Tag: anonymous

shikako as hokage please?? i love ur writing(:

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Thanks, anon 🙂 I’m glad you enjoy my little snippets of recursive fic.

As for the prompt… I’m just like O_O because my brain automatically goes–what happened to Naruto!? Because no way Shikako would accept the Hokage’s hat unless something has gone very wrong with the canon line of succession. I mean if she’s the one to forcibly take it from Danzo that’s one thing… I… hm… maybe?

It’s a loaded prompt, for all that it’s short, anon. This may take me a while to unpack and figure out. But it is a very interesting idea so… we’ll see what happens 🙂

edit: check out the tag “Hail To The Queen” for the fill series

Three Sentence Fic, the DoS Netsui/Shikako edition (2016-04-07)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

(action/adventure)

It should feel wrong or, at the very least, strange to fight with Shikako Nara–not against her, but together, back to back. Netsui is a proud Kumo shinobi, she should not be able to fall into a battle rhythm so easily with someone who completely embodies the Leaf.

But they have a common enemy for now, and there’s no way she’s going to embarrass herself again in front of this particular Leaf kunoichi.

—

(angst)

When news of a wedding–an actual confirmed wedding, and not just the endless rumors that plague the gossip mill–reaches Netsui she very carefully does not react.

Even if she had wanted something, she never really stood a chance. It’s better to shove those feelings beneath thoughts of honor and becoming stronger; better not to want anything at all.

—

(crossover/fusion)

There are very few Amestrian State Alchemists with Xingese heritage, and fewer still that can do both alchemy and alkahestry without any transmutation circles. In fact, there is only one.

So Netsui is confident, as she swings her sword, that she has chosen her target correctly.

—

(fluff)

Netsui is one of the proctors for the Chuunin Exam so, given how her luck works, she shouldn’t be surprised that the Nara is here with a batch of genin brats in tow.

They’re decent, she supposes, understandable given who their jounin-sensei is, but they could be better.

Which does nothing to explain why Netsui corrects one of the brat’s grip on his sword, or the way her face flushes when the Nara smiles in thanks.

—

(friendship)

If someone had told Netsui that she’d one day be drinking buddies with Sasuke Uchiha she wouldn’t have even laughed–she probably would have stabbed the person for disparaging her character like that–as it is, they would have been right.

“And her hair is so,” Sasuke mumbles with the usual tone of drunken despair, “it’s so shiny and soft. So pretty,” he hiccups.

Netsui, comfortably drunk herself, can only nod in wishful, commiserating agreement.

—

(horror)

She doesn’t mean to stumble upon the scene, but Netsui is the only witness as Shikako Nara executes the camp’s missing prisoner.

“How is this any different from Edo Tensei?” she asks, after watching the prisoner’s corpse disappear into a shadowy maw.

The creature that wears Shikako’s face just smiles.

—

(hurt/comfort)

“This is n-not the f-first time I’ve b-been stabbed in the b-back, lit-literally even” Nara struggles to say, unsurprisingly, given the sword likely puncturing one lung.

“Shut up,” Netsui responds, but her hands are gentle as she lowers the other kunoichi down, wrapping bandages to apply pressure on the wound.

Then she draws her own sword; Netsui may not be able to fix everything, but she can at least solve one of their problems: the enemy is unarmed–literally and figuratively.

—

(romance)

There is peace between nations, and Karui is engaged to marry Akimichi, so it’s not like what Netsui is about to do is unprecedented. She’s still damn nervous, though.

“Nara,” she says, then corrects herself, “Shikako… would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”

—

(smut)

Dinner was a disaster. Netsui spent the entire time cringing at her own awkwardness, at the way Shikako tried to fill in the silence with strained conversation.

Dessert goes much better.

~

A/N: I’m gonna hand wave some stuff here–like, how exactly certain situations come about… and why Sasuke would befriend a Kumo kunoichi and enough to share his one-sided feelings for Shikako–because even if these things are terribly grammatically incorrect, they are only nominally three sentences.

So this is for anon’s prompt for some (one-sided) Netsui/Shikako. And I did say I wasn’t sure which direction I should go… which is why I chose all of them. ALL THE DIRECTIONS.

But seriously, hope ya’ll enjoy. 🙂

edit: now on ao3 as part of the Dreaming One Shots collection here

Shikako / Toki, relationship or friendship? She was very disappointed when Shikako left and very excited to see her again at the exam.

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Hi anon, thanks for the prompt. I’m gonna be honest it took me a while to remember who Toki was. I was just… Toki? Who is Toki? … But thankfully with SQ having retconned all of the titles with story arcs I was able to figure out she’s from Land of Birds arc. So all good.

Um, I probably won’t get to this for a while? But I am going to be doing the podfic for Haunted Castle arc soon and Land of Birds arc is after that. So once I do those chapters it should be pretty fresh in my mind and we’ll see what shakes out.

So, based on that little aside in dreaming of speculation/engagment ficlet can I ask for onesided Netsui/Shikako?

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Hm… well… I can’t say one sided Netsui/Shikako DOESN’T appeal to me… I am all about one sided feelings and bristling anger over embarrassing crushes. 

This one may take me a while–I’m unsure what direction I should go for this one–but it’s a fantastic prompt, so thanks anon!

Are you still taking prompts? If so: Shikako Gaara, from Team 7’s point of view? Thanks!

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

I’m always taking prompts and I always try to respond/fill them in some way–whether by fic or brainstorming. Even if I’m not very quick on the turn around, I’m always glad to get prompts.

So thanks for sending this one, anon, and we’ll see how soon I get to filling it.

Dreaming of S(uccess, the hollow hearted edition), a DoS remix drabble (2016-03-28)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

There is only one person that Shikako has ever honestly considered telling the truth about her past, but so long as he wears the Hokage’s hat she cannot:

Kakashi is the Rokudaime, an honor and responsibility that he never wanted but must dutifully serve until his successor is deemed ready. So long as he is the Hokage he cannot put his students’ lives above the rest of the village.

And so she does not tell him, even when her knowledge has stopped being relevant, even after all of the things she feared has been resolved and become the past twice over. She does not tell anyone.

Not until he passes down the hat.

—

Naruto, finally accepted by the village he calls home, stays and learns. Sasuke, chafing under the years of being protected with a short leash, requests missions with long durations in far off places.

Shikako chooses to wander the land–training trip or research trip or maybe even both, inheriting Jiraiya’s role as spymaster and fuinjutsu master and author (though her books are far less perverted in nature).

During war, Team Seven banded together to save the world. In peace, they spiral apart.

Perhaps one day they will be reunited, but there is very little that can stand up to one of them, much less requires all three, and so that day is far away.

—

There are marriages and children and entire lives being lived without her, and Shikako realizes, almost five months after her twentieth birthday, that this is basically the same thing that must have happened after whatever ripped her from her old world reincarnated her in this world.

Maybe her sister got married, maybe there is a niece or nephew in that old world that she has never met and will never meet. Or has time progressed even further–another generation on who wouldn’t even be told of their missing great aunt, much less care.

She doesn’t know if there’s a niece and nephew here, in this version of this world, that she hasn’t yet met.

She goes home immediately.

—

She regrets it almost immediately.

She’s grown beyond the shape she once carved herself into for their sakes, and now they no longer fit.

She doesn’t know if she means her brother, her team, or Konoha itself.

It’s stifling and bewildering, this place she once called home, this place she killed and died for. All of the changes like unfamiliar scars on people who she once would have said she knew better than anyone.

That is no longer the case.

Shikamaru has long since learned to be less protective of her–his twin his shadow his sister–but now he has a wife and child and somehow Shikako is no longer his. Sasuke has settled into his own skin, an identity she has never seen, a life she could have never predicted. Naruto is the hero grown, triumphant, successful; he does not need her to guide the way, to show him how to make dreams reality.

He’s already done so.

Naruto is no longer a boy hoping to be the Hokage.

He is the Hokage.

Which means Kakashi is not.

Once, he may have been the only person she ever considered telling the truth, but that was many years ago.

She has changed and so, too, has he.

~

A/N: … I’m posting this as a response to this prompt because this is what shook out of my brain, but I’m not entirely satisfied with this so I will hopefully be making a less bleak/rambling edition

Just wanted to know who this Bastian character is!

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

You want to know who Bastian is?

O_O

… (oh my god, I am so pleased by this ask) …

Bastian is one of my many OCs that I actually created many years ago but never used frequently. Originally, he wasn’t even supposed to be in Leanne Peridot’s story–he was meant to be an antagonist for another character entirely–much less such a recurring/prevalent part of her story and not even solely antagonist at that. But it’s one of those things where as a writer you’re less like god playing with dolls and more like an anthropologist observing whatever the heck your characters are doing.

In this case, it kind of made sense since Leanne Peridot is my inept vigilante/time traveler and Bastian is my… “guy who is accidentally cursed with immortality because the magicians trying to save his life messed up very badly” is kind of unwieldy to say. I only have maybe a few other “immortal” characters and none of them would put up with his particular brand of bullshit, so…

The basis of their relationship is that they’re both each other’s most constant thing in the world. But it’s a poor choice to make a person your foundation, especially when you don’t even experience time in the same direction. And I also liked the idea that her constantly leaving him (not intentionally) because of time travel would also add to his increasing madness.

It’s harder for me to ramble about Original Characters because even though I really want to, another part of me is thinking that, hey, maybe I’ll write this character’s story some day so I shouldn’t spoil it quite yet.

But it is wonderfully flattering for anyone to take interest in my original fic (though I do, obviously, enjoy writing fanfic). I am still smiling and blushing like an absolute dork.

Ah, looks like part 1 of my 2 pt post didn’t make it through. I don’t think it matters much based on what you wrote back. pt 1 was basically me saying that i don’t see why the lost 4 would want to return to Auradon willingly, before giving 3 ways to force them back in pt 2. Also that unlike with Narnia magic, they would actually age, so coming back to the same moment only 2 plus years older might cause problems. but if they got pulled before the movie, then that might not be a problem.

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Ah, yes that makes more sense. But I’m glad I was able to answer your questions regardless. I feel like if the Lost kids got to the point of being accepted by Konoha–which still remains a military dictatorship despite their reputation–then they would reciprocate the trust shown to them. They’d be so loyal–to their teams and to each other, if not to Konoha as a whole–that they would feel unfairly ripped away if the Fairy Godmother were to summon them back.

I guess the plot would revolve around how the Lost kids either find their way back to Konoha or fail to and eventually accept living in Auradon. The second half, at least. The first half would be about the Lost kids adjusting to Konoha and their individual character arcs.

2/2 1: The plot device at the museum/in Konoha has a timer and automatically sends them back. 2: Encounter with dimension crossing Sharingan via Akatsuki/Kaguya forces them back. or 3: Forces from Auradon either pull them back arrive via Magic wand to re-imprison them on the Isle, much to the displeasure of Konoha, or arrive in Konoha for the same reason and a similar response. Personaly, even after a 4th shinobi war, I think Konoha would kick Auradons butt.

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

(related to this previous brainstorm)

Given that Auradon has spent the past two decades banishing all of their villains to an island and all of their knights/princes are athletes instead of warriors, there’s no question that Konoha would totally own Auradon if it came to that. Heck, even in canon Descendants I’m pretty sure the Lost kids could take down the rest of the school–including the Fairy Godmother–if they really wanted to. Obviously, they’d have to use the advantage of surprise, and this is with the wand out of play (not even with Mal, just not with the Fairy Godmother). And by taking out the school they’d effectively have all of the children of the royal families hostage and thus the rest of the kingdom but…

…

Wait… what were we talking about?

…

Oh, right. The crossover!

Actually, now that I think about it some more, I wonder if the Lost kids shouldn’t be somehow summoned directly from the Isle of the Lost a few years before the events of the Descendants movie. Such that they are the same age as the Konoha twelve and grow up alongside them through to Shippuden. At which point they’d be at the right age for the events of Descendants to occur.

That way its a summoning on both ends–someone in Konoha on one side, then the Fairy Godmother, by request of the king to be, on the other. That way it puts the least suspicion on the Lost kids’ appearance–and the being pulled away from their home(s) twice makes for some additional story drama.

Now, whether or not Konoha is going to try to retrieve them… well. It depends on the specifics of how they disappear. But definitely for sure they will try to make their way back to their “real” home–and given that Carlos would be a weapons AND seals specialist, they would have a decent chance of doing it.

From the Auradon side, depending on what they know, they could view the matter as “saving” them. As in movie canon, the way Ben was “saving” them from the Isle by offering them an opportunity to get better education etc. Or, if somehow Fairy Godmother knew they were being used as child soldiers, then “saving” them from that fate.

Which the Lost kids don’t appreciate because they’re probs all chuunin/jounin level after 3-4 years of training which means they are used to being treated as adults by shinobi standards.

I dunno. There’s definitely lots of interesting possibilities you can play around with here, anon. How do the Lost kids affect Konoha’s timeline–does Sasuke defect when shown examples of kids who actually have worse family than he does? Does Danzo try to muscle his way into their group and get outed to Sandaime early on? Does being half-fairy give Mal some kind of bijuu-esque advantages? I have no idea, but it’s interesting to think about.

I love your descendants fics, especially the Carlos focused ones, and have been enjoying the DoS drabbles. However, reading and re-reading my favorites over and over again has sent me to a world where Carlos ends up getting help for his dog fears from the Inuzuka, resulting in Dude eventually growing up to be a horse sized dog, like Akamaru does in shippuden, and protecting Carlos from all harm. That is all.

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Carlos and the Inuzuka?

…

O_O

…

Oh, anon, you have no idea what kind of brainstorming bunny you have unleashed!

Okay, so, let’s say–as in my Once Then Always brainstorm–the Lost kids are transported to a different world via magical artifacts during the museum heist. After they have some life-changing adventures, they are transported back to Auradon with little to no time passing. (Unfortunately, this is before Carlos meets Dude, but this does not prevent Carlos from adopting Dude later.)

Like with Once Then Always, I would like to have each of the Lost kids have a unique self-discovery journey of their own. Carlos overcoming his fear of dogs (and shitty parenting) with the Inuzuka is pretty straightforward–but what about the others?

But, before that, how does Konoha react to four random teenagers appearing in their village?

Since we do want Carlos to be fostered (or at least not threatened) by the Inuzuka, that means that the Lost kids can’t be seen as infiltrators/enemies/threats. Which means that their appearance has to be either planned by Konoha or, at least, the result of something Konoha did.

Maybe some kind of summoning seal? Or maybe an Uzumaki artifact?

I’m also unsure when in the Naruto timeline I would want this to be–before the Chuunin Exams? After it, but before the Sasuke retrieval arc? Or full on in Shippuden?

I’ll admit I’ve been spoiled by Dreaming of Sunshine and no longer have the patience to put up with Sasuke’s defection melodrama, but I suppose in that case this could be a DoS crossover instead of a canon Naruto crossover… In which case, it’s perfectly plausible that the Lost kids are summoned by Shikako.

Uh, but this crossover would want to focus on the Lost kids… So *insert plot reason for Konoha to trust them* and now the Lost kids are being fostered/trained by Konoha. I like to imagine that–given the terrible living circumstances of the Isle–that the Lost kids are at the very least genin level.

Jay was quick to pick up tourney (which is based off lacrosse which is, in and of itself, based off a ceremonial ritual of symbolic warfare) and, after a few days, so was Carlos. Mal I headcanon to be physically stronger than Carlos, Evie I’m not so sure? I know in the book she was dangerously underweight–then again, all of them are probably suffering from some sort of malnutrition…

Anyway, I wonder if, at first, the Lost kids are split up for training. Probably they’d be treated as one family so they’d get to live together, but while Konoha may tentatively trust the Lost kids ~for reasons~ they wouldn’t be so stupid as to leave a group of unknowns together and unsupervised.

In a different brainstorm for DoS (Team Medic which I made with @kuipernebula) I proposed that an additional genin team would be dispersed amongst the Rookie Nine after the Sound/Sand Invasion that way each team has a medic-nin specifically suited for the team and the genin can begin to get used to the four chuunin team set up instead of the three genin one jounin set up.

The fact that there are four Lost kids as opposed to three genin medic nins is easily fixed by adding Team Gai to the mix. So that means each Lost kid is assigned to a different genin team.

For reasons described above, we would want Carlos to end up with Team Eight–so that he can overcome his fear of dogs via Kiba and Akamaru (and the Inuzuka clan in general). Given that Jay’s subplot in Descendants was about teamwork I would think that Team Ten would be the best analog given that their clans are practically bred for teamwork (the Hyuuga/Aburame/Inuzuka team set up isn’t one that the clans reflect).

Which leaves Team Gai and the pile of drama that is Team Seven–either canon or DoS versions. Given that Mal is the main character of Descendants it makes the most sense for her to be put on Team Drama–also given that her character arc is about her defying “nature” and nurture and choosing good over evil, that would probably resonate very well with Team Seven, especially with Naruto–the optimistic protagonist with a demon sealed inside him versus the conflicted daughter of an evil fairy.

And so Evie is left with Team Gai. Which is actually pretty interesting because Team Gai is the only one without a clan heir, aka a “prince” or “princess”. Can that help Evie overcome her obsession with marrying her very own prince? Maaaaybe…

However, as kuipernebula and I discussed with Team Medic, there has to be some kind of in-story reason as to why the Hokage (either Sandaime or Tsunade) would assign it in this way. But we also figured that it’s pretty easy to argue any given set up. Obviously Konoha will prioritize function over feelings, but we have to figure out what about each Lost kid makes them a good match for each genin team.

Team Ten I actually find easiest to explain because Jay is the physically strongest and most capable of the four Lost kids. Given Team Ten’s set up–that is, the Ino-Shika-Cho and Asuma–if you take Asuma out of the equation (as he would be if all of the genin became chuunin) then the Ino-Shika part of the equation is very low on offensive abilities meaning they’d need another “heavy hitter” to even out the new team of four. Whether that means he acts as protector to the stationary Ino and Shikamaru, or as another bulldozer alongside Chouji depends on plot.

Team Seven, also, is pretty easy–Team Seven have “historically” been the legendary, potential S-class teams. All members have been, in some way or another, ninjutsu buffs minus, maybe, Nohara Rin but for all we know she could very well have been, too. So of Carlos, Evie, and Mal, the one who would most likely be able to keep up with Team Seven would be Mal who has access to her mother’s magic spell book (aka family ninjutsu).

That being said, I’m not too sure what Carlos and Evie’s skills translate best to in the Naruto world. Because Carlos in the books is all about technology which… there isn’t much of in the Naruto world, whereas Evie has her magic mirror and her potion knowledge (love potion and the one that knocked out Chad) which is… ?

But, okay, let’s stretch the definition of technology for Carlos–that could mean either weaponry or seals. Which is a heavy overlap with TenTen–too much overlap, I’d say, but that’s not enough of a reason alone. If Team Eight’s specialty is tracking, then why would Carlos–a weapons/sealing specialist be added? Well, if this is about jumping from genin level to chuunin level, Team Eight wouldn’t just be tracking cats or missing items. They’d be tracking people–possibly enemies. So, for example, if they’re tracking missing nin, they’d have to be prepared for traps of all kind. Hence, weapons/sealing.

And, again, Evie is the most difficult… the potion knowledge could easily be linked to poisons and medicine, while the magic mirror is… I mean, there was that crystal ball that the Sandaime had in the very first episode and which was never brought up again, but I don’t know what I would call that. Not genjutsu… Actually, it’s a bit like the Yamanaka–information gathering and the thinly veiled flower shop poison/medical knowledge–without the whole body-swapping.

How does that benefit Team Gai? Well, as they are before the time skip they taijutsu experts with one weapons/sealing expert. They are a team well designed for either body guarding or taking out non-enhanced human enemies like bandits. With one set of Byakugan and their sensei’s implied talent in genjutsu (which might be passed on to TenTen) they have the makings of a possible espionage team. Add Evie into the mix and they can easily handle infiltration missions, especially if it’s in non-shinobi places.

Now, what is the actual plot going to be? I have no idea… but I actually think this crossover would be more about the Lost kids going back to Auradon after all is said in done, and how their changed attitudes influence the Descendants story. The Lost kids have already had their character arcs happen in Konoha so what is left?

Well, while Konoha may be known as the tree-hugger/soft village–they are still a shinobi village. Despite Naruto’s well-meaning nindo, shinobi are mercenary at heart–they kill and steal and all sorts of nefarious deeds for money or “village security.” So while the Lost kids may not be “evil” anymore, they’re more at “neutral” than “good.” And if the Lost kids have been in the Naruto world through to Shippuden then they’ve been at war and very well might be experiencing PTSD. So now they have to get used to peace–just like what the epilogue of Naruto skipped over.

Tbh, I don’t think I’ll write it–only because it does have a lot of overlap with my Once Then Always and if I had to choose I would prefer to write OTA–but it was fun to think about. So thanks, anon! I know this wasn’t a prompt, but this was great 🙂

(continued here)