Tag: shino aburame

Who do you think would handle knowing the original timeline’s future best, not just in DoS, but in your other works, too? I say original timeline in large part because surely even someone who wouldn’t want to would still find themselves making changes, right?

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

I’m going to assume you mean Naruto canon when you say original timeline, because otherwise to go through all of my fandoms would be O_O

I think there’s a difference in handling the knowledge in an internal/emotional way vs handling the knowledge in an external/make-changes kind of way. The first largely depends on how a person finds out–whether it’s something that, in the case of DoS, Shikako tells them or, somehow they find out from, like, a vision from beyond or a canon character dimension travelling and exposition dumping from there–whereas the second depends on their resources (whether they even have the ability to make changes on a significant scale) and personality (whether they would even want to.

Like, I’ve mentioned previously that Shino would make a good confidante for Shikako, not because he would particularly make a lot of changes, but because he would, if not believe Shikako immediately, then at the very least accept the knowledge with a certain level of proof (which is easy enough considering the Aburame’s history with Danzo.) So he’d be the first type of “handling” the knowledge of canon.

All that being said… I kinda want to do both for all of them mostly because this prompt would help me further conceptualize characters in a way I hadn’t considered before. So, both Emotional Handling and Influential Handling for DoS, Externality, (In)Difference, and Counterpoise? Hm, if there’s another series you’re interesting in, lionhead, just let me know and I can add that later.

Dreaming of Sunshine:

Emotional Handling – I’m going to stick with Shino for this one, actually. Regardless of if he finds out from Shikako or from some other means. Second place I would say Ibiki, but I’m reluctant to do even that much because of my own fanon that Ibiki and Yoshino are BFFs so he probably would be second hand messed up by the changes of Yoshino’s family composition.

Influential Handling – I don’t know if there is a singular person I would say is best for this, but the ones I’m thinking of all have a certain… flavor to them. In no particular order: Iruka, Ibiki, Aoba, and Shizune. And the thing they all have in common is that they have influence within the village but not the combat prowess to handle S-rank nin by themselves. So they would have to make changes with a softer touch. Would Iruka emotionally handle canon knowledge well? NO WAY. But he is in the position to not only influence Naruto (and other former students) directly but also to affect administrative decisions. Also, Danzo would never think of Iruka as a threat.

Ibiki, Aoba, and Shizune would probably handle the knowledge with better grace than Iruka, but they don’t have that direct connection with the kids that Iruka does. And this could be a positive and a negative, but they’re all also better than Iruka combat wise so they may be tempted to make changes in person which may cause them to bite off more than they can chew.

—

Externality:

So the thing about Externality is that even I haven’t decided whether or not Tetsuki knows about canon, or how–was Naruto a manga in the KHR world or can she perceive the canon version of the world in her dreams?–so I’m going to exclude her for now.

Emotional Handling – Weirdly enough, I think Naruto would handle it best. Not because he would use it, but because he would be galvanized into doing better. Whether that means keeping Sasuke in Konoha or being a better teammate to Tetsuki and Komadori or making sure to protect the people he couldn’t save in canon. Although, I suppose it depends on WHEN he gets the knowledge. Like, if he gets it before the canon graduation time, then it’s unprovable and basically a really weird dream to him–why would he be on a team without Tetsuki and Komadori?–but if its after canon graduation time, that is, after a genin-for-a-year Naruto gets put on a team with recent graduates Sasuke and Sakura, then he might take it as a challenge.

Influential Handling – Ibiki, Aoba, and Shizune for the same reasons as in DoS–since Externality is in a similar vein of OC–but instead of Iruka, since he isn’t the teacher for Testuki, Komadori, and Team Gai’s year, I would add Anko to the list.

Specifically after Tetsuki has joined Intel/T&I. Well, I mean, Anko knowing about Orochimaru’s future movements is already pretty good influence-wise (although, I’m concerned that Konoha would be “concerned” about how she got that information) but if it’s after Tetsuki has joined Intel/T&I and become Anko’s kouhai then Anko will know that she can use Tetsuki to act on her behalf as well as passing Orochimaru’s future movements along to Ibiki and such.

And I guess, for similar reasons, Tsunade would be good but only after she’s already become Hokage. Because her hands are tied as far as throwing down directly with Akatsuki since she has a damn village to run, but she’ll know that Tetsuki is a piece on the board that she can use in a myriad of ways.

—

(In)Difference

Since Kiyoshi definitely knows about canon and is trying her utmost to not get involved during her first decade and a half, then doing an abrupt 180 and getting overly involved in specific people’s lives, I’m going to exclude her.

This probably won’t make much sense given I haven’t actually written enough of (In)Difference to have a firm timeline and, unlike Externality and Counterpoise, it doesn’t follow the usual stations of canon. Which brings up the main point: except for a few flashback type situations, most of canon happens decades in the future. Any changes, even minute, will have massive consequences. Additionally, in a way, it’s harder to prove but easier to stomach so… hm… let’s see…

Emotional Handling – When they’re younger, genin/chuunin age or so, Orochimaru would handle it best. Not because he really believes Kiyoshi (if it is, indeed, coming from Kiyoshi) but because on the unlikely chance that it is true then he is still capable of course-correcting. Also, if he was, as I suspect, Nawaki’s jounin-sensei (or captain, if we’re going with wartime terminology) then being able to prevent his death–which Kiyoshi somehow does–will help a lot in keeping him sane and not completely evil.

Team White Fang would also handle it okay but only as a team. I don’t know why I feel certain about this, but, I dunno, they’re 2/3 my characters so there.

Influential Handling – Actually, all of the above wouldn’t be too bad in terms of influencing things. Orochimaru, obviously, just has to not be a complete sociopath and never work with Danzo (or, even, just kill Danzo outright) and already he’ll make the future a better place. And Team White Fang is either A) Sakumo, father of Kakashi who is in line to affect ALL the things or B+C) a shape-shifter and genjutsu mistress. So, not too hard to make changes. But I think the BEST person to make changes might be Nawaki.

Because just him being alive would mean so much in terms of Senju presence. And even if he doesn’t have Wood Release (but which I’ve written that he does so…) what his continued existence means for Tsunade and Kushina personally (who can then influence Naruto directly or not). Or what his continued existence might mean for the Uchiha clan… I suppose it’s more a potential of influence than actual influence, I guess.

—

Counterpoise

Konran definitely doesn’t know about canon. Immediately I know she would emotionally handle it the worst, because basically it’s a world in which her twin brother isn’t even a twin or a brother. Here comes an existential crisis. Because she’d emotionally handle it the worst, I’d be reluctant to predict how she’d handle it influentially. Obviously she’s in position to influence Naruto most directly, but will she want to? Will she do so in a positive way? I don’t know.

Emotional Handling – Zakuro. Hands down. I considered Ringo, because of the two Ringo is the “calmer” one, but then I realized: he’s a medic. He’s a taijutsu using medic. He’s as pacifistic and selfless as a shinobi can be. If he did believe the canon knowledge, however he got it, he would view all the deaths in canon and try his best to prevent them and only destroy himself.

Zakuro, in contrast, is a genjutsu and trap specialist. He knows that perception is more important than reality and for all his brash personality, he can be patient. Traps don’t always get sprung–it’s about preparing for possibilities, not getting directly involved. Zakuro wouldn’t lose himself to the knowledge. He’d take it, absorb it, learn from it, adapt.

The only hitch in this is that he wouldn’t want to keep the knowledge a secret from his teammates, but given their personalities, he would have to. So it’s not the knowledge itself that he would have trouble handling.

But to be clear, Zakuro is ony best at emotional handling. He’s not really in a position to make significant enough changes, for all that he has the mindset to do it.

Influential Handling – … the three people who I think could best utilize the knowledge and make changes are also the three people (besides Konran and Naruto) who would emotionally handle the knowledge poorly. Ringo is one of them–because for all he is the same rank as Zakuro, he does have sort of bonds with both Obito, though he doesn’t really know it, and Kakashi, and if he can figure out how to leverage said bonds he can mitigate a lot of suffering on their and everyone’s parts.

The other two are Kakashi and Jiraiya. The reason why I didn’t bring them up in previous series is because the nature of canon vs Counterpoise is a missing Uzumaki child. Minato’s child. And yes, it’s true, that shouldn’t be such a big deal seeing as how they they ignored Naruto in canon. But I wonder how much of that was the Sandaime’s terribad “don’t discuss the Kyuubi even though everyone and their monkey summons know about it” and how much of that was the village plausibly denying Naruto’s heritage.

So DoS brings up how Naruto could have been named Uzumaki because of his jinchuuriki status not because he’s actually related to Kushina. Additionally I’ve read somewhere that some people thought Naruto took Minato’s appearance because the Kyuubi was being deliberately cruel and kitsune are all about shapeshifting (which is why Naruto’s specialty before kage bushin is henge). And also, while I don’t know how canonical this is, there’s the idea floating around that Minato and Kushina kept the pregnancy a secret so enemy villages couldn’t find out and such. So, like, the village could have just been handwaving the obvious connections between Naruto and his parents. And because Kakashi and Jiraiya don’t get involved with him, there’s nothing to contradict that.

But Konran doesn’t have the Kyuubi. Konran has bright red hair and goes by the name Uzumaki. Konran is so undeniably Kushina’s child that there is no handwaving this away. It’s for this reason that I’m kind of playing around with the idea that the Cloud ambassador tried to kidnap Konran in addition to/instead of Hinata (which also explains why Konran becomes so desperate to keep her hair hidden when she’s a genin).

Anyway. That incident and the lack of plausible deniability means that Kakashi and Jiraiya kind of have to get involved and canon knowledge would only help them if they would get off their asses and do something. Don’t get me wrong, love the characters. But they are capable of making great change, they just need a massive shove to do so.

~

A/N: Uh… that got long and rant-y towards the end. Hopefully this was what you were looking for, lionheadbookends, and if not feel free to send another ask my way 🙂

Ask Box Advent Calendar is now open!

I’ve just discovered your DOS Pokémon team ideas (10/10 by the way) and I was wondering if you had any ideas for team 8?

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Just got home from traveling, anon, so I appreciate this ask as a quick post for today. Also, thank you! I’m oddly proud of the DoS Pokemon ‘verse even if it’s mostly ranting and brainstorms.

Team Eight I have some ideas for, but not as concrete as Team Seven or Team Ten (given the “screen time” for those two teams are way more than the others) so the following are pretty quick and less specific than those ones… [[will maybe add more detailed reasoning later?]]

Hinata:

Kirlia (to become a Gardevoir–the Hyuuga clan Pokemon are Ralts and are generally trained towards becoming Gallade)

Whismur

Buneary

Litleo

Audino

Togepi

–

Shino:

Ninjask (and Shedinja)

Pinsir

Volbeat

Kricketune

Scyther

Heracross

–

Kiba:

Lycanroc (as Akamaru, particularly Midnight Form as the equivalent of when he eats soldier pills)
… but after that I don’t really know since I gave Kakashi the all dog team… I guess if I could break down Kiba and Akamaru’s attacks/abilities into Pokemon equivalents? 

Fake Fic Summaries, 18/? the Sailor Shinobi edition (2017-01-14)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

jacksgreysays:

jacksgreysays:

jacksgreysays:

jacksgreysays:

jacksgreysays:

jacksgreysays:

A/N: I had originally thought of a crack version of this after a frankly bizarre dream, but the more I thought about it the more it worked pretty well for a… less cracky version, so the “summary” as much as it can be called such is for the less cracky but I’ll talk about both.

~

Sailor Shinobi

Fighting evil by moonlight
Winning love by daylight
Never running from a real fight
She is the one named…
… Hyuuga Hinata?

Luna has been waiting a long time for the reincarnation of the moon princess, watching the village of warriors grow around the destined location of her rebirth.

Finally she’s found her–as well as the reincarnated guardians, fortunately enough. Now, if only they’d stop sending her back to the Fire Daimyo’s wife.

So cracky version: I was on the topic of Sailor Moon and Dreaming of Sunshine because, well, canonically mentioned. And for some reason my brain was like… is Sasuke Sailor Moon?

Because, see, the Uchiha are the ones connected with the Neko-baa. And Tsukuyomi is related to the moon. And Sailor Moon’s colors are the same as the Uchiha colors.

And you can’t tell me Naruto wouldn’t make a fabulous Sailor Venus in that orange seifuku. (With Shikako as Tuxedo Mask, of course, because of that one art by AngelsFallBeforeUs).

While the idea of Sasuke and Naruto in seifuku with Shikako in a caped tuxedo is absolutely fantastic, I couldn’t really figure out which of the other boys were which scout. And the more I thought about it the more I thought… wouldn’t it work better with Hinata as Sailor Moon?

The Otsutsuki subplot bewilders me, but from what I understand it’s a clan of moon aliens? And they have the Byakugan as well? And the idea of Hinata being timid out of costume and confident in costume just gives me very strong Miraculous Ladybug vibes that I greatly appreciate.

To be honest, picturing Hanabi as Mini Moon really solidified it for me even though I know Chibiusa is Usagi’s daughter from the future. As for the actual scouts there’s Sakura as Mercury, Ino as Venus, Shikako as Mars, and TenTen as Jupiter. Maaaybe Yakumo as Saturn, Anko as Uranus, Isaribi as Neptune, and Kurenai as Pluto??

I don’t know who would have the honor of Tuxedo Mask, though. Do any of the boys have the panache for it? I mean, I know for parallelism sake, it ought to be Naruto. But would Naruto really engage in the secret identity thing? I don’t think so.

As for the plot, well, the fake fic summary does have it concurrently with being shinobi in the DoS ‘verse–though that wouldn’t be very practical, seeing as how shinobi don’t exactly have normal bed times–as opposed to a more “real world” scenario… hm. Maybe Luna/Tora has some kind of teleporting ability? Which, yes, explains why she keeps escaping so damn often, but also maybe the evil things the Sailor Shinobi are supposed to fight are on the ruins of the moon kingdom as opposed to invading the “Earth.”

I dunno.

I do REALLY love the idea of the Sailor Shinobi throwing around sparkling beautiful attacks and smacking down the Akatsuki.

-_-

*intense sigh of embarrassment*

Picture under the cut.

Keep reading

I agree with you anon that Kakashi definitely has the mysterious and hands off vibe of Tuxedo Mask (and the whole show up, do nothing, and walk away pointedly is very Kakashi) but I’m not sure–and not even in a shipping way–if he has a strong enough relationship with ALL of the Sailor Shinobi, in particular Hinata, instead of just Shikako (and now, sort of, Sakura).

I suppose by that logic, Tuxedo Mask might be Iruka-sensei?

…

O_O

Ibiki?

Uh, no nevermind. Well, perhaps for the Sailor Shinobi, Tuxedo Masks need not apply 😛

I totally get you anon. Ino definitely qualifies as Tuxedo Mask and would pull off such a role with style, but I don’t know if she’d choose to be Tuxedo Mask when she can be Sailor Venus, Warrior of Love and Beauty, instead.

Maybe in the Sasuke-is-Sailor-Moon version?

Too true, anon(s?). I think Ino would be more magnificent as Sailor Venus, but I will not deny that if Ino wore a tuxedo and a mask and handed me a rose that I would not swoon from the sheer charisma that she exudes.

InoSaku would be pretty cute in the way you’ve described, anon, but I don’t think it ought to be completely discounted from the Sakura-as-Mercury and Ino-as-Venus configuration. I know Ami/Minako was a rare pair (if it was even a ship at all) but just because they have the same planetary assignments doesn’t mean their relationships have to be the same. I mean, they can still have that bit of a rivalry when they’re Mercury and Venus because Sakura and Ino have that little rivalry–it doesn’t need to parallel the Sailor Moon canon too much.

While I’m sure Shino could pull off the outfit, he’d probably be more comfortable if that cape and hat were a cowl and hood instead.

@jickysilver brought up the idea that maybe the transformation item for Tuxedo Mask is a really innocuous pen that keeps getting picked up by different people. Can you imagine how paranoid the paperwork ninja would get? EVEN THEIR PENS ARE AGAINST THEM.

I think the identity for the Moonlight Knight is as much up in the air as the Tuxedo Mask identity since… you know… same guy.

Does there even need to be a Tuxedo Mask? What if he’s someone awful on the shinobi side, like Kabuto? Or what if he turns out to be someone entirely random? (Aoba, I choose you!)

I do like the idea that Tuxedo Mask keeps changing because the transformation item keeps getting picked up by different people. Maybe Tuxedo Mask is meant to be Naruto but because he’s not in Konoha the transformation item just keeps transforming whoever is currently nearest to it–which leads to That Cursed Pen being passed around the administrative building like the weirdest game of hot potato.

Fake Fic Summaries, 18/? the Sailor Shinobi edition (2017-01-14)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

jacksgreysays:

jacksgreysays:

jacksgreysays:

jacksgreysays:

jacksgreysays:

A/N: I had originally thought of a crack version of this after a frankly bizarre dream, but the more I thought about it the more it worked pretty well for a… less cracky version, so the “summary” as much as it can be called such is for the less cracky but I’ll talk about both.

~

Sailor Shinobi

Fighting evil by moonlight
Winning love by daylight
Never running from a real fight
She is the one named…
… Hyuuga Hinata?

Luna has been waiting a long time for the reincarnation of the moon princess, watching the village of warriors grow around the destined location of her rebirth.

Finally she’s found her–as well as the reincarnated guardians, fortunately enough. Now, if only they’d stop sending her back to the Fire Daimyo’s wife.

So cracky version: I was on the topic of Sailor Moon and Dreaming of Sunshine because, well, canonically mentioned. And for some reason my brain was like… is Sasuke Sailor Moon?

Because, see, the Uchiha are the ones connected with the Neko-baa. And Tsukuyomi is related to the moon. And Sailor Moon’s colors are the same as the Uchiha colors.

And you can’t tell me Naruto wouldn’t make a fabulous Sailor Venus in that orange seifuku. (With Shikako as Tuxedo Mask, of course, because of that one art by AngelsFallBeforeUs).

While the idea of Sasuke and Naruto in seifuku with Shikako in a caped tuxedo is absolutely fantastic, I couldn’t really figure out which of the other boys were which scout. And the more I thought about it the more I thought… wouldn’t it work better with Hinata as Sailor Moon?

The Otsutsuki subplot bewilders me, but from what I understand it’s a clan of moon aliens? And they have the Byakugan as well? And the idea of Hinata being timid out of costume and confident in costume just gives me very strong Miraculous Ladybug vibes that I greatly appreciate.

To be honest, picturing Hanabi as Mini Moon really solidified it for me even though I know Chibiusa is Usagi’s daughter from the future. As for the actual scouts there’s Sakura as Mercury, Ino as Venus, Shikako as Mars, and TenTen as Jupiter. Maaaybe Yakumo as Saturn, Anko as Uranus, Isaribi as Neptune, and Kurenai as Pluto??

I don’t know who would have the honor of Tuxedo Mask, though. Do any of the boys have the panache for it? I mean, I know for parallelism sake, it ought to be Naruto. But would Naruto really engage in the secret identity thing? I don’t think so.

As for the plot, well, the fake fic summary does have it concurrently with being shinobi in the DoS ‘verse–though that wouldn’t be very practical, seeing as how shinobi don’t exactly have normal bed times–as opposed to a more “real world” scenario… hm. Maybe Luna/Tora has some kind of teleporting ability? Which, yes, explains why she keeps escaping so damn often, but also maybe the evil things the Sailor Shinobi are supposed to fight are on the ruins of the moon kingdom as opposed to invading the “Earth.”

I dunno.

I do REALLY love the idea of the Sailor Shinobi throwing around sparkling beautiful attacks and smacking down the Akatsuki.

-_-

*intense sigh of embarrassment*

Picture under the cut.

Keep reading

I agree with you anon that Kakashi definitely has the mysterious and hands off vibe of Tuxedo Mask (and the whole show up, do nothing, and walk away pointedly is very Kakashi) but I’m not sure–and not even in a shipping way–if he has a strong enough relationship with ALL of the Sailor Shinobi, in particular Hinata, instead of just Shikako (and now, sort of, Sakura).

I suppose by that logic, Tuxedo Mask might be Iruka-sensei?

…

O_O

Ibiki?

Uh, no nevermind. Well, perhaps for the Sailor Shinobi, Tuxedo Masks need not apply 😛

I totally get you anon. Ino definitely qualifies as Tuxedo Mask and would pull off such a role with style, but I don’t know if she’d choose to be Tuxedo Mask when she can be Sailor Venus, Warrior of Love and Beauty, instead.

Maybe in the Sasuke-is-Sailor-Moon version?

Too true, anon(s?). I think Ino would be more magnificent as Sailor Venus, but I will not deny that if Ino wore a tuxedo and a mask and handed me a rose that I would not swoon from the sheer charisma that she exudes.

InoSaku would be pretty cute in the way you’ve described, anon, but I don’t think it ought to be completely discounted from the Sakura-as-Mercury and Ino-as-Venus configuration. I know Ami/Minako was a rare pair (if it was even a ship at all) but just because they have the same planetary assignments doesn’t mean their relationships have to be the same. I mean, they can still have that bit of a rivalry when they’re Mercury and Venus because Sakura and Ino have that little rivalry–it doesn’t need to parallel the Sailor Moon canon too much.

While I’m sure Shino could pull off the outfit, he’d probably be more comfortable if that cape and hat were a cowl and hood instead.

@jickysilver brought up the idea that maybe the transformation item for Tuxedo Mask is a really innocuous pen that keeps getting picked up by different people. Can you imagine how paranoid the paperwork ninja would get? EVEN THEIR PENS ARE AGAINST THEM.

Your Shino/Kako brainstorm made me melt, hoooly hecckk <3<33333

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

jacksgreysays:

Melt? I don’t know if I really contributed much to make someone melt, anon, but I suppose I’ll take your word on it.

I think a Shino/Shikako ship would be interesting to read because it would have… ah. Well, this is a benefit to me but I realize it might not be for others, but it basically has the aspects of what I like about DarcyxElizabeth Bennet without the cringing misunderstandings and biases.

Shino, like Darcy, is an eloquent man, intelligent and kind, but not exactly the suavest or most charming person (especially in comparison to his friends). Shikako, like Elizabeth Bennet, is a free-wheeling spirit, loyal to her family (and teammates) and absolutely cutthroat when the occasion calls for it; she’s not necessarily the most graceful in traditional social niceties, but she’s good with people when she wants to be.

So imagine the same meeting of two minds except, instead of in a weird back and forth pining/disgust melodrama it’s founded on mutual respect. 🙂

🙂 Sounds good, anon.

I think Shikako really needs a confidante, too, and part of me thinks that of the Konoha Twelve/Thirteen the most likely one would be Shino. It used to be Ino, but that was before the whole Sasuke Retrieval Arc leading to Orochimaru inside her head thing. (Before Shikako broke her).

You can still see remnants of that possibility–between Ino and Shikako, that is–in the post Land of Moon Arc especially, and the emotional depth of that scene is all the more poignant to me because of that. The almost could have been just T_T I mourn for it.

Shino, I think, would be a different kind of confidante. Not that he’s all robotic logic (as proven with the absolutely adorable relationship he has with his younger sister) but there’s a different foundation for the trust and truth that would be between them. Shikako might have, in a different time, told Ino the truth in a moment of emotional vulnerability. Shikako would tell Shino in a moment of vital strategy.

Most likely? If she ever did go against Danzo and needed a touchstone of sorts. With her family and her teammates and certain other allies, she would want to have some plausible deniability (like with the post Tsukuyomi–researching the names and faces and times of death of the Massacre just to see if she could find the incongruity and use that to bring up the suspicious circumstances). But if push comes to shove and she were to try to act on information that has no outside evidence (that she has access to, anyway) then I think she’d trust Shino with it.

Team Ten and Seven are both too close to home–she broke them or she changed them or she has far too much on them. Team Gai simply isn’t plugged in enough to be a touchstone–Lee’s family is very small, TenTen is an orphan, and Neji is a Branch member… if ever Danzo were to try to poach ROOT candidates it would be from their team. There’d hardly be any resistance. Team Eight’s a little… she and Kiba are essentially having a philosophical debate, and he would (at least initially) react poorly to the “I know a version of the future reveal” much less the “reincarnated from a different world where your lives are a manga.” Hinata is unsealed and against Danzo would be the only proof of why having the Caged Bird Seal has any benefit at all.

Shino’s family (at least his father) has experience with Danzo’s treacherous ways. And maybe Shino doesn’t know everything, but there’s no way that he hasn’t been at least obliquely warned against Danzo.

If it weren’t a strategic nightmare, I’d want to see Shikako, Shino, and Sai go on a mission together out of Fire country. After the per usual Lucky Seven twist, in which Shino notices maybe an exchange between the other two regarding their dancing around the matter of ROOT, or he notices something about Sai only, the three of them go back to Konoha. Shino requests to speak with Shikako about it, and she agrees and in the relative safety of the Aburame family home, she obliquely brings up the idea of ROOT and references Danzo.

A few more meetings and maybe one more strategically-a-nightmare Sensory Squad mission, this is the set up for a canon DoS Shino/Shikako ship.

Your Shino/Kako brainstorm made me melt, hoooly hecckk <3<33333

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Melt? I don’t know if I really contributed much to make someone melt, anon, but I suppose I’ll take your word on it.

I think a Shino/Shikako ship would be interesting to read because it would have… ah. Well, this is a benefit to me but I realize it might not be for others, but it basically has the aspects of what I like about DarcyxElizabeth Bennet without the cringing misunderstandings and biases.

Shino, like Darcy, is an eloquent man, intelligent and kind, but not exactly the suavest or most charming person (especially in comparison to his friends). Shikako, like Elizabeth Bennet, is a free-wheeling spirit, loyal to her family (and teammates) and absolutely cutthroat when the occasion calls for it; she’s not necessarily the most graceful in traditional social niceties, but she’s good with people when she wants to be.

So imagine the same meeting of two minds except, instead of in a weird back and forth pining/disgust melodrama it’s founded on mutual respect. 🙂

The Temari/Shikako stuff was really intriguing! Both the canon based one and the witchcraft AU. I wondered if you had opinions on other rare!pairs? (Unusual pairs? Crack pairs? I dunno what to call them) in DOS. Like… Sakura/Shikako or Shino/Shikako.

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Thanks!

From what I understand there’s a difference between rare-pairs and crack pairs. Rare-pairs are arguably believable but less popular ships (so Sakura/Shikako and Shino/Shikako both of them being Shikako’s friends, but not being particularly common, would be rare-pairs) whereas crack pairs are quite random.

Even something where it’s highly unlikely or there’s a significant age difference or “enemies to lovers” could still be considered a rare-pair so long as there’s some kind of foundation for the ship. Toki/Shikako, Aoba/Shikako, Netsui/Shikako are examples of such that I’ve written or mentioned before that I can confidently say would count as rare-pairs.

Crack pairs would be like… I suppose technically Deidara/Shikako is a crack pair seeing as how they’ve not even met each other yet in canon and, on top of that, Shikako knows that he’s part of the Big Bad Organization. So it’s a crack pair in that there’s no believable canonical foundation for it, but it’s fairly popular so even if it weren’t cracky it may be popular enough to not count as rare-pair.

Another crack pair that isn’t villain/Shikako I suppose might be… Tsunade/Shikako? Or… well… no, I suppose technically that might be a rare-pair since they have met and don’t actively hate each other (and I have seen Naruto/Jiraiya fic so the age difference isn’t entirely out of the question for some people).

Ah. If I had pursued a more romantic take on SemiPhenomenal Nearly Cosmic, then Tobirama/Shikako would be a crack pair. Like, I had to create a specific AU for them to even meet much less possibly fall in love and get together.

I guess what makes a crack pair in my opinion is the number/breadth of changes needed to make a ship possible. Whereas rare pairs are the popularity of a ship within the fandom. Crack pairs may be rare pairs, but not all rare pairs are crack pairs.

All that being said, I guess it does depend on which rare-pairs you’d like me to talk about? I’ve already discussed briefly on my opinion of Sakura/Shikako here (although, I’ll admit, that was a long time ago and my fleet of ships is vast and ever-changing) and I think it’s mostly the same as before.

I think it would be interesting to see a Sakura/Shikako ship, especially given how much Shikako has changed Sakura’s life just by simply existing. And it’s a fairly guilt-free change (as opposed to the guilt she feels over Ino and her brother).

This DoS!Sakura is vastly different from canon Sakura because so much of her formative experiences are different. Being a part of Team Seven (and a fractured Team Seven at that) is so integral to canon Sakura’s character that DoS!Sakura MUST be different.

Softer, probably, less jaded and tired. She’s learned different lessons, in less heartbreaking ways, but she’s probably learned more of them from being at a distance. I wonder if, because she is not so focused on her teammates like canon Sakura, that she observes more in other people. Or if, unconfined by the role of Team Seven, she might grow beyond the narrow shape left behind for her and become more than the second coming of Tsunade (though that is certainly not a bad thing).

I think it depends on what happens to Sakura in DoS, on what Silver Queen may want to do with her character. Part of me is fairly sure she’ll be on Team Anko with Yakumo and Isaribi (at the very least for a future Chuunin Exam if not permanently) and given these teammates and teacher, Sakura would be the least… traumatized. No murderous split personality, no horrific childhood of being experimented on. And no doubt Sakura will learn how to support her teammates, how to traverse and converse such interactions–recognize the pitfalls and avoid them, or help her teammates recover when they have been triggered.

There are many ships that I don’t see beginning until after everything in canon has settled–not just because the plot points, but also the age thing–and that holds true for Sakura/Shikako. Which is good because, I think, the more DoS!Sakura grows apart from canon!Sakura, the better a Sakura/Shikako ship would work. Especially on Shikako’s part–further distancing Sakura the person from Sakura the character.

They’d be a very academic couple, that’s for sure, on the forefront of medicine and fuinjutsu (and, frequently, a combination of both). And this current as of yet unnamed arc about Kakashi’s Sharingan will probably be the first of many medical miracles they perform together. I like the idea that Sakura would keep Shikako a little more grounded in Konoha but at the same time, when Shikako does go on research trips, Sakura goes with her and continues Tsunade’s legacy of traveling miracle medic. Minus the wanton drinking/gambling/destruction, of course.

… So I guess it’s a bit like what a Jiraiya/Tsunade ship could have been, had the Sannin not splintered apart and picked up the world’s worst habits and attitude problems. All of their potential with far fewer of their problems. They have problems of their own.

Let’s see, as for a Shino/Shikako ship… that boy would have to make the first move. Shikako is oblivious when it comes to other people’s opinions of her, and given how difficult Shino is to read (almost literally given that most of his face is hidden constantly) there’s no way she’ll figure it out unless he makes it absolutely clear that he is romantically attracted to her and if she were amenable he would be interested in pursuing a relationship with her to see how they socialize together.

And even then it may take her a moment to parse his statement and a few days to consider his proposal (which he gives her because of course Shino is a big believer in taking one’s time to make big decisions).

I don’t really see them getting romantically involved with each other in DoS quite yet–but maybe, given an exciting mission or two, it depends. For example, with Kiba I might be able to see something happening within the fic only because she’s had way more “screen time” with him than with Shino. Otherwise, this would be another ship for a post canon timeline.

I do wonder about the matter of the kikaichu, though. Because… that’s a pretty big aspect of who Shino is and it’s not like Shikako can/will tell him to change, but at the same time it’s been repeatedly mentioned in DoS that Shikako (while she can put a brave face on for the sake of work and not being an asshole) does not like bugs. I don’t even know what a good analogy for this would be… It would be like someone with icthyophobia trying to have a relationship with a marine biologist? I dunno…

If that issue could be resolved, I can see how a Shino/Shikako ship might appeal. His logical way of thinking and innate kindness is something that Shikako would appreciate more than passion and charming words. Mutual respect and, along with that, faith in each other’s abilities and strength.

I think, if they were in a relationship, Shino is one of the few people that Shikako would consider telling at least some part of the truth. Whether she just does a “I know a version of the future” or a full “I’m reincarnated from a world where all of this is fiction” well…

There’s a sense of solidity and steadiness to Shino that Shikako can depend on, whereas Shino could probably benefit from having a bit more chaos in his life.

I once had this weird dream, where Shikako & Co. are on a haunted house mission. Turns out there’s an actual ghost taking people away into a parallel space, so Shikako starts panicking when she starts feeling chakra signatures just disappearing, one by one. Haha, I really can’t remember further than that, but I’d love to see if this can be extended?

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

A/N: I’m a bit late for your prompt, anon, because I considered it for few days and slept on it as well–which seemed to be in the spirit of it–and this is what my own weird dream shook out, so I hope you enjoy!

~

Shikako blinks. Dark then light.

Three kunai headed her way, she darts to the side.

Where is she? What’s happening?

More kunai follow. Trace the flight path. Keep moving.

Across the way is a smudge of color against the stark white room. Pink and brown and red. TenTen?

Ah, a spar, that makes sense.

She should pay attention.

TenTen isn’t saying anything, but that makes sense. Neither of them are particularly chatty.

She unfurls a scroll–a serious spar then.

“Earth Style: Earth Wall!” she calls out, chakra flaring, but nothing happens. The strange smooth floor is unchanged.

Where are they? Something is happening.

Shikako makes the sign for a timeout, but TenTen keeps going. She tries again with a forfeit sign, “Stop!”

That fails, too.

TenTen releases her armory, Shikako drops her resistance seals and runs.

Something is wrong.

They aren’t sparring, they’re fighting.

To the death, apparently.

—

Shikako wins. TenTen loses.

Which means TenTen dies.

Except.

Something is happening.

Shikako rushes over because, despite the fight, they are friends and she is so confused. In her arms, TenTen–still so strangely silent–begins to disintegrate.

“I didn’t mean to,” she says as particles of TenTen fade away into the expanse of the room, “I don’t understand.”

Before the body disappears completely, Shikako has one last thought:

Something is wrong.

—

Shikako blinks. Dark then light.

She’s on her knees in an impossible room, so empty and endless.

What was she doing?

There is a noise, like gears in a machine, and a doorway opens in front of her. Stairs.

There’s nothing for her here, and so she leaves.

Behind her, that same noise, the impossible room seals itself shut. Gone to the void like it never existed.

Upwards, onwards.

The stairs are smooth, white, surrounded by a void. They spiral up and up, unconnected steps of not stone and not metal.

A few more steps and the stairs just stop, nothing ahead but more darkness.

She extends a hand forward, meets resistance, and a noise like gears in a machine opens a doorway in front of her.

Another impossible room.

She looks back, there’s nothing there.

She goes in.

—

Shikako blinks. Dark then light.

Dodges out of the way of a chakra covered hand aimed at her heart.

“Neji?” She asks, startled, bewildered.

He doesn’t answer, but the silence makes sense. He isn’t particularly talkative.

But what is going on?

That was definitely a killing blow.

Of course he’d want to kill her, she thinks, she did just kill [||||||||||||||]…

… what was she doing?

He makes another move–no doubt as lethal as the last–and somehow Shikako knows better than to try and reason with him.

Taijutsu is out of the question, she would surely lose (would surely die?) but she’s always been better at a distance.

—

This time (was there any other time?) Shikako watches silently as Neji dissipates. In comparison to the room, even his white clothes and pale skin stand out, the black of his hair a long tail of defiance.

Even then, the room wins out. And she watches in mute horror as he fades away.

Something is wrong.

She feels like she had that thought before.

—

Shikako blinks. Dark then light.

A noise. Then a doorway. Then a curving set of stairs.

Upwards, onwards. There is nothing for her here.

The stairs are continuous, spiraling for eternity. If she looks up, she can see the helix continue.

But if she looks ahead, there are only a few steps in front of her. A new one being added for each one she advances.

What a strange place. How did she get here?

The stairs come to a halt, impossibly, nothing in front of her.

And yet.

She reaches out. A noise. Then a doorway. Then an impossible room.

—

Shikako blinks. Dark then light.

She knows immediately that the creature in front of her is not Lee. Oh it looks like him, its green and orange outfit almost blinding in this stark emptiness, but it is not him.

Never mind that it is trying to kick her head off her shoulders, clearly trying to kill her. She knows this is not him because its face is blank and empty.

If this were a spar, Lee would be smiling. If this were a death match, he would be angry.

The real Lee would be furious at her for killing [|||||||] and [||||||||||||||]…

… why does she think Lee should be angry at her?

No matter. This obviously isn’t Lee, which means that she has nothing stopping her from going all out.

It is faster than her, like the real Lee, but she has a few tricks up her sleeve still.

—

She doesn’t feel remorse as this not-Lee creature fades away. Particles and pigments disappearing as if it were never there.

If it were really him, then she would. She would be sick and horrified at herself.

But it is not him, she is sure of it.

Something is happening.

A certainty that has been building ever since she fought [||||||||||||||] and [|||||||], cemented further after her fight with [||||||]…

… something is wrong.

—

Shikako blinks. Dark then light.

A doorway is open ahead of her, an impossible exit from an impossible space. Stairs leading upwards and onwards.

She stays put.

“I don’t understand,” she says, looking around, “This doesn’t make sense.”

Nothing changes.

“What’s happening?” she asks, instead.

Nothing changes.

Shikako blinks. Dark then light.

A doorway is open ahead of her, an impossible exit from an impossible place. Stairs leading upwards and onwards.

She leaves the room.

There is nothing here.

—

After an uncountable number of stairs, steps spiraling for an eternity upwards and yet never complete ahead of her, Shikako stops.

The steps appearing for every one she advances also stop.

“No,” she says.

“Something is wrong,” she says.

She stays put.

—

Shikako blinks. Dark then light.

She is on a set of stairs, smooth and pale and impossible like starlight. They spiral upwards and onwards in the void.

On the step in front of her is a little ink bird, black like defiance.

It hops about and flutters its wings but doesn’t make a noise.

She picks it up and sets it on her shoulder.

She begins climbing the stairs until she can no longer, the steps ending at an invisible wall.

She reaches out, meeting resistance, before a noise like gears in a machine sounds off.

A doorway opens.

Shikako walks through.

—

In this room empty of anything, with smooth floors that are not stone and stark walls she cannot perceive, only Shikako and the ink bird exist.

No matter how far she walks, there is no end. An impossible room.

Shikako blinks. Dark then light.

Immediately rolls out of the way of a swarm of tiny creatures.

The ink bird remains on her shoulder, but it tugs on her hair, impatiently. Frantic.

Scared?

Something is wrong.

Across the room is Shino. Or a creature that looks like Shino. It hasn’t moved and it hasn’t spoken and maybe that isn’t unlike the real Shino, but she learned her lesson with [||||||]…

… the swarm attacks her again, and she backs away, confused.

The swarm of creatures, dark against the starkness of the room, somehow feel strange. Wrong.

They are not like her ink bird, a different sort of defiance. They are not like real kikaichu either.

These aren’t kikaichu and that isn’t Shino.

Which means she won’t feel guilty when she destroys them all.

—

The room is immaculate despite the battle.

The creatures that were not Shino and his kikaichu disappear, as if they never existed.

The ink bird on her shoulder remains. Now that she has the time and space to give it attention, it has stopped its antics.

Shikako blinks. Dark then light.

A black blur whizzes past her face. Reflexively, she ducks to the side, but nothing follows.

Bizarrely, it didn’t come from behind her, it came from her shoulder.

An ink bird flies ahead of her, a single point of defiance in this impossible room.

It flutters its wings and hops about, as if waiting, impatiently.

A noise. A doorway. Stairs.

The bird flies ahead, upwards and onwards.

Shikako follows.

—

Upwards and onwards, Shikako follows the bird. Against the void, it is difficult to see, but there is only one direction for it to go.

After an eternity it stops, landing on a step made of starlight. Waiting impatiently.

When she reaches the top step, it flutters to her shoulder.

Together they watch as a doorway appears.

Together they walk through.

—

Shikako blinks. Dark then light.

The chakra covered hand aimed at her heart almost seems familiar. As does the movement to get out of the way.

A creature that looks like Hinata stares at her blankly, before moving to attack once more.

If it were really Hinata, Shikako would hesitate.

If it were really Hinata, they wouldn’t be fighting.

The ink bird on her shoulder tugs at her hair.

But none of them (none of who?) were really themselves.

In comparison to [||||||]…

… no matter.

This creature that is not Hinata is trying to kill her.

There is no hesitation.

—

It is not Hinata, but Shikako still looks away as it dies silently.

Something is wrong.

She does not feel horror, nor remorse, but there is still a sense of familiarity.

Of exhaustion.

Shikako blinks. Dark then light.

She cannot remember how long she has been in this room, but it feels like a very long time.

A noise. A doorway. Stairs.

The ink bird on her shoulder flies ahead and she follows.

There is nothing good for her here.

—

The stairs are a helix continuing upwards and onwards.

Even with the little ink bird, it feels as if she is alone. A small, insignificant existence against the impossibility of this place.

Void and starlight and a spiral to eternity.

Where is she? How did she get here?

Something is happening.

What is happening?

Something wrong.

—

At the last step, the ink bird stops and waits for her.

It hops and flutters and, when she catches up, flies to perch on her shoulder.

A noise. A doorway. An impossible room.

She doesn’t enter.

The ink bird tugs at her hair.

As she steps through, she thinks:

Haven’t I done this before?

—

Next (after what?) is Kiba. Or not-Kiba as the case may be.

“You’ve gotten shoddy,” Shikako says to the creature that is not Kiba, as it swipes a clawed hand at her face.

“Where is Akamaru?” she asks, dodging and weaving away.

The ink bird on her shoulder tugs at her hair. Impatient and frantic and not-scared.

Probably.

If it were scared, it would fly away, wouldn’t it?

“You’re not even trying!” Shikako shouts at it. Something is wrong.

“You don’t even know how an Inuzuka fights!”

Without their ninken, Inuzuka are half of themselves. It’s part of the reason why they can’t be ANBU, too loyal and honest to a fault.

The creature that is not Kiba stops.

So does she.

A noise, like gears in a machine, and a doorway opens behind it.

The ink bird leaves her shoulder and flies past the not-Kiba creature. It remains still.

Shikako circles around it, confused, but follows after the ink bird to the stairs.

As she begins to climb, she looks back.

The doorway is closing, but she can still see the not-Kiba creature standing perfectly still in that impossible room.

—

“That’s not how that usually goes,” she calls ahead to the ink bird.

It stops and lands on a step, waiting for her to catch up.

“The other fights. Before not-Kiba. The ones I had with [|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||]…

”… why did that happen? I remember Kiba. Because I didn’t kill the creature that looked like him?“

The ink bird hops and flutters.

“Why can’t you be more useful?” she shouts.

Shikako blinks. Dark then light.

She is on starlight stairs in an eternal void.

She is not alone.

“Sai?”

~

A/N2: This is longer than I thought it would be so here’s part one for now, and I should have part two up tomorrow.

But I suppose I ought to explain a little bit. I considered your prompt, anon, and I pondered the idea of the haunted house and I figured that DoS already covered it in a literal sense with the whole chameleon summons castle thing, and a more Scooby Doo interpretation with the Land of Birds. But I liked the idea of Shikako losing people and went a slightly more cerebral route a la Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories.

In part because my brain went Shikako & Co. is Konoha Thirteen… Organization Thirteen? And then, hey wait, Sai was with her on both the chameleon castle mission and the Land of Birds mission. Does that make Sai Namine? Yes, yes it does.

Ask Box Three Sentence Fic, 13/? (2016-11-07)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

(1 – anonymous – Team Seven, Ghostbusters!AU, crazy tech that’s ‘probably’ safe)

“It’s a ghost vacuum,” Shikako explains of the series of tubes and canisters that Naruto prods curiously, “It has a ninety six percent chance of siphoning and containing a ghost possessing anything, even a person.”

“What’s the other four percent?” Sasuke asks dubiously.

Shikako grins, wide and completely suspicious, “Well… it might just suck out the user’s soul instead–but that’s within the margin of error, so the ghost vacuum is totally safe!”

—

(2 – anonymous – Shikako & Yoshino, Stars Also Dream ‘verse, Yoshino tries out Shikako’s ‘lightsaber’)

As far as your daughter is concerned, you are not a kenjutsu specialist, but she see’s no harm in letting you try out her newest sword.

It activates with an eerily similar sound, but no accompanying vibration in the Force–fuinjutsu, not crystals, and your daughter didn’t make it herself, but you think the yellow blade suits her.

You deactivate and return it after a moment, hand clenching around emptiness: nothing will compare to your own lightsaber.

—

(3 – anonymous – Sakako & Itachi, Walking Around ‘verse, fluffy)

Dad summons hawks, Mum summons deer–even if the deer contract didn’t have to go back to the Nara clan, neither of them feel right to her.

Itachi-oji sits beside her on the veranda, calm and translucent like the steam rising from her tea cup.

Silence is as much a part of their relationship as talking; after a few minutes, Itachi-oji suggests, “What about cats?”

—

(4 – anonymous – Shikako & Chiyako, admiration)

It’s not too surprising, really, admiration for childhood heroes turning into respect as she gets older.

Shikako-nee is kind and smart and strong, a credit to the village and her clan, a good role model for a young girl, even the future Aburame matriarch.

Chiyako keeps the friendship bracelet long after the thread has worn away.

—

(5 – anonymous – Academy Teacher Shino, Next Gen DoS, landscape changing legacy)

Shino comes to the Academy early in the morning to prepare for the day, a bit of calm before the chaos that makes up his class.

Amusingly, he knows many of this class comes by it naturally: the children of his friends, all of whom have less than orderly dispositions.

He chuckles, sound muffled by the collar of his coat, bringing out the detailed map of the Elemental Nations–today’s lesson is about his friends’ other legacies.

~

A/N: I think I’d like to slow down on the Three Sentence Fic Meme for now, maybe only one or two more installments, so put your last prompt in the askbox today.

Post Word Count: 344, Running Word Count: 2439