#but naruto understands. like already gets it because he IS his dad and is therefore willing to do anything to protect him and... just— 🥰❤️

[luffythinker]

also since your posting about Naruto can i give you my Hyuga Sasuke AU? where Sasuke is taken in by the Hyuga's after the whole Itachi thing.

After Itachi massacred the Uchiha clan Sasuke was adopted by the Hyuga's (working with the Sharingan evolved from the Byakugan theory here) but the Hyuga's call it "a diseased version" and they are like sibling clans, Sasuke's closest family even if they aren't so hospitable.

Hinata's dad isn't forced into custody of Sasuke but the Hokage says they already have the Naruto situation going on with him as a orphan they don't need more orphans they have too many orphans and makes a deal with Hiashi for him to keep Sasuke.

Sasuke's is with the Hyuga's is rough, he's distant, he attends dinner, does training instructions as they order him to but he also trains all on his own. Hiashi doesn't like Sasuke but Sasuke is obedient and doesn't cause any trouble for him so there are no problems with keeping him.

(he wants to praise him for being better then Hinata and he probably has said this while training her, how he can't believe Hinata is second rate to a Uchiha and this disrespects the clan that she can't even do better despite actually being a Hyuga but his pride wont let him say it to Sasuke himself)

(Sasuke does not consider these people famliy at all)

Not very sure how he gets along with Neji but i want to say to humble Sasuke Neji usually wins all their sparing matches, belittles him cause he has the attitude before Naruto showed him paths are not predestine, so he believes Sasuke is not better then him especially because he is a "diseased version" Sasuke makes a note to put Neji in his place later it gives him something he can do he can get better then Neji cause if he can't beat Neji how is he ever supposed to beat Itachi? Sasuke holds this with him.

His childhood is mostly the same cause if he doesn't have to he's not going to spin time at home with the Hyuga's he'll usually be found training. Hinata tries to be kind to him but he usually ignores her.

Everything is mostly the same until he's picked to be on team Kakashi, Sasuke is still incompetent but he actually does manage to get the bell from Kakashi without team work.

(This is because he's been training with the Hyuga's and though he can't use Byakugan at this point he's been taught to combat his lack of their kekkei genkai using his sharingan)

They still need to learn the value of teamwork so even though he got the bell Kakashi is going to fail him because he didn't allow his team to work with him so the end of this is sort of the same because they need to learn the value of teamwork.

Naruto does manage to get the other bell and goes to try and give it to Sakura cause he rather her have lunch even if he's hungry too. Sakura protest that even though she doesn't like Naruto that's dishonest and she (deep down) doesn't want him to go back to the academy but she doesn't wanna go back either. (she rather it him then her though)

Kakashi sees potential in Naruto for this. he ends this test by berating all of them for their lack of teamwork, he explains the purpose was to work together and not act independently as they all did. He says he'll give them a second chance after lunch but tells them Sasuke cannot eat at all because he was the most selfish one due to Naruto attempting to share with Sakura knowing he'd go back to the academy while Sasuke cared nothing for the team. Therefore they all fail automatically if they gave Sasuke any food.

They sit there and think about and it they think to get the bells they need all of them in top shape and decide to give Sasuke food anyway.

Kakashi informs them they pass after they understand if they can't do it as a team they can't do it at all. "those who break the rules are scum but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum"

BUT A TWIST - Sasuke doesn't truly understand it, he’s just doing what Kakashi told him - they didn’t work together so if he works with them now he can just pretend and forget about them later on.

Those are the only changes to this part not much difference but some changes because of Sasuke's training with the Hyuga's he's more agile from sparring with Byakugon users and their teachings.

In the land of waves Arc, Sasuke doesn't bother asking Naruto about what Sakura said when they are learning to walk up trees because he was already taught to do this but is not better then Sakura because when he was learning this he did not learn to do it immediately like Sakura was able to.

The scene in my head goes like this.

Kakashi takes them to the woods to learn to climb trees without using their hands, Naruto says this is impossible and and Kakashi explains about focusing chakra to your feet to walk up the trees. ect ect, Sasuke belittles Naruto and tells him he was already taught this and walks up the tree with ease.

Naruto attempts to show Sasuke up but fails to climb it like originally.

Sakura gets it perfect on her first try and she wants Sasuke to notice her but he's sort of shocked that she can do it without problem and Kakashi says she has perfect chakra control. Sakura thinks Sasuke should be proud of her but he actually is pissed that someone like her could do it on her first try when it took Sasuke many tries to get it right. He dislikes her more now. Naruto and Sakura are getting a grasp on team work because Naruto asks her for some pointers and she's a little more nice about giving it because he offered her the bell which made their friendship grow a little more back then.

Naruto trains to climb the trees by himself because Sasuke doesn't need to train to do this but Sakura does check in on Naruto a couple of times. Naruto manages to climb to the top and Sakura congratulates him and helps him get back to the bridge builders house, inari Tazuna's grandson reacts the same that Naruto is wasting his time. and the scene plays out the same when Inari talks with kakashi and he tells him a little about Naruto's past.

Everything plays out the same.

Sasuke can't keep up with Haku's moves and eventually Naruto comes to help him and they fight Haku together, his sharingan is not enough to combat Haku. His body still moves on his own to save Naruto and he fails into Naruto's arms the same it happened and he admits he has to kill Itachi and Naruto thinks he's dead same same same everything plays out the same with Sakura breaking the ninja rule of crying and Sasuke saying he doesnt think Haku wanted to kill him or Naruto.

What do you think of this so far? i worked on it for a little while i think there is huge potential for Neji Sasuke and Hinata relationships here, but i can't think of any good enough cause i dont remember a lot from their genin days

This is interesting because I think if we change Sasuke's childhood after the massacre a lot could change in the future, even if the hyugas weren't lovable to him, there would still be some form of attachment, it makes me wonder if he would leave with Orochimaru? would he have revenge as such a strong motivation still? would things like proving the hyugas wrong speak louder? priorities change? maybe killing Itachi would not be number 1. I know in canon Sasuke and Hinata barely ever interacted, but I think there's potential for friendship with them, especially since Hinata has always been kind but shy, i can see her finding out Sasuke's spot where he trains alone until one day Sasuke notices and asks her what she's doing there, and they start talking from there.

With Neji it's complex, cause that would make him Sasuke's first rival, and I can't lie my poor Sasunaru heart is jealous of that lmaaoo, but it would be interesting to explore this for sure! I like how you presented some of the same events of the story with slight changes because it reflects the changes that Sasuke went through, maybe some of the results stay the same but the motivations are different than they would be if he was growing up completely alone with only the prospect of revenge fulfilling him.

And i would even dare say that with Sasuke in the mix hinata and Neji's relationship would not go so poorly as it was during their genin days, because Hinata would have someone to talk to and that would try to explain a few Neji's frustrations to her, and neji would have someone that sees him as motivation and a reference, not someone to be pitied. there's a lot of potential with these 3

[finitevoid]

the whole point of stefan is that the branded didnt have a country prior to him. And therefore theyre kind of cultureless as a group of people that live all across tellius but are rejected by all and play this weird game of isolation assimilation. in addition to each one of them just being really different. micaiah soren and stefan are wildly different people with different ancestries and abilities (since laguz blood apparently gives you superpowers: micaiah is a mary sue, stefan is very strong, soren has bpd). they can relate to each others marginalization and eternal sense of not belonging but there doesnt seem to have been a group of branded even on the smaller scale thats formed their own customs beyond that. So. its kind of as ethnocentric you can get. Purely together off of marginalization and heritage as a group of people that have been rejected from partaking in culture and community. but taking too much of an ethnocentric approach to a uniform branded identity is also tricky because they are all different animals! the laguz are as well but theyre an ancient race that has their nation specific and general laguz customs down already. The key would be embracing that diversity within their race (branded as the third race of tellius), pushing some narrative about them being particularly competent (essentially beorc with buffs) which is something i wouldnt trust stefan to do with tact, and appealing to branded peoples shared pain. That is the key to forming an identity and making it appealing to people

so: what does stefan see that soren does not

soren will outlive ike yeah lifespan differences apply in the au

soren obviously cant be in community with laguz so his only ish option is being closeted branded around beorc. i feel like this hasnt been an option for him as a child staying in the same school system and hopping between households in the same area for his entire life. But what he faces in adulthood is exactly what stefan lays out, be around beorc but never get close to any and leave before they notice you arent aging or really question your birthmark. maybe soren needs to walk around in naruto cosplay

soren needs to be around people that understand him. cue whatever fleshed out branded identity stefans trying to cook up

maybe the plot of this should be pittsburghs branded revolution. they succeed in shooting up the school?

almedha should remain like. royal family in her country of origin. in the united states of crimea though they just see her as another laguz its a little racist. anyways she got that revoked when she decided to escape goldoa and marry jeff bezos shes kind of dead to her dad now

Ummmmm ashnard owns amazon. thats the closest this country has to a royal family. The cast is going to take down amazon and win human rights.

soren will regularly go tankie while looming behind ike and hopping into ikes conversations with other people. ike knows hes getting riled up on the internet when soren actually starts ranting about politics to HIM

how does shooting up the school aid them in forming a community of solidarity together

Theyre so real . mixed bag of life experiences and backgrounds and thoughts and feelings on their own identity. "closeted" is a good word for the position soren is in because he cant exist around laguz so his only option is to stealth it with beorc. but stefan wants them to form their own community and identity because they dont fall into either racial category. im glad soren and stefan are chill This is emblematic of the beginnings of community .ITs really deep when you think about it

does soren know his mom is a queen and his dad owns amazon

[unpopularly-opinionated]

FINALLY FINISHED NARUTO AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Honestly, and this might sound harsh, but I think I give the series overall a 6/10. Being generous, I’d say it’s maybe a 7/10, but I’m deducting one point because I’m almost positive the only reason I’d rate it that high is because despite all it’s flaws, after watching 720 episodes across two series and 10 movies, you’re just going to be attached to the characters and show regardless of how you feel about it.

I know it’s super popular, or was anyways, and I can absolutely see why, but there were just too many issues that bothered me personally. It’s frustrating because I want to like it, I really do. There’s so many elements at work here that are so just perfectly me that it’s almost weird that I don’t like it, but I don’t. Obviously I liked it enough to spend hours upon hours watching it, but I think I just kept expecting it to get better at some point, and that point never happened.

More about my issues with it below...

I don’t know how to frame this (I never do) so it’s mostly just off the cuff.

I’ll start with the easily dismissible criticisms, the movies. Obviously all but one of the movies are non-canon (and I’ll get to the canon one shortly...), and they’re made by other studios so it’s not entirely fair to criticize the series based on them. I’m far too used to this weird format from Pokemon and their non-canon movies, so it wasn’t a huge deal to me. I will say that, much like the Pokemon films, almost all of the Naruto films followed the same exact format: Naruto goes to a location we’ve never heard of before and will never hear of again and is forced to protect someone abrasive and annoying until the enemy is defeated and they become BFFs that we’ll never see or hear from again.

I’d say, in order from best to worst:

Road to Ninja - Naruto the Movie

Naruto the Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel

Naruto Shippuden: The Movie 3: Inheritors of the Will of Fire

Naruto Shippuden: The Movie - Bonds

Naruto Shippuden: The Lost Tower

Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow

Naruto Shippuden: The Movie

Naruto the Movie 3: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom

Naruto Shippuden the Movie: Blood Prison

The Last: Naruto the Movie

Yes, you read that right. The one canonical movie I put in dead last. Originally I thought that position was reserved for Blood Prison, which offended me because of just how utterly contrived the plot was and how out of character everyone needed to act to get it moving. But somehow, The Last took last place because of just how bad of a movie it was that for some reason has the audacity to be canon. And look, I know why it’s canon. It’s where Naruto and Hinata ‘officially’ get together and it ‘explains’ some missing plot elements from the series (more on that...), so of course it’s canon.

But come the fuck on, the last movie in the franchise, the one canonical movie, the one that may or may not take place after the Great Shinobi War, I.E. the big final battle of the series, has Naruto going into the fucking hollow earth through a cave portal that takes him to the moon, which is falling because the man on the moon is an incel and hates earth? What kind of methamphetamines were the writers on for that one. The Hinata and Naruto bits were fine, but holy fuck was that plot bad. They may as well have put Naruto in a spaceship and sent him to Mars to fight Martian Shinobi, I mean if we’ve already crossed the line, why not run a marathon beyond it.

The movie was meant to explain away a one-off line made in the series, that admittedly I did sit and ponder whether or not they’d ever explain it, about the Sage of Six Path’s brother, Homura, who went to go live on the moon after they defeated their mother Kaguya. It was mentioned so briefly and only once that I thought for sure it wasn’t ever going to be brought up again. I also wondered where Byakugan came from since we’d gotten an explanation for Sharingan and Rennigan during the series, but never for Byakugan. I actually don’t mind the explanation that it came from Homura’s bloodline, I think that tracks well enough. The man on the moon bit was...odd, but when I thought of how strong Homura was, I didn’t think much of it. I actually thought he somehow was going to still be alive and he’d come down to earth after they defeated Kaguya, but that never happened.

Here’s the rub though, and one of my issues with the series as a whole, which is that the show seemed to keep writing itself into these weird corners where they’d be forced to do something completely nonsensical, purely because they were the ones who wrote them into those corners. It would’ve been simpler to just say all visual jutsu was derived from Kaguya’s power, or the Homura died so there’s no man on the moon, or that Tsunade died so Kekashi needs to become Hokage, etc. They didn’t have to write themselves into these scenarios, but they did anyway and the end result was them having to write complete and utter nonsense to rationalize why they did it in the first place.

Kekashi becoming Hokage doesn’t really make any sense, like at all. They literally bisected Tsunade during the war but willed her back to life when they could’ve just as easily killed her then and there since she’s largely irrelevant to the rest of the series after the war, and then it would’ve made more sense why Kekashi, the man who on numerous occasions said he didn’t want to be Hokage, would then be forced to become Hokage as he’d be the next strongest (eligible) shinobi after Tsunade. I feel like it was all meant to be a payoff to Obito’s dying words to Kekashi which told him to become Hokage, which even then I found myself asking why the fuck would he say that? Kekashi almost was Hokage once before and was so relieved when Tsunade woke up from her coma so he wouldn’t have to.

Also can we talk about how bad that final episode was? I mean don’t get me wrong, it was cutesy as fuck and actually brought a tear to my eye (when Naruto asked Iruka to be his dad I fucking lost it, I won’t lie), but they cut it off before the wedding? Before the aftermath? Before he becomes Hokage? Like I understand Boruto exists, but I don’t feel like that’s a justifiable excuse for ending your long-running series on merely the assumption that he’ll become Hokage in the future. Maybe if the show was a whole 500 episodes shorter I’d be comfortable with it ending on a vague, yet hopeful ending, but when I’ve spent fuck knows how many hours on this series you bet your ass I’m expecting some mother fucking payoff.

Also do not even get me started on Sasuke. What. The. Fuck?!?!? My guy literally just sends a note via carrier pigeon to the wedding? That’s it? Did I just fucking hallucinate the last 720 episodes or wasn’t Sasuke supposed to be like the second main character??? The absolute absurdity.

This isn’t even much of a comparison because it’s so much shorter than Naruto, but it’s all I got in the moment, but imagine if at the end of Return of the Jedi, Han Solo just decides to fucking dip. He’s just not there. He and Chewie hopped into the Millennium Falcon the moment the Death Star was destroyed and just dipped. No longer in the movie, just gone. Didn’t say anything to Luke or Leia, just up and left. That would be insane.

It’s even more offensive knowing him and Sakura end of together. My. Fucking. Gods. This has been the relationship I’d been dreading since the start when it became abundantly clear they weren’t doing even the barest minimum to actually establish a relationship between them. As it is, when I watched The Last, I thought to myself: “Well, Naruto and Hinata’s relationship hasn’t been the most well-developed relationship I’ve seen, but it’s still leagues better than whatever hatchet job they’re going to pull to convince me Sasuke and Sakura end up together”. We didn’t even get the hatchet job. That’s just how little of a shit they gave. They did not even bother pretending to give any explanation as to how I’m supposed to believe they end up together. I’m quite literally just supposed to believe it because I know it will happen. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, it’s just something that is and therefor I must accept it. Absolutely ridiculous. As it stands, the show gave us more reasons why Sakura and Lee should end up together than they did for her and Sasuke. Fuck, I’d even buy Sakura and Inu before I’d buy Sakura and Sasuke.

I could go on, I really could, but it’s late and I’m just looking forward to putting this behind me. At some point, probably not too soon, I will watch Boruto. As it is, my watch schedule is pretty thoroughly booked up for a while. I can’t foresee myself ever watching this again. I know I sound harsh on it, but I wanna reemphasize that I want to like this show. It’s not a show I think is bad period, it’s a good show I think was just done rather poorly. It all felt very off-the-cuff, much like this shitty review. I don’t know what the manga-to-adaptation pipeline looked like when the show was live, but clearly something got fucked up somewhere.  This really feels like the Fullmetal Alchemist to Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, and I can’t help but want Naruto to get the Brotherhood treatment...if such a treatment even exists.

[startledstars]

Well when I sent the message I was thinking about Cain killing his brother, the gangr*pe in Judges, the girls who got their dad drunk and r*ped him, and the guy who r*ped his sister. You make good points though. I'm not familiar with Naruto but I like horror and I don't think they all glorify violence. In fact, in the media I like, the bad guys usually get punished in the end, showing that violence isn't worth it.

Hello again!

I’m pleasantly surprised at how well you know the Old Testament. Whatever opinions you have on the matter, there is some apparent effort to base them on research. This is a good thing. I encourage you look into the New Testament as well if you haven’t already.

Please note that along with the violence in both the Old and New testaments, there are promises of God’s love, mercy, and redemption. I haven’t found evidence of similar assurances in Hindu texts, Buddhism, the New Age, Islam, or even any of the ancient pagan religions (those who worshipped Zeus, Isis, etc.) There is some wisdom in these belief systems, but the love and security those gods offer comes no where close to what God and Jesus provides.

While you can find examples violence committed by God(s) and mortals in any religion, the God of the Bible offers unique promises.

Here are a few of my favorites from the Old Testament:

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. (Deuteronomy 31:6)

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. (Jeremiah 31:3)

 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. (Psalm 91: 9-10)

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. (Psalm 23: 6)

People are complex, and God is infinitely more multi-dimensional. I hope you can approach the Word with this in mind; the violence does not negate the love, but God’s love is not mutually exclusive with His judgement.

Now, onto the issue of media that you mentioned. There is the “not all movies are bad” argument, and the “there is some good in even the worst things” mindset. As an avid consumer of such content the past, I can empathize.

Three points:

1. Even if not all movies glorify violence and sin, most of them do. Especially the popular ones. John Wick has you cheering for a violent murderer who takes revenge into his own hands. In reality, if you leave vengeance to God, you will be blessed in due time (I speak from experience.) Pirates of the Caribbean makes you admire a thief and liar. There’s a running joke about Jack Sparrow sleeping with… everyone and facing very few real consequences. Anyone who lives like that will contract and spread disease, then die. (The wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23.) Instead of laughing at this type of behavior, we should be disgusted by it. On top of that, the Pirates movies glorify and normalize alcoholism. Tony Stark glorifies alcoholism as well.

As for horror movies- they deserve their own post. Even those like the Conjuring series that appear to promote Christianity are flat out satanic. Consuming images of gore, demonic possession, and dismemberment is… it’s hard to defend. (I speak as someone who consumed almost every major horror thing that came out over the past few years. Outlast, the Evil Within, the Conjuring, Insidious, Haunting at Hill House/Bly Manor, Brand New Cherry Flavor, etc. It helped me understand evil, especially the spiritual kind, but it is not a profitable pass time. Everyone would be better off if they never consume a horror movie/ video game/show again. I haven’t been able to stomach these things since getting more serious about the Word, anyway.)

2. When you see violence or destructive behavior, you should fight, flee and/or stand up for truth and justice. Chronic consumption of Hollywood violence conditions you to sit and watch evil play out without doing anything about it.* There’s a reason this generation is more desensitized and demoralized than any other in human history.

(*edit: this is not my original observation. Brian Denlinger, King James Video Ministries on YouTube brought up this point, which helped convict me about the media I consume. He’s probably the only minister I can recommend in good conscience.)

It’s easy to see why the Word says, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”

(Matthew 6: 22-23)

The evil we consume with our eyes affects our spiritual condition. Most media has a net negative impact on its viewers.

3. People make excuses for media that they would never make for the Bible. They hold God’s word to a standard of perfection (as they should) and look for any excuse to disregard it.

Those same people cling to to anime (which notoriously normalizes the sexualization of minors), movies (which are rife with misogyny, racism, and other dysfunction), video games, etc.

This is because they believe the Bible is oppressive (it is not. I have never felt more liberated in my life.) while their entertainment provides harmless joy and doesn’t hold them to any standard.

So I’ll leave you to consider one last thing: what is your motivation behind defending movies while being critical of the Bible? This is a rhetorical question, and I ask it with love and respect. Please bear in mind that I used to be on the opposite side of the issue. I once loved and defended the same things I can’t stomach today. Maybe you could also consider what would make someone change their mind so radically.

And once again, I encourage you to take your questions and doubts to Jesus. God bless you. Have a good night :)

[kayparker20]

To Honor Sensei

Chapter 1 - The Beginning of an Ending

FFN | AO3

The Hidden Leaf Village had been attacked by the Nine Tailed Fox, escaping it’s jinchuriki while she had been weak while in labor. In the last efforts to save the village, the Fourth Hokage and his wife had sealed the beast in their newborn son, continuing the tradition of the Uzumaki carrying the Nine-Tails, in their last moments before dying, they tried to tell their son how much they loved him. The previous Hokage watched the scene before sadly, as he decided he would have to retake the seat of leader in their village. 

It had been days as the villagers and shinobi alike worked on repairing the village. Sarutobi had agreed to watch over the infant for some time until they figured out how to handle the situation and how to have him cared for properly. A knock on the door sounded and the hokage called for the person to come in, surprised to find spiky silver hair. 

Kakashi stood before the Sandaime, his mask hiding most of the tear stains that still wet his face. He was still dealing with the loss of his own sensei, the last member of his team. The last person that had come to mean something to him. Even his wife, who had become important to Kakashi by extension, was gone as well. 

At first, he thought of going back to ANBU, even though Minato had suggested he take a break before the attack. He just wanted to escape, to throw himself into his duty as a ninja. He wasn’t supposed to let himself feel these emotions. But this was Minato-sensei… The person who had looked after him for years, and even acted almost like a father to him. He couldn’t just bury this one so easily. 

Hiruzen Sarutobi had resumed as Hokage after the death of his successor. He watched the young boy in front of him, knowing he had been his student. That his whole team was gone now, and he could only be even more traumatized now than he already had been by the death of Rin. He waited for this child to speak, interested in what he could be here for. He glanced back down at the infant next to him in a crib, still wondering what he should do with the now orphaned child. He sighed inwardly, not seeing an easy nor ideal solution. 

“Hokage-sama…” Kakashi began softly. “What will happen to Minato-sensei’s baby?” The young ninja inquired.

Hiruzen looked back up at him, surprised. He didn’t expect the young teen to approach him with anything regarding his now resting sensei, knowing he usually suffered alone with his feelings. Oftentimes sitting at the memorial like a stone himself. 

“I have been trying to decide that myself. There are no other family members left from either Minato or Kushina’s family in the village.”

“I want to take care of him.” Kakashi blurted.

Hiruzen stared at Kakashi, clearly shocked by the admission. “Kakashi, you’re only 13…How could I expect you to take care of an infant?” 

“Hokage-sama, he was my sensei’s baby! I was supposed to protect him and Kushina!” Kakashi pleaded. “It’s my duty to take care of him.” He voiced stubbornly, already determined to take on this task. Hiruzen could understand the sense of responsibility the boy felt, even if it wasn’t his fault. Kakashi had always been a loyal shinobi even if he was a bit cold and detached. “Kakashi, it is not your fault either of them died, child.You do not need to try and make up for anything.”

Kakashi shook his head. “I want to honor him by caring for his child, Hokage-sama. I’m the closest thing he has to family left.”

The ANBU captain had already decided this within himself. It was the whole reason for coming here. If Naruto had any kind of family, his father’s last living student was the closest thing left. He deserved to have some kind family and be raised by someone who cared, it was what his parents would have wished for. It was his responsibility to take care of him and protect him, it always would have been. It was his duty as the surviving member of his team. 

Hiruzen let out a heavy breath. “You do know you cannot remain in ANBU, and care for Naruto, right? At least not until he is older or you find someone to look after him while you go on missions.”

“Minato-sensei had already been urging me to take a break… But I think he really wanted me to leave ANBU.” Kakashi nodded softly. “Where is he?”

Hiruzen smiled, already seeing the Will of Fire pass from Yondaime to his student. “Why, he is actually right here, but he’s asleep.” The returned Hokage bent down below his desk and carefully lifted the blanket swaddled child from a crib.

Kakashi stepped forward, looking at him once more in awe. “He looks just like Sensei…”

Hiruzen nodded. “Take good care of him, Kakashi.” He passed the infant over to the silver haired nin. “Know that you are not alone.” He ruffled the silver strands, much to Kakashi’s dislike as he frowned up at his superior. 

“Minato-sensei told me that once…”

Hiruzen gave him a sad smile. “He was a good leader that cared deeply for his people as a Hokage should. But even with his absence, and for the absence of your team, you are never alone, Kakashi. I can see that the Will of Fire burns brightly within, passed on from him to you, and his son.” He pointed to Naruto. “You’ll always have Naruto, as well as the other ninja in the village.” 

Kakashi nodded softly, not really believing he wanted to be close to anyone else again.

“One more thing, Kakashi.” His voice became more stern now. “He should not know he is the Fourth’s son, and this was his own request. No child should ever believe they are the reason for their parents’ death. He will find out when the time is right.”

“But…” Kakashi looked down at Naruto. “He should know all about Minato-sensei.” Kakashi countered.

Hiruzen smiled. “You can tell him about him as your past sensei and beloved Hokage. But he need not know that he was his father.”

Kakashi stared at him in disbelief, holding Naruto tightly.

“Also, be aware that the people of this village will not be fond of him, because it is known he holds the nine-tails within him and they fear it. Such is the life of many jinchuriki. He wanted Naruto to be known as a hero for saving the village, but after the destruction and everything people lost, I fear that it will not happen. I've tried to reason with some of them but they are grief stricken. It’s hard to tell if it will ever change...” The Sandaime said sadly.

Kakashi nodded softly. “I’ll do as you say even though I disagree with it, only because I trust you would do what is right as the past and now return Hokage…” He spoke solemnly.

The Sandaime watched the child a moment, thinking of his words. “I care for the people of this village just as much as you care for that baby in your arms, and I do my best to do right by them, Kakashi.”

“I understand, Hokage-sama.” Kakashi left the office as his superior nodded to him.

Naruto woke up as he descended the stairs and instantly began to cry, the wails echoing through the halls. Kakashi cradled him in his arms and tried to sway softly. “Naruto, it’s okay. You’re with me now, Kakashi.” Kakashi tried to console him.

He remembered Kushina telling him towards the end of the pregnancy that babies can hear voices. “Do you recognize my voice Naruto?” He wondered aloud softly. “I never did talk much, so probably not, huh?” He laughed nervously.

He made it to the bottom of the steps and walked through the village, beginning to think of what things he needed to gather to start raising a baby. “Perhaps I should have asked for the things Minato and Kushina had already had ready for Naruto…” He sighed.

“Kakashi!” A red eyed girl called from his left, Asuma and Guy trailing behind her. “Oh my gosh, is that Naruto?” She exclaimed and ran towards him faster.

Kakashi nodded softly. “Yes. I just brought him from the Hokage tower. I decided I should be the one to care for him, because I was Minato’s student, and therefore his last surviving family.”

“That’s so noble of you Kakashi! You’re going to be a Dad now!” Guy gushed.

“Do you even have baby stuff at home, Kakashi?” Kurenai asked.

Kakashi did an eye crinkle, trying to push his feelings of sadness down. “Uh, no. I was shopping for it at this moment actually…” 

“Why didn’t Dad just give you the stuff the Yondaime had…?” Asuma asked, the distaste towards his father's lack of helpfulness clear.

Kurenai shook her head. “No matter, we can get some now!” She said trying to steer the conversation away from negativity. “Can I hold him?”

Kakashi hesitated. “I guess, but be careful! He’s so little…” He cautiously passed Naruto to the black haired girl just the same as the elder Sarutobi has passed the baby to himself.

Kurenai giggled and cooed at the infant now in her arms. “You probably don’t even know the first thing about caring for kids, do you Kakashi?”

“Let’s just get the things? I know I need a place for him to sleep and that weird powder stuff that Kushina had bought in the market one day while I was watching after her.” 

Kurenai laughed. “You mean formula. You also need bottles and diapers silly.” She turned around and headed towards the domestic area of the market district. “Come on, this way.”

Kakashi followed her with a look of indifference, thinking he wasn’t very silly at all. He just wanted to do what was right. Taking care of a baby was definitely far from his ideal way of life, but he felt it was his duty to honor his now dead sensei by raising his child. He couldn’t protect Kushina like he was supposed to, but he would do his best to keep Naruto safe for the rest of his life. Not that he would ever voice that to his peers.

He did appreciate Kurenai automatically helping, as he really didn’t know the first thing about babies other than that they cried a lot which was annoying. He glanced at the rest of the group, noting they all had been along his side trying to protect the village from the fox, unbeknownst the truth behind the matter. He knew they cared about the village and that they would always be good to Naruto.

“The Hokage says he can’t know that Minato-sensei was his father…” Kakashi mumbled.

Kurenai nodded. “It’s better he grows up to be his own person, not wanting to fill those kinds of shoes. Plus, who wants to grow up blaming themselves for their parents’ death?” Kurenai mused as she motioned towards a crib that was cheap, making Asuma carry it as Kakashi paid for it. 

Kakashi frowned, still not feeling entirely okay with the idea. “What am I supposed to tell him?”

“Tell him his parents died protecting this village as amazing and gallant shinobi! That they were amazing ninjas, and they loved him.” Guy cried out passionately, as if it were obvious.

 They continued on, Kurenai making sure all the necessary items were bought as she carried Naruto through the market and they carried all the purchased items back to Kakashi’s place. The boys left, leaving Kurenai and Kakashi in his apartment. 

“I think Minato wouldn’t have trusted anyone else to care for his son, Kakashi. I’m sure he'd be proud and grateful that you stepped up to take him in, especially at such a young age.” Kurenai smiled softly.

Kakashi nodded as he laid Naruto down on the couch. He began setting the things up throughout his house. Putting the highchair in the tiled part of his small space that was where the kitchen was and small dining table. He put the crib next to his bed. Kurenai folded up some of the clothes they bought and put them on top of his dresser. She also put away the formula and bottles he bought in the cupboards. “You know you’re going to have to get clothing with the Uzumaki clan symbol on it made for him when he’s a little older.”

Naruto was quiet now, his eyes following them from the couch as they moved about. He seemed curious as he gazed at them.

“How do I know when he’s hungry…?” Kakashi pondered.

“Babies normally cry when anything is wrong, or for no reason at all.” Kurenai shrugged. “You can try and feed him now, that shopping took a while so I’m sure it’s been some time since he was last fed at the Hokage tower.” 

She walked Kakashi through how to make a bottle for him and Kakashi picked Naruto up and sat on the couch, beginning to feed the bottle to Naruto. He drank it eagerly and Kakashi smiled slightly as he stared down at him.

“I’ll leave now that you got everything set up. But if you need help, just let me know!”

Kakashi nodded, not looking up from Naruto as she left his apartment.

It has been weeks now since Kakashi had adopted Naruto. Right now, he lay with Naruto cradled in one arm as he held the book he was reading with another. Just as he began to get to the climax of his plot, Naruto began crying. 

“Naruto! Hey, it’s okay. Shhhh, it's okay.” Kakashi put his book down instantly and took the baby into his arms fully. He checked his diaper, nothing. The silver haired nin sat perplexed, knowing he had just fed him twenty minutes ago. He cradled Naruto and tried to talk to him and calm him down.

It was no use. “You’re gonna make some ninja someday if you keep crying like this.” He huffed out.

He always wished he had seen someone's parents, even one person. He felt antsy, he hadn’t been on a single mission for over a month. Just how was he supposed to do this? He was really beginning to wonder if this was really the right decision after all.

“Minato and Kushina really love you, Naruto… I hope one day you know he was your father and just how much he did to save you…” Kakashi sighed and hugged him tight, remembering Kurenai saying something about babies wanting closeness. He rocked him gently and nuzzled his head with his nose. “I’ll never let anything bad happen to you, Naruto. You’re gonna be safe…” He laid down and held Naruto close, continuing to try and talk to him.

This was never what he thought he’d be doing in the sense of duty, but nothing worth doing was easy, right? 

Naruto finally began to sniffle and hiccup, his cries stopping. Kakashi wiped his face with the end of his sleeve. “See? Everything is okay.” He gave the boy an eye crease, and Naruto giggled in response.

He thought a moment before he dressed Naruto in some warmer clothes. “Let’s go for a walk, Naruto.” He said softly as they left the apartment. He walked through the village and to the memorial site where all the graveyards were, finding one of his teammates headstones.

“Hey, Rin. I haven’t been by in awhile. I’m sorry for that. Some bad things happened again. Just my luck, right?” He sighed softly, cleaning her grave with his free hand, keeping Naruto cradled tightly in his other arm. “Our sensei died. It’s just me left from our team. Well, and Naruto now. I’m taking care of him now. Taking care of people has always been more your thing than mine…”

Kakashi glanced at Naruto. “It’s far from easy and sometimes it feels like it’s impossible.” He laughed. “He cries a lot and sometimes I can’t get him to stop…” He looked back at Rin’s grave, wishing he had stopped to get her flowers. “He’s jinchuriki just like you had been made into…” His eyes threatened to well with tears as his memories resurfaced. “He looks just like Sensei. Maybe one day he’ll be Hokage like him too, huh?” He stood back up now, chuckling at the thought. “Until next visit, Rin.”

“Kakashi..” 

The silver haired nin turned to find the Hokage standing a little distance away from him, at the gravesite of the Hokages. He strided over to him quickly, looking to Minato’s grave momentarily, before looking back to Hiruzen.

“Yes, Hokage-sama?”

“I hear you’ve become quite the nurturer from my son.” The elder smiled.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I’ve been doing my best. Kurenai has given me some tips here and there.”

His leader nodded. “I’m glad to hear that. I recall telling you that you were not alone, did I not?”

Kakashi shrugged. “I guess so.” He stared at Naruto. “Was there something you needed from me, Hokage-sama?”

He watched the boy a moment, noticing he seemed to have a newfound purpose in life, other than just existing as a shinobi  tool to the village. He wished Minato could have seen the change in his melancholy student. “Actually there was something I needed to tell you.”

Kakashi nodded, indicating he was listening.

“When the Fourth did the jutsu to seal the nine tails in Naruto, he sent the key to the seal out with one of his toad summons. Do you know who Jiraiya is, Kakashi?”

He nodded softly. “He was Minato-sensei’s sensei. And you were his sensei, right? And he also wrote the book that Naruto’s name comes from. I read it, the character reminded me a lot of Obito…” 

“Yes, that is all true, my child. I received word that Jiraiya will be coming here in some time. When he comes, I will send him to you to see Naruto. Minato had used his toads to send him the key to the seal, and Jiraiya is his godfather. He may want to help you or just pop up every so often.”

Kakashi nodded. “Okay. I’ve met him before.” 

“That was all, my child. You’re doing well taking care of him, he looks healthy.”

“Thank you, Hokage-sama.” 

[raendown]

Second entry for the @naruto-rarepair-bingo. Today’s prompt:  different village of origin/village swap/clan swap

Pairing: TobiramaKagami Word count: 3577 Rated: T+ Summary: In which Tobirama is a Hatake, Kagami is a Hyuga, and Tobirama never believes the rumors that always turn out to be true.

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

KO-FI and commission info in the header!

Beginnings Are What We Make Of Them

As a Hatake, Tobirama had never really been able to understand the sheer intensity of whatever strange hatred existed between the Senju and Uchiha. His brother had a friend in the Uchiha clan, the hot-tempered Head Madara who Tobirama had never been especially fond of, but no matter how many times they brought up the topic Madara had never been able to explain it in a way that made sense. As far as he could understand the two clans hated each other simply because they did.

It was therefore an incredible shock to learn that they had somehow managed to broker peace and planned to build a village together, of all things. Tobirama had seen a lot of crazy things in his career as a shinobi but this news broke in to his top three list right from the start. All things considered he hadn’t expected the concept to actually become a reality no matter how nice it sounded. Right up until the day he had to pick up the bags Hashirama had packed for him – because he hadn’t seen the point in doing it himself – and actually move in to this fairy tale of a village with the rest of his clan, Tobirama believed the whole thing would fall apart up until he stepped through the massive gates Hashirama had offered to build as a gesture of good will.

With his two feline companions at his side Tobirama wandered the freshly laid streets and marveled that dreams really do come true. Not his own, of course, because his dreams usually involved Hashirama coming down with a very specific case of amnesia and forgetting how to hug for weeks at a time, but someone’s dreams at least. The village layout wasn’t exactly up to the standard he would have come up with himself and there were some fairly important pieces of the puzzle missing that made him wonder if there would be a suggestion box somewhere he could add his two cents in to but overall his first impression was that the place wasn’t all that bad. He hadn’t really expected any of this to work out and yet now that he was here he had to admit he could envision this as everyday life.

It helped a great deal that they had been promised indoor plumbing.

Rounding a corner, following his nose towards the scent of something absolutely heavenly, he was crossing through an alley when he first met Kagami. With their territories so far apart he hadn’t met very many Hyuga in his life but he supposed the man before him was probably a typical example of his clan. Black hair falling in shaggy curls around his face, large eyes a pale lavender color and lacking any sort of pupil, either young enough or just good enough not to have any visible scars, he certainly was a handsome sight to behold. It was still the blueberry tart in his hands that held most of Tobirama’s attention.

“Where did you get that?” he demanded. He saw little point in going through the necessary social politeness rituals when that would only waste precious time he could be using to find his own blueberry heaven. It wasn’t as though they were very likely to see each other again with this many people from so many different clans running around.

“Uh…bakery down the street? Down here on the eastern side.” Those massive pale eyes blinked at him, possibly wondering if he planned on attacking someone over an admittedly delicious looking tart. Tobirama nodded gratefully and left without saying anything else.

He didn’t think very much about the other man once they lost sight of each other. Sure he was especially good looking for a Hyuga – by Tobirama’s tastes anyway – but he was far from the only attractive face in the hordes of new people teeming through the bustling village and their encounter had hardly been noteworthy in any way. As soon as he’d found the little bakery and satisfied his belly with two blueberry tarts Tobirama had already all but forgotten the man who led him there in the first place.

It wasn’t until nearly a month later that Hashirama’s connection with that blasted Uchiha led to his name being thrown about for certain administrative duties and Tobirama found himself reporting to the great garish tower in the center of town to be interviewed for a position he didn’t even really want. Living here was one thing. No one had ever said anything about making him work for anyone that didn’t bear the same clan name as him. Until Hashirama had ousted him from his lab he’d been perfectly happy continuing on with the same duties he had always fulfilled for the Hatake, playing nice with their new neighbors now that they were here but otherwise keeping to himself for the most part.

After two hours of idiotic questions Tobirama lost his temper and told the man interviewing him that this whole stupid village would burn down around their ears if he was the one running it because his questions left much to be desired. He thought he might get in trouble for it, was actually kind of looking forward to the excitement after such a boring start to his day, but instead after a handful of whirlwind conversations he somehow found himself being assigned a seat on the village high council, far and away the youngest member.

He even had his own office, which was sort of nice. But the most interesting part was the young man they introduced as his new assistant.

“Blueberry tarts!” the man said in place of a greeting. Tobirama eyed the floppy curls on his head and smiled.

“Well. This seems like a good time to apologize for my boorish behavior that day. I was hungry, although I realize that’s not much of an excuse. My brother tells me I get….snippy…when I haven’t eaten.”

“Hangry,” the young man nodded solemnly. Tobirama rolled his eyes.

“Yes, my brother uses the same ridiculous term. I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch your name?”

An enthusiastic hand thrust forward for him to shake. “Hyuga Kagami! I’m to be your assistant, or so they tell me. I’ll just apologize now for all the disasters and save us both the time. Between you and me I’m probably going to make a terrible assistant – but I promise to try hard anyway!”

“Then why, pray tell, were you assigned as one?” Tobirama asked. He noted distantly that the smile Kagami gave him while rubbing awkwardly at one ear was pretty cute.

“Probably because I get really distracted a lot and I like to set things on fire so the elders usually try to make sure I’m bogged down with duties that keep me in a place where I can be watched. I swear I don’t mean for things to catch fire! I just…the flames are pretty.”

Tobirama gave the man a long hard look before finally declaring, “You should have been an Uchiha.”

“Well there’s some disparity about who my dad really is so…” Kagami gave an easy chuckle and shrugged his apparent pyromania off like nothing more than a simple bad habit. Which, to be fair, when compared to the bad habits of other shinobi Tobirama had met in his life, it kind of was.

“I think we’ll do just fine together,” Tobirama decided.

“Awesome! Yes! Oh man, I’m so glad you didn’t refuse to work with me because then they would have found someone else for me to work with and I’m pretty sure my elders were going to try and set me up with one of the Yamanaka next.” A shudder passed through his new assistant. “Just the thought of someone getting in to my head like they do freaks me out. Ugh.”

Since Tobirama sort of agreed with that he couldn’t really justify reprimanding the other man for saying it, although he did murmur a quick reminder about being careful not to say such things in other company.

Getting used to each other took some time. Tobirama wasn’t the most trusting of people, having learned the tenants of the shinobi life perhaps a little too well, but Kagami’s naturally open personality wore him down bit by bit and in just a few weeks he found himself learning to rely on the man for small things that gradually increased to semi-important things. It was nice. Tobirama was hard pressed to remember the last time he’d made any friends outside of his own clan, although a lot of that could be attributed to how put off most people were by the two massive leopards that followed him everywhere.

Unlike most people Kagami seemed delighted by them and before long he had taken to spoiling them whenever Tobirama’s back was turned, often showing up to work with raw meat sealed in his pocket to be doled out as treats under one of their desks. Also unlike most people he managed to restrain himself from asking about the nature of their bond until they had all known each other for several months already.

“Why cats?” was his typically tactless way of bringing up the subject. “All the rest of the Hatake have contracts with dogs or even the wolf packs. And from what I can tell most of them just sign the summoning contract and then call on their companions when they need those skills like everyone else who has a summons. Why do you always have to be so different?”

“First of all fuck you.” Tobirama narrowed his eyes across the room playfully. “I’m not different, I’m the upgraded model they all wish they could be. Second of all I like cats. End of story.”

“Oh come on! There has to be more to it than that!” Kagami laughed but Tobirama only shrugged.

“Nothing momentous. When I was young there was one very brave cat that refused to show fear to the dogs in our clan and she often came to sleep under my front porch. I liked her. So when it came time for me to find a summoning contract of my own I found a family of cats instead of dogs.” With a rueful twist of his mouth Tobirama eyed the couch on the far side of the office, home to two massive spotted leopards. “I may have underestimated how tightly our contract bound us together when I signed it, though. Now they won’t leave.”

One of the cats lifted her head to blink two golden eyes in his direction. “You would have us no other way,” she purred. Then she lay her head back down, presumably fast asleep a moment later.

Kagami was polite enough to snicker rather than laugh outright as Tobirama cleared his throat and stood from his desk to pretend he was looking for something important in the file cabinets in the opposite side               of the room, hiding the mild embarrassment on his face. Only when he was certain the pink was gone from his cheeks and he could turn his lips down in a stern expression once more did he turn back around.

“At least you got to choose your own binding,” Kagami pointed out.

“Did you not choose you own summoning contract?” Tobirama asked. His assistant blinked and then waved the question away with a laugh.

“No, no, I meant- well, we’re both bound but at least you got to choose when and to who and, well, yours probably doesn’t come with the threat of having your brain boiled inside you own skull.” He was laughing. Kagami was laughing now despite there being nothing funny about that statement.

Tobirama stared at the man in horror. “I’m sorry, what was that bit about the boiling of brains?”

“You don’t know about the seal?”

Then Kagami was lifting the fringe of his curly hair to reveal a simple design in green ink tattooed in the center of his forehead. While it certainly did explain the low chakra buzz Tobirama could feel from his assistant at all times it did not explain why it was there. He’d certainly heard a few rumors about the Hyuga clan and some kind of clan-wide slavery seal but he’d thought obviously those were just that: rumors. In no world would he believe a clan as old and venerated as the Hyuga to be capable of such horrific treatment of themselves.

Eyes riveted to the vague ‘x’ shape in the center of the sea, Tobirama stepped closer for a better look and asked with trepidation, “What is that and what does it do?” Questions he could answer himself with a bit of study but he was hardly about to shove the man’s head down on his work table for three hours of observation.

“It’s called the Caged Bird Curse Seal and it’s given to all branch family members when we reach twelve years old. Mostly as a safety precaution so that if we fall in battle our Byakugan can’t be harvested.”

“Mostly,” Tobirama repeated slowly. “What is its secondary purpose?”

“Ah, I’m not really supposed to talk about it without permission. It’s kind of a clan secret.” Kagami shifted uncomfortably, checking the windows and door like he was afraid they might have been overheard. He jumped a little when Tobirama stepped closer again.

“Do you trust me?”

Gnawing at his lip, Kagami nodded. “That’s unfair, Tobirama.”

“If it gets me answers then I don’t care. You know very well that I will not sell your secrets. Please. If you don’t tell me what the does then I’m sure my imagination will come up with a hundred things worse than reality. All I have in my head right now are rumors I can’t put any stock in.” Tobirama wrinkled his nose at the thought. He always had hated not having all the possible details about a situation he was walking in to. No one had told him that getting attached to a Hyuga would be any sort of ‘situation’.

But attached he was. Kagami was interesting and fun, understated intelligence hidden quite cleverly underneath a propensity for fire and a love of pranks. Over the months they had gotten to know each other Tobirama had spent more time trying not to think about the man at night than he had sleeping and, embarrassingly, his thoughts were usually more on the innocently romantic side.  

Of all the outcomes to be found in joining this village, falling in love had not been one he foresaw.

Now here was Kagami shuffling his feet and rubbing nervously at the back of his neck in a manner Tobirama had learned meant he was worried about the reaction his news would get. Thankfully for Tobirama’s nerves he spoke up quickly.

“Ah, well, the other point of the seal is to keep the branch members of the clan in line, I guess is the most basic way I can put it. Only the members of the head family know how to activate the seal but when they do it causes extreme pain.” Kagami reached up to brush against his forehead unconsciously with a haunted expression. “It is not…a pleasant experience. Prolonged activation of the seal can cause irreparable damage to the brain or even…or even death.”

“That is quite possibly the most horrific thing I have ever heard,” Tobirama whispered.

Yet Kagami only shrugged and mumbled, “It’s not so bad.”

“Not so bad? Not so bad!? Kagami”- Tobirama lurched forward without thought to take the man’s face between both hands and look deep in the pale eyes he had grown to love-“you just told me that at any moment one of the main branch members could take you away from me. Us. Obviously I meant us as- as a whole. The village.”

He cleared his throat awkwardly and dropped his hands, stepping away once he realized exactly how close he had brought them. It startled him in to freezing in place when Kagami stepped forward to keep the distance between them closed. When he felt fingers closing around his own he looked in to his companion’s earnest expression and thought dimly that his palms were probably clammy with nerves. He hoped that wasn’t too off-putting.

“Don’t freak out, okay? I meant it! It’s really not that bad!” Kagami tilted his chin to smile up at Tobirama through his eyelashes and the effect was devastating.

“How can you say that?” Tobirama asked quietly. Confusion touched him when, before answering, his companion began to gnaw on his lip again and those pale lavender eyes of his darted nearly everywhere else in the room before meeting his gaze once more.

“It doesn’t matter to me what seal I wear. This has been a part of me since I was a child and I made my peace with it a long time ago but that’s not the point. Wherever I go and whoever thinks they have me bound in any way…I always feel free when I’m with you.”

“Oh.”

Such an inadequate response yet for perhaps the first time in his life Tobirama found himself truly without words. All that existed in his mind at that moment was a powerful and contradictory cocktail of triumph and anger, both primal and furious emotions ready to boil over at any moment, each of them vying for dominance until he couldn’t decide how to react or what to do. So he stood quiet and still while Kagami stared back at him with an oddly understanding smile.

It took a shameful amount of time for the truth to settle in to past the cacophony inside his own head. Between one moment and the next Tobirama shook off the stupor and, in a sudden burst of movement, drew Kagami in to his chest to tuck the small man underneath his chin.

“There you go,” a warm voice teased from somewhere near his clavicle. “Took you long enough to get it.”

“I think I can be forgiven a few moments of shock. Neither of us have given the other any hint of romantic advances until now; there was no reason for me to imagine that you might return my interest.”

“Yeah well you should try reading your own face some time. It’s impossible! How was I supposed to know whether or not it was safe to flirt when I could barely get it out of you whether you’d ever dated before at all?” Kagami huffed with great insult, entirely offset by the way he squirmed a little closer.

Before Tobirama could say anything in response he was interrupted by a rumbling purr from much closer than expected. He looked down at their feet to find both of his feline partners up off the couch and sitting behind Kagami, butting their heads against his hip affectionately in a silent declaration that they approved of his choice. One of them met his eye and he offered her a nod in thanks but her response was only to purr a little louder so he turned his attention to pushing the curls back from Kagami’s forehead and bending down to press a kiss against the seal.

“First,” he murmured, “I am going to bring up a few of the ‘rumors’ I have heard about this issue to the council and see what your representatives have to say for themselves. And then I am going to spend whatever effort it takes to force your elders to realize how utterly inhumanely stupid this practice is. I will not stand for it.”

“Would you be this grumpy about it all if you it was anyone but me wearing the seal?” Kagami asked him. Tobirama lifted one eyebrow to grant the man a flat look.

“You know me well enough to know the answer to that.”

“Right, sorry.”

“You should be.”

A heartbeat passed and then suddenly Kagami was smiling up at his brilliantly. “So are you going to kiss me now or what?”

“Oh have you absolutely no sense of romance at all?” Tobirama griped.

Still, he did kiss the man though. The urge had been buried in him since mere weeks after they met so it was no hardship to finally give in and press their lips together with a breathy sigh of satisfaction. Of course, the mood was a little undercut by the raucous purring from around their waists but he’d learned to work around that sound years ago. Hopefully Kagami could learn to do the same.

He had every intention of keeping his word to follow up on this issue, to make sure the rest of the village understood the truth of the injustices to be found in the Hyuga power imbalance, and to one day see Kagami and the others of his clan free from the wretched seal ‘keeping them in line’.

But that was for later, tasks to be tackled on another day. Right now it was getting late in the evening and they should both be leaving the office soon. With the way things were going he thought it was reasonable to hope they might leave together and continue this conversation over an intimate dinner. Curse seals aside, Tobirama had other plans for the man in his arms. He was a Hatake, after all, and he enjoyed a good hunt as much as the rest of his people.

What excellent luck that his prey seemed all too willing to be caught.

[myaekingheart]

So I did something absolutely terrifying today. 

After my boyfriend left for work, I got dressed, got on a bus, and stepped foot in my college advising office hellbent on dropping my fiction workshop. This class has been nothing but hell from the very beginning and I felt pathetic for even doing this, as if I was weak and a failure for not being able to stick it out, but I ultimately decided that this was what I needed to do for my own personal wellbeing. You know there’s a problem when you spend a total of 18 hours on one assignment only to get a D on it, when last week you spent four hours straight on a smaller version of the assignment and got an F. This coming from someone who earned straight A’s last semester and has been nominated to join, like, five honors societies. This class was three hours one day a week, he always went ten minutes over, and never gave us breaks, just going constantly for the full three hours and then some. Which is fucking exhausting. He never had anything nice to say about anyone’s work and reassured us we were all shitty writers, which led to me having multiple breakdowns and existential crises about my ability to succeed in this career and made me question everything I had ever known or thought I was capable of. I felt like a sham, like I would never be good enough and that all of this was pointless and that I should just give up now because clearly I wasn’t anywhere near as skilled as I thought I was and it wasn’t worth it anymore. Writing is the only thing I’ve ever really had so to sink that low, after I’ve already hit a pretty low point in regards to my mental health (spending the past month questioning whether I really had a problem, going through spells where I’ve thought I was overreacting and couldn’t possibly be as bad as I thought I was and therefore didn’t need therapy anymore even though that same day I had a breakdown in my aunt’s bathroom behind my entire family’s back and tried to self harm...again), was really disheartening and bothersome. And of course the last straw was this past week, apparently this teacher audio recorded the entire class without our knowledge or consent. I don’t know if there’s any rules against this (probably not) and I know he did it so he could post the audio file for review online in case we felt like we missed something in the lecture or something which would’ve been fine but he didn’t tell us any of this until after the fact. He did this without our knowledge or consent and I know it’s just audio recording but still, it made me feel violated and super uncomfortable. So with all of this in mind, I got on a bus and rode it down to campus (feeling like I was going to vomit the entire time, I was so goddamn nervous), then walked into my advising office for, quite frankly, the very first time in my career at this college, to drop this fucking class. My greatest fear was that my concerns were be seen as invalid and that they would do their best to try to convince me to stay enrolled in this class but fortunately the adviser I met with was absolutely wonderful. He listened to my concerns wholeheartedly and with immense understanding, agreeing that he could see how overwhelming this was for me and that clearly the amount of effort I was putting into the work was not being reflected in my grade and that considering my situation (I had never had any real problems with any professors here before, so this guy is basically a big outlier) along with my confidence on the matter, he felt comfortable enough to guide me through the withdrawal process right then and there (after we went over the repercussions that are always involved in this sort of thing, of course). I walked out of that office relieved and successful, accomplishing what I had set out to do and then some. After I dropped that course, we went over what was left for me to finish before graduating (I only have nine courses left!!!) and I cemented my minor. I still feel a little disappointed in myself for going through with the withdrawal process but at the end of the day, I know this is what I needed to do for myself and for the sake of my mental health. I’ve only withdrawn from classes once before, my first full semester of college when my mental and physical health took a toll on me and I rode down to campus in tears begging my adviser to let me quit college, and we negotiated dropping me down to half-time for that semester. My dad was furious at the idea of me dropping out completely, which painted my expectations of this current experience greatly. I was terrified he would be upset with me again that I was dropping a class (even though this is way different than dropping out completely like I wanted to do back then) so I called him before I left the house to ask his opinion and he gave me his blessing, saying to meet with an adviser and discuss my options first and if I could swap this class out with something else then do that but if not, then withdraw (and I called him again afterward to update him on the situation and he seemed proud that I had dropped this class because he agreed that already having an F in the course three weeks in (despite all the effort I was putting in) was “absolute bullshit” so I at least felt super relieved about that, as well. I didn’t want him to be mad at me, so knowing he was on my side in this sort of thing was such a relief. I keep having to remind myself how much extra time to get work done I’ll have now, too. I can finally put more effort into the classes I actually enjoy/care about and not have to worry quite so much about having breakdowns and panic attacks every day over this course load. It had gotten to the point where even when I was supposed to be relaxing and enjoying myself watching Naruto with my boyfriend, I would start zoning out and having silent panic attacks overthinking the work I still needed to do and kicking myself feeling as if I was wasting time being a lazy ass and super unproductive because I wasn’t doing homework. It was honestly so fucking damaging to my mental health, I can’t even believe I put myself through that torture for as long as I did. I know this professor is probably going to have opinions, he’s probably going to think things about me that are vile and untrue because I couldn’t handle his class, but that is of no real concern to me. Fuck it. The most important thing for me right now is taking care of my mental and physical health. Anything that impedes that can go fuck itself because I’m done putting up with things that fuck up my wellbeing and staying in situations that are insufferable for the sake of some mock sense of personal strength. That’s bullshit. Personal strength really comes from identifying when something is damaging to you and taking the necessary actions to put yourself in a position that is better for you mentally, physically, and emotionally. So fuck it. I’m done with it. 

[jacqthehermit]

Why Do I Ship BoruSara

WARNING: Pro-BoruSara, if you are an anti/hater and you still read this then don’t blame me if you get triggered. I already warned you, not my fault. Learn to stay in your lane, mofos.

Agree or disagree, this is my opinion IDGAF

First of all I want to say sorry anon. I know you’ve been like “WTH Jacq! I’ve seen you online and posting some shit why the fuck are you not answering my question!?!” I know okay? I’m sorry.

The reason why I keep on delaying my answer to this is because I cannot decide whether I’m gonna answer this short or if I’m gonna make a detailed blog about it. Finally, after contemplating for days, I decided to just make it short. I think if I make a detailed blog, it will be long as fuck and never ending since I love the ship so much lmao. No one reads my long ass boring af blogs and try hard short stories anyway (which I make to accompany my drawings sometimes) FeelsBadMan

So what made me ship BoruSara in the first place? I think my answer can be found in most of my previous blogs about them and I will say it again here. The reason I started shipping BoruSara is because I wanted a different approach in romance in the story.

The main ships in first gen was basically: Girl finds the boy cool, falls for him and girl saved by the boy, eventually develops deeper feelings for him. I know they were puppy love at first which grew into real love at the end. I mean I ain’t complaining about that especially my first OTP was one of them, SS. It’s just that I want to move on with this kind of romantic development. We’re in the next generation now! Time for something new!!!

That’s why when I first saw Boruto and Sarada in Chapter 700, I fell in love and shipped them right away. The chemistry was so overflowing I just can’t. I know antis and haters are just blind to see that or just in denial lmao. 

“Why Boruto?! You shipped SS in the first gen. Sasuke was the stoic, mysterious, silent, bad boy type. Boruto is the opposite!!! You should’ve ship Sarada with someone else!!! Our princess doesn’t deserve this annoying loud piece of shit” 

Yes I like those type of anime guys but sometimes I also like those loud, aggressive and playful ones. Like when I read shoujo mangas before, sometimes I’m all in for the jerk male lead but there will also be times when I fall for the second male lead who is a nice guy. Same goes for here. Again, we’re in the next gen, time for change mofos!

What I also like about him is that he aint some dumb shit. Boruto is smart, he studies well (thanks to his mother) and he is a prodigy. Yeah he was rebellious at first but after the Momoshiki fight, he stopped being a whiny bitch about his dad which I really appreciate a lot. I mean he was just a kid and his dad rarely goes home what do you fucking expect? He’ll understand right away? Even in real life we all know how kids act rebelliously and go emotional whenever they don’t receive enough attention from their parents so I don’t get why people can’t understand that? I mean are we all living in the same planet or what seriously.

The hate about Boruto being super strong and a prodigy is weird as well. First he is the fucking protagonist whether you or I like it or not. Of course he will be the OP one just like in other shounen anime/manga. Second, Boruto is the fucking son of Naruto and Hinata, nephew of Neji, grand son of Minato and Kushina. WHAT DO YOU FUCKING EXPECT FROM THEIR GENES?! WHY ON EARTH WILL THEY PRODUCE A WEAKLING!?! OF COURSE HE’S GONNA BE FUCKING OP. It’s not like it’s Boruto’s fault that he came from a super strong family. He is born this way smh.

“Why Sarada?! She’s mean to Boruto!!! She doesn’t care about him! She hurts him! She only cares about being hokage! Boruto deserves better than this arrogant bitch!!!”

I don’t really get this “Sarada is mean to Boruto”. As far as I know, she’s always concern about him. Even from the beginning when Boruto was fighting with Iwabe, it was clear that she was worried, Chou Chou even noticed it. Whenever Boruto gets hurt, Sarada is always the one tending his wounds (ex: during their Mist village field trip and during their first mission as team 7 where she pulled the bandages tighter because she knew Boruto was lying that he was not hurt.) 

Sarada always checks on Boruto, not only because she doesn’t want their team to encounter some trouble but because she doesn’t want Boruto to do something reckless (remember when she nominated him as class field trip leader so she can keep an eye on him). If she’s fucking mean to him and doesn’t give a shit about him, I don’t think she will give a damn to do these things. If this is what being mean is to you then I don’t know what kind of comprehension you guys have lmao.

Alright about Sarada’s words and action towards Boruto. Sarada scolds Boruto obviously because we all know that Boruto is hard headed (still we also know that even if she scolds him or whoever it is, he will still go on his way just like his dad lol) And it’s not like she’s insulting him or saying hurtful words. Most of the time they’re just arguing and I don’t think there is something wrong with that. It’s normal to argue specially when your ideas clash with each other.

How about when she hits Boruto? I don’t know but in real life when we play fight or tease with our friends, we tend to punch or slap each other. BUT of course not as hard as shown in anime because bruh of course in anime it will be super exaggerated for the comedy. Same when for example our friend is about to do something stupid or has done something wrong, sometimes we be like “Bruh why you did that!” then we hit them on the head (again not as hard as shown in the anime cuz we irl) Therefore I just think it’s nothing serious.

Don’t start me with “No Sarada is violent with Boruto!!” Again, this is anime, and that “hitting” is just part of the comedy. If you still gonna go with this stupid reason then what about Temari? She hits both of Shikamaru and Shikadai even with her fucking weapon. Does she SERIOUSLY wanted to hurt or kill them? Of course not, why would she do that to his husband and child. This is all just fucking exaggeration to show how pissed the character is. All animes/mangas do this ffs. 

“Pfft! But if BoruSara go canon it’ll be so cliche!”

You wanna know what’s more cliche? The fucking male protagonist of the shounen manga/anime falls for that female character who is

Usually weak at the beginning, then will just grow stronger at the end.

The ideal type for most men: The girly girl, shy type with big tits. If you act rough, or you’re boyish with a flat chest, you’re out.

In love with him or already has feelings for him right from the start because he is the coolest guy she ever met or she regards him as her hero.

Sounds familiar? Sounds like Na-ru-to *cough* Fai-ry-Ta-il *cough* Ble-ach *cough* <insert other shounen anime/manga with same shit> 

Hold up your horses! Before you flame and send me hate, I just want to be fucking clear. I am not saying that this kind of romance structure in shounen anime/manga is wrong. I understand that shounen animes/mangas target the male audience that’s why anime/manga creators tend to choose this path most of the time. If you guys like it too that way (in every shounen) it’s fine, we’re cool. It’s just that for me, it gets boring once in a while. Also I am not hating on this type of characters. That’s how the author/creator wanted them to be, I can’t do anything about it.

Why can’t the male protagonist of the shounen manga/anime fall for the female character who is:

Already strong right from the beginning. I don’t get why their female love interests have to be this meek character at the beginning who usually will encounter some kind of trouble where the male lead will save her then only from that time she will realize or be inspired that she needs to be strong to not burden the male lead.

Bold, brave and has a strong personality. I am not saying she has to be necessarily boyish. What I am trying to say is that why is the love interest would always be that shy and timid type? Can’t it be the confident type this time? The one who can fight for herself and what she believes in. The one who is tough, can be rough sometimes but still ladylike all throughout.

Worthy to be called as his rival, on par on his skills and strength. Damsel in distress is so old fashioned! Princess being saved by a prince is nice but come on guys, ain’t it cooler to have a princess who can also fight beside you right from the start?!?!

These are the reasons why I ship BoruSara and why I want them to happen, they just complement each other so perfectly. In addition, I am also a huge sucker for rivals turned into lovers type of love story. I strongly believe that it is waaaaaaaaay better than the plain old love at first sight and boy saves girl shit.

 “B-but BoruSara won’t go canon because of this and that...”

I already made a blog about that. You guys can read it here if you haven’t yet.

There you go anon! I hope I was able to answer you. And yes this is the shortest that I can make it. I can still make it longer to be honest lol.

Later guys! I still got a drawing to finish.

Jacq out!  (*ゝω・)ﾉ

[theskyexists]

the biggest problem i had with the dragon prince is sokka’s voice for callum and the irish accent for rayla. i just cannot take it seriously

warming to her accent, but callum’s voice is just - arghghghghg

also though the king is super cool, the way he tells the story, the humans were just super shit.

ok that heart to heart was better

the fuckin naruto run lol

finding it more palatable now i know viren’s not an actually evil dude, just using dark magic is all

but episode two has got wayyy better pacing

Claudia turns out to be hella powerful and i love that

lol wtf. that line just launched millions of harrow/viren ships

(if the egg wasn’t destroyed why didn’t viren TELL harrow. viren is a shitty friend alright. edit: im thinking, was it claudia?? but she would have been too young. edit edit: viren IS a power-hungry dude, but WHY? what the hell does he want)

how did Rayla INSTANTLY decide to align herself with callum and ezran against renaan??? when he refused to back down. she seems thrilled at fighting him! what the fuck!

the scene-changing feels super unpolished tbh. it’s very realistic - and therefore not super conducive to smooth storytelling. callum goes to see the king like three times in a row. it’s like using the same word over and over in a piece of writing

gotten used to callum’s voice

all callum does at the top of the tower is fail to talk with his dad, lose his voice to viren, get it back, be convinced viren is a villain, get no response to calling his dad, dad, abandon his dad for no reason i can really see.

the plans all fail. viren lashes out and thinks callum is a shitty commoner (lol)

i dont really fuckin understand how from this mess, callum concluded that neither harrow nor renaan would want to return the egg. so little trust in harrow. and yeah, renaan wants to kill harrow, but then rayla goes against him for no real reason - to... distract him from killing harrow - which she shouldn’t particularly care about So Much (if she’s thinking about a feud, then have her reference Callum’s point) and which isn’t worth sacrificing her life for, and which won’t stop him in the long run, and even if she did, she’s willing to go back to protect him AGAIN for ....callum? i don’t get it

like, just go up there with the egg, show it to them elves, show it to harrow. ?

tonally this is fucking weird because they’re like, team-bonding about having a quest now while up in the tower right NOW all their adults are fighting each other to the death lol

ezran has gone from annoying to adorable though

SO ALL THESE GUARDS ARE DEAD!!! AND ALL THE MOONSHADOW ELVES ARE DEAD!!! (i guess?? they weren’t as invincible as they fucking said?? wtf??)

oh right Harrow, IS dead. but not really because clearly and obviously Viren did something.

hoping: that this mess resolves itself in the next episodes as the adopt a travel format.

i can’t tell exactly what makes the narrative so messy. but it feels extremely messy. i need to think about it. i think it’s because it seems super counter intuitive how all these kids are responding to the circumstances

i know they’re trying to be nuanced and create ambiguities. but i don’t know how to feel about it

they still had guards left? to carry the coffin? lol

not sure why mourning the king has to be cut short because of war. like what are they gonna do, the guards dead, apparently zero nobles in this ‘kingdom’, the princes both LOST LOL

and claudia and the brother are both completely unaffected by Harrow’s death. they’re like: damn so tired ugh im gonna have a sip of coffee in this highly sad procession. they don’t give a FUCK. oh callum and ezran are dead ? these kids shrug - i was kinda friends with em but whatever

jfc

lol CLASSIC villain, im gonna usurp the throne now Viren. what the fuck is up with him. one moment he’s like, gotta save YOU! the next he’s like, gonna get me some power

i just canNOT get a read on these characters. i know they’re like supposed to be 15 or something. but can’t tell if callum is responsible or reckless. and rayla seems like such a SUCKER one moment, and the next she’s all chagrined, one moment tormented, the next, thrilled at betraying her people.

also i CANNOT deal with the sense of humour in this. like lets spend time on recounting a stupid dream? WHO CARES. rayla comes in, oh i was so taken with your insecurity lets risk EVERYTHING. i mean??? what a LOSER. why would she give in??

‘no more detours alright?’ THEY ARE GOING ON THE FIRST DETOUR EVER AND  SHE’S OKAYED IT

this winter lodge is like, a tiny house. this king is not very rich. it’s an early king?

there are NO servants in the whole damn castle OR in the winter lodge. just soldiers, always soldiers. it’s just ridiculous. it’s frozen all over again - ROYALTY IS SUPPORTED BY A HUGE UNDERCLASS THAT DOES THE DAY TO DAY STUFF OF LIVING. (apart from it ruining realistic worldbuilding, it also feels like it just forgets about/erases the truth of everyday life, of peace, and of the unprivileged classes)

‘it won’t work, humans and elves don’t trust each other’ - uhhh ok, but why is Callum so sure of this. he has no experience

why has rayla just been ducking around the rafters and running around the roof. could just have chilled out. i appreciate that they wanna show off her cool parkour but it’s been already three times that they play her running around like a very quick ninja as ‘cool! oh wow! stakes!’

SO AMAYA JUST FUCKIN WRECKS RAYLA. i hate how literally every fight in this makes me think: great, now these two idiots are fighting each other for no real reason

OMG ELVES HAVE ONLY FOUR FINGERS?? ok thats a very cool little thing

i know this is like super on the nose storytelling like - hey actually FIGHT racist stereotypes, using them doesn’t fuckin work

but it’s so grating

lol - nobody saw the hostage bullshit comign? nobody is like, hmmmm these boys are going along with this girl suprisingly voluntarily

yeah so harrow’s spirit is definitely in a bird now. did nobody notice that just before Harrow died, he flailed about like a bird?

i can’t keep going

[discoabc]

Ch 19 Deleted Scene: Team 10

A/N: So I actually wrote Sakura meeting and interacting with team 10 no less than three times and ended up scrapping each and every one of them because I wanted what I’ve got planned to do now instead. I’ll release probably another of these soon though cuz they are quite nice little scenes :) This is set right after Sakura is dimissed by Sarutobi

I followed the trend of basking in this sense of bewilderment for a while, Kakashi gently pushing me towards the door with his hand on my good shoulder. “Now, unlike Sasuke, I’m not merely suggesting you go to the hospital,” he declared and the world suddenly rushed around me.

My feet were no longer standing on varnished wood, instead on polished white tiles, and I almost fell just at the shock of the change in environments. It was louder too and I blinked at the sight of a queue in front of what I recognised as the main desk in the Konoha Hospital’s A&E.

The body flicker jutsu, I noted, felt like a far more extreme version of the substitution jutsu I was used to - which made sense considered the latter was derived from the former.

“Go sit down and your lovely teacher will get you your appointment,” Kakashi declared, patting my shoulder a little patronisingly. “I’ll contact you about our next team meeting later.” With a waggle of the fingers, he headed off to the desk, ignoring the queue yet again although with less acceptance from those waiting. Still feeling a little disorientated, I followed his orders and sat down in the first seat I saw in the waiting room.

Shell-shocked would be the best word to describe what I felt beyond the slight dizziness. It reminded me of what Orihae had said on Tazuna’s balcony about breaking down when she and her friends were finally home and safe. Dully, I wondered when everything would really crash down on me.

“Sakura? Is that you?”

I twisted round to see Ino of all people standing in the waiting room, cradling soda cans and crisp packets in her arms as she stared at me. Her lips were parted in mild surprise, although that didn’t last long and she strode towards me. “It’s been so long, wow, how are you?”

I didn’t really know what to say. To be honest, I hadn’t expected Ino to ever suddenly approach me like this. We hadn’t exactly been friends during our Academy days. Perhaps amiable acquaintances, nice sparring partners, but it was hard for Ino to even try to encroach on a friendship with me when I was supposedly best friends with her arch nemesis Ami.

The sudden thought of the purple haired girl struck me. I had no idea how or what she was doing. She’d been a bitch but she’d been a constant presence for a good portion of my life and it felt strange to not know anything about what had happened to her.

Thinking about Ino again, I then realized she probably hadn’t had much contact with other girls our age since team placements. Those that had failed their jōnin test would be busy back in the Academy or in the genin corps and Hinata would be busy with her own team. I doubted Ino was so much lonely as she was bored of the same old company and therefore, with that reasoning, of course she’d suddenly approach me like this.

“...Great,” I eventually replied, looking down at my sling to punctuate my point.

Ino, unlike Lee, caught onto my sarcasm. “Oh, ouch. Mission gone wrong? Because, if so, I entirely understand.” She huffed, flicking her ponytail behind her shoulders with a graceful jerk of the head. “My two idiot teammates on our first C-rank messed everything up. Got their hands caught in this stupid sticky stuff and have been stuck together for hours now. We completed the mission but god, it was so embarrassing!”

“I can see how it would be.” It felt a little like talking to Ami with Ino taking complete control of the conversation but I didn’t have that developed irritation of the girl just being around me.

The blonde nodded with a sigh, then a friendly smile. “Come on, sit with us, it’ll be boring waiting on your own. It’s already boring with my team now we’ve been waiting for hours.”

I got to my feet and went with her because refusing felt like an unnecessary hassle I really didn’t want to deal with right now. That and, like Tenten, I didn’t see any merit to isolating myself from Ino. “So, how’s Sasuke?”

Yes, this is very Ami-esque.

“Normal I guess?”

“Devilishly handsome you mean?”

My face started to pull into the same shape I’d shot at Tenten only for my spatial awareness to stop my knee right before it hit something. Glancing down, I saw I’d been very close to accidentally kneeing Shikamaru in the face, the boy sprawled out along the length of waiting chairs. His arm was raised up and hung over the back of one of the seats and from the wrist down his skin was covered in this blueish substance. Chōji, who was sat on the other side, had his hand stuck in the same thing.

...Didn’t this happen to Sasuke and Naruto in a filler episode?

“Here, I got you your dumb snacks,” Ino announced, shoving the crisps and drinks towards Chōji, who chirped an appeased ‘thanks’ back. One packet dropped directly onto Shikamaru’s face.

“Hey, I’m trying to sleep here.” He didn’t even open his eyes.

Ino scoffed, hands on hips. “And I should care why?”

Asuma, who was sat on the same length of chairs as Chōji, twisted round, raising an eyebrow when he saw me beside the blonde. “Now which poor soul have you kidnapped this time?”

Ino shot a glower at the man. “Sakura Haruno, from team seven,” I answered instead.

His eyebrow rose even higher, regarding me thoughtfully. “Oh, Kakashi’s kunoichi? You must’ve just got back from your mission then.”

He’d obviously heard of me, judging by his reaction. Then again, it wasn’t that strange. Anko had mentioned hearing about me breaking Kakashi’s arm so it made sense that he’d heard the same rumour, especially since I assumed he was in my teacher’s circle of friends.

Just great, everyone knows who I fucking am now. Exactly what I’ve always wanted.

Ino blinked. “Kakashi Hatake is your teacher? My dad’s always complaining about him.”

“Well, there’s a reason why,” I muttered. Asuma smothered a laugh at that one whilst Ino shot me a mildly surprised look.

“You have my sympathies,” the jōnin informed me with a twinkle to his eyes. “Although I don’t think that’ll make things any better.”

“Sakura Haruno!” A man called my name from one of the doors to the waiting room, indicating it was time for my appointment.

Ino gaped. “B-but you just got here! We’ve been waiting here for hours!”

“Kakashi probably pulled some strings,” Asuma declared as I started to leave.

“And you can’t?” The blonde sighed again. “Ugh, you’re such a useless jōnin-sensei!”

“I’m wounded, Ino.”