#she and tenten are tied for most abandoned characters :(

[skalecsz]

If you could how would you fix ino's development

i love you and also im sorry.

ino is such an interesting character, kishimoto took your average pretty mean girl and made her actually super sweet and caring, adaptable, and intelligent

i actually like her personality a lot, she values her looks and can be a bit crabby but compared to sakura, ino is a lot more willing to work with her teammates. she actively takes charge to the point that shikamaru and choji look to her for what to do

id keep her "crush" on sasuke but id instead make it something that sakura misinterpreted and ino went along with bc she thought sakura just didnt want to be friends anymore. she still flirts with sasuke but in a joking way.

id keep her rivalry with sakura but makes it explicit that she wasnt the one that instigated it, id also make her less "mean" in a stereotypical bully way since she was the one that defended sakura from bullies in the first place. she should still be sassy and a bit of a hot head but not overtly rude to others.

also id have her win her fight with sakura, just bc i think it contributes better to sakura's development, but also opens up an extra fight in the chunin exams. not sure who id pit her against but im just saying it would give her more stuff to do (maybe shino? they were both top students at the academy)

she goes on the sasuke retrieval mission and stays behind to help choji fight. theres no reason that she shouldnt go, choji can still almost die and ino can use the time he bought her to finish off orochimaru's lackey but ino has PROVEN to be a good ninja, even if her fighting isnt that great shes fantastic crowd control…come the fuck on.

development wise…no healing abilities…it just felt so tacked on and she didn't nearly have as much passion for it as sakura did. id focus 100% on her clan's reconnaissance bc their abilities are super interesting. would def give her an upgrade regarding her body switching jutsu so shes not left unconcious on the ground with every technique. when shes a genin thats fine but ur telling me sasuke can summon God and ino still can't control people without falling asleep?

okay the puppet scene with the "Mind Puppet Switch Cursed Seal Technique" literally has not left my mind its SO cool and I wish ino learned to use it. is it "ethical"? no. might even be a war crime. but thats fine i think. let ino be a little scary.

AND!!! SUNA LITERALLY HAS A PUPPET MASTER!!! Ino can train with kankuro or at least ASK for assistance

ALSO. OH MY GOD. GIVE HER MORE TO DO IN THE HIDAN AND KAKUZU ARC HOLY SHIT. that arc literally just ended up being about shikamaru (based) and naruto (???) why weren't ino and choji more present!! naruto literally appeared to save the day with his new jutsu when this mission shouldve been team 10 and team 10 ONLY (kakashi is on thin ice)

i like the confrontation between shikamaru and hidan in the forest, thats fine, but ino and choji should be absolutely duking it out with kakazu and his family of puppets! you know who else uses puppets/external tools? INO. Have her try to control kakuzu's external guys while choji beats him up, naruto arriving on the scene feels cheap :/ have kakuzu remark that "oh the strategist is gone" and then ino just immediately takes over as the leader and thinks of a plan because shes teammates with shikamaru's lazy ass and also BEING SMART IS LITERALLY SO IMPORTANT TO HER CHARACTER

AND GIVE HER (AND CHOJI) A SCENE WHERE SHE MOURNS ASUMA. OH MY GOD. HER FUCKING TEACHER JUST DIED. Ino is sidelined sooo much in team 10 its insane. maybe she and her dad (while not super close) talk about what its like to lose people you love, her dad has been a ninja for decades, he would comfort her. have her arrange a bouquet and place it on asuma's grave, have her break down crying over her teacher! this would also be interesting since we dont spend as much time with team 10, but would be able to see that the side characters have their own lives and feelings outside of naruto.

regarding romance ive personally always seen her as a lesbian but her relationship with sai is fine i guess. if she and sai are endgame id like more of a buildup to it. but if i can get my way she and sakura end up together <3

i think shes fine in the war arc, but the war arc itself is something i just wouldnt include if i were to rewrite naruto

also her blank period outfit is UGLY throw that shit OUT girl

[kusunokihimea]

ALAS: How it Works

     [ So I know this doesn’t concern too many of you, as not many people write in the ALAS verse on this blog, or with any of my sideblogs, so if you have no idea what this is...that’s okay! BUT, for posterity’s sake, I thought I’d do a quick (ha) rundown of the verse, and how it all ties in to all my silly blogs.

     First of all...the blogs! There’s this one, @whitefangwanderer, @thefriendlyflicker, @hyuuchiha, @foxesnflowers, and technically @sylviesmuses (which is more just an info blog on muses I no longer write in RP, but are part of the fic). These blogs are all, by default, written in ONE canon verse known as A Light Amongst Shadows. It’s (loosely) based on OLD RP back before I joined Tumblr with two friends. It was originally made so we could blend in ships and OCs that we enjoyed, while following as much of canon as we could, sans those ships and OCs.

     So! For a bit more of a visual, you can see the “full” (aka the best I could do) genealogy map for the verse and most relevant characters [ here ]. First thing you’ll probably notice are the two main ‘crackships’. ALAS follows canon pretty darn close up until we pass chapter 699.  From there, it takes its own epilogue course. Children and ships all pretty much stay the same, however, EXCEPT that we switch out N.aruHina and S.asuSaku for N.aruSaku and S.asuHina. Which results in four NEW ship kids! Uzumaki Akane, Uzumaki Kei, Uchiha Tenkai, and Uchiha Chikyū. The NS kids are the muses of @foxesnflowers and the SH kiddos are on @hyuuchiha.

     ALAS also fills in a some missing faces, such as Shisui’s parents, Neji and Hinata’s mothers, etc. etc. Otherwise, most of the OCs are those of the next gen from the above-mentions ships, as well as N.ejiTen and Ryū’s ship in that verse with Shisui. As mentioned in a previous post, this is a swapped ship due to revamping the plot. In short, this makes things more canon compliant, and requires less plot intervention / “OP” OC actions to make it work. So! While the plot prior had ItaRyū, the new ship for the fic is ShiRyū. That’s not to say other ships can’t work for either Ryū OR Shisui (as he’s the muse of @thefriendlyflicker), but that’s what’s written by default, and they are the parents of the three ship kids for ALAS on this blog.

     SO, now: how it all ties together. This is going to be a little long and I guess a little spoilery, BUT: for the sake of explanation of how things all fit, I’ll go over a (VERY) barebones summary of main aspects of the fic. We’ll go under a cut for length cuz...this post is long enough, lmao

     So, as said, the purpose of ALAS is to blend in OCs. And given that neither of my previous partners RP anymore, it focuses solely on Ryū. It starts much the same as her default verse: Iwa, during attempts to cut through to Hi no Kuni, use doton to scale the mountains along the north side of the country. Given they were also battling with Kumo...this still makes sense. Ryū’s village, Kusunokizan, is all civilian save for her clan...which are healers. Sages, yes, but healers. So, the village is destroyed, with Ryū being the sole survivor after her mother uses the last of her chakra to hide her behind a barrier that bends light, and makes things under it invisible. Ryū’s mother, Reika, is killed in an attempt to defend her daughter.

     On the floor of Hi no Kuni, a patrol spots the smoke rising from the mountains, and meets the Iwa squad on their way to investigate. They kill or capture them all, with some losses. Most head back to take the prisoners to Konoha, while some - including Uchiha Manami, Shisui’s mother - head on to check out the smoke. They, of course, find the ruins of the village...and Manami finds Ryū. Knowing she’s now alone, Manami tries to adopt her, but is denied due to village sanctions about rare bloodlines...and also bias against the Uchiha. Instead, she is made a ward to be raised as a village asset.

     In a different attempt to help, Manami introduces the girl to her son, Shisui...and the pair hit it off right away. Shisui’s boisterous nature helps bring Ryū out of her shell. Through him, she meets others like Itachi and later Sasuke. And while she is trained in the hospital to utilize her bloodline, the boys all head into the Academy. Itachi is rather standoffish around her, but Sasuke - always dealing with boys (and a bit jealous of the attention his brother gives Shisui) enjoys her company.

     ...then Shisui apparently commits suicide. Ryū is, of course, devastated. Her first friend is gone. Not long after, the Uchiha clan is massacred save for Sasuke. Now Manami is gone, the clan...and Itachi is a murderer, Sasuke left all alone as a ward, like her. Though unable to be an official guardian due to village restrictions, Ryū nonetheless acts as Sasuke’s as he grows up.

     After the Nami mission, Ryū - working at the hospital - becomes acquainted with his team, including Kakashi. Admitting to her worry over Sasuke, she asks the sensei to keep an eye on him for her, as she’s unable to fight. She aids with the chūnin exams, and is the medic who works primarily to save Hinata’s life, which begins a friendship between them. She also assists with Lee’s recovery, but is unable to cure him completely.

     Otherwise, things progress as canon as normal. Sasuke is infected by Orochimaru’s curse mark, and leaves to join them for training. Ryū, in the interim - having lost nearly all of the people in Konoha she’s come to care about - asks to take a trip back to her village for some kind of emotional closure and respite. While there, she discovers the sage that trained her line, and rather than return to Konoha, stays in the ruins of Kusunokizan to train to become a healing / protective sage.

     Shippuden passes much the same as canon, with mild participation by Ryū. No events change, and she is part of the war effort with the other medics, and is caught in Mugen Tsukuyomi. After the war, she encourages Sasuke to stay after her confides the truth of the massacre with her: to both let her repair his arm, and to help the betterment of the village and shinobi system by bringing it all to light. She also revives Neji as a token for Hinata and her friendship. The council is confronted by the clans’ heirs, and are removed from power. Kakashi, upon taking his seat as Rokudaime, reveals the truth and pardons Itachi to have him removed from the Bingo book and remove his criminal record.

     Once that’s all over, Shisui returns, revealing his faked suicide: to give Itachi the Mangekyō, keep his body from Danzō (and those like Obito or Orochimaru), and keep the councilman’s betrayal from the clan, lest it start up a civil war. But with Danzō dead, the council ousted, and the truth revealed, he can now return. At first, Sasuke is angry with him for abandoning Itachi, and Ryū is hurt he didn’t come to her to be healed. 

     But the past is the past, and they move on. Ryū makes Shisui new eyes from his DNA, and the pair reconnect and grow closer, eventually becoming a pair. They marry and have their three children. Sasuke, after a slowburn, ends up with Hinata, and they have two children. Naruto and Sakura end up together with two children. Neji and Tenten get married and have a son, Hinode. A raid of one of Orochimaru’s old bases reveals an in-stasis ‘clone’ of Neji he also adopts as his own and names Higure.

     The plot then focuses mostly on their kids, and the rising threat of the remnants of Root, led by Ayame, who want revenge for Danzō’s death and defamation by eradicating the Uchiha completely.

     And that’s the gist of it, really! Obviously there’s a lot more guts, but this covers most of the OCs and their bonds with canon characters! And again, you can find most of the OCs and canons on the various blogs. Any that are missing you can always ask about! But uh...yeah. This is stupidly long, but...given that this story is going on seven years old, there’s a lot to it! Hopefully this provides a little insight into how this verse, and these blogs, work! ]