#it's about the way naruto who was thought to be evil by all of konoha and hina took one look at him and went

[introspectivememories]

the way naruto had to prove himself to everyone except hinata bc she believed in him from the beginning. and the way hinata spent her entire run on the show having to prove to other people that she wasn't weak except for naruto bc he believed she was strong from the beginning

[oh-no-its-bird]

Really stupid au where when they were younger, Kakashi and Obito shared an accidental kiss a lot like Sasuke and Naruto. (Kakashi commits to his mask shortly after but will never not insist it's unrelated)

Years later and Kakashi, trying to cheer up Naruto and Sasuke ab their own embaressing accidental first kiss, shares his own story

Then, years later when Obito reveals himself on the battlefield, instead of going "woah, another Uchiha!?" when he hears his name, Naruto can't help but point and shout OH MY GOD UR THE GUY WHO KISSED SENSEI!!!!!!!!

Instant dead silence. (Obito wants to die)

Sakura, who never heard the story ab how it was a one time accidental kiss: "omg... sensei's childhood boyfriend went evil on him... this is so fucked up"

Obito is VIOLENTLY thrown off by this turn of events (and also hasn't actually thought ab it in years oh my god that did happen didn't it)

Kakashi, seeing how badly it threw him off, and also the kind of person who plays hard into throwing people off and generally fucking w them to gain an edge, seeing Sakura mumbling ab lovers to enemies and just kinda goes "Yeah Obito I can't believe you'd do this to me I thought we had smthn special."

"Yeah a rivalry????"

"So I was only ever a way for u to get stronger,, figures u were using me,,,"

[Confused Obito car crash noises]

Sakura yells smthn ab him being a deadbeat and how Kakashi can do so much better and Naruto is instantly shouting in agreement as Sasuke stands there like "hn." Which is basically the same thing for him

Kakashi just starts straight up lying actually

"What about all those picnics we went on... watching the sun set over konoha..."

"Are you talking about when Minato said we weren't allowed to come back inside till we stopped arguing and ate on opposite ends of the roof bc we couldn't even look at eachother without yelling???"

"It was so romantic."

Obito, starting to actually doubt himself, "was that a date????"

(It was not.)

"You died in my arms..."

"I died under a rock"

"We literally got eye married" (not a thing, he just made this up 3 seconds ago)

"We got WHAT" (no one can prove him wrong tho bc no surviving Uchiha knows that much ab their clans marriage traditions)

"Oh my god sensei's husband is a deadbeat" - sakura, horrified (and maybe a little delighted)

"Figures." -Sasuke, who's been in proximity w Obito for some time now and absoloutley believes every word ab this topic Kakashi is saying

"Woah. This is almost as bad as the fact he murdered my parents when I was a baby dattebayo" - Naruto who's priorities are NOT what they should be

"Ok. I wouldn't go that far." - Sasuke, who's priorities are also fucked but not THAT fucked, oh my god Naruto

"No, no he's right. We should kill him even harder for this" - Sakura, who doesn't actually agree but wants an excuse for more juicy sensei love drama (and also wants to see Obito beaten to death anyways)

[bunniefaery]

I saw this article calling Sasuke a Villain and how the live-action shouldn't include his "villain" arc, because it "felt tedious and too convoluted to the bigger narrative" and instead they should make him a pivot for the fight against the Otsutsuki...

Did this person watch the anime or read the manga?

Article from CBR, Title: The Naruto Live-Action Movie Doesn't Need To Adapt This Villain Arc

1. Protect Konoha from what? The Uchiha wanted to end the decades long discrimination and oppression they were facing at the hands of the higher ups... (Not to mention that when Kurama attacked the village (under genjutsu, when Naruto was born), and during the konoha crush, no other villages went to attack the Leaf after the events), not even after the Pein arc...

2. Most people would hate growing up alone, and why was that sentence in bold?

3. Sasuke didn't find out about the true reason Itachi did what he did, until after Itachi died, as well as the real reason behind said Coup... as far as I am aware. And why wouldn't he want revenge against Konoha (specifically the 3 people who are left that caused all of his trauma and the uchiha genocide, it'd be 4 but the Sandaime Hokage was already dead by this point in the story)

4. What "wars" against Madara and Obito? There was only 1 War against them, the 4th great ninja war, that lasted 2 days a.k.a. approximately ~212 episodes, including filler (volumes 55 through 59 in the Manga, according to google)

"Naruto and Sasuke were reincarnations of her sons (Ashura and Indra, respectively)"

Okay, so the author didn't watch nor read Naruto...

Indra and Ashura Otsutsuki are not Kaguya's sons... they are her grandsons 👁️👄👁️ Homura and Hagoromo Otsutsuki are her sons... and Hagoromo is Ashura and Indra's father…

I feel like the author doesn't know much about Kaguya either, if they did they'd know her story.

"The advantage of Sasuke being a rebel without defecting from Konoha is that Naruto would have the help needed to fight the big villains of the franchise: the Ōtsutsuki."

When the time came, was Sasuke not helping Naruto with that? 🧐 And why shouldn't he have defected from Konoha? What good could they do for him?

Why does Sasuke need to be convinced to return home, when his home was taken from him by this "home" the author speaks of, that "home" being Konoha? Why should he return to the place that treated his people so poorly that they felt they no other choice but to do a coup against the people in charge of Konoha only to be wiped out for daring to stand up for themselves after years of oppression...?

Konoha, specifically Danzo, the third hokage, and 2 hogake advisors, Homura and Koharu (3 of which where Tobirama Senju's students and all 4 of which were on his personal team, and we all know what Tobi thought of the Uchiha) forced Itachi to wipeout his whole clan, excluding Sasuke, and then blamed him for it. They swept what they did under a filthy rug, that already had many skeletons piling up, and acted like he was the most evil person... He was a child and he was forced to do that and to become a fugitive by the old people in charge, who had no business being in charge of Konoha since there should've been a 5th Hokage by then... (regardless if Itachi regretted it or not, which he never really does)

I won't say it...😇

"Sasuke could learn more about how Indra developed a dark side, which passed down to the Uchiha, while Ashura's light gave way to the Senju and Uzumaki (Naruto's family) clans"

1. While I do agree that Naruto should've learnt more of the Uzumaki (and the Namikaze), besides finding out they excelled in Sealing Jutsus, had very long lives and were a bit savage (it wasn't in-depth at all, and there is no one to teach him, since the Uzumaki are also victims of genocide (in which Konoha did not help protect them) and well, I don't know what happened to Minato's people)

2. And that Sasuke should've learnt more of his people (but how was he going to, when he was the only one left at age 7/8?)

3. Indra's dark side... it wasn't passed down, nor did it emerge until his father gave his little brother the title of successor and expected him to follow without questions, having his birthright taken away because he was more introverted than his little brother whom their father called "the flunky useless dropout younger brother" (according to a panel I saw). And implied, at least to me, that ninjustu was created for wars and all things evil (Indra created ninjustu when he was just a child). ah yes his dark side the Uchiha inherited, that darkness of wanting to be treated like people and with respect in the village they helped make.

4. Kushina calls the Uzumaki, among other things, a bit savage. Batsuma Senju punched Hashirama, a child at the time, for being angry/sad that his little brother died, saying he was disrespecting his brother (and him) by basically questioning the system. Tobirama is a Senju, who was not shy about his hatred and prejudice against the Uchiha Clan (he is after all the founder of the bigoted psuedo science that was the "Curse of Hatred" the Uchiha are supposedly afflicted by, a clan that according to him is cursed and called Sasuke "a brat possessed by Uchiha evil") and that's on Ashura's "light" that gave way for his descendants, the Uzumaki and the Senju, "a clan of love~"🥰

Right, because he wasn't a pivot to the story, nor did his and naruto's story have any "heart and impact"... Right...

At some point, I wonder if some of this article is just satire 😅

[theheirofthesharingan]

I feel like the only 'stupid' thing Itachi and Shisui did was listen to Danzo. Particularly in the novels he's so mustache-twirlingly evil they both should have assumed anything that came out of his mouth was a lie until proven otherwise. The whole problem with "but what if it snowballs into a war" -- Killing the Uchiha clan also puts the village in a very similar situation.

You've taken out one of four noble clans.

You've taken out the scariest dojutsu users in the world that nobody wants to meet on the battlefield.

You've taken out the police who keep the village stable internally.

You've shaken the people's faith in their leaders by making it clear that they're producing murderous shinobi that they cannot control.

You've shaken the people's trust in each other by choosing the nicest possible kid to do the job.

It is a miracle that this didn't spark the next conflict.

...But we're also talking about a 12 year old kid in a complete state of panic, likely perpetually stuck in a triggered state by the threat of a bigger conflict which he has devoted his entire life to stopping. A little kid who is visibly deteriorating, and whose thoughts are rapidly becoming distorted, based on what we know about his beliefs regarding Sasuke, and I have a sneaking suspicion that excessive praise of his thinking exists solely to justify what happened. We can say Itachi was a big fucking nerd and history buff all we like but there are only so many hours of the day that his mission count tells us he was not using to read books.

What I'm saying is yes, this was an awful choice that more than likely created more problems than it solved, but blaming him rather than the people who exploited his trauma is not just a dick move but morally bankrupt.

We don't know whether a war would truly have broken out or not. But going by the evidence in canon, it certainly would have.

One thing most people repeatedly keep forgetting is Obito's presence who Itachi thought was the Madara Uchiha. We know, and it's canon, that Obito attacked Konoha the night Naruto was born for absolutely no reason. He didn't have to do it other than because "he hated the Shinobi world" yet he did. He was strong enough that even Minato thought the man who fought him was Madara himself.

It wasn't hard for Itachi to assume he could be Madara as well and if he attacked Konoha under any circumstances, it would be impossible to stop the damage the war could cause. So, when Obito told Sasuke he was also plotting war, he wasn't exactly lying. It lies in synch with his previous actions too.

Itachi knew it very well. He knew Konoha, with all its army, wasn't ready to confront Madara Uchiha.

Having said that, neither Itachi nor Shisui were "stupid", because as outsiders, who have seen and known all the consequences, we can assess the circumstances more objectively than Itachi and Shisui did.

I've said it many, many times before — the possibilities of any form of conflict followed by the massacre (which could not be much because Konoha still stood strong and police weren't the only ones guarding the village and Uchiha clan was also on its decline, as Itachi stated) could be curbed because Konoha is insanely powerful.

An internal conflict, along with Obito fueling the fire, would be much worse than any of the possibilities you've stated. Why would Konoha Shinobi accept Uchiha, especially if they attacked and overthrew the government? Why would they not view Uchiha as a threat? Why would they ever accept if Uchiha ever won (by mistake) and one of them became a Hokage?

The dissenters of the Hokage would side with the Uchiha. The others would be against them. It's a perfect recipe for a disaster and Itachi knew it well enough.

Itachi was never given a choice to solve the problem. He was only given the options about which side he wanted to choose and sacrifice. It was never about whether he wanted to have things done his own way. It was always about Konoha making him a scapegoat because its leadership was too weak. Uchiha clan gets away with a lot of shit it put Itachi through, but while they were absolutely the victims, they were not innocent in how they treated Itachi. That also includes Fugaku and Mikoto.

You're absolutely right about the last part. The massacre created more problems, but the people who should be called out are Fugaku, Hiruzen, and Danzo. Itachi was only a pawn.

[comikadraws]

Another thing that's damning is the fact that Yamato, anko, Sasuke and many, many others, even kabuto, never receive any compensation for what orochimaru did to them and they're forced to live with the fact that orochimaru destroyed them and what they had completely and the fact that he violated then. Brings so many disturbing parallels to the many, many Asian victims and the genocide that Japan inflicted. The more I think about it, the damning it is.

On another note, orochimaru deserved worse. I mean, we're clearly supposed to be disgusted and horrified at his actions and he was a legitimately great villain because of how pure evil he is and I'm pretty sure everyone was rooting for him to be defeated and finally get the punishment he deserves, yet he doesn't even get a slap on the wrist?? In pretty sure he's STILL doing experiments so he hasn't changed, he's still the same person he was ever since then.

I don't know what Kishi is like as a person, but that's so many red flags in his writing.

For reference: We had a conversation on another post of mine about Orochimaru getting away with the atrocities he has committed. We thought that he could possibly be compared to individuals such as Ishii Shiro from WW2.

For Ishii Shiro, read up on unit 731. For Orochimaru, Naruto chapters 121 & 122.

The obvious comparison is that both Orochimaru and Japan conducted human experiments and were then pardoned for being "useful" (in the case of Ishii, he was pardoned by the US) - because crimes against humanity are not crimes against humanity if it's the Good Guys™ doing them, obviously. I trust that I don't have to explain why this is hypocrisy at its finest and, overall, morally deplorable.

It's honestly disturbing just how often red flags manage to slip their way into Naruto. And yes, it's a story about war and war is a messy and difficult-to-write topic but all that needed to be done was acknowledging Konoha as the fucked-up dumpster fire it is and hold the perpetrators responsible.

I love Kishimoto's philosophy on villains and redemption, that there's some good in everybody and that redemption is possible. I really do. But there's a line. And personally, I draw that line somewhere before human experimentation, genocide, and slavery.

I don't know why Kishimoto thought that Orochimaru's redemption was a good idea. The idea of letting him get away like that is ridiculous to me but I'd also rather not try to make any assumptions about Kishi as a person from that.

In his defense, Japan is notorious for omitting its war crimes. And as a mangaka who gets like 3 hours of sleep per day, it's understandable that Kishi wouldn't have the time to properly educate himself on history or society. I don't know whether Kishimoto actually researched the war crimes that his characters have committed (though I personally doubt it) or if he just decided that "all wars are made up on people's grudges" because his grandparents told him once and thought of everything else as secondary. I can only guess.

In my ideal version of Naruto, Konoha's crimes would've been acknowledged, Danzo's crimes would've been made public and Orochimaru would've gone to prison. But none of that happened and I can only assume it is the result of Kishimoto's upbringing or a sacrifice he made to keep his target audience happy. I doubt he just deliberately decided to excuse any of these horrors and if he did, I'd argue it was born from nativity rather than malicious intent.

But man. The story sure suffered because of it...

[thiefking]

i need to draw/speak more of my narutos. "my narutos" meaning specifically the versions of every character that exist in my head, of course. i wanna draw hinata and gaara (besties of all time) especially. because other than the fact that they have the most fully realized design changes in my head, they are perhaps the defining aspect of My narutos, as opposed to everyone else's. their friendship to me is like "ok i'm going out...! (wearing some extremely Please Don't Look At Me outfit)" "not dressed like that you're not." "better? (she is now gothed the fuck out with an invader zim handbag)" "yas bitch slay." this is how they work. to me

i want to draw Literally Exactly That what i just described there as a meme but i do also kind of want to write or draw sometjing more substantial because i am The Hinata And Gaara Understander. as individual characters and as a pair of besties. amd i need to explain to others why it makes perfect sense because i just Know that i am one of extremely few to look at these two, of all characters, and deduce that the character arc hinata SHOULD have had is one that would be so obvious to gaara & something he would encourage. or maybe the only one, but the fandom is/was so big that it feels statistically unlikely... if we're talking CURRENT fandom i may actually be uniquely insane about this. i don't know for sure i haven't really interacted with the fandom i've been fucking around in my own skull this whole time that's how i even arrived at "hinagaara bffs" in the first place

but like... listen. hinata's thing is basically (in an inconsistent, half-baked, and never fully realized form): "i can change to improve myself and finally meet everyone else's standards and prove them wrong...!" as she is trying to emulate naruto. ... "prove them wrong", but she is not subverting anything if she meets an expectation that was explicitly set. hinata is not naruto. naruto's expectations were that he is worthless and nothing and not worth having any expectations for in the first place, and basically all of konoha thought this way. if naruto accomplishes basically anything at all he proves someone wrong, even if just a little. hinata had expectations set on her, specifically by her family, that she is not meeting. even though what hinata WANTS to do is prove them wrong, what she is fundamentally DOING is trying to please them by doing exactly what they want her to do. yes, when they think she won't even meet their lowest expectation and she does meet it, she is TECHNICALLY proving them wrong... but she isn't really achieving meaningful personal growth by doing this, is she? all she has done is meet their standards and essentially fall into their evil ghoul trap and accept EVEN MORE PRESSURE as a "reward" because now that she finally met this one single goal, they can move the goalpost. she will only ever be the failure who occasionally surprises them, she will always be lagging behind the others, and every single time she fails she gets sent back to square 1 in their eyes. meeting all their expectations or even surpassing them entirely is always going to feel hollow and fragile, because in the back of her mind, if she slips even once she has to do it all over again. she deserves better than constant paranoia

gaara (and pretty specifically gaara) can rightfully point out the problem with hinata's current mindset because hinata's hardships are way closer to GAARA'S than naruto's, to be honest. it's not lacking a family; it's having a family that doesn't feel like a family, and that family isolating one child and encouraging the others to treat them like shit so that one child never has anyone on their own level when they're at home and they are constantly forced to be aware they lack some ambiguous something that seemingly everyone else has that would make them "worthy" of being loved by their own family

hold on let me put yhe rest under a readmore this post is long as fuck

the hyuugas treat hinata like shit and call her weak, and because her parents gladly and openly call her weak and because she's supposed to be heiress to the clan, her sister and neji (the only family who were close enough in age and rank to not intimidate) were made to hate her, think she is weak, be jealous of and resent her for being heiress despite her weakness, and treat her like shit like the other hyuugas do, thus completely isolating her within her family. and rasa treated gaara like shit and had given up on him LONG before he snapped (let's be fucking real here if gaara had to learn that "love" makes emotional pain feel better at age SIX... and not to mention the entire yashamaru """plan""" was utterly and blatantly fucking NONSENSE on all levels like nice going rasa you just turned your kid almost irreversibly insane... seemingly on purpose...? i can only assume it was on purpose and you just wanted to be a spiteful bitch to the kid who killed your wife because literally what else did you think was going to happen with that but that's a rant for another time.), he tacitly encouraged temari and kankuro to not even bother with gaara and to be afraid of him like everyone else is because RASA was also OBVIOUSLY SCARED and not only that he was constantly literally trying to murder gaara so temari and kankuro also had reason to believe from a very young age that associating with him might make rasa treat THEM like that too, essentially forced gaara to straight up kill his uncle who was the ONLY family member he had who talks to him like he isn't a monster (and inexplicably decided that he should also tell gaara outright that he is not and was never loved by anyone), etc etc etc; gaara was also isolated within his own family and made to be the odd one out, over and over again. naruto knows what it's like not having a family at all, but he never experienced having family— non-metaphorical, blood relation, "entire reason you were born" family— who hates you. naruto knows how it feels to be neglected and feared by an entire village, that's how he relates to gaara. hinata was hated by her own family, the people she depended on for life itself, but she was never hated by the village at large, even if she perceives herself to be. naruto can empathize with this and put himself in her shoes, but like... gaara KNOWS, firsthand, what hinata is experiencing. that is why gaara is fairly uniquely capable of pointing out the problem Very Directly because he would see it way faster than anyone else

naruto could see it too, and he could say all the same things, but he wouldn't do it how gaara would. and i think hinata needs to hear someone speak to her, bluntly and authoritatively, and say "you deserve better than this." because normally whenever she hears someone (her own family) speak to her bluntly in an authoritative tone they're telling her she's weak and pathetic and subpar and needs to improve, and every time she is spoken to like that she believes them and marks that weakness off as something to fix. hearing incredibly matter-of-fact validation and encouragement spoken the exact same way primes her to believe that encouragement, and now her compulsive need to please people who speak to her that way is going to force her, even fleetingly, to take it seriously. especially because gaara would tell her something she is doing wrong, which will feel familiar, but he actually has HER best interests in mind. there is no benefit or advantage for him if she succeeds. he is unaffiliated, not even from konoha, he gains nothing from it. gaara doesn't tell her to try harder nor to give up and accept mediocrity. gaara tells her it's okay to give up and try something else, and sometimes it's the people around you who are the ones who need to change, not you.

gaara looks at "i will change myself to prove myself to others", and he says instead: "you need to stop caring what other people think about you and stop morphing yourself to their perception. just because YOU aren't doing that in a 'if you all want to call me a monster then fine, i'll be a monster' kind of way, like i did, that doesn't mean that isn't still an unhealthy way to think. you should figure out who YOU are and live as who YOU are, unapologetically, until they get the point that they can either accept you as you are and realize they were wrong, or they can fuck off. this is a situation where it is Not Your Fucking Problem that other people are disappointed with you especially because of how hard you've already been working to try and meet their arbitrary standards. this isn't about talent or hard work. this is about whether you even Want to be doing what everyone else wants you to do. and it is difficult and terrifying and lonely to be the only person who knows who you really are. it is hard work to figure it out and it is hard work to convince others, and at times it will feel hopeless. so i won't let you be the alone. i won't let you have to try and fail all alone, like i did. i will be your first victory, i will give you listening ears, i will be your silent dressing room mirror while you try on different hats before you figure out which one fits, i will be here and i will not judge you or decide on your behalf who you are, and i will be your family if no one else will. literally. if they cast you out you can come home to me. temari and kankuro have already accepted me as i am, i'm sure they'll accept you as you are too"

and then with time and gentle coaxing hinata decides to stop trying to be what her family wanted her to be and starts being a goth weirdgirl and pursues her interests in mycology and psychology and entomology and starts fucking THRIVING

i could go on forever. i should stop now or i never will. some of the parallels between them or the reasons that gaara would specifically want to support her in the specific ways i envision came about entirely from headcanon (coughs. even more headcanon than... the rest of this... coughs) and i FORGET that it's headcanon. for example "gaara created his good reputation in sunagakure through brute force good deeds. like people were so scared of him that they wouldn't let him CASUALLY prove that he was trying to be better, so he basically had to scare them even more just to prove that he was no longer scary. things like using his sand to hold people in place... so that he can physically put money into their hands and say 'this is yours and you will take it and use it to pay rent and buy your child that toy he wants. i do not want anytjing in return and i will be leaving you alone now.' because otherwise people would run away before he even gets the chance to be nice. literally just has to hold them still and pointedly do something nice for them and then let them go without hurting them while they tremble in misplaced terror like he;s a wildlife vet wrangling an injured seagull". this is part of why he would say "be unapologetically you and they can accept that and realize they were wrong about you to begin with, or they can fuck off". NONE OF THAT is explicitly canon... but there is so much & it makes perfect sense to me. aauuugaghh hinata my hinata my hinagaara besties my hinata. i could go on and on and on and on. goddammit I WILL GIVE HER THE CHARACTER ARC SHE NEEDS & DESERVES... GIVE HER TO ME KISHIMOTO.... WHAT IF THE FACT THAT HINATA HAS 3 PERSONALITY TRAITS IN CANON ACTUALLY MEANT SOMETHING AND WASN'T JUST BECAUSE YOU, MASASHI KISHIMOTO, SELF-ADMITTEDLY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO WRITE WOMEN? WOULDN'T THAT BE SO MUCH LESS EMBARRASSING FOR YOU? I CAN MAKE IT REAL! I CAN MAKE IT MEANINGFUL!!!! I CAN MAKE IT ABOUT REPRESSION!!!! I CAN MAKE IT ABOUT WORKING HARD TO BE WHO YOU WANT TO BE, AND SAYING "SCREW YOU" TO PEOPLE WHO TRY AND DECIDE WHO YOU ARE ON YOUR BEHALF, AND THE REJECTION OF THE STATUS QUO, AND EMBRACING THE THINGS THAT MAKE YOU DIFFERENT AND MAKING USE WHAT UNIQUE STRENGTHS YOU HAVE INSTEAD OF TRYING TO MATCH WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING, AND HOW HUMAN LIVES ARE INHERENTLY VALUABLE EVEN IF EVERYONE AROUND YOU SAYS YOURS IS WORTH NOTHING!!! JUST LIKE WHAT NARUTO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!! I CAN EVEN SPICE IT UP A BIT AND USE MY MAGICAL WOMAN-UNDERSTANDING POWERS TO MAKE IT ABOUT HOW WOMEN ARE ACTUALLY JUST REGULAR PEOPLE WHO ARE AS VARIED AS MEN AND HOW THE SOCIETAL CONCEPTS OF WOMANHOOD AND PROPER WOMANLY BEHAVIOUR ARE RESTRICTIVE AND OPPRESSIVE, AND THE MANY WAYS THAT SOCIETY WILL FORCE TOTAL CONFORMITY AND PUNISH EVERYONE WHO STEPS OUTSIDE OF THAT FRAME (AND EVEN THOSE WHO REMAIN WITHIN)!!! I CAN MAKE IT ABOUT COMPULSORY HETEROSEXUALITY!!!! I KNOW YOU'RE AFRAID OF GIRLS MR KISHIMOTO WILL IT MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER IF I ALSO MAKE IT ABOUT NEJI WATCHING HINATA COMPLETELY REJECT HER CAGE AND DISCOVER HERSELF AND HOW HE FEELS ABOUT IT AND MAYBE JUST COVER YOUR EARS WHEN I START TALKING ABOUT EGGS!!!!!! MR KISHIMOTOOOOOO PLEEEEEEEASE

[sasukeless]

2 If you’re still doing the controversial ask game

hi

2) was sasuke right?

ahh this billion dollar question isn’t it. i feel like this is the top 1 most discussed thing on this app for years, i have read every side of it.

to give #my opinion, im gonna go with yes. but its far more complicated, like most things are with naruto lol. i believe sasuke is right because he sees there’s a flaw in the existing system around him and to finally do something about it the only way to do that it’s to get ride of the system from the root.

now, as much as i agree with sasuke there i don’t agree with the way he tries to do that revolution. i dont mean this in a “oh violence wont be fixed with more violence” bs. i mean this because where sasuke’s goals are born for and how they affect his plans.

when sasuke finishes listening to the kages and it’s coming up with his thoughts, he immediately is bombarded by memories of itachi (itachi only, not his clan) and itachi’s words to him. when he states he will not let the village be destroyed he does it by adding “itachi’s will”. when sasuke is dying in the war arc his only thoughts again are that he doesn’t want to waste what itachi wanted to die. this shows us very clearly that sasuke’s revolution is very influenced by itachi’ wants. a little different, sure but still the same. which makes sense why his goal at vote2 is destroy the last person he loves and bear the hatred of everyone so the villages can have peace between them as long as they focus all on him. and this is quite what itachi did, just on a bigger scale. naruto = uchiha clan. the villages = konoha. sasuke = itachi.

^this is where many people complain that kishimoto had to turn sasuke ooc to make him evil and i can see what they mean but personally i dont view it as such when i look at what sasuke’s arc has always been. i have seen also that they dislike that post reveal sasuke’s character seems to be focus on itachi more than in his clan like in part 1 which i also disagree. itachi has been sasuke’s main influence in his character since day one. even in part 1, sasuke’s hate towards itachi isn’t just because he killed his clan, kishimoto focuses alot in showing itachi and sasuke having a loving relationship. kishimoto is very specific that sasuke’s biggest grief at the end of the day is not the massacre alone but the fact it was itachi who committed it. this is essentially what sets sasuke aside of other characters that lost their family/clans/parents etc. its not only what he lost but by who’s hands he lost it. so his focus has always been in itachi. so i dont think it was only part 2 that sasuke became more driven by itachi than anything else… anyways going back to the topic because im going off the rails (sorry).

sasuke has always had itachi first imo. and sasuke has always been defined by love too so ofc he’s gonna forgive the person he loves even if he doesn’t deserve it, ofc he’s gonna try to achieve that peace his brother “sacrificed” his life for (even if thru different means that he wanted you to). but while i understand and love sasuke’s character, i still think these are all very personal reasons for his revolution plans and thus why it fails.

his revolution plans are also self destructive but he doesn’t care because he still views it as his ultimate duty (again why he was so distraught when he was about to die without doing anything). he wants to become the bearer of all evil, and pain and hatred and wants to be all alone, even tho that is something that has caused alot of his pain in the past, he even talks about possible immortality and its just, well sad. you can tell hes about to sell his own doom because he thinks thats what he has to do to fix everything. he is ready to become a martyr. and forgive me but i view as that as a very tragic

so while i will always view him as being in the right, because when you put him in comparasion to most characters that doesnt realize whats wrong w the shinobi world, he will always come as one of the few that actually isn’t blind (even if its framed as bad for pointing that the system needs to be destroyed), i still dont think his plans are the right ones

[tamelee]

How do you think Sasuke would've been like if he didn't go through what he did? Do you think his personality would still be similar to how it is now, or way different? I think some things will definitely remain the same, like his personality being the opposite contrast to Naruto's, and being an introvert. But I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thinking about how Naruto would be like is also pretty interesting, but not as much as Sasuke since he's way more traumatized and changed dramatically since he was a kid. There were some fillers that showed that he chased cats and took those cat missions really seriously, which is really cute and makes him seem kinda goofy like Naruto, but they're still fillers so idk how accurate that is. Still, he was very friendly and sweet as a child even in canon. He's such an interesting and complex character!

Hi~ 

That’s hard to predict because living life without going through what he has in the story is… quite the contrast. He'd still be goal-driven. I wonder if Fugaku would acknowledge Sasuke similarly without Itachi becoming distant. Would Itachi spend more time with Sasuke and allow them to train together had he not been burdened the way he was? There are so many variables to take into account. 

And let’s be honest… wouldn’t we want to know how Kishimoto would answer that? Considering people’s belief about the Uchiha’s “evil” destiny-tainted with hatred and all that- being genetic? Oh, there’s so much to say about that alone. Try making that point without Konoha’s elite members ordering his entire family to be murdered by the person he loves and trusts most for the sake of everyone else’s safety. Good luck with that. 

One thing Kishimoto has said about writing Sasuke always stuck with me though, which was: 

He’s basically saying that, in order to write Sasuke, he needs to make sure his character image won’t be messed up by putting him in situations where he wouldn’t be in the first place. 

There’s a lot of debate among writers when it comes to character/plot driven stories, but Sasuke’s journey is very much character-driven in the sense that plot is/should be changed in order to allow Sasuke to drink the tea that he likes. It doesn’t make sense otherwise. Often, fillers, novels and other material that are technically official, but not made by Kishimoto, completely miss the mark and force him to drink the juice when he wouldn’t ever do that in the first place.

And so, screw up his character entirely. (Not Sasuke alone though.)

If Sasuke didn’t go through these horrible things, a lot will be different, but I’m pretty sure his personality would stay similar when it comes to drinking the tea he likes. He’d still avoid the juice despite different circumstances. He wouldn't ever drink it. And how that would be like precisely… well, your guess is as good as mine, really.

Sasuke can be goofy and playful though. Way more than people seem to think? He’s just selective when it comes to who he feels comfortable enough to show it to. As he should. Again, filler (etc-) also often don't take that into account. A lot of it is either completely exaggerated or they make him into this cold-hearted character without any sub- and/or context that does it justice.

I don’t think Naruto and Sasuke’s trauma’s can, and/or should be, ever measured against each other though. The story made it a point that it’s hard to understand one or the other for good reason. I also don’t think Naruto has changed much as a character? Although he gained better understanding about a lot of things and therefore took different approaches, he’s also repressing a lot of what he’s feeling in order to people please in a way that gains him the acceptance he craved for. Underneath all of that, there’s still that part of him that he’s denying in order to belong in the environment that denied him.

And yeah, how do we feel about that? ;-; 

[shadowwolflady]

Demon Hunters

A strange group of peace keepers entered Konoha. They were clad in white robes, with purple colored sashes draped diagonally across their bodies, beads looped around their arms, a necklace with a symbol, rice hats to shield from the sun, and staffs with emblems on top. By all appearances, this group looked to be a troop of traveling monks.

They were peaceful, making way for passersby and helping others when crossing paths. They didn't keep too quiet about their intent to head to the village and meet with the Hokage when asked. 

They stopped by a tea house along the road and had some tea and food before departing. Besides paying their dues, they asked the owners if they needed anything, like firewood or herbs gathered. The group worked quickly to procure more firewood for the kind owners. They even helped with dishes and got fresh water from the well for them. Then, they headed off.

Word got back to Sandaime of a group traveling to Konoha in order to meet with him. 

They continued to walk towards the heart of the country, straight to the village. By late afternoon, they arrived at the gates. Chunin seemingly waiting for their arrival, were standing at the gates to set eyes on the group who wished to meet with the Hokage. 

800 meters from the gate, the head of their group stopped. He tilted his head up and examined the wall, glaring at it. He could feel the ill intent of a demon lurking behind the giant structure. The inhumanly presence was sickening. 

But, there was one other. A fainter one. Almost undetectable from the other dark presence that seemed to over shadow the whole village. 

The man looked down to the gates. 

This demon flew below the radar, seemingly unaware to the other villagers. They were probably so concerned with the one, that the other slipped in. 

"There are two demons here." One man mentioned behind their leader. 

"Two? I only feel one." A younger male mentioned.

"It's faint. But it's here." The first man told the youngster. The group looked to their leader, waiting for his move. 

"We may not have to worry too much about that lesser one." A female voice came from the crowd of 8.

"No." The leader's voice said sternly. "It is that lesser one I am more concerned about." He squinted his eyes. If a demon suppressed its presence, then it may be more powerful then they could handle. Unless something was making its presence suppressed. 

"Nevertheless, both shall be dealt with accordingly." Another man mentioned. 

From within Konoha, a chunin leaned over and whispered into Sandaime's ear. "My lord, they have been spotted and are approaching the gates." 

Hiruzen let out a hum as he thought. "Very well. Send someone out to meet them."

The traveling group gradually approached the gate. Three chunin awaited their arrival. 

The troop stopped within 10 meters of the chunin. All the troop bowed to greet them. 

"Greetings." Their leader said as they stood up straight. "I am Daichi, leader of this group of Peace Keepers. We wish to speak to your leader, Lord Hokage."

"Why is it you wish to speak with Lord Hokage?" One chunin, Izumo, demanded.

"We wish to offer our services." Daichi proclaimed.

"Services?" The second chunin, Kotetsu, questioned.

"As I mentioned, we are a group of Peace Keepers. We keep the peace of the land, chasing out all evil, and cleansing those who may be affected by their presence."

"Who's presence?" The last chunin, Raidou inquired skeptically. 

"Demons." Daichi proclaimed.

"So, you're demon hunters?" Raidou clarified.

"We prefer the term Peace Keepers. We don't just hunt demons, but all manner of evil in this world." Daichi explained. 

News quickly got back to Hiruzen. 

"Keep an eye on Naruto, they may be here for the Fox." He told some of his Anbu before they took off to find the genin. He turned to his personal Anbu, "Where's Rai?"

"She's not due back until the weekend." One told him.

Hiruzen nodded, grabbing his pipe in his hand as he stood up. "Good." He walked around the desk, placing the pipe in his mouth. "Keep tabs on her and make sure she stays out of here until they leave. Find Asuma and Kakashi, alert them to what is happening. I would like for both of them to meet me before the gates." Hiruzen commanded his Anbu as he walked out of the office door towards the gates.

Kakashi and Asuma leapt down next to Sandaime as he got closer to the gate.

"I don't know what they're planning, but I want both of you to be on your guard. I don't like the sound of these "Peace Keeper" demon hunters." Sandaime warned them.

Anbu stayed hidden and scattered around the gates and trees, keeping an eye on the group.

When Sandaime grew near, the group bowed low.

"You must be Lord Hokage. It is a pleasure to meet you." Daichi said as he stood up. "I am Daichi, leader of this group of Peace Keepers. We wish to offer you our services." The others slowly stood up from their bow.

"Hmm, and what kind of services?" Lord Hokage stopped and removed the pipe from his mouth as he regarded the group. They did seem like a group of monks.

Kakashi and Asuma looked over the group. Fangs, bones, claws, and hide of different animals seemed to dot their forms. Whether on necklaces, hanging from their staffs, wrapped with the beads around their wrists and hands, or hanging from their sashes. Trinkets of their kills.

One large man in the back had his right arm and hand covered in chitin looking plating. 

"To rid your village of evil." Daichi exclaimed, tapping the butt of his staff on the ground in emphasis.

"Evil?" Hiruzen tilted his head forward a bit, wondering what kind of tricks this man was spouting nonsense about. 

"Demons." Daichi took a step forward. "My lord, your village is crawling with those deplorables. They walk among you. Grant us permission and we can rid you of these troubles." Hiruzen, along with Kakashi and Asuma were well aware of two prominent demons within the village. Besides those two, there were probably many smaller and tiny ones that they didn't know about. 

"Hmm. And what of those that are not hostile?" Sandaime questioned. In his mind, one demon had never caused the village any trouble or harm. 

"There is no such thing." Hiruzen swore he saw Kakashi shift to force himself to not tense at the statement. Asuma shifted as well, but it was to try and take up a more relaxed stance; a ploy to show the group they were calm.

"That's some arm you got there," Asuma pointed out.  

"It's the hide of the Gojinki Beast." The male brought his arm up to show the shinobi. "Tougher than any metal, lighter than any armor, heat resistant, and very good at crushing demons." The man made a fist with the claw-like hand of his. So, some of those trinkets weren't just for show. They had a purpose.

"Like I said, my lord, we only wish for peace. We sensed a powerful demon here. It has tricked all of you, whether you know it or not." Daichi explained. "It walks among you. It talks with you and works alongside you." Daichi was trying to stress how horrid this was and hoped the Lord would see it as such.

"My lord," the one woman whispered to Daichi. "I do not believe the second demon is here. Yes, it's presence is here. But it may not be in the village. That must be why we cannot fully sense it." 

Daichi glanced behind him, acknowledging her statement. Kakashi's keen hearing picked up on the whispers. They knew. They knew about the two demons who called this village home. What was even more concerning was that they could tell one was not present at this very moment. 

"Well, we thank you for your interest. But we seem to have everything handled." Sandaime kindly excused them. He tried to force a small smile on his face.

"The demons will be your undoing." Daichi warned the older man.

"I am very much aware of what demons can do, as does most of the village. We are more than aware of their powers and what destruction they can bring." Hiruzen eyed Daichi as he told him. Hiruzen and the village mostly knew about demons. The Kyuubi did massive amounts of destruction on more than one occasion. "I thank you for your offer. But we are in no need of your services." He turned to the chunin. "Give them food, water and lodging for the night."

"Thank you, my lord. But we will not need lodging. We will be on our way." Daichi refused. Daichi tried to not sound disgusted.

"At least let us give you some food and water for your journey." Hiruzen said. Several chunin appeared with some food and water for the group.

"Thank you." Daichi and his group bowed and left after receiving the provisions. They headed west.

Hiruzen, Kakashi, and Asuma watched them leave. As soon as they were just specks on the horizon, Sandaime spoke.

"What was it that caused you to tense, Kakashi?" He inquired. 

Kakashi let out a low mmm noise. 

"Did you see their staffs?" Asuma asked.

"Not just their staffs. They wore their kills." Hiruzen mentioned. 

"Do you think they were here for the kyuubi?" Asuma asked. 

"Maybe, but they weren't aggressive about it. They could have easily come into the village." Hiruzen muttered. What were they really up to? There was no good feeling about these people.

"But they didn't."

“They mentioned a second demon that wasn't here.” Kakashi revealed. Sandaime let out a hum as he thought. 

"They called themselves Peace Keepers. They're not peace keepers." Sandaime told them. "They're Demon Hunters." He stressed. He looked at Kakashi. "When you get a chance, send word to Rai. Keep her out of the country until they are gone. I don't want them to cause any trouble. I don't trust them."

"I wish we could have seen what they were carrying. They must have had more than they were showing." Asuma mused. Now, Asuma had seen monks and their weapons. But these were not anything he was aware of. 

"That chain and sickle was covered in sutras." Kakashi mentioned. 

"All perfect for hunting demons. We must be wary of them. I feel that they may not be as peaceful as they proclaim to be." Hiruzen warned. He had a deep suspicion that this wasn't going to be the last they see of this troop. 

Something small was headed towards her at a high rate of speed. No malicious intent was detected as the thing approached. A shift of the wind gave her a hint as to what or who it was. Stopping herself, she allowed for the fuzzy being to catch up.

A small brown ball of folds and fluff appeared next to her.

Rai turned and looked at the pug who stood on the branch next to her.

He had explained to her what had happened at the village. "Yeah, there's this group of shady people calling themselves Peace Keepers, but really they are demon hunters." The hair on the back of Rai's neck stood on end. "They mean business. Boss wants me to keep you safe."

"I see," Rai muttered. She had heard about these groups of demon hunters. The more surprising thing was that they dared to set foot in Konoha.  Rai let the news sink in before telling Pakkun he could leave.

The pug shook his head, "Boss wants me to stay with you until you're back in the village." Rai sighed, her shoulders relaxing as some tension left her body. "He cares about you, ya know." Pakkun told her after she relaxed.

"Thank you." Rai turned and faced the way she was headed before Pakkun got to her. "I hope you're up for finishing this mission with me." Pakkun nodded and leapt with her to finish the mission.

Several days later, Rai and Pakkun made their way back to the village. They immediately went to the Hokage's office to report in. 

"I'm glad you're back safe." Sandaime told her as he shifted some papers about. "I'm sure Pakkun told you about the group of so called Peace Keepers." He glanced up at her from his papers. Rai gave him a nod. "They are demon hunters. I don't trust them. And I have a feeling they will be back."

Next Chapter

[oh-no-its-bird]

Ok so everyone say thank you to @kirabasai for infecting me with the thought of Commander Fox getting zapped from starwars to naruto

Mitsuki and Fox clone solidarity,, I know Mitsuki only exists in Boruto but I don't give a shit so now not only is this a dimension travel au it's also a time travel

Somehow both Fox and Mitsuki end up in normal naruto canon, and work together bc uhhhh. Reasons, I dunno.

Fox gets zapped first to boruto, probably through spooky Palpatine sith shenanigans that don't actually matter. But he's only there for a second, with just enough time to knock into Mitsuki before he's zapped again into naruto— accidentally bringing Mitsuki with him.

Oops.

He actually feels kind of bad ab it. Or like, as bad about it as Fox can feel, bc he's Fox. But then he learns Mitsuki is a clone and it isn't just awww shit he accidentally kidnapped some kid but aww shit he accidentally kidnapped a Shiny

Head in his hands, he didn't ask for this,, he was a good boy,, he did his job so diligently,, he hid all the bodies and killed all the people Palpatine told him to,,, literally never done a thing wrong,,,,

Fox winds up with Palpatines lightsaber somehow, and over the course of the story it kind of becomes his. It freaks the absoloute FUCK out of literally any sensors, it is radiating legit evil over there and Fox is holding it like it's no big deal (bc he can't sense shit and is kind of numb to sith energy anyways)

Fox also has a blaster and I am definitely thinking ab the comedy of like. A gun in Naruto. It's a gun. It's a gun that moves fast as light. No one knows what a gun is and Fox is going to get SO much milage out of just having a weapon he can aim places without people realizing what it's ab to do (shoot you in the fucking face)

If someone were to pry into Fox's mind they'd actually have a really awful time of it, then probably walk face first into some nasty lingering sith mind fuckery stuff. Bad experience, 0/10, Fox is very happy w how it turned out but also has no idea why he got that effect. Either way, keep ur nasty ass mind fingers to yourself

Also, Fox speaks Basic. Not Japanese.

I'm thinking he has some sort of standard translator chip that allows him to communicate, but it sometimes translates the stuff he says weirdly. For example, from everyone else's perspective, he keeps introducing himself as Kitsune.

Which, for obvious reasons, doesn't really go over that well with a lot of people in Konoha when he gets there.

He's also visibly foreign and keeps being mistaken for being from Suna

So anyways, Fox and Mitsuki first fight bc like. Hey!! You fucking kidnapped?? Me???

Mitsuki gets the jump on him bc shinobi kid vs guy who doesn't know what a fucking shinobi even is

But then they're able to kinda talk it out and like, look neither of them know where they are so... truce?

Ok so now the fun part:

Fox has no fucking clue what's going on.

From his point of view, he's on... some kind of semi primitive planet. Doesn't remember how or why, but he's here now. So standard GAR procedures; find a way to contact home base. He has his normal gear on him, but no deep space radio, so he'll have to just... make one. Fuck, ok. If he can find the parts, it's doable. All command class clones are taught the basics of how, just like how they're taught how to assemble a blaster from scraps.

But from Mitsuki's point of view, they time traveled.

Mitsuki's POV is the only reason Fox knows there's smthn seriously up, but he's not exactly gonna go "aha! Dimension travel!" On top of it all

Now here's the thing. They're in early naruto canon, some time after wave arc.

Mitsuki only knows chunks of history, and only what has been taught to him second hand from school, Orochimaru, and very very occasional stories from Sasuke or the rest of team Taka

(I feel like Suigetsu especially would have fun telling all sorts of stories)

Not... all of these stories are completely accurate. And even if they are, they're often dumbed down to be easily understood by children— think that one Boruto episode where they put on some sort of silly play about the sanin (which was adorable btw and also fucking hilarious. Actual war criminals son learns about war crimes in class and everyone is just cool happy magic of friendship about it. Amazing.)

So now Fox is learning these fuckin third hand stories from Mitsuki, who literally learned it from the villains of many of the stories, and there is some SERIOUS biases going on

They go to Orochimaru for help.

Local scientist, parent of child (= dependable?) Best source of tech for potential radio + blaster repairs if needed. Fox can trade information to him if needed, it seems like a good choice.

It is not a good choice.

Orochimaru is like nearing the heights of his insanity, and I think it'd be real fun if he decides Sasuke is cool and all but a man from the stars??? A man literally made in a vat to be the perfect example of human physique???? Who's also resistant to many forms of corrosive chakra????

New perfect body alert.

Mitsuki is cute but Orochimaru isn't really in a parental sort of mind set, sorry <3

Mitsuki is going "Huh!! My parent did say they had a pretty severe midlife crisis..."

"Kid I think this is a bit more than just a midlife crisis."

Anyways, then they escape and continue to fuck around trying to build a deep space radio, which at this point is Fox's only hope home which also means it's Mitsuki's bc maybe the jedi can help with the whole uhh... time? Thing?

I'm thinking that after the thing w Orochimaru goes to shit, they're both a lot more wary of the fact that Mitsuki's information may not be the best.

After Oro in terms of figures of power and safety, almost everyone else is either a child, not born yet, or their current location is unknown— except for good old dependable ✨️ rokudaime Kakashi ✨️

Ok so picture this. You're Kakashi, sleeping peacefully in bed after a long day fucking with your students (who you're still very conflicted about having) You wake up to a presence in ur room and there's some fucking snake kid leaning over ur bed going "Hatake-sama—"

You freak out.

Knives may be thrown.

The snake kid has a very angry looking, foreign adult man body guard.

This is so fucking suspicious.

The snake kid says he's a time traveler, and that you are the eventual Rokudaime and also the only person he knows he can trust 100%

This is so fucking suspicious.

So obviously, Kakashi plays along then turns around and reports the fuck out of their asses to the Hokage.

Yeah, Fox doesn't really know what he expected. If some random kid showed up looming over HIS bed in the middle of the night, said he'd be the next chancellor and they know bc they're a time traveler and also pretty please help me build a deep space radio so I can go home— well, he wouldn't report them to Palpatine because not even he's that sadistic. But he'd probably toss them into the cells for a minute, if only because it was one of the only perks of his job

Or, well, for that analogy to work it wouldn't be a deep space radio, because he was used to space travel. It'd have to be something wilder— like an interdimensional radio. Haha, good one. Like that existed. God, imaging having to try and make one of those, that'd be insane. Fox would just kill himself at that point. Good thing he doesn't have to, right? Right?

Anyways mid adventure, they bump into Jiraiya who is fucking horrified to recognize Orochimaru's way of smiling in Mitsuki and gaslights himself into thinking he HAS to be wrong.

I think its Jiraiya who finally helps them out

[lost-and-cursed]

Was tagged by @debellatis for a 5 favorite characters challenge:

"List five of your all time favorite characters and then tag five people to do the same. We'll see which character of the five gets voted the most loved."

Ugh... Who are all my blorbo's once more? And roughly equal in weight at that....

Curse of remembering your blorbos and Blessing of bragging about your blorbo's be upon ya

@jorisjurgen @sapphicvalkery @sockdrawerdemon @aromantisk-fagforening @jasonmantitstodd + @minahuston (cause I know you won't participate, but I dare you to prove me wrong)

A little bit of propaganda under cut because I can

Jason Todd (on the left)

Aka child vigilante turned dead turned mob boss who decided that dead enemies are better than dead you! Very inspiring. Book nerd, very crafty, attempted to steal tires from the Batmobile when he was nine, a killer, a middle brother, snarky, caring and just very petty person.

Jaster Mereel (on the right)

Aka you like your blorbos obscure. A Mandalorian. Long dead adoptive father of Jango Fett. Supposedly nerd historian, good ruler and father, and someone who wrote a ridiculously long philosophical paper on the nature of his culture, ways to preserve it and make it true to modern times.

Tobirama Senju (on the left)

Aka one of Konoha's finders. Ridiculously competent, brilliant scientist, ruthless warrior, cold to point of awkward. Loves learning?creating jutsus and his brother, if fandom to be believed the only person who thought about infrastructure when idea of making village came up.

(yes all my blorbo's are at least supposedly nerds, how did you guess it)

Urahara Kisuke (on the right)

Brilliant sassy scientist, but make him slightly evil trashfire. A lot of brain cells, none of them are figuring out morals or socialization. Had one brilliant crush, that he followed in military assassination squad, then got his own research facilities, low-key committed attrocities, effectively invented an atomic bomb, that got stolen by the villain. Yay. He's sorry though. A little. Wasn't caught on accusations of treason and build his own lab masquerading as effectively tea shop. He also has a funny hat. And a cane! Favorite war criminal what can I say

I thought about putting here hp character next, but Hp doesn't deserve rights and I mostly hallucinate chatacters from there, so instead I gonna brag about a character that quite literally isn't translated in English.

His name is Roque Alva from Reflections of Aeterna and he's at different points High General, Warlord, Duke and something between chosen one and cursed one. He's ridiculously competent, history nerd, drunk, whore and has enough sass to fell the county. He has trust issues longer than the borders he sworn to protect. He's effectively immortal because of the curse, but everyone he even remotely cares about die around him or betray him. (He also pretty sure that's because he sold his soul to devil. He didn't. It's technically perk of being divinely ordained to be king. He doesn't want to be one). He also the only sane person in the books (saving my sanity by proxy) and has ridiculously high resonance in type of thinking and existing to mine, so he's the only character I would claim kin for, so please love him or your blorbo rotator will malfunction for three weeks ^^

[theheirofthesharingan]

So people rightfully address that there's subtext that Orochimaru is a pedo, but I feel like there's similar subtext (although with different intentions) for Danzo? Orochimaru's predation is clearly lustful but Danzo's seems power/control oriented, especially since we know that's a big part of his character (the need to demonstrate power because he feels inadequate). These are all mixed together for me tbf, but there are things like everyone in the village knowing he "takes a child from every great family" to the point where Shino's dad offers an orphan instead of Shino to protect Shino, in general his "recruits" are orphans or otherwise vulnerable children with some sort of isolating power, and they're made to have personal hero worship and unfailing loyalty/fidelity to him OR are deeply manipulated to stay fearful enough of him to obey him. He literally has a "don't talk or I'll hurt you seal" on his people. In Itachi's novel you're also meant to experience the same disgust/fear when Danzo appears that I felt Orochimaru gave in Part 1, and they're the only 2 people in the property depicted that way.

I feel like this is different from yakuza, mafia, or even other military organizations because those are typically formed out of brotherhood and their own honour code. The format of the ROOT is more similar to independent militia in warzones, and these organizations are well-documented to use sexual abuse of boys as a control tactic. In film ( a lot of asian films actually ime) whenever institutional or ritual abuse is a plot point, there's always a character that is severely injured by the SA they experience and then go on to commit suicide over it. Shisui fits this role in Naruto.

I definitely agree with you on the similarities between Danzo and Orochimaru. They worked together and shared extreme ideals to the level of unhealthily obsessing in the things they believed in. They both took advantage of the vulnerable children to carry out their agenda, and to them both ends justified the means.

Danzo and Orochimaru are two similar, twisted kinds of evil but with different flavour to their malevolence. Orochimaru, later in the story, has some sort of epiphany, by which he realizes he doesn't want to incline himself towards evil anymore; Danzo, on the other hand, ends himself thinking he was right all along. Of the two, Danzo is more dangerous for the reasons you mentioned, and also because with the help of more knowledge you could defeat Orochimaru. Danzo just seems invincible.

He's cold, manipulative, adamant, persuasive, and makes himself sound the most reasonable of all. He seems to have problems for all solutions and solutions to all problems. The extremities someone would want to avoid, Danzo doesn't care about it at all. He's resourceful, all the things achieved by the ugliest means possible. His Root/Foundation is symbolic of the literal foundation of Konoha (and Shinobi world in general) that had evil embedded in them from its advent. Danzo not only flourishes on this darkness, he also causes it.

Honestly, I'd never thought of Shisui being one of his victims. It was always Itachi, because the two interacted more. Even if Anbu reports to the Hokage, Danzo clearly had put his leash on Itachi enough to manipulate him, and keep him in check enough to bend Itachi to his will. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this way even though novels don't exactly hint towards the SA and manga definitely can't.

However, considering this is Danzo we're talking about, no theory is outlandish because he is the personification of irredeemable evil in the series. Thanks for the ask because it was fun looking into it.

[somorrow]

If you have one, what’s one misconception you think people have about Itachi that you may disagree with. Sometimes it’s hard to figure him out so I’m just curious if you see him a different way vs others.

I think there are a lot of misconceptions. He’s rather hypocritical, so I think it’s really easy to get his character confused. He often takes actions that directly contrast with his morals, willingly and not. I think half of the fandom has the opinion that he was very much forced into the massacre and is, therefore, a gentle person — and the other half of the fandom thinks he’s needlessly cruel and cold.

I’ve come to learn that both points of view are semi-accurate. This is a big reason he’s so misunderstood, in my opinion, because people think it has to be one way or another. It’s really both. He was a child at the time, so he felt backed into a corner, especially after Shisui died. Shisui was Itachi’s saving grace in many ways, and once he passed, the curse of hatred took his heart. In fact, he leaned into it in order to do what he had to do later on. He was filled with disdain and resentment towards his family — bar Sasuke, who Itachi’s always seen as rather innocent (and justified, even after all of Sasuke's actions later on, as we can see during their reunion). He truly did not like his family at the time, he resented them and looked down upon them. A part of him did feel like their fate was deserved. That’s due to his immaturity at the time, and as he got older, I can tell his opinions changed. I do think he would still take the same actions if he was prompted to — while he regretted the massacre, he felt it necessary. But he does have a gentle nature as you know. If you read the novels, you’d have learned his entire motivation for becoming a shinobi and becoming Hokage one day was because he wanted to stop war as a whole. That’s a selfless desire. The decision to go through with the massacre is also selfless in several ways.

Yet, he knew from the beginning his path was going to come with sacrifices, whether that be the lives of others or his own. He knew his path was paved in blood and decided to take it anyway, even prior to the massacre. He killed easily, both physically and emotionally. The only time we see him hesitate is with his parents.

I believe he found peace with his decision before he died due to Sasuke, but I think it’s extremely important to remember he isn’t innocent or completely blameless, regardless of how heavily indoctrinated he is, because of how indoctrinated he is. He saw the actions of the Leaf Council and didn't condemn them. He would’ve done it all again if he had to, regardless of how he felt — he would’ve looked for other solutions if he could do it over, but he would’ve done it again.

Aaaand he continued to treat Sasuke and some of the other Leaf shinobi ruthlessly following his desertion of Konoha. You can’t tell me he had to use his Tsukuyomi on Sasuke and Kakashi. 😂 He felt it necessary to keep up his persona, even thought it 'merciful' in a messed up way. Cruel, but for the 'greater good', like a lot of his actions were. I will give him credit, though; the only reason the Leaf found out that the Akatsuki were looking for the tailed beasts was that he straight-up told them instead of keeping it a secret. That was deliberate, done to protect Naruto and the Leaf. A lot of what he did in the Akatsuki was to help the Leaf, as he has stated numerous times. He also tried to adhere to his morals during his time in the Akatsuki and was able to, to the point where he was able to influence Kisame greatly.

He is repeatedly forced into the position of choosing the lesser of two evils. The massacre shaped who he is, and because it’s so heavy and contradictory itself, his character is similarly twisted. What remains is man put in shitty situation after shitty situation, trying to do good — trying make the best of it in the only way he knows, regardless of the damage it does to himself because he feels his suffering is a form of justice.

We don’t get to see much of his inner monologue in the manga or anime. I recommend his novels if you want a deeper understanding of his character, even though he is OOC in the moment when the massacre is suggested to him.

I think those are the biggest discrepancies in my opinion versus others, the extent of his contradictory character. He is a balance of both ruthless and gentle because that’s who he is, and because it’s who he has to be. Thank you for asking. Sorry for sharing this post preemptively and taking so long to respond. 🖤

I’m always learning and always studying him. My opinions change in small ways all the time. If you want to talk more about Itachi’s character, please message me because I could talk about him literally all day.

[innocentimouto]

Do you have any issues with how Itachi was written

Oh yes.

I don't make my own posts about Naruto too much. I love Avatar and stick with it more than other fandoms because they delivered in so many aspects.

Naruto I saw as a kid and thought it was good and now every time I try to rewatch it, I can't deal with so many things. (Though I'm going through a phase of avoiding watching any anime at the moment for some reason, so maybe one day I'll get around to it.)

So I don't like making my own posts about Naruto because all I will do is criticize and point out flaws, which isn't bad I guess, but I'd rather do that with a show I actually like.

Anyway. Itachi. He's hailed as this great, selfless brother who would sacrifice the world for Sasuke. He's considered a child genius and on Hokage level.

Yet everything he does is stupid. What even is his goal? To have Sasuke kill him to avenge the clan...

Itachi chose to kill the clan. He blamed the clan for pushing him to do it. Apparently he missed the racism the Uchiha faced and how every Hokage never favored them in any way despite being one of the founders of the village. Imagine being in the military, sacrificing your life and children for your country, and your whole life the people you're protecting believe you're a traitor.

Somehow Itachi missed all of this? And just blamed his clan?? Because every single person within his clan was arrogant and hateful??

None of that makes sense. And it's just an excuse to justify killing all of them.

Itachi relentlessly tortures Sasuke again and again. Sasuke saw his clan's dead bodies, and somehow Itachi thinks he needs to see it all happen over and over again?

I'm sorry I thought all Uchihas were arrogant and evil and suffered from "the curse of hatred". Wouldn't just seeing his parents have been enough for Sasuke? How did Itachi rationalize doing that much torture to Sasuke? Everyone was already dead. Sasuke would have plenty to hate him for.

Then Itachi tells him to hate hate hate. Which is the propaganda against the Uchiha. And also why people think they tried to revolt...

So isn't Itachi just recreating the original problem? Does he even understand what he's doing to Sasuke?

And then Itachi returns and finds Sasuke weak, so he tortures him again. What's worse for me is that this is just brushed aside. Itachi strictly comes for Naruto. He takes out Kakashi.

Sasuke could only wake up from the best medic in the world. And people wonder why Sasuke decides to leave Konoha? Itachi just proved all of Sasuke's training was for nothing. Itachi targeted people close to Sasuke.

Kakashi is one of the best ninjas in the world and he lost. Why would Sasuke stay in the village where he'd risk watching people around him die again? Why would he stick around for people who have never bothered to understand him?

Why not go to the only place he could get stronger? Orichimaru is a monster, but Sasuke literally has no other choice. He isn't safe in the village. Not even his own teacher would offer any help. The village just let Itachi return. It's like his whole clan dying was for nothing. No one was doing anything to stop Itachi and no one seemed in a hurry to.

I'm veering off topic, but Itachi is horribly written with the only consistency being he hates his own people and constantly tortures Sasuke when he doesn't need to and is completely loyal to a government that would erase an entire clan if it stood in their way.

[finishwhatyoustarted-event]

Finished It Friday - November 3

The final Finished it Friday! Congratulations on making it through this event! Here are the works completed in this last week (and a few that were finished earlier in the event that I only just caught).

Twitter thread here

Fiber Crafts

This friendship bracelet by LetoLeGaosaure on pillowfort

Writing

Beware The Boes! by Ginneke

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Link & Tatl (Legend of Zelda) - Mild Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, Zinefic, Tatl POV, Playing with monster lore - Rated T "The only scary thing about Boes is not knowing when they're there. Right? Right. Tatl would like to think so… -- Written for the Faces of Evil zine, vol. 7: The Small."

To Catch the Wind by ForestWren

tumblr post - The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien - Background Fëanor Curufinwë/Nerdanel - Character Study - Rated G "In which Fëanáro begins to invent the Tengwar."

It's Just Like Falling Snow (I am Above You, and I Love You) by ForestWren

tumblr post - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Andor (TV) - Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso, Maarva Andor & Cassian Andor, Cassian Andor & His Various Friends and Family - Major Character Death (tagged as a warning), Found Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Afterlife - Rated G "Cassian dies. What comes next is far less lonely than he expects."

Let's be called 'Romeo and Juliet' by sasuhina_gal

Naruto - Hyuuga Hinata/Uchiha Sasuke - Modern Royalty, Inspired by Romeo and Juliet, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Real Feelings - Rated T "It's the story that shook the country of Konoha. It stunned, it amazed, it made the king so incredibly happy. The Heiress of the Hyuuga Family and Second son of the Uchiha family had fallen in love! But it was just a trick to annoy their families. Isn't it?"

Who wouldn't want Hollows and Shinigami living in harmony? Right? by Mysticalbeingwithuntoldpowers

Bleach (Anime & Manga) - Roka Paramia/Tessai Tsukabishi, Aizen Sousuke/Kurosaki Ichigo - Soul King Kurosaki Ichigo, Mystery, Established Relationship Ichigo/Sousuke, Politics - Rated G "Roka Paramia, ambassador for Queen Harribel, was determined to make her speech in front of Central a successful one, a lot depended on her. Unfortunately, even the best laid plan can't predict everything. How dare someone interrupted the most crucial moment of the peace talks with an anonymous laser beam to her face. And why did the King saddled her with an overprotective seven foot giant that was way too perceptive for her own good?"

Flowers from your Beloathed by Ginneke

tumblr post - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Link/Revali - Pre-Calamity, Cultural Differences, Flower Language, Misunderstandings, Crack Treated Seriously, Very Mild Innuendo, Canon-Typical Violence, Minor Injuries - Rated T "Revali starts finding flowers from an unwanted admirer — or the country’s most inept assassin. With Urbosa’s help, he’ll never figure out what’s going on. Meanwhile, Link is put in charge of figuring out exactly where the tokens | threats keep coming from…"

Hypotenuse by LetoLeGaosaure

NSFW - Lobotomy Corporation (Video Game) - Benjamin/Carmen (Lobotomy Corporation), Ayin/Benjamin/Carmen (Lobotomy Corporation) (two thirds of this are one-sided) - Friends With Benefits, Pining, One-Sided Relationship, Fluff, Platonic Cuddling, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Sexual Roleplay, Roleplayed Polyamory, Anal Fingering, Penis In Vagina Sex - Rated E "Benjamin never thought he'd get close to Carmen like this. Well, of course everyone was friends with Carmen. But… this was… something else. And the most ironic part in all of this was that it was entirely Ayin's fault, and he was totally clueless. Of course."

Run to you by sasuhina_gal

NSFW, CW: sibling incest - 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga) - Dabi | Todoroki Touya/Todoroki Shouto, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Shinsou Hitoshi, Mentioned Enji/Keigo - Mutual Pining, One-Sided Attraction, suggested voyeurism, Aizawa and Shinso are brothers, Alternate Universe - College/University - Rated M "Touya and Shouta, roommates in college, share something in common, their love for their little brothers. They know they'll live in self-disgust, never expecting it to go anywhere, but they'll realise there's a reason their their brother's safe space."

In ictu oculi by heysaintjude (86V50_vc)

Ristorante Paradiso - Gabriella/Santo Claudio Paradiso - Free Verse, Coffee, Canon - Anime, Poetry - Rated T ““Time only stops for the dead, Claudio.””

Cooking with Liu-shishu by Ilthit

Dreamwidth post - NSFW - 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù - Liǔ Qīnggē/Luò Bīnghé - Smut, Dom/sub, Object Penetration, Food Kink, pain play, Sadomasochism, Bondage, Consent Play - Rated E “Binghe really cannot have people coming into his kitchen and interrupting his cooking. A lesson will have to be given from shizhi to shishu in both politeness and in--relaxation.”

Fix Your Collar by Ilthit

Dreamwidth post - NSFW - 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù - Bites & Bruises, Daydreaming, Post-Canon, background Bingqiu - Rated E “Shang Qinghua's imagination runs away with him a little at a meeting of the peak lords.”

One Basket by Ilthit

Dreamwidth post - NSFW - 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòběi-jūn/Shàng Qīnghuá - Oviposition, Smut, Temperature Play, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Size Difference - Rated E “Mobei-jun needs to lay his eggs. Airplane wrote this porny plot device himself, so he will take responsibility.”

Shizun and Shizun and Their Little Kitten Bingmei by Ilthit

Dreamwidth post - NSFW - 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Luò Bīnghé/Shěn Jiǔ | Original Shěn Qīngqiū, Luò Bīnghé/Shěn Yuán | Shěn Qīngqiū - Gags, Crossdressing Kink, Cock & Ball Torture, Master/Disciple Relationship, Established Relationship, Face Slapping, Feminization, foreground Bingjiu, Background Bingqiu - Rated E “There is no context or explanation, only giving Binghe everything his heart desires.”

Escape Clause by Ilthit

Dreamwidth post - NSFW - 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Shàng Qīnghuá/Shěn Yuán | Shěn Qīngqiū - Alternate Universe, No transmigration, Drunk Sex, Internalized Homophobia, Casual Sex, Lingerie, Denial - Rated M “Just bros being bros, gunning shots and going down.”

[justice4sasuke]

Character Roundups Round 13: The Konoha Council

AKA the last one! (I think) AKA The People Who Did A Genocide.

Man, Kishimoto really is the master of adding in plot points that make previously "good" characters look REAL bad (probably without realizing it). Personally considering his importance to the main character I think he fucked up with Jiraiya most but Hiruzen is a close second. How are you going to go from the kind, fatherly leader of the village to a guy who doesn't have enough backbone/care enough to not let an entire clan in his village get murdered?

As for those other three I think it's funny how they are all set up as "not great". I mean Tsunade is completely sick of all of them. We are supposed to be mad at the two non-character elders for not letting Naruto do whatever. Danzo literally prevented Naruto from getting back to the village during the Pain fight sooner (not that I care but the narrative does), he's acting shady the entire time he is interim hokage, he's an asshole. BUT THEN when it comes to the Uchiha massacre suddenly we couldn't possibly make them look evil for that. Perish the thought! Kakashi is looking those two elders right in the face after he has been told the story by Obito (which he might not believe, but at least was like need to confirm) and the narrative does nothing with it. I think you can barely see them. And this wasn't in the original manga, but someone at some point was like "yeah, they are still around doing the same job" post-Naruto because they're there. No consequences or nothing. And Danzo, well, when Sasuke kills Danzo which was fully within Sasuke's right to do if he wanted, Danzo gets a sad flashback about how we wanted to protect the Leaf and was jealous of Hiruzen.

Here's the thing, I have no problem with giving some background to a villain obviously, but the way it's done here really makes me think it's not trying to expand on Danzo's character but make him sympathetic at the last second. If that wasn't supposed to be the case it would have been more effective to one, have someone mention that Danzo wanting the whole Uchiha clan dead was pretty fucked up and two, put Danzo's flashback somewhere else.

Finally, what do all these people have in common...the highest echelon of Konoha...oh yeah, they're all Tobirama's students. Because I probably need to say it again, I don't think this was Tobrirama's plan because if it was he would have had to be playing 5 dimensional chess to get things to happen how they did. It probably more so happened because Tobirama didn't trust the Uchiha clan, put them in a precarious position with the police force, and Kishimoto probably didn't think of it but if he was any good at writing it would be obvious Tobirama instilled the same idea into his students to an extent. And that's perfectly reasonable character/story-wise! These people could have just done something really horrible, by the time anyone who wasn't directly involved found out Hiruzen was dead, Danzo is literally the second worst (he threatened to murder a 7 year old to his 13 year old brother) so it should be at least a NEUTRAL thing that Sasuke killed him, and then those two other fuckers don't do anything anyway so I say jail. But rather than saying these four people fucked up, Kishimoto rather make Sasuke look evil because he can't make the institution of Konoha look bad and we need to set up some kind of Sasuke/Naruto parallel.