Tag: naruto

“Desperate Endeavors,” Shikako and Kakashi (Dreaming of Sunshine)?

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Desperate Endeavors

The first rule of Team Seven is ‘no dying.’

Shikako and Kakashi have seventy two hours to stick to that rule.

(Or, in which Tsukuyomi isn’t torture. It’s a Trial.)

Non canonical, obviously, but basically the first thought that came to me from the title was as Orpheus and Eurydice-esque vibe. Platonic, please.

I had actually pictured it more of a literal death and Shikako, having been dead before, would be the best choice to guide Kakashi back. But I couldn’t really figure out the mechanics of how that would work or how Shikako would know it would work and as much as I think Shikako loves Kakashi (again, platonically) I don’t think she’d risk dying for such a minuscule chance to revive him when there are so many other people she loves that would be there to stop her.

If it were for Shikamaru, definitely. Naruto, she’d have to. Sasuke, probably? But with Kakashi, I don’t know… there’s a sense of… not only would other people not want Shikako to do it, but Kakashi wouldn’t want her to either? I’m pretty sure I’ve written this somewhere, but his greatest fear is putting one of his precious people in danger–him being the cause of their deaths (again)–and it’s DoS canon for the Hospital arc that he can barely accept them pulling a couple of all-nighters researching to save his life much less Shikako literally entering the death plane with much risk to her mortal soul. Or whatever deal she’d have to strike with the Shinigami or Gelel.

So literal death was out.

And then I remembered, hey, they were both in Tsukuyomi at the same time. And that’s… kiiinda like a death plane. So I figured, what if Tsukuyomi weren’t so much a set it and forget it torture genjutsu as it was an astral plane that just happened to be full of torture.

Like. Maybe Itachi just never used it on more than one person at a time? Maybe, given how much of a “pacifist” he is, torturing people mentally is something he does for a personal touch? Or not often enough to realize that there’s more to Tsukuyomi than the set it and forget it torture? I dunno.

But the point is, during their seventy two hours / one month of being in Tsukuyomi, Shikako and Kakashi basically break out of their isolated torture bubbles, find each other, and try to escape. It’s Bizarro Konoha featuring seven year old Shikako and barely-in-his-twenties Kakashi.

Maybe they stumble on the other victims of Tsukuyomi–or their shades, as such–in their own isolated torture bubbles. Including bby!Sasuke, poor child. Maybe they meet Shisui and he helps them out? MAYBE THEY MEET MIKOTO?!

I suppose it’d basically be a two person version of Lies Beyond Morning, except less head-trip-y and more run/escape the nightmare. I do like the idea of both of them being in their seven-years-ago-bodies and Kakashi having to bodily carry Shikako around because she is very small now and they are up against an army of Itachis and she cannot run very fast. Curse these short legs.

Maybe it’s a little bit of a… like when Ino went up against Orochimaru’s horcrux. Information goldmine, but at what cost. Like a leftover roadmap to Itachi’s mind (so I suppose more Inception than Kingdom Hearts), and if the two of them don’t get caught then they can uncover the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre. I mean, Shikako already knows. But this is a way for her to share what she knows with someone else. And, also, getting to the “safe” means getting out/waking up.

And Way Down We Go. I’ve been listening to Kaleo and this struck me.

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Another song inspired title with no other context, so I listened to this song on loop and tried to narrow down the idea so I wouldn’t end up rambling horribly like with I Am Your Lionheart, so hopefully you like what has shaken out, anon.

And Way Down We Go

This is not her journey. The fate of this world does not rest on her shoulders.

But she’ll be damned if she doesn’t try to help anyway.

I hope it doesn’t come off as me recycling previous ideas, but for this song I got very strong Tolkien ‘verse feels. More specifically one of those “Shikako gets reincarnated again in a different universe.” I mean, I suppose it doesn’t necessarily have to be Shikako’s second reincarnation, it could just be some SI!OC’s first reincarnation, but that’s what came to mind for the song what with all the very powerful Nara-esque lyrics of the song

Anyway Hartley Proudfoot(?) is perhaps not the most typical hobbit–too serious and too quiet and somehow always sad–but the Proudfoot clan is a genteel family, and they’ve always been a bit strange. Perhaps she’ll end up a spinster, unfortunate but not surprising.

Thankfully, there’s a different Shire oddball who has everyone’s attention–Bilbo Baggins, quite eligible bachelor and inheritor of not one but two fortunes… and his mother’s troubles.

(I suppose this would work with The Lord of the Rings instead of The Hobbit, but I am more familiar with The Hobbit give how recently those movies came out, and given the fake fic title it matches more with The Hobbit, I think.)

So, yeah, Gandalf comes around, dwarves in tow, dispensing quests like the world’s nosiest NPC and as they leave–the most conspicuous caravan to ever be found in the Shire–Hartley happens upon them.

And here’s the thing–whether or not she is Shikako or some other SI!OC, she knows who Gandalf is. She knows what his presence in the Shire means (beyond just the childish firecrackers that he brings to the Party Tree). She could, very easily, avoid him and live a calm, peaceful, utterly boring life.

Maybe she wants that! (She does not)

So as the group is leaving (or trying to, they seem to be going around in circles for some reason), Hartley approaches them and basically offers up her services.

Which includes as much of Shikako’s abilities as she could transfer over to this world. Which is actually quite a lot.

Seals may not exist, but explosives certainly do. Chakra doesn’t either, but taijutsu is free and the skills from the Academy can still apply. Blades are blades no matter the universe. And animals in Middle Earth are a lot hardier and smarter than the ones she knew from her first life. Maybe the deer aren’t Heijomaru and her summons, but the antlers are not for show.

As far as the dwarves know, two Hobbits just means that if one dies along the way they’ll have a backup. As far as Bilbo knows, he appreciates not being the only civilized person in the group (although he knows the Proudfoot clan are… odd, and Hartley isn’t exactly proving him wrong). As far as Gandalf knows, the last hobbit who asked him to go on an adventure was Belladonna Took.

So, yes, Hartley is added to the fellowship. And, I mean, without doing a massive retelling with all the stations of canon, she does change a few things but not everything.

But she is a hobbit, and in this world hobbits can do great things beyond themselves.

There is no romance on Hartley’s part (Bagginshield is, of course, up to interpretation) but she does become friends with all of the dwarves. I would like for her existence to change the fates for the line of Durin–whether that means for all of them or only the nephews…

She knows what the ring is. I don’t think she’d take it from Bilbo, since he did hold onto it without issues for decades, but maybe she’d tell Gandalf. Maybe that fellowship of the ring has a different lineup, a few decades early.

Maybe she and Tauriel (and Dis) bond over being badass ladies. Maybe, instead of heading all the way back to the Shire where she’s never really belonged, she platonically lives with Beorn and raises ginormous deer a hop and a skip away from all her friends.

Fake Fic for the girls of DOS ‘Nevertheless, She Persisted”

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Nevertheless, She Persisted

There is no easy path to becoming a kunoichi; no open doors or vacant spots.

Or, how every woman creates her place.

So this would, obviously, be character studies for the ladies of DoS (or, even just canon Naruto seeing as how poorly treated they are) and their struggles to become the women and kunoichi that they are.

Unsure if I’d just stick to the Konoha Thirteen ladies or include some of the adults. But seeing as how I’m probably not going to write it anyway, I guess I might as well go into what I’d write for all of them.

So Tsunade, Yoshino, Kurenai, Anko, TenTen, Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Shikako? Maybe not Shikako. DoS is already from her POV and we already see her struggles so…

For Tsunade I’d probably go in depth about how she was the first combat medic. How, when she began studying medicine, everyone was kind of relieved? That the princess would be staying behind and healing in the village. Except, no… this princess wants to go out on the field. This princess wants to be on the front lines. She’s going to punch everything.

I wonder if Mokuton is actually a bloodline or a Hashirama-unique ability. Because if it is a bloodline, then Tsunade not having it would add to the whole–oh no, just stay in the village, you’re not as powerful as your grandfather–and her literally creating a super strength technique is a rebellion against that.

Yoshino… well… I suppose all my feels for Yoshino are in my Stars Also Dream series (never mind that it’s a Star Wars fusion/crossover) though otherwise as a non-clan kunoichi there’d be a lot of overlap with TenTen and Sakura’s stories.

Kurenai… there’s something to be said about a kunoichi who is so completely the typical kunoichi but still becomes a jounin. And, don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of love for women who defy gender norms and this applies to kunoichi as well. But there’s part of me that’s viciously pleased to see a woman excel not despite but through the gender norms. And I suppose this might apply to Shizune, too what with the poisons and barrier seals and all.

The difference between special jounin and jounin doesn’t seem like much, but I imagine for Kurenai it was huge. I have the feeling that she might have fallen into that trap that Shikako side-stepped. Genjutsu was her specialty and so she accepted a promotion to special jounin because of it early on (it explains why she’s only recently become a jounin even though she became a chuunin at fourteen I think?). And then she had to become even more of a master of genjutsu in order to make that leap between ranks. And it may very well have been something that people told her to give up on. Or tried to “help” her by telling her to expand her repertoire–essentially mimic Tsunade and get a combat specific talent to complement her genjutsu–but that’s not who Kurenai is. Of course she can fight, but she’s not going to stray from who she is just for a promotion.

Anko’s would be very much so a post-Orochimaru thing for her. She’s trying to be a good and loyal Konoha soldier but no one fucking trusts her anymore. No one wants her on their team, no one wants her for their mission, for a long time she can’t handle classified information. She can’t do shit. But of course she’s going to still try. Of course she is. If she gives up, if she defects, then that bastard wins. It doesn’t matter what everyone else thinks of her, she’s Anko Mitarashi, certified badass, she doesn’t need anyone else’s approval but her own.

I have a lot of TenTen feels but I don’t know if they’re cliche or not for a TenTen character study. It’s a lot about how she’s clawing her way up. Her pinpoint accuracy isn’t a natural talent, not a bloodline. It’s something she worked hard at. It’s something she suffered calluses for, scrapes and cuts and nicks. TenTen was running errands for the blacksmith and learning about different alloys alongside furtive, hesitant attempts to memorize flower types and their meanings. The girls were taught calligraphy to better go undercover and blend in with nobility, but TenTen forced herself to choke it down because it would help with fuinjutsu. She’s not good at the typical feminine arts, no matter how much she tries she’ll never be the next Tsunade, but she can be the first TenTen.

DoS Sakura is definitely different from canon Sakura so a character study of her would be different, too. But it’s still hard to shake the Tsunade parallels–I mean, they exist in DoS still as well so–especially since she’s a medic in training who wants to one day be a field medic and is learning a super strength technique to do so.

DoS Ino I would do post Sasuke Retrieval arc because I have a feeling that her being so adamant about Shikamaru not quitting as a shinobi might be a parallel to him doing the same for her. I think, maybe, Inoichi and the other Yamanaka clan members probably meant well? When they said she didn’t have to be a shinobi anymore. That she could retire. That after such a traumatic experience, it’d be understandable. And she was, maybe, considering it. If Orochimaru was influencing her, he’d want her to get stronger. Want her to insinuate herself even further into Konoha. Turn her into a sleeper cell. Retiring would mean she’s not a risk to her village. But retiring would also mean giving up, giving in, and she won’t let Team Ten go on without her.

Aaaand Hinata… it’s gotta be about her clan. Her awful, terrible clan. Man they’re the worst. THE WOOOOOORST. I mean… do I even need to write what this would be about? This is basically canon Hinata’s character arc (or what isn’t built around Naruto, anyway).

I guess I could add Shizune and Yakumo… but I don’t really know enough about either of them?

I am your lionheart? For the prompt thing?

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Okay so this is clearly a reference to the Of Monsters and Men song King and Lionheart which is about the artists who are brother and sister. So with that alone and no specific fandom or character for context I guess I’ll shuffle through a couple of potential fics I’d write for this title?

So the thing is…

The nearest fic I have that I think best embodies a “you’re my king and I’m your lionheart” vibe would be my FFVII fic Into Thin Air, in which my SI!OC is Cloud’s genderfluid twin. (And, well, given that I’ve always pictured Windy to have curly hair then it’s kind of hilariously on point since Cloud’s spiky hair could be a crown and Windy’s curly hair would be a mane). Except, obviously, that’s already titled.

It may also apply to the Into Thin Air x Naruto crossover series I play with every now and then. It does have an additional layer of feels, beyond the parallel of Naruto is Cloud’s distant descendant, since in the beginning Windy is depressed and traumatized and grieving and doesn’t have the energy to be brave for this strange child that looks so much like her brother but zie tries anyway. For this familiar looking touchstone, zie’ll try.

I don’t think I’d do a DoS fic for this since it’s very obviously a “Shikako’s feelings about Shikamaru” and that’s already included in Dreaming of Sunshine so anything I’d write would be redundant? (I’m actually surprised that this song hasn’t already been recced for the DoS Soundtrack for the Nara twins. Especially for the Land of the Moon arc… I’ll just scuttle over there and do that real quick)

Hm, let’s see…

… Maybe if I were a little more keen I’d do a Katsuki siblings fic for Yuri on Ice, because surely Mari has a lot of thoughts surrounding her glass hearted national skating ace baby brother except I would rather read this fic than write it because I have no idea what those thoughts would be and how best to articulate them… (… or 映利’s POV)

I think I’m getting off track, anon.

Okay, flat out from the title alone–no trying to shoehorn it into a series I already have, no adhering too much to the song and the artist’s meaning–I’m getting Katekyo Hitman Reborn vibes but for two different fic which is… okay.

One fic would be from Kyoko’s POV, in a Kyoko-is-Sun-Guardian!AU or even in my Trailblazers ‘verse, and it would be about her growing up from cardboard-cutout-of-a-shounen-love-interest into a vital part of an international crime organization and it would definitely include her determination from Ryohei (and Tetsuki), her platonic feelings about Tsuna, and her opinion of Vongola.

Character study, basically.

The other fic I don’t think I’d ever actually write, given I already have Trailblazers as an SI!OC fic, but I think I’ve actually done a fake fic summary for this idea? (Ah, here it is)

Basically, Tsuna has a female twin. One who isn’t as disastrously dame as he is, but is still plainly average. The Sawada twins are Vongola’s “spare and mare” (in the nobility used to have three children the heir, the spare, and the mare) but given that all the heirs are dead (or unfit and frozen in magical ice) that means Tsuna and Nina (short for Giannina and to match the 27 thing?) are the only heirs left.

And while pitting the twins against each other in a competition to inherit a crime organization doesn’t automatically have the same emotional resonance as the song, I do kind of think at the root of Nina’s conflicted emotions about the situation that she’s doing this for Tsuna. The world of the mafia is dangerous, her brother can barely get through a school day without a bruise or scrape of some sort, he’s repeatedly said he doesn’t want to be part of the mafia. So she’s going to defeat him and become Decima so that he doesn’t have to.

He’s “king” in the sense that he’s the most important person to her and she will brave the sins of Vongola for him, but only so long as he doesn’t actually become “king” of Vongola.

above the abyss: what it means to be a nara (from the pov of our new baby kinokawa? older maybe)

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Ooh… Baby Kino Fic… I am both delighted and wary by this one, anon. He’s literally a newborn so we don’t know anything about him and I don’t want to presume what Silver Queen will do with him.

Then again, given the timeline of canon, baby Kino will only be at most four years old when the final Big Bad clash happens so it’s not exactly as if he’ll have a definitive personality by that point anyway so I could predict anything and it probably won’t contradict much.

Let’s see…

—

Above the Abyss

Kinokawa Nara grows up in the shadow of shadows, knowing his place in the world.

(Or, five times someone was wrong about Kinokawa and one time they were absolutely right)

—

The problem is, I just said five and one because that’s fandom standard but I don’t actually know what the five and one are. It just felt like the right format for this? I mean, a character study for a literal newborn kind of needs some support via formatting.

Here are some vague ideas that I have for this fic:

1) Much like his older siblings, Kinokawa is a very intelligent baby. Shikako possibly suspects too much like her and too intelligent–as in, also reincarnated from the real world. Shikako makes some very oblique references to canon to see if Kino reacts in any way. After several failures to respond, Shikako abandons the idea. Kino’s unusual maturity isn’t because he’s a reincarnated SI!OC–he’s just a super chill, very intelligent baby.  

2) Kinokawa spends a lot of time meditating? He is the most patient child? Calmest child, wisest child, Shikaku has no idea what’s going on. But he knows better than to presume what said child wants to do so he’s kinda like… Kino, did you want to go to the Fire Temple instead of the Academy? Because, I don’t know, maybe his third child wants to be a monk–Shikaku refuses to be surprised at this point. Thankfully(?) Kino is quite satisfied with going to the Academy, so… (One day he will be the equivalent of Kasuga-jiisan, I think. The wise old mystic with complete understanding of the spiritual side of the Nara clan jutsu. But that is several decades in the future)

3) According to @jickysilver, Kino is a precursor for Shikadai in that he’s a Nara boy with pretty eyes (and probably has fangirls). Said fangirls originally assume that he’s dark and mysterious and broody, a tortured soul who needs love to cure his inner sorrow. He is not that at all. Kino is the softest and sweetest child, he probably makes flower crowns with Ino-nee at the shop.  Or he gets free pastries from the Akimichi bakeries for doing easy errands for them. He is so gentle with animals, he probably talks to stray cats–Tora actively seeks him out. So soft. If anything, the truth increases the number of fangirls he has.

4) Shikamaru spends the entirety of Kino’s last year at the Academy overly paranoid that he’ll follow in their sister’s footsteps and end up on a team with awful luck and constant danger. It’s not helped much that there aren’t any Yamanaka or Akimichi in his class? (There’s a set of Akimichi triplets at the Academy but they’re in the year below and the next upcoming Yamanaka is only a second year, damn it). But come team assignments, Kino’s put on Team Six** with a Nohara and a Kurama under Shizune-san and Shikamaru will never admit that he cried tears of relief.

5) @jickysilver made the fantastic suggestion that the day Kino graduates from the Academy, six of the paperwork nin retired. They just couldn’t do it. Oh, they respect the Jounin Commander, but they cannot go through this a third time. Sure, Shikamaru isn’t nowhere near as bad as Shikako and the rest of Team Seven, but still. Their nerves are already frayed. They need hazard pay at this point. But, weirdly enough, not only does Kino not end up on disastrously bizarre missions he turns in fantastic reports. Just. The best reports. Bless this child. He turns them in on time, with everything filled out perfectly and not a coffee circle or grass stain in sight. (Possibly ends up joining the administrative team at least on a part time basis when he becomes a chuunin a la Iruka-sensei, and enjoys it. He finds paperwork soothing. The rest of the paperwork ninja chant one of us, one of us, while bringing him under their easily frazzled wings. His siblings do not understand at all but support whatever makes him happy).

+1) on the day of Kinokawa Nara’s birth, once all the visitors have gone home and only mother and child remain in the hospital room, Yoshino tells the newborn, “You’re going to make us so proud.”

… oh… I guess that’s five and one.

Yeah?

(**My headcanon for the Academy’s team designations/numbering system can be found here, but basically Team Six is the “general support” team unlike the heavy hitters that make up Team Seven. So relatively safer for one’s baby brother’s genin team.)

Fake Fic Title – ‘when the dawn is still dark’ Dreaming of Sunshine, Shikako (I hope that is kinda the format you want?)

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Thanks, anon! (The format is good, no worries)

Let’s see… there are three key points in the title you’ve given me, so I think it’ll have to be something like:

—

When The Dawn Is Still Dark

Revolutions take more than just hard work and hope, sometimes they take sacrifice.

Time travel and an oracle works, too.

—

So, the three points of the title you’ve provided is:

1) Dawn = definitely going to be an Akatsuki fic, so the issue is which iteration of Akatsuki exactly?
2) Still = as in, not the evil S-rank jinchuuriki collecting, world-war starting version
3) Dark = Shikako… which, I mean, yeah… obviously

Hence, time traveling Shikako saving Akatsuki from becoming the Big Bads and helping them be the forces of good in the world that they wanted to be.

The question, though, is how.

It’s gotta be fuinjutsu, right? That much is clear… I’m thinking maybe Jiraiya probably gave the Rain Trio some basic fuinjutsu teaching, but none of them really clicked with it and besides there are other things that would be better to teach them.

I also think maybe training the Rain Trio was as much a training trip for himself, so even if his three students didn’t want to pursue fuinjutsu Jiraiya probably worked on some things on the side. Like an attempt to recreate Tobirama Senju’s Hiraishin (he never does get it, but Minato does and he couldn’t be prouder).

And maybe there’s sort of progress? Jiraiya makes a prototype that can summon himself, but it’s the equivalent of a delayed timer and it’s only if he throws it. So not really practical in battle (certainly not the phenomenon that turned Minato into the Yellow Flash, flee on sight).

Well, basically this is just me saying, in a round about way, that Jiraiya had given the Rain Trio a way to summon him but it wasn’t really complete.

Several decades later, he doesn’t see anything wrong with giving that Nara brat some of his old notes attempting the Hiraishin. Maybe she’ll get some use out of it.

The Rain Trio try to summon Jiraiya and they get Shikako instead 😀

Unfortunately then it would just be an Akatsuki version of Gambling Away The Past except with the following:

1) Shikako tells them, pretty early on, that she’s from the future
2) Hanzo is notoriously unbeatable by three people (the Sannin got their title by fighting him to a standstill) but four people? Well…
3) Please, Shikako helping the Uzumaki reunion, pleeeeeeeease
4) Literally no one in Konoha having any idea where this rogue badass Nara came from but the clan is greatly enjoying getting the notoriety without any of the paperwork
5) Danzo take down! Danzo take down!

Yeah, that’s all I can think of for now anon.

Shikako & Itachi, Pre!Kako (if you’re familiar with it), ‘Miracle’

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I had to do some reading on the forums for this one, anon, but to summarize pre!Kako ‘verse I’ll just go with the very basic idea of “Shikako is born six years early” and keep more in line with JJ1293’s ‘canon’.

So as of Part Seven, Shikako (Kinokawa, since Shikaku has been very firmly disowned and not taken back) and Itachi are the same age and have just graduated in their first year because ~prodigies~ and have been placed on Team 2 with Tenma Izumo.

—

Miracle

Changing the world isn’t an easy task, but her existence is proof enough that it can be done.

Becoming friends with Itachi Uchiha? Now that’s going to need divine intervention.

—

Shikako and Itachi are actually quite civil with each other. But there is a distinct lack of social acuity from both of these prodigies and that’s not even including Shikako’s whole “in another world you literally murder your entire clan on the say so of a sociopath who your best friend/cousin told you not to trust? and then you torture your brother? but you’re supposedly a pacifist? like… wtf?”

That being said, I do think Shikako would be more hands on about changing Itachi’s life than she is with either Naruto or Sasuke because what’s the worst that can happen? He dies? Lol, okay, that’s one big bad out of the way. He kills his clan and defects from the village? Yeah, sure, that was going to happen anyway so she’s not exactly worse off.

I have a very definite feel that, given the title and all, in “Miracle” Shikako would actually push him towards being a medic nin. As a pacifist that just seems like the best way to capitalize on his genius without having him go full on serial killer, and I’m always going to be soooooo enamored with the idea of an Uchiha medic nin.

THE SHARINGAN WOULD BE SO GOOD FOR IT!

I do think Itachi would like the idea but not necessarily feel like he is allowed to given, you know, Uchiha clan heir, growing tensions in Konoha, lethal = stronger. And as a counterargument, Shikako probably references the dregs of the Senju vs Uchiha rivalry. You know, something like: Tsunade-sama was a frontline fighter and a medic, but if the Uchiha don’t think their prodigy can multitask as well as a Senju well, okay.

I mean, probably not that heavy handed (or maybe that heavy handed in front of Itachi, but he cleans it up before presenting the idea to Fugaku) but kind of leaning into that.

And I guess it would be a lot of… either back and forth POV or Itachi only POV. Because there’s a lot of things “Miracle” could be referencing: Shikako being reincarnated. Surviving the Kyuuubi rampage. Shikako becoming a shinobi even though “chakra hypersensitivity.” Not just one but TWO prodigies graduating in one year at the same time.

Preventing the Uchiha Massacre. Itachi becoming the Uchiha clan’s first medic nin and no doubt helping to revive Shikako after her numerous technical deaths. Changing the world through kindness and intelligence (and non-lethal violence).

I did also like Laural Rose’s idea of Pre!Kako ‘verse!Itachi being the only unblooded Kage (aka Kage that has never killed). Which would work pretty well with a combat medic Itachi, I think.

And I also also like how a medic Uchiha trying to match/surpass Tsunade would, if only a little bit, bring a spark to her own latent Senju vs Uchiha rivalry and kind of be like. This tiny brat thinks he can be as good as I can? Well put your money where your mouth is, you’re now Shizune #2! And Itachi won’t SAY that he’s ridiculously pleased by this outcome, but he is quite honored that a Sannin would think him worthy of an apprenticeship.

Which works nicely with Shikako’s own sort-of apprenticeship with “nope, not gonna help you, oh those corrections and notes in the margins of your fuinjutsu journal I have no idea how that got there” Jiraiya. And “Miracle” can also reference those no doubt IMPOSSIBLE seals Shikako comes up with.

Hm… So what I’m saying, anon, is that “Miracle” as I would write it would probably be a one shot with different scenes from this Pre!Kako, medic!Itachi world. Probably starting with Itachi’s Hokage coronation and working backwards through the snowball effect–jounin Shikako and Itachi taking out Akatsuki (or, at least, doing significant damage to them), chuunin Shikako and Itachi definitely-not-feeling-sad-about-being-separated-because-of-their-respective-apprenticeships-with-Sannin, the many missions in which Shikako ends up technically dead or Itachi kidnapped (for some reason? kidnappers always go for him first?) or Tenma exasperatedly trying to keep his tiny teammates out of the clutches of creepy adults, etc. etc, all going back to that first moment when Shikako looked at Itachi and thought “I have to save this dumbass from his terribad life choices” that maybe she could make the world a better place.

Who is the Miracle? What is the Miracle? I dunno, that’d be up to the readers, ultimately.

Oooh, maybe Lee’d have a rockruff? Because according to the Pokedex they need a dedicated trainer because the closer to evolution they get, the rougher and roudier they get? And then he’d have a midday lycanroc post-timeskip because they’re really fast & loyal?

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jacksgreysays:

jacksgreysays:

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Hm… while I am fond of the Lee and Rockruff parallels (and the pun), I actually would rather lean into more of a taijutsu-only equivalent team for him. Meaning only Normal and Fighting types for Lee.

Neji and TenTen would also have Fighting types, but Neji would have a few Psychic types (which parallels the Byakugan sort of an the idea that even though Lee is faster than god, Neji consistently beats him) and TenTen a few steel types.

They would have Hitmonlee, Hitmontop, and Hitmonchan respectively–their Tyrogues were gifts from Gai-sensei.

Now that I think of it some more, I do kind of like Lee having an unevolved Eevee on his team as per @to-someplace-else’s suggestion. Because there’s something very sweet about Lee accepting his Eevee the way it is and not pressuring it into changing itself one way or another. But, of course, if it wants to evolve, he won’t stop it! But what he wants is for it to be happy. (And, also, Green’s Eevee is so powerful. So majestic and fluffy)

Which I guess brings us to the next point with Shikako’s Deerling. And I suppose the problem there is that I’m not sure why the Deerling wouldn’t want to evolve? In comparison to Eevee evolving into a different Type entirely (generally dictated by the trainer and what kind of team they’re trying to form) or a Pikachu evolving into a Raichu which needs a Thunder stone, as far as I can tell Deerling’s evolution into Sawsbuck is just a level cap.

And it’s a natural (or, at least, simple) process for the Deerling line to evolve into Sawsbuck. It’s basically puberty turning from a child into an adult. Whereas Eeveelutions and Pikachu turning into Raichu are more deliberate, like a medical undertaking…

Is there any benefit to preventing a Deerling’s evolution? More specifically, in this world of shinobi-trainers why would Shikako deliberately hamper her Pokemon’s growth with an everstone? She needs to be battle ready, and a Deerling doesn’t have anything over a Sawsbuck–unlike (and I don’t know if this is game canon or just cartoon canon) Pikachu being faster than Raichu.

That’s true… the only Pokemon whose evolution timing I’m set on is when Sasuke’s Pawniard turns into a Bisharp which I vaguely mentally planned out to be around the equivalent of the Sasuke Retrieval arc. Because ~loyalty~ to village and that’s thereabouts when Sasuke decided friendship was more important than vengeance. Like he is a person and not a weapon (and therefore his Pawniard is also not a weapon)

Pawniard evolves into Bisharp at level 52 which actually seems kind of high… Then again, Pawniard is his third Pokemon and the most strictly offense on his team (in comparison to Talonflame, Cubone, and Lunatone) so I suppose it’s not too out there to think maybe he focussed more on levelling up Pawniard in comparison to the others?

At that point in time he would only have had five Pokemon, and his Shinx/Luxio only for a short while so…

In comparison Shikako might be more the kind of trainer to level up her entire team equally instead of focusing on a few. So there could be some hand waving over the discrepancies there.

Hm…

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Ooh! Is that how it works? I only vaguely know about this phenomenon because, weirdly enough, even though I love Pokemon I’ve never had a handheld to actually play the games (my mother was taken with the deeply religious Pokemon = demons idea even though she literally did not care about any other media I consumed up to and including 1) Teen Titans in which one of the characters is literally a daughter of a demon, 2) Adult Swim–more specifically, Adult Swim’s awful dubs of various gore filled anime which itself included Inuyasha which has actual literal demons, and 3) I can’t really think of another demonic show I watched as a child that is more literal than those two but yeah).

So I know that there are some moves that certain Pokemon cannot learn, but I didn’t know it was so specific as to be different within the same evolutionary line. I figured a Dragonite could learn anything a Dratini could, basically, but I suppose if there are some moves that are only for a Dratini and then you grandfather those moves into your evolved form that would be a skill over power. That makes sense now.

And I suppose in a more tangible way, evolving comes along with literal changes in body size and stuff so maybe it’s more accepted to hold off on evolutions until you’re able to block out a few weeks of training to get accustomed to your Pokemon’s new form. Thanks, anon!

edit: Okay so @jickysilver explained some stuff to me regarding movesets for Deerling and Sawsbuck such that not evolving Deerling makes a lot more sense to me:

Basically, there aren’t Deerling-only moves, but certain moves a Deerling can learn at a much lower level than a Sawsbuck. For example, Solar Beam can be learned by Deerling at level 51 whereas Sawsbuck learns it at level 60.

And the idea of a tiny twelve year old and her equally tiny Deerling throwing around Solar Beams is hilarious. Element of surprise. 😀 No one expects a Deerling to freaking know Solar Beam!

Oooh, maybe Lee’d have a rockruff? Because according to the Pokedex they need a dedicated trainer because the closer to evolution they get, the rougher and roudier they get? And then he’d have a midday lycanroc post-timeskip because they’re really fast & loyal?

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

jacksgreysays:

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Hm… while I am fond of the Lee and Rockruff parallels (and the pun), I actually would rather lean into more of a taijutsu-only equivalent team for him. Meaning only Normal and Fighting types for Lee.

Neji and TenTen would also have Fighting types, but Neji would have a few Psychic types (which parallels the Byakugan sort of an the idea that even though Lee is faster than god, Neji consistently beats him) and TenTen a few steel types.

They would have Hitmonlee, Hitmontop, and Hitmonchan respectively–their Tyrogues were gifts from Gai-sensei.

Now that I think of it some more, I do kind of like Lee having an unevolved Eevee on his team as per @to-someplace-else’s suggestion. Because there’s something very sweet about Lee accepting his Eevee the way it is and not pressuring it into changing itself one way or another. But, of course, if it wants to evolve, he won’t stop it! But what he wants is for it to be happy. (And, also, Green’s Eevee is so powerful. So majestic and fluffy)

Which I guess brings us to the next point with Shikako’s Deerling. And I suppose the problem there is that I’m not sure why the Deerling wouldn’t want to evolve? In comparison to Eevee evolving into a different Type entirely (generally dictated by the trainer and what kind of team they’re trying to form) or a Pikachu evolving into a Raichu which needs a Thunder stone, as far as I can tell Deerling’s evolution into Sawsbuck is just a level cap.

And it’s a natural (or, at least, simple) process for the Deerling line to evolve into Sawsbuck. It’s basically puberty turning from a child into an adult. Whereas Eeveelutions and Pikachu turning into Raichu are more deliberate, like a medical undertaking…

Is there any benefit to preventing a Deerling’s evolution? More specifically, in this world of shinobi-trainers why would Shikako deliberately hamper her Pokemon’s growth with an everstone? She needs to be battle ready, and a Deerling doesn’t have anything over a Sawsbuck–unlike (and I don’t know if this is game canon or just cartoon canon) Pikachu being faster than Raichu.

That’s true… the only Pokemon whose evolution timing I’m set on is when Sasuke’s Pawniard turns into a Bisharp which I vaguely mentally planned out to be around the equivalent of the Sasuke Retrieval arc. Because ~loyalty~ to village and that’s thereabouts when Sasuke decided friendship was more important than vengeance. Like he is a person and not a weapon (and therefore his Pawniard is also not a weapon)

Pawniard evolves into Bisharp at level 52 which actually seems kind of high… Then again, Pawniard is his third Pokemon and the most strictly offense on his team (in comparison to Talonflame, Cubone, and Lunatone) so I suppose it’s not too out there to think maybe he focussed more on levelling up Pawniard in comparison to the others?

At that point in time he would only have had five Pokemon, and his Shinx/Luxio only for a short while so…

In comparison Shikako might be more the kind of trainer to level up her entire team equally instead of focusing on a few. So there could be some hand waving over the discrepancies there.

Hm…

Do the clans own the pokemon gyms? Like, the Aburame clan has a bug gym, the Uchiha has a fire-type gym, and it’s passed down through their clan. Clan gyms gives the clan authority (for anlack of a better word? Like, it puts them at a higher social class??), they make a profit from having gyms, etc. Gym leaders are also in the village’s military, kinda like how athletes back in the day had to also serve in the military. (Basically, I’m asking for more pokemon worldbuilding brainstorms. <3)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

This took me a while, anon. I had to chew on it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love worldbuilding questions so thank you, but this one was kind of difficult for me to wrap my head around.

The thing is, the Arm in Arm world is more analogous to the Naruto world than the Pokemon world, except Pokemon basically take the place of chakra. So the clans wouldn’t really have type gyms so much as they’d have clan Pokemon (Nara with the Sawsbuck, Uchiha with the Talonflame, etc. etc.) So it’s more like the clan Pokemon are the clan bloodlines than gym types.

That being said, I do like the idea of gyms somehow existing even though that would mean a lot of gyms all in the same village. So they’re probably not full out gyms, but they are…

Oh. The different departments, probably.

Sensory Squad and Intel Division and T&I and ANBU, etc. etc.

So it kind of lines up more with DoS canon, in that after the genin have been trained by their Elite Four-jounin, they join different departments for additional specialization and training.

Sensory Squad trainers definitely use their Pokemon differently than Intel Division trainers do, but given that shinobi-trainers are meant to handle all kinds of missions, you can’t just be like “I know how to battle, I’m a master now.” So you can temporarily or permanently join a department/gym and get more rigorous training for you Pokemon in exchange for doing a number of missions or something like that.

Arcanine would definitely benefit from having an Inuzuka teacher. Or when Staryu evolves into Starmie and suddenly gets Psychic abilities it makes sense for Shikako to seek additional training since it’s not a type she’s previously had, so she does a rotation with the Intel Division. Stuff like that.

Yeah, it’s not so much a “battle your way through and get a badge and qualify for the League tournaments” seeing as how Arm in Arm has the genin teams training with the Elite Four right off the bat.

Then again, maybe for genin who graduated but did not get put onto a jounin/Elite Four team that is what it’s like. You know, do a rotation in each department/gym and if you complete the set then you can apply to be put on a temporary genin team for the Chuunin Exams?

Hm… still not 100% on this though, anon. But that’s what I have for now…