#together there's no end to what dreams can start ( narusaku ) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sleepyfoxfanworks · 4 years ago

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Got tagged by a bunch of people for this. Sorry it took so long!

List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

20. It had been a pipe dream, anyway. She knows that. They’re at war, have been for years, and there is no time for anything so sentimental. -- The End of Everything, Naruto, a sort of prologue to a multi-chapter fic, to be published for KakaSaku Month.

19. Sakura was desperate. After two weeks of couch surfing at Sasuke and Naruto’s apartment, she had had enough. She loved her boys, but Naruto was terrible about personal space and Sasuke was just...Sasuke, and together they were a disaster and she was going to wring their necks. -- Shut Up and Dance, Naruto, ShiSaku modern AU multi-chapter to be published for ShiSaku weekend.

18. Sakura went into labor at an ungodly hour, her hands holding Kakashi’s in a death grip that made his bones crack. -- Beautiful With You, Naruto, KakaSaku oneshot in the Here’s To Us series, 400 follower giveaway prize.

17. The summons came right as Shisui sat down to eat dinner. He looked longingly at his plate and sighed, shoveling as much as he could in his mouth before the phone blinked angrily at him again. The screen lit for just a moment, but it was long enough for him to see a message from Hokage Tower with a crow emoji. ANBU then. -- And So We Burn, Naruto, KakaSakuShi multi-chapter in the Souls On Fire series.

16. “I’m gonna catch you, Uchiha Shisui!”

Shisui paused on a tree branch and crouched down to look at the fuming academy student who glared up at him from the ground below. Her long pink hair was tangled with tiny sticks and leaves, and she had dirt smudges on her clothes and skin from her mad run through the training ground, but the fire in her jade green eyes was brighter than the sun. -- Catch Me If You Can, Naruto, ShiSaku one-shot for ShiSaku Day 2021.

15. The universe was determined to hate her. First, the Fourth Shinobi War, a homicidal goddess, reincarnated kages, and now… Now she couldn’t go home because it was gone. Crushed to rubble during the battle, her parents inside.

She stared at the wreckage, gaze focused on nothing and everything at once. She could see what had been, overlapping how it was now. The small family home with the cheerful blue shutters and the neat garden was now a pile of rubble. Some of the bricks were stained with blood, and she knew that it was probably from her parents but she couldn’t conceptualize it without breaking down. -- All That I Am Living For, Naruto, Team 7 gen fic with some NaruSaku oneshot in the Here’s To Us series.

14. The first time Haruno Sakura took his breath away was the day he made the mistake of letting her hit him during a friendly spar. -- Leave Me Breathless, Naruto, ShiSaku oneshot.

13. Haruno Sakura was grateful for coffee. And for clear skies and uneventful days and genin teams finally learning how not to fall out of trees. Right now though, she was most thankful for coffee. -- Familiar Taste of Poison, Naruto, KakaSaku multi-chapter in the Here’s To Us series.

12. “I want you to teach me the oiroke no jutsu.”

Wide blue eyes stared at her incredulously as Sakura threw back another shot of tequila and slammed the cup on the bar. When he stared at her open mouthed for too long, she leaned against the bar and poked his cheek. “I’m serious, Naruto. Teach me.”

Naruto blinked at her and then huffed a laugh. “Seriously?”

Her grin was lazy and just a bit tipsy, but she wasn’t drunk. Neither was he, and she was one hundred percent serious. “Seriously.” -- Bringing Sexy Back, Naruto, Team 7 gen fic in the Here’s To Us series.

11. “Sakura-chan, you’re a girl.”

Sakura turned her head and regarded Naruto with apprehension. He had matured over the years, but sometimes… Sometimes she wondered if he had actually grown up at all. -- Questions Redux, Naruto, KakaSaku oneshot.

10. Sakura tugged the blanket tighter over her shivering body, adjusting it further when she pulled her knees up to her chest in an attempt to trap even more body heat. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, but it offered warmth and that was her main concern. Not that it would help much. She was always cold at night and no matter what position she contorted her body into, or how tightly she pulled the blankets over her, she always awoke shivering and sore. -- Space Heater, Naruto, Team 7 gen oneshot.

9. “Can I put them in now?”

“Is the water boiling yet?”

“No…”

“Then not yet.” Sakura didn’t bother turning around as she finished chopping carrots for the salad brushing them into the bowl with a kunai. “Can you hand me the dressing?” -- How About Now, Naruto, KakaSaku oneshot.

8. Kakashi had always been an enigma. It was difficult to tell what the jounin was thinking, although if you got an answer out of him you knew it was the truth, because he never lied. His approach to questions was not to tell you the exact answer to your question. Rather, he would say something equally true and related enough to change the subject or provide an answer, just not quite the one you were looking for. -- Knowing You, Naruto, KakaSaku oneshot.

7. Naruto was thrilled when one of his best friends announced that her unborn child was craving ramen. Sakura had only mentioned it because she knew that if she didn’t and he found out that she had visited Ichiraku without him she would never hear the end of it, and she hadn’t spent time with him in several weeks because of their increasingly busy schedules. She missed him. Not that she would tell him that because he might crow it from the rooftops. -- The Making of a Legend, Naruto, Team 7 gen oneshot.

6. It was a very strange occurrence for Echizen Ryouma to be the first of the regulars to reach the locker room in the morning. Ryouma valued his sleep over most anything (save tennis, Ponta and Karupin), and getting him out of bed was a job in itself, but somehow he had managed. His mannerisms hadn’t changed much over the past three years, and he would still sleep in if it weren’t for a particular incentive that got him up earlier in the morning. -- Pre-game, Prince of Tennis, RyoFuji oneshot.

5. Haruno Sakura arched her back, smiling when she heard several pops from her spine. The boat ride home was relaxing with the gentle rocking on the waves, but the wooden plank she sat on was killing her back and hips. The mission had been long, but she couldn’t say she hadn’t enjoyed it. It had been years since Team Seven had all been together again. Now, all jounin – with Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi occasionally working as Anbu – it became increasingly rare for them all to be paired together for a mission. -- Questions, Naruto, KakaSaku oneshot.

4. You had promised to live a mortal life and now, with your hair gray and brittle and your skin paper thin, you are dying. You led a healthy, peaceful life with your beloved and the other vampires in the mansion, working for most of it as a gardener and occasional errand runner, but it has been more than sixty years and you are tired. -- One Good Turn, Ikemen Vampire, oneshot.

3. Aella should have known Sebastian was up to something when he sent her to wake Napoleon Bonaparte. The tiny uptick of his lips, the gleam in his eyes, and the glances from the others when they saw her taking the stairs was enough of a clue. No one said a word, but she felt their eyes on her as she walked past. Intrigued, she didn’t say a word until she reached the ex-emperor’s door, knocking smartly and calling his name out of politeness. Sebastian had warned her that it was difficult to wake him, but she didn’t want to be rude. As she had been told, there was no reply, and so after a murmured “excuse me” she let herself in. -- Wake Up Service, Ikemen Vampire, Napoleon/OC, oneshot.

2. I’m nervous to start this interview. I’ve been a fan of Given since their first show, and now, 4 years later, they’re bigger than ever. Given had an explosive beginning, and their popularity has grown over the years to become one of the most popular bands in Japan. I’m honored to be interviewing them, both as a lover of music and also as a fan. -- Given Today, Given, RitsuMafu and KajiHaru oneshot.

1. It had only taken a few days for Captain Hook, dashing rapscallion that he was, to get sick of sleeping in a room at Granny's and begin searching for a ship. The stillness of a bed on dry land was strange, leading to many sleepless nights full of tossing and turning before he gave up and went hunting for a sea-faring vessel that would suit his needs. Unfortunately, Storybrooke was not the best place to look for such things. Boats were scarce, and none of them were up to his usual standards. -- Captain’s Log, Once Upon a Time, CaptainSwan oneshot collection.

In conclusion... I have no idea, omg.

Tagging whoever wants to do this. 💜💜

#tag you're it #sleepy fox talks #sleepy fox writes

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razorblade180 · 5 years ago

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Ok I gotta ask this now since I just saw your post. How would you have written ddd and kh3 to make it a tighter more impactful plot? (Also would love to know how you would write narusaku or any other naruto ship

[please comment below. This took so much time and it would suck if no one read this😭💀]

I can already tell this will go beyond the line limit so buckle up everyone. We’re only focusing on KH right now. Let’s start with DDD

Dream Drop Distance

Let’s get the major change out of the way, Kairi is on this adventure. Why? Because there’s two previous games where they express how she wants to actively help and KH2 has lines of her saying she refused to be left behind anymore. This works out just fine for Yen Sid, since this test is supposed to be a relatively safe. Sora and Riku are officially taking their mark of mastery exam but for Kairi, this serves as a hands on learning course. Going the sleeping worlds together for them to learn proper keyblade wielding sounds perfectly fine. All three get out on the island, fight Ursula in the tutorial, and then Xehanort starts his shenanigans just like in the game. Here’s the difference! Sora and Kairi are still together, while Riku still accidentally dives into Sora’s dreams.

Immediately the trio would know something isn’t quite right but the only option is press on start figuring things out while completing their task from Yen Sid. This is where gameplay is now a bit different. You play as Sora with one dream eater and Kairi as your support characters while Riku plays the same. The drop system is still the same everything. Sora and Kairi go through worlds together and get to interact. At the beginning Kairi doesn’t know much but gains abilities/confidence as you progress. Sora ends up serving as a mentor for her and guides her through the troubles of going on your first adventure. It’s a good way to put Sora in a more mature role. He’s forced to keep his wits about in order to keep Kairi safe because he doesn’t know the organization is actually after him.

We get a couple of scenes of Kairi getting better and helping Sora through the worlds which still play out the same basically. Bad guys show up and say mysterious things before leaving and the two deal with Disney problems. Riku’s doesn’t change at all because. Things only start to get really different after Symphony of Sorcery. Young Xehanort shows up at the very end of it and goes after Kairi to bait Sora into rushing to save her. Sora ends up getting hurt in the process and Young Xehanort kidnaps him here and immediately leaves before Kairi can do anything. She’s now angry at herself for not being able to apply what Sora had taught her when it truly mattered. She couldn’t protect him or herself. Kairi almost wants to give up but meow-wow lifts her spirits and she finds the resolve to fight before. Sora would never give up, especially when it came to saving his loved ones. Kairi is now a playable character and able to do all the commands that aren’t character exclusive. His dream eaters stick around and become her party members.

You go through The World That Never Was as her back in KH2 attire, fighting her way through it and she’s the one that gets told how the organization has been tracking them and all the other plot things; including why they want Sora. Kairi ends up being the one to have to fight Xemnas and even though she’s outclassed, she’s gonna give him all she’s got. On Riku’s side he sees all the weird dream imagery in Sora’s head since he’s in Sora’s dreams with the added glimpse of Kairi trying her best against Xemnas; motivating him even further to hurry up and make it to her. He still confronts Ansem and makes peace with himself. Riku finally makes it out of Sora’s dreams but retains his dream eater powers like in the game and rushes to help Kairi. He makes it half way through the fight and Kairi tells Riku to back her up. The two of them fight together with you still playing as Kairi and manage to push him back. Riku is extremely surprised by her progress and both of them go together to save Sora because he knows telling her to stay back is not an option. Riku and Kairi both fight Young Xehanort together.

Everything is mostly the same after that in terms of plot and everything that happens in the cutscenes. Including Axel showing up. Riku convinces Kairi to stay when he jumps back into Sora’s dreams, telling her someone has to make sure everything goes fine in the real world and that person has to be her. Riku comes back out after is boss fight and those cutscenes and he sees those two slackers having a tea party. Yen Sid commends all three for their bravery, especially Kairi. He also apologizes. Riku gets named a master, Sora doesn’t. Sora thankd his friends and told Kairi he was proud of her before he left to go thank the dream eaters. Even though she did well, Kairi knew without Riku, the dream eaters, or Sora, she wouldn’t have lasted as long as she did. She wanted to be strong enough to protect herself and others. So Kairi asked Yen Sid if she could have further training. Yen Sid told her and Lea about the dimension where they could train and they both accepted. Riku asked what he should do now and then the 0.2 conversation happens off screen. Boom, DDD rolls it’s credits.

Kingdom Hearts 3 [internal screaming]

Okay! So I gotta tackle this one a little different. First of all, let’s live in a world where ReMind came apart of KH3 (as it should’ve) now let’s put the cutscene between Luxord and Xigbar where it belongs at the beginning of the game, and then let’s put the cutscenes of MoM/ the organization discussing the members somewhere in in middle of the game. Like after Monsters Inc. Because that information had no reason to be hidden. It reveals nothing, but explains how people are back which is important. This knowledge doesn’t even spoil the Luxu reveal!

Second, I have to explain my two major problems that really hurt this game for me. Plot pacing and only setting things up halfway or not at all. So I’m going to tell you what changes narritive and gameplay wise I would’ve changed. Then I’ll go through the game including those changes.

Sora getting his power robbed consequence will be in every world and weigh on him.

The time characters get rescued/revealed

Ventus and Roxas’s heart influence

Isa’s plan

Aqua’s trauma

Xion, Vexen, and Demyx appearances.

Multiple playable characters.

Kairi and Lea contributions.

Also if I don’t mention something then assume it happened just like in the game.

Okay, let’s get started at Olympus. Everything is the same except one thing that I will continue to do for the other worlds. Sora will try to be proactive in stopping an Organization member, triggering a 1v1 boss fight. He’ll fight Xigbar and lose so bad that his friends have to save him. This puts in perspective that Sora really has lost his powers and is frustrated about it. This will do two things. One of them is make him slowly get more upset when someone brings up him failing the exam, being a half pint, or not being able to do things on his own. I’ll come back to the second thing later. Sora is order to continue to gain the power of waking while leaving finding Aqua to Mickey and Riku.

Twilight Town is also basically the same. However, the Demon Tide really roughs him up. Ansem and Xemnas bring up how they hope Roxas didn’t get this weak as well just to anger him. Sora wants to put them in their place but is convinced not to by Donald and Goofy. Now he’s doubting himself internally a little. Also Merlin shows up now instead of later. The trio bump into him and He tells Sora that Lea and Kairi actually are almost done training because they trained in a place where time didn’t matter. The moment they went in should’ve technically they came out but I’m being generous. Sora is shocked to realize his short time at Olympus might’ve equaled months of training for Kairi or even longer.

Toy Box is the same with the addition of fighting Young Xehanort and losing to him before a gigas piloted by his friends intervene. We still get the comment about putting hearts into vessels of their pleasing. When the world is over Kairi calls to tell him she’s finishing training and wants to see him back at Yen Sid’s tower.

Kairi and Lea are both really jazzed about how strong they’ve gotten and ready to help. Before they do, Kairi asks for a friendly spar against Sora. While he does win, he is amazed by how strong she’s gotten. Kairi comments on how she’s still lacking the real battle experience and skill he’s gain over time and he actually starts to feel better, until she asks if she could go to a world with him to get it. He wouldn’t mind it if wasn’t for one thing, he’s worried he might not be enough to save her if she needs help. Not with all his strength gone. He keeps this to himself and Kairi and Lea end up tagging along to Kingdom of Corona. On this world you get the option to be Sora with Rapunzel Flynn has mandatory party members and the choice to choose Kairi and Lea or Donald and Goofy; Or you can play as Kairi which automatically makes the party during gameplay Flynn, Rapunzel, Sora, and Lea. This works out fine because half this world has Rapunzel and Flynn leave your party so the other two characters can fill in during those sections.

So the Disney plot in this world doesn’t have to change one bit. The changes that happen all occur with all the Kingdom hearts characters. For example, Marluxia now meets Sora, Lea, Kairi, Donald and Goofy when he first reveals himself. We get sassy and rude dialogue between Marluxia and Lea about being alive and who’s actually the traitor this time around. Lea can also fill Sora in on CoM since no one does it. What makes this scene important is the moment Marluxia directs his attention towards Kairi, she starts getting really nervous and Namine’s voice comes out unexpectedly, telling him to stay back. It’s Namine who’s actually nervous, terrified even. Sora might not have the memories, but the entire exchange is enough for his heart to remember the intense desire to protect Namine from Marluxia. Sora and Lea get in between the two. Marluxia only looks at everyone and can’t help but get a little nostalgic. “The more things change, the more they stay the same. Except for one...” he says that vague response referring to how Lea and Rikuplica switching sides, then he leaves.

The next major change is Soar and Kairi spend time at the festival together and share a moment during the lantern scene. It’s at this time Sora expresses the doubt he has to protect her and the others with his current strength. Kairi tells Sora that he can do anything he puts his mind to and to never lose that smile of his. She tells him how they will protect each other and that his heart will never steer him wrong. This touching moment is ruined when Donald screams off camera. The Nobodies shown up. Everyone quickly jumps into action when another hooded figure appears. Sora goes off to pursue them triggering Lea to follow him. Sora is evenly matched with the figure back and then hood falls off. It’s Xion. Immediately seeing her causes an intense reaction from Roxas’s heart that screws up Sora in the fight and he his taken out by her. Xion planned to take him but Lea intervenes, causing both of them to get a painful reaction to each other. Marluxia shows up to retrieve Xion, who was sent there for a test run and leaves Axel in pain because Kairi caught up to protect both of them despite the fear from earlier. All he can see is Namine finally taking a real stand against him before finally going. Sora wakes up that morning on the outskirts of the kingdom where he sees Flynn riding Maximus with Lea still out of commission. Donald and Goofy looked after him while Kairi helped resuce Flynn. He tells Sora about what’s happened to Rapunzel and they all go rushing to the tower, except for Kairi who’s understandably tired, and chooses to look after Lea since he’s also still recovering. The rest of the world stays the same.

Sora and the gang try collecting their thoughts and info while in the gummi ship. So many things were happening so fast. Sora tried to apologize to Lea and Kairi but they told him there was no need. They end up going to Yen Sid again for answers to things like the new seven princesses. While there, Donald ends up taking another jab at Sora for still not having the power of waking. Sora actually gets fed up this time around, frustrated with himself mainly. He yells how he’s doing the best he can and it’s not like Donald is being of any real help either. Sora claims that he can do this on his own and takes off to the Gummi Ship before anyone could really get a word in.

Monster Inc ends up being the next world he finds himself in but not by choice. Sora had been so worked up he had forgotten the ship ran on smiles and crash landed to the nearest world. That’s not all, Kairi had actually manage to sneak aboard by surprise. Now he felt bad about endangering her but didn’t get to apologize before Kairi bonked him on the head. She reminded Sora about their conversation on the pier and expressed how determined she was to knock Sora out of his funk. They’d be stranded here otherwise. Through all of that it slipped their minds that they were monsters now and decide to look around. One thing that immediately stirred something within Kairi’s memories was the unversed which convinced them that this place was now definitely worth looking around. The plot points of this world are pretty much the same. As you go through the factory making Boo laugh. Sora is also gaining his cheerfulness back and opening up more to Kairi about how down this situation had gotten him. He was happy she was here to cheer him up. Vanitas shows up and still gets thrown through doors. Sora wonders about his desire to save Aqua so quickly stems from the possibility of Ventus’s heart sleeping in his. Kairi tells Sora about how Namine’s heart reacted to Marluxia which only made his thought more valid. He tells Kairi how he really thinks he can save her and Kairi agrees, but tells Sora it would be easier with more people. He needed to make up with Donald and to some extent, Goofy. As if on que the gummi phone rings with Chip and Dale telling Sora that they’ve lost trace of Riku and Mickey in the Realm of Darkness. What’s worse is Donald and Goofy acted rashly at the news and took Yen Sid’s star shard, sending them to who knows where. It was possible that they actually got sent to the Realm of Darkness! Sora calls Ienzo to ask if he knows a way there but he only knows about the corridors of darkness.

Kairi tells Sora that he really is connected to Ventus then maybe he can open a gate. Even if he can’t, Sora’s connection with his friends might do something. He just has to do what he did to get to Olympus. Sora opened a gate that brought him and Kairi back to Destiny Islands where they found Donald and Goofy. More importantly, an unfimiliar keyblade. Sora uses it to create a door and heads off. The others try to follow him but he tells them that they need to stay behind just in case. He also apologizes for his outburst which prompts Donald and Goofy to apologize for not seeing how much the teasing was getting to him. Kairi tells him to be safe and Sora smiles truthfully. He just has to believe in himself like she said. He can do this. Sora goes through the door.

Sora drops right in the middle of the Riku vs Aqua fight and things play out normally until the halfway point where the darkness in her becomes almost too much for Sora. Just like with Vanitas, Ventus’s heart starts to react to seeing Aqua in such a state. Suddenly Sora summons Master’s Defender again and holds it back handed. Aqua is left shocked, she can only see the friend she promised to wake up. With a heavy heart she manages to ask for help and Sora nods. You play the remainder of the fight with attacks and even a command style used by Ventus. He’s calling the shots now. You beat Aqua and she gets saved. Everyone’s happy, everyone’s crying.

Aqua takes Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi to go wake up Ven while Riku and Mickey rest up. Sora gets more strange feelings at the sight of Castle Oblivion. He can’t help but think of Namine, as well as fuzzy memories of Marluxia and a few other people but he keeps it to himself. Aqua remakes the Land of Departure and they make their way to Ven. Vanitas shows up and Aqua challenges him alone. Instead of her loosing because she blocked a fireball with her body, We get Aqua losing because she’s still very tired and the PTSD she has from the realm of darkness. Everyone panics. Sora activates the power of waking to wake Ventus (I’ll cry when he thanks Sora) and he saves Aqua. Vanitas leaves.

Everyone regroups at Yen Sid’s tomorrow again. Finally, progress is being made in collecting guardians. Ventus and Aqua need more time to recover and choose to rest. Kairi keeps them company to learn more about them, her past, skills, and also take a break. All this adventure has gotten her really exhausted. Mickey goes looking for Ansem the Wise and Sora manages to convince Riku to tag along with him. Maybe they’ll find Terra? Onward to frozen!

Sora and the gang meet else Elsa and Riku empathizes with not being able to control power and being scared of hurting people close to him. Sora emphasizes with Anna when it comes wanting to help someone important to you but they keep running away and create things that make it harder to reach them. It’s one big moment of reflection and growth in this world. Larxene still shows up and Sora knows her by name surprisingly. The feelings of anger he gives her is all he needs to know that she cannot be allowed to do whatever she pleases. He tries stopping her but fails. He’s not too upset though. His previous accomplishments and encouraging words from Kairi push him forward. Unknowingly, Vexen shows up and has an argument with Larxene. She complains about why he’s heat and he tells her that he heard memories are extremely malleable here (trolls) and he’s come to look into it before leaving Larxene to her own devices. Elsa starts really thinking her powers are nothing but darkness but Riku convinces her otherwise. Elsa thanks him but that moment of weakness creates the boss of this world. Sora and Riku fight it with Snowball while Elsa goes to save Anna. Things work themselves out the same from there. Riku and Sora feel closer than ever and Riku tells Sora he’s a master in his own right which makes Sora’s day. Vexen got valuable data.

Ventus finally felt like his body was used to moving again and was ready to start getting back in the swing of things, but Aqua was still feeling down. The guilt of taking so long and trauma was weighing on her heart. Kairi tried everything to cheer her up but nothing helped. Kairi has no choice but to pull out the big guns. She called Sora. Through lot of persuading, he convinced her to tag along with him and Ventus to go traveling with him to get them up to speed. Part of the agreement was Riku and Kairi go finding more clues about Terra’s whereabouts so they stayed behind. Checking Radiant Garden again seemed like a good idea. Kairi hadn’t been so it would kill two birds with one stone.

Pirates world was next on the list. This time we there’s four organization members! Luxord goes looking for the box and Demyx is forced to help because Isa wants him to prove his worth or why even be around? They’re on the water so he should be decent muscle. Vexen is intrigued by Davy Jones but also dropped Xion off with Luxord to see if his recent research on memory would have her perform better than earlier. Aqua and Ventus marvel at the stars, thinking of Terra. Sora told the two of them about the first adventure he went on to look for his friends. Sora praises both of them by telling him that he was at least half as skilled as they were back then, telling them that they’ll find Terra way faster than he took finding Riku and Kairi. They came across the waterfall fell. Aqua nearly panicked at the thought of being trapped when they woke up in Davy Jones’s locker but Ventus calmed her down. Sora needed to find a way to build her back up. The plot of this world doesn’t change but gameplay does a little. Ven and Aqua will grant the pirates ship most of its abilities by controlling the wind and sea while Sora navigates. More fights by boat grant them more abilities and gets them back into the swing of things. Ventus and Sora team up during the air skirmish against the flying heartless. This invigorates Aqua not just because she wants to protect them, but they looked like they were having some fun. Yeah they were fighting a heartless but they were doing it together and trusted that they had each other’s back. Aqua had missed that feeling, it had been so long since it wasn’t her vs everything. She quickly got her chance to be apart of a team again in the underwater fight. Her nerves weren’t completely calm but Sora taking her hand and being excited about getting the treasure pushed those feelings away. She had friends again, friends that wanted treasure and to sail the seas with her. How could that not be fun. Sora happily let Aqua take the lead and supported her alongside Ventus.

The crew bumps into Luxord and the black box conversation happens that leads into the race but with the added wager of Luxord willing to tell them about Terra if they win. The race has still has the heartless boats but as well as the water nobodies to personally attack your crew and hinder your abilities. After you win, Luxord still cheats and you have that boss fight. Things change when you board the boat. He still leaves but Demyx and Xion stay behind with some Nobodies to by time. Halfway through the fight, Xion starts clenching her head again and Sora does the same with his chest. Seeing Ventus’s face and feeling Roxas’s presences is just too much. Luxord takes the opportunity of the chaos to nab is companions and attack the ship. Fortunately Aqua was able to protect everyone. Vexen orders Demyx to take Xion back and that he might as well not come back either. Demyx really doesn’t want to face Isa since he was basically told not to comeback without anything useful. So he drops Xion off and plans to avoid him altogether.

After the ship is repaired and Phantom Jack leaves, Aqua takes a minute to think. They were about to head into what sounded like a war. Their fun treasure adventure had turned a serious matter. She confessed that she might not be up to the task. This one, or even the keyblade war. Ventus pulled out his wayfinder and told her even if she decides not to go, she’ll always be fighting beside him as long as he had this. He believed Terra was still fighting and got his strength from them. Aqua pulled out her wayfinder and simply held it to her chest. He wasn’t wrong. All that time in the darkness and a piece of her never felt truly alone as long as she held this. Their unbreakable connection to her friends was something Aqua would never doubt. To top it all off, Sora had remembered he still had Kairi’s good luck charm from before the exams. He said he couldn’t count how many times this simple thing had driven him to keep going. Aqua joined them on the boat. It was only after seeing the other pirates did her resolve really hit its peak. All of them were ready to face staggering odds to fight for what mattered most to them, despite the fear. Aqua was sure of it now, she’d stand with her friends when the fated day came. Aqua raised her keyblade a creates the whirlpool for the Kraken fight. For the first time since she arrived, she looked at Sora and completely immersed herself in the moment. She calls him captain, and says she’s ready whenever he is. He couldn’t be more thrilled and Ventus was happy to see Aqua ready to go. The rest of the world plays out the same all the way until the very end. I would personally add a scene though of three sailing alone for just a little longer. Sora can’t help but think about how this was his dream with Riku and Kairi once. He wondered if is the only one who even rememberers or cares about a thing like this. Suddenly another ship Sails by them. They get ready to fight until they sea a papou fruit flag. Riku and Kairi unexpectedly reveal themselves on it with smiles on their faces. Apparently the gummi phone had really included all of information Jimmy had written. Riku explained that he just knew without question Sora would come here of all places to try and cheer someone up. Riku and Kairi told Aqua they hadn’t found much info on Terra but they did find her armor and keyblade thanks to Kairi’s foggy memory of certain places and Ienzo’s participantion in those lab areas. They all were about to continue their journey but since they were here, something had to be settled. Sora wanted another race to decide who would be captain. Riku laughed and told him they both have ships and that didn’t matter. However, he vaguely mentioned another reason to race, the real reason Sora tried so hard that day on the island. Riku pointed at the symbol on his flag and Sora immediately pouted. He grabbed the wheel of the ship and told Kairi to countdown for the race. No one knew what they were racing for except them and a giggling Kairi, who had a pretty good idea on what it was about. She says go and then the cutscene ends.

Big Hero Six is exactly the same except Sora sees Riku Replica and is pretty sure he’s from castle oblivion. Vexen uses the knowledge Rikuplica favs him about making Baymax filled with suffering so he can fix Xion to her absolute peak. When he’s done, Isa informs him that a Demyx has ran off and orders Vexen to go bring him back. Which is actually code for “good job, now escape while you still can.” Vexen informs him that it would take an extremely strong connection for Xion to have any “unfortunate” memories of the past to resurface. Things play out normally until Zexion meets Ansem the wise. What happens this time? He tells Sora and friends that he’s back with Vexen. (That’s kinda important.)

Everyone rests up for the final battle. The Sora and Kair scene on destiny islands is now longer. Kairi asks if Sora is feeling like his old self again. Sora tells her that he is thanks to her never giving up on her. Both of them get quiet for a moment before Sora speaks again. He does confess that he’s still worried a bit. Every word he went to had one thing or another that ended up being too much for him alone, and couldn’t help but feel like it would’ve been different if he truly regained all of his power. Kairi tells him that he isn’t alone but he shakes his head because she’s missing the point. Sora wasn’t scared of the organization overwhelming him, but he was terrified of that he’d try protecting someone and fail. He admitted he was scared of losing her. Kairi admitted that tomorrow scared her too. Every adventure they went on together was filled with so many enemies and left her exhausted by the end of it. Now she was joining the war. Kairi felt more than a little unprepared despite all the prep she tried squeezing in. Sora tried asking if by any chance at all that she could wait here one more time and she refused outright. No matter how nervous she was about the whole thing, Kairi told Sora that she would never wait again. That they will protect each other no matter what. And for added luck, she hands him a papou fruit. Sora was shocked. Kairi simply smiled and placed it in his hand before grabbing another one. Sora pulled out her good luck charm to give it back but she said it’s basically his at this point. The two smiled gently and finally shared the fruit. You get OathKeeper

Keyblade war time! Woo! This is by far the easiest to put into words. Riku and Kairi are your party members for the 10,000 enemy battle because it’s a literal crime that the Destiny trio didn’t work together. You get past that and Terranort still bodies half the team. Aqua’s resolve starts the crumble as she races to Ven, he isn’t moving at all. Sora is left in a state of disbelief as Goofy and Mickey try getting Donald up, and Kairi checking on Axel. In no time at all, his fear seams to be coming true. They need to regroup. Unfortunately the demon tide appears and blocks the exit. Riku gathers the remaining forces to try and fend it off but seeing Ven taken out by Terra really shook Aqua. We see the shadows turn into Anti-Aquas as the real Aqua starts to slowy panic. She doesn’t even hear the others screaming her name, telling her to look out before Mickey and Goofy try saving her, but they’re all swept up. Now it’s the Destiny Trio vs the Demon Tide in a fight the player is forced to fight, but can’t win. No music plays, just the sound of the fight and the sight of the organization watching from above. Eventually Kairi slips up due to the overwhelming odds. Sora quickly tries to outrun the Demon Tide coming towards her but can’t. Sora screams for Riku’s help but turns to see nothing but his friends hand reaching for him before being swept away. He can’t hold it in anymore, Sora drops to his knees and screams. He wouldn’t have made it this far without all of them, but now they’re gone. Sora drops his keyblade, then is swept away.

He arrives in the final world and gets his task from chirithy. In the beginning he feels so defeated, then encounters Namine. Instead of her telling him that Kairi is keeping him together, Namine says that she can feel everyone connected to him doing their part. Sora has done so much to try and keep everybody safe and spent all this time with them during their adventure that it’s only natural that they would believe in him. Now Sora feels a twinge of guilt, he gave up way too soon. No way he can let that slide. He was going to make it up to them for this second chance. Sora tells Namine about all of these flooding emotions he’s had involving her and everyone else in castle oblivion. Namine is genuinely shocked. Despite the chains being broken, Sora retained the key events. He didn’t look at her like he did back in The World That Never Was. Sora had been talking to her like an old friend he hadn’t seen in years. Sora told Namine that he was going to save everyone, including her. He promised that they were going to get her a body and she had to wait just a bit longer. Namine believed him and said she will try to get in contact with Terra. For a moment it felt like Sora could actually see Namine smile at him instead of just being a star. Sora smiled back and told her thank you, for everything. He ran off to do his job. Namine simply watched and tried not to cry. Their promise really found a way for them to meet again in a way she would’ve never dreamed of. Instead of it fading away. You get oblivion.

Before Sora really starts piecing himself together, he encounters the mystery star, and then an extra star. This extra star follows him around and surprises Sora when it reveals himself to be Roxas. He tells Sora he should’ve expected this since Sora was barely hanging on himself! Sora sheepishly apologizes but Roxas isn’t too bothered by it because he knows it’s temporary. What bothers him is Xion. He tells Sora who she is and the reason he feels hurt when they’re around each other is because of Xion’s connection to himself. Roxas asks Sora to face Xion and embrace that hurt so they can save her. Sora agrees but wonders if he can handle it. So far all fights against her didn’t go well. Roxas tells him not to worry. All he needs Sora to do his try his hardest and Roxas will make up the difference. Sora has no doubt Roxas will and thanks him before heading off. Roxas continues to follow you just so you have someone to talk to. Sora puts himself together and opens a gate to go find the others. Chirihy tells Sora that for future reference not to use the power of waking like he’s about to and explains how incredibly dangerous it is. Sora nods and leaves.

Sora beats up The Lich like usual and Young Xehanort calls him dumb. Everyone gets rescued from the cusp of death, now thoroughly frustrated by how sloppy they were. They’re going full throttle this time.(Oblivion obtained!) The team runs towards the fight again. Aqua and Ven are ready for Terranort but Lingering Will beats them to the punch, taking Terranort away as they fight. The Demon Tide arrives again with heartless and you fight it with the Destiny Trio. The fight has custom team attacks and even a trinity limit. You win and it turns into the hurricane again. Union X keyblades show up. (It’s so cool.) Ventus puts his hand on his heart. He feels oddly happy. All the scenes leading up to the boss rush are the same.

Sora and Riku vs Xigbar and Dark Riku goes off without a hitch. Nothing changes with Xigbar but Dark Riku is different. The original Riku Replica takes over the vessel. It’s clear the other’s could use the help and Vexen is on the good guy’s side so they can make more, is his reasoning. The original Riku goes off to chase Ansem while Rikuplica stays with Sora. He tells Sora it’s nice to see him again and Sora couldn’t agree more. The two of them don’t even have to speak to know exactly where to go next. They rush over to help Mickey, swiftly beating Luxord and freeing him so he can go after Xemnas. Suddenly the war feels like an old grudge match. Sora and Rikuplica vs Larxene and Marluxia. The heroes point their weapons at their foes and tell them this one is for Namine. Marluxia is actually happy Sora finally remembers him. It makes this fight all the sweeter. The fight ends with the heroes win, but at a price. Larxene and Rikuplica had struck each other down at the same time. Sora rushes to his friend who was starting to fade. Rikuplica told him not to feel bad about it. He planned on giving up this vessel after the fight anyway. The only reason he took it was to make sure those two wouldn’t hurt Namine and to fight by Sora’s side again at least once. Rikuplica tells Sora to take care of her before fading away, leaving the vessel. Sora finally remembers Castle Oblivion in its entirety. He simply clenches his fist and accepts the hurt before pressing on.

Ventus and Aqua catch up to Vanitas and Terranort. Aqua demands to know what happened to the armor that appeared earlier and Terranort simply laughs. Enraged, Aqua summons Master’s defender and rushes in to fight. Ventus follows her lead and Sora joins in a few minutes later. While that’s happening, Riku rushes through the maze towards Ansem until he hears a familiar voice. It leads him to dark chains that suspend and crush Lingering Will until he cuts them. The armor is cracked but still functioning. He thanks Riku and starts heading off before Riku stops him. Riku hadn’t told Ven and Aqua but he found something else at Radiant Garden. He pulls out Terra’s wayfinder and gives it to the armor. Riku tells him to go protect what matters and heads off. Things aren’t going to well back at the battle. Terranort manages to break Ven’s keyblade and Vanitas rushes in after Aqua as she tries to save Ven. Sora is quick enough to try and take the hit for both of them but Lingering Will swoops in again to save them. They’re all stunned to see him. Terra thanks Sora for looking after his friends but he can take it from here. Sora nods and manages to escape the battle. Terra tries to convince Ven and Aqua to leave too but they flat out ignore him. They pull out their wayfinders and each one starts to glow. Aqua tells Terra from this point forward they fight as a team. She tosses Ven Master’s Defender and summons her original keyblade. Her and Ventus bring out their armor and stand beside Terra. Now the real fight begins. The fight gives you the same team attacks from the Mirage Arena and each character gets their original command style that transforms into their character exclusive one from bbs. Wingblade, Ghost Drive, and Rockbreaker; while Terranort uses Dark impulse and Vanitas loses his mask and fights like he does in the final phase against Ventus. Vanitas is the first to fall. He nearly beat a Ventus until the boy gained a boost of strength from seemingly nowhere, his swords of light turning into starlight keyblades and striking down Vanitas. He simply laughs, giving Ventus no answer to his many questions about Vanitas. The entire wayfinder trio is know souly focused on Terranort. Refusing to give up, the man summons the chains again and captures them. He goes after Aqua first who almost managed to break free. The others scream her and The Guardian rises from the shadows to save her. It breaks the chains and rips off the bandages. Ven quickly uses the keyblade to wrap Terranort in chains while Lingering Will holds his body down for The Gaurdian to fire his heart out. A massive beam of light shoots up before fading and only leaving the armor. Ven and Aqua are speechless until the armor lifts its helmet to reveal Terra underneath in tears. Ven and Aqua throw their helmets off too and ran into their friends arms. All three of them hugging and crying.

Sora runs right into the middle of Saix and Xion fighting Axel and Kairi. Instinctively he screams out Xion’s name and everything goes quiet. Axel is confused by the name until she finally takes off the hood to reveal the white hair and yellow eyes. His memory starts to reform bit by bit and he grabs his head. Sora and Kairi’s chest both feel heavy but for the first time, Xion doesn’t react. Because of all the experiments, the only thing she has is broken memories and the suffering from them. You begin fighting her alone but to no effect. Sora rememberers Roxas’s words and lets in the pain. Xion comes at him again but stops at the sound of her name, this time with Roxas’s voice coming out of Sora. Xion’s head gets a little fuzzy but it doesn’t break the rampage. Kairi and Axel manage to endure the pain as well and stand with Roxas/Sora. If one voice isn’t enough then they’ll all try calling to her as they knock some sense in into her. Sora/Roxas summons Two Become One. The three are ready. It’s now or never. After an intense 3v2 fight, Xion starts to mentally down in the middle of combat. Then the standard cutscene happens where Xemnas shows up. The only difference being Axel’s keyblade doesn’t break. Xemnas grabs Kairi with his lightning instead of her wrist and leaves. Sora tries running after her best Saix gets in the way until the Seasalt trio pushes him back. Roxas tells Sora to go after Kairi and leave this fight to them. Sora runs off and you basically play the Remind fight but with no Xemnas. It ends the same though.

The battle against the Nort court is the same. Kairi getting shattered is the same, as well as getting into Scala. Xion tells Sora she can still feel Kairi and for him to remember her words. The thirteen armors and Xehanort boss are all the same as well. The only difference I added was a clash that sent both Sora and Xehanort flying backwards. Sora gets up first and has the chance to end it but realizes the good luck charm had fallen to the ground in front of him. Sora picks it up and all the pent up anger frustration he has from Xehanort ruining his and his and friends lives gets put on a leash. Sora remembers Kairi’s words about never losing his smile. He can’t help but get emotional and once again asks Xehanort what was the point of any of this. Xehanort gives his speech about balance and the entire scene and plays out like normal. Next major change is the end. Riku and Mickey convince Sora to not use the Power of Waking right off the bat, fearing the consequences. Sora listens to their idea to see Yen Sid but even he isn’t sure how to get Kairi back but they’ll do their best to find her. Sora leaves to get some air outside. Riku can’t help but follow him outside minutes later and finds Sora looking at his keyblade. He calls out Sora’s name and the boy turns around and does a smile similar to when he released his heart in Hollow Bastion. Riku knows Sora better than he knows himself. He doesn’t even try to stop Sora, but tells him to be careful. Sora puffs out his chest and says he’ll be back with Kairi in no time at all. Sora asks Riku to tell the others thanks and not to worry before opening up a gate and walking through. The ending sequence plays out the same and then the credits roll.

ReMind is a bonus episode after getting the secret reports and nothing in it changes because it’s perfectly fine. The only added thing we get is Sora giving back the lucky charm before he fades away, telling Kairi to be sure and bring it back to him. Limit cut and secret episodes are DLC or more extra stuff but yeah, I’m done.

In Summary:Kingdom Hearts 3, but the characters interact with each other and are allowed to feel multiple emotions at a time for extended periods of time. I know I sound like I’m punching down on this game but I genuinely do love this franchise since forever and I have strong feelings about almost everything to do with it. Which is why I’m bummed that KH3 is like my least favorite kingdom hearts game. It has good things in it but falls short on so many scenes and opportunities. This soft rewrite was literally me taking 92% of what the game already had in it and rearranging it to create various new situations that inevitably end the same way it does in the actual game. So yeah I give this game a 7/13 I’m still buying every game though 💀 (I’m not getting into any of my ideas of how kh3 could’ve gone before we knew too much about it. Now that’s a rewrite!)

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drifting-mindspace · 5 years ago

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Things we deserved to get from the Naruto manga and anime that we never got -

• JONIN NARUTO -

We followed him around as the lovable Genin knucklehead. Now it goes without saying that him being a Jonin is just a rank and honestly doesnt mean much. Rescuing Gaara, going after Kakuzo, Mount Miyaboku were all A & S-rank missions.

But I would liked to have seen him doing missions post war in a slightly more mature yet typically knuckleheaded manner instead of the passing phrase he made tonShikamaru about being too busy doing missions for the next 6 months.

We grew up with Naruto and now that he's older and stronger we dont get to see him in action.

• A Happily Married Kakashi & Shizune-

Hatake Kakashi has led a deeply traumatic life. His mother died when he was very young, his father committed suicide when he was 6 causing him to distance himself from everyone around him. The first person he opened up to and formed a bond with died moments later protecting him, the girl he deeply cared for and probably harbored feelings for which he was too afraid to confront died at his hands as he desperately tried to protect her, a year later his sensei died protecting the village. When he became a sensei to Team 7 he felt he was on a path to finding inner peace by ensuring these children avoid his traumas but his prized pupil went rogue shattering that hope. After all this I’d hoped he would’ve finally found a happy ending.

Why Shizune? Well I considered him and Kurenai getting together and him helping raise Mirai but Shizune has always felt like the only Kunoichi in Konoha who has her shit together. She is perfectly at peace with where she is in life. She is incredibly mature and level headed as she helps run the village with Tsunade. Someone who is at peace with herself and her aspirations is the perfect anchor for a man with a whirpool of trauma brewing in him.

Alas it seems like the showrunners have no intention of a romantic arc for Kakashi and the Hatake name will die with Kakashi.

• The Uzumaki Clan

Within a span of 3 months Naruto meets 3 Uzumaki clan members. Nagato, Karin and his own mother. While speaking with Kushina he finds out about the dark fate of the Uzumaki clan. How they were blessed with unimaginably high chakra reserves and were gifted in Sealing Jutsus, longevity and how it led to them being targeted by those who feared them leading to their village being wiped out and scattered across the shinobi world.

Instead of turning the Naruto saga into the Uchiha Chronicles Id have preferred a deep dive into the Uzumaki clan. Maybe even have a Sasuke-like venegeful figure who wants Konoha to suffer because they failed to provide aid to the village they called their strong allies in their greatest hour of need.

Like Sasuke this villain would’ve witnessed his fellow clansmen cut down, unlike Sasuke however he wouldn’t have had the likes of Naruto, Itachi or Kakashi to anchor him in the light leaving room for redemption.

This could have been the one villain that was so far gone in his pain and hatred that no amount of 'talk no jutsu' could have changed his mind and would've pushed Naruto to the very brink until he finally had to choose between killing his clansman or protecting his village.

Naruto would make the ultimate sacrifice for Konoha and this would all the more set his resolve to pulling Sasuke back from the darkness or dying with him.

An Uzumaki villain gifted in Fuijutsu and the use of the Uzumaki Kekkei Genkai, the Adamantine Chains along with massive chakra reserves would be the perfect power scaled villain for Post Pain Arc Naruto.

Instead we got Uchiha chronicles where everyone did whatever the fuck they thought of doing and chakra limits were all but history. This one really disappointed me. Which brings me to my next disappointment.

• Naruto Killing a Villain

Now I know it seems like an odd hang up. Naruto? Kill? But he is so fixated on redemption. That is exactly why I wanted this to happen. The series has gone out of its way to make sure Naruto hasn’t killed a character. The worst of it was against Kakuzu. The kind of attack unleashed upon Kakuzu SHOULD by all means have killed him. Yet somehow he was left in a ‘dying state’ and Kakashi was the one who did the deed.

Naruto being forced to kill a villain as a last resort and making a choice between saving someone dear to him or tainting his hands with blood was the ultimate moral conundrum for a shinobi whose biggest goal was rescuing his best friend from the dark. It would take him back to Itachi’s words where he asked Naruto what he would if Sasuke decided to destroy the village.

Instead we saw Rasen Shuriken and Rasengan getting scaled down to a point where they always injure and opponent but not kill him. For an S-rank jutsu, Rasen Shuriken happens to be quite lenient.

• Neji beoming the head of the Hyuuga Clan

This pisses me off the most. Neji was supposed to be to the Hyuuga was Naruto was to Konoha. I always expected Neji to overcome all the obstacles and get recognized by Hiashin who would then redeem himself and disband the branch system once and for all. Hiashin as a character was never redeemed. Here was a man who let his brother get executed to avoid punishment (albeit he was against it but it did happen), constantly abused his kind daughter and belittled her for being too soft and put her down to a point her personality was underdeveloped and she had deep seethed confidence issues.

Disbanding the branch system and making Neji the leader would redeem him in the eyes of the readers/ viewers and would clean up the Hyuuga clan.

Instead Neji was scrapped aside to give Naruto and Hinata a bonding moment. They had a bonding moment, it was when she almost died saving his life. Neji didn’t have to die for them to get together ffs. What a wasted potential.

• NaruSaku

Now I’m not a fanatic shipper. In fact when I read and watched the original series I absolutely HATED Sakura. My hatred for her reached it’s peak during the Zabuza arc when Naruto ran at the S-rank villain, got kicked away and got up to show he went in for his forehead protector. “What do you think you’re doing Naruto? Even Sasuke-kun wasn’t a match for him.” I just wanted Naruto to turn around and tell her to stfu in that moment. As the series approached the time skip I was well and truly content with NaruHina.

But Shippuden changed things. The hints towards Sakura’s changed feelings were sprinkled all over the series. One moment that stands out for me was the Clone Training arc where Sai tests her by abusing Naruto and she goes on a rage rant about how great he is. Let’s not forget that in her darkest hour, as she saw a ruined and destroyed village the only person she thought of and cried out to was Naruto. Not because she felt he could save the village (she was as shocked as Shikamaru as she found out he was facing pain alone) but because when things when bad for her the only person who she felt comfort around was indeed Naruto and that is indisputable.

She goes as far as ruining her friendship with Naruto, a bond she truly cherished as it was all she had left after Sasuke abandoned the village, and confessed her feelings to manipulate him. Yes manipulative, scheming and downright a bitch of a thing to do. But it was all she could think of to make Naruto stop chasing after Sasuke. She, more than anyone wanted to see Naruto become a Hokage and realize his dreams and dying while rescuing Sasuke was a risk she couldn’t take and she decided she’d have him hate her than die. Wrong yes. But oddly noble.

This combined with all the blatant attempts to establish her being like Kushina and Kushina saying she wants Naruto to find someone like her changed my mind from NaruHina. I still adore Hinata. She is a wonderful character. But organic plot progression is far more important to me than my ships being canon.

A Naruto-Sakura family would’ve been incredibly entertaining and the dynamics would be perfect. We’d see a Minato-Kushina couple on screen for the next series. Which brings me to my next disappointment.

•HinaShino

I don’t know if that’s the official name for the pairing but I always felt these 2 would make a great couple.They are both people of a few words and are both incredibly intuitive and understanding individuals. Shino would accept Hinata for who she was and vice versa. Being with someone who was happy with the person they were would go miles in helping them come out of their shells.

Altho this isn’t a massive disappointment for me. I’m happy that Hinata ended up with Naruto. But like I said organic plot progression matters to me and if Naruto ended up with Sakura I’d prefer Hinata to end up with Shino.

•Hiraishin No Jutsu

Sadly as the series progressed Naruto had become so OP that not letting him master his father’s improved version of Tobirama’s jutsu was a great decision. It would’ve just made him senselessly OP.

However instead of giving him all those God Tier power ups which he just gains in single training sessions I’d have preferred him working hard to master the Hirashin. Instead of sending him off to an island and treating him like a fucking idiot and asking him to survey animals I’d have preferred if Tsunade gave him an impossible task.

“You can’t fight in the battle. But I will only allow it if you can master your father’s jutsu.”

It was a period of 6 months between Danzo’s death and the start of the shinobi war. Ample time to show him training hard to learn a jutsu that for once required him to study. Hiraishin deals not just in physical acts of speed but also mastering seals. Seeing his friends go off to fight in the war as he was left behind would have only added to his frustration and motivated him more.

Showing Naruto training hard like they showed him training for Rasen Shuriken would’ve only made us cheer all the more harder when he’d make a badass entry on the battle field as Tobi came close to killing Kakashi and a three pronged Kunai swished between the two, an orange flash appeared and Naruto kicked Tobi away.

Sadly this was swapped for Pokemon evolutions where arc after arc Naruto levels up just like that. The show’s entire premise was based on hard work and guts.

Sasuke was the genius who gained his power through natural ability. Sure he trained hard but his strength came to him with ease. Naruto had to slog. He manged to make the Rasengan after nearly 15 episodes of training and even then he had to get stabbed to be able to use it. It wasn’t until another 10 episodes that he properly used it. His training for the Rasenshuriken took an entire season to yield results and even then he didn’t learn to throw it until he trained for another 3 seasons till the Pain arc.

Post pain all this is tossed aside. He sits at the waterfall twice and beats the darkness. He sits in the room once and tames Kurama. Later Kakashi and Guy are in trouble, he has an inner dialogue with Kurama and suddenly he mastered the two man team with no prior training. Rikkodu Sennin touches him once and suddenly he’s learnt how to grow eyes, stop death and fly just like that.

The series stopped being the Naruto series we grew up with post Danzo and it saddens me.

• Naruto Sensei -

And finally my last and greatest disappointment of all. Not seeing Naruto as a sensei. We’ve seen glimpses of his nurturing side in his interactions with Konohamaru but I’d have loved to have seen 40-50 episodes of him leading his own squad of genins. A perfect combination of Kakashi and Guy as he’d wow them with his brilliance and equally embarrass them in day to day interactions with his goofy tomfoolery. His genins would be in awe of him. Naruto Sensei - the hero of the war.

His students could have an arrogant son/daughter of a feudal lord who insisted he be trained by the war hero, Naruto and Kakashi had to cave in for diplomatic reasons. Naruto refuses to take anyone who doesn’t work hard to get where they are but after the bell test sees potential in the child. A child with no ninja background. His parents were farmers outside of Konoha who were very poor. His sole aim is to be a ninja so strong that he’s always assigned big missions that will help him ease his family’s financial burdens. A genin from the Inuzuka clan (or any other clan, maybe even Hanabi if the show wanted to push more Naruto-Hinata interactions) who thinks he’s better than the other 2 because of his family background but is taught humility by Naruto.

Sadly another development in Naruto’s life we were denied.

Well that’s my rant essay. I know a lot of people won’t agree with what I had to say but I wanted to get it off my best anyway. Why?

Because I wanted to dattebayo!

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docexe-mx · 4 years ago

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Hola, no sé si alguien ya te ha hecho esta pregunta, pero ¿por qué elegiste NaruHina sobre otros barcos? Como NaruSaku, ¿dónde es más explícito que Naruto está enamorado de Sakura y que ella comienza a devolver sentimientos, o SasuNaru, donde tienen un vínculo más grande y más establecido?

Translated to English:

Hello, I don’t know if somebody has already asked you this, but why did you choose NaruHina over other ships*? Like NaruSaku, where is more explicit that Naruto is in love with Sakura and that she is starting to return his feelings, or SasuNaru, where they have a bigger and more established bond?

Subsequent asks:

Do you believe that Naruto had a bond with Hinata? If so, how would you prove it?

Why is it difficult for people to understand that stating that Naruto cared about Hinata doesn't deny what he had with Team 7? Or why is it difficult for NH fans to accept that Naruto's first ties were to Team 7?

* As an aside, I feel the need to point out that the Spanish version of the first question used Google Translate so the term “ships” (derived from the word “relationships”, and used in fandom parlance to refer to fan preferred romantic relationships) is translated literally to Spanish, that is: “ships” = “boats” = “barcos”. The thing is, we Spanish speakers don’t use the term “ships” when referring to fan-preferred romantic relationships, and a proper equivalent term doesn’t really exist in Spanish (or at least, not as far as I know, you never know what neologisms will come from the Internet after all). So, we simply refer to them as “parejas” (that is “pairings” or “couples”).

That clarification aside, I stated before I was going to reply to these asks, so here we are. Very belated reply, but I spent most of October and November swamped with work and hadn’t had the time or energy to reply before, especially as I ended extending myself and essentially composed an essay.

So, without further ado, the reply is below the cut. I ended composing it in English as the subsequent asks came in English, so I presumed whoever send the questions was more proficient in that language. I put it below the cut for the benefit of whoever doesn’t want to read my shipping rants:

Regarding why I chose to ship NaruHina over other ships, to put it simply, I just found NaruHina’s dynamic and relationship far more endearing.

At the core, NH is a very tender love story: Two kids who suffer from being looked down and rejected (him by most of the village, her by most of her family), ultimately find mutual support and love on each other. Specifically, I found that the scenes both of them have together during the Chunin Exams arc carried a lot of emotional torque, and those scenes made me fall in love with the couple. Those scenes are also the ones that I would use to establish the bond between Naruto and Hinata, because yes, I do think they have a bond, and is a bond we see blossom as the manga progresses even if (admittedly) is not a bond that receives a lot of focus.

He starts as a snotty and troublemaking brat, the worst student in his class and the village pariah (and a pariah for reasons that are not his fault and were absolutely beyond his control). But in spite of all his mistakes, he never surrenders and persists on making reality his impossible dream, no matter what everyone else says. His courage and determination end catching the eye of this quiet, timid girl, who is rejected by her family due to her lack of strength. Her admiration for him inspires her to become braver and stronger, and in the process she adopts his nindo (“I’ll never go back on my word”). Ultimately, said admiration also ends blossoming into love.

At the third Chunin Exam, after seeing Neji trying to demolish Hinata’s confidence with cruel words (cruel words that ring far too close to home for him), Naruto cheers on her, which motivates her to confront her fears and battle Neji in spite of her cousin surpassing her in skills by far. Hinata’s courage and determination during the fight end impressing Naruto in spite of her defeat. Neji’s brutality also motivates him to avenge her honor (and with a blood vow, no less), as he feels kinship with her.

Before the fight with Neji at the quarter finals, Naruto feels down as his opponent is really strong and, in spite of all his training, he is not sure that he can actually defeat him. By chance he ends running into Hinata. She thanks him for cheering on her previously and muses that she is finally starting to change a little and likes herself more now. At her words of gratitude, Naruto drops the bravado and turns sincere with her, revealing that in spite of his boasting, he doesn’t think a “failure” like him who is always making mistakes can defeat a genius like Neji.

In response, Hinata proceeds to encourage him, stating that what she admires of him is not that he is perfect, but rather that in spite of making mistakes and failing he has the ability to rise and try again. She considers said ability true strength, hence why she considers him a very strong person, or a “proud failure” as she calls it (and incidentally, this is another detail that makes the ship endearing to me: Hinata is among the first few people who sees beyond Naruto’s flaws and realizes his true worth). Her words end cutting deep into Naruto (just the way he looks at her completely wide eyed shows how much she affects him) and help him to recover his determination. He leaves to face Neji but not before thanking her, stating that while at first he considered her a weird and plain girl, she is actually “a person [he] truly like[s]”.

Later during the fight, after Neji explains the tragedy of his past and the reason for his fatalist outlook on life and destiny, among his rebuttals of said outlook Naruto calls Neji out for his treatment of Hinata, pointing out that Hinata also suffered like him yet still was desperately trying to change her own fate (thus showing us that Naruto also understood Hinata’s plight). Finally, after the fight and Naruto’s victory, his first thoughts while basking on the audience ovations are (at least in the manga): “Where is Hinata? Did she saw that?” (Of course, Hinata is unconscious at this point due to her prior injuries acting up when she saw Neji injuring Naruto, but that’s a bit beside the point).

As you can see, in that entire sequence of events mentioned above is shown that they end forming a bond in their mutual understanding and support of each other, as well as in their shared nindo. It’s not a bond that receives a lot of focus later in the story, admittedly, but it’s still there and later developments in the manga don’t really negate it. Indeed, we end seeing a couple of actually significant story events that ultimately reinforce it.

I’m talking of course of Pain’s invasion of Konoha (when, while trying to save him from Pain, Hinata confesses her love to Naruto, explaining how he inspired her to change and become better, then Naruto goes straight to Six Tails in rage after watching her being injured by the villain) and the battle between the Shinobi Alliance versus the “Uchiha Sith Lords” and the Juubi (when, after seeing Neji die in battle while protecting him, Naruto is about to surrender to Obito’s rhetoric due to failing to protect his friends, yet Hinata stops him and encourages him again, helping him recover his fighting spirit while telling him that his feelings for his friends were not a lie and pleading him to not let Neji’s death be in vain). Both scenes also have a lot (and I mean, A LOT) of emotional torque, and reinforce the theme of mutual understanding and support that runs in the ship. On the whole, it’s a really positive bond, as it essentially drives both characters to uplift each other.

Now, while there is some of that NaruHina dynamic (“mutual understanding and support of each other”) in the other two ships that you mention (NaruSaku and SasuNaru), there are also things regarding their respective dynamics in the canon that make them… well, far too troubling for my personal taste.

In the case of Naruto and Sakura, their relationship dynamic (especially in the anime adaptation) resembles a lot the typical “Tsundere” dynamic that you see in a lot of manga and anime: A protagonist who has a crush or is in love with a girl with a bad temper, with said girl always punching him out every time he tries to woo her (or otherwise does something stupid or perverted in front of her), although she gradually warms up to him as time passes. I have to clarify that, strictly speaking, I’m not really against that kind of relationship dynamic in anime and manga (indeed, I like a few ships in other series that have that kind of dynamic). However, in the case of Naruto and Sakura, I find that dynamic pretty troubling, primarily due to Naruto’s backstory, hence why I never shipped them in a romantic sense (although I must add that I do like their relationship at a platonic level, as they do have a couple of pretty tender scenes together).

I might also clarify (pertaining to how you phrased your question) that while Sakura does warm up to Naruto as time passes and starts considering him a good friend, in the manga it’s never explicitly show at all that she starts to return his feelings. At most it’s only briefly implied during the early arcs of part II, but the “fake confession” scene during the Iron Country arc essentially throws the possibility by the wayside.

As to Naruto and Sasuke… well, first it’s important to recognize that the manga’s author never intended their relationship to be seen in a romantic way, but rather as a sibling-like relationship. Of course, that doesn’t negate that their bond is central to the storyline, neither that it receives a lot of focus for most of the manga and it also has scenes with a lot of emotional torque. All of that inevitably leads to shippers pairing them together in a romantic way, regardless of what the author’s intentions were.

That being said, while there is also a theme of mutual understanding in their bond of brotherhood and rivalry that also drives them to uplift each other, the problem is that… well, to put it bluntly, their relationship becomes extraordinarily toxic for a pretty big chunk of the story. I mean, seriously: For most of part II of the manga (and most of Shippuden in the anime), Sasuke becomes a massive cretin and jerkass that treats his loved ones (including Naruto) like garbage, causing them a lot of emotional pain and strife. Sasuke also tries to murder his closest friend in multiple occasions and Naruto literally has to give an arm in exchange before the Uchiha finally has a moral epiphany and decides to change his ways. Given Naruto’s backstory, once again I find that dynamic extremely troubling and distasteful, hence why I’m not fan of pairing them in a romantic way.

(I might probably also add that it’s because of the above paragraph why I’m not really fan of SasuSaku either. I have made my peace with that pairing mostly because Sarada is one of my favorite characters in Boruto).

As to your final question… well, I can’t speak for everyone in the fandom neither want to make any generalizations, but from what I have seen around online, it seems to mostly boil down to classic fandom rivalry.

Naruto ran for almost 15 years with the characters locked in a messy love dodecahedron that the author didn’t intend to resolve until the very last second. During that time the different fandom factions that formed around every ship obviously came to blows, with rivalries and grudges forming. The net result is that a lot of people in the fandom have become extremely hyper-defensive regarding their preferred ships, with some people often overstating the importance of certain bonds while simultaneously minimizing other bonds. You certainly see it happen in all the shipping fandoms: There are some NaruHina fans that minimize the importance of Team 7 bonds with Naruto, as well as some fans of ships involving members of Team 7 who take issue with the notion of Hinata also having a bond with Naruto.

It doesn’t help that some fans (usually very young ones) have a very… well, “immature” understanding of love and relationships: Falling in love with someone shouldn’t mean that suddenly all your other relationships become “lesser”. Thus, the fact that Naruto fell in love with Hinata in the canon of the series doesn’t mean that his bonds with his team mates, friends and teachers no longer matter. On contraire, all of them are important in different ways.

#naruto #naruhina #shipping #analysis #fandom #fandom criticism

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mysterylover123 · 6 years ago

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My Top 15 Narusaku Moments

by mysterylover123

I never expected to like NaruSaku. When I first started reading the series, I was aware of the fandom’s big pairings (NaruSasu, Sasusaku, Naruhina) and I assumed they were the ones I’d enjoy. But reading the series, slowly, bit by bit, scene by scene, NaruSaku won me over, to become one of my favorite anime pairings. I’m sad they didn’t get together, but I still love the scenes they share, and reading fanfics and doujinshis about what could have been. Hope you enjoy this top 15 moments list!

#15. Ramen Stand Feeding Scene

What Happens: Naruto is injured and Sakura offers to feed him. He gets excited about this prospect, but they’re interrupted by Sai.

Why I like it: It’s this moment of intimacy between the two - kind of simple, but I like how Sakura initiates it and he blushes and accepts. Sakura is someone who likes taking care of other people, and Naruto is someone who has never been cared for like this. They seem like a pretty perfect match.

#14. The Promise of a Lifetime

What Happens: Sakura asks Naruto to please bring Sasuke home. Naruto promises to do it, and this motivates him throughout the Retrieval Arc. Possibly much of the rest of the series.

Why I like it: It is not Sakura’s best move for sure, but it’s a sign of Naruto willingly putting her needs above his own, with no hope of her ever returning his feelings. It’s such a sweet moment of his promising her to bring Sasuke back, and seems to identify retrieving Sasuke as the barrier to them being together. I think he refuses to try and be with her until the end (or would have) because he wants her to choose him for him, not because Sasuke wasn’t available.

#13. The 10th Question

What Happens: When answering the 10th question, Sakura isn’t sure if Naruto can pass, and is willing to throw away their chance this year to protect his dream of becoming Hokage. His resolve, however, inspires her to keep moving forward.

Why I like it: Sakura was willing to throw away her shot to protect Naruto’s dream. Naruto’s willpower inspires her to move forward, and later in this arc to cut off her hair and beat up the villains to protect him. They have such a mutually reciprocal bond. (Also, he liked her short hair, while Sasuke was said to like long hair. Symbolism much?)

#12. The Bench Scene

What Happens: Naruto, disguised as Sasuke, flirts with Sakura. She confesses her feelings and he realizes why he likes her so much.

Why I like it: Just as Sakura is feeling insecure about her ‘large forehead’, Naruto comes along and tells her he finds it charming and wants to kiss it. He’s attracted to the very feature she’s ashamed of. He likes even the parts of her she doesn’t like. And he empathizes with her need for belonging.

#11. Naruto vs Gaara

What Happens: Naruto finds the strength to defeat Gaara while fighting to protect Sakura.

Why I Like it: Got a real soft spot for characters finding their strength protecting their love interest. Here, Naruto is able to call upon strength he hadn’t known before and fight Gaara to keep Sakura safe.

#10. Love Confession

What Happens: To stop Naruto from dying for his promise, after hearing from Sai that he loves her, Sakura takes him aside and tells him she loves him. He believes she’s lying and shuts her down.

Why I like it: Honestly, even though the story tells me her confession was fake, her blush and sheepish body language, along with all her attraction to and behavior towards him before this, convinces me this was real. But since it’s officially not, I’m ranking it a little lower. Still, it’s a full blown ‘I love you’, hard not to enjoy that. And I think she does love him, platonically or not.

#9. Chunin Exams

What Happens: During the Chunin Exams, Naruto and Sakura both yell out their support to each other during their matches.

Why I Like it: Sakura’s able to beat Ino because Naruto supports her. Nobody at the time believes in Naruto to win, except for Sakura, who cheers him on. They’ve got each other’s backs.

#8. Minato Scene

What Happens: Minato sees Sakura healing Naruto and asks if she’s his GF. He says kinda and she doesn’t deny it. He says she reminds him of Kushina.

Why I like it: Naruto and Sakura don’t deny that they’re dating when asked. Minato notices that she’s similar to Kushina (since Naru wasn’t raised by Kushina, this doesn’t even have the potentially creepy ‘wants mom’ aspect). Instead it’s just ‘this girl could make my son a good wife’. It’s really cute.

#7. Shippuden Reunion

What Happens: Naruto and Sakura reunite after a few years apart. They’re all grown up now. She blushes at him and he tells her she doesn’t look different.

Why I like it: Sakura finds him attractive now that they’re all grown up. He’s always found her pretty, so he says she looks the same. I wouldn’t be into the pairing if it didn’t seem like she was attracted to him too, but she clearly is right here. It’s great.

#6. Yamato Line

What happens: As Sakura is healing Naruto, Iruka says the above rather ambiguous line, hinting that he was about to ‘you love him’ or something similar.

Why I like it: There’s some very well-placed ambiguity here, gently implying that Sakura’s feelings for Naruto are not platonic any more, or at the very least extremely powerful.

#5. Someone Precious

What Happens: After training for a while to impress Sakura, Naruto happens on Haku, who asks him if he has ‘someone precious’ that he’s training for. He realizes he does.

Why I like it: This entire arc is so focused on how having someone in your life you care about is key to success in life (also the whole series). For Naruto, this is Team 7, predominantly Sakura at this point. She’s “someone precious” to him. (I also enjoy her helping him complete the task, and him complementing her strength. It’s sweet).

#4. Heaven and earth scrolls

What Happens: Iruka explains how Naruto has the ‘earth’ scroll and Sakura the ‘heaven’ scroll. They basically complete each other.

Why I Like it: I love pairings that are able to complete each other and encourage the other to do their best. This seems to be saying that Naruto and Sakura are two halves of the same whole and will make each other better together than they would be apart.

#3. CPR Scene

What happens: As Naruto is dying, Sakura in a desperate mood and determined to save him gives him CPR and pumps his heart back to life.

Why I like it: She proclaims that she wants him to achieve his dreams and pumps his heart until he revives. She literally holds his heart in her hand and presses her lips to his. She makes his dreams come true.

#2. Heaven and earth Bridge

What happens: Naruto goes out of control with worry over Sasuke. Sakura, feeling like this is her fault, runs over to him and is accidentally injured by Kyuubi. Later on, she lies to Naruto to make him feel better, but when he learns that he hurt her he resolves to try harder to control himself.

Why I like it: It’s a great scene of concern on her part for him, and it showcases his concern for her. I also enjoy the bit where he compliments her for her medical prowess and strength, but flubs it up by calling it ‘monstrous’.

#1. Invasion of Pain

What Happens: During the Pain Invasion, Sakura is desperate and calls out for Naruto. Once he saves the village, she goes up to him and hugs him (post tsundere moment) and thanks him.

Why I love it: It’s just sweet and simple. It feels like in this moment she really chooses to be with him, and shows her appreciation for him. He looks so happy and surprised at finally being hugged by the girl he likes, and it’s very pure. Even Hinata smiled at it, she seemed happy. I enjoyed it so much and it makes me smile.

#NaruSaku #top 10 #Naruto Uzumaki #naruto #Sakura Haruno #sakura x naruto #naruto x sakura

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ywhiterain · 5 years ago

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The best bit of Naruto characterization

In terms of personality, that Naruto takes after his mom. Kishimoto threw a subtle hint or two about Naruto inheriting Minato’s legacy, but when it came down to actually developing his parents as characters... Naruto is basically his mommy.

Which is why I’m constantly baffled by people saying he should end up with a girl like her. Sure, birds of a feather flock together. But it’s not easy to build chemistry between two characters who are similar personality and drive when it takes up only a fraction of the narrative proper.

We can talk NaruSaku, but I don’t think Sakura is much like Kushina. Kushina was always headstrong and a ditz, while Sakura spent most of her childhood burying her tomboyish nature and never dense or socially awkward. Unless you count baby Sakura, who was shy.

I think a more reasonable interpretation is that Minato wanted Naruto to find a girl who’d love him as fiercely as Kushina did him. And if Sakura had been in love with him, they would have been a good match. That NaruSaku moment was a ship tease, but not real development.

That’s how most of the NaruSaku moments went down in part two. Other people commented on NaruSaku, but when it came down to it - their big moments were written platonically. They were about friendship, growth, and mutual understanding. Naruto isn’t thinking about how much he’s in love with her, he’s just so profoundly greatful that she’s in his life. As for Sakura, she just never saw him that way, even when she admired his growth.

When it came to shippy interaction, Naruto would flirt or ask her out and she’d shut it down. And Naruto didn’t really care? He’d accepted she loved his best friend instead and never seriously pursued her. And, at some point, he was furious with the idea that Sakura would lie about her feelings for Sasuke. Kind like he was ticked whenever Sasuke lied about loving team seven. He was under no illusion that Sakura had eyes for him.

And he was okay with that.

I’ve been in this fandom for almost fifteen years. Right from the get go, most people who weren’t SasuSaku shippers figured Naruto and Sakura would get together. And it could have made sense! Naruto winning over Sakura’s love would have been in line with the most over goal of the narrative: Naruto working to achieve his dreams.

Only, Naruto’s desires developed. Naruto started out wanting to be the Hokage because that would mean everyone accepted him. That goal changed into him wanting to change the world for the better. It’s why him becoming Hokage itself was played up for laughs - the narrative proper was over. With the help of his friends, he created a lasting peace and a slightly less terrible ninja culture.

His desire for Sakura was similar. He wanted her friendship, in particular, because he sensed she longed for genuine acceptance like he did. He thought proof of that friendship would be a romance, which a lot of the audience accepted. Instead, gaining her friendship included respecting her own desires on her own terms.

It’s not a radically feminist narrative. It was subversive enough to catch a lot of people by surprise. At least the English speaking fandom.

Japanese fans and fandom is a whole other thing entirely. It’s objectivity popular. It’s what makes talking about feminist themes in Naturo complicated- I don’t have any particular expertise on Japanese feminist literatures theory. I can’t say if these subversive themes makes sense in that fandom.

But, at the same time, Nartuo was a genuine international hit and there is value in interpretation that prioritized a Western lens.

#naruto #uzumaki naruto #naruto meta #shipping

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365daysofsasuhina · 5 years ago

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[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Three Hundred Eighteen: Doubt ] [ Hyūga Hinata, Haruno Sakura ] [ SasuHina, NaruSaku ] [ Verse: A Light Amongst Shadows ] [ AO3 Link ]

“Hey, Hinata...can I...talk to you?”

Startling a bit, not having been paying attention as she picks up some groceries on her day off, Hinata turns to see none other than Sakura standing behind her. And if the kunoichi’s tone wasn’t enough, her posture - unsure, hesitant, and clearly worried - tells even more. The Hyūga’s brows wilt in a mix of concern and sympathy. “Of course, Sakura-chan. Um…” She looks to her bag of groceries, which is technically only half full when compared to her list. “Could you...give me just a minute?”

“Oh, I-I don’t mean right this second!” Sakura backpedals, waving her hands. “I...I just happened to see you, and...I wanted to talk to you. But no, don’t let me interrupt! Uh...maybe we could...meet somewhere later?”

“Sure. There’s a really nice cafe two blocks east of here...do you know it?”

“I think so.”

“Give me maybe...half an hour to finish up here, and I’ll meet you there, okay?”

“Yeah...yeah, okay. Thanks, Hinata.” Managing a flicker of a smile, Sakura then makes a beeline in the other direction.

For a moment, Hinata just stands, blinking. Well that was...odd. What could Sakura want from her…? Why did she look so nervous? Mulling it over, she then remembers she’s technically on a schedule now. Finishing up her list, she makes a quick trip home before returning to the belly of the village to meet her old classmate.

Hinata has never been particularly close to the rosette. Part of Hinata had always shied from her loud nature, and...well, maybe part of her was put off due to seeing how much Naruto fawned over her. She wouldn’t call it jealousy, but...maybe a very early knowing - one she couldn’t bring herself to admit to - that in the end, Naruto wouldn’t choose her.

Of course, nowadays that’s hardly a concern. Hinata’s changed a great deal since the war several weeks ago. And so has everyone else...some for more obvious reasons than others. While she played her part and supported Naruto as best she could...there was still no quite catching up to him.

And she’s made peace with that.

Part of her, she knows, will always be fond of him. He was the first person she felt that sort of affection towards. But so too does she know now that she isn’t what he needs. She’ll always support him. Always endeavor to be his friend. But as for anything else - anything more - well...he’s clearly made his choice.

Mind full of such thoughts as she pushes open the door, hearing the staff greet her jovially, Hinata quickly finds Sakura seated in a corner by a window. Her gaze is caught through the panes, brows slightly wilted.

“...Sakura-chan?”

The other girl startles, obviously burst from her thoughts “Oh -! Hinata! Sorry, I was…” She gestures to the view. “...zoned out, I guess.”

“That’s all right.” Daintily taking her seat, Hinata waits a moment to see if Sakura will offer any information first. When she doesn’t, she instead asks, “Are you...all right?”

“Huh?”

“You seemed rather...out of sorts. And, well...you still do, honestly. Is something...wrong?”

Jade eyes seem to flicker back and forth between Hinata’s own pale orbs. Even now, her expression is so...nervous. “I’ve, well...I’ve been doing a lot of...of thinking lately. And, uh...I’m not sure where to go from here. So I thought I’d ask someone, and...you were the first person to come to mind. I just hope I’m not...stepping over my boundaries.”

“Well...I’m not sure if I’ll be able to help, but I’ll certainly try,” Hinata assures her gently. “My f-first concern is if you’re okay.”

“...literally? Yeah. There’s just...something that’s been weighing on me. I guess a...choice I have to make? I’m just not sure what the right one is...y’know?”

Hinata gives a small tilt of her head. “You have...doubts about your decision?”

“I...yeah? Well...it might be more of a doubt about...myself…” Sakura’s expression falls. “...for such a long time, I was a blind, naive girl. I chased someone shallowly who had no interest in me, all while turning a blind eye to someone who genuinely cared for me. Maybe Naruto only claimed he liked me at first because of his rivalry with Sasuke-kun, but...our common goals, especially after Sasuke-kun left...they brought us a lot closer. But I’ve realized it wasn’t just Sasuke I hurt with my actions and wayward feelings...but Naruto, as well.”

A kind of knowing twists Hinata’s gut into a knot.

“S-so, I...I’ve been easing myself back into talking with both of them. It’s...well, obviously, it’s going a lot easier with Naruto than Sasuke-kun, as you’d probably guess,” Sakura mumbles. “...but I really do want to make up for how I failed them both. And I know it’s not going to happen overnight. I...I need to change. I have changed, but...not enough. And…” She hesitates.

“...you want to know if you should open your heart to Naruto-kun after so long of dreaming of Sasuke-kun.”

Sakura’s face goes slack with surprise. “You…?”

Hinata gives a small, somber smile. “...in some ways, you and I both know what it is to chase someone who, in the end...didn’t want to be chased. That’s why you came to me...isn’t it?”

There’s a long pause, and then the Haruno wilts, looking almost ashamed. “...yeah...I-I know it’s a shitty thing for me to do - you loved Naruto for so long, and -”

“And people change,” Hinata interjects gently, but firmly. “...we both know he doesn’t see me the way I saw him. And even then...sometimes I doubt just w-what I saw in him. Inspiration, sure...but does that lead to love? I don’t know…”

Sakura considers her. “...I’m sorry, I...I shouldn’t have -”

“No. It’s fine. Part of me will always be with Naruto-kun. But I can’t make him love me. And I wouldn’t want to, e-even if I could. And it says a lot about you that you’ve learned the same lesson with Sasuke-kun. Even more so that you’re considering not just your feelings, but theirs as well. You have changed, Sakura-chan.

“As for...making a decision, I don’t know if you need to make it quite yet.”

“...but -?”

“If you do still have doubts about yourself, and your choice...then it’s not the right time to make it. Let yourself grow a little more. Them, too. If Naruto-kun has waited this long, then...I’m sure nothing is going to change his mind. But...maybe you could talk to him. Be h-honest with how you’re feeling. I’m sure he would appreciate you being open with him, and...maybe it will lead to you both finding middle ground, i-in the meantime.”

Sakura blinks. Blinks again. “...you know, you’re really good at this, Hinata.”

The comment makes her go pink. “I...I guess I’ve just thought about this sort of thing a-a lot. That’s all.”

“Well, still...you’re very easy to talk to, and...you’re a lot wiser than I gave you credit for. Heck, maybe you should give talking to Sasuke a try,” Sakura sighs. “I mean...you two have talked before a bit, right?”

“Just since after the war...before then, almost never.”

“...maybe that will help, in all honesty. A lot of us, well...we left rather bad impressions on him before he left. And…” Sakura flinches. “...some of us only made things worse with time. But if you two are still relative strangers...maybe he’d find it easier to open up to you. Start clean, y’know?”

“Well, I...I’ve been trying to help bridge that gap, admittedly. I feel like, in some small ways...I understand what he went through. Obviously not completely, but...our pasts have a few small parallels.”

“...maybe that could help you start. But...if it’s not something you want to do, don’t force yourself, of course. Though I know I really messed up with them both...I still want Sasuke-kun to be happy. And maybe that could start with him making a friend.”

“Well...I-I’ll try. But I guess in the end, it would be up to him.”

The pair fade into a thoughtful silence, each lost in their own webs of ideas and decisions.

“...thank you, Hinata. I...I feel a lot better.”

Looking up from her absent stare at the table, Hinata gives a small, warm smile. “I’m glad. And...p-please, never fear coming to talk to me. I know, um...I know this was an awkward topic, but I’m always happy to help, or at least try.”

“I appreciate it. Really, I do.” Making to stand, Sakura gives a tired smile. “...anyway, I better get going...I’ve whittled away a lot of my day off on all this nonsense, so I’d best get some things done before tomorrow. See you around, Hinata.”

“G-good luck, Sakura-chan.” Waving, Hinata decides to keep her seat, sighing. She’s content, in a way...maybe Naruto and Sakura can be happy together. And them being happy with make her happy.

...but poor Sasuke...though Hinata knows he’s still more than angry with his teammates (and she still only has bits and pieces of the story), he still has to be so lonely…

...maybe she will reach out a little more. Maybe their clean slate means she’ll have a bit more luck. And regardless of anything else, she wants him to be happy, too.

And if she can be even a little part of that, well...she’ll be all the more glad to have helped.

.oOo.

Well this is...super random? I uh...I had a really rough day, and just feel kinda...off. So I'm not sure if this is any good. Doesn't help the prompt had me kinda eh for inspiration. I realize the ship isn't really IN this one, but it's more of an introduction into how things go in the canon divergent verse I have. Which...I'm heavily revamping for plot holes, so that doesn't help with how off the whole thing feels while I clean up 7+ years of dust and old, inexperienced plotting :'D But uh...yeah. ALAS sees a lot of character growth that's...honestly missing in canon post-699. Especially concerning team seven and Hinata. A bit of which we can see here. Naruto and Sakura both have a LONG way to go in that story from this point, but...it's a start! And Hinata's also getting her first inclinations to start really reaching out to Sasuke... :3c Anyway, I am...very very tired, and drained, and just...blegh, so I'ma go. Thanks for reading~

#sasuhina #narusaku #hyūga hinata #haruno sakura #a light amongst shadows [ canon verse ]#365daysofsasuhina

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21tailsofwoe · 7 years ago

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why do I ship NaruSaku? (aka my narusaku megapost)

[My submission for the final day of the NARUSAKU AUGUST EVENT, 2017]

This post is dedicated to all my fellow NaruSaku shippers, the ones who have gone down with this ship and yet continue to hold on to it, submerged in a sea of our perfect fanon. Enjoy this extremely long post about the pairing of Naruto and Sakura :) x

You may want to sit down with a cup of coffee/tea, find a comfortable environment, and just fill yourselves with shipper feels in order to read this.

So, why do we ship NaruSaku when it isn’t even canon?

Because it’s about a relationship that involves two individuals harbouring healthy feelings for each other, showing great respect towards each other and putting great trust in each other, facing great adversities and only coming out stronger than ever before, having developed an even stronger connection.

It’s not just the big, flashy, seemingly-romantic moments between them that draws me to them. It is, in fact, the smaller but significant interactions that makes me admire whatever Naruto and Sakura share. Throughout the manga, there have been several moments signifying the development of their bond, paving the way to the depiction of a more grounded and realistic relationship (at least, with respect to the Narutoverse and its foundation of “bonds”).

Here’s a collection of some Naruto and Sakura moments from the manga, moments that make my shipper heart go squeee. Seeing them in a romantic light or not is up to you! I mean, NaruSaku as a BroTP is unbeatable, but this post will be more OTP-oriented. Feel free to keep these moments for yourselves ;)

The start of it all

okay maybe not the most perfect start

naruto’s (true) reason of having a crush on sakura

their support for each other in the chunin exams

some cute moments

some even cuter moments

even when they’re grown up, they’re grown up dorks

blushy blushy (while still being dorks)

“ooooh but narusaku is such a plain ship. there’s no angst!!!”

honey u sure about that

LOOK AT HIS FACE JHFSKDGKJLHGF

The POAL is nothing but angst for Naruto. How he chose to put aside his feelings for Sakura. If this doesn’t show you his maturity and the amount of respect he has for Sakura’s feelings, I don’t know what to tell you.

The moments preceding the POAL shows us the development of the respect Sakura has for Naruto. How she felt at first about him, and how she felt now. A beautiful contrast.

How ‘bout Sakura’s promise to Naruto?

:’)

Power CoupleTM

Here’s a panel of a Naruto in awe of his waifu

here have some more angst

Look how much she cares for him. Romantic or platonic, love is love and it’s very evident from these panels.

Also, Sakura invented the slapped-sense-into-Naruto thing before it was cool:

And whatever thing they have against Sai, it’s common:

“Sakura is so selfish!!! She used Naruto!!! She doesn’t care about him!!!”

ya lol.

“But NaruSaku in the manga is so one-sided!!”

Yamato would disagree...

Annnnnnndddd the dorks are back!

Which is then followed by the reunion with Sasuke, after which we were given one of the most beautifully tragic panels in the manga:

Not only is this one of the best Naruto-Sakura moment, but for me, this is one of the most powerful panels in the entire manga. After all these years, they finally find Sasuke only to have their hearts broken again. They’re both in a state of grieving, and Sakura, with her back towards him, tells him to stay strong even though she’s hurting herself.

Gosh, I absolutely love this scene.

Another scene similar to the above moment, after Pain’s defeat:

Sakura trying to console Naruto when she’s worried herself. Awww

Then moving on to these fan-favourite panels:

a moment ruined by non other than our beloved Sai

And then, of course, after Pain destroys the entire village. Sakura sees her home being reduced to nothing. Konoha is lost. There seems to be no hope. Sakura, in that very moment of shock and despair, calls out one name:

That’s how much she believes and trusts in Naruto. And this is then followed by Naruto’s iconic entry jdhkshj

Now, we come to my favourite NaruSaku moment in the entire series...

The Hug.

After one of the most important events in Naruto’s life, one of the most important people in his life thanks him for what he’s done (after giving him a piece of herself for his reckless of course :P). No words needed. Just a “thank you.”

(The people staring at them though. Relatable.)

Moving on to this, the purest representation of Naruto’s feelings for Sakura, observed by a third party (who happens to be none other than Sai, of course):

He loves her, but he can’t tell her because he feels that he has no right to do so. Because he couldn’t keep the promise he made to her all those years ago.

Which prompts our beloved Sai, to take this action:

Realisation hits Sakura, and she can do nothing but cry. Because Sai’s words make her believe that she herself is causing pain to Naruto because of the promise he made.

ouch

Which then brings us to the “bad” NaruSaku moment:

Having realised what she has caused, Sakura becomes desperate. She wants to save Naruto from burdening himself with saving Sasuke all alone. Everyone decides that Sasuke has to be dealt with once and for all and she does not want Naruto to bear this burden. In a desperate attempt, she “confesses” to Naruto, hoping to free him from the promise he made. She says she doesn’t want Sasuke back even though she knows that Naruto wants to save Sasuke regardless of anything. She’s willing to put aside her own happiness for Naruto.

And Naruto, being perceptive as he is and having known Sakura for so long, doesn’t buy any of it:

He knows that Sakura doesn’t love him. He can sense the lies in her words because he knows her a little too well.

Sakura, her desperation growing again, blurts out the true reason behind what she was doing and why she came all the way to talk to him:

Sakura had nothing but good intentions in the end, while her lies may not necessarily be called justified. She was only seeing what she wanted to see. She couldn’t see what implications it would have on both her and Naruto.

But it was all for him, and him only. So that he could stop hurting.

Not every relationship is perfect. Two people who happen to be close to each other don’t have to be on the same page. Misunderstandings occur, things happen. This was a significant hurdle for the relationship that they shared.

Later, we get this iconic moment:

The intensity in Naruto’s eyes. The way he holds her. The way he glares at Sasuke.

Perfection.

Oh, and how can I forget about this one?

oh wait sorry that’s a red herring. Because of course the last words of the protagonist’s mother have to be a red herring. (Pardon the salt.)

And then we get Minato’s approval too:

a herring drenched in blood

Our dorks manage to squeeze through some more dorkiness in the midst of war:

How can you not love them

Speaking of NaruSaku moments in the war...

Naruto, the very person for whom the war was being fought for, dies in battle...And guess who’s there to save him, to bring him back to life...

Sakura fucking Haruno. The girl who, literally, held Naruto’s heart in her hand, and brought him back to life.

While performing the surgery, she had one thought in mind:

His dream. She couldn’t let him die because she believed in his dream and cared for it too much to have him die on her.

Again, one of the most intense moments in the manga.

Of course, there are a lot more moments that I have missed out (like Heaven&Earth, Vs. Gaara, the lil moments in Part 1, etc.) but I’m confident I have made my point.

One of the biggest reasons for shipping NaruSaku is its development. Their story starts off with Naruto liking Sakura, but Sakura despising Naruto and treating him like garbage. But, as the story progresses, Sakura gets to see that Naruto is not just some brat spouting nonsense about some impossible dream he absolutely cannot achieve.

The manga suffers from a major problem of ‘telling, not showing.’ But at least with NaruSaku, we have everything.

Nothing has to be implied. It’s just there, on the manga pages. We see them grow together, we see them go through stuff together, we see them having common goals, we see them sharing each other’s grief. We see everything. We don’t just see some few big moments. We see a lot of smaller, yet significant moments as well. There are romantic-moments, there are not-so-romantic scenes, there are scenes that highlight the impact of their relationship on each other, there are scenes which make you cherish their friendship, there are certain parallels and hints to depict symbolism, a beautiful aspect of Kishimoto’s storytelling, and there is so much more that we ourselves can interpret with what we are shown.

Of course, we don’t have our happy ending for these two, but with all that the manga has provided us with, we already have a beautiful foundation for our fanon.

And that is what makes me ship NaruSaku.

Happy NaruSaku Event folks! I thoroughly enjoyed these past few days! Really loved interacting with all my shipmates. May we ship NaruSaku for life and beyond!

NaruSaku trash out.

#narusaku event #narusaku #sakunaru #NS event: free day #metalks #narusaku analysis #my analysis #this took a lot of time to make aha #but i loved every second of it :')#long post #long af post

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ryodan · 8 years ago

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Every team 7 ship VS NaruHina

To the clique that argued with me in the saltiest of ways, I dedicate to you my first ever anti nh post. I hope you think twice about telling people to kill themselves over your self insert and stop being a pimple on society’s ass.

Let’s start with the one that gets on your tits the most

Naruhina VS Narusaku (The Heaven and The Earth), alternatively titled : stop being angry he liked the hot chick and stop pretending Sakura isnt kushinas parallel

Whenever you feel the need to drag Sakura remember your origin story, @Lunaneko14. Don’t forget your years of defending SS to ride on it’s back lest ns happens

Your ship was here, while the ns fandom had this..no amount of sakura bitterness will change that, @mythicalheartbeat

Ya boy that she was gorgeous from before team 7’s creation

Before you call Sakura selfish while gratifying Hintata, @fallingforkonoha, remember your void eyed princess entered a fight Tsunade knew not to interfere in knowing she can’t do anything to confess her feelings (at the perfect timing too, really) saying this about herself

A sentiment that continued until her almost final appearance in the manga she took up less than 1% of, as she took a moment to appreciate Narutos, big capable hands in front of her dead cousin . hand holding in front of lavish scenery is so sweet

VS Sakura, the selfish monster who went in knowing she might get hurt, for him, because she cared greatly about his physical and emotional safety

Remember all those times Hinata just cared so much about his dreams, all those times she was there when he needed her

I love how she always believed in him, unlike Sakura. What a bitch, remember that comment she made in chapter 3 out of 700? Awful.

This QUEEN vs this BITCH, amirite @blackotaku97?

You know whats better than stealing someones ninja way, walmart naruto with a nuclear mushroom cloud of a head? Supporting your precious peoples ninja ways and finding your own.

A common argument that gets thrown around : Hinata was ALWAYS there for him

Sorry, I must have missed her in Narutos speech of the people who saved him from his loneliness and pain

I really like how she sees him miserable and doesn’t help him it’s the epitome of always there

Most of all, you nasty trash can excuse of a human being, I want you to get your head out of your asshole for just 3 seconds and accept that this happened

You can’t change what’s been set in stone

No amount of yapping with a filler movie can change the past. But you know what? Bitches bark and yap, that’s no surprise

No amount of yapping about the twin lions fist, a head branch hyuga jutsu being hinatas own changes facts, @commanderkurama

My fav part of the pain arc was when Naruto never asked Hinata about her confession, or her safety. I also particularly like Narutos first ever hug that someone else initiated

Drag Sakura all you want but remember when you were here after 2013

Narusakus had this before 2007

Remember that while your self insert was fainting and going on suicide missions

Sakura and Naruto had already built a relationship based on mutual support, respect, love and equal footing (weather platonic or romantic, love is love). A relationship where they both believed in each other, supported each other, had each others back, laughed with each other, cried with each other, had actual chemistry with each other. Remember that the next time you whine about people loving this ship instead of your talked about the weather and clothes ship in an entire movie dedicated to them couple.

Sakura supports your faves so much that no wonder you want to debunk her heroine status and reduce her to a side supporting character that matches your background fav

Hiding her tears so she doesn’t hurt him!11! reminds me of that time she fake confessed to keep him, kakashi and the rest of the world safe even if at the cost of killing her beloved one to save him from falling into deeper darkness. Sakura is so selfish, no wonder everyone in Japan hates NS

Know your place, Linda. Keep your scumbag-kun and the girl 2ch calls Hinabuta (quick Japanese crash course, that means hinapig), I like my Naruto and Sakura-chan just fine.

SasuSaku (The Hawk and The Cherry Blossom), alternatively titled: You rode on my back for years because your ship wouldn’t have had a hope in high hell if it were not for these two

Lunaneko, I think someone told me you said we try to compete with your shit ship.

It’s hard hearing you over making ship history

While Naruto was busy ignoring Hinatas general existence because she has the presence of the trash can in the sasusaku confession scene Sasuke (a boy who’s been thirsted after fresh from mikotos womb was already flustered and blushing towards sakura

You know what development is? Starting off with an irritable boy with 6 years worth of survivor guilt and manipulation weighing on his shoulders, saying something incredibly ignorant that rightfully pisses him the fuck off but still having him worry enough about you to stay with you to ensure your safety even at the risk of elimination

Aside from giving naruto his first hug, she gave sasuke his in years. Apparently Linkin park was so affected by human touch that he opened up to her about something he’s been repressing and isolating himself over for years. Going so far as stating ‘At that time, I was crying’ and even explaining his entire stance in the story ‘I am avenger’

Development is going from this look

To this look

From this

To this

And that wink too. There’s more chemistry in that wink than the entire NH movie

Remember that time Sakura helped Sasuke develop from a boy who had a childhood trauma based fear of stronger opponents with blood lust to a boy who fought Orochimaru bravely and grew 10x times in a single scene? All while she developed herself? And grew from an agreeable sasuke fangirl to a respected team mate? Y’all wanna compare the war hand hold scene to this? The war scene could have had potential if it ended better lmao

Why was he fighting?

Protecting her seems like an odd concept to you? Sasuke can’t relate :/ Naruto aint even wanna walk hinata home what joke is this

Remember that time Sasuke almost killed a guy in the forest of death? No, not broke Zakus arm

Sasuke was willing to kill for Sakura and I hope you know sasuke’s stance on killing. Where’s Naruto having this much care for hinata I don’t see it my competition is really lagging in this ‘race’

Remember that irritable boy? This boy crawling to her for comfort is a boy who grew alongside her, naruhina who?

You know what she did? She stayed up all night tending to her team mates, falling for konoha. Theres a fine line between cheating your crush at the risk of your team and staying up all night in a place titled the forest of death tending to their wounds at a mere bud age of 12

Wait no, bud who? She bloomed, all thanks to being inspired by the holy trinity (whos front and center? Louder for the people in the back, this is inspiration not just wanting to be with someone) and her own determination to protect her loved ones

Mutual development? Fuck me up. Here is an emotional maturation moment for BOTH of them

I love all of these mutual nh moments in the manga, all 0.0005 of them

She gave rise to a gentle protective side of him, so much so that he has used polite Japanese speaking to her before. The databook even states he saw her as someone he needed to protect. people ship ships for that special spark.The only spark hinata ever got was her wet dream from holding narutos hand, which she awoke from when she tripped on rock-kun

Naruto can’t tell apart true love from ramen? Canon Naruto can’t relate

I love that panel of jealous Naruto it’s great, oh wait its not him

Compete with Nh over what, blackotaku? Where is your naruto @ hinata speech I must need new glasses

Your bitch ass tried using you’re annoying as an argument and it’s so funny because imagine thinking he’s coming from a place of hate after he was willing to consciously give up his revenge for her safety and him saying what he said in their first encounter with a smile after pretending he didn’t remember their first meeting

Followed by this, the moment Japanese fans hailed the most emotional of part 1

You wish you were ss lmao, you wish you made it to 44 volumes out of 72

Compete with nh? On what? Getting stronger for your loved ones?

Chemistry?

Mutual support?

Their feelings are connected, their kid is the physical manifestation of their love not the screw that keeps them together..Her husband is travelling through space and time to keep them and the entire world safe. Naruto is 2 meters away, out there with a limitless bay of chakra unable to get clones to do his work for him.. anti-sakura-pro-hinata, at least when sasuke came home after 6 years of much harder work..he had dinner with his family. Maybe it’s because his daughter was raised well and it was pleasant being around someone who isn’t a brat.

Being intuitive to each other?

Oh lmao remember how Sakura was the only person who against all odds knew sasuke would leave the village?

Angst to keep it interesting?

Call me when Gaiden isn’t one of Kishimotos best selling works. Call me when your ship actually wants to spend time with each other.

Where Narutos ultimate expression of love at? Is is sleeping on the couch? Boruto novel states sasusaku is having so much sex that sakuras skin is glossing, meanwhile naruto has erectile dysfunction and a shriveled dick by age 32

Sit down, there is not much competition. We keep the SS Japanese penguins, the Jump Fiesta sign attraction, the popularity, the ambitious kid and the moments, the canon selfless love only for the purpose of saving your lover and you keep the canon selfish love for the purpose of a confession and the banana who wishes its father dies and the mom who just cried.

But remember who made you

SasuNaru (Yin and Yang), alternatively titled: having black hair isn’t enough to make naruto obsessed.

The garbage can @anti-sakura-pro-hinata blog that attempted to call Sasuke trash because her fictional boyfriend was obsessed with him seems to forget Sasuke didn’t ask for it. Naruto needed a pep talk from fillermaru and fillerkura to chase after hinata yet chased after sasuke, even begged authorities to not kill him purely because he is his ‘friend’ for 3 years. He trained with him in mind, a fact so obvious that Kakashi pointed out Sasuke is the driving force behind Narutos training. Sasuke, and the image he had of team 7 in his mind. An image so important to him that the thought of it being tarnished by Sasukes absence made him have a panic attack.

He went after sasuke to save his best friend and for them all to be happy and smiling together, im sorry he didn’t include Hinata in his fantasies but Team 7 is kind of booked..we only have room for neo sanins, vip people and connected hearts here. If youre jealous your self insert doesn’t matter,, I don’t know, make up fanfiction where she appears in more than 38 pages of the manga

#parallels

Hinata is canonically narutos most important person!11!! where? Must be on fight on top of the moon land. Be happy Naruto went rampant when his seal was weak, Konoha was destroyed, Jirayah was murdered, Kakashi was killed, Tsunade was hurt and then Hinatas ass decided to risk him chakra depletion, death and losing himself. But remember who made him go rampant with a strong seal at the slight mention of a name

The boy he wanted the acknowledgement of the most because he admired him so much that being like him was his goal

Yet when he got it was still like ‘later, emo asshole. Just get your shit together first.’

Why? Because he loved his friend so much that understanding him and fighting (literally fighting) the fated hatred in his heart mattered more to him than the ego he wanted stroked since age 7

What does that mean? I don’t know man. They trained together, laughed together, rivaled each other, were petty to each other and before they knew it they were inseparable. Back then and always

@remedialaction, come after sasuke because your self insert isn’t noticing the shy girl hes friendzoned later. A huge part of Narutos development was heavily tied to Sasuke, lets not ignore the fact that sasuke being a good team mate who put the 3 man cell idea into his head before Kakashi even told them about team work is the reason why they even became ninjas

Remove and erase Sasukes victim status, his entire arc, motivations, fate and position in the story because he is in the way of a ship when he isn’t the only reason Narutos dick was alive for Hinata

But no Sasuke is a bad person, no matter what the narrative and facts are because nardo is obsessed with him

Praise hinata for her naruto-kun became my goal speech when you acknowledge

‘I knew you were always alone. I felt better knowing there was someone like me..i wanted to hang out with you. It just made me happy! But I couldn’t..i was jealous of how skilled you were, so I turned you into a rival. I wanted to be just like you. I started with nothing but I finally made a connection. We went on missions as team 7, and I kept chasing you, wanting to be just as strong, just as cool. Im really glad I met you!’

Bring sasuke down and praise hakuna hintatas for saying the same thing. ‘Naruto kun saved me’ vs ‘Thanks to you I found salvation’

And weep over how sad your ship looks like next to two arms connected by love (platonic or not love is love), fate, tears and literal blood.

But no, what is yin and yang, light and shadows, love and hate, 2 lonely people watching over each other because ‘finally someone understands my solitude’ as a dynamic in comparison to meek girl and loud guy who could have voiced his attraction eons ago?! It’s funny, even with the canon context of SNS being indra and ashuras chakra incarnate and a brotherly bond, it still works better and is a hella lot more interesting than NH

The scenes showing Naruto and Sasukes iconic team work have more chemistry than naruhinas entire manga time, movie time, filler time and hell even fan art and fan fiction time. I know you're jealous because sasuke is well loved, but show some respect to Borutos mother.

Kakasaku (Hot and hotter), alternatively titled: Get your head out of your ass

Kakasaku is pedophilia!!

It’s bad!11! because my subjective opinion said so!11!

Not as bad as nh

People ship adult Kakasaku for a whole lot more meaningful stuff than a self insert ship

Kakashi never looked down on her since shippuuden. He acknowledged her strength and how far shes come from being the whiny 12 year old he used to teach. He always knew by part two that she’d be great and he respected her a lot. He saw her kind heart and praised her for it and for her selfless love. They grew to become fellow comrades in the war who had equal respect for each other. What can y’all say about NH? This is a joke.

I want to stay in my lane, but the lanes converge when you make ugly personal attacks at people and insult ships and characters to elevate your own shit show. Drag Team 7 into your ugliness again and I expose your insecure ass.

Y’all can’t touch this aesthetic. Come at these kids when Naruto doesn’t remember them when he’s eating a bento (Something special made by someone you love-sarada) made by his wife.

Special thanks to @uzumakura for tht good ns wank, @sakuraharunos for that good sns wank, @chiwawha for her opinion on ks and me for my patience

#narusaku #sasusaku #kakasaku #sasunarusasu #pro team 7 #sasuke uchiha #sakura haruno #naruto uzumaki #kakashi hatake #anti hinata #anti naruhina #anti anti sasusaku #anti anti narusaku #anti anti sasunaru #they all have me blocked #lmao

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oneyanderegirl · 8 years ago

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Top 10 Naruto Ships

Tagged by @goatville and @fher43 It was wayyy more difficult than I thought LOL. Also, this turned out to be super fking long, wayy longer than needed LOL.

Honestly, I don’t really hardcore ship anyone outside of the first one lol... Soo besides the first ship, these are not in any particular order. They are ships that I like, but generally I don’t hardcore ship them. Also, this is all mostly based on the manga.

1. Sasuhina - My favorite ship since middle school! I just love the dynamic between these two. Even though it is a crackship, I feel it is the crackship that had the most potential to become something more. Honestly, I love the dynamics that these two bring. Their contrasting personalities, physical appearance, and background just seem so well meshed that if the manga was written differently and better, they could have definitely had some sort of relationship with each other (romantically or not, shame Kishimoto didn’t flesh out their backgrounds more.) Another reason why I like this ship so much is because of how much freedom it gives me to develop the relationship between other characters since they are so connected to one another as well as their backgrounds, something that I felt wasn’t done enough in the manga. It just gives me so much room to develop everyone around them because it takes a lot of imagination and creativity to connect these two characters and develop their relationship. Fanfiction, Fanart, Doujins - I love them all! Although I haven’t contributed much to this ship (but I do try), this will always be my OTP of OTPs <3

2. Nejiten - I WILL NEVER GET OVER NEJI’S DEATH. Honestly, I don’t know when I started shipping these two. I just always thought that they would naturally end up together in the manga, but sadly that didn’t happen. When I first saw them together, my first thought was “oh, they’ll probably end up together.” I can’t really explain it, but that’s just how this ship was for me. Fanart is amazing and while I don’t read fanfics for this ship, this was usually a common ship in a lot of SH fics that I’ve read. It really made me like this ship more because of the way their relationship was presented in fanfics, aside from the manga of course.

3. Nejihina (BROTP; one-sided) - This ship really grew on me to be honest. I didn’t like it at first because of how rocky their relationship was at the beginning. However, fanart and manga overtime really had this ship grow on me. While sasuhina is still my OTP, this ship is a guilty pleasure. I mostly ship it as a brotp or one-sided on Neji’s part, but almost never mutually romantic except for the occasional fanart (SH is my OTP afterall). Not a lot of people would agree with me, but I felt that Neji at one point or another had secretly loved Hinata romantically. I really didn’t see it until his death, but that was probably the point where I started believing it. BROTP-wise, I think this ship is really underrated and underappreciated. I think they have a strong sibling-like relationship that I wish the manga would have went into more detail with (I hated how it was introduced and then brushed aside -_-). Afterall, you don’t just stop hating someone overnight, it takes time to really develop a strong bond with one another, especially if that hate almost caused the other person to die. Not to mention, their bond was strong enough for Neji to throw his life away, including his dreams and goals for himself and the clan (WHICH I WILL NEVER GET OVER).

4. Sasuneji (BROTP; Rivalry) - Alright, this one is purely due to reading fanfics. I never really thought about this ship, but it was always there in a lot of SH fanfiction so it eventually grew on me. I think this ship would have made a great rivalry in the manga. While Neji never grew to be as strong as Sasuke by the end of the manga, he was still regarded as a prodigy genius and was still very strong for his age. If the manga was written better, Neji could have become one of the strongest Shinobis, not as strong as Sasuke and Naruto of course, but still one of the strongest. I really wanted to see these two fight each other and hoped that the manga would have given it to us. I mean seriously, 2 regarded geniuses from the two most powerful clans in Konoha, each with one of the three great eye dojutsus never fought each other????? Then again, the manga didn’t do Neji any justice anyways >_> (BTW he’s not even my favorite character, but can you tell how salty I am?)

5. Narusaku - I always thought they were cute together. This was also one of those ships that I thought would naturally happen, but sadly didn’t. I like the relationship between these two and thought that the manga didn’t do a good job developing their growth as the characters that I thought they could be and were. However, fanon narusaku makes up for it, especially with their amazing fanart :D

6. Kibaino - Saw cute fanart one day and instantly fell in love with them~ I wish there was more fanart of them TT-TT I think this dynamic is interesting because these two are both very impulsive and hotheaded, yet are completely different from one another. This ship also leaves a lot of room to explore since they never got to interact much in the manga, so there are many possibilities in which this ship can be developed (romantically or not) without taking away from the characters. While I multiship Ino a lot, this is definitely my OTP out of them all. Plus, they are a cute couple in general <3

7. Shikatema - I felt that the manga really did a good job developing their relationship, even though they were side characters. The relationship was subtle, but hinted nicely throughout the manga. It was also developed in a way that didn’t take away from their characters nor did it make them seem OOC, something that I appreciated. Out of all the canon ships, this was the one that I liked and agreed with the most.

8. Itasasu (BROTP) - I wish the manga would have given them a happy ending =( They were siblings and had a good relationship going until things happened and UGHHH I really wish they would have been able to share some good moments together before the manga ended TT-TT I feel a lot of people, and the manga itself, downplays how much trauma Sasuke went through because of what Itachi was forced to do in order to preserve Konoha and with what Itachi had to go through as well. I know we all joke around and make memes about Sasuke and Itachi, but it’s honestly really tragic and sad with what they had to go through. Seeing your entire family murdered by the person you had loved, trusted and admired is something that affects you for the rest of your life. Being the person who had to slaughter your own family, lover, friends, and comrades is something that will always haunt you. This relationship was not explored enough and could have definitely been more developed (I mean wayyy better developed) than what the manga gave us.

9. The Girls (Hinata, Sakura, Tenten, Ino, Temari, Karin BROTP) - The manga never gave them enough positive development independently, with each other, and with their teams. I love seeing how they interact in fanfics. Although it’s really difficult to find ones that don’t feel too OOC to me, but this is more of a personal preference than anything. I think it’s interesting to explore since they are all different from one another. I especially like seeing Hinata and Tenten, Sakura and Ino, Temari and Ino, Sakura and Karin, Hinata and Ino, Tenten and Ino, and Sakura and Hinata.

10. Kibaten (BROTP) - Honestly, it was really hard to decide the last ship, but this one really grew on me as of recently. I never thought about this ship until I came across a particular fanfiction, where they both were interacting together to help Hinata. I think their personalities would match pretty well together, and I could see them being good friends.

Well, these are my top 10 Naruto ships (bound to change of course). Don’t know who to tag, but if you’re a Sasuhina fan who hasn’t done it yet, I would love to read about it :D

#personal #sasuhina #nejihina #narusaku #nejiten #sasuneji #kibaino #shikatema #itasasu #kibaten #ask #answered

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vaporeonmaster · 8 years ago

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Naruto Canon Couples Foreshadowing

So many people post about why they think certain pairings “make no sense,” “never had development,” or why their ship is “the only couple that makes sense in the whole series”. So I decided to talk about how there isn’t only just one super special magic couple that “makes sense” in the entire Naruto series solely because you like it better than the others, and that most of the canon couples have some sort of development or moment at some point :)

I’m also just limiting this post to canon so it doesn’t get too long and out of hand! I may do a non-canon post later for fun, who knows! :)

As always, my pretty disclaimer: I am pro-Sakura. You will not find me bashing Sakura on here at all. (I wish I didn’t even have to say that... Jeez.) Oh, and same with Hinata. I won’t be spending time bashing her either. I like to keep things civil :)

And I promise I am not saying “this is why you should like and ship them so there”. That isn’t it at all!! You have the right to ship whoever you want!! (Trust me, kakasaku I also have kakasaku crack ships kakasaku that I enjoy kakasaku.)

I am just trying to express that Kishi didn’t just throw people together by drawing their names randomly from a hat.

Anyway, I won’t get into much detail, I just want to provide at least one example for most of the cannon couples on why there was, indeed, some sort of moment or hint that they might end up together and that it wasn’t “totally unexpected”.

First off, Sasusaku:

I hate when people claim that Sakura and Sasuke have “no development”. Just because you do not want to acknowledge the development does not mean it never happened. Some people try to make it sound like Sakura and Sasuke never ever freaking met each other until the last chapter. Since it’d take way too much time to go over and explain everything related to Sasuke and Sakura’s development because there is a ton of it, I’ll just hit a major point or two.

If you want to discount any interactions between Sasuke and Sakura between the beginning of the series until the chunin exams, I’m okay with that. A lot of people don’t care about it (not me personally though). But the moment Sasuke received that curse mark, Sasuke and Sakura’s relationship took a much more serious turn. In fact, many people began shipping them around that time. Even the data books state that it was Sakura’s heart that helped Sasuke keep his curse mark from controlling him (ya know, in case you couldn’t already tell that from reading and watching it all unfold in the forest of death).

I also chose this moment as an example because after this point, it’s quite hard to argue that Sakura just had superficial feelings for Sasuke. She had seen the darkness taking control of him, and wanted to be at his side and help him stop it from ruining him. She didn’t want to run away because it was too much drama for her or just his problem. She saw how much he suffered, and she wanted nothing more but to help him.

Okay, I could go on forever about that moment, since it’s one of my favorites, but my point is that moment alone should show that there was SOME development. This is when Sakura’s love became completely selfless, in my opinion, as well. It was a really big moment, not only in personal character development, but in the relationship between the two as well. It was one of the reasons, I’m sure, that Sasuke thanked Sakura before he left the village (the first time). I won’t go into that moment, however, because it’s pretty self explanatory (although people to love to argue about it).

Honestly I could make a huge blog post just dedicated to the development of SasuSaku alone (which, hell, I may just end up doing later), so I will just move on before I start. Point was to give you a moment of development.

I really want to bring up the Sakura bringing Sasuke back to the right dimension thing right now too, but that will have a lot of explaining to it as well because of some of the ridiculous arguments around that... SAVE IT FOR ANOTHER BLOG POST MEGAN AND MOVE ON ALREADY.

Now for NaruHina:

I know, I know. It’s not everyone’s favorite couple. I think the reason for that is a good chunk of the NaruSaku fans are bitter (I’m not saying you don’t have a right to be, I’m just saying it’s a reason why).

But it was foreshadowed. I could even tell that while reading the chunin exam chapters as a kid.

It wasn’t all about Hinata’s growth as a character in the exams. It was about how her respect and love for Naruto helped get her there. (I won’t lie though, I do not enjoy that so much of her character was based on Naruto. I feel like Kishi should have given her more of a chance to stand up for herself because of something other than her love for Naruto. I mean, women can do things without men around ya know!)

It also showed that Naruto started to notice her as a person, rather than the weird girl who gets shy around him.

Hinata was also shown to be the only girl who liked Naruto for himself as children. She wasn’t a Sasuke fangirl like the majority of the girls. That was a big part of why she ended up with him (and yes, I know Sakura and Naruto became close, but that isn’t what we are arguing about right now. Plus, as I mentioned in another post, I see Naruto and Sakura’s development as platonic.)

And then Kishi even had the whole war scene. But I won’t get into that, because it’s a bit self explanatory and I don’t feel the need to get into it.

ShikaTema:

Honestly, I don’t think I need to defend them. Their fanbase never really argues about what development they did or didn’t have (that I have seen at least). The little drama about the pairing is always so pleasant. (Well, until someone says “They are the only pairing that ever had development!” and start a fight. Hence why I am blogging this.)

ShikaTema's development (for me) began when she helped him against the sound ninja (one of my favorite moments, by the way). I know people can use the chunin exams as an example of development, which is a-okay, but I personally didn’t feel it there (but again, that is JUST ME).

Also, remember when Shikamaru’s dad told him that “No matter how strong-minded a woman is, she will show kindness to the man she loves” ? That description TOTALLY describes Temari. Super foreshadowing!! :) That cute smile she gave him after she blew away that sound ninja, that did it for me. Loved it so much. Then Temari snapped right back and became the strong/blunt woman she is once again when she had to help snap Shikamaru back into his senses when he became irate at himself about letting Choji almost die.

Oh, and please let me add this too, because it made me happy as well:

SaiIno:

As for SaiIno, they didn’t really have development, per say, in the manga besides a few small hints (Ino stating she thought Sai was cute, and including Sai in her dream during the war where he fought Sasuke over her).

Plus there was this cute little bit from one of Kishi’s side chapters:

But with this couple, I feel like Kishi put them together because, well, it just made sense.

What I mean is that, to me, it makes sense because Sai is able to take Ino’s last name, so the new InoShikaCho formation could exist (well, by name anyway). Plus Sai feels more like he belongs to a family now I’m sure, considering he was just known by one name, which wasn’t even his birth name to begin with (I hate Danzo so much I really really do). Plus, Sai seems pretty happy, and I love seeing Sai happy :) (Plus, Ino’s sassiness with Sai’s bluntness! Perfect combination!) However I will agree there was barely any development for SaiIno.

... And honestly, I have nothing for Choji and his wife. No one really does. That was pretty random. I like it though. Chocho is freaking adorable with all that sass.

Okay so this is getting too long, so I’ll stop here for now. I guess I just wanted to point out some solid “there was development” moments.

Hope I didn’t bore ya! Thank you for reading :) I really appreciate it!

#sasusaku #naruhina #shikatema #saiino #naruto #canon pairings #sakura #hinata #temari #Naruto Shippuden

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21tailsofwoe · 8 years ago

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“In Another Life” | NaruSaku

In which Sakura’s character becomes self aware.

Pairing: Naruto Uzumaki x Sakura Haruno

A/N: I am extremely new to fanfiction (fanfiction based on existing works, that is) so I don’t really know what I’m doing here and I don’t know the fanfic terminologies so I don’t know what to tell you. It’s a bit angst-y, I guess?

Excuse the typos. I rarely proof read.

Also, if you ship ss or nh along with ns, don’t read this k thx

Words: 2,490

H E R

As kids, when he used to hint at his crush for me, I would shrug it off. Maybe because I found him unbearable, and frankly, really annoying. Maybe because I was just a naïve, young girl, engrossed in her own fantasies and dreams, unaware of how much this world had in store for me.

Gradually, I learned that there was more to him than just silly pranks and loud words; there was a lot more to him. His dream seemed so stupid and unrealistic at first. Surely, a loud-mouthed kid like him, how could he ever achieve such an impossible feat? But slowly, he started to prove me wrong. His otherwise annoying behaviour grew on me. I saw that there was more to his pointless declarations. He wanted to be recognised and respected. He wanted to show everyone that he was not the troublesome kid they made him out to be. He wanted to be treated like somebody.

He was so stubborn, but his stubbornness brought about change, change that I witnessed with my own eyes which would bring about hope wherever he went. It made me believe in improvement. I was so unsure of myself, of what I wanted to be. He made me believe in myself. I couldn't help but believe in him too.

However, I liked this other boy, the boy with a dreadful past and hatred in his heart. The boy who happened to be in our team. At first it was a young girl's silly crush on the dreamy, ‘mysterious’ boy, but then I started to see that this boy had so much more hidden deep within him, something that scared me. I wanted to reach out, to help him. My so called 'love' had been selfish at one point, I admit. But when he left me, when he left his home, I could only cry and beg him to stay, but to no avail.

And then he came along. "The promise of a lifetime," he called it. He said he would bring our friend back, no matter what it took. And I couldn't help but cry and beg again, so that he could bring our friend back. Perhaps still love me back then, or somewhere that crush still existed within him. Whatever it was, he suppressed it, never forcing it onto me.

Sadly, he couldn't keep that promise. In fact, it nearly got him killed. And at that moment, I realised that I could've lost him too, that my inability to do anything useful could've ruined everything.

And so I made a promise too; I promised that I would grow stronger so that he doesn't have to hurt himself anymore. Not alone, at least. We would save our friend together.

We then went our separate ways, because we knew we had to grow stronger. There was a daunting challenge ahead of us and we had to prepare ourselves. He went for his training with his master, while I sought out my own.

During that period, amidst my harsh training, perhaps I had created this image of the boy I loved. How was he? Where was he? Was he safe? If not, would I be able to save him? These thoughts pulled me deeper into the an aberrant kind of love, for the false image of the boy who I hadn't seen in years.

Was that really love?

When the blond haired knucklehead came back from his training, I could see how much he had grown. He may have been the same knucklehead I knew, but in some ways, I could see that something had changed within him.

He may have grown stronger, but so had I. I didn’t want to feel left behind anymore. When he saw my strength, my growth, I couldn't help but be amused at his awe. It was a surreal feeling, that feeling of acknowledgement. I knew I had trained hard. I knew I had become stronger than before. Even my master could tell how much I had grown. So why did his acknowledgement feel so . . . satisfying? Why was it his words that made me feel better?

Was that not love?

One day, I learned the truth; his truth. I learned of the monster that he carried within him. I learned of the threats it posed, I learned of why the elders hated him so much, and I understood how miserable his childhood had been for a crime he didn't even commit. A sense of protectiveness grew in me, the desire to help him and his dream.

Couldn’t I have started loving him then?

And what about the time I finally met the boy I had loved since I was a young girl again? The boy had turned into something so sinister, so dark. He wasn't the boy we knew. He was someone who was way beyond reach, someone who could even kill me without batting an eye, not caring for his own teammates. How could I still have loved this new version of this person? Why did I keep holding on to my belief?

I wanted to love the boy who stood by me. The one who trusted in me no matter what, the one who admired me for who I was, the one who saved me countless number of times, the one who inspired me to grow and become a better person. The boy who cared deeply for me, and I for him. The boy who, in fact, had fallen in love with me.

So why couldn't I love him? What was holding me back? Was it that false image of love I had previously created for the person who had stopped caring for me? Or was this simply the desire to save my old teammate which was in the disguise of 'love'?

Meanwhile, we grew – my friend and I. We fought alongside, we learned so much, and understood even more. Even when he seemed to lose everything, he got back up. Even in during the war, he kept growing – as a person as well as a fighter.

I was even faced with the threat of losing him, my true friend. I could've lost him forever, and it could all have ended right then and there. His dream would've been lost to the emptiness of death. My desperation was at its peak. My selfishness played its part, for the thought of losing him scared me deeply.

Was that desperation not love?

And I still continued to 'love' the monster that tried to kill me, that no longer felt the need of my presence. The monster that continued to demean me, put me down. I must have realised that the boy I once knew and loved was long gone, so was the false image that I had created.

So why couldn't I get over this so-called love? Was my desire to save him that strong?

It took time, but things may have started to get better. The monster we wanted to save from the darkness seemed to have slowly come into light. And right when we thought we finally got to him, he slipped away from our grasp almost immediately.

And yet again, I couldn't do anything but cry and beg him to stay.

Could that be called love in any shape or form?

It wasn't my love that saved this person, it was his persistence, his struggle to help his friend, his never-ending dedication towards his friend, his resolve to bring him back from the terrible path this friend had chosen. It wasn't me. I couldn't help him keep his promise.

I couldn't even keep mine.

All that mattered in the end was that they both were safe, and the monster was cured of his hatred. We got our teammate back, our happiness. "The promise of a lifetime" was kept, and the man I loved since I was a little girl was brought back to me, the man who apparently had learned to love me too. The ‘love’ I had spend years giving to him, was finally returned.

I should be happy, right?

So why am I not content? Why does it feel like something is missing? Why does it feel like someone is missing?

In other words: why couldn't I move on?

And here I stand, married to the man I loved all my life. My daughter holds onto me with her tiny hands, while my husband is out there, protecting the village. The husband I haven't seen since the birth of my child -- our child. Our daughter is the proof of our love now. She's holding our family together while he is out there. Our feelings are connected through this very child, or so it seems.

As I look at the family before me, celebrating the birth of their second child, a beautiful baby girl with her father's beautiful blue eyes, I can't help but feel a slight ache in my chest. The baby sleeps solemnly in her mother's arms, while her elder brother who is just a few months older than my daughter, peers over at his new-born sister from over his father's shoulder.

The father -- the hero of the village, the hero who saved the world -- has grown into a fine young man right before my eyes. He finally has a family, aside from our team. A family linked by blood and not just love, something he had been craving for since he was a kid. I should be happy for him.

So why do I feel so incomplete?

He's married to the woman he loves and has two beautiful children now. He is happy. So am I. I have a family of my own too.

"Wanna hold her?" He asks me, breaking me out of my thoughts. When I just give a dazed expression in response, he points to the new born baby held in the arms of his wife, who is on the hospital bed in a state of exhausted bliss.

"No, that's okay," I say. "I am not that good with babies." An extremely ridiculous lie.

He laughs. "You're a doctor! And a mother. How can you not be good with babies?"

Something about his laugh warms my heart. I push the feeling away and shake my head. "No, I think she should be with you for now."

"Come on, just for a little while." He cracks a grin, shaking a finger at me. "I know you want to."

I stiffen and unknowingly tighten my hold on my daughter. "I have to go," I suddenly blurt out.

His face falls. "What?"

"You just got here," his wife protests.

I realise how strange I must've sounded. "It's just that my shift starts early today," I lie. Why am I lying? "I completely forgot about it, and now I'm late."

"Oh," he says as he stands up, disappointment clearly hinted in his voice. "Okay. Want me to come with you?"

Yes. "No, please. You have to stay here," I say, waving him off. "You two, congratulations!" I smile at them, trying to make it seem as genuine as possible even with the ache in my heart growing.

"Thank you!" His wife smiles in return.

"Thank you," he says in a low voice, but there is no hint of the happiness he previously displayed. His eyes reflect his worry. Damn it, he has always been able to see through me. "You're sure you're okay?"

"Of course, you dummy!" I laugh. "I'll be back tomorrow. You better treat me big."

He doesn't reply.

Not wanting to prolong this, I look down at my daughter. "Come on, let's go." She nods.

As soon as I step out of the room and close the door behind me, my tears finally force their way out. I try to blink them away, but to no avail. I pick my daughter up in my arms and rush down the hallway. She repeatedly asks me what is wrong, but I just sob in response because I know the answer to her question.

The truth is: somewhere deep within, I love him. I have for a while now. In fact, I've loved him for a long time. I have wanted to be with him, all this time. I want to be with him, even now. I should've been the one with him, in that room, holding our child.

So why am I out here? What went wrong? Why have we turned out like this? Why aren't we together like we were meant to be?

Why can't I love him?

H I M

He stares at the door for some time, not saying anything and remaining still. It was as though something had stirred deep within him, something he couldn't understand. Her sudden change in behaviour worried him. Something clearly bothered her and he couldn't really tell.

Or could he?

"What's wrong?" His wife asks. "Something the matter?"

"No, it's nothing," he blurts out. He turns around and smiles, only to have her furrow her brows in worry.

"Then why are you crying?" she asks.

He stills. "Wh-what. . ." He runs his palm down his left cheek and feels a tear streaming down. That's strange, he thinks. Why am I crying?

At that moment, the pain in his chest starts to grow, as an unnamed emotion engulfs him, something he can't understand. The tears don't stop as he faces away from his wife. "I must be really happy. . ." He mumbles.

But he knows that it's not true. On the contrary, it's sadness that has brought him to tears. And he doesn't know why.

He turns to face the door, and slowly paces towards it. "I'll be back," he assures as he pushes on the door handle.

His wife nods, still concerned. "Okay. Take your time."

He closes the door behind him and stares down the hallway, the way his friend went. The aberrant tears continue to force their way out. A familiar feeling reaches out to him, a feeling he had suppressed for so long. . .

"Perhaps in another life. . .Sakura-chan,” he quietly says to himself.

#narusaku #narusaku fanfiction #narusaku fanfic #narusaku fic #sakunaru #my fanfic #metalks #my writing

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21tailsofwoe · 8 years ago

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“Fireworks” | NaruSaku

@thefewthemerrier said:

Prompt: Team 7 is on a mission God knows where and the night creeps up on them. Having set camp in a forest close to a village, Naruto sneaks into Sakura's tent to take her see the fireworks in the middle of the night. Fluffy NaruSaku moments + Kakashi and Sasuke spying on them from behind the bushes, coming up with some smartass comments at the end of the fic.

Pairing: Naruto x Sakura

Genre: Fluff

Words: 1489

A/N: This is a post-war AU scenario where Sasuke doesn’t leave the village. Instead, Team 7 travel around the world together to fix the shinobi system.

Also, I have discovered I am not that good with fluff so read at your own risk lol

[And a big thanks to @thefewthemerrier for providing me with such a wonderful scenario! I hope this is what you were looking for! x]

Naruto tip-toed his way towards Sakura's tent, careful not to disturb Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke, who were sleeping outside their tents in front of the small fire that Sasuke had set up. It wasn't that late into the night, but the team was tired after their trip to the Hidden Sand and Kakashi-sensei, being the honourably dull man he is, suggested they should stop and set up camp for the night. The team always seemed to be fatigued now that they had a lot of travelling to do from village to village.

While sensei was a heavy sleeper, Sasuke never cared about what Naruto was up to, so the blond boy figured that it gave him an opportunity to get some "alone time" with Sakura.

He patted the front of her tent with his hand, as though he were knocking and whispered, "Hey, Sakura-chan? You awake?"

He heard a muffled groan and some rustling from inside the tent.

"No," came the stern reply.

Either she was in a bad mood, or she had become a sleep-talker. Naruto spoke up again, "You sure?"

"Yes. I am very asleep and dreaming about a world where you don't come and wake me up in the middle of the night."

It was the former reason, obviously. Naruto saw it in her eyes when they were tending to the people of the Hidden Sand. He saw how sorry she felt when she saw the injured. It was no great mystery that she, being a medic, had felt responsible for the losses that could've been avoided.

So, he came to the conclusion that he had to try and get her to cheer up.

"Hey, Sakura-chan?" He asked again after a moment.

"What?"

"There's going to be a firework show in a small village not far from here. I'm sure we can see it from here? Wanna check it out?"

A long pause. He then heard the front of the tent unzip and Sakura's head poked out of the gap. "How do you know?"

"Gaara told me about it before we left," he replied, grinning. Naruto could've sworn he saw a slight twinkle in the Kazekage's eyes when he had informed him of the fireworks festival. "Like I said, it isn't far from here. We can see it from a tree or something."

Sakura's eyes travelled to the two men sleeping in front of the fire. "What about them?"

"Uh...you know, we could just let them sleep! They're tired after all."

"We're tired too," Sakura pointed out. "We were on the same mission."

"Well...to be fair, I'm not tired at all."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You just want some alone time with me, don't you?"

"What?!" Naruto immediately realised how loud he was and lowered his voice again. "No way! I just want to see the fireworks. I was just asking you out of courtesy."

"Fine then, go watch them on your own." Her pink head went back into the tent.

"No, wait! Please, I want to see them with you."

Silence.

"Sakura-chan?"

More silence.

"Come on. A few minutes won't hurt."

He heard a sigh from inside. "Fine." The tent unzipped again and Sakura stepped outside. She smoothed her hair and looked at the ever-so-happy Uzumaki Naruto. Seeing his dumb, victorious grin, a faint smile played on her lips as well. "Let's go, Baka."

They sat themselves atop a branch of a tree, which Naruto thought would provide "the best for viewing experience." However, when the fireworks started, the two of them realised that Naruto's sense of direction was a little flawed for they were facing opposite to the fireworks display. It took them another five minutes to find a different tree branch to sit on, while the show went on in the background accompanied by Sakura's two-minute rant about how dumb Naruto was regardless of the "hero" title he'd been given.

For a few moments, they just sat on their new branch, gazing at the beautiful fireworks over the small village. Before he knew it, Naruto's attention was now on the kunoichi beside him, who was sitting a bit too close to him than he expected her to be. The combination of the calm night, the faint sounds of the fireworks, and her presence made him feel giddy inside. He stared at her with awe, the colourful lights reflected in the green of her eyes, the hint of a smile on her lips, the traces of tiredness slowly fading from her features...

"I know I'm a piece of eye candy, but you don't have to drool over me, you know?" She spoke up, not taking her eyes off from the sky.

"I—I wasn't drooling," he said, quickly averting his gaze as he turned red.

"Yeah, tell that to the flies you may have swallowed with your mouth gaping open like that." She chuckled under her breath.

It brought him great satisfaction to see her smiling again, even if it was for a little while. He didn't know how much it was troubling him to see her so distraught when it came to her work. It was this little moment that made him feel helpful.

Hesitant, he spoke up, "Sakura-chan...you know..."

"I know what you're going to say," she cut him off, her tone shifting to a more serious tone. "That I shouldn't be feeling responsible for this. That I didn't cause all those casualties. That their deaths aren't on my hands." She sighed. "But it's so hard, Naruto. I can't help but feel..."

"Hey, hey!" Naruto said. "Whatever you're feeling, it's not true. None of this is on you, Sakura-chan. If it weren't for you, how many more people would've lost their lives? Hell, I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you!" Sakura looked down, swinging her legs back and forth. Naruto continued, "I know how you feel. This war was fought to protect me, and I have thought over this so many times. All those lives that were lost in order to save me. All those people who protected me. But, in a way, it just gives me more purpose to keep moving on. For all of them." His voice grew fainter. "For Neji."

Sakura nodded. "I know." Shifting her gaze back to the sky, she said, "Looking at these fireworks, I can only think about how things don't have to be so...complicated. We've just come out of war, and even after all these people have lost, they still choose to celebrate the future. A future full of peace and happiness. It's because they have hope." She looked at Naruto, smiling. She placed her hand over Naruto's, surprising him momentarily. "It's because we have hope. Isn't that right?"

Naruto beamed back, finding comfort in the warmth of her hand. She slid her fingers through his, intertwining them. They both looked back to the sky, now holding hands. "Hope," Naruto murmured under his breath as he felt her squeeze his hand in a reassuring manner.

"Thank you, Naruto," Sakura said. "I don't know where I would be without you."

Naruto was at a loss of words, but so was Sakura, having surprised herself with her words. Both of them let the sound of the fireworks take over, a newfound feeling growing deep within their hearts; a feeling similar to the excitement the lights in the sky brought to the hearts of young children, only more profound.

"Why are we doing this, Kakashi?" Sasuke hissed in a low voice. Kakashi-sensei remained silent and when Sasuke turned to face him, he could see his teacher's eyes brimming with tears. "Uh, Kakashi?"

"I'm just so proud of them," Kakashi blurted out, looking up at the two shinobi sitting on top of the tree.

The two of them were crouching behind some bushes, spying on their other two team mates. The jonin sensei placed a hand over his already-covered mouth, as though trying to hide emotions. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"This is a waste of time," Sasuke said.

Kakashi gave him a blank stare. "I didn't even ask you to accompany me, Sasuke. You came here all on your own."

The Uchiha just shrugged. "I was bored. It's not like I was sleeping or anything."

"Just admit it, you're enjoying this."

Sasuke sighed and then let out a small smile as he looked up at his best friends. "I couldn't care less."

FIN

#narusaku #sakunaru #narusaku fic #my fic #metalks #my writing #thefewthemerrier

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