#tenten meta

[thottyimagines]

In Naruto who moves on quickly vs who’s stuck on their ex for a long ass time even after they break up?

Amazing, wonderful question.

Onwards and upwards:

Ino would, I think, be very pragmatic about things once she gets older. If they don't want her/can't want her/are incompatible, then that's that. She can process and move on expeditiously.

Hashirama would wildly pretend to be over a lost love, and many would believe him.

Sasuke can be very "fuck it, we ball" if the ended relationship is shallow enough.

Tenten continues to be normal and move on accordingly, especially when it's young love.

Deidara jumps from love to love and doesn't feel (a) sad for his loss or (b) like his newfound love is shallower for the novelty.

Kankuro is gifted in leaving his exes in the past.

Genma may be willing to give many a chance, but once his goodwill has run out, he's all done.

Rock Lee would always honor and cherish past loves in his heart, but he would use the lessons he's learned from them to empower him into being the best possible partner to his new lover very soon.

Mired in the past:

Kakashi, who visits the Memorial Stone daily to not only think of his lost comrades, but also of his lost love and how both are all his fault for hours on end on the daily.

Naruto could never, ever get over a lost love. This whole series, in a way, his him wildly chasing a lost love.

Kurenai and Asuma both have some sort of mutual pining situation going on that makes me feel that they are unlikely to move on, especially considering Kurenai's status in the new series.

Hinata bases so much of herself around caring for someone else, I can't imagine her realistically moving on.

Kiba can only get over someone once Akamaru stops searching for their scent. This can take...well, a lot of time. But once it's done, it's done.

Let's finish up Team 8: Shino can't move on, once he's let his walls down. It's so difficult to get there, he can't imagine doing it all over again.

Shikamaru is pragmatic enough to know if he has to love again (re: clan things), but he shan't put care into it.

Konan will honor a lost love in every gesture for the rest of her life, whether or not this lost love is also still alive and kicking.

The Sannin! Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya all kind of live via references to and honoring of one another, no matter how far apart they are. They love and hate and love one another in such wildly toxic, intense measures that there could never be room for anyone else in the kind of space the others occupy. God, I'd love to make a long post on them one day.

[erumai-maadu]

OK let's talk about parallels between team 7 and team gai.

Lee and Sakura, who dreamed of being strong enough to stand on equal ground with the rest of their team. Book-smart Sakura and no-talent Lee, who were seen as liabilities to their teammates in their genin years. Lee and Sakura who wake up every morning to train to their limits and then further still, who train their taijutsu to the point that they can shatter rocks with their pinkies. Lee and Sakura who know hard work better than anyone in the world.

Tenten and Naruto, who dream of being somebody in the world. Tenten and Naruto striving to learn more and more and more just so that others see them as useful and worth something. Tenten and Naruto who desperately yearn to be appreciated by their peers. Naruto, who everyone hates, and Tenten, who nobody knows, admiring a Hokage and wanting to be legendary and loved like they are. Tenten and Naruto who work tirelessly for the hope that one day they will be acknowledged and respected.

Neji and Sasuke, who bear the weight of a clan name on their shoulders and a destiny forced on them because of their eyes. Neji and Sasuke who rage against a system that forces them down and keeps them trapped. Neji and Sasuke whose own family betrayed them at such a young age. Neji and Sasuke whose love for their sibling soured and turned to hatred for a time. Neji and Sasuke, who, despite it all, still take pride in the names Hyuuga and Uchiha.

[chaosnojutsu]

[ID: tweet via @/dailyneji on Twitter. The tweet reads: In her memory, Neji doing the "nice guy pose," which has been performed in the past by Guy, Naruto and Lee. The pose signifies that one will keep their promise until death, as Lee states to Sakura during the beginning of the Sasuke retrieval arc after Naruto does the pose and promises to her that he will get Sasuke back. Neji doing this pose before Tenten implies that he promised her something that he intended to fulfill until his death. In the anime, Tenten holds her hands in a prayer and asks why he left her as she remembers Neji doing this "nice guy pose" to her, then she walks away crying and says that she's never going to forgive him. The implied promise that Neji made to her is not known, but it was significant enough for Neji, who tends to be stoic and serious, to use the cheerful and significant pose his "hot-blooded" sensei and teammate have used in the past.]

[end ID]

I will never stop thinking about this and whatever the promise was that Neji made to Tenten. If this is another plot thing that gets dropped off and never mentioned again or resolved…

[ryn-halo26]

"May I ask what happened?-" "No."

@another-lost-mc the ogs are here! I'm surprised my phone hasn't exploded from this drawing alone. The dialogue on top is MC, then all 5 of them collectively.

I'm never drawing vehicles ever again. This is my banner now

[whetstonefires]

I hope you're having an excellent day 😊😊😊 What about Wei Wuxian as Naruto?

Thanks! It was pretty good. I organized my embroidery floss and took advantage of being alone in the building to dance around like a maniac for about 20 minutes. My cat hated it. My knees aren't sure they approve either.

Wei Wuxian as Naruto has a lot going for it right out the gate. Orphaned sunshine boy protagonist types, now we're cooking with propane. They're even both fox coded!

However, at the risk of stating the obvious, if Wei Wuxian were Naruto he wouldn't be Naruto anymore. That is. Fundamental to Wei Wuxian is that he is brilliant and talented and he damn well knows it. He would excel without effort in ninja school--not as much as he did in Jiang Sect unless he unlike Naruto was still getting personal mentoring in honor of his late father, but still.

Difference is, when this Wei Wuxian slacks off in class and the teacher tries to embarrass him, if he reels off the correct answer and then reinvents senjutsu from first principles in a creepy-sounding way for a lark just to show off, the teacher is not going to think that he's just like his annoying late mother. (Though he'll still have one. Kushina and Cangse Sanren are fairly similar Dead Mom archetypes too.)

The teacher is going to think things like, no real child would say that shit and I'm expected to teach the monster fox that killed my family basic ninjutsu I hate this I hate this we're all gonna die.

So basically this Wei Wuxian gets his Yiling Laozu reputation mod as part of the starter pack. I don't think he'd handle it super gracefully! But not the worst, either.

Not even as badly as he did in the actual version, probably, on account of he doesn't know his own dark secret. So he can't self-isolate to protect it. Though him pulling away from people once he does learn would be cool.

He'd probably have forged slightly stronger social ties rather sooner than Naruto did, even if he was just as neglected and radioactive; Wei Wuxian doesn't care what people think of him nearly as much as Naruto does, but in some ways he's a more genuinely social person, and he's got much better social intuition, so it's easier for him to figure out what people want and either do that or not do that on purpose.

He'd have at least a bunch of casual friends. Mostly civilians, and other kids from ninja school whose parents told them not to play with him but they did anyway.

Wei Wuxian cannot do therapy no jutsu. He does not have that ability to confront and exist with emotional discomfort or that intensity of interest in what is going on with other people.

He does however have some level of Friendship Beam Attack (the plot to some extent hinges utterly on how effectively it hit Wen Ning) and it would presumably be more effective, in a shounen context.

But that's the thing, Wei Wuxian isn't really built to confront shounen manga style problems. Or, well, he is, but he's overbuilt for them; they're his bread and butter. One of Naruto's key motifs, early on at least before we got into the heavy power creep, is not being a genius.

Wei Wuxian, by definition, is a genius. He is the kind of guy who walks up to shounen manga sorts of problems scaled to what ought to be his level, handles them, and goes 'what, like it's hard?'

Wei Wuxian is designed to be destroyed not by external threats but by his own loyalties, politics, and lies. (Which was a point of confluence with Itachi I didn't really touch on because the flow was so different lmao.)

He's also, otoh, designed to be destroyed. Naruto is designed to start off artificially low and climb steadily up toward heaven. (Ymmv on how this worked out but he sure did escalate.)

You have to pick which schema to apply when performing the fusion--I mean, it's not either-or, the whole deal with Wei Wuxian is he goes through the entire arc of a tragedy and then comes back to life and stars in a romcom. These things can superimpose and stack. But there are structural decisions that have to be made early.

So anyway, Wei Wuxian as Naruto is not going to enter the Genin Team phase of life with the same priorities, even if he has largely conducted himself about the same way hitherto. 'Proving himself' so 'people will accept him' is not a motive that works for this character--you basically have to give him actual precious people earlier just to get him to care about attaining ninja rank at all.

Otherwise he would probably much rather loaf his way through his teens stealing jutsu and making trouble. Which is the well-adjusted reaction to the idea of becoming a child soldier, like. He likes recognition but 'showing off' is a reason he does dumb fun things, not difficult high-commitment ones. He's like if Shikamaru had ADHD and no parents.

Being twelve is going to make him dumber, but I can't see it making him not the kind of person who stops caring about his marks in school if the teacher is hostile.

If Wei Wuxian here isn't acting out of appreciation for the Hokage raising him, or something like that, you have to give him a practical motive to enter military service like 'Konoha stops supporting orphans out of the public purse at thirteen so he's got to get some kind of job and ninja is the least boring option' which. Is significantly less like either Naruto or Wei Wuxian in terms of reasons to do anything, and starts getting into solidly OC territory.

The whole fact that Konoha's worldbuilding centers around an attempt to move away from decentralized clannish social organization and promote the idea of shared, communal social institutions and (in theory) civil society, and the ways this does and does not work out for people especially considering it is still a relatively small military dictatorship, honestly interfaces super interestingly with how, in Mo Dao Zu Shi, one of the underlying challenges backstopping all character choice is that there is no feasible alternative to the clan system, and you have to pick a family-faction to depend upon and submit yourself to, or face the world with no safety net.

Like. Huh.

.....Kishimoto is honestly unusually-for-shounen well-grounded in the genres he's riffing on tbh, for all my bitching there were some very good reasons his work found such success; I would have liked to see what kind of story he produced without the insane pressures of the Weekly part of Weekly Shounen Jump. I wonder if he'll ever publish again. For all I know he already is lmao.

So anyway, however we manage it we get Wei Wuxian on his genin team with like. Lan Wangji and Mianmian or whoever. Actually that's hilarious. Yeah, make it lwj and lqy, both of them so done with his shit.

Setting up some wild role-reversal here--Lan Wangji being the one to go Away and Wei Wuxian asking him to stay? Or Naruto-person leaving into the dark, and Sasuke-person remaining and calling for him to come back? Either way. Getting some inversion. Tasty.

Where does this leave Jiang Cheng, though? Because in a lot of ways Uchiha 'Deuteragonist by Editorial Mandate' Sasuke is straddling both roles.

In many ways Wangxian is much more like if Naruto had an endgame romance with Neji. Which is a great ship tbh, I saw very little of it back in the day?? In a series with a smaller cast or with less Sasuke Creep (not sasuke being a creep, it's like power creep) it would probably have done numbers.

...Naruto going away for that timeskip really limited his opportunity to make connections in the village huh.

I guess it depends on the kind of narrative you're trying to put together. On one hand, you can do Jiang Fengmian as the rather-more-involved Third Hokage, with Jiang Cheng as an aged-up Konohamaru kind of figure. And then Jiang Yanli is standing in as both Iruka and. I know I know the ramen guy's name. Ichiraku. Soup! XD Emotionally significant soup!

But with a different backstory than either lmao. Kurama very possibly killed Yu Ziyuan in this universe, though I can't visualize her as a midwife.

[[[Why do I have so much Naruto lore on tap, there is no life value in knowing Sarutobi Hiruzen's wife was at ground zero of the Kyuubi attack because she was the expert overseeing Uzumaki Kushina's childbirth a;kdj;lafdks. I do not remember the things I was actually studying in high school nearly this well.]]]

(Actually Jin Ling is Konohamaru and Jiang Cheng is aged-down Asuma. But whatever.)

And in this case Wei Wuxian's genin team is Lan Wangji and Mianmian under idk who. Lan Qiren, possibly, although he seems more the Ebisu type. Lan Xichen? (It's not like he can serve as a plausible Itachi. Can you imagine.) Actual Kakashi, possibly; we can't replace everyone with mdzs characters; the cast sizes don't square.

Kakashi training Wei Wuxian is very funny to think about. He deserves this.

Or on the other hand for a different pacing and focus, the genin team is him, Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Yanli under Jiang Fengmian, who dies sometime after or probably during the climax of the chuunin exams. And Sarutobi stays Hokage, and probably doesn't die during the chuunin exams. And we aim for a Naruto/Neji kind of romance storyline lol.

What is the Lan Wangji equivalent of Neji exposing his caged bird seal in front of god and everybody and ranting (it is very unclear at what effective volume though you'd think the proctors would have shut him up if he could be heard from the stadium seating that shit was sedition) about his traumatic backstory and the deep injustices in his family's system of hierarchy? I'm gonna say Not That.

Wei Wuxian versus Lan Wangji important ideological-conflict bonding duel in the Chuunin exam finals sounds excellent though.

Either way Wei Wuxian is going to get much more thoroughly involved in the ugly ninja politics than Naruto ever did, and he's going to hate it so so bad and at least temporarily lose so so so hard. A likely story element is he becomes troublesome enough he winds up having to flee the village ahead of a scheme by Danzou to (fatally) rip the Kyuubi out of him and implant it in some thoroughly conditioned ROOT kid.

Maybe Wen Ning?? Idk. I'm mostly saying this because Wen Ning 1) canonically gets Victimized and Transformed and 2) shares some notes with Sai. And this means he's leaving, in part, for Wen Ning, which ties into some plot and character stuff from their original narrative. You could make it work.

Also him taking the replacement human sacrifice with him when he books it would be hysterical.

Anyway he's branded a missing nin and it is, canonically, illegal for him to tell anyone who doesn't already know about the kyuubi thing, so both Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji are appropriately what the fucking fuck and receive no adequate answer. This is a workable plot element.

Either the Jiangs or the Lans are the Uchiha, here, which has its own story value, lots of fun to be had. Gotta engineer a way he's protecting Jiang Cheng--does Danzou want to make him the jinchuuriki? Is Orochimaru or his replacement making a play for Jiang Cheng's bloodline limit, whatever it is, fun if it's eyeballs, and Wei Wuxian bargains to give him a jinchuuriki instead? Hmmm.

You want an inside and an outside threat, the obvious viper and the political spider, so you can silo information and make sure nobody entirely knows what's going on.

If it's Jiang Cheng who's assigned the role of bloodline limit macguffin, I have the very wicked urge to cast Yu Ziyuan as some combination of Itachi and Obito. Very Vader kind of effect.

Jin Guangyao as Kabuto, excellent, I need that innocent smile and those torture skills. This may require making Jin Guangshan much smarter than he really is just to fill out the ranks, or again you can keep Danzou as himself.

Tsunade is amusingly enough occupying an overlapping Baoshan Sanren and Wen Qing position; given one of them impersonated the other that time you'd have to do something with that. She's also got some Yu Ziyuan vibe up ofc. Tsunade just contains an entire franchise's supply of girlboss tbh.

Who could possibly stand in for Jiraiya, nobody, but at the same time. Wei Wuxian (with internal sapient asshole nuke) apprenticing under Jiraiya of the Sannin sounds like enough problem-creating goofy jackass genius clown energy in one place to open a singularity. That's too much. No narrative could survive.

Anyway someone please feel free to write this, I am intrigued but also will 100percent never ever put in the time it would take to realize any version of this concept.

[leportraitducadavre]

What do you think about Rock Lee? I rewatched his fight with Gaara recently and feel very nostalgic. He was my favorite, but I only know realize that probably a lot of it came from this whole sympathy for the underdog. I wonder what you think of his character and how his story went 😊

Hi Anon.

I apologize for how long this took to reply, hopefully, my answer will satisfy you enough to oversee the time it took.

I'll be honest, I'll analyze Lee solely from the first part of the manga because it's when his character is mostly developed (I might add the second part later on, but for now, I'll focus just on the gënin timeline).

In order to organize the reply and my feed, everything will be put under the cut. Apologies for doing it but I don't want to have to deal with another claim on any of my posts.

Once this has been clarified, let's start analyzing Rock Lee

Introduction and First Impression

Lee is introduced in chapter 36 (Sakura's depression) -the beginning of the Chünin Exams. His first "interaction" with Team 7 happens when he stops Sasuke from fighting a proctor, and Sasuke notices that Lee's chakra is weird.

After that, he introduces himself to Sakura and asks her out, getting immediately rejected. By that point, we saw that the main point of the chapter is, like the title says, Sakura's depression, a condition that gets immediately fixed after Sasuke praises her.

From what we can see, Lee knows about Team 7 and each of its members; we aren't told why or how he knows, but we can infer that he looked for information of Kakashi's team when hearing of the prodigious Uchiha, as he mostly focuses on him.

After this moment, Lee seeks a fight against Sasuke likely because both of a sense of jealousy (he got rejected by Sakura not a few pages ago, and Neji was curious about Sasuke's identity); and as a way to prove to himself that he can beat those that are considered prodigies.

The reason why he wanted to fight Sasuke makes little sense, which is why I find it weird that people find Lee's actions as noble (most of it has to do with the fandom's hatred towards Sasuke), sure, they're young and their emotions can get the best of them, but considering his military training, Lee should have known better than to lash out to a boy he just met.

"I want to test the effectiveness of my techniques against the last surviving member of your legendary clan" (x)

The phrase is followed by Lee winking at Sakura, so his reasons to fight Sasuke go beyond testing his techniques. Lee, according to this interaction, knew about Sasuke's identity all along and investigated him in order to gain more information when challenging him.

Another thing we learn from his fight with Sasuke: Lee is willing to break the rules of his master and use a dangerous technique against someone younger than him and with whom he had never interacted previously if it means winning.

In addition to Lee explaining why Sasuke can't keep up with him despite having the Sharingan (x), we have the panels above: Why is Lee being so adamantly cruel to Sasuke? And no, I'm not talking about his words, he's explaining his technique -I'm talking about the move he is about to perform against him -someone who it has been proven already can't keep up with him. Lee is projecting all the frustration and hatred he has for Neji onto Sasuke, who shares the same "prodigy" status as his teammate.

[And sure, the reader doesn't know about Neji and Lee's dynamic yet -we are presented with that conflict at the end of the exams, yet the observation stands, I'm only providing the information in order to understand why Lee was so adamantly out of line].

He not only is being unfair but also abusive -had Gai not intervened, he would have injured Sasuke for no real reason other than because he wanted to prove a point to himself.

Like I said before: Sasuke couldn't keep up with Lee's speed, it had been proven that Lee was to win the fight even without using the technique he was about to try. His rival was pretty much defeated, yet Lee continued to elevate the level of difficulty of his attacks to make further and further damage:

1) Sasuke is trembling. Wouldn't that be enough reason to stop?

2) The victory had already been established previously to Lee's performing his ultimate technique. In addition, as I established before, because of its level of damage the move is strictly forbidden, however, Lee tries to use it regardless.

It's true that later on, he tells Sasuke "I was blowing smoke before" regarding the use of the Forbidden Technique. But since Gai interrupted Lee and punished him, it's not that far-fetched to think he isn't telling him the truth as of now. He even thought about it before starting the fight, so he was willing to use the "move" (we learn It was the Lotus technique a few chapters later) but was prevented from doing so.

Chunin Exams and his willingness to sacrifice himself in lieu of others

We see him again during the second stage of the exams jumping through tree branches and training (trying to catch leaves before they touch the ground to see if Sakura would love him), and after that, in Chapter 51 -when he saves Sakura from an attack from Dosu.

There, we learn that he's good enough to notice Dosu's pattern and fighting style (also being able to know when a genjutsu is in place), we also get to know how he got to learn the technique only he was able to study: according to Gai's words, neither Neji nor Tenten were able to master The Lotus (meaning, Gai seemed to have tried to teach it to all of them, only succeding with Lee).

The Lotus Technique consists of:

One use of the technique brings Lee to the brink of exhaustion, as we see here; Dosu hasn't been defeated despite his best efforts because Kazu used his sound techniques to soften the earth. Lee's speed, while inhumane, can't keep up with sound's speed. Kishimoto is quite great when writing fights, isn't he?

Lee is actually and quite literally in love with Sakura, as Tenten states, had Lee been alone when fighting the Oto-nin, he would have won. He's willing to sacrifice his life in order to save her from the Sound-nin, as she literally means "the world" to him.

The impression of Lee's sacrifice (and Naruto and Sasuke's, who are still unconscious at this point) is so significant for Sakura that she considers all of them her "teachers", and people whom she will and needs to protect. Lee's significance in Sakura's development has increased (and will continue to do so).

Later on, during the preliminaries for the Third Stage of the Chünin Exams, Sasuke shows that he was able to memorize Lee's fighting technique due to his Sharingan and also master his moves -despite not being able to keep up with him only three days prior.

In that sense, Sasuke thinks that he was able to live thanks to Lee and his moves. We are also able to see Lee's appreciation of the matter, and his new perception of Sasuke -it seems that his hostility towards the younger boy has dissipated.

When Tenten gets beaten and tossed aside by Temari, Lee jumps in order to both catch his teammate (showing the bond he shares with her) and to kick Temari for insulting her. It's something I introduced before when he fought Sasuke, but Lee is particularly emotionally driven -he's constantly reacting and giving in to his impulses. It's not until Gai tells him to stop that he does. Furthermore, Gaara calls Temari and says, "how long do you intend to trifle with that homely little prince charming?" and the way Lee looks is absolutely enraged, even if he can't retaliate physically.

Gai

Gai's character is so central to Lee that I've decided to make a separate sub-title solely for him.

1) Lee can't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. I know that we as fans know this already, but it doesn't hurt to have it written, since is the core of Lee's character. Furthermore, as Gai points out, Lee wasn't able to do anything; he literally had no ability or talent whatsoever -not even at Taijutsu, which Gai taught him.

2) While it's commendable of Gai to teach Lee and put him on harsh training to allow him to grow in a specific field -we're introduced from the get-go that Gai's methods are questionable. He's pushing Lee to an extreme training and, as we saw during his fight with Sasuke and the time he defended Sakura, Lee often refers (or apologizes) to Gai's figure; meaning, everything he does is to make his sensei proud.

3) In addition to the previous point, he taught Lee The Lotus move (which is a technique that opens the First Inner Gate, Kaimon, or Gate of Opening), a dangerous power that, as he explains, strains the body to such extent that it leaves Lee defenseless against another attack should he fail -as it happens with Gaara.

To counteract that problem, Gai taught him to open more than one Gate (remember, every single one is a forbidden technique) to his student (at this point in time, Lee can open five out of eight Inner Gates), Lee's achievement is so incredible, that even Kakashi calls him a genius.

[The explanation of the different Inner Gates inside the body. The Reverse Lotus (the second technique Lee uses, after not being able to defeat Gaara with the Forward Lotus, which opens the first gate), opens two more gates: Kyumon, which boosts his strength, and Seimon (Gate of Life).]

As we know, Lee loses his fight against Gaara because while his attacks proved to be effective against his ultimate defense, Gaara still possessed the Gourd -which he turned to sand to protect himself.

Lee's use of the Lotus technique, in addition to Gaara's attack (Sabakukyu), put such a toll on his body that he ended up "destroyed" enough to be told that he'll never become a full shinobi.

This is a direct consequence of Gai's teachings that never gets truly explored, as his actions are immediately dropped after Lee recovers.

4) I've mentioned before that Gai's character has such importance on Lee's development that he takes immeasurable risks in order to make him proud (being willing to sacrifice his body and keep fighting), but I haven't explained why:

Gai, unlike any other character before, is the first person who trusts Lee's capacity, who thinks (and tells him) about how great/strong he can become, and that he's a genius in his own way. Without Gai's encouragement (and specific training that I've already talked about) he would have never achieved the title of "Taijutsu specialist" that Gai gives him and everyone else acknowledges.

Regarding Gai's perception of Lee, besides the great lengths he went to ensure Lee's success, we also need to point out that Gai is the only reason why Gaara wasn't able to kill Lee. He was the only one who jumped in to protect him (which is the main reason why Gaara wants to kill him after, as he witnessed an act of love that he can't comprehend). The proctor Hayate, meanwhile, did nothing, as well as the rest of the jönins that jumped before to protect Hinata from Neji. In addition, Gai calls him (and only him), his "lovable, precious protégé!" (x) Furthermore, it's directly stated by Lee himself how important Gai's presence is to him (x, x), Gai not only gave him support, but he also gave him a goal to rely on (have a rival and work hard).

"If, by a one in a trillion chance, it ends in failure... I'll die with you!"

Source

Neji

Besides Gai, speaking of Lee without speaking of Neji is also another disservice to his character, since the entire reason why Lee pushes himself to train harder is that he wants to beat Neji.

Sure, the relevance of Neji isn't really as strong as Gai's, but that doesn't mean his presence isn't important when it comes to Lee's development.

We get to see how Lee recognizes Neji's strength, how he craves some sort of recognition from him (although that objective isn't as strong as Naruto's desire for Sasuke to acknowledge him), and how he puts him as a milestone to surpass and, as consequence, reach his goal.

We are even told that Lee's commitment to learning how to open the Inner Gates was a consequence of his desire to win a match against Neji.

Lee's Perseverance

I already introduced this notion, since the whole point of Gai's character is to introduce the idea of "hard work" surpassing natural geniuses, and we find this idea again on CH 93 where Sakura and Ino find him training outside the hospital after his defeat at the hands of Gaara.

He's so driven by his goal, that he overexerts himself and ends up fainting.

Once Tsunade returns to the village, she tells Lee that he won't be able to return to his Shinobi duties, as the operation she needs to perform in order to fix his spine has a 50% success rate, which incredibly depresses him to the point where his ninja way (hard work), isn't enough to take him off of that state.

It's incredibly sad because Lee's entire dogma has been shattered and he has, again, no control over his body or destiny; as everything relies upon Tsunade. For that reason, he seeks Gai's advice, who finally tells him to get the surgery despite the possible consequences, as losing his dream will hurt far more than dying. Furthermore, Gai promises he'll die alongside Lee should the operation fail, as his ninja way was to make him a "Splendid ninja" (x).

The great lengths Lee's willing to go to (not without the support of a very questionable mentor) in order to achieve his dream, putting in line his own life is very telling of the system's (and those that live by such system) priorities, as it teaches young children that their bodies and life alike are expendable and a sacrifice to be made in order to climb within the military ranks and become "useful" to the village.

[Lee's quality of life has been extremely lowered in lieu of his wounds, that's true, however, those wounds exist because he pushed himself too hard in order to please his commander; someone hypocritical enough to question Kakashi's decision to enroll his team in the Chünin Exams as he deemed them too young and inexperienced to participate, yet saw no issue in teaching forbidden and dangerous techniques to his own student.]

Lee's fight with Kimimaro brings, to me, nothing entirely new about his character other than introducing us to his poor tolerance of alcohol. We get to see how Tsunade succeeded with the surgery and how Lee, despite having spent months depressed and having just been saved by Tsunade's skills (without whom he would've lost his entire shinobi career), is able to "forgive" Gaara, as he's a powerful ally.

[kyriolex]

Little known Fun Fact about Team 8.

If we're actually counting the Anime then Hinata, Shino, and Kiba are the only Team from the Konoha 11 where all 3 members come from Single Parent Families (from the start of the series)

Hinata and Shino both have Fathers who are present but their Mothers are strangely absent

Kiba's Mother is present but his Father is absent (Kiba's Mom allegedly chased him away)

We've seen that Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru's Mothers in the Anime are all still alive

Sure Ino and Shikamaru's Dad's died but that only happens MUCH later into the story

Naruto and Sasuke are Orphans (tho at least we got to actually SEE their parents) while Sakura's parents are still alive and kicking it as far as we know

We saw that Neji's Father died but similarly to Hinata his Mother is strangely never brought up

We have no idea what the status is on Lee and Tenten's parents

Okay, but it is seriously such a crime that we know so little about everyone's parents. Hinata's whole goal in life is to be "kind like her mother, strong like her father," but we never actually see her mother beyond that one photograph??? You would think the heroine's mother would show up in a flashback, or at least have a name.

At least her existence is acknowledged. Nobody even knows for sure whether Shino's mother exists or if he formed out of Shibi through asexual osmosis.

We don't even know whether Tenten and Lee have any parents or family at all. Everybody assumes Tenten's an orphan because of her single name. But Rock Lee has a last name, and later in Boruto it appears there is a Lee clan??? So Lee might be an orphan, but he at least has some extended family.

We don't need much. Even a basic family tree would suffice.

[yutori-do]

YEEEES, SOMEONE PUT IT IN WORDS!

When I say I think Gai was the best sensei, I really, sincerely mean it. His relationship with all of his students is sweet, the practical benefits they get from training under him are things they couldn’t have gotten better from anyone else, and his emotional intelligence and background makes him able to sympathize with their specific needs. 

Seguir leyendo

[chaosnojutsu]

naruto writers missed the opportunity to capitalize on how terrifying tenten could have been.

like, other shinobi? they’re born with some magical powers, use them on the battlefield, and then go home to play games and hang out with friends/family and pick up hobbies. tenten’s schtick is weaponry. preteen girl spends her free time studying the art of killing a man in every conceivable way, no magic necessary. the little magic she does have? she uses it to further arm herself to the teeth.

and she’s damn good at all of it. paper bombs? amateur. kunai? boringgg. shuriken? what is this, kindergarten? teenage tenten picked up a weapon belonging to the sage of six paths himself in the middle of a war and was like “now we’re talking!!”

and grown tenten possess three of the sage’s weapons. custody of those items had to go to someone after the war, but they didn’t go to a kage, or a reputable hero like naruto, or a museum, or anyone of other major significance. those weapons were entrusted to, as canon would have it, some random kunoichi from konoha. for display.

she’s a one-woman security system for some of the most powerful weapons in the universe. while running her own business!

anyway tenten should be one of the most fearsome shinobi, certainly renowned in the ranks of gai and rock lee, if not for her own merit then for the fact that while everyone else was studying ninjutsu, she was studying the blade. (all of them.)

[primnroses]

— An insight about summons: Katsuyu, the slug of the Shikkotsu Forest

The information presented in this post has been checked and revised. My aim is not to hate or to discredit any of the characters mentioned. Please read about me for further information.

This post will contain evidence in picture format directly from the manga Naruto (1999 - 2014) created by Masashi Kishimoto and published by Shueisha in 1999. I will also use information from the official databooks of Naruto.

This informative post will analyze the concept of animal summons in the world of Naruto and highlight Katsuyu’s unique abilities throughout the series providing evidence. This meta will also mention other animal summons from the Three-Way Deadlock. I will not use information present in the novels because there is none.

This meta is crossposted in AO3.

I give my permission to use or share this thread with informative purposes as long as you credit me.

I do not support the anime or the work of Studio Pierrot in regards to Naruto because I consider it over exaggerated and beyond biased. Furthermore, these fillers include some actions that these characters are unable to do in the canon according to official sources and they also generate unnecessary debate.

Please, take this into consideration.

Katsuyu, also known as Katsuyu of the Shikkotsu Forest, is a giant slug from the Shikkotsu Forest, a secret and legendary place from the Three Unexplored Sage Regions (仙人三大秘境, Sennin Sandai Hikyō). 

The Three Sage Unexplored Regions according to the Fourth databook.

She is the personal summon of the Fifth Hokage Tsunade, and later, her disciple Sakura Haruno; both women are probably the only people in the world that have been able to summon the slug.

Katsuyu possesses one of the most unique qualities and abilities among animal summons, most of which are still a mystery within the series. 

— WHAT IS A SUMMON AND ANIMAL SUMMONS?

A summon is the ability to invoke objects, weapons, people or animals. This action is carried out through a Summoning Technique (口寄せの術­, Kuchiyose no Jutsu), a special hand seal based jutsu to transport any element to the user’s location for a limited amount of time. 

A Summoning Technique is classified as a space-time ninjutsu and a C-Rank (chūnin level) difficulty jutsu. 

Summoning Technique according to the First databook.

Usually, in order to summon objects or weapons, users apply scrolls or special sealing techniques to contain the desired material. This is the case of Tenten, for example; she uses scrolls to seal multiple kunai, shuriken and any weapon of her choice, granting her the title of “Master of space-time ninjutsu”.

However, for animals and living creatures, this is different.

An animal summon is a technique that adds to the ninja’s ninjutsu repertoire, as a shinobi can take advantage of the animal’s abilities for battle or other purposes.

Before any animal can be summoned, the animal and the user must sign a contract with the species or the specific creature using their blood. In order to summon said animal, the user applies some of their blood, normally by biting their fingers, and channels their chakra to their hands thus invoking a sealing pattern that transports their summon to that same location. The amount of chakra used to summon the creatures determines the size and number of summons. 

The summoning contract of the Toads of Mount Myōboku, Naruto chapter 92.

In the case of the Three Unexplored Sage Regions, the summoning contracts vary. 

Naruto Uzumaki Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze sealed a contract with the toads of Mount Myōboku using their own blood, so when they perform a Summoning Technique, any available toad can offer their services to them. 

Orochimaru has his contract with the snakes of the Ryūchi Cave tattooed on his arms. The methods his disciple Sasuke Uchiha uses to summon snakes from the same location is unknown. 

Tsunade and Sakura Haruno do not have a physical contract, or at least it has never been revealed. However, by reading the manga, the contract with the Shikkotsu Forest might be through their Strength of a Hundred Seal, as it is only possible to summon Katsuyu if the summoner possesses this seal.

It is unknown if there is a blood contract involved, but it is likely that there is since the method of summoning is blood like his companions. 

Orochimaru's contract Naruto chapters 165 and 344.

— KATSUYU AND HER ABILITIES, WHAT MAKES HER SPECIAL?

Katsuyu is a very intriguing and interesting animal and the only one whose past has never been explored.

Summon’s habitats and the Three Unexplored Sage Regions are home to a single species of animals. 

The Ryūchi Cave is home to snakes such as the White Snake, Manda or Aoda, and Mount Myōboku is home to toads like Gamakichi, Gamamaru or Gamabunta.

But, unlike those, Katsuyu is the only organism living in the Shikkotsu Forest. She does not have any other slug companions. 

Following the same scheme as the rest of summons, Katsuyu resembles a real slug. 

She is white or ivory in color, with three turquoise stripes running on her head and sides that start on her head and end in her tail. 

One special feature about her appearance is that her true size has never been seen. Using one summoner, Katsuyu is bigger than the Hokage Residence, and using two summoners, Katsuyu is the size of the roots of the God Tree, which is just one tenth of her real size according to Tsunade. 

Katsuyu's size summoned by one person or two, Naruto chapters 422 and 650.

Her size changes depending on the amount of chakra used to summon her. She can appear as a small slug used to gather intel or help in supplementary tasks, or she can appear as a giant creature using one or two summoners. 

Small Katsuyu summoned to assist Headquarters Naruto chapter 561.

Her age is a true mystery. It is known that toads and snakes live many years and have descendants, such as Gamabunta and Gamakichi’s father and son relationship, or Aoda having great grandchildren; or certain summons retiring when they reach an age while their companions or children replace them. 

The Three Unexplored Sage Regions are legendary places known for many generations. 

Katsuyu, on the other hand, is the only inhabitant of the Shikkotsu Forest. She does not have descendants or companions in her home habitat. Her age or her true origins are a mystery. The first shinobi to discover her existence or previous masters before Sakura Haruno and Tsunade are also unknown.

The first and most important thing to point out is that Katsuyu can only be summoned by users of the Strength of a Hundred Seal. This seal is an extremely difficult jutsu to learn and achieve, so there have only been two summoners in history.

The reason for this is that Katsuyu is such an enormous animal that it requires an immense amount of chakra to summon, and that chakra is stored inside the seal. 

Tsunade and her disciple Sakura Haruno are the only beings able to summon Katsuyu Naruto chapter 650.

The primary skill Katsuyu has is the ability to divide herself in many fragments, hundreds or thousands of them in fact. This technique is called Slug Great Division (蛞蝓大分裂­, Katsuyu Daibunretsu) and it can be used for supplementary purposes, as well for battle. 

In a fight, thanks to her rapid ability to transform her body and divide herself, she can separate herself to nullify attacks by avoiding any strike at incredible speeds. She can do this as many times as she wants without exhaustion. Each of these fragments are also quite fast, able to throw themselves in front of people to shield them from danger.

Manda trapping Katsuyu but she escapes Naruto chapter 170 and Second databook.

She also has the ability to spit a sticky and elastic acid, a jutsu called Tongue Tooth Sticky Acid able to melt stones and vaporize everything it touches (probably senjutsu although never truly revealed). It is also very difficult to dodge due to its unpredictable nature. 

Slug acid, Naruto chapter 170 and Second databook.

Unlike Shadow Clones or other regular clones that are independent from each other and are not interconnected, what Katsuyu does is divide her own body in equal parts, so she is in as many places as she wants at once. She is one entity divided into many other independent and interconnected parts while remaining one single body. Each of her divisions behaves like their own person, so she can complete different tasks while also knowing what her other parts are doing in other places.

Being the summon of medical ninjas, Sakura Haruno and Tsunade take advantage of Katsuyu’s ability to divide herself in order to channel their healing chakra and treat as many people as necessary. 

With a technique called Immense Network Healing (蛞蝓・網療治夥­, Katsuyu: Mōryōjika), Katsuyu collects chakra from the Strength of a Hundred Seal to transform it into healing chakra and treat the injured. 

Using the Great Division and Immense Network Healing in tandem, Katsuyu has the ability to heal and protect everyone she makes contact with. Healing any kind of injury or absorbing people inside her in order to shield them from attacks or sudden explosions is her specialty. Her body is able to resist explosions and even Kurama's corrosive chakra.

Katsuyu divides her body and heals the Alliance Naruto chapter 634 and Fourth databook.

In fact, Katsuyu's power is not only limited to healing wounds, but regeneration too. One of her most impressive feats is the ability to maintain a patient in suspended animation, keeping them alive for as long as she possesses chakra from the seal in order to ensure their survival. 

Katsuyu was able to keep Tsunade alive despite having her body bisected, which on normal circumstances, would mean instant death. However, the slug's regenerative abilities allowed Tsunade to remain alive until she obtained a chakra boost from a third party. This fact is known as Tsunade does not really present the unique Uzumaki Clan ability to keep themselves alive for as long as possible.

Katsuyu kept Tsunade alive despite having her body cut in half, an impressive feat Naruto chapter 635.

This jutsu also acts as a sensing technique due to Katsuyu being connected to the chakra of the injured in order to heal them and her master. Katsuyu is able to relay Kakashi Hatake and Chōza Akimichi’s conditions to Tsunade through their connection, as the slug is connected to the Strength of a Hundred Seal; as well as being able to tell Sakura that Kurama’s chakra was still connected to the Allied Shinobi Forces.

Katsuyu can transmit the chakra levels and the condition of everyone she is in contact with Naruto chapter 427.

This way, Katsuyu was able to protect Konoha’s citizens from Pain’s Shinra Tensei and even survive Kurama’s toxic chakra. 

Able to be in many places at once, her ability to cover infinite distances while her parts remain interconnected allows her to fulfill communication and intel gathering roles. Being in many places and her clones being part of the same body, Katsuyu relays information to one person or multiple people, something she could do by attaching herself to someone’s shoulder and speaking. 

It was Katsuyu the one giving Naruto Uzumaki information about Pain and also told him that Nagato had revived Konoha citizens through the clones that stayed in the village, kept every villager informed about the situation and followed evacuation protocols when Naruto transformed into six tails, and told Tsunade everything that was happening in the battlefield thanks to having another body summoned by Sakura on the other side of the country, and vice versa.

Sakura instructing Katsuyu to evacuate the area through the multiple clones Naruto chapter 438.

This communication ability can cover immense ground at once because the communication is instant. It works similar to regular telepathy, but instead of hearing the other person's voice in their head, people are talking to Katsuyu, and Katsuyu in turn is actually talking to herself through her clones.

Katsuyu's clones on different parts of the Land of Lightning tell Tsunade and Sakura the events that have taken place on both ends Naruto chapters 635 and 647.

An animal summon can only perform at the top of their abilities for a limited amount of time, what is known as the summoning time limit. 

It is unknown exactly how long the invocation lasts, or whether it varies between animals. A summon will help its master before the jutsu runs out or the summon has exhausted its power. 

Gamakichi mentions the summoning time limit Naruto chapter 642.

However, for Katsuyu, this is not the case. 

The slug can be summoned for unlimited periods of time and several times a day, as seen when Katsuyu spent the Fourth Shinobi World War by Tsunade’s side in the Headquarters, primarily helping Shikaku Nara and participating in the planification of the troops, and later with the Five Kage against Madara and Sakura with the Allied Shinobi Forces.

This could be explained by the symbiotic bond Sakura and Tsunade share with Katsuyu through the Strength of a Hundred Seal. 

The seal stores unimaginable quantities of chakra inside, which are used by Katsuyu to perform healing on people. As long as Katsuyu has been transmitted every drop of chakra in the seal, she will continue her work, as seen when Tsunade gave the slug all the chakra inside her Byakugou to the point it disappeared but Katsuyu physically remained in Konoha until her services were no longer needed.

Tsunade's Byakugou disappears but Katsuyu still serves her purpose as a summon to evacuate Naruto chapter 430.

Still, like any other summon, Katsuyu can be exhausted from battle and disappear. When the Ten Tails absorbed the chakra of every shinobi in the battlefield as the Kurama Chakra Cloak, every Katsuyu fragment attached to them was also absorbed and vanished, but the main body remained intact protecting Sakura Haruno form the tree. 

Katsuyu's clones disappeared absorbed by the God Tree Naruto chapter 647.

— THE PERFECT SUMMON?

Katsuyu is very different from the rest of summons. 

From the immeasurable amount of chakra it requires to summon her, to her multiple multitasking and supplementary abilities and her mysterious origins, Katsuyu might be the perfect summon and the strongest animal summon of Naruto and Boruto.

Her ability to divide herself in thousands of fragments, a body and chemical composition resistant to blasts that can reshape her own state, no summoning time limit, outstanding healing and regeneration factor, the unlimited wide range communication she offers, acidic attacks, useful to gather intel by herself and turn small enough to offer battle assistant, and a sensory connection with her master and other people she is attached to. 

Katsuyu is the ultimate creature.

Without a doubt, the most essential ally in desperate times. A valuable help in case a village is being attacked by powerful enemies that threaten to destroy everything around them, Katsuyu is the only weapon able to protect thousands of people from any attack and offer assistance while in contact with her master and everyone she is with.

Thanks to her, every Konoha villager that had not been killed by the Pain Paths previously could survive the Shinra Tensei explosion that destroyed Konoha, which later allowed the surviving shinobi to handle evacuations, as well as allow Naruto to obtain intel about Pain and Nagato or be told that Konoha's villagers were revived.

Katsuyu is an unrivalled intel summon Naruto chapters 431 and 449.

She was also the main link of communication between the Headquarters and the two different fronts of the war, Five Kage and Allied Shinobi Forces, and the reason why the Five Kage survived the fight despite their fatal injuries.

Lastly, it was also Katsuyu who protected the Allied Shinobi Forces against the roots of the God Tree, saving a large portion of the shinobi from death, and later offered a healing area for their future fight against the Kanzeon Lotus King.

— CURRENT WHEREABOUTS.

Ever since the death of Madara Uchiha, Katsuyu has not been summoned again.

With no threats to the destruction of Konoha or the need to establish connections between battlefields, Katsuyu was not summoned in the Blank Period. 

In Boruto, Katsuyu’s debut is strictly linked to Sakura’s appearances: if Sakura does not appear, neither does the slug. This is something that is hard to fathom considering that the village has been exposed to explosions, invasions and multiple deceased shinobi ever since the start that could be prevented by Katsuyu like previous times.

Katsuyu appeared in the anime arc “Kawaki and Himawari in the Academy” where the students had to put on a play about the Sannin and Kawaki dressed as Katsuyu.

Kawaki representing Katsuyu in Boruto episode 267.

-

[strawberry-metal]

One of my friends liked the screenshots I edited for my Vocaloid Halloween Playlist video, and wanted to know if I'd upload them separate from the video! I don't have a version of the edited images before I added the text on it, so I hope that's ok, credits will be under the 'read more'!

The thumbnail

The warning

Black Cats of Halloween

Trick and Treat

Ashes to Ashes

Mrs Pumpkin's Comical Dream

Close and Open, Demons and the Dead

Jealous Princess

Twilight Homicide Song

Disease Princess

In the Depth of Darkness

Pandemic

Wonder Girl and the Labyrinth Gate

Rotten Rotten ~Zombie~

I = Nightmare

Halfblood Maneater

Happy Halloween

Face tex edits, and self module: me

Eyelashes: emsterchu

Watermark Remover: M&M

Arv's lip sync, Juon Kiku, Acme Iku(outfit was used on Gumi), Teto, CUL: Arvo

Eye tex and Luka and Miku characters lashes: Disneyloid

Project Diva X song pack: CoolChar, Skyth, samyuu, korenkonder, Keikei14, Yukikami, jaykthx, Fresk/empa_nadas, jorj, jhonny

F2nd Song Pack: korenkonder, LimitedLime7, Keikei14, Jay, Fran, skyth, samyuu and Coolchar

Eden Module pack: Widuchan, MizMiz!, Silpher, JohnJan, Disneyloid, Stewie1.0, Sangabc, testsnake, lavverso, Palmtree_Freak, Anonymous Eden Fan

Eden Edit PV Pack: Hisokeee, Palmtree_Freak, Stewie1.0, sachbo, testsnake, Sangabc, The Zacc, Jay6_9, Cube, Fireyy, Deathblood, Bevellon, spaghetti2222, Bryntae, Blue Star, KageAruki, EgguTastesGood, Seb, Kyle, Fran, N1tr0t0m, Boku Boku, Razero6, Starbeat, Blizzin, JadefenMidori, Inky, Kominsach, TenTen, Utamote, Hatsune Elise, Volk, 晴希, ZoetjeTippie, Miyuto, Fable, himesaka, Tanjiro Taidana, FREDsooM, suzie, Ryusouta, Ciol, Adam Edmond, Meta X, ToriTeru, Lovrboy, Lucifer, Sykth, Samyuu, Flatz, Thatrandomlurker, nastys

XHD module pack: Azuki3, R.L., DavidMax, Nono_Minnyel, Stewie1.0, Silpher, Enomoto

Synchronize Skin Color: Azuki3 and R.L.

Zatsune Miku: V--R, Icy Wings, Platonic_Diva

Megpoid Gumi module pack: lavverso, Matymatiasmaty, ThisIsHH, FlyingSpirits, MusicRevU, Harryshibainu, Nanase7247, YoshiwaraMekaio, Kaykay, royer27, yendeena, doatz, nemmie, Wiggletums, Holiday, AWaffleBird, SourGummyes, kola*, GenoX, ElChicoEevee, Mimi-YA (Supurreme), NadaPD, ch6rlezAylen.h.m, CoolChar, korenkoder, samyuu, Skyth

Extra Sakine Meiko mods(outfit used on Gumi) : SourGummyes, Zero_V4x, Epic Games

SeeU and Sachiko: sho_thatsit

Mayu (outfit used on Zatsune) : earthwyrm

Kinzokunaga Neru(Used outfit on Cul) and Hagane Luka: Xamemey

Rin and Len cat MikuPa: Platonic_Diva

Kasane Ted: emsterchu, wolfloid, Eucalyptus, ch6rlez

sunz's Old Song Lighting Edits: sol_pregnantguy

Disable hand scaling: DeathChaos

Miku symphony module pack: Alamichu

Remove large hair spike: mxi9302

Anything else was edits done in gimp or game's stickers.

[konowhoregakure]

Shinobis' Spotify Wrapped

Sasuke listens to emo and pop-punk obviously. Most played: Helena - My Chemical Romance.

I feel like Sakura likes pop. Most played: Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani

Surprisingly, I can see Naruto liking pop as well- like it's something they could bond over. He also likes meme music, obviously. Most played: All Star - Smash Mouth

Kakashi doesn't seem like the kind of person to like music, but if he had to, I can see him liking something he doesn't have to pay much attention to- perhaps he likes oldies, like 80's hits. It probably reminds him of his dad. As far as his own tastes go, I think he'd like The Cure. Most played: Homesick - The Cure

Listen listen listen. kiba likes reggaeton. I don't make the rules, sorry. Most played: Pa' Que Retozen - Tego Calderón

Music bothers Shino. Disrupts his bug concentration or whatever.

Shikamaru would probably be really pretentious with his music tastes so he likes... The Smiths? Most played: Cemetry Gates - The Smiths

Rock Lee only listens to Maroon 5 because he heard Guy listening to that once. Surprisingly, he really liked it. He likes She will be loved, he thinks of Sakura and cries I guess? Idk Most played: This Love - Maroon 5

Neji thinks of himself as a music connoisseur, but the truth is that sometimes all he wants to do is relax and listen to some Indie Rock (yes he likes Tame Impala). Most played: Walk away - Franz Ferdinand

Tenten likes female rappers. She always bothers Neji by quoting parts of WAP. She also likes the party anthems of the early 2010s (Where Them Girls At by David Guetta? Cultural Reset). Most Played: Rules - Doja Cat

I love the idea of Ino listening to boy bands. To this date she cites Zayn leaving One Direction as a traumatic event. However, she was never one to fight over which band was the best. Most played: S.O.S - The Jonas Brothers

Chouji likes anime openings, probably. Meta moment but he would love Blue Bird. Most Played: Rising Hope - LiSA

Hinata likes Coldplay. She is starting to discover Radiohead- which is of course an obvious progression that shocks no one. Most played: Shiver - Coldplay

Guy's likes the mellow 2000's. He likes to dance by himself to Drops of Jupiter by Train. He wants to dedicate it to someone but he- we're still working on it, okay? Most played: Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield

Yamato, I think, is the kind of person that judges people by their music tastes (he still isn't quite sure what to think of Kakashi's so he just ignores that piece of information). He listens to a little bit of everything, but lately he's been stuck on Steely Dan's Can't Buy a Thrill, though. Most played: Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under Me) - Steely Dan

Bonus: If Rin had lived, she would have liked Taylor Swift. (And when she's sure no one is around she sings with her brushes pretending she is in a concert). Most Played: Mine - Taylor Swift

[everyneji]

Bouncing off this post here, I want to talk a little about Neji and romantic relationships beyond just my shipping preferences. Though I wouldn't call this very exact meta either, as there's nothing to really go off of.

The truth is, Neji died before his love life was relevant. I know a lot of people think that he and Tenten would have ended up together but I'm not so sure. I believe he would have stayed uncoupled like his teammates in canon. Team Gai are Team Comic Relief and have genuinely had the most wholly platonic team-centric content of any of the Konoha 12 and the only crush we see from any of them is Lee's on Sakura, which was never gonna happen. I doubt Kishimoto would leave only Lee uncoupled of the team. At most, I think Neji would end the series with an implied off-screen Hyūga wife and a kid.

To add to this, as far as spin-off/AU/filler content goes, we only see 'Neji is a perv' 'Neji has a sister complex' 'Hinata considers Neji a romantic rival' 'Neji is unaffected by Sexy no Jutsu', none of which are a serious attempt to answer the question of 'What does Neji want?'

I also wonder if Neji could even marry out of the Hyūga clan, not just because of his caste status, but because he's a nobleman. He's not likely to be taking someone else's name. Historically speaking, men tend to be the only ones who can start a new branch clan, but in canon the equivalent of this is Hizashi being sealed. Hyūga seem to keep to themselves; Himawari and Boruto imply that the white eyes are a recessive trait. Hinata marrying out is an exception because she was already effectively disowned and she's marrying the Ninja Saviour.

(Of course, if Kishimoto wanted it to happen it would, the Hyūga entering the modern world and changing, but I'm working within the understanding of what we have.)

Narratively speaking, Neji is also far more intertwined with the destiny of the Hyūga clan than Hinata, whose story has centered her feelings for Naruto from the jump. I have a hard time seeing him leaving his family behind for love. Though he's had some very valid issues with his family, he's also fully embraced their techniques and their name; he just wants the respect and equal treatment he's owed within that.

With no canon evidence of romantic interest to go on, I personally focus on how Neji is like Gaara, that is, such a Naruto fanboy that it becomes its own beast of the headiest affectionate feelings we see displayed from them. Neji smiling so genuinely at what could be his final moments because he's thinking of how Naruto saved him is pretty intense.

'Hope is a thing with feathers, that perches in the soul ...'

I've touched on it in another post, but I also think it's sincerely amusing that when Hinata sacrifices herself in the Pain Invasion Neji goes "Why'd she do that?" His own dad sacrificed himself for love! And he has to know of her feelings for Naruto. He even asks if she wants to see Naruto off at the end of part one and hears of how the mere sight of Naruto gives Hinata the vapours. Yet he just doesn't get it ... until you fast forward a bit and put him on that battlefield with Naruto and Hinata in danger, and suddenly Neji's taking the bullet. As he dies in Naruto's arms, he says, "Naruto, Hinata-sama is willing to die for you. So remember you hold more than one life in your hands. And it seems that my life too may have been one of them." He directly parallels himself to Hinata (who sacrificed herself for love of Naruto) and says Naruto holds his life too. I mean, alright!

I'm not saying Kishimoto deliberately wrote Neji in love with Naruto but I think so long as Neji and Hinata are foils to each other who are both moved by the same man, you can derive interesting interpretations from that.

To return to 'what would Neji want' my personal answer is 'Someone able to offer perspectives he had not considered.' It's not just about being challenged -- the person needs to have a real point to make that they can back up. This suggests the person in question would need a certain strength of character, intuition, and likely the power to influence the world around them. This is generally what I go with when writing, but of course, it remains all headcanon.

I hope people forgive me for this very speculative post, I just ... got carried away writing it so hey. Here ya go! 👋

[correctingstupidbitch]

Neji stopped the judge BEFORE the battle even started only to GIVE HINATA THE OPPORTUNITY TO WALK AWAY UNHARMED. Neji showed Hinata so much kindness and patient this bitch never deserved,Neji during battle not only holds back all the time,he also multiple times gives Hinata a chance to leave the arena.Neji didn’t attack Hinata until she provoked him by calling out him being a slave and hinata actually wanted to fight Neji,knowing the rules. She did that to herself.

“Sakura is a horrible person for making fun of Naruto for being an orphan”

Let's see what other characters did when they were the same age as Sakura

Naruto :

Disguised himself into Sasuke to kiss Sakura without her consent

Mocked Sasuke's dead clan

Ino :

Fat-shamed Choji even though he's made it clear multiple times he hates being called fat

Neji :

Humiliated Hinata, who already had low self esteem, in front of everyone

Attempted to kill her to punish her for something which wasn't her fault

Shikamaru :

Unapologetically misogynist and generalised all women

Sasuke :

Tried to kill his best friend in the name of power

Funny how all these characters were of Sakura's age did something as equally bad as her or worse yet only Sakura gets shit for it. Hypocrisy?

They were kids, who were naive and didn't have the maturity to act the wisest (in Sakura, Naruto, Ino and Shikamaru's case) or traumatised with no one to properly help them (in Sasuke's and Neji's case) and all of them eventually grew up and became better.

It's ridiculous to still hold Sakura for saying something insensitive in her childhood.

Bonus :

She immediately regrets after Sasuke calls her out but y'all probably don't remember it.

[maddmuses]

Re: Naruto's physique and fitness routine

Time for weird fringe meta posts from Madd again. So broadly speaking, the anime and manga both simplify most examples of physique in the Naruto series, this makes sense as both productions were subject to crunch, and the physique of many characters was rarely a matter of detail.

But y'all know I'm a tad on the weird side so I'm going to talk about it.

Among animanga it's not entirely uncommon for a MC to be the "median" physically among the cast. Not too tall, not too short, not too big, not too thing. Unless possessing a specific quality is pertinent to their character, often through the narrative, such as Sena in Eyeshield 21 or Gon in hiatusXhiatus, it's rarely deviated from.

Accordingly, most drawings of Naruto's body are never showing anything exceptional as a young adult, although the anime (and manga towards the end) did portray him as a chubby kid he had a tendency to thin out before 13. If you want to know the source of this info it is found in Naruto 538.

This means that shinobi training, or at least the kind we know Naruto to get up to based on his training menus in both pieces of media, are very cardio intensive, as well he probably simply lost the weight. Though this weight loss is more than apparent, his physique on the anime side is a bit inconsistent and undetailed. Referring to the images towards the top of this post of the senjutsu training vs. what follows here:

Basically no toning lines defining or suggesting the muscles in his abdomen, which are definitely tones per above and here

Overall this is a good reference point. Throughout Shippuden, Naruto's build is definitely thin, but developed, so wiry would probably be the shorthand. It's evident that he can achieve significant physical feats both with and without chakra, consistent with a character who does a lot of calisthenics.

Being that Naruto is 5'6" tall during the Shippuden databooks (data on further physical growth uncertain after age 16/17ish but likely) it becomes apparent that this is probably a baseline build for most shinobi who are capable at taijutsu, but not strictly specialized, with an emphases on agility. Contrary to popular fandom perception, though Naruto's actual hitting style and close-up tactics tend to not be pretty, he is agile and mostly is mobile throughout a fight, particularly when employing the use of his shadow clones. A decent example can be found in ED 15.

Though he's adaptive through it depending on his opponent, the fact is that his style is pretty "hard" with a key emphasis on moving explosively and staying within striking range of his opponent. It's why her pursues his opponent even when dodging, and really only modulates his firing range against Tenten who is armed with a bo. We know it's a hard style, particularly when fighting Lee, as it's practically identical. One could probably call this "Strong Fist lite" as he's not employing any of the inherently exhausting techniques that require him to leap and flash step distances, but it's still tiring to stay that mobile even after four brief spars.

Seeing as it's not that different from what Konohamaru uses, and Naruto has the access, it's fair to assess that this is a pretty common style of fighting in Konoha, and thus a body that's optimal to use it is consistent among characters like Naruto and Lee who have these body types (and to a degree Konohamaru who does develop a similar build in adulthood).

Overall a body type that is compact and flexible is what we can extrapolate a detailed design of Naruto to be having. Particularly, while sleight, Naruto's shoulders are on the slightly broad side compared to other men who engage in this fashion of training, inheriting a slightly wideset nature from his Uzumaki family (pictured: his ancestor) and his mother, who was frequently compared to a tomato as a girl, and has more of a pear or rectangular shape to her body. This would probably also extend to his middle too, meaning he probably wouldn't develop an "inverted triangle" but rather more trapezoidal.

Overall I'm operating under the assumption that Naruto, beyond age 15, starts to develop some serious definition, though the mass doesn't start to become impressive until 17. Beyond that point, his mass never becomes offputtingly heavy, as maintenance of a body that is quick enough to conduct his style of taijutsu is necessary. Stylistically I would compare it to real-life De Niro or Lee, rather a point somewhere between them:

So overall, I think Naruto's actual regiment/menu as an adult includes:

-Taijutsu Sparring (when he can get it) -Weighted Free-Running Cardio around Konohagakure (at least an hour on an optimal day, but most days will go for roughly 20 km/12 miles per day) -Muscle Group-Targeted Weight Lifting (Based on day but has specific days for arms, chest, back, and legs) -10x10 calisthenics (pushups, pull-ups, sit-ups, squats) on a light day -15x10 calisthenics on a moderate day -20x10 calisthenics on a heavy day -10x100 punches on a heavy bag (still dressed like Kakashi)(Weight supplemented on leg and back days) -Meditation (15 minutes on a heavy day, 20 minutes on a moderate day, 30 minutes on a light day, 5/10/15 minutes practicing senjutsu meditation) -Practice Ninjutsu (30 minutes minimum, rounds up remaining time until training completion depending on the day)

Naruto's general training block in a day can range from 4-6 hours, though he will do 8 hours for an especially intense experience when he is a young adult and more or less doing only missions.

That's the post ig, have a good day!

[setokaibapetty]

5 + 1 Fic Friday Roundup: More Meta

Follow-up to the meta materials stuff. Some fics that obviously comment on canon or break the fourth wall via having the canon cast see themselves or fanon versions of themselves.

happiness (this time around) (AO3) - "The first time they were grown-ups, in the Golden Age, the Pevensies lived their lives almost entirely for Aslan - and then when they were thrown back to England, they lost years trying to recover their childhoods, going back to fight his wars for him. The second time, they don't let him in."

Lee's Inexplicable Crush (FF) - "After the Chuunin Exam preliminaries, Neji and Tenten sit down and try and figure out why in the world Lee likes Sakura so much when they have almost nothing in common and practically no shared values. It...doesn't go very well."

The World Bled Dry (FF) - "Rhaegar talks about soulmates. Elia is not interested in Rhaegar's justification."

What if (Consequences Were a Real Thing in the MCU) (AO3) -A series that looks at MCU stuff through lens of real world logic. Very Team Iron Man.

Meta (SB) - " A weird and symbolic fanfiction about a certain webnovel being posted on PHO bit by bit."

Bonus: Fast Track the Road to Redemption with Multidimensional Beings (AO3) - "When the Goddess of Prophecy teleports you to a theatre and tells you to react to the multiverse, there's not much you can do but listen to her."