#REALLY this is more to say i don’t think kakashi is actually banned from seeing naruto? he just actively chooses not too

[lesbiankoby]

Kakashi's too depressed to adopt as a teen and young adult, but god damn, if he really wanted to he could just walk in and leave-- like a Doordasher. Just fucking picks up baby Naruto from whatever crib they've got him in like "mine now", and the nurse's like "aight 😐". Like damn, Konoha just leaves orphaned children in an apartment alone at age 5, there's LITTLE that could stop ppl from snatching children no consequence if they rlly wanna

nrjdjrjrjr i mean i’m sure hiruzen would have opinions about kakashi just taking the kid apropos of nothing i just think kakashi is on his list of approved caretakers if they ever bothered to ask him about it (for instance i think jiraiya COULD just up and grab naruto for various reasons though he is incredibly incredibly unsuitable as a guardian on all fronts)

#this is more my opinion that i don’t really think hiruzen was uh. what’s the word. blocking anyone that wasn’t a clan head or an uchiha #from taking in the jinchuurichi #if they wanted to raise the jinchuurichi and he trusted them to do so #this is just an incredibly short list of people he’d ever consider suitable and every single one of them did not want to do that #kakashi has the excuse of being 14 and then traumatized though #I MEAN THIS IS THE END RESULT OF #HIRUZENS BAFFLING DECISIONS RE: NOT LETTING ANYONE ASSOCIATE NARUTO WITH MINATO #so he’s certainly AT FAULT for uh all of the things he’s at fault for #and that his short list is short enough he’d rather naruto mostly raise himself then uh. not do that. eurgh #your guardianship is shit peepaw #naruto tag #REALLY this is more to say i don’t think kakashi is actually banned from seeing naruto? he just actively chooses not too

[mixelation]

One thing that really gets my goat about how Sakura is written is that she does occasionally start to do something, but the narrative shuts her down. Like this:

Sakura goes to leap into the arena to see Lee after his fight with Gaara. Kakashi shuts her down. Contrast this to the panels that immediately follow this one:

Naruto does the exact same thing and no one bats an eye!

It’s not that I think characters shouldn’t be stopped from doing what they want— it’s just that when it’s a consistent pattern it makes reading about the character really frustrating. When Haku traps Sasuke in his mirror prison thing, Sakura hurls a kunai to help… and Kakashi tells her to guard Tazuna. She does this obediently for the rest of the fight, INCLUDING when she literally thinks Sasuke is dead (Tazuna has to offer to go to Sasuke with her to get her to move). Sakura’s willingness to do this is actually an interesting character trait, but because it’s couched in this weird lack of agency, it makes her seem complacent and cowardly, especially when the take away of a lot of fights seems to be “try no matter what.”

Here’s another example: in the first part of the chunin exam, they’re all told they can pick to answer a final question and risk being banned from promotion, OR they can back out now and take the exam again later. If Sakura were alone, she’d take the question because she’s confident in her abilities.

However, she starts to raise her hand to back out because she wants to protect Naruto.

She backs off when Naruto gives a speech about never giving up, even though her making them all back out is arguably the more mature choice (why would you drag a teammate along on a mission you know they’ll fail?). She also tries to pull them out of the prelim tournament because Sasuke needs urgent medical attention, and he shuts her down AGAIN. Like, looking at this with the wisdom of an adult, Sakura was definitely in the right there.

To be clear, I don’t mind Sakura being a cautious killjoy to Naruto’s “Believe it!” Shonen protag energy. It’s just that whenever she tries to exercise that caution, it gets shut down and that makes it seem like a negative trait to have. (Also: contrast this to Shikamaru being REWARDED for exercising caution and knowing when to back out). I’m not even arguing that the scenes I cited need to be changed, because they do character work for Naruto and Sasuke. I’m just saying that Sakura could have gotten a few more scenes where her choices were plot relevant, and she’d be a more fleshed out character.

#nardo reread #she does get two fights but they’re not consequential to the plot #although interestingly she lies to Naruto about what happens with the oto trio #he asks why her hair is shorter and she says she just felt like a new look #and then later there’s a flashback where Sasuke tells her not to tell Naruto about the curse mark so she doesn’t #if only any of Sakura’s decisions (here— lying) had consequences! #wouldn’t that be fun!! #anyway I wrote this up bc I think this is one of the big flaws I. how kishimoto writes her #and I feel like a lot of people think she’d be ‘fixed’ by giving her a battle axe or something but no!! #just let her actions have consequences!!!

[animeomegas]

Some random ideas and plot bunnies from this evening~

1. Solomon having an equally immortal alpha that he’s been with for like a thousand years, but they vibe apart a far amount, because they’re very old and they have things to do. But the alpha manages to get into the Devildom to see Solomon during the exchange programme, and everyone watches manipulative, powerful Solomon get completely smitten with his alpha. He’s clingy and goes heart eyes every time he looks at them. Solomon and his alpha are the definition of a power couple too, so no one mentions the behaviour they just let let get on with making out in the RAD corridors oops-

2. L has his mating mark on the scent glands on his upper inner thighs, that way no one will be able to see just by looking at him that he’s mated, and that protects his mate from being targeted. Back in the day, omegas used to be claimed on both the neck and the thighs by their alphas, but the thigh marks became seen as archaic and from a time where omegas were little more than property, because thigh marks do not fade over time like neck marks do, and cannot be bitten over by someone else, the flesh is too delicate. Thigh marks can also only be received by omegas, not alphas, so omegas couldn’t give their alpha a mark in return. You can see why they are considered tasteless at best and abusive and prejudice at worst. L doesn’t care though. That’s what works for him, it’s no one elses business. And if this relationship fails, it doesn’t matter that he has a permanent thigh mark because he’ll certainly never mate again. This is a one time thing for him.

3. *tw: coerced mating and drugs* So, I’ve mentioned before that it’s almost impossible for a mating bite to occur if both parties don’t consent to sex, but of course, the shinobi nations found a way around that. A drug, that when injected to an omega, allows them to receive a mating mark without sex or consent or anything. And Sasuke if given some conditions for returning to the village, well just one condition really: he has to get mated. The council think Sasuke needs someone that will force him to care for and keep him in the village, so they contact an old friend of Sasuke’s who says yes to the procedure to stop Sasuke from being forced into mating someone worse. It hurts you so much to do this, but Sasuke agrees to you doing this so he can stay in the village, so you do. But the drug is potent and leaves Sasuke a shell for a few months. He can’t eat or bath without instruction, and he’s tired and clingy all the time. He just acts on instincts and follows you around silently, seeming lost and distressed whenever you leave him alone, but slowly, his personality starts coming back to him as the drug clears his system. And then, between them, Kakashi and Naruto start weeding out the council of corruption and evil and ban the practice done to Sasuke. The day the final council member that ordered his torture dies, Sasuke finally feels a little safe in Konoha. And he’s very glad that it was you over anyone else. 

4. Mic and his alpha met young, while they were still in UA. And Mic actually ended up getting pregnant while he was 17. The story branches in two directions. In one world, he had a miscarriage, something which he took very hard and that made him scared to ever come off birth control ever again in case of a repeat. In the other world, he ends up keeping the pup and raising them with his alpha. Mic is insecure over his parenting because of how young he was when his pup was born. At the time of canon, his pup is thirteen and Mic is only thirty. He hates when other people comment on the ages on him and his pup, it makes him so uncomfortable. I don’t really know where to go with either story, but they’ve been sitting in my head for weeks. 

#random thoughts #mic #bnha #sasuke #naruto #solomon #obey me #a/b/o #omegaverse #l #death note #reader insert #alpha reader #alpha!reader #hcs #headcanons #tw:drugging

[ohheyfullmetal]

some dumb bnha headcanons i wrote down during algebra last year

•uraraka floating to the ceiling and/or making furniture and other people do the same when she’s asleep

•shigaraki disintegrating doorknobs, toga thinks it’s hilarious, kurogiri has receipts with just,,,, DOORKNOBS

•that’s what afo really pays him for

•lmao like he pays him rest in peace oboro

•aizawa uses erasure unintentionally whenever he’s angry (or he does it on purpose because red eyes scare the kids and it brings him pleasure)

•dark shadow randomly joining in on class discussions and spilling tokoyami’s darkest secrets including his hawks shrine

•he and izuku make shrines together

•midoriya has freaky green lightening crackling up his arms and I’m trying to sleep, mr aizawa

•denki getting unnaturally jittery during thunderstorms. sometimes he causes a power outage.

•the man sucks the energy from power cables on a daily basis and charges his friends phones godbless

•katsuki’s banned from being sick because his sweat could cause the dorms to explode. same with his gym socks

•”why are these cats laying on me” -todoroki

•air conditioner and heater but he never feels like the right temperature, and it flares up (especially his ice) when he’s angry

•naomasa uses his quirk to his advantage whenever he can don’t lie

•he’ll know

•literally that’s his quirk

•sato is dorm mom, as we know, but,,, a quarter of UA’s budget is sugar for his cakes

•nezu gets some whenever sato bakes so he doesn’t really give a fuck that it’s taking all the school’s combat supplies

•momo shares her clothes with all of the girls especially ochako because the poor (no pun intended) girl is broke af

•tsuyu eats bugs and it freaks present mic and all might out but aizawa kind of vibes with it

•”TSU WHY ARE YOU LICKING YOUR EYES”

•kirishima accidentally using his quirk in his sleep and tearing his sheets by tossing and turning

•jirou has sensory overload and aizawa

has tea and blankets on standby send headcanon

•everyone loves shouji and he drinks respect women juice every day.

•he thinks he’s ugly but everyone loves him.

•sometimes his arms get in the way.

•doorways are a nightmare because his arms are so wide and he’s so fucking tall

•everyone just vibes with it tho

•secretly nicknamed kakashi

•”SHITTY NERDS HE’S OBVIOUSLY THAT STUPID GRUNT THAT KIDNAPPED PUSSY BOY SASUKE”

•”kacchan, you watch naruto?!”

•we know that mina sneezes acid

•that’s a recipe for disaster in itself

•sero loves this really old movie with this american hero named spiderman

•tape webshooters

•dispenser hair is brought into the shrine cult,,, but make it animal crossing

•”hey bakubro you really look like marshall”

•”WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY TO ME SHITTY HAIR I’LL KILL YOU AND STUPID DEKU”

•”kacchan i didn’t even say anything!”

•”YEAH, AND??”

•tokoyami has a grave for midoriya in the dorm courtyard just in case

•todoroki brings flowers there every day

•”um todoroki i’m not dead”

•”i know.”

•”what”

•aizawa puts all his kids in therapy

•mina’s therapist recommends television as a distraction

•”fuck” -aizawa

•the entire class ends up watching the entirety of subbed sofia the first

•aizawa kind of likes it tbh

•everyone screams when he mentions prince james at dinner: how the hELL DOES HE KNOW WHO THAT IS

•izuku nags bakugou to make katsudon every night bc it’s his favorite

•bakugou’s is really spicy like his mom’s, since inko learned the recipe from mitsuki

•sometimes bakugou WILL make katsudon for deku because he’s a closet softie and secretly feels bad for being so mean to izuku before everything at ua happened

•he won’t admit that but kirishima knows and thinks it’s sweet

•kiri is trying to get them to be friends again

•katsuki says NO. and dyes kirishima’s hair purple in retaliation

•in solidarity with shark boy, all of 1a dyes their hair purple

•even bakugou, eventually

•shinsou is really fucking confused

•the general studies classes think it’s because 1a wants shinsou in the hero course

•the support classes just think everyone in 1a is actually in love with shinsou because of his new abs

•i mean 👀

•izuku misses his mom :(

•at least he has his all might body pillow

•and all might who begs bakugou to burn it

•if it’s kacchan it won’t be suspicious

•”just ask for a hug kiddo I’m literally one building away???”

•1a adopts eri and she moves to the student dorms with her 19 siblings

•mineta literally just drops the hero course after the lov kidnaps bakugou he’s done with ua

•that’s what i did with my ap music theory class oops

•ua’s done with him

•kouta punches him in the balls on midoriya’s request

•he really is the future number one hero

•1a is slightly horrified because this is deku who cried over an ant dying

•actually he cries over everything

•which just makes them even more horrified

•but not opposed to it at all

•kirishima records it

•movie night is once a week and it’s the top pick

•shinsou moves to 1a with his “i have no intention of making friends” family

•rumours are it’s because of the whole hair dyeing incident

•no seriously, even aizawa participated, nezu had no choice at that point

•shinsou knows that it was just a prank that went too far but goes along with the rumors anyway just to fuck with people

•”yeah, i’m dating everyone in 1a”

•”WE KNEW IT”

•hatsume was the one who started that rumor btw

•eri has her newest big brother

•this one is very tired deku please force him to sleep

•mirio gets his quirk back and heads off to help at nighteye’s agency during school breaks

•but he comes back to visit 1a and eri so much that it’s like he’s not even gone

•halloween comes

•aizawa is dorothy from the wizard of oz because hizashi wanted to be toto

•all might risks his life

•”eraserhead! may i see those red heels of yours?!”

•he gets red eyes instead

•is it his quirk or are they just bloodshot??

•who knows

•shinsou dresses as “himself but happy” which is just foundation over his baggy eyes and a horrible yellow smiley face t-shirt

•eri is lemillion for all hallow’s eve and deku for halloween

•deku cries

•mirio also cries but only amajiki knows

•she tells aizawa that she had to be the heroes who rescued her this year, but promises she’ll dress as him next time because he’s her hero too

•aizawa cries to midnight and hizashi for three hours straight

•they didn’t even know he could cry

•hizashi freaks out because he thinks aizawa’s quirk malfunctioned or something and almost takes him to the hospital

•”i haven’t felt emotions in years, what are these children doing to me!!”

•midnight just awkwardly pats him on the back and gets him a beer

•then she goes back to playing candy crush so hizashi can handle it

•she’s on level 2,487

•todoroki is only one level behind

•he plays one level of candy crush for every time his dad is an asshole

•he downloaded it two weeks ago

#roy mustang

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Day Four: School Au

@naruto-au-week

The plan was perfect.

Naruto would distract Iruka-Sensei, Lee would be look put, and Kiba would grab a bone from the T-rex exhibit to take home to Alamaru.

there was no way it could fail.

at least, that’s what he thought until he found himself being held up by the back of his shirt, turning sad eyes uo towards Iruka-sensei only to relize that it wasn’t Iruka-Sensei holding him.

Instead, It was Kakashi-Sensei. Who he had thought had gone off ahead in the museum with Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Sasuke and Neji.

Perhaps Shikamaru had been right in saying this plan was doomed to fail.

“Please, Kiba, i beg of you. Tell me what was going through your mind with this one,” Kakashi-Sensei looks more exhausted than usual. As if his whole spirit has been stomped on. “And make it a good excuse. I need something entertaining to tell my husband at dinner tonight.”

“Husband?” Kiba balked at the thought of his Sensei having a husband back at home. “Gross. Who would want to kiss you?”

“Kiba, that’s not helping your case,” hearing Iruka-Sensei’s vouce, Kiba looked over to see Lee and Naruto standing behind him with a sad expression on their face. Clearly they had been on the recieving end of one of Iruka-Sensei’s scoldings. “What were you three thinking? Do you know how much trouble we all could have gotten into if you managed to even touch the exhibit? They would have banned us from coming back!”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Kiba mummbled his response, too embaressed to say it out loud.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Kakashi-Sensei held him up a bit higher and narrowed his eyes. “Try again.”

“I said your husband has terrible taste,” Kiba snapped back, cringing when Kakashi-Sensei narrowed his eyes. “I-i mean...”

“I asked you for an explanation for your actions, not a statement of fact on my relationship,” Kakashi-Sensei responded with that cool, calm voice he always used when he was upset with one of the kids. “Now try again.”

“He wanted a bone to take home to Akamaru,” Lee spoke up, earning a glare from Kiba. “It’s better to just tell them. We already got caught.”

“At least one of you have a brain,” Kakashi huffed. “A t-rex bone for Akamaru? Really Kiba? You can buy a dig bone at any pet store.”

“You just don’t get it,” Kiba huffed. “I want Akamaru to have the best bone ever. You wouldn’t know what it’s like to love a dog.”

He’s met with a blank stare from Kakashi-Sensei, and Laughter from Iruka-Sensei.

“Did you just...really?” Iruka-Sensei placed a hand iver his mouth to stiffle the laughter. “of all the people to say that to, you chose the guy with Eight dogs?”

Eight dogs?

EIGHT DOGS!?

“You lead Animal club and you have never brought your dogs to school!?” Kiba protested, glaring back up at Kakashi-Sensei. “That’s not cool!”

“Actually, they’re coming for a visit tommorow,” His eyes wrnt wide. Eight dogs. They were going to meet Eight dogs. “Too bad for you three, you’ll be cleaning up the garden with Iruka-Sensei while everyone else is meeting them.”

Kiba’s not sure there’s a more cruel punishment in existence. His face goes dark at the meer thought of having to clean up the garden while other students got to pet a bunch of dogs.

“Maybe next time you’ll think twice about doing something stupid, hmm?” Kakashi huffed. “Now let’s get going. I was in the middle of a talk about the Nara period when your shenanigans pulled me away.”

No bone for Akamaru, No dogs to pet tommorow, AND a lecture on the Nara period?

Today really couldn’t get any worse.

@alumort

#Hatake Kakashi #Umino Iruka #uzumaki naruto #Rock Lee #kiba inuzuka #School au

[hoe-imaginess]

replies

@sweetazuruvoid

I’m really not sure! Right now it’s not on my to-do-list but maybe one day

@naruto-hoemagines 👀  Tumblr is flattering me 

@geld-sama

It’s very possible, but it really depends on how strong of a relationship he has with his sugar baby tbh, and if it’s going to affect his reputation 

@imkarti

!!! Thank you!! Everyone is looking forward to a Part II I just don’t really have it all polished up in my personal notes, so I wouldn’t even know where to start with a Part II... like I said above though, maybe one day!

@coffeeandcoyotes

!!!! I SIMP SO MUCH FOR BNHA.... omg thank you <3

@datblobbyfish

ACE AND LAW ARE MY BABIES!!!!! I wanna post/write so much for them but like aghhhhh I just haven’t gotten around to posting personal stuff I’ve written for them.... please spam me though <3

@psychofishie

!!!!!! look upon your socks and now Kakashi would love to stain them with cum <3

@sufferthesea

thank you so much boo!!! ily too!!!!

@hikaru-mikazuki​

You are so welcome!!! Tysm <3

I have a masterpost link you can find on desktop and if not, I reblogged my masterpost for the founders a while ago, so if you scroll down a little you can find it. You can also just search “Tobirama” or look through his tag

TRUE!!!

He would literally be humiliated for the rest of his life but good <3 he desrerves it 

Oof.... do it kween...

Hmmm not really sure. He might be like “oh. okay” and just not bring it up ever in hopes his s/o gets the hint that he really doesn’t want kids... but once it does inevitably come up, there’s going to be a lot of arguments probably 

Honestly I’ve been meaning to check that out I’m just lazy as hell ahh

!! GOOD!! He’s from My Hero <3

Yeahhh he probably wouldn’t. He’d have to REALLY love the s/o to feel a deep connection with a kid that’s not his. He won’t treat the kid like shit or anything, he’s just not really going to take on the role of ‘stepfather’ very well

thanks so much!! It looks like I’m staying for now. I just love writing so much. But times change so we’ll see how I feel in a few weeks <3

Honestly he would he’s a horn dog

Thank you!

I don’t think he likes the idea of abortion but he also really doesn’t want a kid so... if she’s the one who brings up abortion and they’ve had a good discussion about it, then yeah he’d probably say to go through with it

Honestly quite a few things from BoJack made me cry whew... everytime Bojack got emotional I kinda did too??

!!!! this gives me uwu <3 thank you <3

I do not!

He definitely isn’t actively wanting to be a father, but he’ll get used to the idea when it comes around. He’s more like.... 25/75 not wanting/but accepting lmao

 I meannn he’s a pretty rough guy... it just really depends on how your personalities would fit together tbh :/

I can’t remember if I replied to this already but thanks so much !!!

I had to delete it because of the ban on porn stuff that Tumblr made a while back! It got flagged for inappropriate content ):

I haven’t! I really should though

akjshdkfajh honestly probably.. he seems like the type

You’re welcome!! I’m also very excited to write it. I’ll probably do Ace... my boy needs some love

Some possible respect that neither of them would ever openly acknowledge possibly, but definitely a feeling of 

Hmmm I don’t think I’ve ever actually written that scenario?? I’m sorry!

asdhkfahksjf honestly your skin would be glowing 

!! Well I know they would love their granddaughter, but Fugaku in particular is a big proponent of the “Uchiha first” ideals that Itachi really does not want his daughter growing up with, so there might be some issues with that in particular when it comes to how much the grandparents are involved in her life—BUT YES of course they do get to see her and do love her very much

!!! I’m honestly surprised there are so many Shisui hoes out there. I love that for him

NOT A BOTHER AT ALL AH!! THANKS SO MUCH <3

well I—I know Hashirama for sure would let you <3 the others, tbd

I DON’T REMEMBER WHICH HCS THESE WERE IN RESPONSE TO BUT!! YAY!

He’s so damn annoying like I wouldn’t be able to STAND his ass

it’s true... he’s in denial but we all know

LMLAO STOPPPP

Hmmm right now I’m really not sure. I know a lot of you guys want to see a part II, I just don’t know if I have the motivation... (but you’re welcome!)

you are welcome!!! it must be known!!

KAJSHDFKJASHF he would lose his SHIT

Hmmmm.. sometimes yeah he can be. It really depends on what his s/o likes

#replies

[cyb-by-lang]

Leaning On Each Other (Remix)

This is a while later than I expected to get it finished, but here is @writer-and-artist27‘s birthday gift. She asked for a Kei-style take on this minific she wrote a while ago, so I did a full remix.

Apologies for making it a remix instead of the requested Kei's POV of this exact scene.

“I’m telling you, the difference is all in the wrist,” Kei said, holding out a kunai as though it was a katana. She spun it between her fingers as soon as her demonstration was over. “I mean, imagine this about four times as long in the handle and with ten times as much blade, but the point still stands.” 

“You’d have to get me a bokken and show me directly if you want that to make sense,” said Obito, shaking his head slightly. “Rin?” 

Rin shrugged, though her eyes didn’t quite leave the blade. “The blades I deal with are even shorter. I don’t really use them to stab people outside of a medical context. If you’re stabbing someone with a scalpel, something’s gone wrong,” Rin said, even as Kei made the kunai disappear into the holster on her thigh. 

“Like in the flying clipboard story?” Obito asked. 

“I still don’t know the actual story behind that,” Kei said.

Rin nodded along, but only smiled mysteriously when both of her friends in this conversation turned interrogative stares her way. “It’s funnier if I don’t tell you.” 

On the opposite side of the couch, Kakashi made an agreeing noise, then flipped to the next page in his book. Kei didn’t know for sure what he was reading, other than noticing earlier that the cover art was entirely in grayscale and looked kind of gloomy. If Kei had been the one reading, she probably wouldn’t have paid enough attention to the conversation to know where she was supposed to make obligatory listening sounds. 

Tomoko emerged from the kitchen at this point, flopping down on the couch between Kei and Obito. Kei raised a hand to keep her head from hitting the wall, and the three of them shuffled around a bit to accommodate her. 

“So, done working for now?” Kei asked, silently making sure that all of her weapons were stowed. Sure, she’d left her sword at home, but no shinobi was ever fully unarmed. It was a truth universally acknowledged that a kunai somewhere unfortunate would ruin anyone’s day. 

“You know me,” Tomoko replied, not noticing the shinobi weapons-check or not saying so. She leaned against Kei’s shoulder without hesitation. “Just for now.” 

“That’s what you always say,” Obito said, leaning forward over his knees to get a better look at their faces. “You should’ve let us help.” 

“There was batter on the ceiling last time, wasn’t there?” Rin asked. She’d only heard this story second-hand and the details changed in the telling because no one wanted to admit they’d been the one to start shit. 

“That was Kakashi’s fault,” Obito said instantly. “And we were at Kei’s house, so we only got banned there, so it doesn’t count!” 

“Getting banned from any kitchen still disqualifies you from going into a professional one, I think.” 

“Focus, team,” Kakashi said, but mostly sounded like it was a wordier version of the iconic Uchiha “hn.” He certainly didn’t put any force behind the order. 

“Okay, okay.” Kei nudged Tomoko with her elbow. “So, what’s up? Besides a clear need for a nap.”

“Nothing but the ceiling,” Tomoko replied.

“No, really?” Kei drawled automatically. “Would’ve never guessed. Congrats on your first well-timed pun, though.” 

Tomoko pouted. “It got your attention, even if it’s a horrible one. So I’ll try to be punny more often.”

“Tomo-chan!” Obito said, shaking his head. 

“I don’t regret it. Fight me.”

Kei considered her options carefully. A bad pun used in verbal combat came with a number of acceptable responses, but Tomoko wasn’t Hayate—who Kei would have already shoved off the couch by this point. Possibly backflipped him over the top of it, trusting his combat training to handle the landing. Tomoko needed more delicate handling. 

Therefore, Kei said, “Obito wouldn’t fight you if you paid him, puns or otherwise.” 

“It was a joke!” Tomoko protested, half-sunk into a combination of Kei’s jacket and the plush back of the couch. Her voice was a little muffled and pouty as a result. 

And Kei occasionally pretended she didn’t know about those conversational ripostes solely to exasperate Tomoko. She wasn’t sure Tomoko had caught on yet. 

From cross the table, Rin leaned forward and said, “You need to work on your delivery, Tomo. That landed pretty flat.”

“And the Earth is round and rotating on a crooked axis, sue me,” Tomoko said childishly in return, refusing to raise her head from her new resting spot. “I’m trying and I don’t wanna move.”

“It’s almost like overworking has totally foreseeable consequences,” Kei mused, her voice lilting to take the sting out of her words. 

Tomoko paused, thinking on it for a second. “…Would you have me any other way?”

The answer was immediate. “Nope.”

“Good.” A smile replaced the pout. Tomoko’s habit of puffing her cheeks out to pout mostly made Kei want to poke her. “What’s up with you?”

“Not much.” Kei shrugged as best she could with Tomoko’s head on her shoulder. “To make a long story short, Kakashi doesn’t want to give input on my totally half-assed kenjutsu lesson. Obito and Rin are being good friends and pretending they know what the hell I’m talking about.”

There was a crinkle signaling the turning of a page as Kakashi went back to reading.

“Okay, just for that? Rin and I are going to talk about things that aren’t swords,” Obito said with a comically exaggerated huff. “See how you like it.” 

Kei rolled her eyes. “Oh no. Traitors, et cetera.”  

Rin’s smile was helplessly fond. “All right, all right. No more sniping until we get you both on a practice range.” She turned her head. “So, Obito, did I tell you what happened when Akihito-shishō caught the nurses smuggling candy—” 

Rin’s tempting gossip drew Obito’s attention wholly, which was a good indicator that everyone was indeed done with the sword story. 

Tomoko turned her head so that her face was finally angled up toward Kei’s. “You know I was asking about you, health-wise?”

There were times when it seemed as though Tomoko did little else. The life of a ninja was like riding a rollercoaster with a rickety, rusted track that didn’t deserve to have so many twists and turns. Especially for how unreliable it was. Their lifestyle was a major risk to life and limb. 

Kei didn’t say any of that. Instead: “Yeah, I know.”

Tomoko thumped her head against Kei’s shoulder. “You’re my best friend in the whole wide world, y’know.” 

“I know,” Kei said by rote. Reincarnation time buddies! Who hopefully weren’t going to destroy the universe by accidentally turning something into a paradox. 

Another bonk. “Nagareboshi Café will always be open for you, y’know.”

“I know, Tomo.” Mostly because Kei had enough people in her life that she’d never forget it now. Being able to find half her social group there on a given day made the place a landmark, even if it wasn’t also a homey spot on its own.  

Sounding a little strangled now, Tomoko added after a short pause, “So then, Kei?”

“Hm?”

“Whenever you need help, whenever you’re down, you can call me up, y’know. I don’t know how well I can fix things, but I’ll try. I’ll always try.” 

Kei sighed. It was half from fond exasperation, but half from genuine frustration. There was always a part of her that utterly rejected the idea of pushing any of her emotional burdens onto Tomoko. Kei had volunteered practically from the start to chase whatever means of gaining power she could, all so she could make sure her precious people were safe. That was not the choice Tomoko had made. She’d never needed to, and Kei almost needed her to stay out of the blast radius. 

“Tomo, you know I’m not good at asking for—” 

Bonk. 

Kei went silent, raising an eyebrow in a silent question as Tomoko stared back. 

“Just listen, okay?” Tomoko rarely demanded direct, sincere statements toward Kei, who was equipped with a bone-deep inclination to deflect and dismiss what she viewed as excessive verbal reassurance. “No matter what happens, no matter what you end up doing, I’ll stay with you. To the end of our days.”

Kei bit down on the urge to interrupt. 

“I care about you, y’know. So when you need it, let me help you like you help me. Just get that memorized.”

Kei sighed again, reaching up to pat Tomoko’s head. “I’ll remember that.” 

When she could. It wouldn’t be as easy as Tomoko made it sound, but perhaps it could be, eventually. 

And that was when Obito bounced onto the couch hard enough to make Tomoko briefly airborne. She landed with a surprised “eep” with her weight still mostly on Kei’s side, but turned to face Obito. 

“Obi?” Tomoko said, startled.

“Nice of you to drop in,” Kei said over Tomoko’s head. It was so much easier to downplay any surprises when she could track everyone’s location within the room. Also, she’d seen Obito move out of the corner of her eye because he definitely wasn’t being stealthy. 

“Your conversation looked like it needed crashing,” Obito said lightly. “It looked heavy even from where I was standing.” He tilted his head to one side, tucking his legs underneath him. “Tomo, is Kei influencing you? Are you gonna start all your conversations with puns now? Please say no.” 

“It was my first try, Obi,” Tomoko soothed, reaching over with her right hand to rest against the side of his scalp. “I can try a different joke.”

Kei shifted her weight so that Tomoko ended up leaning more Obito’s way. 

“I don’t know, I think the debut worked,” Rin said, settling back in at her spot. Whatever she and Obito had talked about must’ve scared him back into this conversation. She added to Tomoko specifically, “Just maybe relax a little and let them come naturally.” 

“Wordplay and swordplay are both about timing,” Kei offered, “so I could probably help.” 

“I can see you being a bad influence, you know,” Obito said. “Even if you’re trying to be all underhanded about it.” 

“You’re shinobi,” Tomoko said, “Everything’s sneaky and underhanded! I could’ve sworn bad puns are how eye roll considering the family-friend thing.”

Obito groaned, defeated.  “Kei, you had one job!”

“If she’s not making improvised bombs in her bedroom, I’m still coming out ahead,” Kei told him. “And she’s not. I think?” 

“I’m not!” Tomoko said, half-frantic at the turn. “Just baked goods, like usual!” 

“Oh, if that’s the breaking point,” Obito grumbled.

Tomoko frowned thoughtfully. She rested her hand against the side of Obito’s face in apology, then said, “I’ll hold off on the puns and you can have a batch of cupcakes later. Will that be better?” 

This time, there was a hum of approval. Obito closed his eyes and leaned into Tomoko’s hand like a cat, mollified for now. 

That’d probably last until the next time one of Kei’s friends opened their mouths. Peace reigned until the next half-joking argument in the life of Team Minato. And most of their associates.

“Can I join in?” Rin said, though she was already cramming herself into the space on Kei’s other side with a medical textbook in her lap. Kei didn’t bother wondering where she’d gotten it from; at some point, pulling a “nothing up my sleeve” routine felt like it was expected. “This looks like fun.”

“There’s cookies near the stove if you want to grab those first, Ricchan,” Tomoko said. Her chakra felt floaty with contentment. “Just to help with the studying you have there. The cookies are sugar and snickerdoodle.”

Rin’s smile widened. “Maybe later?” She still absently opened the front cover of her book, glancing at it before leaning against Kei’s other shoulder. “This feels nice right now.”

“Just make yourself at home, I guess,” Kei said with a toss of her head, settling farther down in the couch cushions. She shuffled to handle both hers and Rin’s weights before considering. “What about you, Kakashi?”

“Hn.” He instead disappeared briefly into the kitchen, out of easy spotting range thanks to the movement limitations of the human neck. “There’s not enough space for five people on that couch. There really wasn’t for four, but apparently we’re stacking like apartment blocks,” he judged when he returned, but he settled at the group’s feet and set the plate on the table in front of them all. “I brought the cookies.”

At this point, Tomoko started humming. 

Rin reached forward and retrieved her cookies, passing out others at random. Kakashi demurred, returning his attention to his book, and wrinkling his nose at the thought of eating such sweet things of his free will. He was content just basking in his friends’ company. 

“Just eat and relax?” Tomoko offered, passing a cookie from Rin to Obito. “We don’t have anything going on today, so let’s pass the time like this.”

Kei leaned her head back against the top of the couch, listening with half an ear to the world around her. With sight out of the way, she could focus on her friends’ contentment through her chakra sense and live in the moment. 

Tomoko’s voice rose over the impromptu cookie party: 

“Dream of anything; 

I’ll make it all come true.

Everything you need 

Is all I have for you. 

I’m forever 

Always by your side. 

Whenever you need a friend, 

I’m never far behind.” 

Obito shifted and the couch dipped under his weight. Felt like he was reaching for his next dose of sugar already. The plate scraped across the table. “Could you sing that a bit louder, Tomo-chan? I want to hear.”

“Eh?” A sudden wave of shyness swept through Tomoko. “You sure?”

“We’ve all heard you sing before, Tomo,” said Kei, keeping her eyes shut. “No pressure.” 

Rin’s sun-on-water chakra perked up along with her voice as she said, “You were the one to say we should relax, right?”

There was a brief back-and-forth between the boys—banter so played-out it was almost entirely fond. Amusement passed through each of them like an electric current. 

Tomoko’s voice rose again. 

“If the stars all fall,

When there’s no more light, 

And the moon should crumble, 

It will be alright.”

Being here, with these precious people, would tide Kei over through their next absence. With the life she and her friends lived, that separation was inevitable. There was always something else coming down the pipeline and eventually disturbing their peace, but that was the future. 

This was now. 

“Don’t you worry about the dark,

I will light up the night with the love in my heart.

I will burn like the sun,

I will keep you safe and warm.

Like the smell of a rose on a summer’s day,

I will be there to take all your fears away.

With a touch of my hand,

I will turn your life to gold.”

Kei seared the moment into her memory, to keep it like a light against the darkness still to come.

#the sea and stars #snippet #snippets #keisuke gekko #hoshino tomoko #obito uchiha #kakashi hatake #rin nohara #team minato

[wafflelate]

Hm. Chouji requests. Okay, here's one: a face to face with that kid who said any team with chouji on it would lose, in the aftermath of Pein's invasion.

had to actually watch… some Naruto for this to like… see what Chōji got up to…. sorry in advance for anything i got wrong lmao

for once not exactly DoS compliant bc i don’t know if you’ve read it? everyone else who follows me will be alarmed and confused but yknow DoS is still in the timeskip so it would have been too much guesswork anyway.

did use some of SQ’s details tho, like naming that kid Youbirin and probably some other stuff idk

word count: 953

                   ————————————

There had been streets. Alleyways. Parks and shops and training grounds and trash pickup and long shadows cast by eclectic architecture and it’s the silliest thing in the word, the most useless anxiety, but as Chouji slogs through the rubble — the mud and the dust and the wreckage of a whole village, the whole thing — he worries that the new village, when it’s built, will lose some of its Konoha-ness.

Will the buildings each look the same as the others? The same age, the same colors, the same timbers and siding and roofing? Will the streets be carefully planned, the alleys and balconies and courtyards arranged with aforethought? What if the kids have no good places to play ninja, with nooks to hide in and crannies to jump out of?

In particular Chouji thinks of this because the children will need places to play ninja, still, and he thinks about that play-pretend game from childhood because the medic coming towards him is Youbirin.

It had been Youbirin who had invited and then, ultimately, disinvited Chouji from the play-pretend games in the civilian neighborhood wedged between the Nara and Akimichi.

Chouji hasn’t seen Youbirin since the Academy — clearly because Youbirin had gone into the medical program. Chouji wonders if that was his first choice or if he’d failed his jōnin-sensei’s test… but that kind of thought is useless spite. Mean-spirited at a time when they really can’t afford anything but solidarity.

Youbirin looks exhausted like Chouji feels. Not just tired but a little numb.

Literally numb, even, in some areas: Chouji is here because after hours of moving debris, one of his fellow chūnin had noticed his hands bleeding sluggishly and sent him for medical attention. Chouji can’t even remember the chūnin’s name. Sotatsu, who works Main Gate sometimes and lost an embarrassing amount of money in a card game with Ino? Michio, from the Mission Desk? It should matter but it kind of doesn’t. Not at all.

Chouji holds his hands out. The palm of one is sliced open by rebar or something, from when he was using partial Multi-Size technique to grow his hands and arms big enough to hold up some of the larger pieces of rubble, letting his teammates dart in underneath and check for anything that could be scavenged or salvaged. It’s a nasty cut, but he hadn’t even noticed. His knuckles are rubbed raw.

Youbirin sighs, but doesn’t say anything. His hands light up with medical chakra and Chouji can feel it tingle and prickle along the cut and his knuckles, cleaning the wound before his flesh folds itself back together. Good as new.

“Do you have any other injuries?” asks Youbirin. “We’ve been instructed to save our chakra, so we’re not doing standard diagnostic checks unless absolutely necessary.”

He says this in the professional tone you’d speak to a stranger, but Chouji knows that Youbirin recognizes him, just like he recognizes Youbirin. They’ve both changed, but not very much. It feels like there should be more to say. A reconnection. A reconciliation. They are not strangers.

Youbirin had once gone out of his way to hurt Chouji, as publicly as possible. Youbirin had taken the game of ninja away from Chouji. That day, the sun bearing down on them and Youbirin’s scornful words… nothing in the village had looked the same once he was banned from the neighborhood games. Where, Chouji had wondered, might I be banned from next? And what was the real reason Youbirin had done it, since he’d sworn up and down the week before that Chouji played just fine, that it was just fun, that winning wasn’t the point?

That had been Youbirin, you know, kind in private and scathing in public. Maybe that’s still Youbirin.

“I’m good,” Chouji says. Chouji dredges up a smile. Not a good one, but it’s there, and he adds, “Thanks, Youbirin. Take care of yourself.”

“Ah,” Youbirin says, and now he looks… embarrassed. Shamefaced. “I was… I was hoping you wouldn’t…”

“It doesn’t matter,” Chouji says, with a wave of his hand, like he could really brush aside their history.

Youbirin is quiet, but unsettled. Chouji doesn’t want Sakura (or possibly Tsunade-sama) accusing him of sabotaging the medics if it leaves Youbirin so off-kilter, so it seems like he does have to say something.

Chouji says. “This feels like a good time to reflect, because everything is awful, but it’s better to worry about the future.” He keeps his voice low so that maybe no one else will hear. Not because he minds, but because he thinks Youbirin might.

And maybe Chouji is thinking about about what Kakashi-sensei had snapped at him just before the Deva Path had revealed itself to still be functional: Save the crying for later! he’d said. Reflect later!

But Youbirin doesn’t need the context. The blood on Kakashi-sensei’s face. Dad unmoving. The horrible clanking and squishing of the Deva Path coming back together from Kakashi-sensei’s Raikiri. The long recovery Dad is facing. That’s on Chouji’s mind, the incredible pressure of that moment and everything that followed afterwards, but Youbirin doesn’t need to know. Couldn’t possibly understand, because he isn’t even a field medic.

“I see,” says Youbirin. He nods. “You take care of yourself, too, Chouji.”

“We’ll take care of each other,” Chouji says, and leaves.

He puts Youbirin out of his mind the moment he steps outside and throws himself into his little worries, building the possible details of the new Konoha they’ll build up in his mind while he deals with what’s left of the old one. Shikamaru and his dad will work out all the big worries, anyway.

#chouji #chouji all #i hOPE THIS IS GOOD #Sotatsu and Michio are named in ch 3 of eoit and are just like... meaningless OCs #but chouji seems like he'd know people's names #anyway i've never written chouji before why did i ask for chouji prompts im nervous yikes #words words words #greenekangaroo #asks #ask prompts

[rabbiteclair]

AyaxHatate, because of you. Thanks in advance!

Aya and Hatate - Because of You

“Oh, hey, readingup on my paper? I didn't know you were so desperate for leads thatyou had to crib off of me. Pretty sad, Hatate, a real sorrydisplay.”Hatate lowered the crumpled copy of theBunbunmaru. Crumpled, because she'd refused to give the paper even asingle sale, instead sneaking around the tengu village until shecould find a used copy to pilfer. The Bunbunmaru, because,well...“Hey, it's totally fair to keep tabs on thecompetition.” Hatate rolled the paper up, then smirked, jabbing itup right beneath Aya's nose. “Besides, the way I hear it, we'reneck and neck in the newspaper competition. Maybe this year, I'll dobetter than your dumb rag and get the grandprize.”“Hey, hey, no need to get worked up about it.Besides, I'm a shoo-in.” Aya pushed the tip of the paper down fromher face, then tapped the headline. “Since I have the best story ofthe year and all.”Hatate did have to admit that it washard to beat EXCLUSIVE: Interview with the Hidden Sage.Technically, it was a story anybody could have written. The greattengu had lifted the tacit ban on news about Okina Matara, decidinginstead to dispel her mystique by reporting on her like any otherGensokyo resident. Aya, though, had a bit of anadvantage, since she'd had a face-to-face spell card battle with thegoddess right when she decided to reveal herself...“Youwere super lucky to have that story fall into your lap, and you knowit!” Hatate paused to calm herself. “... besides, there's stilltwo weeks before the judging. Plenty of time to find somethingthat'll blow your dumb story out of the water.”“Hmm,is that so?”“Yeah! What kinda rival would I be ifcouldn't even do that much?”“Hey, that's a goodquestion. You'd better get busy looking. It'll be pretty sad if I winand you don't even get in the top five or something, won't it? I'llhave to look for a better class of rival.”“Y-yeah,well...! I'm gonna... beat you so bad that you'll be wondering ifyou're even good enough to be myrival...!”Hatate wasn't very skilled at wittycomebacks. Aya seemed more amused by it than intimidated. “Well,we're going to find out either way, won't we? I'll look forward toit. It will be fun seeing the look on your face.”BeforeHatate could embarrass herself with another half-hearted retort, Ayaleapt into the air and took flight. Soon, she was just another figurezipping across the village's skyline.Hatate slumped backdown onto the bench with a sigh, then glanced at her notebook. Thefront page had all of her potential leads jotted down:

fightsat the Prismriver concert?

talking dog inhuman village

tropical weather at Hakureishrine

idk think ofsomething???

She pursed her lips andpulled her pen from the spine, then dramatically crossed out theentire list. That done, she unrolled the Bunbunmaru and opened itagain. “There has to be something in thisthing I can work with...”* * *“This year'snewspaper sales were higher than ever,” the announcer said, hisvoice booming across the crowded hall. Every crow tengu with an ounceof pride ran a newspaper, and even the weird stuff like The GensokyoHuman-Watching Report (top story: Why Don't Bald Humans Wear Hats? AnInvestigation) stood to win some of the smaller awards. Those had allbeen announced over the course of the night, though. Only one awardremained. “So competition over the grand prize for paper sales wasfierce. Considering the year's events...”Hatate hungher head and did her best to ignore him, clenching her handsanxiously in her lap. Down the row, Aya shot her a pointed glance;Hatate glared back until she looked away.There was no wayof knowing how it was going to shake out. The last reports had putthe Bunbunmaru at rank number two, with Kakashi Spirit News all theway down at number seven. That had been a whole week ago, though.They never released figures so close to the awards. Over the few daysbefore the information blackout, her sales had been catching up, butthere was still a wide gap to overcome. She tried to run the math inher head again. She'd been 150 sales behind, and if she was making 17more sales per day...She realized that Aya was staring ather again, and shot back another glare. This time, Aya mouthedsomething. Hatate's expression softened into confusion, until Ayahissed, “That's you!”Hatate lifted her head andturned her attention back to the announcer. “--kaidou?” he calledinto the audience, sounding at a bit of a loss. “Is there arepresentative from the Kakashi Spirit News here at all?”“Oh.Oh! Um!” Hatate bolted up from her seat. “Yeah! That's me!”Around of polite applause and soft laughter rose from the audience. Ina daze, Hatate walked toward the front of the room. The announcerthrust a hefty trophy into one hand, then shook the other. She numblyreturned the handshake, then pivoted to stare out over the room.Ahundred faces stared back.“U-um. Ah! I guess I won,huh?” Hatate stammered. A slightly louder wave of laughterfollowed.She took a breath to gather herself. She was areporter, dammit. She was supposed to be good with words. Besides,this was a moment that she'd been rehearsing in the back of her headfor weeks. “I, um. Well, sorry if I'm a little out of it. This is areally big honor and stuff, and I'm... not used to winning this kindof thing. It used to be that barely anybody knew the Kakashi existedbut me. … even my parents thought it was just wastingpaper...“But! Er, that stuff's all in the past. I'velearned a lot about reporting the past few years. Enough to knowthat, sometimes, you need to go past the obvious stuff and look atwhat's below the surface. That's kinda what led to my big story thisyear, Inside the World of the Backdoors. Everyonewas reporting on that Matara lady, right? But I got the idea to trackdown one of the doors she'd left open and slip into her world toreport on it, to get inside her head and herpowers. Reporting isn't just about getting the easy stuff. It's aboutgetting the hard stuff, too. That's what I've figured out lately.I...”Hatate trailed off, as a particular set of eyes inthe audience caught her gaze. She fumbled with her words. “I, um. Imean...” She tried glancing away, but it was no use. Defeated, shesighed. “At least, that's what I wanna be able to say. Fact is, theKakashi really did used to be a dumb waste ofpaper. If it was just me, I never would have got the idea to startinvestigating stuff firsthand. Or had the motivation to do itanyway...”She grimaced, but she knew what she needed todo. “Aya, get up here.”For once, Aya actually lookedat a loss. Only after Hatate irritably waved her forward did she riseand hurry up to the front of the room.“If you wannaclap for me, you've gotta clap for her,” Hatate grumbled.Inthe audience's confusion, the applause started slowly. It took a fewseconds for it to become loud enough for them to converseprivately.“What the heck are you doing?!” Aya hissedover to her.“Look. Your paper's still a dumb rag,but... even having a dumb rag for a rival is better than nothing,okay? If I didn't need to kick your butt, I wouldn't have even gottentop five this year.”“Not sure I get it,” Aya said.She shook her head, and as the applause died down, had to lower hervoice to add, “But I'll return the favor when I win next year.”

#touhou #rabbit does fanfiction #ayahata #aya shameimaru #hatate himekaidou #last one for tonight #i am le tired #matiasalbcam

[thekatthatbarks]

Onyx Stones

A part of my little Sakura and her Scarecrow series. Witch AU,

Also on ao3 and ffn

     Sakura almost jumped when the broom in the corner fell while they were eating breakfast. She stared at it, pausing in bringing her mug to her lips. “Company is coming.”

                 Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her and asked her confused, “But the broom never falls when customers come by?”

                 Sakura stood up from her chair and looked out the window. “Humans aren’t powerful enough to call for a warning. It’s either a friend or…”

                 Kakashi waited, but when she didn’t continue, he prompted, “Or…?”

                 She looked over at him and smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry. It’s probably Naruto. He likes to come around the summer solstice.”

                 Kakashi let it go and she returned back to the table to finish eating. But her eyes drifted to the window every few minutes.

 ***

               Kakashi still didn’t want the wolf domesticated, but he had taken to walking with him in the morning through the forest. It’s what he had been doing when Sakura dragged out all the materials for a scarecrow. She had been stuffing onyx stones in the head when Kakashi came back. Sakura didn’t look up from her work when he walked into the room, but when she felt the negative energy rolling off him, she looked up at him. “Something wrong?”

                 “What’re you doing?” he asked her instead, his eyes falling on the scarecrow in her hands.

                 She glanced at it and back to him, understanding. She reached out a hand for him and he took it sitting next to her in the adjacent chair. She met his eyes strongly and assured him, “This one is just a scarecrow, Kakashi.”

                 Kakashi relaxed but still seemed uncomfortable, so Sakura added, “I’ll hang him up on a different stick.”

                 He looked away from her with a chuckle and rubbed the back of his head. “I don’t know why I…”

                 She smiled at him and rubbed her thumb across his skin. “I would never replace you.”

                 He nodded and she noticed with a smile the faint pink on his cheeks when he looked back to her. She let go of his hand and continued sewing the head up. He watched her silently and then mumbled, “I don’t understand.”

                 She glanced at him as she started stitching a smile on the scarecrow. “What?”    

                 “When you brought me to life, you used an onyx stone for grounding, didn’t you?”

                 Sakura shifted in her seat, but didn’t look at him, knowing where this was going. “Yes.”

                 “Then, shouldn’t I be banning negative energy?” Sakura felt a pain in her chest, realizing he sounded guilty about it.

                 She put a hand on his knee, looking back up at him. “Not exactly. The spell could’ve been taken different ways. It was selfish, but my intent was for you to rid me of the negative energy I was feeling. So, that’s probably how the Goddess took it, seeing that you have.”

                 He smiled at her, placing his hand over hers and then asked her, “Sakura, who are you worried might come? It’s been over a year and you haven’t felt the need for a new scarecrow until now. You’re even filling him with stones.”

                 She sighed. “It never hurts to be careful, Kakashi. There’s a lot of possibilities about who our company might be. Not all witches are good and actually a human having enough evil intent could also cause the broom to fall. I just want to put up precautions in case it’s not a friend.”

                 “Okay, I’ll go find some wood to hang him up on.” Kakashi told her softly and kissed her cheek before exiting the kitchen.

                 Sakura glanced out the window after he left, watching the wind gently shake the leaves on the trees. She really hoped it was a friend.

 ***

               Sakura had been hanging clothes out to dry when she heard the bark. She looked over her shoulder to see Tsunade standing beside the wolf with her eyebrow cocked and a smirk on her lips. “I always thought your spirit animal was a slug like mine, but have you made a pact with the wolves while I’ve been away? This little guy walked me the whole way here when I stepped foot into the forest.”

                 Sakura dropped the shirt from her hands and laughed as she ran over to her. Tsunade caught her and hugged her back. “Yeah, I missed you too.”

                 Sakura pulled away from her as she heard the door swing open from the cottage. She looked over to see Kakashi standing there and watching Tsunade with curious eyes. “Is that your scarecrow?” Tsunade asked with an eager smile when she saw him.

                 Sakura nodded and led her over to him. When they reached him, she gestured between them. “Tsunade-shishou, this is Kakashi. Kakashi, this is my old master, Tsunade.”

                 Kakashi barely had time to say hello, before Tsunade had grabbed his face in her hand and was moving his head around as she examined him. Kakashi met Sakura’s eyes, but she simply shrugged. Tsunade tugged on his hair and even pulled on one of his arms. “Sakura, this is really good work,” she complimented as she took a step back and looked Kakashi up and down appraisingly.

                 Kakashi looked like he felt awkward and chuckled nervously. Tsunade met his eyes like she almost forgot he could speak. “Oh, I’m sorry. Sometimes I get caught up in the work and forget my manners. It’s nice to finally meet you, Kakashi.”

                 He rubbed the back of his head. “You too.”

                 Tsunade barked a laugh and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “Well, now that that’s over with, why don’t you cook something for this old woman? I’m starving.”

                 He chuckled as they walked inside. “Of course.”

                  “I expected you’d be older from what Sakura’s told me,” Kakashi said conversationally as they ate.

                 “One of her skills is youth. She has spells and potions that make her look that way,” Sakura answered, smirking when Tsunade narrowed her eyes at her.

                 “You better watch your mouth or I won’t be passing on the secret in a couple hundred years,” Tsunade threatened and Sakura laughed.

                 Tsunade turned back to Kakashi as she took a drink of her sake. “So, how do you spend your time, Kakashi?”

                 “I read a lot, spend time in the garden, take walks with the wolf, help Sakura around the house and with her magic.”

                 Tsunade perked up at that and looked over at Sakura. “Magic, huh? Have you been able to teach him anything?”

                 “He knows what everything means for the most part.” Sakura looked at Kakashi thoughtfully with a smile. “But I haven’t seen if he has a knack for the craft yet.”

                 Tsunade mulled it over. “He’s a magical being already, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he did. You know with enough dedication – “

                 “– even a human could become a witch,” Sakura finished for her. It was something that Tsunade had drilled into her brain when she took her under her wing. She didn’t want Sakura to develop a complex and think her bloodline meant she was inherently better than anyone else, including humans.

                 Tsunade rolled her eyes at her and asked Kakashi, “What do you say?”

                 Kakashi glanced between them and shrugged. “If Sakura wanted to teach me, I wouldn’t be against it.”

                 He met her eyes with a smile and Sakura couldn’t help but return it, a warmth curling in her chest like it always did whenever she looked at him.

                 Tsunade snorted and gave Sakura a sly look. “You didn’t tell me, Sakura. What kind of candles did you use?”

                 “Three purple and two red,” Sakura answered her, tearing her eyes away from Kakashi.

                 Tsunade raised an eyebrow at her. “Two red? It would’ve been better to try and use another color as well.”

                 Sakura blushed at the implication and took a drink from her sake cup. “I gave him an onyx stone for balance. Another red didn’t hurt anything.”

                 “I’m sure it didn’t,” Tsunade agreed with a smile and looked over at Kakashi apologetically. “I don’t mean to talk about you like you’re just a spell that worked well, Kakashi. But not many witches could pull that off. I don’t even think I could.”

                 “Sakura’s a good witch,” Kakashi summed up simply with a shrug.

                 Tsunade smiled at him with a nod. “She is.”

                 They chatted for a while longer, before Tsunade stood up to leave with a bit of reluctance. She handed Sakura some torn pages from her spellbook. “I made you copies on my way here. I’d stay longer, but Jiraiya and I have some things to handle in the west.”

                 Sakura nodded sadly, but took the pages carefully into her hands and tucked them away in her own book. Kakashi packed a small knap sack with fruits for her. Then, she walked Tsunade out and saw Kakashi’s wolf lying nearby like he was waiting to guide Tsunade back out of the forest.

                 Tsunade hugged her close and told her, “I’m happy you’ve found someone, Sakura.”

                 “I more made him than found him, Shishou,” Sakura admitted with a bitter taste in her mouth.

                 Tsunade rolled her eyes. “That boy loves you in a way that goes beyond magic. Don’t think you forced him to. You know as well as I do that emotions from spells are toxic and unhealthy. That’s not what’s happening here.”

                 Sakura nodded, feeling comforted. “Thank you.”

               Tsunade stepped away from her and like they both expected, the wolf stood and walked over to her. As she turned to walk away, she called over her shoulder, “Don’t make me a grandma before I see you again!”

                 Sakura felt her skin redden. “Shishou!”

                 Kakashi could probably even hear her loud laughter from inside the cottage.

#kat writes #1k+ #sakura and her scarecrow #kakasaku

[kuriquinn]

Run Him

Disclaimer & Masterpost 

Summary: Naruto never thought that he would miss the days of rescuing cats, but a month following the end of the Fourth Shinobi War, he learns a new appreciation for the word "boredom". Which is why when the former members of Team 8 arrive one morning and announce they are taking him on an outing, he practically drags them out of the building before they get the words out.

Naruto never thought that he would miss the days of rescuing cats, but a month following the end of the Fourth Shinobi War, he learns a new appreciation for the word "boredom".

Which is why when the former members of Team 8 arrive one morning and announce they are taking him on an outing (or rather, Kiba announces; Hinata nods shyly from beside Akamaru, while Shino lurks in his creepy-ass coat), he practically drags them out of the building before they get the words out.

(Well, drags Hinata, anyhow; she's closest to him, and he only has the one arm – but the others follow him, shouting for him to slow down for several blocks.)

His own team is busy these days – Kakashi with Hokage business, Sakura rehabilitating the countless men and women injured in battle, Sai ferrying important dignitaries between the shinobi villages with his beast scrolls, and Sasuke –

Well, Sasuke's in prison.

It's a fact which pisses Naruto off to no end, but which no amount of complaining to Tsunade or Kakashi seems to fix. He's pretty sure Konoha's Elders have something to do with how long it's taking (and possibly the rest of the Kage still taking exception to Sasuke's mad declaration of wanting to kill them) but that's no excuse. In his mind, Sasuke's actions would never have reached such serious levels if the village (and his family) hadn't royally screwed him over from the beginning. It seems unfair that he now has to pay for the things he's done when he wasn't even in his right mind at the time he committed them.

Even Orochimaru is on the verge of being pardoned these days, what's up with that?

"Hey! Would you slow the hell down?" Kiba demands when the rest of Hinata's team catch up with them. "If the hospital staff finds out we let you run around unsupervised, they'll probably ban us from the hospital."

"We do have a very specific agreement," Shino adds. "We have to keep an eye on you at all times, and ensure you return at a reasonable hour."

"So you're basically babysitting me?" Naruto raises an eyebrow.

"Sort of," Hinata agrees with a tiny smile. "I'm sure it's just because everyone is worried about you."

And Naruto can't help grin at that, because it's just like Hinata to try to spin a situation so that no one is left looking like the bad guy. The more time passes, the more he's beginning to realise what a totally awesome person she is.

"Well, thanks anyway!" he says. "I was going to go crazy if I didn't get out of there soon! Iruka-sensei's a total slave-driver with all those books!"

He knew becoming Hokage was going to take some work, but he didn't think it was going to involve so much book learning. Angry ancient gods? No problem – mastering the different levels of government in a shinobi village, learning about the division of powers between kage and daimyo and mastering the requisite number of jutsu needed to be considered Hokage?

He's really beginning to miss training on Mount Myōboku.

"You do still have to back at the end of the day," Shino points out, "it's not like you're free forever."

"Way to be a downer, man," Kiba snorts.

"But you're doing alright otherwise, right, Naruto?" Hinata asks in soft concern, as they head out of the more populated part of the village toward the forests that house the training areas.

"Of course! I mean, my brain might explode from all of the stuff he's making me learn about, but he always brings me ramen from Ichiraku, so it's okay!"

Hinata smiles warmly. "Ah. I was actually wondering about your arm. Does it hurt you very much?"

"Nah, not at all – I mean, it's still kind of weird getting used to it – especially when I want to pick something up and then I remember there's nothing actually there to grab with, but it doesn't hurt." He shrugs – in the big scheme of things, losing an arm isn't the end of his world. He saved Sasuke and he kept his promise of a lifetime to Sakura; losing the arm was worth it. "Besides, I'm going to get a new one soon, since Granny Tsunade's working on getting me a prophylactic."

Kiba sniggers.

Hinata's cheeks turn pink. "Uh…Naruto, I…I think you mean prosthetic."

"That's what I said, wasn't it?"

"Actually –" Shino begins.

"No, no, you got it right the first time," Kiba interrupts, mouth wide with a grin Naruto has learned to never trust. "The Hokage's spending all her energy getting you a prophylactic. Any plans on who you want to try it out with?"

"Kiba!" Hinata squeaks, still sounding inexplicably mortified.

Naruto glares. "I'll try it out on you, if you don't tell me what's so funny."

"Sorry, man, I don't swing that way…"

Akamaru barks out a laugh, and Naruto turns to Shino with the hopes of him translating, but Hinata interjects.

"What about Sasuke?" she says, very quickly and frazzled sounding. "Is he doing alright as well?"

Naruto's annoyance gives way to solemnity, and he sighs, "I think so. No one's allowed to see him until Kakashi figures out how to deal with all the trouble he got into. It's taking forever."

"Oh. I thought I heard Ino say that Sakura's started visiting him?"

"I bet he's hoping she'll get him a prophylactic, if you know what I mean…"

"Kiba. The joke is over," Shino states coolly.

"Sakura has special permission," Naruto explains, frowning at the dark-haired boy. "She's the only person the miserable bastard will let check on his arm, other than Granny Tsunade. It'd be just like Sasuke to let his arm fester out of stubbornness."

And…I'm pretty sure even hard-asses like Ibiki know better than to tell Sakura she can't do something, especially after the stuff she pulled off during the war.

"Oh. Well, I'm happy for Sakura then," Hinata says placidly. "And I'm sure he'll be released soon."

"Yeah…" Naruto trails off; he can't help think it's a lot more complicated than that.

"Baaah!" Kiba groans loudly, mussing up his hair in annoyance. "All this talk is getting way too depressing. We didn't break you out of the hospital to talk about boring shit – let's do something fun!"

"Tactful as ever, Kiba," Shino deadpans.

"Fun?" Naruto repeats. "Like what?"

"Like…" Kiba trails off, glancing around and then suddenly lets out a loud laugh. "Like that! Look!" He points across the familiar forest expanse, indicating a familiar tall tree in the distance. Naruto recognises it immediately as the tree where all the boys used to compete with one another as kids. "Let's race – and Hinata can see who wins!"

Shino sighs. "Choosing to run a race with someone that's been injured isn't exactly a fair test of your abilities, you know."

"Well how else is Naruto going to get back into decent shape?" Kiba retorts. "Lifting books over his head and building up a resistance to crappy hospital food? Nah! Getting beaten by me is a much better motivator."

"Hah! If you think it'll be that easy, you're on!" Naruto shoots back.

"Oh, but – Naruto, wait!" Hinata begins, but the two boys are already charging up the hill to the traditional starting line.

He appreciates the concern, really, but Kiba's idea has him excited for the first time in a while. He hasn't been able to stretch his legs since coming back home.

It's not like I need an arm to run…

Or so he thinks; as it turns out, just hurrying to the tree with Kiba is a chore because his center of balance has completely shifted. He wonders briefly if Kiba might not have the advantage in this little contest after all, when Akamaru catches up with them both and begins to gnaw at Kiba's right arm.

"Hey, what gives, Akamaru?" the Inuzuka boy demands, trying to pull away from his canine partner in annoyance. The dog is relentless, however, and eventually pulls Kiba's jacket almost entirely off of him, leaving one arm trapped within the folds of leather.

"It would appear that Akamaru thinks you should have a handicap as well, to ensure fairness," Shino points out. "In this way, both of you will have to adjust your balance to compensate."

"Woof!"

"Traitor," Kiba mutters.

"I think that's a better idea," Hinata agrees.

Kiba rolls his eyes, as if he's being completely imposed on, but says, "Fine. But I'm still going to kick your ass, Naruto!"

"Bring it, dog breath!"

The words aren't said with actual malice, and as Naruto hunches over to prepare to run, he reflects how much he's missed competing with Kiba. Their rivalry is nowhere near as all-encompassing as the one Naruto has always had with Sasuke, but at the same time, they still push each other to do their best.

"Ready, set – go!"

Naruto wins, but only just.

And it hardly counts, because just afterwards, he trips on a rock and ends up rolling all the way back down the hill. He'd smack headfirst into a tree if it weren't for Hinata miraculously appearing at the last second and grabbing hold of him.

Well, grabbing hold is probably the politest way to put it.

'Providing cushioning with her rather substantial chest' might be a more accurate statement, but Naruto really doesn't want to be haunted by Neji Hyūga the rest of his life for thinking such a thing.

At least, he doesn't think he does.

"Serves him right," Kiba mutters as he and Shino wander over while Naruto picks himself up. "Geez, even with a gimpy arm he still wins…"

He trails off in muttering, and then yelps as Akamaru lightly nips at his shoulder in reprimand.

"If winning is what you are truly worried about, I know of a contest that Naruto would find challenging to win," Shino begins.

"Oh yeah?" Naruto counters, pretending to examine his nails (it's a less impressive feat with only one hand). "I dunno, Shino, I'm pretty awesome."

"See, this is why I need to beat him, he's getting a big head," Kiba grumbles.

"We should have a ramen eating contest," Shino concludes, causing his teammate to whirl around and yell, "What the hell! Are you joking? That's the worse idea ever!"

"I dunno, I kind of like it," Naruto sniggers. "And I'm hungry anyway right now, so…"

"Neither of you allowed me to finish," Shino points out, sounding aggravated.

Kiba and Naruto peer at him, askance.

"I propose a ramen-eating contest between Naruto – and Hinata."

Hinata squeaks at this, eyes wide, and Naruto's shoulders slump while Kiba punches the air.

"Yes!"

"No way!" Naruto complains. "You can't propose a contest I have no chance of winning! What happened to fairness?"

"Sure we can – and hey! Let's make it interesting this time and make a bet!" Kiba declares happily as they head back toward the village proper.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Hinata murmurs nervously.

Naruto scowls. "I don't have anything to bet with…"

"I'll lend you some cash – or you could sign over your soul. Or your firstborn. Hah!"

"The future of Konoha is doomed," Shino remarks idly as he follows them.

終わり

Just a general little thing I wrote on my lunch break. I admit, I'm a little unsure if I've managed to capture Team 8, their characters aren't as familiar to me as Team 7 :)

Reviews and constructive criticism are always appreciated!

クリ

Next Chapter

#narutoweek2017 #naruto shippuden #naruto week #naruto fanfiction #team 8 #naruto uzumaki #hinata hyuuga #Kiba Inuzuka #shino aburame #hints naruhina #hints sasusaku #chapter 699

[recentanimenews]

THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH Meets New Characters And Rallies Around Rock Lee

Welcome back to the GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH! I'm Carolyn, and I'll be your host this week as we make our way through all 220 episodes of the original Naruto. Last week, we covered episodes 43-49, and we continue this week with episodes 50-56.

  Let's be honest, I like me some good pathos. While the exams are definitely one of my favorite arcs in this series, I can't help but be drawn into the aftermath of the one-on-one tournaments. Especially poor Rock Lee's physical devastation that he's still somehow determined to overcome. The gut-wrenching stuff is the stuff that really gets me. Anyway, enough of that.

  Let's get on with what really matters... you. Or in this case, reader WiseJake237, with a good question about Rock Lee and chakra!

    Yeah, the Rock Lee vs. Gaara fight is really cool, but one thing's got me confused. If Lee can only use Taijutsu, how is he able to master the forbidden art of opening the gates that control chakra flow? Doesn't controlling chakra fall under the category of Ninjutsu?

  Nate: I think the difference is that Ninjutsu molds chakra to create something, like a spell--Sasuke molds chakra to do a fire jutsu, for example, while Lee is just actively releasing chakra in his body to power it up. He's not actively using it as much as he's channeling it, but that's just my take on it.

  OK, let's see how the Crunchyroll Features team is holding up after this week's episodes!

  Naruto has taken to saying his signature catchphrase “Believe it!" a bit less. Do you miss it?

  Kara: He still -dattebayo’s a little at the end once in a while, but yeah. I wasn’t sure if it was just me noticing it less or if Naruto really was saying it less. I don’t really miss it so much, but that could be because it achieved joke status in my circles so quickly.

  Joseph: I feel like he’s doing his little vocal tic just as much as ever, they just don’t always bother giving it the “believe it” flavor in the subs.

  Peter: I didn’t even notice.

  Paul: I think Naruto's still doing his “-dattebayo” speech affectation about as much as usual, but he has fewer lines in this batch of episodes, because they focus more on the supporting characters.

  Jared: I feel like I still heard it here and there, but it wasn’t enough to make me think it wasn’t as frequent, so I guess I really didn’t miss it much.

  Danni: It’s always felt like an awkward addition, so I don’t miss it, honestly.

  Kevin: Honestly, since I’m watching this subbed, I only occasionally caught the “dattebayo” anyway, so him not saying it as much really doesn’t make a difference to me.

  Naruto has come face-to-face with the Nine-Tailed Fox and that thing is terrifying. How do you think this event will change/shape Naruto’s journey to becoming Hokage?

    Kara: This is seriously exciting! I’ve been waiting to see how that comes into play. So far, Naruto has had to learn to exert discipline over his own impulses and personality. He’s doing a lot better than he was but, you know… Naruto is still Naruto. Now he’s going to have to do the same with something that’s a lot bigger and scarier than anything about him personally. I’m interested to see how taming the Nine-Tailed Fox helps him discipline himself.

  Joseph: This is a really big event, and while I don’t know that it was handled as expertly as it could have been, the Nine-Tailed Fox is an appropriately intimidating entity. Also, tick the box, because pushing Naruto in this direction is the first cool thing Jiraiya has done.

  Peter: I always thought Kishimoto steamrolled what I thought would be a huge revelation for Naruto. He discovered the reason he was ostracized as a child was he had a literal demon sealed inside him and didn’t even bother investigating it? I suppose it changes nothing but it probably wouldn’t have taken too much effort to discover who his father was after that. He kind of doesn’t even interface with it despite going kyubi several times until the finale of this stretches final episode.

  Paul: Personally, I think Megumi Hayashibara's turn as Hakumen no Mono in Ushio and Tora is the scariest incarnation of a nine-tailed fox that I've seen in anime, but Tessho Genda's take in Naruto is a close second. I love that Naruto's reaction is to belligerently demand that the fox fork over some Chakra, like he's a deadbeat roommate living in Naruto's body. As for the final question, Naruto becomes Hokage? OMG! Spoilers!

  Jared: I’m real curious to see just how much of a power boost this gives him initially and how that’ll help him in the final bits of the chunin exams. I also liked how he just didn’t back down from it which earlier Naruto might have done.

  Danni: I expected a multi-episode stretch where Naruto literally has to fight his inner demon to earn his power, so I was pleasantly surprised to find his inner demon is just kind of a deadbeat roommate finally forking over all the rent money he owes.

  Kevin: *Looks ahead to Shippuden* Uhh… I plead the Fifth on the grounds that I legitimately don’t want to spoil what happens.

  David: While I too know from experience how this plays out, I wanted to point out that its placement in the story is pretty perfect as a mirror or counter of sorts to Sasuke’s own internal power issues. It’s going to be interesting to see how differently they each handle their newly discovered powers.

  So … we’ve met Jiraiya and he’s really something, isn’t he? If this is your first introduction to the Pervy Sage, what are your thoughts on him so far? If you know how Jiraiya turns out, how do you feel about this introduction?

    Kara: So I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this before, but years ago I messed around with the old Billy vs. Snakeman game on Anime Cubed. That started out with Naruto one-offs but eventually brought in Bleach and Death Note and a lot of other stuff. So whenever I see a new character, I immediately think of their BvS counterpart—which means I only think of the comical view of them. It was really cool seeing that Jiraiya is actually kind of a badass, and but for one thing, I would 100% name him New Favorite Character.

  Joseph: I have all the cool stuff he does later in my head, so I forgot what a dip Jiraiya was in the beginning. What a dopey introduction for a cool character. I thought Naruto already had pervy dudes in it but I guess they didn’t have the ultimate requisite perv sage yet.

  Peter: I completely forgot how bad he was. I guess I didn’t think about it much back in high school when I first watched Naruto but man Jiraiya really sucks. Tsunade was the only good to come of that squad.

Paul: If I could go the rest of my life without encountering another example of the Shonen Jump “perv” character creeping on girls from the bushes, I would be able to die with no regrets, fist raised to the Heavens, Raoh from Fist of the North Star-style.

  Jared: They really wanted to nail down and beat you over the head with the fact that Jiraiya is a skeevy dude and leers at women constantly. I hope what everyone’s saying that he becomes better is true because oof, that was a bad first impression.

  Danni: He’s just Roshi for a new generation of Jump readers, and like Roshi the only thing about him I like is his big animal friend.

  Kevin: I am part of the group that has seen the show before, and this introduction really doesn’t do Jiraiya service. He’s awesome and is actually really important to the overall backstory of the world, but this paints him as just a pervert who is experienced enough to teach Naruto, and seems to have a bit of backstory that we don’t know yet.

  David: Jiraiya, as he is right now, isn’t a very likable character in my opinion. If I remember correctly, he does get more interesting and fun to watch later, but I wouldn’t blame anyone for coming out of this introduction with a bad taste in their mouths. Compare to Kakashi, who reads questionable material out in the open but isn’t quite such a creep.

  Speaking of Pervy Sages, the Sexy Jutsu is back in full force. Is that killing this part of the story for you? It feels quite creepy seeing Jiraiya constantly ogling his underage student.

    Kara: Yeah. That’s the one thing that stops me from naming him New Favorite Character. It doesn’t kill this part of the story, entirely, but it does shake me out of it temporarily. I understand it’s meant to be funny, but wow no. Stop. Please.

  Joseph: It’s 100% clear that Jiraiya is like three bushes away from being concealed enough from the public eye to have sex with Naruto in Sexy Jutsu form. It’s a bad gag.

  Peter: Oof.

  Paul: Blargh. I like the idea of three legendary ninja that are so strong that they basically answer to no one except themselves. It reminds me of the Seven Warlords and the Four Emperors from One Piece, and how their presence (or absence) can completely tilt the political balance and set world-shaking events in motion. I just wish it wasn't wrapped up in a package like Jiraiya as he's currently presented.

  Jared: Ban sexy jutsu and ban Jiraiya doing this.

  Danni: I hate the frog man.

  Kevin: Can’t say I disagree. Honestly, most of the time I’m not too upset about the Sexy Jutsu, since generally, it is either on screen for a short time or Naruto is using it in a surprisingly strategic way, but the scenes with Jiraiya are where it got legitimately uncomfortable at times, as the middle-aged man gets a nosebleed from someone he explicitly knows is a 12-year-old boy who just looks female (and decidedly not 12) for the moment.

  David: The only blessing here is that there is a pretty large gap between times when Sexy Jutsu rears its ugly head.

  Man, Rock Lee, you guys. Given how much everyone has loved him over the past couple weeks, how are you all holding up watching his brutal, emotional journey?

  Kara: ROCK LEE DESERVES BETTER. That said, I was kind of surprised to see that the show didn’t immediately reward “hard work and guts,” but instead chose to show actual consequences for using a killer move.

  Joseph: It’s a bummer of an ending to Rock Lee’s battle, but I kind of love that about it. Rather than giving him a victoriously explosive finale, Kishimoto totally ripped him up and put him back further than square one. With that said, please get well soon, Lee, we love you.

  Peter: Sakura’s line at the end really killed the scene for me, kind of implying neither girl has even attempted to work as hard, not just Rock Lee, but any of the boys in the cast. I really like Rock. I’m not sure if he ever really gets a narrative pay-off but both Kishimoto and Pierrot love to show off his power so in that way he gets a lot more than similar characters like Chad.

  Paul: If you'll pardon the pro-wrestling reference, Rock Lee is clearly the Mick Foley of Naruto, in that everybody loves him yet his most famous matches tend to involve him getting his ass royally kicked. I don't like to see Lee suffer like this, but I also know that, on the meta-textual level, there was no way in heck he was going to beat Gaara. That's just not how these kinds of story arcs are written.

  Jared: The Rock Lee comeback tour starts now. I’m even more curious to see where they go with him as the guy who tried his hardest and still came up short, so where mentally does he go from here. Even if he wasn’t able to beat Gaara, he’s still a winner in my heart.

  Danni: I really, really wanted him to win, but I’m at least satisfied with how he lost. He fought to the bitter end, past the brink of consciousness. I have a sneaking suspicion his ninja days aren’t over yet.

  Kevin: This is largely why I think people love Lee so much. Sure, you got to see him grow in power immensely during his fight, but he really endears himself to the audience by not giving up on his dreams, even when literally everyone is telling him that there is no hope of achieving them.

  David: Always, always a fan of when stories get you excited about a character, have them lose or fail in some way, yet manage to only leverage that to make you like them even more. Rock Lee is a huge winner in that area.

  And on that note, the one-on-one battle portion of the exams was a popular arc. Is this new arc jarring? Is it a welcome change? How are you all adjusting to the post-exam arc?

  Kara: I loved the battles so much, and I loved finally getting to meet a lot of these other characters. But after all that, I really am kind of ready to bring it back down to our protagonist again. Unlike the bit before the Chunin Exam, though, I feel like this period of time is letting us see the growth of the characters and letting those events take hold more permanently. Like, even Ino and Sakura are showing growth in their friendship.

  Joseph: With just a couple post-battle episodes, I haven’t quite settled in yet. I’m completely fine with some downtime, though. Naruto is generally pretty good at its peaks and valleys.

  Peter: I forgot they got an entire month. This is where my perception of time got really messed up because I felt like Sasuke Retrieval was right after Chunin Exams. Wasn’t even sure whether Naruto learned his super move before the last stretch. Seems like a huge amount of time considering there are supposed to be a ton of diplomats in town ready to watch the event.

  Paul: After all of the intense combat of the Forest of Death and the preliminary matches, I liked that they took some time to focus on everyone training for The Final Test. I liked the idea that Naruto has been brute-forcing his away along while relying on his superhuman stamina, and I liked that the focus of his training involves Naruto learning how to manipulate his Chakra with finesse. We also get a glimpse at the bigger picture, with the various Villages plotting intrigues against one another. It's a welcome change of pace.

  Jared: The way the show has been moving at such a rapid pace with the Forest of Death and all the fights, there needed to be some downtime. After coming off the highs of those last few fights, it did feel somewhat like the show slammed the brakes, but that hasn’t wavered my anticipation of the final parts of this arc.

  Danni: It hasn’t been as jarring as I thought it might be. I tend to like one-on-one training arcs that really lean into a character’s strengths and weaknesses, teaching them how to make use of both. I didn’t think Naruto would ever use a summoning jutsu, so I’m eager to see him ride some big frogs in the future. Again, though, why Jiraiya???

  Kevin: In short, I wish that the preliminaries hadn’t happened. Just cut out the prelims, change nothing else, and then add in the prelim fights as the first round of the main third Exam. This month of downtime is great for introducing new mentors and getting the Genin to have new abilities, but it really doesn’t work well when it comes between two sets of 1-on-1 fights with high emotional stakes.

  David: Honestly, it mostly just seems weird that they would put such a huge gap in what’s essentially the middle of an exam. Imagine taking a test, you get two-thirds in, and then your professor tells everyone to go home and study some more for the last part. Bizarre.

  As always, high points and low points. What you got?

  Kara: High point, absolutely where we left off, with Naruto finally confronting the Nine-Tailed Fox. Close second being my perfect son Rock Lee still trying to train even while in multiple casts. Low point is any and all Sexy Jutsus, and this probably won’t change.

  Joseph: Low point: Jiraiya’s introduction and almost every scene he’s in here. High point: Naruto’s attempts to use summoning jutsu resulting in increasingly less tiny frog children.

  Peter: Low point was Jiraiya. High point Naruto confronting his inner demon. Pretty straightforward this time.

  Paul: High point: Choji Akimichi finally getting to eat some BBQ, which is a welcome reward after he got completely punked in his preliminary match. Low point: Jiraiya.

  Jared: Low point was all the sexy jutsu and Jiraiya being Jiraiya. High point would be Rock Lee continuing to be the best even when he’s hurt and Naruto finally facing off against the Nine-Tailed Fox.

  Danni: High point was seeing everyone acknowledge Rock Lee even in his defeat. I don’t really have a low point this time around ha ha just kidding it’s Jiraiya.

  Kevin: High Point: I know that it started in last week’s episodes, but I will always love Lee’s fight, and I absolutely adore the Eight Inner Gates as a concept. The only thing that can content with it for top moment is Lee doing push ups outside the hospital, due to the sheer emotional weight of the scene. Low Point: Worst moment is probably the first time that Jiraiya sees Naruto’s Sexy Jutsu, for reasons discussed above. Other Point: As for another moment I want to shout out: Everything to do with Naruto’s seal and chakra control. Sure, we’ve seen him as a screw up throughout much of the series, but when he is serious about training, he can honestly learn and grow very quickly. We’re also getting the first steps of controlling the Kyubei’s chakra, which will have major impacts to the latter part of the series.

  David: Agreed with this set being straightforward. High point is Rock Lee’s everything, low point is Jiraiya’s poor introduction.

  COUNTERS:

"I'm gonna be Hokage!" count: 2, 21 total

Bowls of ramen consumed: 26 bowls! 28 bowls, 3 cups total

Shadow Clones: 96, 216 total

  And that's everything for this week! Remember that you're always welcome to join us for this rewatch, especially if you haven't watched the original Naruto!

  Here's our upcoming schedule!

  -Next week, on MARCH 15th, EPISODES 57-63 will be hosted by DANNI WILMOTH!

-Then, on MARCH 22nd, NICOLE MEJIAS will host EPISODES 64-70!

-On MARCH 29th, DANIEL DOCKERY will dive into some Hokage fights in EPISODES 71-77!

Have any thoughts on this week's episodes? Let us know in the comments! Or ask us some questions for next week's installment on episodes 57-63!

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Carolyn Burke is a writer for Crunchyroll, Bunny Ears, and Cracked. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.

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