#chouIno

[kankuroplease]

Snoozing duo

[watermelonsloth]

Alternative Canon Ships

I think something that annoys me and a lot of other people about the canon ships is that they weren’t the only options by a country mile. So I wanted to finally put my money where my mouth is and take a crack at pairing the Konoha 12 without changing the manga.

Anyone I didn’t mention here should be presumed single in my AU because I either think they’re better single or I don’t care about who they end up with.

Option 1

Naruto and Sasuke - The entire series is about them learning to understand each other and ending the cycle of hatred by coming together (in holy matrimony). Naruto wouldn’t have a character arc without Sasuke and Sasuke’s character arc is incomplete without Naruto. I don’t think I need to explain how they act as foils and compliments for each other or how they’re willing to go to great lengths for each other or how they show time and time again how much they value each other.

Sakura and Rock Lee - We really went through the chunin exams for nothing. They have very little screen time together, but what we have is good enough for it to at least make sense. Rock Lee is clearly willing to both wait and die for her and Sakura has a mini arc about learning not to judge people on appearances and to respect him that culminates in her giving him flowers in the hospital. Worst case scenario it needs to get the NaruHina treatment and have a movie made about why they came together in the end.

Shikamaru and Choji - I’ve already said that I don’t care for any of the inter-Ino-Shika-Cho ships, but they interact with too few characters for me not to bring them up here. They’re childhood friends, they obviously care for and respect each other, they have complimentary personalities, and Shikamaru stands up for Choji on multiple occasions. They don’t get too much attention in shippuden because Choji and Ino were shafted, but they at least continue to support each other when they are shown interacting.

(This is where we start losing a sturdy foundation because the characters don’t have enough screen time spent interacting with anyone unmentioned. From here on out the bar is in hell and I’m only pairing the characters off because it would’ve been expected.)

Ino and Sai - A lot of people shit on this ship and I get why (Ino is caught in Sakura’s shadow and Sai was literally Sasuke’s replacement in team 7, so it’s easy to see them as discount SasuSaku). However, the ship isn’t the most unbelievable in canon. Ino has shown that she has genuine feelings for Sai and they at least interact with each other.

Hinata and Shino - Hinata would make sense with either of her teammates, but I’m choosing Shino because he makes more sense. They’re similarly introverted types, they get along, Shino has been shown to have faith in her abilities (I’m not saying Kiba doesn’t, but Shino’s more consistent about it), and I think it would be fitting for Shino (who’s insecure about being unnoticeable) to end up with someone who would prioritize him if he ends up with anyone at all.

Option 2

Naruto and Sakura - These two would’ve made more sense, “red herring” and “pursued her for rivalry” my ass. Both are ready and willing to make sacrifices for each other, they interact a lot and most of it is positive (we aren’t mentioning the slapstick because I’m not having that asinine argument), there were hints throughout shippuden of Sakura returning his feelings, they have complimentary personalities, Sakura ending up with Naruto is beneficial to her character, Naruto ending up with Sakura is in-line with his character arc and theme, both stop to consider each other’s feelings on multiple occasions, Sakura attempts to help Naruto in any way she can on a regular basis, (even if I hate how often this is mentioned) Sakura is explicitly compared to Kushina, there are more hints at their relationship than I care to list here, and there’s symbolism for a flower under the sun/heaven and earth.

Sasuke and Karin - SasuKarin is the sister ship to Naruto and Sakura because of its parallels (the Uzumaki has feelings first, the girls are both compared to Kushina, the girls both act as support and medics to the boys who take on leadership roles, the Uzumaki wants to protect/see their love interest’s smile, etc). As for reasons: Sasuke has been shown to respect Karin and her abilities, Karin loves Sasuke because he was the first person to show her kindness, Karin has put her life on the line for Sasuke on multiple occasions, both are willing to go to great length for the other, and both unlocked abilities for the sake of saving the other.

Ino and Sai - I’ve already explained this.

Shikamaru and Temari - This ship isn’t perfect, but I think it makes enough sense for most people to not be upset (the only people I’ve seen complaining about it are people who hate Shikamaru or ship something else). They always share at least one scene when Temari enters the story, there are hints about it being romantic, and makes more sense in canon than many of the other options.

Choji and Hinata - This is, admittedly, a stretch, but it isn’t as much as a stretch as ChoKaru so I’m considering this still in the safe zone. The two both have shy and sweet personalities that make it easy to imagine them getting along, both struggle with overcoming their low self-esteem and taking action themselves, both care deeply for their friends, Hinata fits with what Choji wanted romantically in his infinite tsukuyomi dream, and both have the shared idea of maintaining kindness even in a ruthless shinobi world.

Bonus

Naruto and Hinata - This ship was fine, even with its lack of screen time, but the Last and Boruto ruined it, so we’ll just pretend that didn’t happen. Naruto learned to not judge and respect Hinata, Hinata has multiple scenes where she snaps Naruto out of spiraling (the proud failure speech is still peak NaruHina), Naruto stands up for Hinata, Hinata takes a lot of inspiration from Naruto and his determination, and Hinata cares about Naruto’s wellbeing and feelings so much it’s a near irrevocable part of her character. With nothing changed it would still be just as flawed and clumsy as in canon, but it wouldn’t be unforgivable.

Hinata and Rock Lee - Again, I’m stretching canon for a Hinata ship, but I think there’s enough ground to stand on to at least mention it. That ground being a weird amount of parallels. They both have experience being in Neji’s shadow, both of them are untalented and make up for their shortcomings through hard work, both care about the people they love to a self-sacrificial degree, both are true to their word, both of them admire Naruto (join the club), both of them has a teacher that acts as a parental figure, and both of them have unrequited love because the target of their affection has feelings for someone more conventionally attractive than them(though Hinata gets more conventionally attractive as the series goes on so…).

Ino and Choji - It’s not perfect, but it gets the job done. They support each other as teammates, Ino could help Choji be more confident, Ino getting with Choji could symbolize her getting past her superficiality, and they don’t have opposing personalities or beliefs as far as I can tell.

Sasuke and No One - I’m just putting this here to remind everyone that there’s an argument to be made about Sasuke being better off without a relationship. I absolutely get why he was paired off and I probably would too if I was in charge of the epilogue (it can be an indicator of him and the clan healing, plus an Uchiha child/the sharingan is a fun idea to mess around with), but him remaining single also makes sense. He states how he’s disinterested in romance and he just doesn’t have that many working potential love interests in canon. Yes, there’s Sakura but more than a movie could cover would have to change before the two of them could reasonably work together and it might still ruin her character.

[naruto-shipping-confessions]

[martialartslover7]

Oh. Yes. Someone gets it.

Like, I am sorry, when I learned that Choji ended up with a girl that, compared to the others, had basically ZERO screentime, and came out of left-field when it comes to their romance... At this rate, you might as well have left it at, Choji remained a bachelor, but a big womanizer too.

But naturally, Ino isn't meant to be understood as "shallow", only in the earlier stages of the story, making her a product of her perfectionist and toxic environment. Choji could have easily shown her: You don't need to be perfect in order to like yourself. And there is nothing wrong with eating some junk food every now and then, because he knows, she practically tortures herself to stay healthy.

Imagine him just finding her, during Part 1, at her absolute lowest, because she fell into that starvation phase again, because she was told, "she was getting fat again", despite already being as thin as a carrot. And he finds her at a restaurant, stuffing her face, sitting right next to her, before she runs to the bathroom to throw up, because, you can already guess the gist of it.

And he asks her, the all-defining question: ...Is it even worth it, trying to please someone, who doesn't even care about you, even at your worst? Because, y'know, that is a theme in general that can be applied to all of Naruto.

"If they don't accept you at your worst, then they don't deserve you at your best."

Their romance can be a golden life lesson too, in that, you shouldn't set ultimatums to relationships, just let them happen. And if those weirdos find you "strange" for liking someone, that doesn't exactly fit into the overarching mold of a pre-conceived societal notion, in the case of Naruto, that being, the "ideal shinobi / kunoichi", then that is a THEY problem, not a YOU problem. When you think about it, Choji and Ino really are the biggest victims of their own environments:

Choji is overweight, pretty slow and too easy-going, not exactly attributes you would associate with the stereotypical male shinobi, who are usually fast, agile and always on-duty, and he got bullied for something he couldn't help, because his genetics practically FORCE him to overeat, otherwise, he might become more vulnerable in battle.

Ino is obsessing over the most meaningless details, because she is a perfectionist, driven by the downright insulting and hypocritical standards of what the "ideal kunoichi" is supposed to be, feminine, submissive and always soft-spoken, and, oh, flowers and men are always the talking points, because girls be girls, I guess. Not fighters.

So yeah, these two truly deserve each other. Choji can help Ino lighten up, as he may even find her attractive all... plumpy. And well, Ino can teach Choji how to be more confident in himself, not allowing the negative comments about his weight to get to him. And well, once they are adults, well... he can impress her with his Super Expansion ability, in...

...different ways, KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING?

you’ve heard of shikaino

and you know all about saiino

but have you considered

chouino

1. ino spends most of the series being pretty shallow and closed-minded when it comes to looks and who she is attracted to; even her interest in sai is initially based around him being attractive like sasuke

2. chouji’s backstory is full of being bullied for his weight/appearance; his father tells him that one day someone will love him for his kind and caring heart. throughout the series chouji demonstrates this caring nature, particularly for ino (who also cares for chouji)

3. maybe it’s just me, but karui ending up with chouji seems like kishimoto threw them together at the last minute, or as an afterthought just to try to wrap up their characters’ stories

4. ^in the same vein, sai just seems too weird for ino. i don’t buy it that their personalities clicked at all and their entire attraction seems forced

5. they are both slated to become the next heads of their respective clans, making them a super duper power couple

6. they just look damn good together, tbh. much better than sai and ino or even shika and ino in my opinion considering all these factors, wouldn’t it be great if ino matured past her hang-ups on physical appearances to be with a truly caring, awesome guy? in turn, wouldn’t it be sweet for chouji to end up with a girl (his teammate) who he’s cared for all along?

just imagine that moment when they realize their feelings for each other and how perfect it would be!

idk i could probably convey my thoughts better but i just can’t seem to be coherent right now. maybe i’ll come back to this later~

[katrinthecat]

Nobody dare to joking on my friends

Especially if we're on the same team

[nonbinarysasukes]

Ino: Do not underestimate us!

Chōji: Our team motto is "maybe we'll get lucky this time".

[lauzybones]

Some team 10 doodles

[grcwingstrcng]

Shiptember day 4 - ChouIno

[kanamesharisenwrites]

She would, the girl decided, sacrifice every lovely emotion to keep the pain away. When Ino followed through with her resolve, she did so with a lethality that only a kunoichi could muster.

read on AO3 

[inconnusmademoiselle]

My forever otp ❤️

i love them so much :(

[toughtsgo]

Ino Yamanaka Connections AU | part I 

Shikamaru - Chouji - Sakura 

[watermelonsloth]

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

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

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

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

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

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

[naruto-shipping-confessions]

[sophie-the-duchess]

choino should've been canon/endgame. i will die on this hill

[katrinthecat]

Something about "YamanAkimi" plot:

As a result of an attack by Akatsuki followers, Inoki force to use prosthetic arm, and artificial sensor replaces one of his eyes. He and his brother were too small to fight back those evening, they're was brocken.

This boy will become the leader of his mother's clan in the future and he'd do everything possible to keep his people safe.

[xiko-blog1]

Looking for more ppl to follow so like/reblog if you post

SasuHina, ItaSaku, NaruSaku, NejiTen, LeeSaku, NaruGaa, NaLu, GajEvy, Jerza, Zutara, Yatori, Hakyona, ChouIno!