” the dragon said, really coming for me now. What was worse, I didn’t really have a reply. This world was still plagued by humans fighting each other and had been ravaged by the vanguards of the waves. Everything the dragon had said so far had been so on the money that Kizuna and Glass probably didn’t have any response either. “Can you see how this might feel like something from your own past? Having been chased as a criminal, and then having to clean up after those very weaklings who were chasing you after they had been beaten down by the waves and people from another world?” That punch really landed hard. I wanted to call it a low blow, but she was basically providing a stunningly succinct summary of my life in these other worlds.

Seriously though, after Kyo, Takt, and the various other vanguards, it is so refreshing to have a villain who speaks with some dignity and can actually make a decent point or two, rather than "I'm strong so I can do whatever I want! Losers!" In my vol. 16 random thoughts I compared Takt to All For One from My Hero Academia and I still feel the same way. The two are not that much different goal-wise. They wanted the world and had the power to make it theirs, thus their actions. It is an immature goal when you think about it but AFO did not act anywhere near as immature as Takt and it made him feel so much more intimating. He would sometimes mock his enemy but when he did they were deep cuts that he knew would get under the skin of someone he truly hated, like All Might, rather than just throwing out insults and acting like a brat. And the Demon Dragon is the same (the High Priest too, now that I remember him, even if I don't talk about him as much). I liked Glass as an antagonist because she was intimidating, spoke only as much as she needed to, and was very powerful compared to the protagonists at that time, getting Naofumi to fear facing her again and giving her weight to the story and for the audience. Finding out later her motivations gave her some depth and added grey to the situation. The Demon Dragon is not nearly as sympathetic, but he still works for a lot of the reasons she did. There's presence to him, er, her. It's not a brat who needs to be knocked off their high horse but a genuine threat.

And being able to work with the heroes weirdly makes that even better. The Demon Dragon calls a 100 year truce, not because she's on the side of good, but because she wants there to still be a world around for her to take over. She's completely open about her goal, which ironically makes it easier to trust her.

“That should do for now,” the dragon said. “Hmmm, and this is a female body. Excellent. Shield Hero, under the condition that you will ultimately mate with me, I shall provide even greater cooperation.” So that was how long it took for things to take a crazy turn.

Still a little weird that she wants to f**k Naofumi though. And when the anime gets to this part there is almost definitely going to be a fanfic or doujin. Actually, now that I think about it, there are going to be creators getting some mileage out of when the Demon Dragon tried to take Naofumi over earlier in the series.

“Can’t you make do with Kizuna? She’s one of the four holies from this world. You’ll just have to overcome the gender barrier,” I said.

“Why me?!” Kizuna exclaimed.

“What are you planning on doing to Kizuna?” Now Glass turned a hostile gaze on me too.

Ahh, Naofumi's such a d*ck, I love it. Also, now that's two rivals in one book for Glass. She's almost caught up with Raphtalia.

It would have suited us better if the enemy was a bunch of morons. It was annoying that life never worked out quite so easily. We had no idea how bad it was going to get with the waves, so we had to plan our moves carefully and move to prevent this “fusion of the worlds,” whatever that meant.

Wouldn't that be a heck of a comeback to my bitching about the villains? The ones behind the vanguards have been sending out their idiots first, the ones arrogant and drunk off their power, to soften up the heroes first and cause a bunch of damage but that they know will ultimately just get killed. Takt and the others getting offered up as sacrificial lambs basically because those like S'yne's sister don't like them either.

“I’m starting to feel sorry for Naofumi,” Kizuna agreed.

“He probably thinks you two are in the ‘harem,’” I told them.

“I really don’t like that,” Glass responded. “No, I don’t. I don’t like that at all.” I wasn’t sure why she said it three times, but I didn’t like it either. Just for the record.

“Naofumi is a friend and a comrade, but we’re not like that!” Kizuna retorted. I wondered if she really understood the situation. She was the type who needed things to be said directly to her face.

“A shame we don’t have Fohl here. Even L’Arc would have worked,” I said. Just a few guys mixed in might have broken the group up a bit and prevented it from looking like a harem.

“Naofumi . . . even if we did have some guys, it would probably just give them some different ideas. Like . . . boys love?” Kizuna said. It sounded like, whatever the composition of the party, they would presume a lewd relationship with me at the center.

You know, you never hear about this kind of thing with Ren and Itsuki. Motoyasu went out of his way to have a harem and he still doesn't get it thrown at him as much as Naofumi does. Maybe it's one of those "He protest too much" kind of mindsets, where the more Naofumi denies it the more people think it's true.

“You got lucky. If a wave had occurred with the world of our illustrious leader, we were planning on shattering you. That’s the problem with this system; that’s the only way to get the reward for destroying a world,” the sister explained. I’d heard this talk about rewards for destroying worlds before, I vaguely recalled. I had no idea where that reward came from.

So there's a third world mixed up in all this. Obviously there already was the implication of multiple universes with S'yne and such but now there's a big spotlight on somewhere besides Raphtalia and Kizuna's worlds, where the big bad supposedly lives.

“That’s pretty much what I was expecting. Shield Hero, let me tell you something interesting,” the Demon Dragon began. Then she looked at the Artificial Behemoth’s chest again. “That part there houses a corrupted holy weapon from this world, which has artificially turned the monster into one of the four holy heroes and has allowed it all the power-up methods. It’s basically the monster version of a holy hero.”

I'm somewhat suspecting it's the Blunt Force Holy Weapon, given how easily that beast is smashing through barriers.

The soul that Raphtalia had pulled from the vanguard of the waves was not much like the body it had come from. Instead, it was a gloomy, Japanese-looking guy who was probably in his thirties.

...

“The vanguards of the waves are people who have been reborn or transferred over here after being selected by the one who assumes the name of God. They are given all sorts of abilities, such as the power to steal holy weapons or seven star weapons. They come into these worlds and start causing chaos,” I explained.

“Reborn? You mean like having spare bodies, like Kyo?” Raphtalia asked.

“No, something else. Just their souls were led to this world from Japan, and then they were reborn here as someone from this world. With their memories of the past,” I said. For example, they are people who died in unfortunate accidents—people like Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu. This “god” would whisper to them that they had died an untimely death and offer to reincarnate them in any world they liked. They were already dead and so had no reason to reject such an offer. If they did, the “god” probably claimed to be taken with their resolve and promised to give them additional cheat powers, basically forcing them to accept. In some cases, maybe they were just forced to be reborn, no matter what they felt. I’d read books like that, loads of them. Now that they knew being summoned to another world was actually a thing, why not getting reborn or transferred over?

So I was right about Takt being some OC f**kboy! They're all OCs! They're people from Japan who died and now are getting to live out their sh*tty power fantasy fanfiction as their equally sh*tty original character! As a source of useful but disposable minions, that's actually kind of brilliant. We saw how bad Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki had been at the beginning (with Naofumi himself potentially on that path as well before he was betrayed) and they were chosen by weapons that actually have the world's best interest at heart. Take those same people and have a malevolent entity constantly feeding their egos and pushing them to do terrible things because "it's their right to do so" and "they're the real heroes" and you've got an near endless source of wrenches to throw into the works of those trying to stop you.

Of course, now I just have this image in my head that the World Eater is Aqua from Konosuba. Which would actually be kind of amazing, not gonna lie. A godly being reincarnating otakus from Japan into a new fantasy-based world for a singular purpose and giving them special powers and tools in exchange.

“What if . . . and just hear me out . . . what if this one who assumes the name of a god is somehow responsible for my game knowledge?” Itsuki quietly suggested. That sounded possible to me now. Even if being summoned was the correct process, having some prior knowledge would change your actions once you arrived.

Before, when the Shield Spirit had explained to Naofumi that he was a first pick choice and the other three heroes were their weapons' third picks, I'd theorized as to why and how the final selection ended up. Assuming the weapons were telling the truth about being able to grant any wish once the waves were over, it could be assumed they have some power over reality even in the four's home universe. So I'd theorized the weapons set up a window to snag their picks, with the shield getting Naofumi and the other weapons, by sheer unfortunance, had their picks keep missing the window and thus they became more desperate, thus why their third picks had to die in order to reincarnate because the weapons couldn't leave things to chance anymore.

Now, with the new speculation and info, we can assume the World Eater has some influence over other universes too, including the heroes' original ones. So two new theories come to mind.

The first, and one I find most likely, is that the World Eater is causing video games that are similar to the worlds impacted by the waves to appear in the original worlds of the heroes. In theory, the butterfly effect could cause a chain of events that'd lead to such games existing, so it's not like the World Eater is just dropping them into each reality. It would just need to nudge things in the right direction. If video game knowledge is actually detrimental to the heroes, then that leaves less choices for the Holy Weapons (at least in regards to what their ideal candidates would be) and opens up more choices for the World Eater, since it wants arrogant and know-it-alls like that for vanguards.

The second, which could still work with the first, is that the World Eater is aware of humans the Holy Weapons have their eyes on and is actively sabotaging them. A weapon has a first choice, so the World Eater throws the game or other things in their path to turn them into a less desirable option, possibly even vanguard material.

After all my comments about the recent antagonists, S'yne's sister is starting to grow on me. She's filling a similar role as Witch; manipulating and using people before ultimately tossing them aside. But like the Demon Dragon and High Priest, there is more of an air of dignity about her than with Witch. With the exception of her sister, she's not really talking down and belittling anyone to try and promote her own strength. Like Glass she feels like someone who is genuinely powerful and doesn't need to prove it. How she's using the enemies of the week is curious and perhaps even a little scary because it does feel like she's testing and experimenting and these losses are not really a loss for her. And there's the added mystery Sadeena threw in over what she really wants. Whether bad guy with a bigger agenda or a secret good guy, she's more enjoyable to read about, as opposed to the vanguards where the biggest enjoyment they offer is watching them get taken down, and even that's not much with all the whining and tantrums they have after they're beaten. She's different from Witch and Kyo. She's not completely high off her own power and doesn't refuse to recognize her enemies' strength. Her casually teleporting away for a bit when she realized the battle was turning in the heroes' favor gave a ton to her character.

I'm just looking forward to when she gets a name other than S'yne's sister or Moron Woman. I appreciate Naofumi's completely lack of caring for learning the names of people who don't deserve it, but if she's going to be a serious antagonist or secret ally, a name would help.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/shieldbro/comments/kdwai7/first_time_read_through_light_novel_vol_18_random/

[chalabrun]

where danzo got his sharingan (theory)

When it comes to the matter of where exactly Danzo attained the infamous Sharingan that littered his artificial arm, it begs the question: just where did they come from? Or, more specifically, who was the Uchiha who provided Shin Uchiha's genetic basis? I hope to explore this and more in this meta.

A background: What we know

To begin, I think it goes without saying that Shin Uchiha was the one who provided Danzo with his arm graft. Now, something I think can be reliably disproven is the fact that the Sharingan on Danzo's arm weren't harvested from the victims of the Uchiha Clan Massacre. Instead, through Uchiha genetic material, the Sharingan there were from a single genetic source. 

Naruto Gaiden ch. 700+7, Sasuke confirms Shin as the source of Danzo's grafted, Sharingan-riddled arm.

Shin, with his missing right arm that corresponds exactly with the one Danzo had.

While perhaps it was popular to theorize that the Sharingan on Danzo's arm were harvested from the victims of the Uchiha Massacre, while it's already been proven false, one of the biggest holes in this theory is the fact that Danzo's right arm had been concealed and bandaged before the Uchiha Massacre even started, suggesting that Danzo had such procedures done before it was even suggested or brought to light. That, and Orochimaru had left Konoha before the Massacre had even occurred, at least a handful of years before the likes of Naruto or Sasuke were born (as the Massacre happened when Sasuke was roughly 8 years old). Or, it's strongly suggested they'd left before then.

Ch. 121, when Orochimaru confirmed their own defection from the village as more than a decade before Part 1.

But, as this would go on, this leads us into our next point.

A background: Danzo & Orochimaru

Orochimaru when they were a member of Root.

One of the most mysterious facets of the plot is Orochimaru and Danzo's working relationship, and how far it went. While a fairly shadowy time, there are a few concrete absolutes of what Orochimaru used their scientific prowess for in service to Danzo; or rather, what advances were made before Orochimaru's formal defection. 

The first, and most notable, was taking Anko Mitarashi on as a student and using her in their experiments, prominently with the Curse Marks. 

Orochimaru insinuating at Anko being their past student during the Forest of Death arc.

Anko struggling with her own Curse Mark we learn she received long before Sasuke ever attained his.

Orochimaru, after their revival in the Fourth War arc describing some of the mechanics of their Curse Mark.

One thing significant about the Curse Mark (or, the Curse Seal of Heaven, as it's formally called) is the fact that it had in a one-in-ten success rate, meaning that, while working under Danzo, Orochimaru likely had the jurisdiction to conduct such dubious, fatal experiments with forbidden jutsu despite the casualties incurred. Given Anko's age (24 in Part 1) would've been 13-14 at the time (give or a take a few years from the decade or more since Orochimaru's defection), it meant that Danzo likely authorized them so long as he benefited from the Sannin's experiments. Which leads us to the next point.

Danzo & Orochimaru: An interest in Hashirama

Now given the relational age of students/test subjects like Anko, this leads us to the next most notable. As many people know, the Root agent known as Yamato was also a test subject of Orochimaru's, largely in the twilight years when they became more and more unethical with their experiments. Now, again, here's something to consider:

Danzo, exhibiting signs of possessing Hashirama's cells during his battle with Sasuke.

Now, as we're given a timeframe for when exactly Orochimaru was a part of Root and doing illicit experiments for Danzo's benefit, this leads us to the next most prominent test subject we're introduced to in Part 2.

Yamato, around the time of his introduction to manga & Tenchi Bridge mission.

Ch. 291, where Orochimaru expounds on the experiments they did with the Shodai's cells.

As we learn on the Tenchi Bridge mission, Yamato possesses Hashirama's cells from experiments conducted by Orochimaru who came across (or was given access to?) Hashirama's body they extracted the First's cells from. Now, taking into account Yamato's age this early on in Part 2 (26), the math there would have to factor in Orochimaru's defection and the time since. So, 26 - 14 (adding an additional 4 to factor in the 3 year interlude period and year-long Part 1) = 12, making Yamato around the same age as Anko (give or take a few years) when Orochimaru was experimenting on their Curse Marks while being a part of Root. Especially since these experiments' test subjects are confirmed to have all been children.

Now, while this might seem like random pieces of information, this will become very important. As we can infer from this alone, Orochimaru had a dedicated interest and access to the bodies of the Founders...

Orochimaru using Edo Tensei for the first time during the Konoha Crush.

...as evidenced by their debut use of the Edo Tensei kinjutsu that demands genetic samples of the ones being summoned in order to work. Hell, the first time they utilized the Impure World Summoning kinjutsu was to wield Hashirama and Tobirama against Hiruzen.

Orochimaru: Their interest in the Uchiha

Obito/Tobi on location in the Sharingan lab secreted within his base of operations.

Now, something I think needs clarifying is this: at no point in the manga was it ever confirmed that Orochimaru ever had access to the Sharingan harvested after the Uchiha Massacre. The only one who had, however, was Obito Uchiha as Tobi. In fact, it's strongly insinuated that Danzo likely gave Obito unprecedented access to the victims' bodies and allowed him to harvest all the Sharingan he desired, as seen in the aftermath of Danzo's defeat where Tobi/Obito is shown in his lab with hundreds of Sharingan samples. And the only plausible way it would've been remotely possible was if those Sharingan were from the Massacre's victims.

The prelude to the Hokage Summit when Tobi outright mentions meeting Danzo before.

This doesn't mean that neither person never coveted the Sharingan's power, however. It simply debunks the notion that any of the Sharingan in Danzo's grafted arm were ever Sharingan belonging to the victims of the Uchiha Massacre. As seen with Shin, the Sharingan were artificially made in a lab from Uchiha genetic samples from an unknown donor (or, unwilling test subject, more likely). 

As stated by Shin himself, he and the other Shin clones were cultivated by Orochimaru, not composed of stolen Sharingan from Massacre victims.

The Shin clones themselves from Gaiden, all shown with identical Mangekyo Sharingans like the original Shin.

And, of course, Orochimaru had an extremely well-documented covetousness for the Uchiha and their abilities, best evidenced in their interactions with Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha.

During Orochimaru's years in Akatsuki, they attempted to steal Itachi's body shortly after he joined, but lost their hand as a result.

Orochimaru during one of Sasuke's training sessions before they planned to take his body (mostly) voluntarily as their new host.

However, aside from this vested interest, it can't be overstated enough that Orochimaru is only ever canonly shown targeting living Uchiha, namely Itachi and Sasuke, both which resulted in failure. Regardless of how that interest manifested, what is canon is the fact that Orochimaru only got such power from two sources: the Sharingan they cultivated themself, and the Uchiha survivors they targeted, those being the Uchiha brothers. 

Uchiha Shisui: The possible Uchiha donor?

Ao when he used his Byakugan at the Gokage Summit to confirm that Danzo was not only in possession of Shisui's eye, but that the chakra of his arm matched Shisui's as well.

Now, with the fact that Danzo has reliably proven to have possessed cultivated Sharingan from a single donor, by the looks of it, that donor would've been Uchiha Shisui. However, I doubt this is the case due to the fact that 1) it defies the time period that Orochimaru would've been in the village long enough to collect such samples to create Sharingan imbued in Shin and 2) Danzo is shown with his arm being sealed before he's stated to have ever stolen Shisui's eye for himself. 

Danzo, unveiling his trump card at the start of his battle with Sasuke.

As we can see with this particular panel, a habit Danzo had fallen into was concealing his right, grafted arm and keeping them sealed. 

Hiruzen and the Elders' Council deliberating the possibility of needing to eradicate the Uchiha.

As shown above, Danzo habitually kept his right arm concealed before the Uchiha Massacre even happened. In fact, just panels ago in the same flashback is when Shisui is shown with his right eye missing. In such a consideration, the time between Itachi and Shisui's conversation and Itachi paying witness to the Massacre's deliberation likely wasn't long at all. And certainly not long enough of a time for Danzo to have stolen Shisui's eye and used them as a base for his arm's Sharingan (especially since Danzo has no probable scientific knowhow of the level Orochimaru possessed who had become a missing-nin for years before this point). While his eye certainly is, another consideration to make is that Ao only is capable of recognizing Shisui's chakra that he encountered with his Byakugan before, while never noticing the other Sharingan or Hashirama's DNA (especially since those with Hashirama's cells can be sensed as having them).

Shisui during his conversation with Itachi just panels before Itachi would meet with Hiruzen and the Elders' Council.

Now, while it's been shown before in the manga that eye transplants can occur with just the right amount of medical knowledge and performed by the recipient (as shown with Madara and Izuna's eyes, and later with Obito transferring Itachi's eyes to Sasuke), it goes without saying that medical and scientific knowledge aren't always synonymous with each other. Much like how Tobirama excelled in the sciences while Hashirama was stated to be an expert with medical ninjutsu, or how that dynamic became true again between Orochimaru and Tsunade as the Sannin, Danzo being able to transfer Shisui's Sharingan for his right eye doesn't mean he possessed the scientific knowledge necessary to cultivate Sharingan from it, timeline disputes and narrow timeframes notwithstanding.

Therefore, I don't think that Shisui's Sharingan provided the basis for the Sharingan in Danzo's arm. There is, however, one last and likely possibility.

Uchiha Madara: The most likely Uchiha donor

Now, while this might seem incredibly farfetched, I have a lot of reason to believe that Madara was the genetic template for the Sharingan in Danzo's arm and Shin Uchiha's body. And I have reasons for this, too.

Madara is the most likely Uchiha, and the one who would've gone unnoticed if his body had been experimented on.

Madara at the moment of his death, not long before the end of the Third War, approximately.

When Madara admits to his own status as a "lost" Uchiha.

Now, given the reasons I've stated above, and the fact that Danzo/Orochimaru had access to or knew the locations of graves of the Founders (Hashirama & Tobirama), it gives me reason to believe that they also knew the location of Madara's corpse and were able to procure genetic samples from his body. Given the fact that he was pronounced dead by the shinobi world decades earlier, it leads me to believe that it's entirely likely Madara's body would be the least-risky Uchiha to experiment on that would fly under the radar of the Uchiha Clan who likely wouldn't have ever allowed the village access to their dead clansmen.

It's implied Orochimaru may have experimented on Madara's body before.

Black Zetsu explaining how he led Kabuto to Madara's corpse to begin with.

Admittedly, this page might seem enough to blow holes in my theory, but I think it's worth noting that 1) Kabuto was never aware of Orochimaru's experiments on Hashirama's body nor 2) that Yamato existed at all (especially when one factors that Kabuto would've been taken under Orochimaru's wing around the time these experiments had been going on at all). What's more, the manga itself does have contradictions of its own with previous plot points being undone or contradicted by later ones, or the story being established by the time the manga was nearing its end (such as the relevance and power of the Uzumaki clan not being noteworthy until the Fourth War). 

Madara's body was experimented on once before by Tobirama.

One must also factor in that it wasn't the first time Madara's body had been experimented on to discover the Sharingan's secrets, setting a precedent.

Ch. 681, after Madara's first death.

Given the fact that Danzo had worked under the Second Hokage before, and because Danzo was likely the one who gave Orochimaru access to Tobirama's kinjutsu and cadaver, it also stands to reason that Tobirama's brutal pragmatism and dehumanizing regard of the Uchiha could have later influenced Danzo's absolutism with the Uchiha Massacre and passed on to Orochimaru (despite the fact that they turned out to be even more pragmatic and level-headed than Tobirama).

But, aside from this precedent of Madara's posthumous availability as a test subject of Uchiha-centric experiments, there's more.

Orochimaru & Kabuto reverse-engineered the theory of the Rinnegan's manifestation long before the Fourth War.

Ch. 559, after Madara's debut in the Fourth War.

As this page properly furnishes, something stood out to me: Orochimaru and Kabuto had experimented on the Rinnegan before. Or, more properly, the theory behind how they came into being. A common thread seems to be that older generations were aware of the Sage of Six Paths and the Rinnegan, and given the fact that it's unclear how Jiraiya attained this knowledge, it's probable Orochimaru may have been in the know as well as the Toad Sannin. With all this in mind, it's extremely likely that Orochimaru not only also knew about the Rinnegan, but began synthesizing theories as to how it would manifest in the first place.

Ch. 559

Given the fact that Orochimaru has found the extremely esoteric before, such as probably locating Ryuchi Cave, one of the legendary sage regions on their own (versus Jiraiya reverse-summoning himself due to affinity with the Toads), the idea of them finding Madara's cadaver and utilizing it in experiments is a likelihood as well. 

Closing thoughts

So, while this theory went into a lot more than just what it says on the tin (such as Orochimaru's experiments with the Founders, debunking the Uchiha Massacre victims in Danzo's arm theory, etc.), I hope it was enlightening and possibly opened some eyes!

[cerezaxiii]

All unique magic abilities so far:

Update Chapter 4:

Riddle Rosehearts:

Unique Magic "Off with your head"

Manifestes a collar around opponents neck and seals away their magic.

Fun fact: Is called that because taking away a wizard's magic is like cutting their head off.

Cater Diamond:

Unique Magic "Split Card"

His unique magic let's him make copies of himself.(basically shadow clone jutsu from Naruto)

Trey Clover:

Unique Magic "Doodle Suit"

Magic that can overwrite a component for a short period of time. Can overwrite taste, color, scent, magic...so basically anything.

Leona Kingscholar:

Unique Magic "King's Roar"

Can turn everything he touches into sand.(basically Shigaraki Tomuras Decay quirk)

Fun fact: All servants in the palace were scared of him because of his unique magic :')

Ruggie Bucchi:

Unique Magic "Laugh with me"

His magic makes people mimic whatever he's doing. (basically the shadow imitation technique from Naruto)

Jack Howl:

Unique Magic "Unleashed Beast"

Can turn himself into a wolf. Just like Link in Twilight Princess (I thought all Savanaclaw students could turn into animals at will but no...just good old Jack)

Azul Ashengrotto:

Unique Magic "It's a Deal"

As long as someone signs a deal with him, he'll be able to confiscate one of the target's magic. The confiscated magic is kept inside the contract and Azul can use it anytime.

Fun fact: Azul doesn't need a contract to take someone's magic away, but if he does it without a contract he's prone to overblot quicker.

Floyd Leech:

Unique Magic "Bind the Heart"

His magic deflects enemy attacks. (I think it only deflects magic attacks. You can probably still punch him in the face though...) This magic also makes Floyd immune to non-offensive magic like Jamil's unique hypnosis magic.

Jade Leech:

Unique Magic "Shock the Heart"

A person who gets affected by this unique magic can only speak the truth for a short period of time. The affected person will enter a trance like state and will answer any question truthful. However if a person has a high magical resistance/strong will this unique magic may not have any effect.

Fun fact: Apparently Jade can only use his unique magic once on a person, he can't use it on the same person twice.

Jamil Viper:

Unique Magic "Snake whisper"

He can hypnotise people to do his bidding. One has to look him in the eyes for it to work. The effect is not permanent, the affected person will return to normal after a certain period of time and won't remember being hypnotised.

Kalim Al-Asim:

Unique Magic "Oasis Maker"

His unique magic summons rain. Since his unique magic doesn't require a lot of mana he can easily cause floods.

Fun fact: Azul commented how helpful Kalims unique magic could be for countrys which don't have a lot of fresh water resources and that he could make a fortune with this. That greedy greedy octopus....

Please let me know if I forgot something.

[raendown]

Next up in the follower milestone gift fics is for @FollowingTheRivers, prompt word torpid. 

Pairing: MadaraTobirama Word count: 1397 Rated: T+ Summary: It wouldn't occur to him until much later just how ready he'd been to trust the one who found him.

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

KO-FI and commission info in the header!

Anchor in  the Drift

Maybe, Tobirama thought, if he tried very hard, he could invent a new seal on the spot that would allow him to stand up outside of his own body and carry it to safety. That sounded a great deal like a job for those solid clones he was still working on but not really, that wasn’t entirely what he wanted. What he actually wanted was to close his eyes and just let consciousness swim away from him like it was trying so very hard to do. Unfortunately that was definitely a bad idea at the moment. Very unsafe. Entirely likely to get him killed. 

If only he could muster the energy to care. 

Something grunted nearby and Tobirama gave some thought to a curious hum. Then decided against it. Humming felt like too much effort. The sheer act of living felt like too much effort right now while his head swam wildly between perfect silence and jangling alarm. 

“You’re a hard man to find, Senju.”

Fingers carded through his hair and Tobirama found he was so much more interested in that sensation than any of the other ones he could barely feel anymore anyway. His eyes fell closed and then his eyebrows pinched when that seemed to act as a signal for the fingers to stop. That wasn’t right. He hadn’t meant for them to stop. 

“Uh...alright. So that’s not normal. You good?”

He would be perfectly good if only the fingers would come back to his hair but the very thought of cracking his jaw open to communicate such felt like asking himself to lift a mountain. Instead he whined faintly and hoped that would do. It was hard to remember the last time he’d made any sound even close to a whine over the past decade or more but thankfully whatever or whoever might be attached to those fingers seemed to get the point because a moment later they were there again and Tobirama could only smile happily with his eyes still closed. How nice. 

“Not good. Definitely not good. Look, whatever’s up, you need to live long enough for me to make fun of you for this, okay?” 

Obviously he had no answer for that but as long as he got to enjoy the sensation of being petted like some common housecat he found that he just did not care. Even when the entire weight of his body was suddenly floating, torpid limbs lifted and positioned for him, still he had no thoughts but to admire the pleasant cool sensation of whatever he was being draped across. How lovely just when his body was starting to feel too warm. Clearly the universe had decided to realign itself in order to grant him his every wish. Actually, no, that wasn’t entirely true. The hand in his hair was gone and that was simply unacceptable if he was supposed to be getting everything he wanted. 

For a short time Tobirama drifted, vaguely cognizant of the air rushing past him just a tad too firm to be a pleasant breeze, barely aware that whether his eyes were open or closed the world existed as the same blurry haze. Something might be wrong. It should probably bother him that he couldn’t tell. Mostly the last shreds of his thought processing abilities were taken up by wondering if he’d somehow developed the ability to fly. Now that would be an absolutely fascinating development, one he would need to perform extensive tests on, though just the thought of performing any sort of experiment at the moment made him want to lay down and go to sleep. Was he already laying down? It was hard to tell. 

“Here we go, easy now. Don’t even think about flopping around or something. If you get any more hurt than however much you already are I’ll kill you myself after you’re better.”

Whoever that was they appeared to lack a certain sense of their own irony. Tobirama wanted to laugh but lacked the energy. He settled for mentally composing a rather disjointed speech about how pleasant this person’s voice was, very soothing to listen to. Definitely not helping his urges towards sleep. 

“Tobirama. Can you even fucking hear me?”

“Nnh...”

“Oh thank fuck. You know, I had my own shit to do. I’m tired too. Got my own fucking mission and everything. But no! No, here I am pulling your chestnuts out of the fire and you can’t even roll over to thank me. Fucking hell.” 

It took a few moments of lethargic musing but eventually Tobirama realized he knew that voice. Or, rather, he knew the shape and cadence of those swear words, could have recognized that tone in the soundless vacuum of outer space. Apparently Madara had come to rescue him. That was sweet. It would have been sweeter if he could have done it without the bitching but that was just his way and Tobirama was self aware enough to admit he wouldn't change the man. Well, he was usually pretty self aware. Right at that moment he wasn’t aware of much more than the haze in his veins and the warmth of something tracing along his cheek.

When did they stop moving?

“Back with me again?” Madara’s voice asked him and this time Tobirama found it in himself to hum the affirmative. “Not a single injury on you; this is actual bullshit. I’ve seen all sorts of reactions to chakra exhaustion but this one’s new. You’re more coherent when you’re drunk, for fuck’s sake.”

“Hair.”

“...what?”

“My hair.”

Somewhere above him he could hear the disconnected spluttering that had soothed him off in to dreams more times than anyone could count until finally Madara gave a violent snort. “More words, dumb ass. I don’t know what the hell you’re on about.”

Annoyed, Tobirama reached deep for any remaining tatters of energy. It was just enough to form what he hoped was a very irritated frown. 

“Liked it. Touched my hair. Again.” As soon as the words were out his muscles liquified and his jaw snapped shut, utterly drained. The trained shinobi in the back of his mind piped up at last to note smugly that he had, at least, completed his mission. Unfortunately he’d also run across not one but two squads of resistance on his way out of Lightning Country and fighting when he was already exhausted was never fun. If he tried he could almost recall the way it felt to drain the very last of his chakra and hit the ground in tandem with the man he’d just killed. If Madara hadn’t found him - well, there was really no point in thinking about it. No doubt he’d be getting a lecture on the subject later anyway.

It would be worth it, though, because Madara’s hands were back in his hair and if he had the energy Tobirama would have purred like one of Izuna’s damn cats. Even with the low grumbling diatribe that accompanied the petting it was soothing, grounding. Tobirama couldn’t even bring himself to care that he was being so open about something he enjoyed, a vulnerability neither of them could easily afford even after several years of marriage. 

Time had already lost all meaning so the fact that hours or minutes could have gone by didn’t even occur to him. Consciousness came and went but Tobirama couldn't tell the difference. He definitely noticed when his chakra finally started regenerating itself enough that he fell in to a true sleep, waking probably too many hours later to the rumble of Madara snoring. Which meant he’d fallen asleep sitting up. He only snored when he slept sitting up. It took a shamefully long time for Tobirama to realize he was sprawled out on cold ground with his torso leaning back against the other man’s chest, thick fingers buried in his hair with the sort of grip that spoke of an unwillingness to let go. 

Why, he wondered, were they sitting alone in a dark cave? 

“One of us did something stupid,” he muttered to the silence around them. Madara’s snore jumped in time with whatever he was dreaming about and Tobirama sighed, eyes sliding closed again. “You can tell me about it later.” 

For now he was tired, limbs like molasses, more than happy to lie here without moving for just a few more hours.