#but also even if Kakashi suggested that Danzo would fight

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Imagine shikaku insisting on the jonin council vote before Danzo leaves the village. Yes the Kage summit is important. So importabt they want to ensure that konoh is represented by a Hokage that is supported by the Jonin

Danzo trying to get around it and insisting on doing it after, but Shikaku arguing back that konoha cannot be represented by a Hokage who is not fully supported by the shinobi.

Danzo is forced to give in because Shikaku has supports that stand behind him, so they hold the vote

No one supports danzo, so the daiymo is forced to choose a new Hokage, resulting in Kakashi being elected. Danzo’s pissy and tries to go for an assasination, and Sai is the one who stops it from happening because at this point Kakashi has shown more trust and respect for him than Danzo

Kakashi taking Naruto with him as one of his bodyguards, along with Yamato or Gai (very likely for it to be Yamato for the nine tails)

Sasuke not being declared a terrorist by Konoha because Kakashi’s not going to do that, meaning Sakura doesn’t come up with her stupud ‘kill sasuke’ plan.

Maybe Sasuke still attacks the Kage summit because they got intel Danzo was the new Hokage and it wasn’t corrected? Or Obito doesn’t tell him of the change in time? So Sasuke makes his stand demanding danzo’s head and then and there Kakashi has to ask why

Last he knew Sasuke was after Itachi, not Danzo. He needs to know what’s going on.

I think Sasuke would tell him, though it would probably be in a very angry tone accusing Kakashi of protecting Danzo (which at that point it could seem like he is)

But Kakashi just f***ing agrees. He doesn’t know if what Sasuke says is true, but a guaranteed way of finding out is putting Danzo against Sasuke.

There’s a lot to work out but imagine Kakashi sending a message for Danzo to meet him and when Danzo arrives he has Sasuke standing beside him, making him look like a ‘traitor to the village’ in danzo’s eyes but Kakashi needs answers and if he gets the ones he thinks he will (aka Sasuke is telling the truth) he sees no reason not to let Danzo face justice

[talesfromtheleaf]

Part 3: The Land of Waves

To begin with, my apologies for the delay in this post. Due to Christmas and general life roadblocks, I haven't had much mental energy to sit down and write.

Today, I want to post about the Land of Waves. In my opinion, there isn't much you can change about the Land of Waves. For that purpose, I will solely be focusing on adding an epilogue to the Land of Waves, that delves into the interconnected web of relationships between Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and Hiruzen.

Be aware that this is all mostly original content, not changes to the existing story.

1.1 - Mission Report

First of all is a new scene, where Kakashi delivers Team 7's mission report to the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the elders Koharu and Homura. The report would cover all the details of the mission, including the new developments within team 7:

Sasuke has unlocked the Sharingan.

Naruto drew on the power of the Nine-Tails.

I doubt Kishimoto had the importance of these powers fully & truly mapped out, especially as this arc was still in Naruto's first year of publication. Witht he power of hindsight, we know that this news should be critical to the Hokage and his council. After all, two fresh genin suddenly wielding life-changing powers is incredible news.

Without Danzo in this rewrite, Koharu & Homura take on the role of devils advocate to Hiruzen. Remembering the recent tragedies (the Nine-Tailed Attack, the Uchiha massacre), they will immediately call into question whether Naruto & Sasuke should be on the same team, or perhaps even be ninja at all. On top of these concerns, I think the elders would ask why Kakashi Hatake has been removed from ANBU to serve as their leader.

1.2 - The Humanity of a Ninja

Hiruzen is an old man, a retired ninja brought back into action after fighting in three wars and losing his successor. He watched his mentors die, and saw his own proteges defect/retire, all three of the Sannin falling into their various vices. His wife perished and one of his sons is dead, leaving him with a grandson and another son who has felt the impact of the strain all of these traumas have inflicted on Hiruzen.

Hiruzen will argue that Naruto & Sasuke should be given the chance to be ninja, and perhaps find a different path to the people before them. And that same chance should be extended to Kakashi, as he sees ANBU stamp out the passion and love in Kakashi's eyes, sending him further down a path of isolation.

This rejection of ANBU's ideals will play into the story later.

Suggesting that ANBU could be abolished outright, Hiruzen says it's time for Kakashi to open his eyes again and find something to care about. And who better to care about than Naruto Uzumaki & Sasuke Uchiha, two boys who need caring for the most, and both tied to Kakashi's past.

By doing this, we plant the seeds of just how important Kakashi's backstory is, and emphasises that Hiruzen is an old man sick of war and yearning for a new world - something we see shortly as he announces a collaborative Chunin Exams.

1.3 - The Lineage of a Sharingan

Sasuke and Kakashi never seem to talk about Kakashi's Sharingan. While I don't want Kakashi to spill his backstory this early on in the series, as it would be premature, I think a scene of Sasuke asking Kakashi about it makes sense and should suffice.

So Sasuke has followed Kakashi to Obito's grave - seeing the name engraved, Sasuke connects the dots as to how Kakashi obtained his Sharingan. Assuming Kakashi to have taken the eye by force, Sasuke would demand answers. Of course Kakashi would explain that the eye was given to him by a close friend, leaving Sasuke blindsided but accepting of the situation.

I would love to see this honest communication between the pair. It also foreshadows Obito earlier on, and follows up on Hiruzen's wish for Kakashi to heal by having him mentor Naruto & Sasuke. We begin to see the budding mentorship between Kakashi & Sasuke.

1.4 - A Visit from the Hokage

We never see Hiruzen & Naruto really communicate - I touched on this in my first post. To mirror Kakashi & Sasuke, I'd like to insert a scene of Hiruzen & Naruto. I enjoyed the filler anime scenes of Hiruzen checking in on Naruto, even though they didn't make complete sense.

In my version, Hiruzen pays a visit to Naruto, bringing fresh milk to replace his own spoiled carton.

Reminiscing on Haku, Naruto asks the Third Hokage about his own parents, as all he knows is that they died during the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's attack. I think it's fair for the Third Hokage to tell Naruto that his father was a great ninja, known as the "Yellow Flash", and that he was Kakashi's mentor. This would shock Naruto, but I doubt Hiruzen would elaborate on it any more at this time.

Again this clues us in on Kakashi's backstory - something that won't be relevant for some time, but has captivated our attention now.

1.5 - A Brotherhood Forms

The final vignette of this epilogue that I want to include is one between Naruto and Sasuke. I love their bond but I would have liked to see them actually becoming friends. The way I picture it is simple - since they live in the same apartment block, Sasuke would invite Naruto out for ramen to celebrate the end of their first mission.

As they walk to meet Sakura, both boys would realise that the other gets strange looks from the villagers. People turn away or stare fixatedly. Parents gather children away. Due to their heritage, both boys are ostracised from society, and in this moment Naruto and Sasuke realise this.

I'm not sure this even needs to be a verbal exchange, but a silent understanding from the other that they're actually not so different. Something that I think is so obvious and yet so sorely missed from the early narrative.

Before the sadness and sorrow (heh) sets in, the boys are roused from this uncomfortable moment by Sakura, who waves and shouts at them from Ichiraku Ramen - they're in for a treat, as Kakashi is paying. Naruto and Sasuke grin as they race towards the ramen shop, and the arc ends as the sun sets on Konoha, with Team 7 taking their seats.

So concludes my rewrite entries for the early arcs of Naruto. Not a lot to change, but by adding in the Kakashi mask filler as canon, and throwing in some scenes of Team 7 bonding, we enter the meat and bones of the story knowing a little more about the friendship between our protagonists, Naruto and Sasuke.

[sueske]

who do u think wld be a good hokage? b/w naruto and his generation (incl sasuke and naruto himself) ((we are disregarding boruto for the sake of this ask))

thought id ask bc ive been seeing wayy too many hokage sakura fics and it's v annoying 2 see lol

okay but first what does it mean to be hokage? 😂 lol got me all philosophical now but anw naruto and sasuke had their own conversation about it at vote2, it's something personal to them. but even if they have their own motivations and views about it, it doesn't change the crux of what being hokage actually is... someone that works for the daimyo and protects their interests. a hokage is the head of a military state that protects the government. so even if the ninja themselves have their own motivations behind being shinobi (like protecting the next generation etc) it 'works' because... that still aligns with the daimyos interests. it's a very simplified way of viewing things and there are obviously nuances but that's what it is. in having something personal for shinobi to fight for, they follow orders, complete missions, get money, make the land of fire prosperous, which is what the daimyo want. see what I mean? and the hokage oversees all that. yes hokage have elders and advisors but the hokage is still only one person. and having only one person be hokage is very difficult because a person may have their own personal biases for what motivates them. we see how dangerous that is with 'bad' hokage, like gaara's dad, or tobirama, or hiruzen, or danzo etc. so in the current system that konoha abides to, assuming it needs to be followed and not changed for the purpose of this ask, what and who would make a good hokage to balance everyone's interests? 'to make all shinobi cooperate' as "peacefully" as possible... (I put peacefully in quotation marks cuz, what was it minato said, as long as there are shinobi there cannot be peace, which is another extreme but also valid).

so why would sakura make a good hokage? what are her motivations, her battle abilities and strategic abilities, her leadership skills? her motivations are sasuke. she is a good healer yes, but she is essentially an off-brand tsunade, but whereas tsunade also succeeds in battle, sakura doesn't. how many times was she knocked out, needed to be rescued, just got in the way and became a liability? the only times she actually succeeded was when someone else directed her moves, like kakashi or chiyo. when we saw sakura try to strategise, what happened? oh yeah the kage summit fiasco where she drugged her teammates on enemy territory. tried using a poisoned kunai to kill sasuke even though she should know (being under tsunade etc) and researching orochimaru that poison wouldn't work. heck, even kakashi knew immediately. sakura is book smart no doubt, but she often can't translate this into actual battle/strategic situations for herself. so how can a hokage like that protect everyone? and what about her leadership skills? again, she is a good healer and coordinated some of the healing during the war arc before tsunade and naruto stepped in. but beyond that? how is she inspiring as 'the strongest shinobi in the village', something the hokage is titled as? when has she taken charge of a situation and inspired, or made people, follow her? in the Pein arc she screamed for naruto. in the war she recklessly charged at madara even though right before they were talking about the importance of teamwork. this is the sakura we know at 17. so, could she learn these things? but there is nth in the manga to suggest that she could, or developed, these things. so if we say 'hypothetically she could do x, y, z' then that's a headcanon. it's not acceptable for a hokage to need someone to direct her every move in order for her to succeed in whatever she is doing because she can't do that by herself. she runs a hospital in gaiden/boruto doesn't she, I think she is most suited for that.

so who would make a good hokage? who can provide the 'balance' needed while meeting the above criteria? well... it's naruto. sasuke doen't have people's trust, which is important, because what went down behind the scenes with the uchiha is still secret. and I still think he doesn't like staying in the village. now, in my alternate ending fix it fantasy things are different in how the shinobi system operates and both naruto and sasuke would be leaders.

[nohara-rin-dot-mp3]

director's cut of "an exercise in determination" because i think it actually turned out pretty well :]

just going over some of my favorite lines... nothing fancy

kind of insane how "saving" sasuke involves like. killing every part of themselves that could really change anything and also sasuke. something something love doesn't mean anything good necessarily. "saving" sasuke means enforcing the status quo. and making sure that he ends up enforcing it too. terrifying! this is what i'm talking about when i say rin-sasuke parallels. and romance-as-horror.

obirin section as a whole is just pretty dang awesome in my opinion but also i am biased. with great love for rin. anyways the whole thing is playing off of 1- obito being in love with an ideal rather than nohara rin, and that ideal being retroactively added into the world (only alive to justify the eventual mourning) and 2- aromantic rin. of course. she's a little more romance repulsed in this than i usually write her. but in my defense this is taking place in a world where "soulmates" are "guaranteed" to "know you completely". so you can imagine how that would cause problems for her.

terribly aphobic kakashi moment thats extra funny because by the cultural context of this au he's actually being quite progressive by suggesting that soulmarks could reflect anything besides traditional heterosexual relationships. tenzo is very demi to me. which is what this section is about (subverting the subversion of "no romantic feelings = no soulmark). because exactly 0 of the soulmarks end up being entirely accurate to any of these guys.

i dont like jiraiya teehee... firm believe in pan tsunade (plus bonus sneaky orotsu yuri(real)) but SHE does not know that. and doesnt have anyone to engage with this in. becuase orochimaru is not even a little bit out at this point. anyways this section DOES focus on her attraction to men for a reason also which is that i am demonstrating someone "following the rules" of both action + attraction and STILL getting "fucked over" by who her soulmate ends up being. although really in her book never knowing them (she refers to them with he/him pronouns through the section but this is because of heteronormativity) is a win. because of the lack of grief. which is further subversion of "never knowing your soulmate tragedy"

CLASSIC tenji moments. least angsty section because neither of their problems are even a little bit connected to their relationship because both of them are weirdly distant from cultural norms. and are therefore entirely comfortable in their awesome aro all situationship. rock on dudes. very interesting to me though in how it continues the theme of "fighting for konoha perfectly on paper but not "meaning" any of it" and how even though tenten doesnt "mean" it, despite what the narration says she is actually still very much perpetuating these systems. inch resting to me!!! does her self-awareness make her crimes worse or better? neither because intent has no bearing on action.

danzen is always always always most interesting to me through a lense of selfishness vs selflessness. hiruzen is being selfish by wanting the people he loves to outlive him -> danzo is being selfish by giving hiruzen what he wants because doing this makes him happy. and the way he measures it by the effects of the actions... his selfishness is more "morally correct" because it doesnt change the outcome of anything whereas hiruzen's derails the entire village time and time again. but this is hypocritical because he is literally not assassinating hiruzen because of his crush. great stuff as always big fan of toxic old man yaoi. this and the team 7 fic are the most straight-forward critiques of soulmate au because they're based entirely on presence of different attraction rather than aromantic shenanigans which is why i bookended the fic with them.

i wanted to include some apl stuff but i couldnt really think of anything that would fit... plus i feel like in order to properly dissect loveless aro discrimination you have to actually get to a point where "platonic soulmates" are even being brought up. which is not the case in this world. maybe some other time.

[nbsakura]

An Observation of Obito Spoilers for Shippuden Ahead!!

I want to talk about Obito, more specifically, the way he was handled toward the end of Shippuden, and his personality regarding his beliefs about being a 'nobody' and pretending to be two different people since he was like....14 years old. For a long while, his entire philosophy was akin to Madara's but instead of seeing himself as a god/the person who was going to be responsible for Tsuki no Me he saw himself as a vessel for this 'plan'. A nobody. (See, his quote: I'm no one… I don't want to be anyone. All I care about is completing the Tsuki no Mei. This world is completely worthless… there is nothing left in it but misery.) Or at least, he tried to be. Obito in particular is a really odd character to me in some aspects, especially with the way he's written in the original series because he's shown to be batshit insane, yet, only when it was convenient to Kishimoto. Without hesitation or mercy, he massacred all of the women and the children in the Uchiha Clan, he literally turned the Yondaime Mizukage (Yagura) into a tyrant and helped with the purges of all Kekkei Genkai in Kiri, he enabled and possibly even helped Danzo to corrupt the Akatsuki, and countless other atrocities. He was able to do all of this by separating himself from Obito. He no longer saw himself as such. He became Madara, and then Tobi for YEARS of his life but that didn't have a psychological effect on him? No identity crisis, no blurring lines between himself and the others he was pretending to be, and he certainly didn't deal with any kind of derealization from being a nobody. So, what's up with that? Well, my personal theory is that the lines most likely did blur for a time, because of his inability to accept Rin's death, (most likely during the two-year period between Naruto and Naruto Shippuden) before, with Shiro/Kuro Zetsu's help, most likely, he used it to reinforce his hate and give himself the motivation to continue on. Replaying Rin's death, and reminding himself of his hatred for Kakashi, over, and over, and over again was most likely one of the only reasons that he would be able to properly continue on. It solidified his hatred, but also the identity he was fighting so hard to get rid of. That was where he failed. In everything. Obito's Redemption could've been a chance to go deeper into his feelings as Tobi, expand more on the Bloody Mist, (this is me officially begging for more Kiri content), and much more. It could've achieved much more in some aspects, but in other aspects, it did well. One thing I do like about it, is that Kakashi had no way of knowing some of the things that Obito had done, (Kirigakure and Uchiha Massacre, mostly.) So, when Kakashi suggested that he allow himself to live and atone and Obito refused that offer, it made genuine sense for someone who had regretted their choices. I noticed that there had been hints that Obito was a direct descendant of Madara as well, and the dynamic between the two was something I enjoyed as well. I wish that they expanded a little bit more on just how crazy Obito could be, his relationship with the other Akatsuki members (because remember, he hung around as Tobi for at least three years), and gave him some interactions with Jiraiya. I will eventually end up speaking on his relations and feelings toward Kirigakure, but this post is long enough as is, so I'll leave it here. Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

[idkhowtopickausername]

I agree that it can't all be put on the editors, but Kishimoto had Naruto say the standard issue ninja-tool ideology was wrong and how he was going to find his own way early on. I don’t really think Kishimoto had in mind to make Naruto's answer to that be raising the shinobi age limit or something to that effect. After that it would be so anti-climatic. Naruto still didn't have an answer after the whole Pein thing either, but Minato also said something along the lines of as long as shinobi exist peace cannot which planted an interesting seed - would abolishing the system altogether result in peace? We can't really say what Kishimoto was planning I guess we can just speculate, but the way he set up story-telling elements early on suggest otherwise, and even if he gave up on it eventually he still threw in some of those ideas in the mix.

I think Sasuke and Pein were portrayed to be very sympathetic and justified in their feelings, but the way they went about getting change in a violent manner was not okay... by killing people/robbing them of free will. Madara and Obito too. It was still clear from their backstories and motivations that change in the system is required, but change in a different way. Also Tobirama was straight up admonished by Orochimaru and Hashirama (though nothing ever came of it but he's a dead man and obviously nowhere near enough but by the end it's not like Tobirama was praised for his actions). Danzo's values were not upheld the only people who were like "good job Danzo" were those anti-Uchiha which were also obviously not in the right. I think maybe the first step should've been calling out the Will of Fire for what it actually is - propaganda. It burns with the sacrifices of many. Unless everyone knows the truth it's easy to take something at face value and say they were wrong, or they were right. Their actions were justified, those were not. They were villains, they were heroes.

Sorry I've rambled long enough bye.

I can see what you’re saying and I think if I had only seen the Land of Waves arc then I would probably think the show was going to end with some sort of systemic change, but the nationalism in the parts that come after that feels too ubiquitous to me to be forced or incidental. Even as early as part 1 I do think there was some (although much less) of it. When Sasuke asked to fight Naruto on the rooftop and was acting more aggressive towards him than he ever had before (which I don’t think was necessarily out of character given how he’d just been retraumatized over not being powerful enough), he refused to put on the leaf headband which I think in terms of how that scene was framed served to link uncharacteristic aggression and breaking of friendships (the show’s moral core being about not betraying your friends) with disloyalty to to the village. He was implied to be straying from the ‘correct path’ of loyalty to the village and it was implied that later on he would learn a lesson and come aback, even if he was portrayed sympathetically.

While it’s true that Danzo and Tobirama weren’t necessarily treated as good people by the narrative, other characters who have killed lots of people for the village (Itachi, Minato, and Kakashi for example) are portrayed as heroic. Itachi carried out a genocide and this is portrayed as tragic but to some degree justified, which I don’t think Kishimoto was forced into writing. A person doesn’t have to be overtly bigoted or visibly leaping at the chance to do something cruel to still actively uphold an oppressive system. Hiruzen is treated as a bit flawed and like he maybe could have done better but nonetheless well-intentioned when he is shown to have known about Danzo’s plans as and done nothing about it, and then Naruto himself agrees to cover up the massacre which isn’t necessarily out of place in a story that was already portraying Itachi as a tragic hero who humbly accepts hatred instead of praise.

The villains’ plans are for the most part impractical and overly violent (although in many ways the same could be said of the current system), but it’s part of the problem that all of their plans are shown to be that way. The good characters don’t actually do anything to really change the system in any material way, they just passively lament the problems with it. The only characters who do construct actual plans for change and try to put them into action are the villains, and giving them such ridiculous plans is a significant part of how the show vilifies more radical viewpoints. The rhetoric of “the leaf village killed my family and made my life hell so we need to actively change the system so that this never happens again and I have a plan to make this happen” being paired with plans that are allegorical of things like a nuclear arms race (ironically the opposite of what someone who actually opposes the war machine would probably want), does lead to the vilification of characters like the ame orphans even if they are portrayed as sympathetic. Sasuke killed less people over the course of the story than almost all the series’ adult characters but is still portrayed at times as unhinged and overly violent in conjunction with moments when he moves further away from being loyal to the village.

I do agree that you can take quotes like Minato saying that peace can never be achieved while shinobi exist and put them together to get actual political criticism and implications that the system should be abolished, which is why I think lots of people (including myself) feel drawn to analyzing it, but at the same time you have Jiraiya saying there’s too much ‘hate’ in the shinobi world and Naruto winning all his fights with the power of friendship and the implication that people just need to be nicer to each other. I think the politics of the show at many points are muddled and contradictory, and abolishing the shinobi system would have been the most actually logical answer to the problems presented, but it’s not uncommon for people to lament problems that are effects of a larger system and even recognize them as systemic issues but still be opposed to any actual attempts to radically change that system, or veer away from them in favor of platitudes.

I don’t think Naruto raising the age limit of shinobi would presented as the full solution to the political problems presented if Kishimoto had more time, it’s more like he would be shown making some new rules like that and through the magical power of him being nice and powerful and a good leader Konoha would be portrayed as generally more prosperous and peaceful and major wars would be averted while the day to day violence of the shinobi system would be glossed over.

[captnjacksparrow]

if you had to rank your fav naruto characters how would it go? love your blog btw!!

Hmmm... Complicated ask, anon.😂

[My personal life would be splashed here and there. Please bear with me]

Before 5 months, if you asked me about Naruto, my response would be ‘What the fuck is that?’. I absolutely had no idea such a treasure existed. For me, it started out like a blockbuster movie for the sheer variety of fights and the resulting emotions it brought within me. 

However, there was a point I stopped and thought, ‘Wait a fucking second. This resembles my family dynamics. This person is speaking the exact same lines I spoke to my parents few years ago. This person’s situation resembles mine. Did this creator a time traveler?’. Naruto is the only piece of media that gave me such feel. Am not even exaggerating, believe me. 

I really liked so many characters very much but am going to try my best to list just 10. 

The only characters I hate in this series are Danzo, Sakura and Hinata in no particular order. Meaning, I absolutely cannot see any positives in them. They are crassy, cringey and completely detestable.

FAVOURITE NARUTO CHARACTERS

10. Killer Bee

HaHaHa :-) Just seeing this character makes me smile and light-hearted.

It’s a pity that he is the only character who don’t belong to Konoha in my Top 10 rankings who was developed well apart from Gaara.

I loved him from Frame 1 onwards and I sincerely wished Team Taka should be packed up with their ass beaten up mercilessly. And that’s what happened.

Despite being a Jinchurikki, he never bothered to mind his surroundings and filled his heart with love from his over protective Brother alone was nice to watch.

He makes a great Tag Partner with Naruto next to Sasuke. No doubt.

The way Killer Bee treated Team Taka like some annoying flies and his cool and don’t care attitude was top notch. It’s not just with Sasuke, Bee treated Naruto with the same IDGAF attitude at first.

Best Moments:

Lariat punch to Sasuke (TBH, Sasuke deserved it. LOL)

Blasted off every member of Team Taka like a doll

His entire conversation and fight sequence with Kisame (Their banters and exchanges are way too hilarious)

His dynamics with his Elder Brother (God!!!! Whenever Raikage gives him an Iron Claw.... What a hilarious duo!!!!)

9. Hatake Kakashi

Kakashi was my most favourite character when I started the series for simply being ultra-cool with the way he conducted the Bell-Test and taught a valuable lesson for those bratty kids in Team 7 called ‘Team Work’. 

Best Moments:

Kakashi vs Obito Hand-to-Hand Combat (the best in the series)

Kakashi in the Gaara retrieval arc (His fight with Itachi & Deidara gave a good start to the shippuden series. His Mangekyou reveal was surprising).

Kakashi & Guy teaming up with Naruto to reveal Obito in a twisty and tragic way. (Kakashi couldn’t handle the truth at all and neither did I)

Kakashi vs Zabuza (That’s when I realized that the series was getting real serious)

8. Jiraiya

Jiraiya was my next favourite to Kakashi during my Part 1 days. His open perversion and his entire dynamics with Naruto was one of the best things during the Chunin Exams arc. Taught Naruto about Chakra Control and about the way of a shinobi by just enduring. Naruto follows this even today.

Best Moments: 

Kuchiyose No Jutsu training (Man, I never expected him to push Naruto off the cliff)

Rasengan Training (One of the best arcs in part 1 and it was soo satisfying to see Naruto punching his first Rasengan on Kabuto, He also acted like a quasi parent to Naruto... heartwarming)

Jiraiya Vs Six paths of Pain ( 6 vs 1 was always doomed but still he had the guts of a shinobi and plunged ahead)

7. Uchiha Madara

Geez. What is there to not like him?? 

Everything he did was absolutely wrong ever since he broke up with Hashirama in a romantic way much similar to how couples break up in my country.

I am an Uchiha. You are a Senju. I wish it had been different.

This roughly translates to how 75% of lovers break up and marry someone else from their own clan in my state. (Duh!!!)

I am from XXX clan, you are from XXX clan. So we can’t love each other and my parents won’t accept this relationship. So let’s break up.

Alright, my first shipping couple in this series is HashiMada for this exact reason. (I started shipping SNS only after episode 478). 

Just like Hashirama, Madara had an extensive build up right from episode 1 where Kurama compares Sasuke with Madara. And flashbacks from Itachi and Tobi spiked my curiosity and I wanted to see his face so badly ever since.

But the moment he landed gracefully like a diva in episode 321.... Woaahhhh!!!! He literally danced in the battlefield and ate up 100′s of guys with just a fucking Sharingan. 

Best Moments:

Going Shirtless before 1000′s of people with Hashirama’s face, no less (Well, I literally went heart-eyed for 5 minutes. Sorry Sasuke, your ancester was way much sexier than you in the Orochimaru hideout and beats you by a million points).

Screaming Hashirama’s name like a cockatoo for 300 times even till the very end (Sorry Naruto, your obsession towards Sasuke for about 6 arcs is pale in comparison to Madara’s obsession which was established in just 6 or 7 episodes.)

I have 25 clones now. Do you want me to put Susanoo or not? You can’t answer. The answer is yes. (Man, his I don’t give a fuck attitude is just an alien level thing)

Openly admitting Only Hashirama Can Beat Me (Say what you will about Sasuke, Madara has no qualms about accepting his inferiority in terms of power. An absolute Straight Forward diva-queen)

Awakening Sharingan for breaking up with his ‘friend’ rather than for his 3 dead brothers. (Geez, Poor Soul. He is the forefather of a Romantic Uchiha. That romantic blood still flows in Sasuke)

6. Senju Hashirama

Man, I would have placed him somewhere in top 5 if only he was introduced early or had more scenes. I started watching Naruto only because of this very name. There is a local podcaster in my state who goes under the alias of Senju Hashirama and in his podcasts, he hinted about this character and how he was inspired by his ideals. I just googled and saw that this character belonged to Naruto series and I considered watching it. Here I am, making analysis on that very series.

There was this excellent build up for him right when we got introduced to Captain Yamato. He was constantly referred in flashbacks from Itachi and Tobi especially.

But the moment he was reanimated again..... Geez..... It was an hilarious ride all throughout. Out of all the flashbacks we got from this series, Founders Era flashback was my absolute favourite.

From where I come from, we are still under the stupid influence of Clan infrastructure and are not growing up in many aspects like people in western countries do. For me, I hope, one day, someone like Senju Hashirama appears in our state and change our lives for better by uniting all clans as one and treats everyone equally without the shitty favouritism for their own children, friends, parents, siblings.

That’s why this dialogue struck a thunder in my heart

“Be they a friend.... Be they a sibling.... Be it even my own child. I will not forgive anyone who threatens the village.”

Because the clan leaders in our place are absolutely selfish, trash bastards who serves their own needs with no regards for other people from other clans. For a person like me, Hashirama is not just a fictional hero, he is someone who many aspires to become. No wonder that podcaster chose this name as his alias.

He rightfully deserved the title ‘God of Shinobi’. And no one can surpass him, not even Naruto.

Best Moments:

Wood Style vs Eternal Mangekyou sharingan + Kurama powered Madara (He just beats Madara’s ass by a wide margin. This shows he was a whole fucking different level than Naruto + Sasuke combined. In terms of strength, nobody surpassed him YET. Sorry Naruto and Sasuke, you guys are no match even now with your Rinnegan and Kurama lost forever).

His entire banters with Madara (ROFLLLL. Without him, it would have been just another lifeless arc.)

5. Senju Tobirama

Hmmm, let me tell you something about him.

First off, he is not a racist or fascist as many hardcore Sasuke fanatics claims. He is one of the best hokages according to me. He is abso-fucking-lutely practical, rational, logical and holds no grudge. And Sasuke resembles Tobirama with all these characteristics as compared to soft and naive Naruto. If only he had more screen time, he would be easily in my top 3. 

Just because he didn’t lick the boots of Uchiha (many people’s favorite clan or may I say the only clan that was given any shit about in this series), it doesn’t make him a racist or fascist.

No, he never persecuted the Uchihas. Danzo, the crass bastard, driven off the Uchihas only after the Kyuubi incident. It was explicitly mentioned in the databook and was clearly explained in the series. 

He literally gave the highest position in the village for the entire clan. That is, a military power inside a military village. ‘Shinobi who can cause crimes can only be stopped by shinobi who are even better’. In my state, if a powerful clan decided to persecute another clan, they simply start by cutting off basic amenities like Water and Electricity. Compared to what I’ve seen, Tobirama did nothing but given the Uchihas, the highest position in their village. 

Orochimaru only said giving such a power made them conceited (arrogant). Tobirama had a trusted subordinate called Kagami, an Uchiha in his team. He suggested Kabuto to help Sasuke and even teleported him on his request. He even spited Madara for killing Sasuke, an Uchiha. He openly claimed Uchiha clan exceeds Senju in terms of Love. He openly appreciated Itachi and Kagami as someone who sees beyond their clan. In what world, would a racist or fascist do all this for a clan he hates??? 

Yes, he was cautious of Sasuke at first because he saw him with Orochimaru and even went full-on battle mode because of Sasuke’s carefree threat to destroy the village. But once he decided to go to the battlefield to fight Madara, he simply forgot everything that happened before and started to work with him as a comrade, and even helped him twice. In which world, a racist or fascist behave this way?

Believe me, a person like me who was grown with these clan politics surely can say who is a fascist. He was not. He was just cautious of them because of their ability to attain superpowers with just emotions alone. Let me ask you all this, ‘Would you be okay with people getting crazy powers whenever they are depressed?’. Being cautious is not racism. It really disrespects people who faced real oppression under fascism.

What Madara and Danzo did was a classical example of fascism. 

And No, Izuna didn’t die only because of Tobirama. He died because Madara was too arrogant to instigate war with Senju clan. And this was way before forming Konoha. If Tobirama killed Izuna after the alliance between Uchiha and Senju, I would agree that he was a racist. Izuna lost his life just like any other Uchiha and Senju soldiers in that battlefield. 

Just because he shitted your beloved ‘Sasuke-Kun’ doesn’t mean he is a racist too. Tobirama saw Sasuke along with that scoundrel Orochimaru who once used this very two hokages to destroy the very village they strived hard to create and protect. What will you do, if you were in his place?? Please don’t lie and say ‘I wouldn’t be judgemental’. 

And Imagine you are Tobirama, Sasuke is threatening to commit genocide against the entire village who had no idea about this coup detat instead of going against those old hags. Will you sit quiet as a Hokage?? 

He was the first person to suggest his brother, Itama, that Revenge against Uchihas are futile. All we need is an agreement to make truce. That gave the idea for Hashirama to pursue his dream. And Tobirama was happy to follow that dream and very supportive. 

It’s because of all these reasons I placed him above Senju Hashirama.

Best Moments:

Amazing power display against Sasuke & Co with just an index finger (It was a pleasure to see everyone’s face trembling with mild sweat including Sasuke).

Acted as a decoy to save his young subordinates. (The way he sacrificed his life saying young wills of fire must be protected is just Woow!! I wish his subordinates listened to his words and passed the mantle to the younger ones rather than playing game at such an old age and screwed up many lives. Pfft!!!)

Any time he says ‘Shut Up’ to Hashirama (ROFL)

His absolute ‘I don’t give a fuck’ attitude to Naruto, Sasuke, Hashirama, Minato and Madara (He trolled them all mercilessly and I love it)

4. Senju Tsunade

It hurts me to say that Tsunade is the only female character in my list because every other female characters were written in a much more piss poorly way. Only Konan came close to Tsunade but her role was very short. 

Despite her character’s purpose revolved around another male character (Dan) and a blatant objectification of her breasts, I liked everything about her other than those mentioned above. 

She is the Second Best Hokage who took Konoha right after the destruction made by Orochimaru, excellently handled the aftermath by making friendly relations with Suna (Sand village), provided her best medical support to Konoha in the Pain Arc and successfully handled the fourth Shinobi world war. 

She is such a badass who developed her own original jutsu called Byakugou no Jutsu, which can heal herself. 

She is just way too amazing and it’s a pity that we got very less scenes in Shippuden.

Best Moments:

Took 25+ stabs from Madara’s Susanoo like a piece of cake (Man, I simply couldn’t describe that scene. All the other Kages were shocked and even Madara too)

Lifted her advisors like a cabbage sack (Those fucking old hags deserved it. Those shits should’ve died)

Her index finger flick assault on Naruto (Aww, Naruto was definitely bratty in his first meeting and Tsunade didn’t hold back at all)

Played Orochimaru like a basketball (In that same arc, she fought Orochimaru mercilessly like a devil left and right. Someone who claimed to have surpassed Tsunade never even dared to fight Orochimaru’s student and crying for his attention after just receiving one stab from Madara. Just saying)

3. Uzumaki Naruto

Naruto is the titular character and your emotions evolve along with him. He surely deserves a spot in Top 3. The only reason I didn’t place Naruto even more higher is because he didn’t experience something very important which many characters in this list faced. That is, Losing a loved one before his eyes. Every villain in this series became what they are because they lost someone important before their eyes like Nagato, Obito. (Nope, I don’t count Neji as his loved one). I think this tests the mettle of any character and Naruto failed to experience this. The only person he ever lost was Jiraiya and that too from off-screen. That’s why I felt his journey to his dreams seemed little easier compared to the rest of the characters.

His best block of episodes will always be the part 1 Episode 1, 2, 3. Episode 1 is the character defining episode for Naruto and what he learned there will be applied everywhere till the very end of the series. He learned 3 things

Forgiveness, Empathy and Acceptance

Talk-No-Jutsu

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu

From then on, this boy wins many friends to his side, not only from Konoha but from other villages too and even made them to acknowledge his strength only through his sheer hard work. 

However, there is this person, whose acknowledgement he wants the most.  That person is his most important bond along with Iruka Sensei. He is none other than Sasuke. One day, Sasuke left him alone for some unavoidable reason at the end of part 1 which left a huge scar in him and he vows to bring him back to the place where he belongs. That becomes his ultimate goal rather than becoming an Hokage.

The way he goes to any extent to protect the people he cares about is just simply entertaining to watch.

Every time he makes an heroic entry to save the day was never boring, not once. 

Best Moments:

Sobbing from his heart after hearing Iruka Sensei acknowledging him (It just makes me feel heavy for no reason. The anime team did an awesome job to capture his emotions convincingly)

Awakening Kyuubi Mode for the first time after seeing Sasuke die in his arms (Man, out of all the collective hatred he got from the villagers, this moment affected him a lot speaks volumes)

Punching Neji from the underground to win the Chunin exams (God, I honestly believed Naruto lost but he just surprised us heavily from nowhere. And that failure speech was just pure bliss to watch even today)

Pain Vs Naruto (One of the best arc for Naruto. Because unlike other arcs, where Naruto fought with a team, this arc he was all alone fighting a person with Rinnegan. Be it the exuberant landing from the frogs with a dramatic kabuki music, creating multi-step attacks, coming up with novel solution in that difficult situation, finally ending the conflict without killing the enemy, becoming an hero. Superb journey. The only thing I didn’t like in that arc is some shitty selfish proposal. PUKE!!)

Bearing the burdens of his most important person and die along with him (This boy always shouts he will never die until he becomes an Hokage. But for Sasuke, he was ready to die along with him in order to not leave him alone proves how much he loves him. This shows his emotional maturity rather than shouting at Sasuke like he always did before which never reached his ears. This time it did)

Final Good Bye to Minato (Honestly, I was bawling just like Naruto in that scene no matter how many times I watch it. It started out slow but as he speaks more and more, he simply couldn’t hold back and wept a sea of tears 😭😭😭)

2. Uchiha Sasuke

One of the well written characters in this series, with all the flaws and positive stuffs which makes him more of an Anti-Hero. He always subverts my preformed opinions and never ceased to surprise me.

Despite being aloof and cold, his warmer side will always be exposed towards Naruto. This is evident by many things he had done for Naruto which he don’t have to or no reason to. Starting right from roasting Sakura, offering lunch, asking for tips, enquiring about breakfast, protecting him many times and dying for Naruto. 

Why I placed him above Naruto is because of his unavoidable decision to tread in a complicated dark path primarily due to the trauma he carried and was stirred up again by collective factors such as Orochimaru’s cursed seal, Itachi’s arrival and Naruto’s growth. Compared to Sasuke, Naruto had an easier path because he never saw anyone die before his eyes and hence he don’t carry any trauma which can divert his path.

Even after watching his entire clan and family members murdered before his eyes at an age 8, he managed to pull himself and never snapped out like many other good characters does. But the moment when he found out that Itachi was good all along, he simply couldn’t tolerate the truth and gave himself to Vengeance. Because, he loved his brother more than he hated him all these years. This shows he loved his brother more than his parents. His resolve to destroy Konoha was perfectly understandable. But is it good? Nope. He can kill Danzo and those old hags but killing other people was never justifiable.

But still, his resolve to have his vengeance was diverted by Naruto and weakened by Itachi, at some point. So, he decided to know the truth and when he heard it, he understood the Hokages also sacrificed many precious things to protect this village just like his Brother Itachi. He understood the mistakes of his clan and decided to protect the village which he swore to destroy. [Many Sasuke fanatics think that he succumbed to the Government and Kishi wrote Sasuke to bootlick them. Their idea was to tackle genocide with another genocide. What a stupid idea!!!!]

And No, I don’t consider him trying to kill Sakura, Karin and Kakashi as his bad moments (though I feel bad for Karin). For the simple reason being, he became a monster by losing himself in the darkness who lost the rationality to differentiate friends from foes. Much similar to how Naruto lost himself to Kyuubi’s hatred against Orochimaru and in Pain Arc. It’s so hypocritical to ignore Naruto and accuse Sasuke here. Plus, Sakura had no business to be there otherwise Sasuke would not have tried to kill her. 

But does it mean Sasuke did nothing wrong???

Nope.

He definitely shouldn’t have joined Akatsuki and hunted Killer Bee like an animal. Because, he knew that Tobi was the one who helped Itachi massacre the clan. When fighting Itachi he specifically vowed to kill Madara (Tobi). On top of that, Itachi passed on Amaterasu in his eyes specifically to stay away from Tobi. Why did he ally with him? Plus, Sasuke was one of the few characters who was exposed to the name ‘Akatsuki’ in part 1 itself. He clearly knew that this organization targets Naruto, his closest bond. Why did he join there? This is where the stupid part of Sasuke came out. I was grunting... ‘Oii Where did that clever Sasuke, who faced 1000 soldiers without killing any of them, went??’. 

And his plan for Revolution???? I thought it would be reasonable. But his vision was eerily similar to Danzo’s vision. Grrr..... Danzo also wanted to create his ideal village by destroying the current Hokage. He wanted to unite the Five Village and put himself on top of everyone as evident from the Kage Summit arc. 

I appreciate him that he finally adopted the Will of Fire, by wanting to protect the village at all costs just like Itachi and Hashirama did. But his methods are not very democratic. Plus, he wanted to do it alone. I was screaming at him... ‘Grrr, Sasuke, did you listen to Itachi at all???. He failed because he did everything alone. Why can’t you understand????’ This is also another instance, Sasuke’s stupidity glanced out.

I am happy Naruto knocked some sense into him by telling him not to do it alone but together.

Many fanatics also ask, ‘What did Sasuke do wrong to atone for his sins at the end?’.

I was like ‘Reallly????’

He joined Akatsuki, an organization which terrorized all the 5 villages and he hunted someone like an international criminal.

He spoiled the Kage Summit and attacked Raikage who lost his arm because of him. I know what happened over there is not Sasuke’s fault. But these are the kages who was loved by many people in their own villages. How can the world forget it and simply let him go?

It’s exactly because of all those lovely stuffs he did in Part 1 and all these mistakes he did in Part 2 but willing to correct his mistakes by sharing the burdens of his other half in the end made him more interesting, complicated and exciting and that’s why I love this character.

I also have a personal bias to love this character sooo much because of the character on top of my list.

Best Moments:

Defending Naruto before Sakura (Awww!!! Such a good boy he was. Eventhough I thought he was a typical arrogant K-Drama hero, he just subverted my opinion in that one scene. I always have a thing for people who stands up for someone even though they don’t have to. This is where I started to like Sasuke)

My body moved on its own. (Is there anything that trumps this scene in terms of emotions and love in this series?. This moment is where I understood the depth of Sasuke’s emotions towards Naruto).

What is a Clan? What is a Village? What is a Shinobi? (I was really hoping for Sasuke to question himself something similar to this. Because he was so self-absorbed in his hatred and failed to look outside him ever since he left the village. It was so gratifying that he did that)

Killing Orochimaru (I always thought Sasuke will kill him only after he tries to take over the body. Never imagined that he will strike the snake first)

Killing Danzo (Man, what an amazing battle!!!. It was so gratifying to see such a crass bastard die many times over and over).

His dramatic confession through his monologue (After the mystery of Who is this Tobi, Sasuke’s obsession towards Naruto remained a mystery for me. Why did he listen to Naruto under the bridge? Why did he protected Naruto in the War? I got the answer only after this confession. It was so heartwarming to see this mellow side of Sasuke)

1. Uchiha Itachi

I could write pages about him. The foremost reason I like Itachi and earns the top spot in my rankings is because he shockingly resembled me in many ways. As I already said, I come from a place where clan politics plays a major role and when I see Sasuke’s flashback in part 1, I was simply dumbstruck by such a detailed similarities.

Elder child of the family - ✅

Have an adorable younger sister who loves me more than my parents - ✅

Same age gap (5 years) with my sister as Itachi and Sasuke - ✅

Parents paying total attention on me while ignoring my sister completely - ✅

Parents constantly comparing my achievements with my sister - ✅

A sister who bear hugged me every time I entered the home after returning from my school - ✅

Despite my mom being a teacher, my sister always prefers me to teach her stuffs as she considers me to be way too better than my mom -  ✅

Love my sister more than my parents - ✅

Clan-Obsessed parents - ✅

Used me as a tool for the benefit of the clan - ✅

Sending another person from my clan to spy on me - ✅

Strained relationship with my parents - ✅

Disgusted with my clan - ✅

Most importantly, this dialogue from part 1 episode 129,

Clan? Clan?

Obsessed with the organization, Obsessed with the clan, Obsessed with the name, that’s merely the detestable action that restrict yourself.

I have given up all hope in this worthless clan

Because, people obsess themselves to their clan, a thing so petty, they lose sight of the things that are truly important.

A real change cannot occur under restraints and controls

I confronted my parents with the exact same dialogue (almost 98% similar) in my own native language some years ago. 

I didn’t even know the existence of Naruto series at that time. I was simply shell-shocked by all these similarities with this character. 

And Yes, The moment I heard these dialogues, I knew Itachi, was a good guy, who had a very strong reason for his actions and I instantly knew Sasuke’s revenge will not bear him any happiness. 

It is exactly because of all these striking similarities of myself with Itachi, and my lil’l sister with Sasuke, my family dynamics with the Uchiha family.... I could understand the magnitude of Sasuke’s love towards Itachi. 

And precisely because of that, I could understand Sasuke’s love towards Naruto is not fucking ‘brotherly’ one but something that leans towards Attraction. 

No wonder, Itachi left Sasuke in Naruto’s care. 

Anyways to speak objectively, 

Itachi is an extremely self-sacrificial person whose life is full of pain and miseries but never blames it on the world unlike other Uchiha members like Madara, Obito and Sasuke to an extent.

He did things considering the bigger picture which never benefitted himself in anyway and was willing to go to any extent even at the expense of his own family and his brother’s happiness. That is, Uchiha Clan Massacre and Joining Akatsuki. None of this benefitted him in anyways but he did it anyway, for the village of Konoha. 

His ideals are shockingly similar to Hashirama, Which Sasuke pointed this out and Hashirama acknowledged that Itachi was a better shinobi than he was. ❤️❤️❤️

Now, does this means I support Uchiha clan massacre?

No way. Even Itachi didn’t.

This massacre happened because of the huge clusterfuck from Hiruzen’s incompetence, Danzo’s paranoid arrogance, Uchiha clan’s devious plan to over throw the government by force rather than approaching it in a peaceful way, say, a peace talk or a protest. 

All these people acted on their own self-interest. Itachi and Shisui caught in their whirlpool, bear their burdens and paid for it with their life. Sasuke suffered for it.

But, it’s not the only reason I love this character. It’s because, the moment he decided to massacre everyone, he marked his own death by the hands of his beloved brother. I love people who owns up their mistakes and face the consequences rather than making excuses (even though it’s not entirely his mistake).

Itachi is also the only character in this series who realized his failures on his own without anyone’s interference or Naruto’s Talk-No-Jutsu. 

And he apologized for everything he did to Sasuke.

Again, some hardcore Sasuke fanatics criticize/hate him for torturing their poor ‘Sasuke-Kun’ with his Tsukuyomi. I was like ‘Hmmm...What?’. 

First off, Itachi apologized to Sasuke for not thinking out from his point of view and also for not telling him the truth earlier.

Second off, Sasuke never even blamed Itachi for anything (even he didn’t hold him for killing their parents). If Sasuke himself, forgiven Itachi... Why are his fans being so rabid?

Third off, for all of his supposed ‘crimes’, he paid for it by dying as a disgraceful Madman rather than a Hero who really saved the village. He is someone who should be celebrated like Naruto but instead died proudly as a Traitor of Konoha.

All in all, One of the wonderfully written character I have ever seen in the media. 

Best Moments:

Itachi vs Sasuke (That battle was a pure brilliance and highly emotional especially after knowing the truth. When Sasuke released his Kirin, Itachi showed off his ultimate armour Susanoo like a badass. Seeing Susanoo for the first time gave me chills. No, Sasuke didn’t kill him. Itachi died on his own)

Itachi vs Orochimaru (Man, Itachi may look mellow but when it comes to Orochimaru he is a pure Sass. He screwed that snake up both the times by a wide margin. It seems Uchiha brothers like to fuck up Orochimaru, LOL)

Talk-No-Jutsu’ing Naruto (Geez, Naruto was being completely bratty and was full of saviour complex like he was going to bear everyone’s hatred by himself. I was almost annoyed. Thanks to Itachi, he realised. Probably he is the only character to shut Naruto using his own jutsu)

Izanami’ing Kabuto (Other than Naruto, he is the only character to go out of his way to empathize with a villain and put extreme effort to change him. I think this is why Sasuke loves Naruto, for seeing these similarities??? ).

Goodbye to Sasuke (The first time when he said ‘Forgive me, Sasuke. This is the last’ by poking his forehead and finally closing the distance by butting with Sasuke’s head softly saying ‘I will love you always’.... It always evokes uncontrollable tears in me, no matter how many times I watch it 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭)

HONOURABLE MENTION

Uchiha Obito

God, Am such a sucker for Uchiha guys individually, though collectively as a clan they fucked up big time. I simply couldn’t find the place for him in the top 10. He is a classic example of What Naruto will be like if he becomes a villain?

However, all those horrible stuffs he did just for a girl whom he had a crush on which was never reciprocated seems childish. That’s why I couldn’t put him in Top 10.

And his understandable but weird obsession on Naruto was always enjoyable to watch. 

One cute thing I liked about him was, whatever criminal stuffs he may have done, he was never a cheapskate though. He had every chance to take back Kakashi’s Sharingan to activate his own Susanoo. But he never even thought of such an idea. He was a bad guy. But a good friend, no matter what. 

Pure Baby!!! But lost his way!!!

Best Moments:

Importance of Team Work (’In the ninja world, Those who break the rules are  scum. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum’. This very legacy he left to Kakashi came to defeat him later. And Naruto follows this motto even today)

Sacrificing his Sharingan (’I am giving you my Sharingan. No matter what the villagers say, you are a great Jonin. Please take it’. Awww!!! Obito. He left his Sharingan which helped Kakashi to complete a jutsu called ‘Chidori’, which is a go-to jutsu of Sasuke)

Thanks for the ask, anon. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this. ❤️

[animeyanderelover]

Yandere Yamato hcs or story please ♥️ Btw your work is amazing, keep it up!

I actually had to read this about three times before I realized that you meant Yamato from Naruto😶.

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, overprotective behavior, obsessiveness

More Yamato Hc’s

🪵One of the more sane and responsible Yanderes from Naruto to have. He is very well able to detect his rather bizarre and sinister feelings and manages to repress them quite well, he is pretty discreet after all. Be that with his jealousy, his urge to sometimes really kill someone or to lock his darling up, he almost never fails to be rational and cautious. Someone would have to push him quite a bit until he snaps enough to do something.

🪵He mostly goes with intimidation and threats if he is not able to solve it normally with someone the polite way which shouldn’t happen too often. Yamato honestly prefers the polite way, however, when being faced with a rather impolite and disrespectful person he does not really see the reason why he should be polite either and simply drops that act. He might use a more comedic way to intimidate others like he does with Naruto, but he can be different as well and that is when he truly does turn terrifying. It leads others to realize that they have never truly faced of with Yamato’s real ways of intimidating someone.

🪵Talking about Naruto, he never stops teasing the poor man about his relationship with you nor do Sakura, Kakashi or Sai. It’s their way of showing him that they’re happy for him, knowing that he had a rather rough life and deserves to be happy. It’s quite the mess to deal with and it sometimes just causes Yamato to be a bit overwhelmed, but he knows they mean well. His darling and the whole team 7 are friends the one or another way and not a single one of them misses the chance to sometimes embarrass him a bit in front of the s/o by telling them a few funny stories of him. Always makes him instantly spit out excuses to why he and his darling have to leave. He always drags them out as quickly as possible, not wanting them to hear what he knew his friends were about to say.

🪵Considering that he has been working his whole life at first for Danzo and then for the Hokage, he actually knows little to nothing about dating and it makes him a bit nervous. So sometimes he kind of searches for some dating advice. Sai probably tells him what the books of his say without Yamato even asking, but he knows better than to ask Sai for advice. Kakashi might help him from time to time, but he clearly states that he doesn’t have much experience with dating either and since Yamato knows what that guy reads, he thinks he shouldn’t ask too often.

🪵Naruto and Sakura on the other hand are both ready to help him and they actually really do help him, especially Sakura who often also pulls Ino into all of this and the girls get excited together for helping him preparing gifts or dates. They don’t include Naruto too much since he sometimes suggests ideas that are rather questionable, but the boy can be very creative and thoughtful as well which is why he has his sudden great ideas as well. Ino never interacted with Yamato too much, but she works in the flower shop and over time Yamato becomes a regular visitor and she definitely has small talks with him about how his dating life goes.

🪵Given his past and all the things he has gone through, Yamato is on the protective side, even though his case is not as bad as Kakashi’s is. It of course also depends on who you are. If you are an ordinary civilian with little to no knowledge how to fight, be will definitely be more careful and protective as when you are a jonin because you certainly didn’t earn this title for nothing. If his darling is a shinobi he completely trusts them to be able to handle themselves, though he would be concerned if they have a similar mindset to that of Naruto, meaning to attack first without thinking and being more reckless.

🪵He has expressed interest in architecture which is why he creates a house for him and his darling once they decide to live together. Since his hobby is reading books about architecture he has quite a lot of ideas, even though he lets his darling decide some parts on this as well. He has this scenario saved for when he has married his darling though. Yes, he does wish to marry his s/o when the time is right and he kind of takes his time because despite being a more stoic individual, proposing takes him a bit courage since he is nervous about it.

[dreamersscape]

In Which I Attempt to Wreak Havoc Upon Panharmonium's Heart. Or Something.

Because I am an awesome friend, clearly, and possibly making people sad/verklempt is definitely an excellent way to (belatedly 😔 but I did start before the 15th!) celebrate Kakashi's birthday, right? ;)

I will admit up front that this is nowhere near as deftly structured and compiled as your Kakashi fanmix, @panharmonium, but that is precisely why I'm not even going to try to organize all these songs into individual playlists. Yet. Plus, I have a tendency to over-explain so this way I can better expound on why certain songs remind me of certain characters. Sorry that I sorta went a little... overboard?

Everything--except a few that aren't available on spotify, I'll link to them directly--can be listened to HERE.

What I'm Looking For - Brendan Benson | Kakashi → I may be a little biased with this one because it fits SO many of my favorite characters so well, somehow, but there's just something about the upbeat/tongue-in-cheek musical cues/delivery of lines such as 'I visit hell on a daily basis, and I see the sadness in all your faces' that just feels so Kakashi to me.

Happy Ending - MIKA | Kakashi → This is presumably a breakup song, but I enjoy it so much more in a non-romantic context (and the song itself isn't really boxed in with overtly romantic framing, so I appreciate that!). Anyway, some very important instructions IMO for listening to this with Kakashi in mind: everything before the bridge is about Kakashi up through his ANBU years, but when you get to the 'little bit of love' refrain, picture Kakashi meeting Tenzo, and then becoming Team 7's sensei, opening back up to Gai, adopting all the other leaf genin, assimilating Sai and Yamato into Team 7, and it keeps building with Kakashi gaining more and more loved ones to fill the hole in his heart, and then cry tears of joy with me! Just my personal suggestion. :D

Light - Sleeping At Last | Kakashi & Team 7 (/all his kids)

with every heartbeat I have left I will defend your every breath

→ I've seen this song used for ship vids and I'm all ????? about that because this is clearly a song about the love you have for your child! But I suppose if one of my favorite pastimes is aggressively re-interpreting love songs in non-romantic ways, I can't begrudge the opposite process... too much, lol.

Heroes - MIKA | Team Minato

your blood on me/and my blood on you/but to make you bleed/the only thing I wouldn't do/.../I wish there was a way/to give you a hand to hold/'cause you don't have to die in your glory/die, to never grow old

Long Lost Friends - Transit | Kakashi & Obito

how long/do you have to say that/this is not the person I used to know/you are not the person I used to know/.../because lately, you've been looking at me like you've seen a ghost/and isn't it obvious who's been missing who the most

→ What the heck! What the heck! What the heck! What the heck! What the heck!

Against the Voices - Switchfoot | Kakashi

'cause everybody knows/the hardest war to fight/is the fight to be yourself/when the voices try to turn you into someone else

Out of the Darkness - Matthew and the Atlas | Obito? Yamato? Kakashi? Itachi & Sasuke? Naruto & Kurama? → I'm a bit undecided about this one, or if I should just not worry about choosing one character and just let myself feel all the "inner darkness is not an innate characteristic, Danzo! They're just grieving/in a lot of pain, and they can find their way out of that dark place!" feels.

Save A Place - 1969 | Kakashi & Sasuke

so I'll keep away and save a place for you/and I'll only make the same mistakes as you/.../when all the blood all over your fingers is dried up/the pain will still linger

→ I'm not uber-confident in picking out really fitting Kakashi & Sasuke songs yet, but I hope this hits a lot of the right notes for you. :)

Thrive - Switchfoot | Kakashi

I'm always close, but I'm never enough/I'm always in line, but I'm never in love/I get so down, but I won't give up/I get so down, but I won't give up

→ See, it says right there that he's never in love! Not the crux of the song, and he's not always 'in line' either, but still! :)

Disarm - The Civil Wars | Kakashi & Obito

the years burn, burn, burn

→ I don't know how I keep collecting fictional relationships that work so well for this song, but literally every single line of this song hits so hard for these two?? Will never recover from this. (Also, I usually disregard when 'my love' pops up in the last line of the chorus, as the mood dictates. :) It's pretty incidental as is IMO.)

Renaissance - Paolo Buonvino & Skin | Sakumo & Obito & Kakashi & Naruto

let me show you one last time/let me show you one last sign/you can find it/I can't say that I can change the world/but if you let me, I can make another world for us/let me suffer all for you/make this vision all brand new/we can fight them/I can't say that I can win it all, [but] come with me and I will make my words stand tall

→ Okay, this is a very odd choice given that it's actually the theme song for a different show about the Italian renaissance (if you happen to see this, Mirjam, don't hate me!), but this could be IT! The "those who break the rules are scum, but those who would abandon their friends are worse than scum" anthem that's all about building a better world based on these principles! I really hope our sharing-a-brain talent translates to listening to this song in this way because I am feeling SOME KIND of way about this!

The Lament of Eustace Scrubb - The Oh Hellos | Kakashi → I really liked the song you chose from this album for your fanmix, so now I've feeling a tiny bit too on-the-nose with my choice, but I guess this is just a Kakashi album all around. 😆

Glass Heart Hymn - Paper Route | Kakashi(+ Obito) & Sasuke(+ Itachi)

memories as heavy as a stone/ I am empty, in my end you are my beginning

This Is Home - Switchfoot | Yamato & Kakashi (+ Team 7)

and now, after all my searching/after all my questions/I'm gonna call it home

→ All finding-where-you-belong songs are actually Yamato songs. True story!

Faust, Midas, & Myself - Switchfoot | Obito

you have one life left to leave/you have one life left to lead

→ Could this be any more perfect for Obito? It even has creepy-old-man!Madara!

Pluto - Sleeping At Last | Kakashi

Always Gold - Radical Face | Kakashi & Obito/Sasuke & Itachi/Naruto & Sasuke

all my life, I've never known where you've been/there were holes in you, the kind that I could not mend/and I heard you say, right when you left that day/does everything go away?/yeah, everything goes away/but I'm going to be here till forever/so just call when you're around

→ ...but mostly Kakashi & Obito because 'there were holes in you' 😭😭😭

Lemon Boy - Cavetown | Yamato & Kakashi → You already know the delights of this song of course, but I gots to be comprehensive. :)

Everywhere I Go - Lissie/cover by Sleeping At Last | Kakashi & Team Minato

danger will follow me now everywhere I go/angels will call on me and take me to my home/well, these tired eyes just want to remain closed

→ I chose the Sleeping At Last cover for maximum angst, 'cause sometimes it be like that.

Uneven Odds - Sleeping At Last | Kakashi

maybe your light is a seed, and the darkness the dirt, in spite of the uneven odds, beauty lifts from the earth

→ ...just like an earth style: mud wall :') Okay, okay, bad jokes aside, the seed metaphor of course makes me want to associate it with Tenzo, but this is clearly a Kakashi song!

Twenty-four - Switchfoot | Kakashi & Obito

life is not what I thought it was twenty-four hours ago/and I'm not who I thought I was twenty-four hours ago/still I'm singing spirit, take me up in arms with you/you're raising the dead in me/I wanna see miracles/to see the world change/wrestled the angel for more than a name/for more than a feeling, for more than a cause/I'm singing spirit, take me up in arms with you/and you're raising the dead in me

I'm Still Here (Jim's Theme) - John Rzeznik | Kakashi

and how can they say I never change?/they're the ones that stay the same/.../they can't tell me who to be/'cause I'm not what they see/.../and their words are just whispers/and lies that I'll never believe

→ Yeah, I might've accidentally imprinted on Treasure Planet as a 14 year old, and then someone made sure this song would forever live in my heart by making a fanvid of it with my favorite character from my robin hood show, but! He's still here!

See You Again - Wiz Khalifa (feat. Charlie Puth) | Kakashi & Obito/Team Minato

how can we not talk about family when family's all that we got?/everything I went through, you were standing there by my side/and now you gon' be with me for the last ride

→ I am being very unoriginal here, and there are in fact already fanvids made for these relationships set to this song (along with many others featuring different Naruto relationships), but I don't think I'll be able to rest until I translate the movie playing in my head whenever I hear this song now into an actually watchable format. After all, they have come a long way from where they began, and I intend to make that both as touching and ironically hilarious as possible!

Goodnight, Travel Well - The Killers | Kakashi → Admittedly, I got this idea from a magnificently crafted fanvid done for my robin hood show, but I genuinely think it would be really interesting to make something similar for Kakashi centered around the time he technically died but got better? I don't know how to explain it, but I think it fits quite well.

30 Lives - Imagine Dragons | Kakashi & all the people he's loved and lost → can be listened to here.

A Pound of Flesh - Radical Face | Kakashi

then today I wake up feeling easy/and find I'm on more familiar roads/I got a darkness wrapped inside me/but now it ain't so hard to let it go/so keep a candle burning in the window/I'm almost home

Hold Back The River - James Bay | Kakashi & life getting in the way of him being with his precious people (you may be sensing a pattern here) → @the road of life: Let! Kakashi! And his People! Hold! Each! Other!!! Also, 'tried to square not being there, but think that I should have been' is absolutely about Sasuke's defection and Kakashi adding it to his long list of undeserving self-recriminations.

The Fall - Imagine Dragons | Yamato & Kakashi → 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

Shadowman - K's Choice | could work equally well for Kakashi or Obito, I think

any time tomorrow a part of me will die/and a new one will be born/any time tomorrow/I'll get sick of asking why/sick of all the darkness I have worn/any time tomorrow/I will try to do what's right/making sense of all I can/any time tomorrow I'll pretend to see the light/I just might/.../and doesn't it make you sad?/to see so much love denied/see nothing but a shadowman inside

Paint - The Paper Kites | Kakashi & Team 7

still there's a wound and I'm moving slow/though it don't show, though it don't show/I've got a hole where nothing grows,/how little you know, how little you know

→ A song for just how much Team 7 doesn't know about their sensei.

Always Find Me Here - Transit | Kakashi → ...most likely at the memorial stone. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (why am I like this)

Taste - Sleeping At Last | Kakashi

it’s bittersweet, it’s poetry/a careful pruning of my dead leaves/it’s holy ground, a treasure chest/I'm on my knees and only scratch the surface/like fists unraveling, like glass unshattering/we’re breaking all the rules, we’re breaking bread again/we’re swallowing light ’til we’re fixed from the inside

Help - Hurts | Yamato & Kakashi

take my hand and lead the way/out of the darkness and into the light of the day/.../'cause I know what I've been missing/and I know that I should try/but there's hope in this admission/and there's freedom in your eyes/.../I can feel the darkness coming/and I'm afraid of myself/call my name and I'll come running/'cause I just need some help

→ NO ONE TOUCHE ME.

Your Soul - RHODES | A mish-mash of Kakashi & Tenzo and Rin & Obito & Kakashi and Gai & Kakashi vibes? → So like, 'oh you know when you're alone/I'm holding on and on and on and on/to your soul' reminded me of your 'when you're all alone...the only thing you really think about is dying' 'but when there are two of you...the only thing you can think about is surviving.' and now kakashi - who just saved his life - is asking him 'did you want to die' and yamato is saying 'no' there are two of them and yamato wants to SURVIVE. tags as well as Gai's steadfastness as a friend, and 'I just wanna hold your hand' made me think of Rin's "Well then, I'm just going to have to connect the two of you." while holding their hands, and the sunlight/'soul shine'/'your light' motif is just A Lot in this song!!

7 Years - Lukas Graham | Kakashi → Alright, yeah, there are already approximately a gazillion pre-existing Naruto AMVs for this song and even one or two focusing on Kakashi, but they don't capitalize on all the angst possibilities in many of the lyrics or reach the fluff potential of 'will I think the world is cold or will I have a lot of children who can warm me [when I'm old]' and I cannot abide that!

Putting The Dog To Sleep - The Antlers | Kakashi & Sasuke → Okay, on one hand, this song is One Big Oof. But I do like the (potentially odd) way I've conceptualized it for Kakashi & Sasuke? Like, the first half is Kakashi going through all the tragedies in his life and getting lost in ANBU, but then in the second half it transitions to him wanting to prevent Sasuke from having to be as alone as Kakashi once was and they can face life together? It makes me emotional!

Trust Me - The Fray | Kakashi & Obito

I found a friend, or should I say a foe?/said there's a few things you should know/we don't want you to see/we come, and we go/here today, gone tomorrow

→ There are a few lines that call Tenzo & Kakashi to mind, but mostly it's Obito & Kakashi.

The Lightning Strike (What If This Storm Ends?) - Snow Patrol | Kakashi → I had to, right? My mindscape is a little murky/scattered about what specifically I want to think about when I listen to this, but obviously it has to do with Kakashi in one way or another.

Kettering - The Antlers | Team Minato(???) → Honestly not sure if this will make any sense, but yeah, vague team minato vibes?

Swans - Unkle Bob | Kakashi & Obito/Rin/Minato/Kushina/Sakumo → They should be by his side always!!!

Looking Too Closely - Fink | Kakashi → I honestly feel rather ambivalent about this one too, but I can't deny 'truth is like blood underneath your fingernails/and you don't wanna hurt yourself, hurt yourself/looking too closely' always destroys me because... well, you know. I love suffering. :(

Souvenirs - Switchfoot | Kakashi & Obito & Rin

wolves - Switchfoot | Kakashi

snowfall for the battlefield/roses for the father's sons/see them red on the ground:/bleeding/when the revolution came/we were more than hungry men/we were hoping for more:/bleeding/end. begin again./all of my world is collision and spin/hope is a world that has yet to begin/awaken, oh sleeper/awaken, oh sleeper/a new day begins

→ I wanted a wolf-related song too. :)

PRODIGAL SOUL - Switchfoot | Obito, Itachi, & Sasuke; just all them wayward Uchiha boys

Coming Down - Dear Euphoria | kid!Kakashi & his relationships

the shell/that I wore/it wasn't for fun/it wasn't to make you/stick around/it was for survival/it was what I've learnt/it was for the sun/.../our love has grown/our love has flown

→ Another one I'm a little unsure of whether it makes sense outside of my head or not, but I like the vibes?

Ghosts That We Knew - Mumford & Sons | Kakashi & Yamato? → Hmm, can I maybe submit this as a Kakashi-&-Yamato-just-need-to-mske-it-through-this-war-so-they-can-have-a-bright-bright-future song?

All Is Well (It's Only Blood) - Radical Face | Kakashi → ...he said as he's bleeding out or after he's thrown himself in the line of fire protecting someone he thinks is a better person than himself...

Bleeding Out - Imagine Dragons | Kakashi

when the hour is nigh/and hopelessness is sinking in/and the wolves all cry/to fill the night with hollering/when your eyes are red/and emptiness is all you know/with the darkness fed/I will be your scarecrow/you tell me to hold on/oh, you tell me to hold on/but innocence is gone/and what was right is wrong

→ In a similar vein to the previous song. But goodness gracious! Were they NOT straight up describing Kakashi here?

Amaryllis - Shinedown | Yamato & Kakashi → Just tossing this one out there, not sure if it will make sense or if it's a reach... but I like it?

lost 'cause - Switchfoot | Kakashi & Sasuke

are we a lost cause?/or are we just lost 'cause/we won't be the future we refuse to see?/and if I'm your lost cause/it'll be your lost 'cause/you won't see me as I am, the possibility/that I'm not the enemy

→ 214 feels. (And before and after that, but yeah.)

Through the Ghost - Shinedown | Kakashi & Obito

so many silent sorrows/you never hear from again/and now that you've lost tomorrow/is yesterday still a friend?/.../everything that mattered is just/a city of dust/covering both of us/did you hide yourself away?/I can't see you anymore/.../did you hide yourself away?/are you living through the ghost?/did you finally find a place/above the shadows so the world will never know?/the world will never know you like I do ... like I still do

Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men | Kakashi → Just Kakashi having little chats with his ghosts, totally the most heartwarming way to conclude this section. 😅

Sleepyhead - Passion Pit | Kakashi → Just kidding! Here's a slightly less morbid song for the Most Tired Boy Of Them All.™ (Random aside: this was my customary song to listen to on my walks to 8AM organic chemistry classes; I found it strangely soothing! On a different occasion, after a particularly long day for her, one of my roommates didn't have the energy to make it to her bed but nevertheless requested a lullaby from us. So I obliged by playing this song for her, but she didn't seem to gain the same peace of mind from it as I did. 😄 I know it's not my place to propose anything like this, but it does amuse me to imagine bookends!Kakashi in these situations, even though it's not OChem classes he has to go to.)

General/Miscellaneous:

Rise Above It - Switchfoot | Ensemble

don't care what they're telling me/we can be what we want to be/.../just because it's law doesn't mean that it's fair/.../don't believe the system's on your side/.../the curse is spoken/the system's broken; rise above it

→ I mean, how could I not think about Naruto when this song also has the lines 'hear us sing tonight like the last night on earth/we will rise like the tide/like dead men coming back to life/we are rising, rising'? It's fun to be literal sometimes!

Doorways - Radical Face | Allllll the traumatized children → Someone has to put all those tragic childhood flashbacks to good use, after all.

Ghost Towns - Radical Face | take your pick of Itachi, Sasuke, or Post-Kannabi-Bridge!Obito

there's no comin' home/with a name like mine/I still think of you/but everyone knows/yeah everyone knows/if you care, let it go

Blinding Light - Switchfoot | Hey, Hiruzen? You may have coined the phrase, "children are the king" but I don't think you truly understand it... (insert Princess Bride joke here)

hey boy, don't believe them/we're the nation that eats our youth/.../still looking for the blinding light/still looking for the reason why/still looking for the sun to shine/all my life I've been living in the darkest night/still looking for the blinding light/to take me higher and higher

Brother's Blood - Kevin Devine | EVERYONE → ...but certainly so much you could do with Itachi & Sasuke, Obito & Kakashi, Shisui & Itachi, even Hashirama & Madara! Sakumo's teammates turning their backs on him and saying 'I don't know one thing about my brother's blood'?!?! There are SO MANY ideas I have for this song! It gives me chills and makes my brain scream.

We Need Each Other - Sanctus Real | Ensemble → Already mentioned this one to you, but I have to include it here for thoroughness' sake!

Whispering - Alex Clare | the Hidden Leaf's lost/ostracized children/orphans

who will care for the falling?/who will care for the falling leaves?

So this is probably a strange concept to come up with and apply to this song, but the 'whispering, whispering, whispering' parts brought Konaha's virulent gossiping/passing judgement about others and often kids they don't even know problem to mind, too, and yeah?

The World You Want - Switchfoot | Ensemble → If I were to make a fanvid set to this song, I would definitely keep a broad focus, but I can't deny that the lines 'you start to look like what you believe, you float through time like a stream, if the waters of time are made up by you and I, I could change the world for you, you change it for me' FOR SURE has strong Obito & Kakashi/Kakashi & Tenzo vibes.

Red Eyes - Switchfoot | Ensemble, but definitely many dashes of Uchihas 😄 → I would like to thank Masashi Kishimoto for creating a world where red eyes are a Thing of Importance so I can one day make a fanvid using this song in not just the tired or teary bloodshot-red eyes way, but in a very literal sense too.

TAKE MY FIRE - Switchfoot | The Will of Fire → 'Cause I think I'm sooooo clever. 😄

Above The Clouds Of Pompeii - Bear's Den | various parent & child relationships → This obviously derives from the not-caring-about-your-female-characters problem, but it always gets me that all the single parents in the Naruto universe are almost invariably the fathers! I guess sometimes you can safely guess that the mothers are still alive/exist, but either way we hardly ever get to see them. :/ The one exception I can think of right now is Kurenai, but maybe I'm forgetting another conspicuous single mother. Anyway, I don't know if this helps or hinders more a potential Naruto fanvid for this song, but regardless, it still gives me feelings?

Who We Are - Switchfoot | Ensemble → It just makes me inordinately happy that the chorus for this song starts with 'who we are (in the fever of our youth)', you know? :D

Brother - Kodaline | all the friendships we can stuff in here and then some → Quite a well known song I'm pretty sure, but I love how many dynamics one could showcase in a potential fanvid of this. And, not gonna lie, 'oh brother, we go deeper than the ink beneath the skin of our tattoos' deserves to be used in some sort of Tenzo 'n' Kakashi or Team Ro fan creation!

Special Bonus:

Shake It Out - Florence + The Machine | Kakashi & Obito → I'm not sure whether I would have realized how well this works for Kakashi & Obito on my own, funnily enough, but then I found this fanvid of it (containing only scenes you've seen naturally!) and it hit me like a ton of bricks. It's so well done!

[avenger-hawk]

Why do you like Kakasasu?

I waited to reply to this because I wanted to be sure it wasn’t a troll and it wasn’t a drama starting attempt (like this or this, gems found in the sasuke/KS tag) since it’s a subject I am very interested in.

I replied to Kakashi/Sasuke related asks, shippy or not shippy, here, here and here. More about them here, here and here. Put yourself comfortable cause this is gonna be long. Not putting it under a readmore cause I remember ppl complaining they coulnd’t open it on mobile phones (?). Also, moralists who are lurking: don’t interact, get out of my blog. Youll be blocked on sight.

When I started reading N*ruto I was into Bleach a lot, and the fact that the characters were a little older and looked older made me not get into Nar that much at first, because they looked like kiddies lol. I didn’t care about Nar as a character and his initial rivalry with Sas was cute but not enough to get me interested. Only when Kakashi got closer to Sasuke I started being veery interested in the story and in the characters. What I found intriguing was that Kakashi was older and an authority figure, but also someone to look up and who helped his students, BUT at the same time he wasn’t exactly a father-like figure or a big brother-like figure, because he had his dark side, that back then wasn’t well flashed out but that nevertheless showed a closed-off person who kept everything inside, not letting others get too close to him.

(then I started liking N*rusasu mostly because there were so many cool doujinshi especially Emi10/Rankai and Engawaken, while KS doujinshi were so meh, kinda in old yaoi style like Loveless, with tiny Sas who looked even younger hahaha, not my thing)

As those who know my blog and/or my writing know already, I am not interested in healthy, cute, positive dynamics in fiction. I might enjoy them, I might be happy when there are such moments, but I can’t like a whole relationship/dynamic/story only like this because I like to explore complicated ones in fiction.Because fiction is very useful for this, it makes you explore dark, taboo things, without affecting reality (no matter what idiots say), it’s cathartic, it’s a way to do, see, experience things without doing anything.

Back to topic tho, I found their initial dynamic very intriguing. A broken, traumatized yet extremely driven Sasuke, acting as confident and strong as he can, but showing his trauma in various occasions, otherwise being mostly aloof, lost in his own thoughts, and a differently broken Kakashi, acting chill but at the same time always ready to act when needed, yet always kinda distracted, aloof, lost in his owh thoughts (and later we’ll know he took Obito’s mannerisms because he was a stickler to rules). The way Kakashi takes a special interest for Sasuke, clearly the most driven, the best of the team, with whom he holds back much less (when he trains them, like when in the beginning, during the bell test, he fights with Sas and seeing that he almost took it, he overpowers him) while he is different with the others (Nar will have Jiraiya later). The way he protects Sasuke during the chuunin exams, while he’s in the hospital and Kabuto is trying to kill him.

Mostly, the controversial moments...like I said I live for these kind of things. where he both protects and threatens him...like when he does that seal to Sasuke, for his curse mark, and he tells him that if that curse mark takes over he’ll kill him. Or when he ties Sasuke up so he won’t join Orochimaru.

Before someone says bs like *you’re not Sas fan if you like that scene* (I know there are many like this and I want all of them out of my blog btw) uh, it’s not how it works guys. You can support a character and still be intrigued by scenes where said character is tied up/in a forcibly submitted position and so on. Guess what, some of those scenes are made for fanservice even (and Sas has many of these, so if you don’t see the appeal/refuse to admit that there is appeal, it’s you who have a problem). So even tho I disagree with Kakashi not wanting to listen to Sasuke’s reasons for revenge (and later supporting SHikamaru’s, I replied to this in one of the asks I linked) I do find that scene interesting...I mean Sasuke tied up in a very suggestive way and yet defying him and threatening to kill his loved ones and Kakashi opening up in a very weird way vaguely replying that he lost those ppl already? It shows a lot about them, their personalities, everything.

I am sticking to part 1 because there are more meaningful interactions between them, I wished there were more in part 2 but kishi shifted Kakashi’s ‘interest’ to Nar, making him one of Nar’s followers...even so, the intractions they had were very interesting. Their fight after Sasuke fights Danzo is one of my fave moments in the whole story tbh, much more than the later confrontation with Nar. Kakashi for the first time has an inner only, yet strong, emotional reaction, having to fight and supposedly kill his former student who became a rogue with a death sentence on his head...he realizes this is how Hiruzen felt against Orochimaru. It’s a strong realization from someone like him who was always so closed off and aloof that he totally lacked empathy.

On the other hand Sasuke is in a different mindset. He’s sort of high for having succeeded in eliminating the one who made Itachi suffer so much, he’s thinking about killing the elders and destroy the village, so he’s basically lost in the recent past of Danzo’s death and in the future plans he’s making, he’s not in the present moment almost...but he has to fight anyway, and it’s a cool fight, also because he’s weakened already and Kakashi is strong...and then he gets blind, totally, and it’s an amazingly intriguing moment, the kind of controversial stuff I’m interested in, because that’s when he could be totally overpowered by Kakashi, if the story didn’t have other priorities (putting Nar in the center of attention with their confrontation).

Their later moments, like during the war, are meh cause the interest shifted already completely, but their moments in jail (anime only ofc) and their Shinden interactions (only through messages) are interesting to me. Very much so, because they show power dynamics very well, with Kakashi as THE authority and Sasuke as the one submitted. In jail it’s even more evident with him looking down at the younger tied up and blindfolded...like, wow. It’s like fanfiction material (in fact I wrote one (ff.net/a03) and there was the coolest fanart inspired by it! here..there were more but this came on my dash today so).

You mentioned power dynamics...their dynamics are all power dynamics because Kakashi was never at Sasuke’s same level and he never acted like he was, and when Sasuke was stronger, during the war, they basically didn’t interact, and when the war was over and Sasuke was brainwashed and tamed into submission the power dynamic remained the same.

The difference imo between them and other power dynamics based pairings is that they are closer than what could be defined rare pairings such as Obito (they had a very interesting one tho, if only it was developed), Madara (the story was already developed in a pro Konoha-anti Uchiha way but it would have been so cool to have the 2 Uchiha interact more), or other older and stronger characters, so the dynamic could be written in a cool way in a fanfiction but in canon Kakashi created it already. So, while I can imagine something like Shisui/Sasuke, Obisasu or more, in my head, and I can come up with some AU or canon divergent/canon behind the screen (like when Sas stayed with Obito after the transplant), Kakashi and Sasuke had canon interactions that showed power dynamics already.

(Then there is Itasasu, which is a huge power dynamic based relationship, that also had amazingly strong feelings though, and those who know me know that for me Itachi will always be Sasuke’s most loved person, and that he was the same for Itachi. So ofc imo IS is a much stronger bond compared to KS but still. Also I remember in the beginning how many fics I read where Itachi was abusive to Sas and Kakashi stepped in lol. And it’s not a mystery that even though I think the IS bond is the strongest I find other pairings and character dynamics very interesting, so much that I like to explore them even more than IS, which, imo, is almost a given fact so I don’t always feel the need to explore it)

Another thing I find intriguing is that Kakashi always saw Sas at his ‘worst’...in Konoha’s terms I mean. When he wanted revenge in pt 1, after he killed Danzo and he was weak and so desperate and hysterical that they thought he got crazy, when he was jailed. It’s a big power he has, to be able to see someone like this.

Tbh it’s a pity that there were no post war moments (B*ruto shit doesn’t count) where they interact ‘normally’ cause I would have liked to see them, both as normal interactions where they get closer again, now that Sas is older, where they train and they get physical (and Kakashi has a lot of repressed anger, jealousy and possessiveness to let out on the one who betrayed his sensei and went to another...not my opinion but it could be Kakashi’s pov) because I think power dynamic would come up a lot, even from apparently cute moments.

I’ll end this super long essay hoping that you didn’t fall asleep lol, and adding that Kakasasu was the first Nar pairing I shipped, which it speaks a lot about why I get so irritated when someone mentions it negatively.

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Gosh looks like today needs more Kakashi positivity

Kakashi's first lesson to his students is 'fuck the rules if your friends are in danger/need your help

Kakashi actively wins multiple fights on his own and even holds his own against Kakuzu and Hidan without using the MS. Cannonly (Manga only) Kakashi wins against Zabuza (twice), the seven deadly swordsmen, multiple enemies in the war arc. Kakashi is also portrayed as more of a leader than a direct fighter, excelling most when he can lead a team to victory (like in the Kaguya fight).

Obito's eye is a GIFT to him. It doesn't matter if he 'shouldn't have it' or any other reason people come up with for him being crap for using it. He is the only character we see with a Sharingan (that is none Uchiha or even Uchiha in the vast majority of cases) who was 100% gifted the eye and told to use it. He uses it to honor the memory of a friend he lost.

Kakashi is the only character we see actively stand up to the system from inside the system. He's the one who stands up to Danzo to save Yamato. He's the one who turns his back on the 'New Hokage' (Danzo) and takes Naruto out of the village during a time when ALL shinobi are supposed to be restricted to inside of the village. He's the one who ignores Hiruzen's order's and plan in order to go save Yamato. He turns his back on Tsunade giving him an S-Ranked missiong to go after two of his students.

Kakashi taught each of his students something in the short amount of time we actually got to see him in teaching mode. He helps Sasuke improve his taijutsu so much that Gai is impressed by his improvements in the short span of a month. He teaches Sasuke his Chidori. He teaches Sakura the Qi release. He teaches Naruto how to make use of his shadow clones to learn faster (something Naruto uses both to create his rasenshuriken in such a short span of time and which he again uses later to learn sage mode.). That's not even touching on the obvious moments of teaching them about teamwork and chakra control (with the tree climbing)

Kakashi cared about all of his students. When he saw Itachi he assumed he was there for Sasuke, and when he found out he was there for Naruto he was just as ready to fight to protect his students. He carries Naruto on his back after he exhausted himself and gives Naruto a head pat. Seeing a bit of himself in Sasuke does not mean he ignored any of his students. While other teachers were hyper-focused on one student, Kakashi at least recognized he was only one person and when he needed to hyper-focus on Sasuke he still made sure that Naruto had someone to train him in chakra control as that was his weakest point.

Kakashi is the Hokage that made genuine changes to the system. He's the one who made a no-kill order for the shinobi of Konoha. He's the one who redirected Konoha's system away from shinobi toward a more economic system. It was during his reign that Konoha became an economic giant and grew exponentially in size.

Kakashi also became stronger after losing the Sharingan. The Sharingan was a gift from Obito that directly hurt him because he didn't have any magical fixes to keep him from getting chakra exhausted. the chakra was constantly being drained from him by the Sharingan, making him chronically fatigued just by existing with Obito's gift.

Kakashi's purple lightning is a stronger move than his chidori and does not require the sharingan. He's also capable of turning pieces of his mud wall jutsu to glass to deflect electricity before returning it to mud so that it is not left as an extremely fragile material that would shatter under most other attacks. this is a feat that was thought to be impossible even by the person who originally suggested it.

His chakra pool is so much bigger that he held a mud wall for three days and released it when he was ready to go on the attack

he defeated 50 jonin rank missing nin shinobi with a frying pan and some really well-used genjutsu

he's always learning and growing. Kakashi in OG Naruto was one of Konoha's strongest ninja and he STILL trained to get stronger after Naruto left because he knew he needed to. The same Kakashi who made the mistake of looking directly into Itachi's eye in their first fight then turned around and tricked Itachi into wasting a MS move on a shadow clone.

[shammikorn]

what’s your interpretation of rin’s personality? i love your comics about her and it sucks that in canon she’s just Nice Girl

that's a great question, anon! and the one i've been asking myself for several years now.

first thing first: root!rin theory is an invention of @ahkaraii, and it’s the most important thing in naruto fandom.

i may be overthinking but i always thought there was something off about rin - she is not just nice girl™, she is creepily nice girl, and she is way too convenient for one certain uchiha nice girl. as i see it, writing a stereotypical love interest is not a complicated issue for a shounen author - there are a bunch of cliches and tropes that you have to combine to get such character right. rin? she is...not quite this. rin rather looks like someone who tries to be that ideal love interest (or, honestly, to be just a normal shinobi/human) but tries too hard and it spoils the impression.

if we look at rin's databook profile, we can see the formula - «kind, intellectual, devoted», and it's almost absurd that something like this is used as personality description.

what do we know from her canon appearances?

1) well, she does come off as sweet and kind, and i want to believe she was.

2) rin is quiet and reserved most of the time, and when she does speak out it's only generalized and mostly positive stuff. in childhood filler (unfortunately, it’s the only one i remember well) she also pauses before speaking or reacting in general.

3) rin often sounds way too mature for her age (plus, she must be an experienced ninja or at least well educated - in gaiden she comments on enemy's strategy and then on kakashi's usage of chakra). sometimes (mostly with obito but he totally buys it) she says things that seem kinda fake- almost like if she was taught to tell it.

i could say it’s just kishimoto’s writing but there are heroines who got little to no character development and yet still felt like, you know, human beings. rin at times seems like a completely ephemeral creature. to me, at least.

4) rin is obsessed with obito (despite narrator and then obito suggesting she was in love with kakashi). she is overwhelmingly caring - she seems to know constantly where obito is, most time she is around him (even when obito is unaware of that - i’m not sure if it was in the manga but anime has several moments like this), she is in charge of things i wouldn't consider quite normal for a childhood friend to be (like? bringing obito's documents? finding him and leading to a meeting point?). honestly, i can’t read this as simply display of friendship and affection, and i don’t see the same pattern in other relationships in the franchise. there is also an extra emphasis on the fact that rin liked kakashi both in gaiden and in war arc (as well as implementations that kakashi might have liked her back), so it’s not like kishimoto forgot about who was rin’s crush.

if i recall correctly, there is no information on how rin and obito originally meet and what was the foundation of their friendship outside of obito's aspiration to become hokage. therefore the reasoning behind rin’s obsession is unknown.

5) rin emulates obito's reactions, it's shown several times and, i would say, highlighted:

6) rin's reaction to obito's «death» seems much more reserved than kakashi's, and she quickly cuts off any visible display of her distress once obito asks to transplant his eye.

7) rin is clearly not afraid of fighting. she normally doesn’t engage in combat (i assume, the end of third war must have been the time of endorsing tsunade’s iryo-nin reform, thereby rin must have belonged to the generation of medics that followed hime’s rules to the core + rin is stopped from getting into combat by kakashi), however, both time rin was cornered by an enemy, she showed full readiness to fight.

now this is not about her personality, but:

8) rin is placed on future hokage's team, alongside the genius son of one of the strongest ninjas and the uchiha (who could actually keep up with the said genius and, as we see later, surprisingly well adjusted to hashirama cells implanted into him).

9) speaking of her abilities, rin's got a solid 4 in intelligence (among shinobi her age i can recall only shikamaru and sakura scoring 4 or higher), 3.5 in ninjutsu (shino with the same score was about to be put in the root; similar score was obtained by sasuke and neji) and 4 in hand seals, whatever that could mean. overall she's got 21 (while most of konoha11 got less than 20). impressive for a ninja coming from «a very ordinary household» [fourth databook].

10) rin is good as iryo-nin, but like...not outstandingly good, like sakura or tsunade or shizune. she carries a large rucksack (and is the only one who does that out of her team, so it's not part of common equipment) - she probably has to use more civilian methods. however, rin is able to transplant an eye with sharingan and keep its functions without any tools besides maybe her kunai; considering ophthalmology is a way too narrow specialty for a field medic and uchihas tend to keep their secrets secure, this seems pretty damn cool (and gaiden was written before eye swapping became a common thing and iryo-ninjutsu could easily heal any injury). if i don’t say suspicious. plus - rin instantly agrees to perform surgery, no second thought, no hesitation, as if she was trained to do it.

it’s also interesting that kakashi gaiden is the only part where rin is shown not from her teammates' perspective- and in gaiden she is a quiet and determined soldier who can put her duty above her feelings. when we see rin later on, mainly from obito's memories and therefore from his perspective, she is depicted as that constantly smiling and good-hearted girl most folks remember her as. it goes to the point where in the second databook rin is described as serious and capable medic-nin, while in the fourth the main focus is moved to her relationships with kakashi and obito.

i don’t want to try and get any conclusions about her personality from the circumstances of her death- i don’t believe in her voluntary death for the village, not after madara told obito about the seal.

so, what do we get from this? as i said, i've tried to sum these traits up: for a long time i pictured rin as a civilian-background girl with fascination for the shinobi world despite not quite fitting in it (which results in her overly perfected but distant behaviour). but this can’t explain her skills or her obsession with obito, and this is where the root theory comes to rescue: she then becomes a root operative, chosen by danzo for her friendship with obito + civilian background, but with personality not completely ruined by lord shimura (she probably wasn’t seen as useful enough outside the whole obito thing). the original aim of her mission was probably to keep safe and then awaken obito’s sharingan (loving the irony), not to actually steal it. rin did like (in a platonic way) obito even before the recruitment, as well as she grows to like kakashi (in a romantic way) later on, but her real, untouched by shimura and his orders personality must have remained mostly a mystery to them both.

[leportraitducadavre]

What are Naruto’s character flaws in Part 2 ? Did even growth at all during the timeskip or did he get worser ?

Naruto did not develop much after the first part, most of his characterization was based on his impulsive, reckless attitude that was shown to us before the time-jump, but little did they try to establish a more mature Naruto in Shippuden. After the time-skip, the first thing Naruto -actively- does is spar with Kakashi alongside Sakura, there’s nothing there that show us some growth in his behavior (or what humor is) when talking to Konohamaru, and his feelings for Sakura hadn’t changed (still in love with her and asking her on dates despite not seeing her for two years). His tactic to defeat Kakashi is effective, but little have to do with maturity, I know it was planned more for comedy purposes, but it still establishes a Naruto that differs from his former version only by his design, and little bit at that.

During the Gaara’s Retrieval Arc, we again see a reckless Naruto that jeopardizes the mission on occasion in order to get to Gaara, his heart is in the right place, and we already saw how Naruto feels about jinchurikis during the first part. This arc seemed to be more about establishing three things: Gaara’s position of power -despite his tailed beast, which introduces the idea of Naruto having a possibility of getting the position-, Naruto and Gaara’s friendship (and hence, Suna and Konoha), and Suna’s relationship with their Kazekage. Chiyo’s character was presented to serve as the “old vision” of the jinchurikis, being antagonistic to Naruto’s views but ultimately changing thanks to “our hero” and sacrificing herself for Gaara, and to be the second mentor to Sakura to show her development in other circumstances that aren’t sparing with her former teacher.

With that, Naruto’s characterization in the second part has been established, his reaction to Sai's enlistment in team 7 as Sasuke's replacement differs nothing to how he would have reacted during the first part. It could be said that two years are short to change a person’s personality, but Naruto’s development hasn’t moved nor forward or backward, it’s stanked in what seemed to be the most highlighted traits of his personality and the ones the fans recognized him for the most. 

There was an attempt to establish a more mature, more in-depth Naruto during the Pain Arc and later on with the Dark Naruto, but little did succeed, quite the contrary. They tried to show the mature way in which Naruto handled a situation that at another time would have caused another reaction on his part, but the resolution was pure nonsense and their attempt relied on the destruction of a deeper, smarter character like Pain. Naruto “changed” Pain’s view of the world because he quoted a phrase from the book Jiraiya wrote that was inspired by something Nagato said as a child, and that was pretty much it. The reply to the question Pain asked (how would you face this hatred [the world’s hatred, their desire to revenge those who were killed] in order to build peace?), was:

“I believe in what Jiraiya did”. 

There was no depth in that response, there was no argument against what Pain believed in, there was nothing that put Naruto above Pain or showed him to have grown enough to reason with him on the same moral or intellectual level. In that sense there was no growth, Naruto responded that he believed in what his former sensei did, which was already established before, the fact that Konoha was the responsible for the despair of small countries like Nagato’s is completely overlooked in that moment not to be addressed again during their meeting.

Here’s the thing that differentiates Pain or even Sasuke from Naruto: Their traumas. I’m not trying to diminish Naruto’s feelings about the things that happened to him, but everything that was thrown his way was quickly overcome and had little effect on his actions later on. We start the series by knowing that Naruto was an outcast and was despised by the village for things he couldn’t control, like the Kyuubi being sealed on him when he was born, and that he didn’t know who his parents were -hence, his identity, which is something a dictatorial system does, did, and will do and there are no red flags there for the fandom?-. His personality, a loud boy that tried to get everyone’s attention, was explained by those reasons. He was desperately trying to get some control over what was happening around him, he was trying to get whatever acknowledgment he could (whether it was good or bad). His goal and dream, becoming the Hokage, was explained by that same desolation and loneliness, since becoming the ultimate leader of his village would guarantee everyone’s respect, or at least, acknowledgment. During the first part, that worked.

Throughout the series, they wanted us to believe that the dream that began with the simple desire to be loved by his own people morphed into something even deeper when Naruto gains knowledge of the shortcomings of the system and wants to modify them, but that reason falls flat when Naruto doesn’t acknowledge Konoha’s responsibilities, nor on other countries’ miseries, nor in the slaughter of their own people (UCM) during the second part. Losing Jiraiya presented another trauma for Naruto, since it was the first time a person he “truly” bonded with and represented the grandparent figure -being the official connection with his parents- died during combat, but that trauma is “resolved” and never brought back after Pain’s Arc.

Naruto never overcomes his main trauma. He never overcomes the need to be loved and acknowledged, the “trauma” is resolved when he’s considered a hero for the same people that despised him and suddenly, since he can control Kurama and is the weapon he was intended to be from the very beginning, he’s not that bad. The “Dark Naruto” that was introduced to show us how Naruto grew from being the boy that was impulsed by the hatred he felt for the rest of the villagers to the man that forgave them for what they did, translates more accurately as the transformation of the “boy who wanted to be acknowledged and did everything to show he was worth it” to the “man who will do anything to show them they weren’t wrong about trusting him”. 

There’s no morph in his dream or ideals. He’s still dependable on the views others have of him, on his “usefulness”, during Shippuden, rather than overcome it, the need deepens, which is the major modifier of his character. Sasuke went from wanting to kill Itachi to revenge his clan, to understanding that there was a system that cemented the basis of the coup and allowed, encouraged, and covered the Uchiha massacre; so he went from wanting to kill a man, to want to take down the system that put him in that position to begin with (Itachi is a more complex character so I’m not going to enter in that area now). Nagato witnessed the killing of his parents at the hands of Konoha shinobi -the country that started the war in the first place-, and Yahiko later on by Hanzo -helped by Danzo-, and went from wanting to bring peace without the use of brute force (Jiraiya and Yahiko’s view), to achieve peace through justice (stripping the countries of their most powerful weapons to control the system and bring it down). Naruto went from wanting to be Hokage to be loved, to wanting to be Hokage to bring peace, but without acknowledging or trying to understand and offer solutions to the problems presented by the two most important characters to the plot (Pain and Sasuke) there was no solid base to build that peace, it would be, at best, temporary. 

His idea of peace is exactly the same that Nagato saw was fruitless, and there’s nothing a single Hokage can do to change the shinobi political bureaucracy around the globe, convincing the present leader of a village does exactly nothing when the system they have to move around is the exact same that it was since the clan wars, and that’s the sole problem if we are kind enough to believe everyone will listen and act as Naruto wants. The idea of the Chain of Hatred that was the basis of Pain’s beliefs was offered no response by Naruto or his ideals, while Sasuke acknowledged the problem and suggested that the solution was for everyone to focus their hatred on just one person (himself), and start all over again, without ties to that oppressive past. Naruto replied exactly nothing to that issue, and once Pain died, he cared no more about it. Not only that, but the only time it was brought up again was when Karui physically assaulted him because of Sasuke's actions against her sensei. Naruto single-handedly decided that he deserved to be the one to receive the hatred of everyone in order to stop the “Chain of Hatred”, a solution almost identical to the one presented by Pain and Sasuke, but when fighting Sasuke during the final arc he condemned the idea of a single person carrying that weight. The contradiction of his statement a few Arcs before being beaten up for Sasuke is completely irrational writing-wise.

Sasuke grew from his hatred and wanted a revolution, Naruto did not. His characterization wasn’t allowed to become “somber” because that will shatter the reason fans were so enamored with him, will ultimately destroy the fandom’s idea of their “golden, relatable boy”. Naruto is the exact opposite of his rival, not only on his ideals but also in personality and design, if Sasuke is the one who represents the most “radical” responses and embodies a stoic personality, Naruto has to be the opposite, particularly in Shippuden when we see how Sasuke’s beliefs morphed into something entirely new. 

There’s not a significant change in Naruto because he doesn’t need to, his traumas are brushed aside because people started to like him, so the reason why they hated him in the first place stopped being important and it became what gave him enough strength to become remarkable and to be relied on during the war. The system that tortured him and used him as a weapon now pats him on the back, calls him a hero, and puts Sasuke down (the one who used to be loved when he was functional to them), so now Naruto feels accepted and beliefs himself to be the one morally capable of “accepting” others into that system. Destroying it will mean questioning that “meritocracy” that put him there in the first place, because he played by its rules and it paid off, so the others should too, no matter how unfair it is. 

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

what do you think lee and obito's dynamic would be like if, say, things were a bit different and they were the same age. like, minato made a deal with the shinigami, except because obito caused the kyubi attack, he'd be the one lee latched onto. so, say lee went to konoha when obito is five or so, how would he react to this strange foreigner and how would the uchiha react? idk it's kinda funny to me. you don't have to answer if you don't like!

I feel as if you people are sometimes trying to push me story ideas like you’re pushing crack. One of these days, you know my will power’s going to break and I’m going to write the thing, it’s just a matter of which one.

But not today, Satan.

So, I’ll just do this at a high level instead and we can content ourselves with a “what if”.

Well, first, it’s very hard for me to picture this scenario. Obito was there at the time, yes, but he had no direct content with the Shinigami, didn’t call her himself, and well was mired in nihilist rage. So, I’m not sure Lee the god would even notice him there except, perhaps, distantly. 

Though, perhaps through the sheer power of his rage, Obito’s overwhelming ability to force his will onto the world, and more would spark her notice and cause her to go to him rather than a young Minato. That, or when Ellie Potter decides to take the Dursley’s up on their suggestion to leave and find an orphanage, she gravitates towards a time period where the Minato she had previously met is closer to existing (Minato’s older, in a stable relationship with Kushina, etc.)

Regardless, I think a Lee who would choose this time frame, even unwittingly, would be less human and closer to whatever Lee truly is. 

Which means, of course, that Obito’s going to have the weirdest time of his goddamn life.

I forget when Obito enters the academy, I’m going to throw six out as a number as I believe that’s canonically when Naruto’s generation typically enters, and that way Kakashi’s even more ridiculous for graduating at five. 

Until this point, being an Uchiha and living with his grandmother, he has no interaction with strange foreign (possibly Uzumaki) orphan Eru Lee. So, he undoubtedly meets her in the academy, and she’s peak weird.

I imagine she easily confesses to Obito that she’s here to meet the man who, in a few years time, is going to summon her and offer his own soul in sacrifice. She thinks it would be a little awkward to approach him directly, he’s a grown man and she’s six, and in the meantime she’s discovered that the only occupation for foreign orphans is to become shinobi and pray you have some talent. Also, fun fact Obito Uchiha, you burn down the village riding on the back of a Godzilla villain knockoff.

Obito, naturally, is weirded the fuck out and wants nothing to do with her (to his misfortune, her seat is right next to his, and Rin’s is on the opposite side of the classroom). Obito’s grandmother probably tells him to be nice to the weird, friendless, foreign orphan girl and makes him feel guilty as hell. He tries, it’s still weird, and not helped by the fact that Lee quickly reveals herself to be insanely talented.

While Obito, of course, sucks.

Obito’s the one who points out that, if Lee’s this good, they’re not going to care that she completely fails her written exams: she’s going to graduate yesterday. Lee thinks this war business sounds unpleasant, also Obito is the only person who talks to her and if she leaves now she’ll be alone, six, and on a battlefield, and starts purposefully failing her exams. Unfortunately, she’s terrible at failing. Fortunately, she’s great at genjutsu and successfully remains in Obito’s shinobi class. Obito can’t even.

Eventually, i.e. right away though Obito doesn’t admit it for months, Lee becomes his best friend and unofficial wingman who tries to help him win Rin’s heart. She makes it worse, because now Obito’s that weirdass kid who hangs out with that other weird ass kid who does things like get kidnapped by their own clones.

His grandmother is glad Obito has friends, Lee is over all the time eating all their food and practically lives at their house, but has no idea what to make of this girl at all. Much like in “Minato” though, thanks to shenanigans and a lack of direct jonin supervision, the village hasn’t really caught on yet that Lee is anything more than an abnormally talented civilian born orphan. So, the Uchiha don’t think anything of it (and since Obito’s a branch member and very young they don’t really care that he appears to have a non-Uchiha/arranged girlfriend). 

Four years later, Obito hates Lee forever because she genjutsus her placement to be on his genin team instead of the top kunoichi in their class: Rin. Also not helping, as his best friend is a girl, this means that everyone (Rin included) thinks Lee is his girlfriend. At this point, even Obito’s not sure if Lee is his girlfriend or not, her being an alien also doesn’t help matters (a fact which Obito catches onto much faster than Minato did in “Minato”).

The bell test is a convoluted mess. Minato and Lee have the world’s weirdest “do I know you from somewhere?” staring contest. Lee knows she can get the bells in two seconds and instead spends the entire test trying to negotiate with Kakashi and Obito and decide among themselves who stays and who goes. (Obito, clearly, must stay if he wishes to become hokage. Lee would go, but Kakashi and Obito seem to fight like cats and dogs. Per Minato Namikaze, they’re not all staying). This turns into a ridiculous brawl with Kakashi who cannot believe he’s stuck with these genin losers. They end up passing the test because Lee gets the bells and probably buries Minato in the sand somewhere and makes him renegotiate his terms (he takes all three of them as students if he knows what’s good for him). Minato’s not sure how he feels about this.

Life, continues, shenanigans ensue that undoubtedly attract the interest of all the right parties: Danzo, Orochimaru, and the Uchiha clan. The Uchiha clan probably sits Obito down to tell him “By the way, you’re going to marry your weirdass friend”. Obito has an existential crisis about his shitty family, the nature of duty, and everything else.

Danzo probably waits with glee for Lee to turn chunin but undoubtedly actively tries to recruit her straight away. Lee is very weirded out by this.

Orochimaru probably steals hair samples and tells Danzo that he has dibs.

They’re put into war very early, as Obito was in canon, this is undoubtedly quite awful. They likely have a very tense relationship with Kakashi, who wants nothing to do with either of them, and is in his stoic, serious, traumatized phase of his life.

And so on and so forth, we could keep going, but I think this is enough.

[itachi-uchiha-deserved-better]

Gai strained against the rubble in the doorway trying against all odds to hope that the house he was about to search hadn't become yet another tomb in the destroyed remains of Konoha. It was getting hard, even for someone as optimistic as him, to continue to expect more survivors to emerge from wherever they had been trapped. It had a little over a week since the fight against pein had destroyed the village, but there was still so much if it to search and not neatly enough extra hands to search it all fast enough.

Gai had been pulling triple shifts on the search parties to try and pick up some of the extra weight on the search teams shoulders, but Kakashi had threatened to have Gai forcibly sent to the makeshift hospital if he didnt give himself some time to rest. So now he was down to double shifts and he refused to stop until they were sure all of Konoha had been cleared.

He hoped to find living people, some injured, some just scared and hungry from days trapped in collapsed buildings.

He expected to find bodies. Even with Pein's reanimation, people who had come back to life half crushed wouldn't survive long and without water more people would die alone in the dark.

What he didnt expect was the thing he found when the large chunk of rock that was blocking the entrance to the house finally gave.

Or rather the person he found.

Sitting in the remains of the kitchen, legs crossed, eyes up watching him carefully.

Itachi Uchiha.

Gai leapt back away from the door, his gaze dropping away from the Uchiha's face, those dangerous eyes, and his body instinctively slipping into a fighting stance.

He waited for a blow that never came. Itachi didnt so much as move a muscle.

"Might Gai...it's been a while."

His voice was deeper than what Gai remembered. He must have been 18 by now. If he'd been skilled enough to wipe out the whole Uchiha clan single handed at 13, Gai could only imagine how much more deadly Itachi would be now.

He needed to strike hard and fast if he had a hope of surviving, a hope of getting back to Kakashi. He had to get back to Kakashi.

Still carefully avoiding Itachi's eyes, Gai opened the first three gates and felt power, energy and strength rush through him.

Itachi didnt move. Didnt stand. Didnt even speak. Was he that sure of himself? That sure that he could stop Gai before Gai had a chance to cut him down?

It felt off. Gai scanned Itachi's body. Noted a rapid, pained breathing, dried blood on his clothes. Was he injured? Or was that the blood of the citizens of Konoha.

For Itachi to show up so soon after Pein's attack was too much of a coincidence to dismiss.

"Your not going to kill anyone else, Itachi. As the leaf's blue beast it's my duty to stop you here and now."

Still Itachi didnt move, "you're right."

Gai gathered himself, his courage, swearing that he wouldn't lose this fight. If anyone stood a chance here, to stop Itachi before he could sow more devastation, it was Gai.

Itachi's words registered late.

"Y-your not? Hey now what kind of trick is this? Stand up so I can fight you!"

Finally Itachi moved, but it was just to shift in his chair to find a more comfortable position.

"No."

Gai frowned. He didnt know what to make of this. Kakashi might have. Or Shikaku or Shikamaru. All he knew was that Itachi was one of the most wanted rogue ninja of the hidden leaf, a mass murderer.

It must be a trick. That was the only answer. Gai wouldn't fall for it. He raised his fist and started a charge.

He expected Itachi to move out of the way. Expected him to launch a counter attack. Expected him to do something. But as Gai rushed in Itachi just bowed his head. Seconds before he impacted, when it was clear Itachi really wouldn't raise a hand to defend himself, Gai changed the angle of his blow, instead connecting with the wall of the house and coming to a stop with his arms up to protect himself from falling debris.

Once the house settled again, Gai turned to face Itachi again.

This time he really looked at him. He hadn't been spared from the falling rubble. A fresh line of blood trickled down from a new gash on his temple. His head was still bowed, eyes closed. His skin was pale, his face sallow and gaunt. It was strange, so far removed from the bright young man he'd thought Itachi to be before-

"Why didn't you strike?"

"I wont harm an opponent who wont defend themself." It was one of his rules, something he would never compromise on.

"That didnt stop me." the words should have been intimidating, a stark reminder of what Itachi was capable of. But the way he said it caught Gai off guard. There wasnt any darkness in the words, just a blatant admission of fact.

"No. It didnt."

***

Itachi wasnt sure if he was trying to provoke Gai into launching another attack at him or if he was just tired of denying what had happened.

He'd heard someone moving rubble outside the house he had found to take shelter in. He'd assumed it was another root agent. Not that it mattered. He could hardly stand, much less run.

When Gai had pulled the rocks aside, Itachi had made his decision that this was where he stopped running. Of all the people who might have caught him, he was thankful it was Gai. He'd always held Gai in extremely high esteem and it was leaps and bounds from being taken down into Danzo's root headquarters deep beneath Konoha where he would likely never see daylight again.

"Why are you here, Itachi."

Itachi could hear the struggle in Gai's voice. A conflict in Gai between the desire to take down a dangerous enemy and whatever it was in him that had made him pull his strike.

"The roof fell in while I was sleeping." He knew it wasnt the answer that Gai was looking for, that Gai's question had nothing to do with why he was in this specific building, but Itachi was also honestly too tired to care. He pulled his knees to his chest and rested his forehead against them.

Silence. No footsteps, so he knew Gai hadn't moved.

"If you aren't sure about fighting me, then you can call the ANBU. They'll thank you for handing them such a high value target."

"An S ranked rogue shinobi." Gai said flatly.

Itachi nodded.

"A clan killer."

Itachi nodded again.

"A heartless, cold blooded murderer."

Itachi sat limply.

"Why are you here, Itachi."

Itachi sighed, "I'm tired. Are you going to attack me?"

"I told you, I wont fight someone who wont defend himself. Will you fight?"

Itachi breathed as deeply as the pain in his chest allowed.

"No. I'm done fighting. I've spilled too much blood and I wont spill any more."

Itachi heard a soft scraping of fabric and he opened his eyes a sliver. The green blurry shape was now sitting across from Itachi, his own legs crossed, facing Itachi.

"Why are you here?"

"Why do you care what my answer is? What will it change?"

Another beat of silence. But when Gai's answer did come, it surprised Itachi.

"Maybe nothing. But the Itachi I remember and the Itachi that sit before me do not strike me as the monster who slaughtered the Uchiha. Maybe you are that. But if you aren't, isnt it worth the chance that what you have to say might change something?"

This time it was Itachi's turn to let the silence linger.

He was done running. He was done fighting. It was time for Itachi to face his truth and let the rest of the world deal with him how they saw fit.

"It's a long story." Itachi warned.

"Then I suppose you ought to start."

***

When he was done, Itachi suggested that Gai blindfold him. He suggested Gai bind his hands and feet too, but Gai had refused, insisting that he believed Itachi, that he trusted Itachi. He agreed to the blindfold with the knowledge that it would prevent immediate action by the remaining uninjured jonin as Gai helped Itachi back to camp.

Gai hoisted Itachi, who was too weak to stand on his own power, and slung the young man's arm across his strong shoulder.

As soon as Gai was sighted there were shouts for a medic. Those shouts died as Gai and Itachi came closer and people began to recognize him past his loose hair hanging around his face and his eyes covered. A heavy silence fell over the camp at the center of the rebuilding process. Itachi didnt need to see to feel the massive amount of chakra around him and feel the stares of hundreds of Konoha ninja and civilians.

"Where is Lord Fifth?"

"Thats-"

"Where is Lord Fifth!" Gai roared at whoever had spoken.

"She's in the hospital tent. There was an incident."

"Danzo" Itachi mouthed the word. It was just like him to take advantage of a time of crisis in the village.

"Then find me Kakashi. Go."

Itachi let his mind tune out the mindless buzz of the camp as Gai directed someone to bring the Jonin together. His fate would be decided soon, based on the truth. The whole truth.

For better or worse, Itachi was home.

[saikagerights]

A New Possession- Entry #13

Hello there! Sorry for the wait, but here we finally are. I’ve been working on and off on this one for over a week now, but today something came over me and I was able to write the last quarter of the chapter on a strong note. My fingers really were working. I have so many fic ideas in my head but then I start thinking about this and become guilty. I a working on other things, but this has to be my top priority moving forward.

Anyway, here it is 

Also available on AO3 

March 10th

I’ve been rather deep in thought the last few days over a particularly odd incident that occurred during my most recent assignment. I have never been one to pick apart missions. In ROOT, a successful job was never one to be questioned. Operatives simply moved onto the next assignment while the last was left to the shadows.

An independent investigation I had conducted under the supervision of our Lord Hokage had finally exposed a primary source of corruption that had plagued the ANBU since Danzo-sama’s shortly-lived rule as Hokage. Taking down senior operative Kido had been a massive undertaking for Sakura, Ino, and I, one that will surely reshape the system in the years to come. We still have plenty of work ahead of us in dismantling the old ways of our elders, but it is another step towards a new era for shinobi. Until then, we are set to be taking measures that do not halt or regress our progress. One preventative procedure is that I have been appointed to be the  Daimyo’s primary escort over the duration of his visits to the village. It seemed strange for someone of my caliber to act as a diplomat, but Kakashi-sama had convinced me that this was in order to instill trust that he will not be targeted again.

As grateful as I am for the changes succeeding this mission, there is one thing that has completely “floored me” or so to speak. Besides being a major break in our investigations, it was a fairly abnormal assignment to begin with. I had been appointed to a team alongside Sakura and Ino, who happened to have gotten entangled in the case by pure happenstance. I had been plenty accustomed with working with Sakura, but this was the first instance where I could say I had property coordinated with Ino on an assignment. Beside being one part of the InoShikaCho Trio, she was more often seen working in the Interrogation department, the hospital, and her family’s flower shop.

It wasn’t as if I was disappointed or uncomfortable with this assignment. In fact, I had grown well adjusted to interacting with Ino in recent months, so I expected our cooperation to be a smooth transition despite the rather unexpected circumstances. However, it seemed as if she had been rather off. I’ll admit that I am no expert in identifying emotions of others, but it looked that way through her mannerisms. She was...skittish, and easily startled, something that contradicted her status as an incredibly skilled ninja. I had assumed that she was able to handle the trials of this assignment. It would be a safe guess to say that she was uncomfortable, but I could never guess as to why that was. Even questioning this later made her squirm and wave it off.

This odd behavior continued even after the mission’s completion, when Sakura suggested the two of us share a meal together. She had been unable to meet my eyes, constantly shaking her shoulders whenever she spoke, another one of the little tics I noticed.

“Are you sure you are okay? You can tell me if I’m making you feel uneasy.” I seemed to have startled her once more with that line of questioning.

“What?!”

It came out as a squeak, foreign to her true sound. I had once read that the sound of one’s voice was also an indicator of emotional response. This particular instance further convinced me that she probably wasn’t feeling what one would consider to be “normal.” She glanced at me once before shutting her eyes completely and revealing a smile.

“I’m fine, Sai. Honestly.” She accompanied this statement with a short laugh.

Was that a fake smile?

We sat in silence for a few minutes more before she spoke up again.

“Could you at least walk me home after this? I want to show you something.”

I complied with her request as my interest piqued with her offer. I had a glimmer of hope that this “something” could give me a clue as to what had been bothering her. What I received however, only sent me spiraling further into confusion.

There were flowers in her grasp. Dogwoods to be exact. But with a single sprig of lavender lodged into the bunch.

“This is the reason for my feelings, lately. Please accept them!”

Her eyes looked sharp, focused entirely on me and her mouth was set into a frown. She looked angry, but it could’ve also been some other strong emotion. But why? She had just offered me flowers. It was strange to see something so delicate in her hands when she looked at me like that.

“I don’t understan-”

“You don’t need to understand right now. It’s okay. I’ll wait.”

I was still, no thoughts coming to mind as to how to possibly react to this situation. My gaze phased between the flowers and her. At this point, her expression softened, leaving behind a coat of redness upon her cheeks. Another smile, only this one hadn’t been like the last. This smile was true. Soft and gentle, just as it had been when she appeared to me in my subconscious. Just as I had wished to replicate through my drawings. I unconsciously reached for the flowers, my hand briefly grazing hers. It was also soft, almost as it was made to handle fragile things with care. I could only stutter words to gratitude before I left, glancing back to see her still form still standing there in front of the shop.

What was the true meaning of this mysterious gesture? I poured myself into every Hanakotoba book I could acquire. But after days of research all I could gather was a conflicting message. The dogwoods symbolized the accepting of one’s feelings.The Lavender itself symbolized the concept of waiting for another. One shouted a strong compelling request, while the other whispered patience. A truly strong message, but what did that have to do with Ino? When she offered the flowers, she explained that this was the reasoning for her odd behavior. “The reason for her feelings.” The dogwood I presume. But she also said she would wait, symbolizing the lavender. For her to send me this message meant that I was supposed to “accept her feelings.” What feelings? Why was she feeling to begin with? I should ask, but no. I want to decipher this for myself. This is much too important for me to just let go of.

I’m sorry to make you wait longer, Ino. But I need to figure this out on my own.

___________________________________________________________

Finally we get to the good stuff! So for those of you unaware. In the Sakura novel, Ino is constantly fighting down her budding feelings for Sai as they are paired off to work together in the novel, to Sai's confusion. Sai meanwhile, is quite comfortable being around Ino, comfortable enough to open the door to her in only his underwear!

In the beginning of the novel, Ino reveals to Sakura her crush on Sai, lamenting that she is still deciding on what flowers to give him. Although her and Sakura agree that the blunt message of the dogwoods suit Ino best, I like the idea that she is also waiting for Sai. She is patient in his understanding of what her true feelings are. So I said screw it and had her give him both.

Also the ending was not planned to cut off like that, but I thought it to be a good stopping point. Sai is already confused enough by the gesture, so we'll give him some time to figure it out.

Anyway, thanks for being patient with me. School is starting very soon so I can't really gauge how much free time I will have to write.

As always, comments and criticism is appreciated

See ya next time

-Saikage