A/N: Hm… I kinda want to both brainstorm and write a ficlet for this prompt, because the idea is very lovely (as per usual, dona) but the brainstorm I have is different than the ficlet I want to write?
Like the ficlet is just a straight up narrative prose exploring the idea of some Nara children being changelings and why their clan are the exception, etc. etc. Whereas the brainstorm is a more expansive plotty thing about how having a changeling character would affect the story.
Hm, I guess they’re not necessarily exclusive to each other so let’s do both… ficlet first!
~
To say that the Shodaime Hokage created the forests around what would become the sight of Konohagakure is an exaggeration at best and an outright lie at worst.
It’s true that the Hashirama trees are the first type that villagers learn to identify as children–prevalent in most parks and training grounds, a protective ring around the walls–but the forest itself is far older than that; far greater.
Far less human.
///
Yoshino is in labor for a grueling forty six hours–more blood, sweat, and tears than even the worst battle–but she knows it’ll be worth it, prays to every god she can think of that it’ll be worth it.
When finally it’s done, that last exhausting push, she can barely catch her breath, barely stay awake, and yet she claws at consciousness desperately.
Why is there only one baby crying?
///
The Nara clan live close to the earth: their herds and their trees and theirs shadows upon the ground. They are intelligent, taking their own time and space, and for that they are looked upon fondly.
Most of the time, that’s a good thing.
///
There is a tree, deep within the Nara clan compound, old and gnarled and kept secret.
In that tree, there is a hollow, cleaned monthly but left empty.
Tonight, with Kasuga and Sembei at his back, Shikaku places the small, shrouded bundle inside.
///
It has been a long time since the Nara clan were given a gift from the other side.
An honor and risk, both.
The rest of the village has no idea what they’re in for.
—
OKAY! So, now it’s brainstorm time.
I made it vague because I wasn’t sure if, because you specified Shikamaru, you wanted him to be the changeling or if you wanted his POV of changeling!Shikako… or, I guess, now that I think of it, if you even wanted DoS? Whoops.
Anyway! The ficlet above would be the prequel basically laying down the groundwork of your prompt for a much larger story. What that story is, I’m not entirely sure…
Actually, I’m thinking something like Danzo has somehow gotten to the other side and that’s where a lot of his ROOT soldiers are from–changeling children that weren’t so blessed to be placed with the Nara clan, which sort of explains the affinity Shikako has with Sai, etc. etc–and the Fae kind of point Shikako in that direction and just, go wild, dispense our wrath…
… but I’m worried I’m focusing too much on Danzo as the big bad. I mean, the Fae could also be GREATLY DISPLEASED with the giant evil bijuu eating statue and that’s another task the whispers in Shikako’s mind point her towards.
I do like the idea that while the Nara are the only ones who get changeling children as a sort of active, deliberate exchange, there are other places (including outside of Konoha) where changeling children appear where there isn’t any established and known protocols for it. And so, like how Naruto has his not-so-secret society of jinchuuriki, Shikako has a slightly-more-secret society of changelings.
Sai is one, definitely. I’m thinking also Juugo? And maaybe Isaribi to incorporate her more into the story… I don’t think there’d be any overlaps in changelings and jinchuuriki (the only exception might be Sora at the Fire Temple who is only a partial jinchuuriki or something like that?)
Hm…
I mean, this would be in Shikamaru’s POV so as to match your prompt and also him as an outsider but close observer of this phenomenon would lend itself well into the whole–changelings LOOK human, but they aren’t, kind of thing. Yes, they’re mostly taught how to interact in a socially acceptable way, but they’re still Other.
Actually, now I wonder if even the bijuu are a little scared of the Fae (and, by association, the changelings) because chakra is a relatively new power in the world. The bijuu aren’t that old in comparison to the Fae. SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT FURTHER 😀
Awesome! A brainstorm AND a ficlet! I love this so much- I totally hadn’t thought about the ROOT thing. …Man, the Fae could be PISSED about that. And …not concerned, but irritated at the instruction of the Juno. Yes, irritated. (Your suggestion also now has me wondering about the au of this au, where Shikamaru finds out HE’s the changeling. Oooh.) But I love the Shikako-Sai connection you did there. And for some reason I am thinking about the logistics of hiding this from the hospital. (Either the Nara blatantly take over that wing of the hospital, or Tsunade is left affronted that the Nara never go to the hospital for childbirth. Which makes one wonder if other clans try to take over one aspect of village administration/services in order to conceal/uphold their dealings with the Fae.)
…Wow, imagine if BOTH twins were Fae. Brings the ‘and one looks like the mother and one looks like the father’ to a whole new creepy level, right? Some Fae thing they do so that the babies blend in- maybe it involves a blood sacrifice from the parents. Or- no. Just the little bundle at the root of the tree. That’s enough to work with.
I think it makes more sense if Shikako alone is the Fae, though. Does she even know it? Maybe not. She tries very hard to be ‘normal,’ for a chageling.
…I kind of wonder if Orochimaru was a changeling. And maybe that was what got Danzo interested in them.
Shikamaru as the changeling would be absolutely fascinating. Because Shikako is the “weird” one as compared to Shikamaru who is very traditionally Nara. But is he really? Or, rather, what is it to be Nara as compared to Fae?
After all, they do have the favor of the Fae, have had previously received changeling children as a gift. Perhaps it’s because they’re so similar?
There’s a post going around about how changeling children from the past were most likely autistic children which society at the time couldn’t put into any other words but having been swapped with a Fae child. And, well, the Nara are very… hm… the new Maori word for autism is “his or her own time and space” which I feel does describe the Nara clan as a whole.
They let their members grow as they feel, don’t push them to think one way or another, they’re very supportive when a member finds their calling, used to members switching between hyper-focus and scattered distraction. Cloud watching could very well be a way to reduce stimuli…
I think there are probably enough Nara who work in the hospital that whenever one is pregnant and giving birth, it’s not at all difficult to swap Nara nurses and medics into the delivery. Especially when it’s the clan head’s wife giving birth? It wouldn’t at all be suspicious for any Nara hospital staff to involve themselves in such a clan critical pregnancy, so then it wouldn’t be necessary to take over the maternity ward (just borrow it, for a little while).
Ooh, Orochimaru as a changeling… that makes a lot of sense, actually! Unfortunately for him, the Nara clan head at the time of his childhood hadn’t been as observant, or perhaps thought the stillborns for changelings swap was a myth, or was very clannish and didn’t consider it his responsibility to help. And it would, as you said, give an interesting spin on his relationship with Danzo and also his defection from Akatsuki. He’s definitely a Dark Fae, or a Fallen Fae, or whatever the terminology might be for a changeling that has broken so many Rules that the Fae no longer claim him as their own. Although maybe he redeems himself in their eyes (which explains better why he’s still walking around doing whatever he wants in Boruto)?
I’m a little hesitant about Gaara being a changeling as well as a jinchuuriki… maybe he’s of Fae descent? Like, Karura could’ve been a changeling… which explains why she died in childbirth (the bijuu chakra sealed into the as of yet unborn Gaara seeped into her own system, weakening her) but also how she was able to imbue her protection/love into his sand even after her death. And how cool would it be if that’s where Temari’s EXTREME WIND BADASSERY came from?
Shikaku is a very tolerant father, I feel like. Or, rather, accepting the fact that his clan has a weird trading system with the Fae means he’s just a very tolerant, not-easily-shaken man.
Adding a note or two: Fae are rather possessive. Which would explain some of Shikamaru’s actions/ thought process after the Gelel arc.
Also I don’t think Orochimaru actually broke the Rules of Fae
He may twist words and make the sky seem green but he doesn’t lie, even when he has a seal on his tongue keeping him from speaking truth. Even his experiments with the Jugo’s blood-limit (that Orochimaru benefits from but that’ could be seen him working towards what he said he would that’s fae to) he acts as his name and within his power, and he doesn’t try to mess with Fae courts (not established courts anyway) and the actions he takes are very much in the Human Realm.
He even takes in others that were in some ways abandoned or betrayed (Kimimaro being one example). Which fae are acknowledged to do
just thoughts to add
Even before the Gelel arc, Shikamaru’s concern over Shikako could read as fae-influenced possessiveness–though it is also just the whole “my sister is nearly dying on a monthly basis and then one time ACTUALLY dies” situation.
I think there’s a certain generalization that can be applied if Shikamaru is the changeling because his personality is notably VERY in line with Nara-typical personalities which means A LOT of Nara over the years have been changelings/are descended from those changelings. Whereas if Shikako is the changeling then her unusual determination for a Nara matches up with those rare enough (but memorable enough) Nara who make the “motivated Nara” quote a significantly prevalent saying.
I dunno, I’m kind of waffling back and forth on this matter. Because the idea that the Nara as a whole all have even some percentage of fae ancestry is kind of fun. But also the idea that it isn’t so common, and they’re still just Like That is also very fun. And, like, there’s a certain level of tolerance if the “second-born” non-heir is a changeling, but I feel like there might be some backlash if the heir is the changeling.
… Then again, the idea of Asuma having to deal with changeling Shikamaru is hilarious to me for some reason. Kakashi is already on a team with a bunch of weirdoes, he’s used to it. Asuma would just be staring at Shikamaru–who he has specifically been training to be team leader–in utter bewilderment as his genin follow the strangest (fae) whims. AAAAAHHHH I don’t know
… True, true. Orochimaru is one of those characters whose Watsonian motivations must be more complex and fascinating than the Doylist reasons behind his actions. So the idea that he’s beholden to laws that aren’t human is absolutely compelling. All of the partnerships/promises he makes then breaks does give off a very mercurial vibe, and the fact that he doesn’t seem to be majorly punished for any of them does kind of go with the idea that his sense of honor/justice is somehow beyond human reproach. And that would explain why he is walking around in Boruto if he’s “only” broken human laws and those don’t really apply to fae/changelings.
I loosely follow @blackkatmagic’s fanon that Orochimaru’s backstory is as tragic as Tsunade’s with some added deliberate manipulation from Danzo to ruin one of the potential Hokage candidates, so Orochimaru can’t be as completely evil as we see on the surface (although there’s definitely a point where his actions are nobody’s fault but his own, and he doesn’t get held accountable for those at all). I suppose if I were more ambitious I would try to do an Orochimaru centered fic about his progression to cold, but that’s a lot of nuance that I’m not sure I can do…
Maybe its just because my view of the Fae is heavily influenced by the Dresden Files, but I don’t think the Fae would be all that pissed about Danzo, he’s using them the same way the Fae often use their own children anyway. Also, as far as the courts are concerned, the Nara definitely deal more with the Summer court, I’m torn as to Orochimaru’s nature, on the one hand, his personality and tactics scream Winter, but the words “snakes” and “Winter” don’t even belong in the same paragraph.
-Fell.
I think the Fae would be pissed about someone else using their children as mindless soldiers. The actual treatment they don’t care about, but the fact that some mortal is going about doing something that is reserved for Fae only is what they’d have a problem with.
Visually he also is very Winter, so if we’re going personality, tactics, and looks he’s Winter. The snake thing can be handwaved away. Like how there are ice dragons in fantasy, but if dragons were really reptiles then they wouldn’t be icy?
But I don’t know much about Dresden Files, so my knowledge of Fae is very loose.
Shikako Nara’s Guide To Delinquency and Military Insurrection
(Rule Four: No place is invulnerable. Keep your guard up, even at home.)
The sky has turned dark, the view from the tower’s top now of your village in its nighttime wear. The lights of businesses and houses twinkling bright, people overly loud as they go from restaurants to bars, interrupting the tranquility.
Disorderly.
Despicable.
This lack of discipline is what Hiruzen has allowed to fester Konoha. Weakness. No longer. You will have to make changes. Curfews and and harsher penalties.
You turn away from the window, the sight of your village still so tainted sickens you, enrages you, and so you must look away. But as you turn, you think you see a face in the glass. Behind you?
No, you dart a glance through your office, only your ROOT guards–all under chameleon jutsu and masked besides. When you turn back the face is gone.
Only a reflection, surely.
You put the thought from your mind, put the hat back on–though the veils often limit your peripheral vision and there is no one significant to see. You have much to do in order to make your village great again.
Nothing can stop you now.
—
The second time, night again, you are waiting for one of your teams to come back and report.
They are only ANBU, not ROOT, and while you were not expecting much, you are disgusted by how long it is taking them.
It should not be this difficult to apprehend one child, jinchuuriki status or not.
Another matter you must correct, Hiruzen’s indulgence of the creature. It should have been handled and trained properly from the start–even the strongest of weapons can rust from poor handling–but instead that foolish monkey had it pretending at a normal life. As if a jinchuuriki could ever be normal.
One of the proximity sensors sounds off, the ANBU team returning, finally, but when they appear…
“Where is the boy?” you ask, the sheer incompetence of these agents causing you to bite the words out, irritated. The four ANBU stand in front of you in various states of bruised and battered, filthy, not even bearing a single blonde hair from the creature.
They shuffle silently, nervously, uselessly in front of you before the captain utters, “He disappeared. We lost him in the sewers.”
“It was as if the shadows just swallowed him whole!” one of the others says inanely, before hunching down from the sharp glance of their captain.
If this is the quality of ANBU that Hiruzen’s administration produced, then it is no wonder that all their nukenin have been walking the Elemental Nations unharmed.
Displeased, you activate the seals on their arms, watch as they try not to scream, grip futilely at themselves before dropping to the floor of your office. A modification of the old design, incorporating what you could reverse engineer of the Hyuuga’s Caged Bird.
You summon another team–ROOT this time, though lately they’re running thin on the ground which is why you had to resort to standard ANBU to begin with–have them remove the bodies and assign them the incomplete mission.
For ROOT agents there is only success or death.
—
The jinchuuriki is never found.
You are running out of ROOT agents.
The village, frail from decades of mismanagement, crumbles under your steady hand.
This is not how your tenure as Hokage is meant to go.
—
You are returning to your office after dealing with Yuuhi’s idiocy–the man is too used to dealing with genin, clearly unable to handle the role of jounin commander as he always claimed he could–when you stop just inside the doorway.
Someone is in your seat.
Someone is in your seat, feet propped up on your desk, looking for all the world like she belongs there and not like she is committing the highest form of disrespect and treason.
“Guards!” you yell, and the fact that you must call for them just compounds the sheer frustration of this situation. Four masked and hooded ANBU appear.
They do nothing else.
“Seize her!” you add, enraged that you must instruct them on this most obvious order.
They turn towards you, instead.
It is at this point you realize you do not sense either ROOT or the updated ANBU seals on them. It is at this point you realize your shadow is stretching far longer than it should. It is at this point you realize you cannot move.
You realize all this too late.
The door slams shut behind you, a second shadow tendril snaking past you and returning to the girl.
The girl who casually removes her feet from your desk, gets up from your seat, and saunters around so she is standing in the center of your office, in the center of the four masked shinobi who are not yours.
The masks come off.
Still you cannot move.
“Honestly,” says the girl, “what were you expecting?”
~
A/N: … ugh, writing from Danzo’s POV is the worst. But also, like, I could not think of any other way to fill this prompt, lionhead. It’s a little bit spin-off-y of Ascendant, though not necessary. Just the sheer delusion of a man who has gotten what he wants and still can’t understand why things aren’t going the way he planned.
(seriously, i’ve got nothing in my ask box. I might start cross posting brainstorms onto ao3–for safety reasons–so if there’s any old brainstorm (like from all of the ask box fake fic titles event) that you want to, er, re-prompt in some way, they’re open season too)
He never could stop her from doing what she thought needed to be done. Never thought he would need to stop her, because as far as they’ve known each other–for as long as they’ve worked together, fought together, been together–she was always right about what needed to be done.
Or, at least, that’s what he had always thought.
“Shikako Nara attacked the Hokage,” says acting Hokage Councilor Shimura, “She is guilty of high treason and must be brought to justice.”
Behind him, Komachi and Towa make no noise, ANBU stealth and stoicism combined. Sasuke struggles to make Hawk do the same.
“Hunt her down,” Councilor Shimura continues, voice apathetic and so hateful to Sasuke’s ears, “Terminate her,” he finishes, eyeing Hawk specifically.
The three ANBU bow: dutiful, respectful, silent. If ANBU Hawk’s bow is a little belated, a little too shallow, then who is to say?
—
Red Team–short one member, of course, and now he wonders how long it will take Komachi and Towa to connect the dots, wonders at the wisdom and cruelty both of Councilor Shimura to send them on this mission, if the latter had been so important to him as to outweigh the former–has barely spent a minute at HQ before another bird masked ANBU approaches them.
“I have been temporarily assigned to Red Team to aid you on your current mission. I am codenamed Crow.“
Behind his own mask, Sasuke blinks, perplexed. He knows this is Sai. He just doesn’t know what the play is here. More cruelty, perhaps. He knows Sai is one of Councilor Shimura’s, so this could be extra insurance that Red Team does their job. But he also knows that, beyond all reason, Shikako trusted him anyway. That Sai had gone above and beyond to save Shikako from Councilor Shimura, to break her out from her own mind when no one else could.
Sasuke is looking at either a spy or a saboteur.
He’s not sure which he would prefer.
—
Red Team with Crow in tow depart from the village as soon as possible. Standard protocol for hunting missions.
Red Team isn’t designed for this–Red Team shouldn’t even be on this mission, for logistical and obvious, possible emotional compromising reasons–but that doesn’t mean they won’t at the very least appear to be completing their mission to the best of their abilities.
Everyone knows that the first seventy two hours are the most critical when it comes to hunting nukenin.
Hawk doesn’t have a moment of privacy to create a shadow clone and send it back until four hours later, and so by the time Sasuke is able to ask around the news has already been twisted around into rumors.
Shikako Nara has cracked under the pressure. Accelerated promotions getting to her, unable to handle her rank.
Shikako Nara has been turned. A sleeper agent from another country, she’s always been suspiciously friendly to foreign nin.
Shikako Nara is just like that snake. Didn’t you know? They encountered each other during the chunin exams.
Shikako Nara isn’t the villain here–it’s the jounin commander using his daughter, trying and failing to enact a coup.
None of it is right. All of it is useless.
The only pieces he finds to be true are that Shikako really did attack Tsunade-sama, who is even now still in the hospital, Shikaku-san is in T&I custody, and Councilor Shimura is acting Hokage.
But he already knew that.
—
He thinks maybe the worst part about all of this is that he doesn’t even know what the worst part is.
The first awful part of it is that he can’t figure out why. Why would Shikako attack Tsunade-sama?
Then there’s the terrible part in which he’s being sent to on a mission to kill her–which is both cruel and doesn’t make any sense to him, either.
And then there’s the whole disastrous situation with Sai and whether or not he’ll help or harm the mission… and whether or not Sasuke can convince the rest of Red Team to not fulfill their mission.
No, that’s a lie. He knows what the worst part is.
—
They catch up to Shikako in Land of Rivers.
No, Shikako lets them catch up to her.
Sasuke knows how easily it would be for her to stay ahead of them. Or to stay hidden from them. Or even to fight them, knock them out, and continue on her way.
She did this on purpose.
“Go home, Red Team” Shikako says, and if, somehow, Komachi and Towa didn’t already know the identity of Bat, then they know it now. “Tsunade-sama will need her best to protect her.”
“Protect her from what?” Komachi snipes back, quick temper flaring, “You’re the one who she needs protection from.”
Shikako shrugs, posture loose and casual and an utter lie. Then, bizarrely, she sticks her tongue out at them. No, at Crow.
“Beware the strangling roots,” she says to them all, before melting into shadows. Red Team tries to pursue, but there is no further trail to follow.
—
The worst part is, she didn’t even ask him to go with her.
~
A/N: Belated fill is very belated and doesn’t really match the prompt, but hope you still enjoy, anon!
I know it says canonDoS, but my brain just really wanted to do a swapped roles version of Down Every Road two: hunter and nukenin, but obviously instead of Shikako being the hunter and Sasuke being the nukenin it’s the other way around. So it’s sort of canon compliant in an AU divergence kind of way? Or, like, I mean. It’s not been jossed yet so it’s not NOT canon? Uh…
Maybe I’ll go further down this road? I dunno, I have an idea for what probably happened, but since this is Sasuke’s POV I figure it’d be more in line if he just could not figure out what the hell was going on because… well… Sasuke.
Tobirama-sensei chooses Hiruzen and something you didn’t even know existed within you shatters.
Everything after that is just collateral damage.
—
The first is an accident.
Or, at least, that’s what the report will say.
A training accident, two wartime soldiers unable to readjust to peacetime sparring.
A misunderstanding, you say, still covered in your teammate’s blood. You thought it was a genjutsu, luring you into a false sense of security.
It’s not completely improbable, is the thing. Kagami is–was–the most mischievous of the now disassembled Team Tobirama, with a flare for genjutsu and tricks. A smile and bright captivating eyes that had nothing to do with the Sharingan.
An Uchiha that even the most stalwart Senju trusted.
The first is an accident.
Decades down the line, you’re not certain if that’s true anymore.
—
Second and third are easy, the wrong words whispered at the right time.
You are not the only one who got skipped over.
Why Hiruzen? How is he more worthy than us? Were we not all students of the Hokage?
Politics, you’ll hiss at them, a blade sliding between ribs right into their hearts.
An enticing weapon, but ultimately a trap.
Shisui’s eye is a redundancy.
—
Fourth bows out before you can do anything.
Torifu was there during the first, he remembers it as well as you do.
Better maybe.
He steps aside and for that you turn your attention away from him, from his clan, and their vassals.
In your last moments, you will wonder if that was your fatal mistake.
—
For a while, you think that is enough. Prove your worth and sweep away those in front of you, it is only a matter of time before Hiruzen’s weakness provides an opportunity.
But time does not stand still. Soon fifth through seventh arise.
Children, compared to you. Literally. Hiruzen’s students. What do they know of war? Of sacrifice? They do not have the experience.
But youth and talent–and pedigree in young Tsunade’s case–is not something so easily dismissed.
For now you can do nothing–nothing overt, at least–but they are primed to tear themselves apart.
It doesn’t take much to help that along.
—
Eighth, you almost regret.
He is the youngest, certainly, but you were once a child in war–surely if your sensei’s grand nephew were actually worthy, he would have survived.
Perhaps it’s the loss of the Mokuton that you regret.
—
The ninth was never truly a threat, a dreaming boy with no real claim.
But Konoha was built on dreams and you will not let some upstart stand in your way.
—
The White Fang of Konoha, a silly moniker that somehow strikes fear into enemy hearts.
As formidable on his own as Hiruzen’s brats are altogether.
No, this won’t do at all.
It is not enough for him to die, you need to destroy him utterly–his career, his reputation, his spirit.
You are ruthless with the tenth.
—
Every so often, you push them along–fifth and sixth and seventh succumbing to their own flaws–weaknesses that would have been exploited by enemies of Konoha.
Cowardice, fear, so quick to run away from what should be her only priority.
Obsessive and vain, so easy to distract and lead astray.
Foolish and sentimental, desperate for approval.
You are protecting your village by exposing them–what else reason could there be?
—
(You overreached with The Salamander, the man who titled Hiruzen’s students. You thought it would be a simple trade of services, a mutual extermination of brats.
But foreign shinobi are hardly worth the effort; the deal is dropped.
Konoha first.)
—
(Uzushio is a separate matter, but their lives are long and their memories longer.
Mito-sama was always biased against you.
Konoha will never be able to achieve its true potential with them forever poised above.)
—
Time marches on.
You uproot those you can, prune those you can’t, but they sprout like weeds beneath your feet.
That absolute infant that Hiruzen chooses may have made a name for himself during the war, but he is nothing more than dandelion fluff easily blown away in the breeze.
Konoha is better off without him.
—
You remember the first.
Uchiha that even the most stalwart Senju could trust.
There might as well be no more Senju, but the sentiment applies. Shisui follows in Kagami’s footsteps and the clan head’s brat has far too much potential.
You remember the first.
You remember that Konoha was built by two clans.
One is near to extinct. Surely the village can also survive without the other.
—
Hiruzen is old, weighed down by years and loss and having to put on the hat for a second time.
Or so he says.
You wouldn’t know, you’ve never worn it.
He is so completely unaware of all that you do for Konoha, so blind and soft. He walks amongst the villagers, a kindly, foolish grandfather instead of the unyielding pillar of strength that he should be.
He is a disgrace.
(He was your friend, once.
Now he is forever imprisoned within the belly of the Shinigami.)
—
(Kagami was your friend, once, too.)
—
Everything is just collateral damage.
~
A/N: … EURAGHRURH!! I’m disgusted with myself. But, okay, like. This is not meant to be apologetic or sympathizing for Danzo–I literally just wanted to experiment and see if I could get into his headspace and it… I dunno. Did it work? YEURGH, gross gross gross.
Brought about because of the massive hate-on for Danzo that’s going on in the discord, and the ongoing theory that he sabotaged every prospective Hokage candidate in the past fifty years. If it’s not clear who is who: 1 – Kagami Uchiha, 2 – Homura Mitokado, 3 – Koharu Utatane, and 4 – Torifu Akimichi were the other members of Team Tobirama. 5 – Tsunade, 6 – Orochimaru, 7 – Jiraiya. 8 – Nawaki (aka Tsunade’s younger brother). 9 – Dan Katou (aka Tsunade’s boyfriend). 10 – Sakumo Hatake. And then Minato who did succeed at getting the hat because his career trajectory was frankly ludicrous and too quick for Danzo to squash. And then Shisui and Itachi because those dang Uchiha.
I am not too keen on the ending (as per usual for me) given that I didn’t think I should end at the Chuunin Exams but I didn’t want to get into the whole Tsunade is Godaime and the whole constant undermining of her authority, even though I did kind of want to get to the point where Danzo dies? Should I have just stopped at the whole Uchiha it comes full circle thing? … maybe…
Arguably, if you ignore the line in the Torifu section, then this could be Naruto-canon compliant? But obviously I wrote it with DoS in mind. And I am hoping that Shikako is at least tangentially involved in Danzo’s downfall which is another reason why I didn’t go past the Chuunin Exams because… I have no idea what that downfall is going to look like. Fantastic, I assume.
So given these two songs/soundtracks are very, hm, traditionally instrumental (and, also, the fact that I’ve been reading a lot of Hikaru no Go fic lately), I’m getting a distinctly Tobirama Senju’s ghost–whether literally or figuratively–through Shikako’s life?
And also, you mentioned in our messages the idea of arch-nemesis soulmarks and how, in DoS, Shikako’s arch-nemesis would be Danzo and I kind of…
Let me try to articulate this properly.
The idea of legacies and rivals that aren’t necessarily pre-determined by fate, but marked by fate. So there’s the grander “Will of Fire” being an actual, physical mark on someone–an intangible optimism and determination passed from Hashirama to Hiruzen to Naruto–versus the more intimate mark of Dan on Tsunade to make the Medic Corps, to train Shizune, and be the kind of Hokage that he might have been.
But it’s not always what people expect.
For example, Danzo had Tobirama’s mark and thought that meant he would be Sandaime–literal inheritor/successor of the Nidaime–which is what drove is megalomaniacal desperation for the hat. Maybe instead it was supposed to be Danzo supporting Hiruzen the same way Tobirama supported his brother (the way Hiruzen actually though was happening), or maybe it was his destruction of the Uchiha clan (which a younger, more war-minded Tobirama had wanted once upon a time).
So the possibility that someone else might have the same mark isn’t necessarily a bad thing–after all, people have different goals in life perhaps different goals went to different inheritors–but it’s not very common and much less so a legacy mark from someone who died long before you were born.
Shikako having Tobirama Senju’s legacy mark is, of course, very unusual. And yet. Consider what she’s done so far: she’s a fuinjutsu master in the making, a community leader of sorts, she wields his legendary sword, she’s brokered peace with the Uchiha (sort of, in the sense that she’s prevented Sasuke from defecting) and is slated to rebuild the KMP, she’ll definitely support the next few Hokages in a way that Tobirama would have wanted (the way Danzo should have), so it’s not completely out of left field.
Obviously most everything else is the same except some people have legacy marks connecting them to people who have passed away. For example, most clan heirs are born with the mark of their clan just because that’s how it works–a continuation of the clan leadership all through the generations (which helps in the rare occasions when clan heads don’t have children because then the elders can just look for the child with the clan symbol on it and know that they’re going to be the next clan head). But not all legacy marks are there from birth: some people probably have multiple legacy marks and it’s not unusual for them to develop more as they grow.
I don’t know how the clash should go.
Danzo doesn’t immediately see her as a threat, but there must be a point where he starts to.
Unless the marks are hidden? I mean, I don’t think there’s any actual taboo surrounding legacy marks (why would there be? it’s not something private, necessarily, nor is it something to be ashamed of) but tactically it might be dangerous to so outrightly have certain legacy marks–killing the person with the Will of Fire mark would pretty easily cut the ideal line of Hokage succession.
And anyway, I enjoy the idea that Tobirama’s legacy mark is very understated. Like… given that Tobirama’s fanon summons are snow leopards, maybe it’s a few leopard spot on the forehead. It kind of just looks like bruises, really, easily hidden by bangs or headbands or BANDAGES (-_-).
So maybe it’s just that unless it’s something very obvious or very personal, people don’t necessarily know who the legacy marks are from. And unless the mark is very obviously a a symbol or a picture or a word maybe no one even knows it is a legacy mark.
Danzo knows what his is, of course, Tobirama was his sensei. But as far as Shikako and her family are concerned she just has an awkwardly placed birthmark. It’s hard to report legacy marks if they’re so ambiguous, so Danzo just doesn’t hear about the Jounin Commander’s daughter also having Tobirama Senju’s legacy mark. (And probably Danzo has been hiding his for so long that no one except people of an age with him remember what it looks like anyway).
And maybe there’s a hint of self-fulfilling prophecy in this as well.
People can share legacy marks without any conflicts–but it’s not until one party MAKES it a rivalry that it becomes one. Maybe fate decided that Danzo wasn’t properly fulfilling Tobirama’s legacy (or only fulfilling the most twisted versions of it) and so it gave Shikako the same legacy mark to correct that. If Danzo had just done it properly, there would be no need for that. Or if he had bowed out and accepted that he was already fulfilling it, then there would be no clash.
Sorry, I’m not sure if I’m conveying the idea fully or if I’m just going around in circles.
So, well, except for a few weird birthmarks on her forehead, Shikako’s life in this strange world would pretty much be the same as canon DoS. Her legacy mark wouldn’t become relevant until Danzo makes it so and given we haven’t yet seen a in person Shikako vs Danzo interaction (only his Big Brother-esque monitoring of her research on the Uchiha post-Tsukuyomi and, of course, his attempted kidnapping after the Land of Hot Springs) it could still be easily slotted into a canon plotline.
There’s just something about the Memoirs of a Geisha soundtrack in particular that makes me think it would be a good battle not between different ideologies but rival executions of the same ideology. That one ideology–in this case, Tobirama Senju’s–can be so twisted in one direction but still technically be the same as the original.
Immediately from the title, I’m thinking this is a Sasuke!B-side of the Never Lookin’ To Come Back ‘verse. Like, what kind of shit has he gone through after his planet was destroyed? And then growing up as part of the Organization and going on black op missions up until he winds up on the Shuumatsu…
Sasuke’s moral compass is not exactly one for giving up, clearly. It may not always guide him in the right direction, but it at least makes him keep going. Which… I mean, was a disaster in canon, but can be a good thing so long as someone else points him in the right direction.
This is where Kakashi would show up in this ‘verse. As the one who “rescued” Sasuke by putting him in the Organization (so that Danzo couldn’t get him) he’d feature prominently in Sasuke’s past–whether as himself or as Agent Wolf–and maybe he’s the one who runs interference between ROOT and Shuumatsu the more they get involved with the politics of Senju vs Danzo.
I wonder what Sasuke’s opinion on the Shuumatsu crew is. Even before Neji and Hinata show up, that is–though the Hyuuga chancellor’s missing daughter and her first cousin is pretty interesting. Like, he definitely knows that Shino–the nameless Teacher of the Will of Fire–is the grandson of the Aburame chancellor. He probably knows that Shikako Heijo is in fact Shikako Nara, the Nara moon minister’s daughter. He probably also knows that–while the Inuzuka have been hit hard by the war–Kiba is the alpha’s son.
The point is, Sasuke knows many secrets about the crew that they don’t necessarily know about each other and he lives in their starboard shuttle enjoying the entertainment. Obviously, he helps out when it’s needed, but he doesn’t volunteer his aid. Given his own adolescence of watching masked people return to The Org’s HQ and make jokes about assassinating people or disclosing their for various crimes, Sasuke finds the shenanigans the Shuumatsu crew get up to absolutely hilarious.
Of course, once the Hyuuga cousins show up and Ino points them in the direction of Tsunade, it starts to get much less fun. He’s not going to bail–the reason for which has less to do with him getting the Shuumatsu as his official mission, and more to do with how he’s actually fond of the crew–but now he’s got to defend the closest thing to home he’s had since ROOT destroyed his planet.
Given the importance of the ocean to both island cultures, its not surprising that both utilize spirals as their symbol of mystical badassery. But now that you bring it up, I’m imagining Uzushio also being a voyager society and that is SO DOPE?!
Because. Just. Obviously, a good chunk of Uzushio did die. But maybe not as many as we think. Maybe some of them did flee to the mainland, leading to the smattering of Uzushio descendants that we know from canon (and some that we don’t necessarily know–but I have separate headcanons for that). But what if the rest of them just left?
Maybe at first, they hid. Even if their barrier failed to stop the incursion from Mist (though I follow @blackkatmagic’s theory on Danzo being involved in some internal sabotage there) there’s no way NO ONE was able to get to some kind of failsafe shelters for noncombatants. Konoha’s “secret” shelters/bunkers inside the Hokage mountain cannot be the only kind of fortified fallback.
So maybe they hid. They hid for as long as they could, for as long as their supplies would last. They waited for Konoha to send reinforcements or aid or anything that their alliance should have guaranteed for them. But nothing. Because Danzo（╬ಠ益ಠ)
And so, because they were mostly noncombatants–scared but all that remained of Uzushio–they decided to leave. They decided to revive their voyaging ways that had been nearly forgotten when Konoha was founded, when Konoha had falsely promised eternal sisterhood. Some of the noncombatants were elders who–while they may not physically kept their voyaging skills–still remembered the lessons that their elders had passed down. And so the remnants of Uzushio fled the Elemental Nations entirely, forsaking the continent that had forsaken them first.
Until, maybe, news of an Uzumaki–powerful, yes, but kind and determined and passionate–spreads even beyond the Elemental Nations. To where the flotilla of Uzushio can hear and begin to consider voyaging back home.
(p2) Also, was not a single Uchiha on the mission roster/on a mission, at the time? Or outside of the district for whatever reason? Kids sneaking out to play, teens going to visit a sweet-heart, shinobi out for some late-night training? REALLY? And the Uchiha was NOT A SMALL FAMILY. They were spared the losses of Kurama’s attack due to Danzo. People slip through cracks with those kinds of numbers. Sorry for the rant, but this has been bugging me lately.
(p3 an apologies for further comment) Also, was not a single medic able to do SOMETHING? We have blood replenishers, soldier pills, organ transplants, and so much more. Did not a single medic TRY to save the wounded they found? And someone HAD to have noticed the smell of GALONS OF BLOOD and/or have heard Sasuke SCREAMING, so medics would be called. The premise of the IN-VILLAGE massacre is believable with several individuals. Not with a major clan of 100-200+ members like I think they had.
Welcome to reason 27543782 for why that segment of the manga doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I wonder about these things. Canon tends to handwave things like logic which exasperates me, but on the other hand, this train wreck of weird writing decisions is partly why we linger on it so much as a hobby.
So let’s have fun going over a few of the points you brought up.
I mean I get that Tobi and Itachi were prodigious near Kage-level shinobi but MISS ME with the idea that nobody not one even fought back
An Uchiha attacked in her own district wouldn’t fight for her life. She’d launch a fireball into the sky or set a house on fire, wake the clan, alert the village.
In a family district like that one scream would wake several others– a scream in a real life residential neighborhood has me looking out the window for any obvious crime or injuries going on; in a compound literally only composed of my blood relatives? Fuck you, I’d be out the Goddamn door so fast you’d think I’d teleported. In the political environment after the HYUUGA AFFAIR? At a time when you think most people don’t like the Uchiha?
So miss me with not one mother clutching a child and making it to the administration building. Can you even stop someone mid shunshin? Once they get that teleport jutsu off its like bye Cuz
Someone from Kumo literally snatched Hinata off the street and Hizashi had to be traded away to prevent world war 4. Go fuck yourself the Uchiha didn’t have protocols in place for their children dying in the night. And yeah maybe Itachi the traitor knew about those but ugh. Ugh.
So unrealistic you know?
Anyway Uchiha slipped through the cracks, bastards cropped up, people were on missions, and there’s still at least a dozen active Shinobi on the roster. And the kids who made it? Join the fuck up. It’s like the explosion of Vulcan federation members after the death of the planet. We were decimated but instead of joining the conservation effort we are going to fight and rebel and win against those who would see us gone tbh
Fucking fight me
Um… I don’t mean this in a hostile fighting way, but I wonder if there’s a way to resolve Sasuke as “the last Uchiha” and the impossibility of Itachi (and Obito) literally massacring the entire clan if you go into a matter of semantics?
As previously said, there has to have been some people who slipped through the cracks, but none who would own up to it (or know to do so, if you want to consider the possibility that Danzo did steal all of the non-Sasuke children). For some reason, their prodigy has seemingly just cracked and murdered, if not everyone, then a large majority of people named Uchiha. If I’d survived that, I’d sure as hell no longer go by that name, either. So there’s no more Uchiha clan as an organized entity. There are probably other Uchiha blooded, but none who would want to lay claim to the name (and baggage) that comes with it.
Also, while the Uchiha clan didn’t have the same set up of Main Family vs Branch Family as the Hyuuga did, it’s very likely that they had an internal hierarchy of some sort. Itachi as clan heir and then, arguably, clan head after he killed his own father and the various elders, has an authority over the fate of the clan. Those who did survive probably, understandably, took his actions as officially ending the clan. Sasuke, being a child, wouldn’t have known who the majority of his clan members were (I have an extended family of several dozen, and I only know at most thirty) and even if he did legally become clan head as of becoming a genin/adult, he wouldn’t know what resources (and possible “excommunicated” members”) were available to him.
However, I do think there weren’t that many survivors. Of the approximately 200-300 members I think at most two dozen would have survived (minus, again, the children that Danzo likely could have swooped in and absconded with). Because consider that most (if not all) of the Konoha Military Police Force was Uchiha–it contributes to the isolationism and the hoarding of power Danzo goaded/framed them with–which means that when an in-village disturbance occurs, it’s the KMP that respond (not the ANBU).
Konoha is a huge village, so if we compare it to a modern city, then it’s not terribly surprising that none of the other clans didn’t respond. Not only is it an Uchiha matter, isolated to the Uchiha sector which is physically secluded from the rest of the village, but it’s assumed that the police will take care of it? And, well, the KMP responding to the noise would help Itachi/Obito/Danzo with the massacre.
Of course there are some Uchiha in the general shinobi forces, but I wouldn’t think more than a few dozen, and if this really was something that was premeditated, then Itachi/Obito/Danzo would have waited until most of them were in the village.
(It’s also very possible that, since the Uchiha elders were actually planning a coup, they were the ones who recalled all of the Uchiha members to have a meeting of sorts–possibly under the cover of some kind of holiday maybe? The Mangekyo forms are named after Japanese deities after all–and so Itachi/Obito/Danzo would know to strike during that time)
The clan was ready for a kidnapping, or even Konoha ANBU attacking them. They weren’t prepared for their own clan heir to go berserk.
Although that now makes me wonder how exactly Itachi went about it. Obviously he exaggerated how effective he was (to hide Obito’s existence) to Sasuke during the first Tsukuyomi, but perhaps it wasn’t as gory as it seemed. Maybe Itachi, polite and quiet and known by everyone in the clan, went to each house and did it silently. As in, he knocked on the door and greeted them, made as if he had a message from the elders regarding the coup. And of course they would let the clan heir come in, would prepare tea and snacks for him, wouldn’t think twice about turning their back to one of their own.
And if Itachi really was as skilled as he’s meant to be, genjutsu-wise or assassination-wise, then he could do this quietly. Yes, all it takes is one person to raise an alarm, but if you break it down into households, then it’s three to six trusting, unprepared people against the clan prodigy who has planned everything out. The next house over won’t hear anything, won’t find it odd when Itachi shows up at their house in a few minutes, they’re expecting a secret message from the clan head/elders regarding the coup, they’d probably even set up privacy seals to further make everything quiet.
… so I guess what I’m saying is, a little of both? It’s unrealistic to think that Sasuke is literally the only survivor, but Itachi and Obito taking out hundreds of people just the two of them is fairly feasible.
Also, given in canon Sasuke went even more insane and defected from Konoha a few months after becoming a genin/official adult/legal clan head, it’s not surprising that any survivors just continued to stay quiet.
The more I think about it, the more probable it is that there are in fact surviving Uchiha (again, in blood, not in name).
Primarily in the form of people with mixed heritage who, unlike Izumi Uchiha, were not invited back into the clan or refused the invitation after the Kyuubi attack. Like, it makes sense for Izumi (who was a child) and her mother (who was the Uchiha in the marriage) to accept the reconciliation after the death of her father–they lost a part of their household and needed that support structure–but there must have been others with Uchiha heritage who had been older than Izumi or who were additional generations removed who wanted nothing to do with the clan.
(Which sort of bodes well for a repopulation program, if Konoha isn’t completely put off by the madness that was Itachi and canon Sasuke’s defection, because it’s not trying to recreate the Sharingan with just Sasuke’s descendants.)
But I definitely agree with OP that Danzo must have taken the Uchiha kids for himself. And not just because Sai looks suspiciously like Sasuke (though I wouldn’t be surprised if he had partial Uchiha heritage), but because that whole “trainees must kill their partner to graduate thing” is, yes, a copy paste from Kiri’s graduation pre-Zabuza to reduce sentimentality in child soldiers, but it makes way more tactical sense when you consider that Danzo knows about the Mangekyo. He’s trying to forcibly activate the Mangekyo in his brainwashed child soldiers.
And it’s very believable that he would have had the opportunity to get the Uchiha kids either before or after Itachi and Obito kill all the adults. There might have been an Uchiha afterschool program for kids younger than Sasuke (or even same age and older, but his propensity for private training was a pre-massacre thing)–which isn’t unbelievable if both parents were still working shinobi. Itachi might have just thrown a mass genjutsu up and then Danzo had ROOT agents go in and scoop them all up during the massacre.
Or however Danzo was able to get his hands on a dozen Sharingan eyes–if there were other child survivors, they had far less political/emotional influence and wouldn’t have been as actively looked for/protected. Danzo knew ahead of time that the massacre was going to happen, so of course he’d put his own people on the clean up crew or on the hospital rotation, and really its only Sasuke that has to be publicly acknowledged as the messenger of “Itachi’s defection” and as the “last Uchiha,” upholder of the clan name.
(p2) Also, was not a single Uchiha on the mission roster/on a mission, at the time? Or outside of the district for whatever reason? Kids sneaking out to play, teens going to visit a sweet-heart, shinobi out for some late-night training? REALLY? And the Uchiha was NOT A SMALL FAMILY. They were spared the losses of Kurama’s attack due to Danzo. People slip through cracks with those kinds of numbers. Sorry for the rant, but this has been bugging me lately.
(p3 an apologies for further comment) Also, was not a single medic able to do SOMETHING? We have blood replenishers, soldier pills, organ transplants, and so much more. Did not a single medic TRY to save the wounded they found? And someone HAD to have noticed the smell of GALONS OF BLOOD and/or have heard Sasuke SCREAMING, so medics would be called. The premise of the IN-VILLAGE massacre is believable with several individuals. Not with a major clan of 100-200+ members like I think they had.
Welcome to reason 27543782 for why that segment of the manga doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I wonder about these things. Canon tends to handwave things like logic which exasperates me, but on the other hand, this train wreck of weird writing decisions is partly why we linger on it so much as a hobby.
So let’s have fun going over a few of the points you brought up.
I mean I get that Tobi and Itachi were prodigious near Kage-level shinobi but MISS ME with the idea that nobody not one even fought back
An Uchiha attacked in her own district wouldn’t fight for her life. She’d launch a fireball into the sky or set a house on fire, wake the clan, alert the village.
In a family district like that one scream would wake several others– a scream in a real life residential neighborhood has me looking out the window for any obvious crime or injuries going on; in a compound literally only composed of my blood relatives? Fuck you, I’d be out the Goddamn door so fast you’d think I’d teleported. In the political environment after the HYUUGA AFFAIR? At a time when you think most people don’t like the Uchiha?
So miss me with not one mother clutching a child and making it to the administration building. Can you even stop someone mid shunshin? Once they get that teleport jutsu off its like bye Cuz
Someone from Kumo literally snatched Hinata off the street and Hizashi had to be traded away to prevent world war 4. Go fuck yourself the Uchiha didn’t have protocols in place for their children dying in the night. And yeah maybe Itachi the traitor knew about those but ugh. Ugh.
So unrealistic you know?
Anyway Uchiha slipped through the cracks, bastards cropped up, people were on missions, and there’s still at least a dozen active Shinobi on the roster. And the kids who made it? Join the fuck up. It’s like the explosion of Vulcan federation members after the death of the planet. We were decimated but instead of joining the conservation effort we are going to fight and rebel and win against those who would see us gone tbh
Fucking fight me
Um… I don’t mean this in a hostile fighting way, but I wonder if there’s a way to resolve Sasuke as “the last Uchiha” and the impossibility of Itachi (and Obito) literally massacring the entire clan if you go into a matter of semantics?
As previously said, there has to have been some people who slipped through the cracks, but none who would own up to it (or know to do so, if you want to consider the possibility that Danzo did steal all of the non-Sasuke children). For some reason, their prodigy has seemingly just cracked and murdered, if not everyone, then a large majority of people named Uchiha. If I’d survived that, I’d sure as hell no longer go by that name, either. So there’s no more Uchiha clan as an organized entity. There are probably other Uchiha blooded, but none who would want to lay claim to the name (and baggage) that comes with it.
Also, while the Uchiha clan didn’t have the same set up of Main Family vs Branch Family as the Hyuuga did, it’s very likely that they had an internal hierarchy of some sort. Itachi as clan heir and then, arguably, clan head after he killed his own father and the various elders, has an authority over the fate of the clan. Those who did survive probably, understandably, took his actions as officially ending the clan. Sasuke, being a child, wouldn’t have known who the majority of his clan members were (I have an extended family of several dozen, and I only know at most thirty) and even if he did legally become clan head as of becoming a genin/adult, he wouldn’t know what resources (and possible “excommunicated” members”) were available to him.
However, I do think there weren’t that many survivors. Of the approximately 200-300 members I think at most two dozen would have survived (minus, again, the children that Danzo likely could have swooped in and absconded with). Because consider that most (if not all) of the Konoha Military Police Force was Uchiha–it contributes to the isolationism and the hoarding of power Danzo goaded/framed them with–which means that when an in-village disturbance occurs, it’s the KMP that respond (not the ANBU).
Konoha is a huge village, so if we compare it to a modern city, then it’s not terribly surprising that none of the other clans didn’t respond. Not only is it an Uchiha matter, isolated to the Uchiha sector which is physically secluded from the rest of the village, but it’s assumed that the police will take care of it? And, well, the KMP responding to the noise would help Itachi/Obito/Danzo with the massacre.
Of course there are some Uchiha in the general shinobi forces, but I wouldn’t think more than a few dozen, and if this really was something that was premeditated, then Itachi/Obito/Danzo would have waited until most of them were in the village.
(It’s also very possible that, since the Uchiha elders were actually planning a coup, they were the ones who recalled all of the Uchiha members to have a meeting of sorts–possibly under the cover of some kind of holiday maybe? The Mangekyo forms are named after Japanese deities after all–and so Itachi/Obito/Danzo would know to strike during that time)
The clan was ready for a kidnapping, or even Konoha ANBU attacking them. They weren’t prepared for their own clan heir to go berserk.
Although that now makes me wonder how exactly Itachi went about it. Obviously he exaggerated how effective he was (to hide Obito’s existence) to Sasuke during the first Tsukuyomi, but perhaps it wasn’t as gory as it seemed. Maybe Itachi, polite and quiet and known by everyone in the clan, went to each house and did it silently. As in, he knocked on the door and greeted them, made as if he had a message from the elders regarding the coup. And of course they would let the clan heir come in, would prepare tea and snacks for him, wouldn’t think twice about turning their back to one of their own.
And if Itachi really was as skilled as he’s meant to be, genjutsu-wise or assassination-wise, then he could do this quietly. Yes, all it takes is one person to raise an alarm, but if you break it down into households, then it’s three to six trusting, unprepared people against the clan prodigy who has planned everything out. The next house over won’t hear anything, won’t find it odd when Itachi shows up at their house in a few minutes, they’re expecting a secret message from the clan head/elders regarding the coup, they’d probably even set up privacy seals to further make everything quiet.
… so I guess what I’m saying is, a little of both? It’s unrealistic to think that Sasuke is literally the only survivor, but Itachi and Obito taking out hundreds of people just the two of them is fairly feasible.
Also, given in canon Sasuke went even more insane and defected from Konoha a few months after becoming a genin/official adult/legal clan head, it’s not surprising that any survivors just continued to stay quiet.
@donapoetrypassion’s questions: (I’m just gonna float some ideas/questions your ways as they occur to me): Shikamaru has a new cybernetic arm- in this verse, how did he lose his flesh one?
Does Shikako’s hypersensitivity diagnosis have an in-universe equivalent?
Oooh… Danzo’s stolen mind-control eye… in a universe where so much runs on robotics and (presumably) many people have robotic limbs…
If the word ‘enslaved’ possibly applies to Naruto, what word applies to this world’s equivalent of Sai? And why?
Shikako seems like an adult with a job- that do the other Konoha 12 do?
(Does the internet affect what kind of shogi/strategy games Shikamaru plays? Who he plays? Are there competitions? Is he a professional shogi player who doesn’t actually need an income from another kind of job?)
(As you can see, I took that invitation and ran with it. I’ll stop bugging you now, though.)
Oh wow, okay, I totally asked for this and I’m grateful for the questions, so let me just wade through these first… (Also, dona, your questions are in no way bugging me. Actually your questions almost always make me contemplate deeper ramifications for my AUs, so thanks!)
I’m still not entirely sure what happened to Naruto’s parents exactly, but I do think they were probably working on something to do with the Kyuubi. The problem is I don’t know what it is exactly, either, beyond something like a… sentient “nature-made” AI. Like… something on the scope of the internet. Or The Machine from Person of Interest. A sort of cybernetic eldritch horror that lives in machines and consumes code… so maybe the bijuu are a virus?
Um, yeah. So whatever Kyuubi is, the Uchiha probably had some kind of secret epic code to control it and the Kyuubi in turn took over the lab Naruto’s parents were working in?
Maybe they were working on putting the Kyuubi in a robot body so it could properly “live” except the Uchiha found out about it, wanted the Kyuubi robot, tried to buy it from Naruto’s parents, and ended up just taking it by force. Leading to the deaths of the Namikaze-Uzumaki family. (Unsure if I also want Naruto to have physically died but been uploaded into the robot body along with the Kyuubi, or if he’s still alive but doesn’t know it and his body has some kind of uplink connecting him with the Kyuubi robot body).
Shikamaru probably lost his flesh arm in an incident involving Shikako. I’m thinking something like… a tech expo and an overzealous rival/fan attacked her? But then Shikamaru got on the way and so there’s still guilt on Shikako’s end, as per canon–maybe this was pretty recent and the reason why she hasn’t gone home for family dinners in a while?
Shikako’s hypersensitivity diagnosis… it might be that she can’t have any cybernetic implants/mods. I know in cyberpunk universes, nearly everyone is modded to some extent, so the people who aren’t are unusual for some reason. Everyone has a ID chip, at the very least, but Shikako doesn’t even have that? (Which does make it a little ironic that she’s a genius with cybernetics)
Yup. Danzo’s got a Sharingan. I think in this AU the Uchiha clan are still alive, but Danzo might have stolen more the design for the Sharingan than actually plucking out Shisui’s eyeball. Then again, that imagery is gruesome enough to fit him.
“Enslaved” does also fit Sai, though perhaps it’s more… oh no… “groomed.” Danzo’s ROOT are actually human, but they have an implant that basically lets him wipe their memories and such and turn them into meat puppets.
All of the Konoha Twelve? I guess it depends mostly on what the clans would be in this ‘verse… except for Sakura who is, like in canon, a doctor/medic, TenTen who is also an mechanical engineer (though not so much cybernetics), and Lee who… what does Gai do?
As for the clans, they are probably like companies (or yakuza crime families) in the sense that the clan as a whole runs a business and the clan heads/heirs are probably the CEOs/training to be CEOs or are major shareholders who CAN live off the company but decide to work anyway. So for example, the Nara clan is probably a huge pharmaceuticals company (beginning to branch into cybernetics due to Shikako) but Shikamaru is also a professional shogi player.
JackSGreyson Says 