Tag: naruto

This is kinda random, but I’ve had this in my head for a couple days now. Something really, REALLY bugs me about the Uchiha Massacre. Was Sasuke REALLY the last remaining Uchiha? Are you telling me that there was no Uchiha that was having an affair that lead to a bastard child? In a family of Trained Military Police, there was not a single person who was able to minimize at least a LITTLE damage, hid, or who played dead? Root didn’t have an Uchiha member (*stares suspiciously at Sai*)? (P1)

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definitelynotaminion:

hiruma-musouka:

(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.

Keep reading

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.

I’m prompting you again because I CAN but if you don’t write something that’s 100% legit. AND because I like to make myself cry, 18 + Strong in the Real Way. Thank you for the Pokemon drabbles, btw, I loved them!

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I don’t know how to make things right.
So I’ll just keep pretending
that nothing’s wrong.
(you know that I’m no good)

—

Kakashi wakes up with a paw to the face followed by the slobbery swipe of a dog’s tongue. Three thumps of furry bodies jumping up onto the bed and he’s edged out to the floor.

Better than an alarm clock.

“To the pound, all of you,” he groans into the floor, before Naruto comes running in behind Guruko, laughter loud and bright. Kakashi gets stepped on twice more, and in moments his bed is filled with seven dogs and one kid and no Kakashi.

“All of you,” he repeats, vowing revenge, to an audience of overly pleased faces, “even you Naruto.”

His vengeance is ignored.

“First day of school! First day of school!” Naruto cheers, and all of the dogs start barking and howling along because this is Kakashi’s life and so nobody in this house is well behaved whatsoever.

—

When Kakashi is eight years old, his father commits suicide, leaving him orphaned.

It takes a few months, but he’s lucky enough to be adopted by Minato, who was nice and patient and far too good for the surly, angry mess that was a child Kakashi.

A decade later, Minato dies, leaving Kakashi orphaned once more, this time with a baby to take care of.

He tries his best, really, but just because Kakashi is no longer so surly or angry, doesn’t make him any less of a disaster.

—

Kakashi drives an SUV, top of the line, with all the latest tech and safety features and a healthy coating of dog hair on the upholstery no matter how many lint rollers and vacuum cleanings he attacks it with.

He used to ride a motorcycle with a sidecar for his dogs, but the first (and only) time Gai saw him trying to load a carseat in it, he was highly encouraged into buying a real vehicle.

Normally, Kakashi would ignore Gai’s nagging, especially considering Gai’s definition of cool is vastly different from his own, but given Gai had recently gotten custody of his nephew, one year older than Naruto, he’ll gladly defer to the one with slightly more experience.

(And if that means he can foist Naruto off onto Gai for weekly playdates with Lee, well, nobody’s complaining).

—

The thing is, he did like Kushina, strange as she was; a weird rock lady with mystical abilities and a literal alien mindset. But she was fun and interesting and kind and made Minato so happy. She made life exciting.

Maybe too exciting.

But that’s not fair.

It’s not Kushina’s fault that the Kyuubi attacked.

—

There’s a room in the house that Kakashi can’t open. There is no door handle, no hinges, just a single cabochon the same color as the gem on Naruto’s belly.

He probably should have been more worried when dinner passed–ramen, even!–and Naruto didn’t appear. But none of the dogs were concerned when he asked them, waving their tails and hoping for leftovers.

At the very least, he should have put two and two together.

Three hours later, when Kakashi’s on the brink of forming a search team despite the dogs’ blasé attitudes, the door bursts open: Naruto rolling across the ground, inelegantly fighting a kid with an obsidian in his forehead. They bust a hole in one wall, knock over a shelf of books, break the bathroom sink, and nearly flood the whole first floor. The dogs remain unconcerned, Kakashi is far less amused.

Later he’ll learn that inside the room he can’t open, Naruto found an obsidian inside a bubble and popped it. Because that’s the kind of shining example of decision making prowess he’s been living with.

This is how they meet Sasuke.

—

Meeting Shikako requires a lot less clean up, but raises far more questions than answers.

Kakashi never really considered the implications of Naruto’s existence, beyond not accidentally poisoning or otherwise killing the small life he’d been put in charge of. And he tried his best because Naruto was Minato’s son, and Kakashi couldn’t do less than that.

But Naruto is also Kushina’s son and that has an entire legacy that Kakashi can’t possibly comprehend.

~

A/N: Hell yeah you can prompt more than once, to-someplace-else! ( ˘ ³˘)♥ I’m glad you liked the Pokemon ficlets and I hope you like this one, too.

Human disaster Kakashi trying to raise a half human half gem kid (with the help of seven dogs and Gai).

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[If anyone else wants to do a softer world prompt that isn’t on the list, you can just send the page id number for the original comic instead.]

51. “I don’t know if your wings are real / but I’ve never seen you without them / and I follow you everywhere.” Fire Fallow Cultivation

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I don’t know if your wings are real,
but I’ve never seen you without them,
and I follow you everywhere.
(you have a nice living room)

—

When eight year old Sasuke wakes up after his aniki… after That Man killed… After…

When Sasuke wakes up After, hollowed out and muddled and crushed under the weight of his own grief, he thinks maybe he’s just dreaming. Not about what happened–he knows the truth–but now, currently.

Either that or maybe, instead of sparing him, That Man really did kill him. Maybe he’s dead.

The medic who checks on him has wings, feathery and small and light brown like a sparrow’s. He’s never heard of a bloodline like that. He must be dreaming, then.

He is not.

—

It takes a while for him to figure out what is happening, mostly because there are so many possible explanations for it and, frankly, he has other more obvious matters to worry about. But on the few occasions when everything grows to be too much, or he needs to just take a break, or on those lighter days when he can pretend that this mystery is the greatest problem in his life, he can ponder it freely.

It’s not a bloodline: The medic from that first day was civilian born, and more besides, he sees other people with wings around Konoha, none of whom are related to each other whatsoever and some of whom are in different clans.

It’s not a genjutsu either, he’s already learned how to dispel them with a kai, and the hospital would never let a patient leave while they’re under one.

He wonders for a while if maybe it’s the Sharingan. Other people can’t seem to see it, not even the Hyuuga, and its not as if it’s so far a leap.

But he doesn’t remember anyone from his clan talking about wings Before, and besides… he doesn’t have the Sharingan yet.

—

Not everyone has wings and, while he hasn’t exactly been taking notes, there doesn’t necessarily seem to be any correlation between the person and their wings’ size or colors.

Some people match what he’d think of them:

Kakashi-sensei has small, grey wings. A little darker than his hair but just as messy, feathers ruffled and out of alignment. Frequently they look like they’re broken, except they can’t be because they’re not real.

Naruto’s are a riot of color–though not yellow like his hair–they’re always up and reaching as if, maybe this time he’ll actually be able to fly.

Some people don’t:

Sai’s wings are fluffy, a white so bright they nearly hurt to look at, and constantly moving around.

Sakura’s are sleek, plumage dark but iridescent like the surface of a bubble in the sun. They only flare out when she’s angry, but are otherwise still for the most part.

Yamato-taicho doesn’t have wings–which somehow doesn’t seem like much of a surprise–but neither does Shikako, which is one.

Sasuke doesn’t either, and he’s not sure how he feels about that.

—

Tsunade-sama’s wings are massive, wide enough to touch either end of the Hokage’s office at the same time, and ever so expressive. There’s a few patchy, ragged places, but her wings don’t look any less magnificent for them.

He’s never seen her in battle–not one outside the political arena, that is–but he thinks such a sight would be awe inspiring.

This is what a Hokage is, this is what a Hokage should be.

(The Sandaime visited Sasuke in the hospital, once, After, but before the wings became his norm. Now, looking back, Sasuke remembers that there were no wings behind the robe and hat.)

He may be Hawk, but Tsunade-sama is the one who looks like she could rule the skies.

—

(The first time he sees wings without feathers, skeletal and horrific, sharply painful things, they are jutting out of Orochimaru.

The second time they’re on the back of That Man, a terrible silhouette to an already nightmarish figure.

It doesn’t take much to figure out what that means.)

—

Whenever he uses his Sharingan, Sasuke can no longer see the wings.

He’s not sure how he feels about that, either.

~

A/N: Um… so… very little Tsunade in this, anon, except for the section with Sasuke’s fanboying, but I guess my brain caught more on the “wings” part of the prompt and ran away with it. Please enjoy, regardless.

Highly influenced by the BBC Sherlock fic (written in 2010, so before all the awfulness of the later seasons) called A City on the Head of a Pin by Mad_Maudlin. I tweaked it a bit so that going bad didn’t lead to bat like wings but rather just skeletons.

Because bats are cool and fuzzy and great.

I guess if you really tilt your head and squint this isn’t necessarily canon noncompliant? (And if you tilt your head the other way and clap three times you can maybe consider this as part of the Walking Around aka Sakako Uchiha ‘verse. Sakako sees dead people, Sasuke sees angels in the living.)

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[If anyone else wants to do a softer world prompt that isn’t on the list, you can just send the page id number for the original comic instead.]

#62: “When we die, we come back different, like, with greener eyes, or as some far off star.” Shikako, before and after

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When we die, we come back different,
like, with greener eyes,
or as some far off star
(you’ll be someone you wouldn’t understand)
—

(The Bustle In A House)

She stares at the photograph heedlessly, watching the trail of smoke from the incense beside it on the altar. Around her, her clan members murmur. She could eavesdrop if she cared enough, but she doesn’t bother.

She already knows what they’re saying.

The photograph.

Kinokawa died of old age, older even than Sembei-obaasan, almost as wrinkled and bald as the day he was born. He’s smiling in his portrait; it’s accurate, he was a happy man and lived a happy life.

Shikadai stands behind her, enough noise in his step to be audible. Shinobi manners, the polite way to nonverbally request attention.

She turns to look at her nephew. There are lines around his eyes and gray in his hair. He’s a grandfather, has already passed the role of clan head onto his daughter, Shikai. He looks so old.

She… doesn’t.

“Kako,” Shikadai says, simply, but those two syllables are loaded. It’s affection and shared mourning, of course, but that he calls her that at all–without the honorific–a thin veneer of plausible deniability against the truth.

She doesn’t look old enough to be his aunt. She can no longer be Shikako Nara.

It might be time for her to leave Konoha. For good.

///

(Stories of Ancient Gods)

In her convalescence, she keeps herself distracted–if she doesn’t think about how she died, then it must not have happened, surely?–sealing projects and kunoichi meetings and all the secrets she’s taken from Gelel.

She doesn’t mention the whispers in her dreams. She definitely doesn’t mention that they sometimes follow her in her waking hours.

That isn’t the only thing that followed her from the desert.

When the Gelel shrine broke, life energy flowed back into the Dead Wastes, an impromptu oasis sprouting where not even desert fauna could endure. But Konoha is so green already and she’s been keeping herself busy, she hasn’t noticed what’s been sprouting in her footsteps (why would she look behind her, when that’s where unpleasant truths live?)

The last Ancient could make flowers bloom in a land devoid of life.

It’s only a coincidence that Konoha’s lost bloodline could do the same. (But what a dangerous coincidence it will turn out to be).

~

A/N: I wasn’t really sure what you meant by before and after, anon, but hopefully these will suffice?

Number + Ship + (optional) AU –> my ask box

[If anyone else wants to do a softer world prompt that isn’t on the list, you can just send the page id number for the original comic instead.]

1123. Some friends you see / every day, / and some friends you see / when there’s blood / in the air. / You need both. / (Your daytime friends are no help in the dark.) Sai/Shikako

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Some friends you see every day,
and some friends you see when there’s blood in the air.
You need both.
(Your daytime friends are no help in the dark.)
—

(the dark side of the moon)

This is a story about mistakes.

Shikako makes the mistake of trying to help. It comes to naught–an entire clan massacred regardless of her attempts–and worse, she catches the eye of a predator far more dangerous than the rogue S-rank Uchiha.

Shikaku mistakenly tries to protect his daughter, rearranging team assignments to give her a less hazardous placement. But high risk yields high rewards, and he doesn’t know he is playing against an opponent with even more influence than the Jounin Commander.

But for all his power it’s Danzo that makes the biggest mistake of all:

When he takes Shikako for ROOT, he pairs her with Sai.

///

(The Queen’s Silver General)

A war.

This is what her presence has wrought.

She thought she was helping or, at the very least keeping equilibrium, the mathematics of human lives.

Clearly not the case.

She has been preparing for a specific crisis, all of the villages against an elite twelve person organization. She hadn’t trained for a war in mind. The entire continent’s teeth and claws turned upon each other instead.

What can one sunny optimist do against politics and generations-long grudges? How can one bloodline heir stand up to armies?

The saga of Naruto and Sasuke had been a personal thing, intimate, a matter of individuals and differing beliefs.

They aren’t meant for war.

She needs a soldier, not a hero.

///

(Strong In The Real Way)

“I’m not a tourmaline,” Hematite says, factual but almost hesitant, as if he were internally considering the offer even while his mouth rejected the idea, “You should ask the captain.”

The native tourmaline–to differentiate from the tourmaline that is captain of their scouting team–gives a wry smile. “I know that, Hematite,” she says, and he’s grateful for that.

The human-amber fusion has taken to naming all of the gems. The captain and Morganite have both adopted theirs quickly enough, but he doesn’t understand what the function of it is. The native tourmaline, at least, as chosen to respect his reluctance.

“I already know what it’s like to be a tourmaline,” she continues, and reaches out her hand, “Don’t you wonder about being something–someone–else?”

It takes him a while to consider it, but the tourmaline–Shikako, if she respects his preference, then he should do the same–is patient.

He takes her hand; they dance, they converse, they fuse, they become–

Titanite stands tall and strong and powerful.

More than that: together, Titanite understands.

~

A/N: … sorry, I don’t know what that last one is about. But thanks for the prompt, anon.

Meaning of Titanite! I also considered Diopside, but that seemed more in line with a Shikako/Sasuke fusion?

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[If anyone else wants to do a softer world prompt that isn’t on the list, you can just send the page id number for the original comic instead.]

967 ‘When I look at you / all I can see / are the mistakes / we’re going to make. / (The future’s so bright.)’ Parents of the Walking Around-verse

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When I look at you all I can see
…
are the mistakes we’re going to make.
(The future’s so bright.)

—

“She loves me!” Naruto says, a wild smile bright on his face. After a beat–maybe too long of one–he continues, “And I love her!”

Shikako tries to keep the skepticism off her face, Sasuke doesn’t even bother.

“You love everyone, idiot,” he scoffs, but its softened by a rueful tone. He of all people knows and has benefited from Naruto’s boundless affection. “Doesn’t mean you should marry them.”

Shikako presses her lips into a flat line, catching her retort before it can be said. This isn’t about her and Sasuke and her unfavorable opinion of marriage, this is about Naruto.

His smile dims and his brow furrows, but his eyes are no less wild, “What are you saying?”

“Hinata is a great person,” Shikako goes for a more delicate approach, “And we both like her, of course we do, she’s our friend…”

She pauses, trying to find the right words.

“… we want you to be happy. If being married to Hinata will make both of you happy, then… we’re happy for you.”

Naruto smiles again, small but earnest, and he wraps her up in a hug. Sasuke attempts to meet her eyes over his shoulder, but she looks away.

She already knows what he’s trying to say.

///

It’s dark when Sakura goes home, sun long set and the village night life already in full swing. She creeps into the house and knows it doesn’t really matter–not in the heart of the Yamanaka compound, where everyone including her wife is a sensor–but surely it’s the thought that counts?

Or perhaps Ino is still mad at her, because it’s Sai alone who sits at the table, a plate of dinner wrapped up for her.

So obviously caught, she murmurs, “I’m home.”

“Welcome home,” Sai responds, words and smile placid, and gestures to the plate. Once it’s heated, she sits down next to him and pushes the food around instead of eating.

Silence reigns.

“Are you mad at me too?” she asks.

He shakes his head.

“… did I hurt you?” she asks again, almost timid.

Again, he shakes his head, “It’s not my place to be mad or hurt by your decision.”

He sounds honest, and Sakura does believe him, but she still feels the need to explain herself. “I… it’s not that I don’t–you would be an amazing father, Sai. And I would love it if you were to help parent my child.

“But I. This is my project. My chance to make a mark on Konoha. And I’m not doing this out of some lingering feelings for Sasuke-kun, Ino’s just being vicious, but–”

Sai puts a hand on Sakura’s and she stops rambling, “I would be honored to treat any child of yours as my own, no matter who their father is.”

~

A/N: Uh so… two different takes on the prompt, but hopefully you enjoy it, anon? (I personally like NarutoxHinata in fanfic–in which their relationship is better fleshed out for obvious reasons (DAMN IT, KISHIMOTO)–but in canon I’m just like… oh… oh dear… ooooh this is painful. This isn’t meant to be NaruHina bashing, and I apologize if it comes off as such)

I was also considering doing a third one with Chocho’s birth and the whole “hey, we were at war with Cloud not that long ago and now one of our noble clan’s future head is half Cloud” but, uh, seeing as how I don’t know how that will go or even much about Cloud nin at all I decided not to.

Number + Ship + (optional) AU –> my ask box

[If anyone else wants to do a softer world prompt that isn’t on the list, you can just send the page id number for the original comic like what this anon did]

(If you’re only doing the ones on the post feel free to ignore, but) this Softer World makes me thing of Friendship Is A Mutual Con: “All aboard the friend ship! / Today we’re carrying munitions / and no running lights. / (I’ll be the Imo this time. You can be the Mont-Blanc.)”

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All aboard the friend ship!
Today we’re carrying munitions
and no running lights.
(I’ll be the Imo this time. You can be the Mont-Blanc.)

—

It was only ever supposed to be temporary.

(There are sirens and screaming. The roaring of the flames. Dust and smoke in the air.)

Sakura knew this coming in: it was just a favor for a friend, a learning experience.

(Beneath her hands, a man screams, blood gushing out around the piece of rebar through his shoulder.)

And she has learned a lot, advanced her own skills not only in healing and fighting, but in grifting and hacking and stealing. She’s had fun and she cares for her teammates. She doesn’t regret any of it.

(She stabilizes him as best as she can–it’s not fatal, not with ambulances on the way, he’ll be brought to a hospital soon and they can do more for him there–and moves on to the next person.)

But it was only meant to be temporary.

(When she’s done with triage, she leaves with one of the ambulances, holding the hand of a woman who might lose her leg tonight.

The explosion was far too big–nothing at all like the controlled blast that was part of the plan–and no one is answering on the comms.

She follows protocol and gets out.)

—

The explosion knocks both of them off their feet. Sai drops his gun.

Yamato doesn’t.

“Don’t,” he warns, simply, barrel aimed perfectly even if he is awkwardly crouched against the wall and his head is aching from the collision.

Sai raises his hands, moves away from where his gun lies by his feet slow and calm and as expressionless as ever.

“Was it you?” Yamato asks, uncaring of the encroaching fire and the heat and the ringing in his ears. “Interpol showed up before the alarms went off. There’s no way they could have come here so fast unless they were warned ahead of time.”

He would know. He used to be one.

Sai doesn’t deny it, Yamato cocks his gun. They’ll probably both burn to death if they don’t leave now, but Yamato isn’t willing to leave that up to chance.

“Kakashi-taicho told me to.”

—

“Teammates don’t keep secrets from each other,” Sasuke grits out, praying to any god that’s listening that the ropes don’t snap. His arms are killing him, and he can see from the look on Naruto’s face that the harness is becoming painful.

The rig is only designed for one person’s weight–maybe two, tops, but definitely not three.

Shikako doesn’t answer.

“I’ll drop you,” Sasuke threatens, but doesn’t mean it. If it were a shorter fall, maybe, but at this height–this many stories up–it would kill her.

“I was trying to keep you safe,” she says, finally, and while she doesn’t really think Sasuke will drop her, she coils the rope in her free hand just in case.

Sasuke dismisses it immediately, “What, by keeping us in the dark?”

“Well… I mean. That is kind of my thing.”

Naruto snorts. Or maybe that’s a grunt of pain.

“This isn’t the time for jokes,” Sasuke scolds.

“This isn’t the time for arguing either,” Naruto wheezes out, and both of his teammates focus, “We need to get out of here.”

The elevator shaft was an impromptu haven, sliding doors heavy enough to save them from the blast, but it very well might be their death if  they don’t figure a way out of this mess.

—

Kakashi sits at a table, a dim lamp the only source of light in the room.

Across from him is a dead man.

“It’s nothing personal,” says the dead man, smile on his face.

It’s a struggle to put a matching smile on his own, but Kakashi isn’t a grifter in name only. “Of course not,” he says, casual and cool and not at all what he feels.

“What’s a little sabotage between friends?”

~

A/N: I have no concrete idea of what is or isn’t canon in the Friendship Is A (Mutual) Con ‘verse, so I don’t know if the “dead man” is Obito or… I don’t know.

Basically, this would be one of the season finale type episodes in Leverage–the one in which everything honestly goes to shit and the crew barely make it out alive (and have to disperse for several months before reuniting and getting even).

Thanks for the prompt, anon!

Number + Ship + (optional) AU –> my ask box

8 – for Ino?

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Ah, unrequited love.
…
When your best isn’t enough.
(Participation medals of the heart)

—

Ino falls in love, easy as breathing.

Falling out of love is a lot harder.

If she were less self-aware, she’d blame it on her clan’s bloodline: there is a certain amount of empathy needed to do their family jutsu, a keen sense of observation, and a fluidity of self.

Yet, conversely, knowing oneself–maintaining and cultivating what makes her Ino instead of whatever body she may inhabit–is vital. It’s why she knows, for a fact, that her propensity to fall in love has nothing to do with her bloodline, and everything to do with her own heart.

///

Ino is an only child without any cousins close to her in age and an awful lot to learn even before she gets to the Academy.

People tend to forget that, or never even consider it, that maybe her sociability isn’t an expression of a natural friendliness. It’s a skill, honed and polished like any other, and one that serves her well.

Which is not to say that she’s faking it all the time, but there’s a reason why even though she’s popular she only really has a few close friends.

On her first day of kunoichi classes, Ino meets Shikako and Sakura.

She never stops loving them.

///

Ino thinks she knows true love when she is eight. Sasuke is handsome and so cool, like a tragic hero from the stories just waiting for the healing touch of the right woman (Mum doesn’t even bother trying to hide her romance novels anymore).

But she is her father’s daughter–the future seventeenth leader of her clan who will carry on the Yamanaka name and bloodline–nothing can come of it.

Still, a girl can dream can’t she?

And even though later, years from now, she’ll know definitively that it can never be. Well, she’ll still love him, in a different way, and maybe one day he’ll love her back, too.

///

They are Ino-Shika-Cho.

It’s not something they’re born into, not really, not mandated by their blood nor written in their bones. It’s something they choose, something they work towards, a gathering of compatible hearts that beat as one and say, yes, this is where we will build our home.

How could Ino not fall in love?

But they’re not each others’ everything. They live their own lives and love their own loves.

(She will watch the next generation with pride and a bit of wistfulness: what if?)

///

Ino falls in love, easy as breathing, and never stops.

~

A/N: … please enjoy this Ino ficlet, anon 😀

Number + Ship + (optional) AU –> my ask box

31+DOS+ platonic team seven

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I love the way your face lights up
when someone says,
“It might be dangerous.”
(I am glad we are friends.)

—

(Tamed)

Sasuke smirks, Naruto laughs, and Shikako tries to suppress an unprofessional giggle–it’s not their clients’ fault that they’ve hired a team of adrenaline junkies.

“We’ll be fine,” she assures them, perfectly polite smile on her face, before the three of them set off.

Supposedly there’s a monster in the forest preying on the citizens of the town, a behemoth with claws and teeth and no real solid description: it’s just as well, they’ve been kind of bored lately.

/

(Strong In The Real Way)

“You’re a researcher, not a fighter,” Sasuke says, trying to discourage her, trying to protect her.

“I’m a scientist,” she corrects, “danger isn’t unfamiliar to me.” She steps forward to complete the line–her and Sasuke and Naruto, ready to take on whatever force Home World may be sending, “We’ll both stand with you, Naruto”

Naruto looks over at the two of them–surprised and more than a little touched, eyes suspiciously shiny–and grins.

/

(Remember To Sleep)

The old Uzushio stomping grounds are a nightmare ghost town–teeming with erratic Uzumaki tech and an unstoppable electromagnetic field–but it might hold a clue about Naruto’s past and that’s all the reason Shikako needs to make the trip.

“What are you doing here, bastard?” Naruto shouts, more surprised than actually angry–it’s just as well they’re not aiming for stealth right now.

“As if I’ll let the two of you go without me,” Sasuke scoffs, “Who knows what kind of trouble you’d get into.”

/

(Call On Your Angels)

“You said that about the last one, too, but the worst that happened was that thunderstorm knocking over a tree and almost flattening Sasuke,” Naruto responds when Shikako brings up her newest expedition.

Sasuke glares at him, “Yeah. How boring,” he says, deadpan, but he starts packing up his stuff alongside Naruto–she’s honestly a little surprised. “Even if it is just looking at rocks all day, of course we’re coming with you.”

Unfortunately–or maybe fortunately–it is not just looking at rocks.

/

(Insuperable)

“This is my city, all the people I love live here,” she says, gearing up, “I may not have powers like either of you, but I’m going to do what I can to defend my home.”

Shikako is human walking alongside an alien and a demigod, ready to take on an ancient horror.

She can’t fly–urban myths aside–but they hold out their hands to her and she soars.

~

A/N: Thanks for the prompt, oliviaphoenix! I don’t know if this is the format I’ll be taking with the all of the prompts for the a softer ask box event, but for this one in particular it felt right.

Number + Ship + (optional) AU –> my ask box

I loved the detail about Shikako hearing some sort of mystical music/singing when she comes near Gelel (at the start of the arc). I wish SQ would take more creative liberties so we learn more about Gelel. I love magical singing/songs being incorporated into some supernatural powers. Could you do a brainstorm on this, if you’re interested?

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Hm… see the the thing is, anon, I don’t think Gelel is actually music so much as it’s just Shikako’s way of interpreting it. I’ve previously ranted about Shikako’s chakra sensor abilities here, and how, because of her “hypersensitivity” diagnosis she’s able to sense and differently interpret a larger spectrum of chakra/energy.

Unfortunately, I did also liken Shikako’s chakra sense more with touch and “normal” sensing abilities with hearing, which is incompatible with the why she interacts with the Gelel energy, but I think it sort of applies. Like. Literally no one else in the group could perceive Gelel–and I know, in comparison, that Shikamaru isn’t a sensor and Naruto (and probably Gaara as a fellow jinchuuriki) has issues with chakra perception mostly because he himself is such a large source of chakra it’d be like trying to listen for another car’s music when you yourself are an ambulance blasting sirens–but what about Temari and Kankurou? I’d actually think that Kankurou has some sensing abilities (maybe not on par with a Yamanaka) but close enough. And yet, nothing.

So Gelel’s energy is probably closer to natural energy on the spectrum that is… energy. Like. Chakra is a combination of physical and spiritual energies, then there’s natural energy, then there’s life force/souls/etc. So all chakra sensors (and even most non-sensors) can sense chakra. They can also sense physical energy (which is what a lot of Lee and Gai’s techniques are based on) and spiritual energy (which probably contributes to things like killing intent and such). Most chakra sensors cannot sense natural energy. It’s “outside of their frequency” so to speak, though people can become sages and be trained in sensing and using natural energy.

Life force is something else, not even Shikako can sense it (as we’ve seen in the Land of Hot Springs arc). She knows something is missing and something is being drained from her but she can’t feel it, where it comes from, where it’s going. All she knows is that it’s been taken and it’s going to take a long time before it’s fully restored.

Probably Gelel is somewhere between natural energy and life force. So Shikako can’t feel it the way she can with regular chakra or even natural energy (she can feel it in the air, drowning her lungs, pressing down on her skin like humidity, etc. etc.) but she can still perceive it to some extent. And I probably shouldn’t keep extending the analogy of Shikako’s sensing ability = touch vs. normal sensing ability = hearing, because that’s only to liken chakra sensing (which is obviously not something we have in this world) to senses that we can relate to, but Gelel is, again, something outside of normal sensors’ range of frequency. But still something that Shikako can perceive/interpret.

You know how there’s certain notes where humans can’t actively hear it, but they still subconsciously notice it or get affected by it? Like the fear frequency or cats purring, etc. etc. Gelel is probably like that. Or, well… maybe its more like. It’d be as if she’s “feeling” the vibrations in the air, but not actually touching it. It’s… agh, this is hard. Pattern recognition for a sense that doesn’t actually exist for a person who is atypical in that sense anyway?

That being said, while it wasn’t as important as the song of Gelel, in the Land of Hot Springs arc Jashin’s presence had a very distorted “sound” in comparison. SQ’s writing style for that chapter hAD a lOT oF thIS gOiNG on and the way Jashin communicated with Shikako directly was very much so “whispered / echoed / transmitted”. Even at the Fire Temple, I imagine the energy there was sort of humming or chanting–the monks harmonizing with the Temple.

Maybe that’s just how she interprets gods? If most people/things are a feeling to her, then maybe gods are a sound?

Sorry, I know this isn’t really about magical singing/songs, but this is just how I interpret the song of Gelel…