#anyway i just LOVE seeing kakashi break the rules
Note
2.- was sasuke right? || 3.- were naruto's intentions with sasuke selfish? || 8.- show a screenshot of your latest draft with no context ((always gonna pick the excuse to see sneak peeks lol)) || 14.-openings or endings?
For the Controversial Naruto Take Ask
2 - was sasuke right?
I'd like to preface this by saying I find it utterly insane how everyone (in canon and also a bit in the fandom tbh) says stuff about sasuke needing to atone for his crimes and whatnot when he literally has never killed anyone in the whole series. Even Naruto has, and he hasn't. And it's explicitly said that he has gone out of his way not to, and that he has asked Taka not to either while they were working for him. So, of course, the whole barging in at the gokage summit thing was not very cordial, but compared to what most of the characters have done, he's pretty fine. (Kakashi kills a child in the very first arc, may I remind everyone.)
Anyway. If the question is "Was Sasuke right about wanting a revolution and to take down Konoha's government?" I mean. Yes, I think that genocide is bad and that states that have been built in a way that allows and, furthermore, have flourished on them, should be undermined. I don't know if he was going to have a plan for that that would have led to something more functional to be built, I'll give you that, but yes Homura and Koharu should have died in a jail cell decades ago.
The part where he went full "I am going to become an eternal god hated by all and ruling by fear" was probably ill-advised though.
3 - were naruto's intentions with sasuke selfish?
That's an interesting question because I've never thought about it like that? I think that one thing happening in their dynamic is that they have very similar problems and trauma, but very different ways to react to it. And so they can relate to the other's motivation, but tend to think "but you are being mistaken about the solution because I know how to solve this and it's not that". But the truth is they are both traumatised teenagers willing to literally die for attention and a feeling of accomplishment and purpose, so I don't think either of them really has it figured out 😭
I don't think that Naruto's intentions with Sasuke were selfish, in the sense that I think he genuinely was doing what he was doing with the belief that it was the right way and that it would help and save him (which, for a part at least, it did). But maybe it was selfish in that he wasn't able to consider that because just he is seeing one path out of his problems and pain, then that path has to be right for Sasuke as well. To consider that he was a different person who maybe needed to make different choices and that's okay.
Not to do my self-promo but actually yesdo this authors, it's good: this is part of what I wanted to explore in Take You Heart Above The Water. Sasuke cannot (and as a matter of fact, in canon, does not) come back to Konoha and integrate into it the way Naruto does. And it's not necessarily a good goal for him to have. They have different relationships with the village, the people, different needs, or maybe similar ones but different ways to meet them. Helping people grow and feel happy and loved doesn't always mean helping them have the same life as you do.
8 - show a screenshot of your latest draft with no context
The last thing I worked I just posted it, so I'm going to take sneak peek of the last WIP I've worked on. It's All Bones and a Beating Heart, my ShikaChou modern AU.
The breaks in his voice takes him by surprise like a tide rising while one’s looking away, only catching back their attention when the cold water reaches their feet. The admission he’s about to make has been building in the back of his mind for weeks, unspeakable but unshakable too, feeding on him like a parasite that will now gush out through his throat after having overgrown his guts, and there’s nothing he can do to stop it.
His lashes stick with tears when he blinks and his lips are dry when they part.
“I don’t want anything in me anymore.”
Fun times 👍
14 - openings or endings?
I'm gonna say endings just for Nakushita Kotoba.
Thank you for asking!!
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Some kind of follower event or other.
im very sorry if you follow both blogs and have to see this double. ily for following both tho. special love and kisses to you.
In celebration of my 1000 follower milestone on a blog I pretty much abandoned (@wind-becomes-lightning) and my 100 followers on the blog that I am now using (@konohamaru-sensei) (and because I really love doing things for others), I’m hosting a little cross blog event. I anticipate that most of the entries will be from friends anyway and gifting friends makes little Nisi happy.
So, what are we going to do? Well. You have the choice. Either you request a little story from one of the prompt lists (please specify or send the prompt) or you send me a link to a reference and I will do an art. Either or is fine if you adhere to the rules
Stories will be around 1k length (maybe longer if I’m feeling it)
Artworks only for up to 2 people (You can look at art refs in my pinterest board if you don't have an idea.)
Off Anon only. (If you feel embarrassed please just dm me beforehand so I know it is you sending anons, or at least sign the request with your name, thanks!)
One request per person. (Q, I love you, but I still have like 5 requests of yours in my waiting list)
Absolutely no requests for “no-no ships” and “no-no characters” allowed.
OC requests only if you are from the Anxiety Anonymous server or if I have written for your oc before. (You may of course request my ocs if you care)
You can send Naruto related requests to any blog, but send any other fandoms to @konohamaru-sensei
Reader inserts are fine, as long as they are done with Yes-please characters.
Fandom list for this time:
Naruto (obv)
Fairy Tail
Haikyuu
JJK
MHA
One Piece
Prompt lists:
Romantic
Spicy
Angsty
Kisses
Recent art examples x - x - x - x
If you send me a “Yes-Always” ship or a “yes-please” character I will prioritise your request, because it will be more fun for me, but anything is welcome as long as you don’t break the rules.
I will leave this open until I feel like closing it. In my experience, there wont be too much anyway.
Ok thanks, BYE.
Ship list under cut.
Yes-Always Ships
Naruto: OBKK | KKYM | OBYM | OBKKYM | OBKKRIN | SAIINO
Fairy Tail: Jerza | Gruvia | Gruvion | Luvia
JJK: SatoSugu
HQ: Oikawa x Kuroo
Yes-Please Characters
Naruto: Kakashi, Obito, Yamato, Konohamaru, Hinata
Fairy Tail: Lyon, Erza, Juvia, Jellal, Gray, Rogue, Loke
Haikyuu: Kuroo, Oikawa, Hinata, Bokuto
JJK: Gojo, Geto, Yuuji, Choso, Maki
MHA: Hawks, Iida, Dabi
One Piece: Sanji, Robin, Law, Zoro, Luffy, Sabo, Ace
No-No Ships
For all fandoms: no inces-t, no teacher and student, no mentor and student, no adult and child
Naruto: S-NS | Na-ruSa-ku | Kaka-Ga-i| InoS-aku
Fairy Tail: Gajeel x Juv ia | Gra L u | Gr arza
Haikyuu: Iwao i | Kurook en | Suga x D aichi
JJK: any yuuji ship
MHA: Ba-kuD-eku
One Piece: Lu ffy x A c e
No-No-Characters
Naruto: Sa suke, Ma dara
Haikyuu: Tsukish ima
JJK: To ji, Na oya
One Piece: P udding
Every ship not mentioned here is one I am fine with, but not in love with. Which means you can request it just fine.
this whole thing will probably fail spectacularily and i will feel like shit but i mean... no risk no depressive hole to dig myself in later, so whats the fun?
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Some kind of follower event or other.
im very sorry if you follow both blogs and have to see this double. ily for following both tho. special love and kisses to you
In celebration of my 1000 follower milestone on a blog I pretty much abandoned (@wind-becomes-lightning) and my 100 followers on the blog that I am now using (@konohamaru-sensei) (and because I really love doing things for others), I’m hosting a little cross blog event. I anticipate that most of the entries will be from friends anyway and gifting friends makes little Nisi happy.
So, what are we going to do? Well. You have the choice. Either you request a little story from one of the prompt lists (please specify or send the prompt) or you send me a link to a reference and I will do an art. Either or is fine if you adhere to the rules
Stories will be around 1k length (maybe longer if I’m feeling it)
Artworks only for up to 2 people (You can look at art refs in my pinterest board if you don't have an idea.)
Off Anon only. (If you feel embarrassed please just dm me beforehand so I know it is you sending anons, or at least sign the request with your name, thanks!)
One request per person. (Q, I love you, but I still have like 5 requests of yours in my waiting list)
Absolutely no requests for “no-no ships” and “no-no characters” allowed.
OC requests only if you are from the Anxiety Anonymous server or if I have written for your oc before. (You may of course request my ocs if you care)
You can send Naruto related requests to any blog, but send any other fandoms to @konohamaru-sensei
Reader inserts are fine, as long as they are done with Yes-please characters.
Fandom list for this time:
Naruto (obv)
Fairy Tail
Haikyuu
JJK
MHA
One Piece
Prompt lists:
Romantic
Spicy
Angsty
Kisses
Recent art examples x - x - x - x
If you send me a “Yes-Always” ship or a “yes-please” character I will prioritise your request, because it will be more fun for me, but anything is welcome as long as you don’t break the rules.
I will leave this open until I feel like closing it. In my experience, there wont be too much anyway.
Ok thanks, BYE.
Ship list under cut.
Yes-Always Ships
Naruto: OBKK | KKYM | OBYM | OBKKYM | OBKKRIN | SAIINO
Fairy Tail: Jerza | Gruvia | Gruvion | Luvia
JJK: SatoSugu
HQ: Oikawa x Kuroo
Yes-Please Characters
Naruto: Kakashi, Obito, Yamato, Konohamaru, Hinata
Fairy Tail: Lyon, Erza, Juvia, Jellal, Gray, Rogue, Loke
Haikyuu: Kuroo, Oikawa, Hinata, Bokuto
JJK: Gojo, Geto, Yuuji, Choso, Maki
MHA: Hawks, Iida, Dabi
One Piece: Sanji, Robin, Law, Zoro, Luffy, Sabo, Ace
No-No Ships
For all fandoms: no inces-t, no teacher and student, no mentor and student, no adult and child
Naruto: S-NS | Na-ruSa-ku | Kaka-Ga-i| InoS-aku
Fairy Tail: Gajeel x Juv ia | Gra L u | Gr arza
Haikyuu: Iwao i | Kurook en | Suga x D aichi
JJK: any yuuji ship
MHA: Ba-kuD-eku
One Piece: Lu ffy x A c e
No-No-Characters
Naruto: Sa suke, Ma dara
Haikyuu: Tsukish ima
JJK: To ji, Na oya
One Piece: P udding
Every ship not mentioned here is one I am fine with, but not in love with. Which means you can request it just fine.
this whole thing will probably fail spectacularily and i will feel like shit but i mean... no risk no depressive hole to dig myself in later, so whats the fun?
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The Shinobi Rules
Silirt
Chapter 34: Ninja Swarm
Chapter Text
Both of them could easily walk across the surface of still water, and running across it was just a matter of putting in more energy. It took exponentially more, and substantially greater chakra control, to run across moving water. He sighed and tried to think of something else, perhaps just to check the box, and decided that there was still a chance that his teammate was in danger.
They were running again, and focusing even more than they were the previous day. It was the worst time they had ever traveled a long distance together, at least according to him. There was no sign of a ship or Kakashi, but there was nothing to do but keep moving. They could not hear each other even if they were to scream, not with the sound of the waves and wind. Obito’s bones were chattering and his entire body was protesting as he burned chakra launching himself across the water. They came to what looked like an island, or a floating mass of ice, and they landed on it without having to agree to anything.
“Do you… think Kakashi might’ve landed here?”
“He would have been an idiot to go the whole way… without taking a break,” Rin said, her chest heaving. She had pretty good chakra reserves, and even better control, but she was as tired as he was. “He wouldn’t have left any clues for us to follow, though. Either we go across by ourselves or we’re not good enough for him to care. I could see him saying something like that.”
It was not relevant to what they were trying to do at the moment, but he appreciated the fact that his teammate did not, apparently, appreciate the personality of his other teammate. Combined with the fact that he had already told her that he liked spending time with her and thought she was cool, things were just getting better and better. Was he getting ahead of himself?
“Well, we need to get there ourselves,” he said after a moment. “If we can’t find him out here, and he’s fine, then he’ll do the same thing before long, but if he’s gone and crossed already…” He cut himself off. There was no point in reiterating.
After a few hours of sitting around and waking each other up to make sure they didn’t fall asleep out on the frozen rock, or whatever it was, he was even more annoyed at the intense concentration he had to put into doing nothing than he had been at racing across the waves at blinding speed. It was even more frustrating that he was spending time with Rin, but neither of them could be said to be in the mood for conversation. Was she going to think he was boring? Obviously, it would be unfair of her to base her idea of him on the difficulty of the mission, but people were not always fair. Maybe I could tell myself that she was bad for me if she rejected me for the wrong reason, but…
He told himself he was getting ahead of himself again, as pointless as it was. It was supposed to be girls worrying about weird love things anyway, not boys; he was meant to be focused on the mission and doing cool things. Would she think he was a puppet of his heart if he confessed his feelings to her? Why was he even so worried in the first place? As long as Kakashi had no interest in her…
“We’re going,” he said, rising to full height. “If he’s been this way, we’ll see the cracks in the ice shelf soon. If not, he’ll see ours when he follows after us.” He could lament about the fact that they split up in the first place, but that was behind them now.
“You’re probably right. We’re not recovering much of our chakra out here,” Rin said, looking around. “The only way we survive the next twelve hours or so is if we get to a place where we can really recover, and it might as well be where we’re supposed to be going.”
They were running across the water again. He was not talking to her, not figuring out what she liked, how she felt, or relating anything to her, but at least they were making progress, so it was a welcome change. If I wanted to spend time with her, then I should just ask her out- then I wouldn’t need an excuse. No wonder Kakashi thinks I’m not focused on the missions enough.
The ice shelf was broken, like they thought, but they did not know whether or not to be relieved. Not only did it mean that running across would be harder for them, it meant that their teammate was already ahead of them with no thought to inform them. Obito was sure that when they caught up with him, their annoyance would be met with a simple shrug and he would say that they should have realized it was always part of the plan to take advantage of the fishers and get out as far as they could before running the rest of the way.
“He better-“ he started, muttering under his breath as he ran. “There better be a hotel on the other side of this.” When he glanced behind him, however, he realized he would have taken most anything on the other side of the sea, because a wave was coming. “WAVE! RUN!”
They were already running, but they could both move even faster if they pushed themselves. Hopping between the floating pieces of ice, the sea beneath them swelled disturbingly as they ran, like the world was turning. He saw only a panicked look in Rin’s eyes as they both realized the wave was going to hit them one way or another and he tackled her through it the moment he saw a path to a sizeable chunk of ice. The wave passed and they rose shakily to their feet, drenched, but at least with footing. He had never been so grateful for the ability to push off something.
What was truly confusing was that as they continued their mad rush for the shore, the ice got thicker to where it seemed like Kakashi’s feet had not broken it, but the wave was breaking it just fine. Perhaps it was meant to be humbling that the forces of nature were still more powerful than they were, but there was something about what he was seeing that fundamentally did not make sense, like a puzzle with a piece just jammed in there.
When they reached the thicker ice, they could propel themselves more quickly, but they were both almost out of chakra. Unfortunately, it seemed no harbor town was ahead of them. Even as Obito had only just been thinking that he would be happy with anything other than the waves, it seemed what awaited them was certain death.
“There!” Rin shrieked, pointing ahead of them. He had not been focusing on details of the shore, but when he looked, he saw that a tent had been set up. Well, it’s better than nothing.
He had little enough time to celebrate the small victory of finding their teammate before another wave came up from behind them. They were almost entirely out of energy and in desperation it almost made sense to try to hold onto a piece of ice in hopes it would carry them forward. Grabbing each other’s hands, he had never felt so frightened for his teammate, not in Awa no Mura, not in the Chunin exams, not in the land of earth- never had her hand felt so close to death, cold as the grave.
She was right there and there was nothing he could do.
The wave crashed and everything went black. Obito was in complete disbelief about the fact that he had only just been worried about his future with a kunoichi who was dying right next to him. It was all he could do to hold onto her as he lost consciousness.
When he woke up, he was next to a roaring fire. Soaked to his skin as he was, he stripped off his clothes without hardly thinking about it, looking over to see Kakashi and Rin, one conscious, the other still asleep.
“Why’d you run off without telling us?” he asked.
“I thought it was obvious.”
In a way, he had predicted just that, and yet he found he did not care.
“You took all our stuff here,” he said, looking around. He and Rin had not taken anything other than the disguises they had been wearing. “How’d you get the fishers to let you take it onto the ship?”
“I made them a simple deal and they were wise enough, or perhaps desperate enough, to take it. I offered a sum of gold as collateral in case my plan did not work.” That’s right; when we went to get our stuff before the mission, he must’ve grabbed some of the ryo we got from the last mission.
“You used a technique to get them a load of fish. I thought we were supposed to be keeping a low profile.”
“They would never admit that some child helped them do their job,” he said. “It was easy to persuade them to keep it confidential when they already had a reason. What I needed of them was for them to take me to the ice shelf, so that I could move my supplies to the ice, and then I promised to get them the fish they wanted, and I did. I used an earth technique on the seabed-“
“Well, why’d you do all this without telling us?”
“I thought it was obvious.”
“We had no idea where you were. We thought the ship you were in might have sunk, or maybe you ran into another ninja-“
“If I had, I would have run across the water to complete the mission,” he said. “I would have thought that before now, I’d impressed upon you that completing the mission is my priority, generally.”
“Fine,” Obito said. “Is Rin okay?”
“She should wake up soon. Dry your clothes out before then; she’ll want a chance to do the same when we’re not around.”
“Yeah,” he said, not having anything else. It was remarkably considerate of his teammate to think of something like that, and he should really be thanked for saving both of their lives, but perhaps still blamed for making things so difficult. Would it have been that hard to tell them that he had a plan to get their gear across the water? How were he and Rin meant to respond to that exact plan, if they were meant to simultaneously guess that he had come up with it?
“It’s a good thing you had a death grip on her hand,” Kakashi said after a moment. “I would have had a harder time carrying you both back to shore if you had been separate.” He would have liked to pretend that he had thought of that, but somehow it seemed pointless.
When he had his clothes mostly dried out, he joined his teammate in scouting the place out, making sure that no one had seen them. Yukigakure might well exist, but was probably not staffed well enough to defend the entire country, at least not passively. It was doubtful that any sensor types had picked up on their arrival, but it was the procedure to check, and check they would.
“You know, I still don’t agree with the way you went ahead without coordinating with us,” he said. “It’s one thing to trust us to figure out something obvious, but if you’d come back to the shore, you could’ve told us about that island.
“Island?”
“There was this frozen rock in the middle of the sea,” he said. “It was pretty low to the surface of the water, so it’d be hard to see it from a distance, I guess, but it helped Rin and me when we were going across as a halfway point. Also, what was with those waves?”
“At first I thought it was the tide coming in,” Kakashi said after a moment. “The thing about that is, there’s no way you’d have an ice shelf freezing over that thick once every twelve hours. That was permafrost.”
“If they were getting waves like that every day, the ice never would have been able to form into a shelf like that,” he reasoned, agreeing. “I don’t know how we lived through that, but I think someone- or something- spotted us.”
“It wasn’t something that wanted to reveal its own presence,” his teammate said, looking around. “That much we know. We’re not the only ones interested in the land of snow, showing up uninvited.”
They went back to find their teammate to see if she had woken up yet, and it appeared that rather than undressing, she switched into a spare change of clothes after drying herself off. Guess she didn’t know when we’d be back. Filling in the gaps for her was simple enough.
“We have to be on the lookout for basically every other ninja in the world,” she said at length. “Everyone else probably knows that Konoha has an interest in being here because of our situation, Rai doesn’t have any other allies, Kiri is going to try to take advantage of the water release connection- I wouldn’t be surprised if someone from the land of iron showed up.”
“They tend to stay out of the affairs of shinobi,” Kakashi said. “They’re rarely even covered in the academy.”
“What if that’s what the Daimyo wants, though?” Obito asked. “What if he wants someone who isn’t caught up in a spiderweb of alliances already?”
“Are you suggesting we might have to deal with samurai protecting our target?” he asked, sighing. “We might as well account for the chance that Sunagakure will send someone here.”
“We still need to rest,” Rin said. “I just regained consciousness and you’re probably tired after dragging us out of the water. We need to get to sleep.” She looked over at the fire. “As much as I don’t like it, we need to stop sending smoke signals all across the country.”
It was clear enough, as they got ready to sleep, that Kakashi had not had any reason to suspect that there would be other ninja getting in the way of their assignment, but it hardly mattered. Had he not built a fire, his two teammates probably would have died. It’s funny, though. I’m usually the one who starts the fire because I can get anything lit with a basic Katon. Did he figure it was going to take a while for us to get here?
When they went to bed, he remembered that early in his survival training, it came up that to help someone who was dying of hypothermia, the trick was to get out of the wet clothes, dry off, and then get in bed together, and stay like that until the other person started responding. The human body was an absolute furnace and when one was put directly up against another, the heat had nowhere to go. Wearing clothes or throwing blankets over oneself had a way of slowing down the loss of temperature, but consistently there was nothing that could beat the body heat of another person.
Taking the first watch, as always, he told himself that this time his jealousy was at least relatively reasonable. No one wanted to be the only one outside while the other two were warming each other up inside the tent, and yet, with the heightened danger of the mission, they could not afford not to have someone watching at night. His mind drifted to how they had returned home after deciding Takigakure was impassible for some reason.
It was obvious that they had to go through Kusa again, but after they had said that they would avoid it, and they lacked the paperwork to show anyone, the only thing to do was sneak back through slowly and carefully. They were not explicitly losing points by anyone’s account for the fact that they did not return from the mission quickly, but generally the Hokage liked to be informed as soon as possible whenever the mission was complete.
When at last it was his turn to sleep, he held the sleeping Rin and tried not to think too much about how they could have died a matter of hours ago. He tried not to let the excitement get to him. Though he did not know her feelings, he could suspect that the last thing she wanted was for him to lack any self control, or for him to lack respect for her boundaries. At the same time, one shiver was all he needed to put his weight on her. It was a unique feeling in his exhausted state of semi-consciousness; he had every reason to think that his dreams would be about protecting her from a frost ninja, and perhaps he was, in a sense.
They got an early start for an inability to sleep any more and they were in their disguises in the capital city in a matter of hours. Everyone around them had exposed skin, if only a little, so they stuck out as foreigners, but they needed to not be recognized more than not stick out, and they knew that they would not be the only ones. Walking down the frozen streets, they saw a trio of warmly dressed visitors audaciously postured on a nearby rooftop.
“Well, they’re not even trying,” he muttered. “Is it illegal for them to be here?”
“It’s impossible for Yukigakure to enforce without revealing that it exists. People probably know that the Daimyo has a small guard of ninja, but they couldn’t keep everyone out by themselves.”
“That’s something that we haven’t discussed,” Rin said after a moment. “What’s Dotou’s plan here? How does he survive the consequences of his own actions when he was informed that we’d come here and kill him?”
“He doesn’t want to work with the rock ninjas, not after that didn’t go well,” Obito speculated. “My guess is he just gets someone else to work with him. It was pretty likely from the beginning that the Hokage would send the three of us because we already know something about the royal family, so he thinks to himself, he’ll kill the three of us, and then see what Konoha does.” He sighed. “Our promise to protect Sosetsu was basically secret. We are basically only here because we threatened someone, and we can’t let him think our threats are meaningless.”
“If we send a long train of assassins, it just looks like Konoha has it out for Yuki,” Kakashi said. “Everyone else likely accepts him as the legitimate ruler of the land of snow, even if he got the position under suspicious circumstances. Everything’s suspicious when you have to deal with shinobi; most people get used to it.”
“Do you think anyone heard about the chakra armor?” Rin asked.
“The rock ninjas wouldn’t have told anyone. They wouldn’t have had any reason. I can’t see Dotou saying anything; that was basically our agreement with him, and at the time he seemed content to have it go back to being a secret. He needs the technology as a means of protecting his own regime within the country; he’s not as concerned with how his country fares in the world.”
“So, it follows that a lot of these assassins are going to fail because they don’t know what he has up his sleeves.”
“We don’t know that they’re all assassins,” Kakashi said, looking down another street. “Some of them probably want to offer their services.”
As much as that prospect complicated things for three assassins, it seemed far more likely that their target would die than be protected, even if the majority of the foreign ninja wanted to arrange a deal with him. Even with sensor types and defensive jutsu, the shinobi was more of a spear than a shield, and it had always been that way. If someone else got to him first, their reward would probably be lessened, but the Hokage’s objective would still have been achieved. It could not be said that Konoha failed to avenge a man’s death if someone else got to the killer first.
The palace was not in town, and they knew as much, but they were looking for information on the recent movements of the Daimyo. They turned down an alleyway that looked promising for some reason, keeping eyes out for interlopers.
“Obito, your eyes are red,” Rin said.
“Genjutsu,” Kakashi deduced. “Lucky we’ve got our faithful illusion alarm-“ He grabbed a hand that was going for his throat, putting his feet against a nearby wall and bringing down his attacker. It was a kunoichi, and one they recognized.
“Jin,” he said. “Did you get a new partner?” He and Rin looked around and two other ninja came out with their hands up.
“Ryochu,” Rin said, recognizing one of them instantly. “Care to introduce your friend?”
“We’re allies,” Ryochu said. “There’s no need to have a blade to Jin’s neck.” He looked over to his other teammate, who had to be the genjutsu expert. “His name’s Wakoucha.” The young man had black skin, but it was hard to tell if he had been born like that or if he had been tattooed to hell and back. His face was hidden by a strange mask, a laughing cat of some sort.
“That’s nice to know,” Obito said. “We don’t like attacking allies, and we’re sure you didn’t mean to attack us, but everyone has to be careful around here.” He looked around. “What do you say we work together? You’re here to kill the Daimyo, right?”
“No. We’re investigating the old one’s death.”
“You don’t know, then,” Kakashi said, having released Jin. “The man’s brother is almost certainly responsible. However he had it done, he’s the only one with motive. Kazahana Sosetsu might have been a bit naïve for my taste, but he was a wise leader who was protecting the interests of the land of snow. By all accounts, the citizens liked him.”
“You don’t know that he did it,” Jin said. “Besides, we might uncover how he made it look like an accident, if it’s as you say, and the accident was fake.”
“Investigate all you want, but stay out of-“
“We know,” Ryochu said. “We didn’t mean to attack you; we just didn’t recognize you and it looked like you were looking for us. The moment I saw your friend’s eyes go red, I tried to call it off, but it was too late. We’re under orders not to interfere with any Konoha or Yu teams while we’re here.”
“One last thing,” Rin said. “Do you know anything about secret technology in this country?”
“No, why, did you want some?”
“Yeah,” Obito lied. “We heard a rumor that there might be some here, and we were going to look into it while we were going through the Daimyo’s stuff, if we got the chance, but if it’s just a rurmor…”
“Everyone’s here for somewhat different reasons, then,” Kakashi reasoned, communicating that the other countries probably did not know about the chakra armor, in a manner that would not reveal anything to their allies. Why are we keeping secrets from them, though? Is it just a good habit?
When the two teams parted once more, it was decided that the place to go was the palace. Perhaps the Hokage did not see any point in looking into the accident, but the visitors from Cha were right about one thing- it was time to get to the bottom of this.
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The Shinobi Rules
Silirt
Chapter 35: Expectations and Reality
Chapter Text
The central problem with trying to ask anyone questions about the Daimyo’s movements was the fact that everyone had to at least suspect there were foreign ninja in the land of snow. Perhaps they could pretend to be there to offer their services, but then they would be asked to identify themselves, and if their general descriptions reached the head office before they did, most likely he would disappear and they would have to track him down.
“Do you really think he’s just going to be sitting around in his palace?” Obito had asked on the way there. “He knows assassins are coming after him, so isn’t that too obvious?”
“We don’t know that he’s there, but that’s where we’ll pick up some information,” Kakashi said. “We can’t afford to act like we’re looking for the Daimyo.”
“So, we’re going to his house?”
“We don’t have a lot of options,” Rin said. “We probably don’t have a lot of time, either. There could be a Jonin team offering him their protection, and then killing him gets a lot harder.”
“What do they think that he can do for them, though?” Obito asked. “They don’t know about the tech, they know Shimo got destroyed by Rai the last time we were over there- why would they think that the snow ninjas are going to be any stronger?”
“It’s just another ally for some of them,” Kakashi said. “The Raikage probably wants to strongarm them into accepting subjugation. That was part of the point of killing the frost ninjas; it was to make an example of them. The Mizukage, though- I can’t rule out the chance that he wants to surround us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, look at it this way. You’ve got Riwa and Ame in the west, Kiri in the east, Taki in the northwest and Nami in the south. The only direction they don’t have covered is the north.”
“If all of them invaded Konoha at once, would it be enough?”
“I don’t really know; we’ve got some other allies, but I can see why they would think it would be enough. They’re using water release or some variant, and that has the edge against fire release, and with the strategic advantage of attacking from all directions, it would be hard to stop. How they’re going to sell it, though, is as a holy mission of the true doctrine of Ninshu, fated to snuff out the Will of Fire.”
“That makes even less sense,” he said. “The religion wasn’t supposed to be about killing people. If they want to get to the hidden village, they’re going to have to destroy most of the country.”
“They know that,” Rin said after a moment. “It’s just the only way they have of knocking us off the top spot. They’ve already accepted the fact that they’re going to have to take countless lives, and I would be willing to bet that they have already come up with some justification for it.”
“Is Ninshu real?” Obito asked. “We keep talking about it like it’s just a given, but is the religion actually real? Are the stories actual fact?”
“Does it matter?” Kakashi asked. “If they believe it-“
“Yeah, it matters, because what if everyone said that? What if they think that Konoha believes it and that’s the only reason they try to work these bizarre metaphors into their military strategy?”
“We don’t know,” Rin said, looking around. They had walked out into the country, and it was going to be a bit before they reached the palace, not that they could afford to speed up. “No one alive today was around when the Sage of Six Paths was alive, so it comes down to whether or not you believe it. He could have faked evidence, and evidence could have been faked since then. I’m sorry if that’s not a satisfying answer, but it’s the only one I have.
He really was annoyed, but the last thing he wanted was to take that out on his teammate. She was only trying to help. Maybe when we get back I can ask anyone who might know something. There might be a book on the subject. Though he had never learned as well when reading out of a book as he did from practical experience, there were some things he had no other way of learning and he was able to buckle down and study if it came down to that.
None of his teachers, as far back as he remembered, had ever had anything particularly bad to say about him except for his promptness. If anything, he was above average. What changed when he got assigned to a team with Kakashi was not what they knew about him, or what they had reason to believe, but their expectations. My own expectations for myself changed too. I’ve always wanted to be something, but now I have to go for Hokage. I can’t back down now.
When they arrived at the palace, the obvious thing to do was to look around and talk to anyone who would not be suspicious of them, but visitors were not allowed without invitation. It was not like the palace of the Fire Daimyo, which was mostly open to the public most days- in this castle, even if a party was being thrown, only certain guests would be admitted. There were warning signs about foreign shinobi around the outside.
“I just thought of something,” Obito said after a moment. “Doesn’t he still not have a wife?”
“Yeah,” Rin said. “There’s a chance that some of the ninja here are actually escorting some noble beauty from their own country to see if he has any interest in her, and, by extension, an alliance.”
“We couldn’t have brought one here as a pretext,” Kakashi said. “We’re here to make his death look like an accident, not a gold digger’s backup plan.”
“Yeah, but if he dies, who gets the throne?”
“Technically, it goes to Sosetu’s child, Koyuki. She’s only a little kid, though, so she’d get a choice of regents to appoint.”
His lip straightened. He was only slightly older than a child himself, and he was sure the distinction was meaningless to a lot of people. Sandaime, perhaps, gave him difficult missions that at least seemed to be of great importance after the three year mission turned out to be more important than anyone realized. Maybe we can try to get through to her so she doesn’t get manipulated by any advisers. Is that our job, though?
“We need a different pretext,” he said. “If we want to visit the palace, we need a reason, and we don’t have a real reason.”
“I’m thinking that we could go there on request of one of the royal guard,” Rin said. “We could forge a letter from Nadare, requesting our presence, and if he denies it, we would at least have some reason to claim we were just doing what the letter said without realizing it was fake.”
“That’s a good idea, but we’d still have to identify ourselves,” he said. “Yukigakure isn’t supposed to exist, but those guys probably show their faces. If I wanted to make a use of a ninja village without letting anyone know it was a thing, then its shinobi would be wearing normal clothes, and just pretend to be mechanics or plumbers whenever anyone asked.”
“That’s why we need to avoid being spotted,” Kakashi said. “We can’t afford to be recognized; he’d know we were here to kill him and at the very least, he’d have us followed by the three adult ninja who are guarding him, and then we’d have no way to make his death look like an accident. Maybe someone else would take the chance to kill him, but when? No one else even knows about the secret technology.”
“He’s right,” Obito said. “At this point, the target probably wears the chakra armor in the shower. We know it’s a lot better than the Earth Daimyo thinks it is, so whatever we use to kill him, it can’t be a ninjutsu or a genjutsu, like getting him to walk of a cliff or something.”
“If that’s the case, then we’ll have to get an idea of his schedule by sneaking around the palace without being invited in,” Rin said. “We’ll have to get past the guards, when we don’t even know what kind of sensor types they might be using. I have to question the Hokage’s wisdom in sending us. We might know more about the land of snow than some other ninja, but because of the chakra armor, we can’t use genjutsu to disguise ourselves and covering our faces isn’t viable.”
They both looked at Kakashi, who did not immediately call her an idiot or a traitor for questioning their orders. Maybe he doesn’t care as long as we follow them. She was right one way or another, though- even as a last minute trick, they could not use henge to pass themselves off as servants or something.
“All I’m going to say to that is that no one else would know,” he said, sighing. “We personally tested the secret technology, and our ultimate task is to kill the target. There’s no way to do this with eyes on us; we just have to accept that.”
“Okay,” Obito said after a moment. “We’ll have to split up. Don’t take any unnecessary risks. If we can’t get in, we wait for him to come out; we can’t get spotted no matter what.”
They separated without another word. Taking an approach that made sense to him, he ran to the top of a nearby snowdrift. The guards were all visible from what he could tell, and they were not standing in a circle around the palace, which itself was square, so it stood to reason they were not using a standard border of fuinjutsu. The guard was almost certainly lacking any kind of identifying factor that could be picked up by the border seals. That means we can get in from anywhere, as long as they don’t actually see us.
He had a thought to inform the others about his discovery, but really he would only be telling them not to worry about something, and it was something they might have guessed. Though Yuki had some ninja, somewhere, if they were protecting anything, they were focusing on the hidden village, which made sense. Evidently, they had no desire to protect their Daimyo.
“Huh?” a guard asked as he approached, using a transformation jutsu to turn himself completely white along with his disguise. It was not challenging, no more than using it to disguise as someone else, even though he never had it as a strong suit. The guard disregarded whatever brief clue of motion he detected, shaking his head.
Henge was a trick, and it required using chakra, but there were a handful of ninja back home who were rather accomplished with it, turning themselves into anyone else for long periods of time without seeming to get tired of it. For his own purposes, he dispelled it as soon as he was scaling the stone wall, using small cracks for his fingers rather than lean into his chakra manipulation to just run up the side. Going into a low window was probably a lark; he needed to get into a private area where there were unlikely to be guards. If he ran into a maid or an adviser looking for a restroom, he could use the transformation jutsu again, but with a guard it was less likely to work. Avoiding the lower windows, he found that from his side of the building, the place actually had a small window for letting air into the attic, most likely, and he carefully popped the grate of bars out, putting pressure on the area around the window, which took a fair amount of chakra, but allowed him to get in, and then put it back just as he found it. The land of snow seemed to forgo the rice paper windows he had seen with some of the more traditional buildings; the windows were just open, but there were probably no bugs around, so it made no difference. I guess they couldn’t have sent an Aburame on this mission if they wanted.
Crawling through the stuffed storage room, he was at least happy with his odds that there would not be guards around, and he could get out again when necessary. It was one of their earliest lessons in infiltration that any time they got into some place, they would also have to have a way out. Though the building had not been thoroughly ninja-proofed, he had to be cautious and there was no way to tell how things were going for his teammates.
Obito was not able to hear anything from his current position, and he was surrounded by artifacts that were at least six months old. It would be one thing if he had access to a trash can, then he would be able to look through things that were discarded just recently, but the furniture and decorations in the attic, valuable as a lot of it probably was, could only be counted as worthless to him. Looking around, he found that the attic was only over part of the side of the building, but that was fine; he wanted to stay out of the main rooms.
“No!” someone shouted, though it was muffled through the ceiling and insulation. Taking out a kunai, he cut a circle in the thin wood panel beneath him, deciding quickly that it was unlikely anyone would find his listening spot for the next few weeks at least. Switching to a prone position after silently moving an old table out of the way, he put his ear through the hole, which looked like it was right above the ceiling wood and another layer of insulation.
“Your uncle only wants to send you to school, Koyuki,” someone was saying. “You’re old enough to go and do something with your life.”
“I don’t need to go to school,” the princess responded. “I’m supposed to be learning how to run this place. I’m next in line to the throne. Daddy’s brother is just an idiot.”
Obito figured that the Daimyo was trying to disinherit her and put her away rather than just murdering her, but this would not have been obvious to a spoiled brat. Fundamentally, being spoiled meant having expectations for an incredibly high standard of living, and being killed to protect the new dynasty was something that was simply not going to enter her mind.
“I want to go on vacation in Konoha again,” the girl said after the person who must have been a servant tried to relate the importance of education for her future. “It’s so warm there.” It really is, at least when you’re used to this kind of weather. He suddenly felt a measure of remorse about making a hole in the floor of the attic and moving insulation out of the way.
“Well, if you would be willing to go to school there, under an assumed name for your own protection, then we can make the arrangements to send you to Konoha instead. How would you like that? You could live there full time with a new family.”
It was probably an attractive offer for a girl who had already lost her mother and father, and did not seem to think of her uncle as a member of her family. In the short term, she was being removed to protect Dotou’s marriage prospects; her disappearing act would give him the ability to offer his bride the chance to have a child with him who would inherit the throne. It was clear enough that he had already ruled out adopting her and raising her as his own child, even though she was still young and impressionable.
In all honesty, he could not say for certain whether or not he should really interfere with the girl being sent away. If she did get sent away, she would no longer be a target for assassins, and it seemed unlikely her uncle’s friends would just allow her to succeed him even if he died. A coup took multiple interested parties, people in business, people in security, and basically none of them had gone along with the effort only for the dynasty to go back to the other line after one generation. They all wanted futures for their children just as much as the current Daimyo wanted to secure a future for his, and it was risky business deciding who would be on the throne if the entire Kazahana family were to be eliminated.
We’ll let them send her away, but we’ll still kill her uncle. On the second point, they really did not have much of a choice. As the Hokage said, it was intolerable for an assassin to survive an order of protection; they were under orders to kill him and the village probably expected them to succeed. Though there were some who might say that killing a civilian could never be a difficult job, and it was only a B-Rank, he had to agree with Kakashi that if they completed the mission, it would be a real feather in the proverbial cap. If they did the job well enough, it stood to reason that they could all, or at least one of them, get promoted to Jonin. Whether or not that would be the end of their status as the black sheep team was something that remained to be seen.
Rather than try to intercept more, he decided to leave while he was ahead. He had valuable information for his team, and a good way of getting it. If for some reason Rin and Kakashi had been unsuccessful in getting access to the palace, then they could take a similar approach, and more could be heard and learned. Putting the floor of the attic back the way he found it, he momentarily wished he could use wood release, but there was virtually no risk whatsoever that anyone would come across the circle he had cut out. Carefully leaving the way he came, he used the transformation jutsu to go all white again before pushing himself as far out as he could get, landing solidly in the snow. The trick to landing without visibly disturbing the surface, as far as he knew, was to land while no one was watching and then fix it as he left.
The natural place to return was where they last saw each other, and that was where he found one, but not the other. Getting closer was hardly necessary to identify which of his teammates he had found. I might as well go first.
“I got a bit of information out of a servant,” he explained, going over how Koyuki was going to be sent to Konoha. Kakashi listened dispassionately.
“I suppose that might work out for her, one way or another. I had a thought that I would follow their waste, but it seems the practice is to throw it into the furnace.”
“Yeah, I can see why they’d have one going at all hours of the day. I don’t blame you for not finding anything.”
“I didn’t say that I didn’t find anything. That’s where the girl’s corpse is going if she acts up.”
“Oh.”
They waited a few minutes for Rin to get back and recognized her approach as soon as they saw her. It looked like she was limping, but that was something she could take care of herself. He was right about to ask her what exactly happened before she collapsed onto the snow. Obito grabbed her and carried her off to the nearest treeline while Kakashi went ahead, setting up a tent. They had got the whole process down to the point where it hardly took any time.
“Is this something from yesterday coming back?” he asked.
“I don’t think so. Look at the gash on her leg.”
“Hey,” he said, not knowing what else to say when his teammate had exposed a good bit of skin on his other teammate. Her shorts that she always wore under her skirt had be cut, but the blood loss was more concerning than the decency of it. She blinked herself awake and started healing herself.
“Did you find anything?” Kakashi asked.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk right now. Just focus on healing yourself; we’ll do everything else.”
“Thanks,” she said. He wanted to take that as a good sign, but that was just so minimal that he had to remind himself it did not count for anything. She said nothing more and returned to healing herself. Kakashi took the chance to look around, which he guessed was the smart thing to do; making sure there were no signs of any other ninja in the area, especially when they already knew that the palace was a location of interest for shinobi, foreign and domestic.
It had not taken long to get to the palace, and they had not, all things considered, spent all that much time there, but the sun was already going down. Looks like we have short days around here. He watched Rin while she healed herself and wished he had some opportunity to get words out of her. I can’t let it go another day. I’ll explode.
“Hey, I don’t… I really don’t know how you might respond to this, but… I like you,” he said. “Was that sudden?”
“We’ve known each other for several years now,” she said, still healing herself. There was a pause. “I guess it’s only recently that we would start thinking about… that sort of thing, though.”
“Have you been thinking about it?” he asked. There was no reason not to ask. He had already told her everything he could possibly tell her.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t have a response prepared.”
“You didn’t know that I liked you?”
“I didn’t know how serious you were about your feelings,” she said. “Some people would say I should have guessed. I got the sense that you liked me here and there.” Taking a break once her skin was sealed up, she cleaned the blood off her leg. “If you’re worried that I was… I don’t know, playing with your heart, that’s really not what it was.”
“Do you know what you feel?” he asked. It was a stupidly easy question, or at least it sounded like one. At the same time, it was starting to seem like there was no point in asking it.
“No,” she said. “I haven’t really been focusing on… my own feelings.”
“Is it because of your family’s situation?” he asked. “Did I do something?”
“It’s… I know this isn’t a satisfying answer. There was probably as much I wanted to tell you as you wanted to tell me, and if you had been sitting here injured, and I was the one who could put thoughts together, then I would have told you.”
“Well, it probably won’t be long before I get injured,” he said.
“Probably not,” she said, smiling back. “You’re still not allowed to not be careful.”
“Don’t feel bad,” he said after a moment. What’s the point of even saying that? It was obvious, it went without saying, that there was nothing immoral about rejecting him, as much as it hurt his heart. “I’ll go get us some food or something. Just… just focus on healing yourself.”
The Shinobi Rules
Silirt
Chapter 36: Compounding Disagreement
Chapter Text
Obito wondered if there was any point in asking for an explanation. There was nothing that was going to change; that much was certain. There was nothing that could be accomplished, not by his asking. When Rin did start talking the following morning, having healed herself and having slept after burning through so much chakra, she spoke about her encounter with three ninjas. That was obviously what was more important after all, explaining how she got injured, rather than explaining why she effectively turned him down.
“When we split up, I went around to a different side of the palace and found another vantage point- it looked okay, but it was in an exposed position. There was already a ninja there, a young Genin. The only thing I could think was that she was there for the same reason that we were, but there was no way she had the experience to carry out an assassination. I can’t figure out why the Kazekage wants the Daimyo dead or why he’d send someone who hadn’t even passed the Chunin exams.”
“We could’ve done it,” Kakashi said. Rin glared at him. “Continue, though.”
“I knocked her out. I noticed the Suna insignia on her hitai-ate and- well, even if they were capable, we can’t have them competing with us. It’s supposed to be an accidental death.” She sighed. “Then the other two attacked me. I had a kunai in my hand and I killed the first one when he charged me; the other one ran off. One of them got me in the leg with a shuriken; I didn’t see it happen.”
“Shuriken don’t normally make you bleed half to death.”
“No, but this one managed to break as soon as it stuck to me and I had to dig the pieces out. Then there was the fact that I had to bury the body. I hid the unconscious girl in a nearby tree.”
“I’m having a hard time following your decisions,” Kakashi said. “Why knock one out, and then show some amount of care for her, and kill the other?”
“I couldn’t help but think they forced her to the front, to an exposed position, and then one of them abandoned her after I killed his teammate. I just moved. I knew it would bring him down instantly if I hit him in the temple with the blade and it seemed like he didn’t think I would actually do it.” She looked away, and then back. “It’s a series of quick decisions that I made on limited information. I couldn’t help but think that they were fine with pushing her to the front and then, when they saw me, they told themselves they could take me just fine.”
“What if they didn’t push her to the front?” he asked, thinking of Sagara. “I’ve met some kunoichi who wouldn’t have had to be persuaded to take point.” In her case, it was more like she was constantly running the risk of sacrificing herself for the chance to get stronger, but before that she was wildly overconfident.
“I don’t know,” Rin said. “I can only tell you what it looked like to me.”
It did not take long to catch her up on what had happened on their end, and she decided that it was pretty likely that the room that Obito had discovered was either the princess’s personal room, or a room where she went, and at the very least was allowed to access. It was a strange concept, but Kakashi knew more.
“It may seems strange to us who are familiar with living in small houses, but in a royal palace, the quantity of rooms allows for varying levels of privilege. There are likely some rooms that only the Daimyo and a handful of servants are allowed to access, rules about when they can be cleaned, and they’ll give the princess a degree of privacy as well. She’s someone who is always on display, and having a personal room or more than one is probably all that’s keeping her from a mental breakdown.”
“Does she have that much responsibility?” Obito asked. He had always heard that the royal family lived in the lap of luxury and never worked.
“Well, the Daimyo has interests and it’s possible for the girl to serve those interests. Public appearances-”
“They’re not talking about marrying her to anyone, are they?”
“No, not likely. Her uncle may well be thinking of putting her in the ground at the next possible opportunity, and that wouldn’t make an attractive offer. She’s also too young to really tell what she’ll look like when she grows up.”
“Why kill her? She’s just a little girl.”
“Well, as long as she’s alive, she’s next in line to the throne. Any children that Dotou might have would be younger than she was, and he only got the position because she’s way too young for it. He’s trying to get married, and he can’t offer any noble ladies the chance to have heirs to the throne.”
“That’s what they want?” he asked.
“Yes, basically,” Rin said. “Being a woman of station is kind of like a race to get into a good marriage. You’re trying to get the best one you can, so you’re balancing the total increase in your position against the chance that the whole thing falls through in negotiations. When Koyuki is an adult, it will be spectacularly easy for her to get married to any man she wants, especially since she can promise that he would basically automatically be the Daimyo, and his children will be heirs to the throne. It’s the whole country; he’ll get it just like that.”
“What if he just sends her away? They were talking about sending her to Konoha.”
“That might work, if she never comes back to reclaim the throne. It won’t matter if he dies,” Kakashi said. He found it hard to argue with that. “What can the princess do for us if we can’t use her as a hostage?”
“I’ll go with Obito,” the kunoichi suggested. “If I take her place, then I’ll be able to look around for ways to kill the target in the palace. Most likely, he won’t be wearing the chakra armor, and if he is, I’ll have to make sure he doesn’t see me.”
“Weren’t we just saying that princesses had to make public appearances?”
“Not if they’re sick,” Rin said. “The Daimyo might be cruel and controlling, but he’s not an idiot. If the servants come in and tell him that his niece is feeling under the weather, then he’s not going to request her presence in the throne room. There’s no point in showing her off if she looks unwell.” She seemed to reconsider. “Well, at the same time, he might see it as a way to act like she died of illness, and if people see her like that, then his explanation would be more believable.”
“You’re right. That’s a crazy risk. Taking the place of the princess is-“
“Not an advantage we can afford to lose,” Kakashi said. “If the princess is contagious, then the more worrying the disease is, the less the Daimyo will want to come in contact with her. He’ll have the servants tend to her; they’ll be witnesses to her condition. There may be no court appearances scheduled in the time it takes us to kill him.”
“That’s true,” the kunoichi said after a moment. “This is not going to be easy, though. I am going to have to trust you two to take care of things on the outside. Are we treating this mission as if it has a time limit?”
“Yes. Before long, Dotou will have expanded his protection detail. With all the foreign shinobi in the country, at some point he should find someone who wants to protect him and will not simply use that as an excuse to kill him. The response to Sosetsu’s death must be swift for the way it looks to anyone who might know that it wasn’t really an accident. The longer we stay here, the longer we run the risk of running into another team that might want to kill us.”
Though they were disguised, and their headbands were not showing, Rin’s adventure had already proven that they were not safe in anonymity. The country probably had even more shinobi than they even realized, given the long-suspected and never proven Yukigakure, the village hidden in the snow. He took a deep breath. There’s no way around it. At least I should get to talk to her.
When they split up, it was not stated what Kakashi would do, but his teammates knew to leave him to his business. The first to make Chunin among them, he was the strongest, even if he had not demonstrated his abilities much lately. They both knew not to underestimate him.
Breaking in the same way as he had gone before, he found it was no more difficult while bringing someone else with him, not if she was as skilled in infiltration as he was. She was moderately impressed at his method of getting in, at least from her expression, passing as it was. They reached the whisper spot and found that they could hear nothing. Obito was aware that hid teammate’s powers of observation were good enough to where he did not need to speculate aloud that there was likely no one in there.
In daylight hours, the princess was probably not in her room, but there was no guarantee that it was her room in the first place, and there was no guarantee that she was not sitting in there sulking. What passed between them without words was that they needed to be able to see into the room. Taking out a kunai, he expanded the hole and observed that there was a layer of distinct wooden paneling for the ceiling of the room. Cutting a small circle in one of the slats in the same way he cut the first and second, with the side facing him of a greater diameter than the side facing down, there was no light coming from the inside.
“I refuse to believe she’s asleep at this hour,” Rin whispered. “We need another hole. My waist isn’t that narrow.”
He was about to say that he never once said that it was, but he failed to see any point in that. Instead, he made a hole that was wider than his own waist, and his shoulders for that matter. She put a hand on his.
“I feel like I owe you an explanation,” she whispered.
“You don’t. It doesn’t matter.”
“We’re teammates,” she said, and then sighed a little. “I also want to be friends with you. I can’t trust my life to you if you only think about my value for the team. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that you developed feelings for me; my mom said that’s… expected.”
“Did she warn you about me or something?”
“She said you were a ‘very caring young man’ and she didn’t say a word about Kakashi. It makes me roll my eyes to say this. Look, here, I’ll actually roll my eyes.” She did. “She also said I was a very cute girl and the boys were going to start wanting to spend more time with me.” He stabbed the floor with a kunai. “I know. I know it’s not one-sided.”
“That wasn’t really what got me-“
“My parents can’t afford for me to make a mistake. The rule is, as it always has been, ‘your daughter, your problem’. That’s why parents in general are… well, they seem to be more inclined to tell their daughters to be careful. The end result is that the boys don’t get to have any fun either, so it doesn’t make a difference, but I get it, it’s like they don’t expect you to have any self-control.”
“You’re the ones who have to deal with the restrictions.”
“Yeah, I know, but that’s the tradeoff. If people expect more of you, then you get to feel good about yourself, but then you’ll also have… the weight of the expectations.”
“That’s not why, though, is it?” he asked after a moment. “It’s not because we’re too young or because your parents warned you.”
“No,” she said. He could see her sad smile even in the dark. “That would have been easier, for a while. The truth is that I know what my heart is telling me, and, well, I know when it’s not telling me something.” She sighed a little. “I know how this sounds, but I’ll know love when I feel it.”
“I wouldn’t want you to pretend or anything,” he said. What ever happened to letting me down easy? Is that what this is? Should I be reminding myself that it could’ve been a lot worse?
“That’s what I figured. I tried to think of a few ways of putting it that might make you… I don’t know, that’s not entirely honest. I’m sure you’ll find someone. I hate to say it, but this is kind of a relief. Kunoichi have to wear this mask of indifference all the time; we can’t tell guys we like them, or things we like about them, because if you tell them that, then there’s this implication that you like them. Kurenai said that once or twice she was even worried about being too nice or too cute when she said ‘thank you’ to someone who did something nice.”
“Why?” he asked. “You might like something about someone without having those kinds of feelings.”
“Well, because that’s how every other girl acts,” she said. “If it’s a common thing that girls don’t reveal their feelings, then what does it mean when one suddenly does? Is it likely that she’s the exception to the rule, or is it likely that her feelings are just so strong that she can’t help it?” She sighed. “I don’t know how I would even approach that. If this is your first time even thinking about all this, I guess try to think about it like walking away from a fight. Does it really mean that you would lose?”
“No. No one ever treats it like that, though.”
“That’s right. Basically, what we think of people in general, boys more than girls, is that they would always fight if they thought they have a chance. People think you don’t have a care in the world for wanting to avoid pointless violence. They think you’d always rather be enemies than friends. That’s fair, though. Even a cursory understanding of history can tell you that’s how the world works.”
They sat there, seemingly lost in thought, until they started hearing something from beneath them. Obito had some understanding that Rin went through personal struggles and carried a lot around with her, but hearing it articulated all at once, if that was even all of it, made him wonder. Was she at a point where she did not even want to think about her personal happiness or her feelings? No, she rejected him for the only reason she needed, that her heart was not telling her to respond to him.
They heard the door close and immediately they were back in action, they were back in the mode where they could just fight, or sneak, or steal, or whatever else was required of them. It was trained into them with the Shinobi Rules in the academy. Most of the time, it seemed to make things easier. Confirming visually that the princess was in there alone, they dropped through the hole in quick succession, landing without making a sound and knocking her out from behind. Rin used the transformation technique while Obito took their captive up through the hole. A problem with the plan, he knew, was that his teammate was twelve, having had her birthday shortly after the Chunin exams and the girl was like four at the oldest, and all they knew about her was that she was incredibly pouty. Fortunately, they had already discussed acting sick, and he would have to trust her to take care of that.
Getting the unconscious girl out of her own home was going to be a challenge. Fortunately, it was already night, and he put a shadow clone behind him, turning it white as well. Putting the princess’s arms together around his neck, he held her legs after getting the window out again, resolving to come back and fix it later. He found Kakashi at the vantage point when he got back to it.
“Hey, I need you to take the girl,” he said. “I need to go back and put things back so no one will-“
“Go. I’ll take care of it.”
It was done. He whispered down to Rin that he would try to get a message about Koyuki soon enough, but that would be a challenge, unless he kept coming in the same way. She did not respond. I can’t keep coming in by taking out the window and putting it back- it won’t be long before someone notices, even if I don’t exactly slip up.
When he got back to the campsite, beyond the vantage point, the girl had woken up and she was crying. Kakashi was not terribly concerned, by the looks of it. Yeah, as long as she’s tied up, I suppose she can’t compromise the mission.
“Hey, we’re sorry about this, but uh- this is just for a while,” he said. “This is just for the mission.”
“Why are you doing this?” she demanded. “Your stupid friend’s been giving me the silent treatment!”
“Yeah, I can see why he’d do that, and I can see why that would annoy you. Well, basically, we can’t tell you what our assignment is, because it’s supposed to be secret, but basically we promised to protect your father and-“
“Where were you?!” she screamed. Kakashi seemed to have had the forethought to face her in the opposite direction of the palace.
“We couldn’t follow him home. On paper, he already had bodyguards. The whole thing was basically just a threat to his brother.”
“A threat?” She thought for a moment. “Do you think he just wanted the throne for himself? That’s why you threatened him? Do you think he-“
There was no polite way of saying ‘you were not supposed to figure that out from what little I said’, and yet, there it was. Evidently, he had underestimated the hostage’s reasoning ability to the point of compromising the mission. It has to look like an accident to everyone. On the other hand, though, this ensures that she’s the heiress to the throne.
“We’re shinobi,” he said. “We need you to keep this quiet, or there could be negative consequences. We never promised to protect you from anyone. If you don’t hinder our mission, you give yourself the best chances of survival, and eventually inheriting the throne.”
She was still and quiet for a moment. Perhaps she was thinking. Kakashi sighed as she went into the tent. She fell asleep almost immediately, and they could both tell that she was not simply faking it.
“Obito, the more you say to her, the more she starts to figure out,” he said after a few minutes. “I really don’t know why you felt so compelled to tell her anything. She would have stopped crying after realizing it would not get her anywhere.”
“I thought we might be able to make her more cooperative.”
“And you told her the truth?” Kakashi shook his head. “Damn it, Obito, what if she has some kind of attachment to Dotou? What if at this age, she’s using him as a replacement for her father?”
“Well, I wouldn’t know- why don’t you tell me what it was like when you lost your father?”
“My point was that if you wanted to tell her something that would make her shut up and stay quiet- not that we couldn’t have simply gagged her and fed her through a straw- was that we were kidnappers and we would kill her if she made any noise. Now she’s going to figure out that we’re here to make good on our threats. If she doesn’t figure it out now, she’ll figure it out in five to ten years.“
“The protection agreement was hush-hush,” he said after a moment. “No one can verify that it ever existed. She doesn’t know that we’re from Konoha.”
“Well, sure, but we still don’t want her going around some day saying ‘ninjas killed my uncle’. That would count as a failure to our mission.”
“When?” he asked. “If she’s saying that five years from now, who cares? We’ll be in a completely different situation. The elders even said that at some point, we may want to turn around and claim credit for killing the Daimyo and making it look like an accident. Besides, five years from now she’ll probably have more sense, and she’s not going to say anything that would potentially jeopardize her position.”
“Who else is there in the royal family?” Kakashi asked. “She could walk up to her uncle with a knife and stab him in broad daylight and still take the throne.”
“You don’t know how the laws of succession work,” Obito objected. “There might be some condition in there that says if you commit a crime that would get you executed, then the Daimyo might have some appointed substitute who takes over for him.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Kakashi said. “Whatever might be the case, the land of snow doesn’t have another royal family lying around. The whole point of royalty is that it continues forever, unbroken. The whole point is that each new leader is groomed into the position from birth.”
“Fine,” he said. “Fine. You say that I was lying to her, and that you’re going to tell her the truth. Make it worse.”
“You’re making me go uphill, Obito. I’m going to have to be more convincing than what you said, which she’s going to find at some point is basically in line with reality. If you want, I guess we could just toss her in a snowdrift somewhere; the mission details don’t say we can’t kill her.”
“We’re not tossing her in a snow drift. If for some reason she realizes that Konoha sent two- three ninjas to kill her uncle, and they did it, while making it look to everyone else like an accident, she’ll be scared of us for the rest of her life. There’s no way that she takes a deal with Kiri, even if they’ve still got Shimo at that point.”
“I find it hard to believe the chakra armor is just going to disappear, though. The shinobi of this country are going to hold onto it.”
“Yeah; our problems from this neck of the woods aren’t over. It’s better to have them with us than against us. No one will be allowed to remain neutral forever.”
“You may be right about that. I doubt we could destroy them overnight, as powerful as we are, and even if we could destroy them quickly, there would still be the others.”
“Let’s go to bed,” Obito said after a moment of thought. “Can’t make Koyuki keep watch for us, so we’ve got a long night ahead of us, and after that we’ve got a long day.”
“Very well.”
They really did have a long day ahead of them, and even with the soft deadline that they had theorized, the next day was probably not going to be the last day. While having to watch, and take the place of the princess, the team was left with only one member to perform the necessary reconnaissance to carry out the assassination. While he stared out in to darkness, he regretted the amount of the day that they had to burn waiting and talking, and he hoped that at least Kakashi had spent the time well. As easy as it was to remember when he wanted to spend more time in private conversation with Rin, he was not looking forward to it from here on out.
The Shinobi Rules
Silirt
Chapter 37: Impostor Princess
Chapter Text
The following morning brought with it a message to get to Rin, and he would have to write it while Kakashi interrogated the princess and bombarded her with false impressions about the nature of their mission by the implications in the questions. Accusing her of being a foreign ninja in disguise, he made it seem as if their promise to protect the Daimyo had shifted to Dotou, and they suspected her. As interesting as it was, he did his best to block it out while writing.
The men at the front entrance should not have chakra armor, so I can use henge to disguise myself as a courier. There have been a few that I’ve seen coming and going, and they give their messages to the guards rather than being allowed inside. That was fortunate, despite the way he initially reacted to it. If allowed inside, he would still not be allowed to present a letter directly to the princess, least of all without anyone else around, so someone important and probably more concerned with operational security than a guard or servant would screen it.
“I’m off,” he said. “Sorry for making things up earlier.”
“I could tell how you were tripping over your words,” Koyuki said.
He knew that the trip was not going to take long, not now that he had spent a few of the morning hours to come up with the letter. As a result, he was not at all worried about leaving the princess by herself for a moment, depending on when his teammate was done with her. The point of the letter was just to give Rin an understanding of how their hostage basically talked, so he had written down all he knew, based on what words were exchanged the previous night, and her responses to the questions Kakashi asked her.
“We’re done here,” he said after a moment. “The girl’s a fake, definitely.”
“What?” she asked .”I’m not a fake. How do you know, anyway? I’ve never met you.”
“That was what we were waiting for you to say,” Obito said. “We came here two weeks ago and you definitely would have recognized our voices if you were the real Koyuki.”
“No!” she said. “No, you’re just making things up again. I won’t believe it.”
“How can you prove that you’re the real princess?” Kakashi asked.
“Bring one of the servants out,” she said.
“How do we know you’re not all in on it together?”
“Because… because that’s just stupid.”
“The Shinobi Rules say that you should always be two steps ahead of the enemy. It’s not overcautious; it’s how we do things.”
“Might as well show her your face,” Obito muttered before setting off.
He met a guard by the gate as expected, guessing that his teammate was surveying the area while the poor princess was left to her identity crisis. As little as he liked it, he was totally wrong about telling her the truth, or any part of it. There was a chance she would be fooled by Kakashi’s trick, saying that he was a bad liar and she had been more inquisitive than expected for the lines they had prepared.
“What’s this?” the guard asked, taking the letter.
“It’s from one of the honored sons of the Fire Daimyo. I haven’t read which one.”
“Right, they never let you read the letters. I can’t imagine it’s important.”
Right then, Dotou and Nadare came through the front entrance, wearing more normal clothes. The first did not seem to be in charge of the country and the second did not seem to be a ninja. Both were curious about the sudden arrival of a letter, or at least that was what their expressions said. Do they expect every letter that comes? Is it rare for someone to send something unsolicited?
“What the hell is this?” the snow lord asked, taking the scroll and unrolling it. “Did a child write this?”
“That may be the case.”
“Botan, that’s the name. Precisely- oh, the insufferable third son of the Fire Daimyo. Why are we allowing him to write letters to my brother’s daughter? Did she do something awful this past week?”
“She’s faking an illness,” one of the guards said. “My sister’s cleaning in there most days and she heard about it. Said she couldn’t have been sick when she was right as rain yesterday.”
“It does sometimes happen that a disease strikes suddenly,” Dotou said. “At the same time, I find my ability to believe anything she presents to us as fact limited. Let her pretend to be sick. She’ll get bored of it when no one gives her any special treatment. Give her this letter as well; I’m going to be out until after dark.”
“I’ll give it to my sister when she comes down here with my lunch, my lord.”
“Good man. I happen to like it when people do things efficiently.”
He left without another word, and Obito left as well, but he had promised himself to find the girl, not to go after the Daimyo, as interesting as a quarry as that promised to be. What could they possibly be doing dressed like that? Are they going into town to meet someone in secret?
He found Koyuki restrained, but not particularly interested in going anywhere. She might actually not know the way to the palace from here. We’re not in direct view of it, so she’d have to walk to the vantage point to see it.
“Hi,” he said. “I didn’t have a chance to get us any food yesterday, so I’ll go take care of that now that I have the chance. They had basic rations, as always, but there was no reason to stick to them, and the rations would last until the next mission if they ate something else. He was also interested in trying one of his grandmother’s recipes for snow hare. Apparently, the meat was much fattier due to a pseudo hibernation.
“Go away,” she said.
“Well, I was right about to, but I’ll be back.”
“That’s not good enough,” she muttered.
He would have liked to say that he was sure she was used to more preferential treatment, but he was pretty sure he was still supposed to be treating her like an impostor, who had not, in fact, been treated like a princess for her whole life so far, and there was hardly any point. Sooner or later, they would have to return her to the palace, and she would find at some point that her uncle had died, making her the new Daimyo, the youngest, and as he understood it, the first female Daimyo, at least in the land of snow. It crossed his mind that he could use a transformation jutsu and try to persuade the servants to tell her that her uncle had died in his sleep, or that they were certain natural causes claimed him, but if the mission was to succeed, and it was to be commonly believed that the man had died by accident, she would hear about it before long.
As he went out into the woods looking for game, he thought about how the political situation seemed to have a time limit on it. It seemed like there was such a thing as ‘after we get through this tension’. He had not, however, given any thought to how he expected that to happen. Was there going to be a war? Were they just delaying until they could get everything in place? What did that mean?
Kakashi was right about leaving a lot of decisions to the elders and the Hokage; they were the ones who had the power to make those decisions and the clearance to see the information. He honestly had no idea whether there was going to be a war in the next few years, or whether they were going to try to stretch the peace out forever, if that was at all possible. Konoha’s interests were mostly a mystery to him; he had never exchanged words with the fire lord.
“Makes you wonder,” he muttered to himself, throwing a shuriken at a nearby hare, only noticing it because of the motion in the sea of white that was the forest floor. “What’s the point of even listening to them?”
The hidden villages represented not just a kind of secondary authority, but a parallel society with citizens and businesses. The ninja therein were provided with finances and some resources from the official government, but it would probably not be too much trouble to go independent. He knew for a fact, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Daimyo would collapse without shinobi, but it seemed less likely to work in the reverse. In fact, he seriously doubted that the duties of the official government could not be taken up by various elders.
More than once, it had occurred to him that the regular people living away from their world were probably concerned about the fact that almost all the power of their entire countries was hidden in one village. It was probably unbearable enough that the Hokage could unilaterally start a war, but he definitely could and they had to accept that- where it went off the rails was that a twelve year old like himself was capable of the very same. He had no idea what the regular people would do if it turned out that the authority with which the Daimyo convened was found not to have the absolute power they were promised, but the village would not like it, and they would definitely do it as revenge for war.
When he brought back the kill, he put it over the clear-burning fire. The girl came out and sat down next to him, and he supposed she was hungry. He decided to test his own sympathy for another of Kakashi’s implications.
“How did you feel about your father?” he asked. “I might as well get your side of the story.”
“He left me,” the girl said, drawing up her knees to her face. She accepted a chunk of cooked rabbit as he cut it off the carcass. “Why do you want to know?”
“I was just interested. I didn’t have parents, myself.”
“What do you mean you didn’t have parents?” the princess asked. “How could they-“
“They died shortly after I was born. I never knew them.”
“Did you hear what happened to them?”
“It’s a secret.”
There was a brief silence.
“I don’t know how you stand it. They say that shinobi are always secretive, but I don’t know how you can just accept not knowing how your parents died.”
“It’s not really that we’re the ones who don’t know anything. You don’t know anything we don’t know, but you just don’t know that you don’t know it.”
Again, they ate quietly. He found that he was not particularly trying to cook the rabbit in any specific way- he was just killing the microorganisms and either eating it or handing it off to the girl. Perhaps too proud to admit that the rest of the world did not even realize what they did not know, she asked him how he was raised.
“I was brought up by my grandmother. She didn’t have a lot of energy to do a whole lot every day, so if I wanted to do anything, I had to go outside and talk with other people.”
“Well, I never had any other people,” she said. “It was always just my family and the servants.”
“Oh, still going with that, are we?” he asked. “Well, I’ll bet you hated your uncle.”
“No…” the princess said, trailing off. She looked off into the distance without saying anything. “Even before I lost my father, I… I don’t know how I felt about him. He’s just all I have left now. Maybe even if he’s a bad guy, I should still think of him as my family. He wouldn’t have let you two kidnap me if he knew about it.”
“See, that’s another thing where you got your research wrong,” he said. Obito, for the life of him, could not say why he was going with the line except to stick to the mission parameters. “He wouldn’t have cared very much. We actually sent a letter to him asking if he’d like to sell his brother’s daughter off to a circus- that was mostly a test for him and he asked if we wanted her possessions or if that wasn’t a dealbreaker.”
Her crying was softer than the previous day. He wondered if it would be the last time, and he hoped it would be, not that he could guarantee that. It seemed better, though, to set her up for her uncle’s death, since that would last forever. If she believed that her uncle hated her, then at least she would be able to handle his death when it came, and perhaps for years after that. He knew that he could fabricate evidence; he already had.
Kakashi returned as night fell, asking what had gone on and taking what was left of the rabbit. With no apparent response to the fact that the girl was crying again, he must have taken it as a matter of course. I guess he was content to leave her like that for the whole mission and toss her back when we were done. Obito went ahead and told him all that had happened as Koyuki retired for the night. Once again, they made sure she was asleep.
“What are those two doing in disguise?” he asked after the story was more or less over. “Did it look like they could have been wearing chakra armor?”
“No.” He had thought for a moment that the servants must have dressed them, or at least picked out clothes for them, so that would have been difficult at the very least. “It’s supposed to be secret. They’re also not expecting to be attacked, wherever they’re going.”
“We couldn’t have manufactured an accident that would have fooled Nadare just by following them and trying to get something ready on the fly. It has to be something fast enough to where he couldn’t be saved, and it has to be convincing on top of that. Fortunately, I have a lead.”
“What’s that?”
“I was talking to a minor nobleman who was passing through town; I was acting like I was trying to verify his identity in case he was the man I was targeting for a message. It turns out that the Daimyo is hosting a hunt tomorrow.”
“Wait, tomorrow? That’s- what are we going to do?”
“Until then, we’ll get a good night’s sleep, or as close to that as we can. Hunts are notorious for starting early. They’re going to be out all day and they’ll hardly catch anything with all the noise they make, so really the only chance they have is by leaving early.”
“Do they have any chance?”
“You know boars, for every ten or so there’s a mean one that’ll fight you even when there isn’t any point. I don’t think there’s a chance we can get the boar to kill him. Even someone with exceptionally limited chakra control could easily fight off a boar, even one that suddenly turned violent, or turned out to be more trouble than expected.”
“How are we going to use this, then?”
“We’ll spook the horse. We’ll need a distraction. We get the ninja away from his position if there are any around, and there should be at least one. Spooking a horse is easy, and getting the animal to throw its rider is even easier.”
“Then what?” he asked. “We line it up to make sure his head bashes against a tree?”
“If he hit the ground hard enough, no one would question being dead right there. If he’s wearing the chakra armor, the ninja in the area will have to insist on examining the body themselves to keep the secret from getting out. Then, we go back and extract Rin.”
“Right,” he said. That step was obvious enough. It was a given that they needed to tell her when the mission was complete. He simply had not thought about it. “If they’ve let her look around the palace at all, she’s probably been looking for convenient ways to kill him when he’s on his own.”
“Yeah, but I doubt there are any. If he’s hired three bodyguards, they’ve already audited the whole palace. There’s not going to be anything highly convenient like a chandelier hanging right above the bed.”
“They also probably don’t let her have the run of the place, and they wouldn’t even if she was at the top of her game.”
“Is she a regular hypochondriac?”
“The servants seem to think she is, but that’s a dangerous game to play. We don’t want her to make any real appearances. The goal here is that we kill the uncle without anyone thinking that anything is going on. Even if someone remembers something years later, then it will only be proof that Konoha got away with it. It’ll be more of a feather in our cap than anything else.”
“I’ve looked at it from that angle as well. At the same time, it’s up to the village to decide whether or not to disclose the fact that we carried out an assassination.”
“Yeah,” he agreed without having much else to say. “I feel like we at least got a little accomplished today. Do you think the girl’s going to be okay after this?”
“Seriously? No. It is incredibly unlikely that Dotou took care of his brother without having someone else in on it. A coup takes participation from other sectors than just the official government, and we already know he was the one dealing with Yukigakure. The only reason they went along with anything he might have set in motion was because he could promise them that he would be in charge for the rest of his life.”
“He will be.”
“You know what I meant. Anyway, something I meant to bring up earlier was that Rin’s primary mission is to make sure that no one realizes that the princess is gone, and the sole reason we kidnapped her was to get an insight into the royal family, and because I doubt that either of you could stomach putting her in danger.”
“Fine,” he said. “Fine, I couldn’t have killed a four year old, happy?”
“Not even if she learned the true nature of our mission?”
“There would still be other things that we could do to get her to shut up about it for years and years, and if she ever does say anything, even though she’d be sensible enough by that point to keep it to herself, then no one will believe her and we’ll be past the point where it really matters. The fact of the matter is, if people have been paying attention, Konoha is ultimately going to trample anything that threatens our position. That’s the reality. No one who’s paying attention would learn anything new if they put together that Koyuki was telling the truth.”
“Someone who hasn’t been paying attention might start.”
“That’s true,” Obito admitted. “Is there anything we need to do to get ready for tomorrow? Can we find out where it’s located?”
“I have a good idea already. Focus on your watch; the night has to start early.”
He went into the tent with the girl without another word. I don’t know whether or not she’s been okay with that for this whole time. I hope she is, because we don’t have another way of doing it. Though he suspected that she did not enjoy their company, she would definitely freeze were it not for the body heat.
Looking around, he noticed a trail of footprints leading toward the campsite, but it was easy enough to tell that they did not belong to Kakashi, and the girl had not been allowed to wander around wherever she wanted. So far, no one had attacked them except the three who ran afoul of Rin, but it paid to be on the lookout. When he looked back to the footprints, they were gone.
Getting out a kunai, he acted like he was only sharpening it before tossing it upward into a tree right next to where the trail had stopped. Ordinarily, he would have dismissed any sound coming from the treetops as an animal, because he could not possibly investigate every single sound, but a groan from on high confirmed his suspicions. The body of a somewhat small boy fell and landed in the snow with a light thud.
Obito drew near as he kept an eye out for the girl. The hitai-ate instantly told him it was the same Suna team that had been trying to get to the palace. It was a lethal blow with the blade stuck in his lungs, but it would take at least a few minutes for him to die. The Genin struggled to roll over with a shuriken in his hand, but the Chunin held him down.
“Where’s your teammate?” he asked. “There’s a chance you can still live.”
“You already killed one of us,” he muttered. The insignia on the headband was starting to look fake on closer inspection.
“That’s correct. It’s up to you whether we kill you or her,” he said, breaking one of the kid’s fingers. Even on the brink of death, his pain receptors would still work fine. “You’re not really from the land of wind are you?”
“What’s it to you?”
“No delaying,” he said, breaking another finger. “I’m not messing around here. Answer my questions, and then tell us why you were observing us.”
“She’s gone,” he said. “She’s just gone. I don’t know where she went. We can’t complete our mission. There’s no life left for us.”
“So, you decided to kill us in revenge. You must have seen that Rin was going back in this general direction and then decided that we were part of her team, and then you waited for it to be her watch.” He remembered his other question. “Where’s the other one gone?” he asked.
“She can’t have gone home. I don’t really care,” he said. “She wouldn’t stay here, but she’s a missing ninja now.”
After a fashion, he supposed it did not really matter what monstrous village sent them on an impossible mission, because they were not going to return. Most likely, they would be picked up by some criminal organization and used for effectively the same purpose, just for a different master. He knew that the village from whence they came would not want them to reveal their origin, but he could hardly use the information against them without revealing that he had been there.
The Genin started breathing heavily and he could tell that his vision was going dark. Fighting to survive as hard as he could, there was no way he was focusing on any of Obito’s questions. Even if he were instantly healed from his wounds, he would still die from blood loss. There’s no way he can survive this.
Perhaps it counted as balancing operation security with mercy. Killing the Genin, he moved some snow over the body so that Koyuki would not have to see it if she woke up early. Kakashi can bury it with an earth technique in three seconds. Then again, we’re not going to be here much longer.
He took a moment to think about his teammate, who did not seem to approve of demonstrating mercy at all. Though he and to some extent Rin had said that they did not like him or they had problems with him, it was rare he fired back at all, except to criticize them. In a way, he was the ideal teammate, carrying out his orders, training them, and being the best student of Minato that he possibly could, ever since the bell test. The very moment he was put on a team with them, if he could be said to care about anyone, it was Rin and Obito.
The Shinobi Rules
Silirt
Chapter 38: The Other Team
Chapter Text
The next morning brought with it a quick trip to the hunt. They went together, reasonably certain that Koyuki was not going anywhere and there was no one else who would find her, not in the time that they were gone, and not after Rin had been apparently quite successful at tricking everyone into thinking she was the real princess. There was the remote risk that the lone kunoichi who was not really from Suna would do something, but her teammate was most likely right about her.
Kakashi had been right about how early hunts started. The two of them had no time to even watch the Daimyo and his noble friends line up on horseback outside the wooded area that was said to be thick enough with boars; they had to follow the party into the woods, trusting the loud conversation and the countless footsteps of the horses to drown out any sounds they made in their relative haste. They split up to make their detection less likely.
Obito saw that there was a kunoichi right next to Nadare, and he could tell in under a second that she was a ninja as well from the way she looked around, checking for hiding places. Shinobi around the world learn a lot of the same things at a basic level. Her whole body except her face was covered by a long overcoat, leaving none of her weapons visible if she had any.
Getting to a tree nearby, he noticed there was a white bird bothering her, and he got out a senbon, forming an idea as he went. Throwing the needle as hard as he could, it flew silently through the air and cut the girl’s cheek without thudding into a tree right after; a convenient branch allowed it to graze horizontally and then bury itself in the snow.
The kunoichi was not badly hurt, but she was bleeding and a few of the nobles, who likely did not know that she could take a hit, insisted that she go and see to her injury, lest her face remain marred forever. Turning the reigns, the young woman reluctantly agreed. Even if she didn’t care about her face, which would be extremely weird for a girl, she couldn’t reveal that she was a ninja and a bodyguard, dressed in normal clothes like she is. Even if she had chakra armor under her overcoat, it would not have protected her against a perfectly normal senbon.
Giving her a minor injury had the secondary effect of establishing that they had no one with them who was capable of medical ninjutsu. A serious fall from the back of a horse would result in a blow to the head that no one around would be able to treat. Things were falling into place, but where was his teammate? They had gone together to counter the chance of being found out and attacked. It was technically possible for him to proceed alone; spooking a horse was not a two-man job, but he had reason enough to suspect that there was someone who might be after his teammate. If he made a mistake, Nadare was definitely going to notice it, and on his own he would be quickly overwhelmed. I need a distraction. I need Kakashi.
Backing out quietly the way he came in, he found no sign of his teammate taking a different route as had been hastily planned. He retreated to the treeline, where he his steady breathing hitched as he saw the Chunin he had been seeking out, tied up and surrounded by three others. The Cha insignia on their headbands was not even hidden, not that he would have failed to identify them. Inching close from tree to tree, he started to pick up their conversation.
“What are you doing here?” Kakashi asked. “Stop asking me irrelevant questions. You said you were under orders not to interfere with our mission.”
“We lied,” Jin said. “We didn’t want you getting in our way, so we took away your incentive.”
“That doesn’t explain what you’re doing here-“
“He’s innocent,” Ryochu said. “We broke into the records of the investigation, and we found that Kazahana Sosetsu was working on secret technology, when it backfired and killed him. Most likely, it wasn’t as safe as he thought. The office passed it off as an accident without elaborating because they didn’t want anyone to realize that Yuki possessed technological secrets.”
“That’s not the only reason it looked suspicious, and if you knew anything about the last mission that I completed, which you don’t, because you weren’t there for my debriefing, then you would realize that Dotou has three shinobi who work for him directly and he has already sabotaged the technology once. It would be the easiest thing for him to do it again, and he has the motive.”
“That may be the case, but there still isn’t any proof,” Jin said. It seemed the genjutsu specialist was content to remain quiet for the moment. “You’re just assuming that he killed someone. Does Konoha even have anything to gain if he didn’t really kill anyone?”
“I don’t know that, technically. What I know are my orders, given to me by those who know. There is no condition allowing for us to not kill the target if it turns out that there is no evidence of sabotage; there was no evidence when we were dispatched on this mission.”
It was substantially less than ideal, but Obito knew that he could at least try to run off and kill Dotou by himself, and then the three Cha ninjas would have no choice but to let it go. There was no reason for them to tell anyone that an allied team had conducted an assassination for no explicit reason, and everyone could go home, having completed their missions and followed their orders. There was a way for things to end without any conflict in the Shinobi Rules.
Hours seemed to pass between breaths. He knew he was capable of following orders, but as long as there was the slightest chance that it would get out that Konoha killed the legitimate Daimyo, replacing him with a child, even if it would frighten other countries, he would be hitting the final nail in the coffin of any kind of trust that the land of fire had built under the third Hokage. It would not even be something they could pass off as a mistake, not if enough of the details came out.
Sighing deeply as all the times he had ever been sympathetic to Kakashi’s position played back over in his mind, he knew in his heart that this was not one of those times. Because of the diligent research of the Cha team, he knew something that the Hokage himself did not, and because of his own research, he knew something they did not know, an even greater insight into Dotou’s character than his teammates. We have to back out of this. As far as we’ve come, we have to back out. We were wrong.
Surprising everyone by dropping out of the tree and landing softly on the snow, he approached the four ninja, their responses varying. The allied team bristled visibly even as he had his hands up, and Kakashi only sighed and lowered his head. I really wish it could have been different. I’m sorry.
“We’re leaving,” he said. “Our plan fell apart.”
“You could’ve done it on your own,” his teammate muttered.
“So that’s why you were focusing on making a case. It wasn’t just to distract us,” Jin said. “You were thinking you could encourage the Uchiha in case he was listening. Where’s the girl?”
“Undercover. Technically, protecting the heiress from any fallout,” he said. “I’d really like to thank you three for stepping in and keeping us from making a huge mistake.” From the calculating look on what he could see of Kakashi’s face, he must have reasoned that the only way for him to carry out the mission was to convince all four ninja present.
“It’s no trouble,” Jin said. “The elders sent us on this mission because the circumstances looked as suspicious to us as it did to you. We had no idea about the secret technology, no thanks to your team.” He started to make an apologetic expression, but she waved away his guilt. “We understand. You weren’t authorized to reveal anything, even to other people from Konoha, most likely.”
“That’s basically it,” he said.
“The technology worked,” his teammate argued. “Obito tested it himself and we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it worked. We agreed to help his brother, who sabotaged it. Most likely, Sosetsu used the set that had already been sabotaged, going along with the explanation that we gave for its failure. Wearing the same set of chakra armor, he would have been just as vulnerable, even to a slight blast of flame. Was it one of Dotou’s bodyguards that used the technique?”
“What if it was?” Ryochu asked.
“Then they would have used a technique on him knowing that it would mean his death. You seem to believe that he was testing the chakra armor all by himself, but if the victim ever had any chakra training, he did not have nearly enough to use fire techniques on himself.”
“How do you know it was a fire technique?” Ryochu asked.
“No one saw the body, according to a minor noble that I met yesterday. There is a perfectly reasonable case to be made against the Daimyo, not that I thought it would be necessary to explain any of this. One way or another, all four of you are going to be severely punished for getting in the way of a sanctioned execution. What remains to be seen is how-”
“Even if the ninja answer to Dotou, they wouldn’t have been able to refuse an order to help Sosetsu test out the chakra armor, nor without revealing they knew it was sabotaged,” Obito said. “We don’t know which set of armor he was wearing. There may be some chance that the whole thing wasn’t an accident, but we don’t know that and to me it doesn’t seem very likely.”
“To you?” Kakashi asked. “It seemed like an assassination to the Hokage and the council of elders. They also did not exactly know that it was one, but based on our report-“
“If you want to go over the evidence yourself-“ Jin started.
“I’ll go over the evidence when I’m ordered to look it over. You three are supposed to be our allies and you-“ His gaze was as piercing as it had ever been before “-are supposed to be my teammate. Even if I were dying, your orders would still apply and you would have to carry out the mission.”
“I know,” he said. “I know what our orders say, you don’t have to get out the scroll and make me point to some condition that says we don’t have to kill the target if he’s innocent, but he most likely is, and I’m willing to go before the council and say that to the best of my knowledge, it would have been counter to Konoha’s interests to carry out the mission as specified.”
“You couldn’t do it,” Kakashi accused. “You talked to the girl and she told you that she’s attached herself to her uncle, didn’t you?” All of a sudden his hands were free. “Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu.”
Before anyone could stop him, he sank into the ground. Must’ve been working on the ropes while he had us talking. He wouldn’t go straight after the target, though, not when everyone’s expecting that. I could just call out and warn the hunting party that an assassin is coming. He wouldn’t be able to make it look like an accident.
“Warn the Daimyo!” he shouted, running off in the other direction. Though he doubted that his teammate was going directly after the target, he was quite certain that the mission was definitely a failure if some unidentified ninja appeared and said there was a ninja trying to carry out an assassination. Most likely, it would be taken as some kind of trick, but if the death came, it would never be regarded as an accident.
Right as Ryochu turned to the direction of the treeline, however, a kunai came from the snow and hit him in the back. Jin rushed over to him immediately, but the genjutsu type looked paralyzed. I never thought he’d actually hit us, but damn if it isn’t clever. I thought he’d be running straight off without looking back.
“I am strong enough to survive a single blade to the back,” the Cha shinobi said. “I would assume your teammate was aware of this.”
“Yeah, sorry- I mean, technically he does whatever he wants, but I’m not sure how to respond to this-“
“Come with me,” the kunoichi said. “Come with me and we’ll work together. You can’t take out Kakashi on your own, can you?” He shook his head. “That’s what I thought. Even if you have the skills on your own, he’s a real ninja, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, I guess so. It’s this way.” Why’s she saying ‘come with me’ if she’s the one following? He ran off in the direction of the campsite, figuring that the third member of their team, whose name he remembered was Wakoucha, would probably first warn the Daimyo, then go back and look after Ryochu.
“What’s his deal?” Jin asked on the way. He thought it was annoying to try to talk while running, but apparently not everyone saw it that way. “Does he just like killing people?”
“No, I don’t think that’s what it is,” he responded as soon as she got close enough to where it was believable she could hear him.
They did not find Koyuki at the site, but that was expected. Obito suggested that Jin go back the other way because it was possible that Kakashi was going to toss the princess in some dangerous situation in front of her uncle, but she wanted to stay with him, arguing that if he turned out to be right, she did not want him to run afoul of his own teammate.
The two of them had disagreed in the past, but none of their arguments had ever been properly resolved. They never asked anyone else’s opinion on the subject. To his knowledge, no one else even knew that they were fighting; except for Team Choza, the guise of perfect functionality seemed to work on everyone. What were we supposed to do, though? How could we have avoided this?
Catching sight of a clone running without the princess, he was grateful that his partner of opportunity did not see it, because she might have run off after it without realizing it was a clone. It was avoiding putting its feet into the snow, which was smart, since there would not be any footprints, but he knew that it was just a distraction.
“Here we are,” he obviated when they reached the palace. Every ninja in the country had probably seen the place at least once, so it was a genuine wonder what he was even accomplishing by announcing it. Jin, however, did not seem to pick up on that. She’s different from what I expect at every turn. I guess I’ve never worked with her before.
They could probably sneak in, but the time for that was passed. Walking up to the guards, they explained that there was an emergency on the hunting trip and they needed to confirm the safety of the princess. It would not get them into the palace, by any means, but it would get a few guards away from the door. The guard he had met before shook his head.
“I don’t know who you are, but you couldn’t have come at a worse time. The cleaners are saying that she’s locked herself in a lower room. I only just heard about it, but I might have to go over there to see what’s going on.”
“We’re certain that’s not a coincidence,” the kunoichi said. “There’s a ninja trying to kill the Daimyo and make it look like an accident, and we’ve been monitoring the situation. That’s all we’re allowed to tell you.”
“Is that what you tell everyone?”
“Yeah,” Obito said. It was like they were lending credence to Kakashi’s argument with every move they made. There was no way he could have possibly set it up like that, though, that was just his own tendency to second-guess himself. Because shinobi always have to follow their orders, no one ever questions it when we say that we have orders and can’t disclose anything.
It was inarguable that the cooperation of the public was not an invaluable resource to everyone from the youngest Genin to the Hokage. That could only exist as long as it never got out that sometimes, the orders were not obeyed, and the Shinobi Rules were not as rigorously practiced as was commonly believed.
“Hey, do you guys believe in the Will of Fire?” he asked Jin as they waited outside. As long as the Daimyo was not there, technically nothing was going to happen. “I just realized that I don’t know what most other countries practice.”
“It varies,” she said. “Outside of the five greats, there’s no real consistency. There are also a few smaller religions that probably predate Ninshu. I think the end result is that no one cares.”
“The two of you may be telling the truth,” a guard said after coming back outside. “The princess has asked that you two should be admitted after we explained what was going on.”
“Then the situation is dire,” Jin said. “We should not waste any more time out here.”
They were admitted into the grand room that seemed to have a higher level looking down on it from all sides. The stairs leading up must be behind one of these doors on the ground floor. Rin saved him the trouble, jumping down from the overlook with Kakashi following her. Neither were disguised further than the winter gear that covered their skins, and he went ahead and assumed that the cover was blown.
“Glad to see-“ he started before his teammate threw a shuriken at him, forcing him to dodge. On a stone floor, Jin was without her standard resource of elemental transformation, but she was quick to close the gap with the other kunoichi, missing her with an ax kick. Rin spun around and followed up with a calculated series of hand signs, which he knew from experience was a feint; she was shifting her foot in the process. Obito had no time to advise his strange partner, not when he was busy dodging punches from Kakashi. Might not have vast chakra reserves, but physically-
Gritting his teeth, he took a punch hard to the head while he was jumping, and grabbed the arm to swing against his opponent with his feet, bringing them both to the ground. With a basic Katon, he was about to at least threaten to torch his teammate when they both heard a faint whimper from Rin, who was facing the ground with both of her arms stretched out behind her. It took no time at all to reason that a faint whimper from her would be a bloodcurdling scream from a normal person.
“What’s going on here?” a larger young man asked as he joined them, the chain mail visible from under his court robes. Despite how strong he looked, there was something clearly wrong with one of his arms.
“Mizore,” Rin said as soon as her arms were released. “Forgive us for making a scene. Let us go outside-“
“You’re a shinobi,” Kakashi said. “How is it that you side with Dotou and his chakra armor?”
It was clear enough that he was looking for any edge that might still turn the mission into a success. He had almost certainly told Rin an editorialized version of the story to convince her to turn against Obito, not that it would take much convincing. She had a heart, that much had been made clear on countless occasions, but she needed to complete the mission. Maybe that’s the trick, though. Maybe he pulled on her heart strings.
“The technology makes us effectively unbeatable,” the snow ninja said. “I’m surprised you know about it. That said, it won’t do you any good.”
“It will if we’re just getting out of here,” Kakashi said, giving up. His last recourse had been to turn to the local shinobi, and if they were against him, then even if he had Rin working for him, there was no way of accomplishing his mission. It was possible that at the last, most desperate stage of the plan, he had intended to just kill so many people that no one would be aware of what exactly happened, and get the local ninja to agree that it had been an accident.
“Do you think you could keep us all by yourself?” Obito asked. As long as he doesn’t know the hunting party is probably heading back here, he won’t have any reason to think-
The doors flew open.
“Split!” Jin called out. She ran up a nearby pillar and the others went after her, knowing even more about the security of the palace than she did. Running up the wall as soon as they were on the upper level, she used a wood technique on the ceiling to open it, and the three of them followed her, though it seemed the snow ninjas were going after, despite the senbon that Rin was slinging in their direction. As soon as they were up to the attic, Jin was abusing her wood transformation as a way of keeping them from being followed, eliciting a scream from the princess, the real one, who must have been returned to her room at some point.
“Katon-“
“Obito, that’s re- not when we’re all surrounded by wood!”
He was acutely aware of the risk, but unless he took it, none of them were going to get out of there alive. The snow ninja immediately backed off as a pair of kunai came in through the window. Using her expert chakra control, Rin charged toward the window rather than away, punching it straight out of the frame without regard for her hand, and the four of them filed out as he feinted with another Katon, not that he had any desire to kill Koyuki.
As soon as they hit the ground, they bolted full-speed to the trees. A passing glance told him that Kakashi had at some point put on the fake Suna headband, because he was presently taking it off and stashing it under his winter gear. The three of them had their Konoha hitai-ate, but had not put them on since assuming their disguises.
Ryochu met up with them in the trees and guided them to a nearby tunnel, which took them to another place that they did not recognize, an empty landscape covered by snow. Obito looked around.
“Well, they shouldn’t know we went here, but what’s the plan? How do we get to the coast?”
“They might know we took the tunnel, but they can’t take the risk of following us through,” Kakashi said. Even as tired as he was, he could probably collapse enough of it to start a deadly chain reaction. “We can get to the coast if we-“
Wakoucha decked him straight in the face.
“You seem to like the sound of your own voice. I thought I’d interrupt you when you least expect it. It’s pretty rare that I get to hit jerks like you.”
“After you sabotaged our plan-“ he started back, spitting out blood. “I had thought that you would be more cooperative to getting the six of us out of here. If you’d like to go the way of that proud idiot who came before you-“
“You were trying to kill an innocent-“
“You don’t know that he was innocent,” Kakashi spat back. “No matter what you have to suggest it was a genuine accident, he wasn’t innocent. Not a chance in hell of that.”
“He was exactly the power-hungry, cruel, controlling, despot who would have committed the crime,” Obito said. “If the Hokage had told us to kill him just because of that, I would have gone along with it. Calling him innocent is the wrong word. None of us are innocent. No one is.”
The Shinobi Rules
Silirt
Chapter 39: Innocence
Chapter Text
The idea of no one being innocent was an interesting philosophical point to the six of them that were gathered, but they clearly had something more on their minds than just the morality of their actions. Despite the fact that he was somewhat defending his teammate, it seemed the least impressed was Kakashi himself. The White Fang’s son raised an eyebrow and then sighed.
“Leave the pointless chore of figuring out who was right to the historians,” he said. “For the record, they always seem to favor the side that wins, and the side that wins is rarely the one the turns against itself. You know as well as I do that as far back as the clan wars, the Shinobi Rules forbade treason. Now you’ve betrayed the village.”
“Maybe we have,” he said after a moment. “If they don’t accept our explanation, then there’s nothing else we can do.”
“I’ll be writing a full report with exactly what happened.”
“I expect you will,” Obito responded after thinking about it, throwing up his hands. “I doubt I could persuade Rin to go along with me. What did you tell her, anyway?”
“If you had succeeded,” she started, looking down. “Wouldn’t it look as much like an accident as the death of Sosetsu? Wasn’t that what we were ordered to accomplish?”
“It might look that way, but we would know.”
As they moved as quietly as they could, erasing their tracks behind them, Rin revealed that while she was pretending to be Koyuki, she requested that her education in Konoha could be advanced. It was a perfectly believable thing for her to ask, and the servants were inclined to go along with it, especially when she promised that her health would improve enough that she could run around out in the snow.
That was clever. She knew that we’d be giving the real princess back with the shivers. She would be red-faced and probably still have frost in her hair, unless Kakashi got it out on the way. They reached the water by nightfall, but Obito hardly noticed. The trees had obstructed the coastline until the salty air hit his nostrils.
“We don’t have enough energy to cross,” he said.
“We can’t stay here,” Ryochu said. “I chose this path deliberately.”
Using an advanced wood transformation, he turned a few nearby trees into a skiff, passing out shortly after. Rin had managed to heal her own hand already, and confirmed that there was nothing wrong with him; he just needed to rest. Wakoucha and Kakashi carried him onto the skiff that they pushed off into the water.
“That’s funny- where’s the ice shelf?” he asked.
“Ice shelf?” Jin asked.
“Yeah, when we came here, there was this massive, well, ice shelf all around the island.” It was a large island, and the land of snow was probably larger than some other countries, if not in terms of habitable land, but it was easy to forget that it was surrounded by water.
“There’s a chance that it’s a seasonal thing,” Rin said, using a water transformation with Wakoucha to push the skiff further. At the very least, they needed to get out to oceanic currents.
“Yeah; I’m just not sure. I can’t help but wonder that if it’s something like… something like the time we tried to get into Taki. It seemed like it was trying to stop us from getting there.”
“Why didn’t it do anything to Kakashi?” she asked.
“I’m not sure. I really don’t know.”
They said nothing more as the skiff moved in the dark. They could move with just basic chakra manipulations, and any of them could do it easily enough. It was curious that Rin had picked up water release, at least in some limited capacity, though he doubted that was her affinity. He occupied his time with catching fish rather than sleeping, finding it more challenging than expected without a net or anything like that, but Jin was willing to help. She smiled at him as she hit one with a senbon as he tricked it into coming up to the surface.
When they finally hit another shore, he was sure they were in Shimo, because the ground was covered in frost. They had taken awkward turns trying to sleep and recover chakra on the skiff, but it was not working for anyone; they needed an actual rest. Rin was seasick, and annoyed that she could not simply heal herself. They split up to set two tents up, deciding that they would not fit in one, as warm as it would be.
“You like that girl, don’t you?” the other kunoichi asked quietly.
“Uh, well, that’s behind us now,” he said. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Strange. From what I heard, you red eyes never denied yourselves.”
He rolled his eyes, which were not, at the moment, red. They were, however, tired.
“Well, she’s the one who denied me,” he said. “Looks like you get denied anyway sometimes.” They probably got their ideas about us from Madara and a few other clan officials who might have been out that way since then. Then again, I think Tekka had a mission that took him over there.
“Does she like the other one?”
“Kakashi? He’s not someone you like. He’s a machine.”
When the tents were set up, Ryochu seemed to think that the girls would be sleeping in one tent and the guys in the other, but Jin put her foot down about Rin, who was currently heaving her guts into the ocean.
“She has to sleep somewhere,” Wakoucha said. “She’ll freeze. We can’t afford to keep the fire burning. It’ll probably just be a few hours, just to get us all back in order.”
“I don’t see why that’s my- I’d like to minimize the problems that I have to deal with solely because I’m a girl.”
Both of her teammates looked back at her silently for a moment before asking what she suggested. It was obvious that Rin needed bodies to keep her warm, the more the better, and Ryochu revealed that Jin has a weakness for coughing and retching without wanting to go into too much detail about her condition. Obito volunteered to be one of the ones keeping warm, but apparently Wakoucha wanted to keep an eye on Kakashi and he ended up going in the other tent. In light of recent events, he was substantially less picky about sleeping order and location. The big tent would be watching the whole time, promising a good night of rest for him.
Huddling close to Jin for warmth, he allowed himself to notice her brown eyes and short brown hair as she removed her hitai-ate. Her hands did not seem satisfied with any one place on his back, and then their movements were unmistakably deliberate, but he hardly noticed with her lips meeting his own. It was like eating when he was starving; his body warmed up dramatically and he reciprocated, kissing her back and searching for a place to keep his cold hands, his lower body warming not just from the heat emanating from his heart, ticking like a time bomb.
He minded less than he thought he would as she moved some of their winter gear out of the way, their bellies meeting- hers felt like a furnace against his own, and he remembered that was where certain organs were located, and it was not a coincidence that his own equivalent was about as excited as it ever had been. It was strange; even as he realized what was happening, he wanted more- he hardly noticed anything except the rush after a long period of boredom and the warmth in the land of frost. Pulling away from her lips, he tried to go back to simply holding her, but she seemed to take it as a cue for her head to go down.
“We can’t…” he started, grabbing her. “It wouldn’t be…”
“Don’t tell me this is about that girl,” Jin muttered, repositioning herself. “I thought you were the type of guy who does what you want- don’t tell me you want her instead-“ How could he? How could he when he was trying to put her as far from his mind as he- “You know she’s probably still green in the gills, and she’s surrounded by other guys right now. She’s not even thinking about you.”
Obito generally liked to think of himself as more mature, especially since he started his long journey, but there were some things that he had liked to think of as beyond him still. If anyone asked if he wanted to be promoted to Jonin, he would most likely say that he had not been thinking of it, since he had only recently made Chunin, and he had heard of adults who never made it past the rank. Though he had started to have certain feelings toward Rin, he had focused them almost entirely on her and he was not quite capable of switching gears in a matter of days.
“We’re not even-“ he started again, holding her when he felt like he should be pushing her away, but he needed the warmth to live. “We’re barely-“
“Am I not good enough for you?” she asked, starting to make a hand sign, but he grabbed her hand. She pulled a small blade out of her clothes, but they were in an awkward position and it was easy enough for him to see it and grab her other hand, wrestling her to the ground before she frowned at him. “You know what this would look like if the others came in here, right?”
“I can’t hold you like this all night,” he said, letting go. “I’ll pass out. Get back in the other tent. I don’t care if I freeze.”
Her mask broke and she started crying. Even as he remembered Rin saying that they learned how to fake any emotion in kunoichi classes, he found himself unable to find it suspicious. She turned away from him and he was cold again. He found himself drifting in and out of consciousness, unbelievably tired and not really resting. It was all he could do to hope Jin was going to sleep as well.
At some indeterminable point in the dark she looked over at him again, and he stopped pretending to be asleep. Her expression was all hatred. He had never seen anything like it.
“Why are you so mad?” he muttered. It seemed unlikely he would get any more sleep just staring at her. “You had to do this, didn’t you?”
“I said I wanted to minimize the amount of problems I had to deal with just by virtue of being a girl, didn’t I?” she asked. “I know we’re old enough. Well, I know I am, but it seems like your balls aren’t dropped yet. They’re all the way up with your stupid heart.”
“I just said no,” he muttered back. “No need to get mad.” He honestly did not have the energy to deal with any back and forth, and he doubted that she had a lot more than he did, but she was committed. “If I can deal with it, you can.”
“Your stupid girlfriend didn’t reject you when you were naked, did she?”
“No, she rejected me for just trying to get closer to her. I didn’t jump on her and then get a knife out when it was going too far-“
“Okay, shut up,” she spat, still keeping her voice down. “Guys and girls are different. You would’ve been just fine with it if she started taking her clothes off with you. The only hesitation you might have had was feeling like it was too good to be true.” Obito was finding it difficult to deny. “That’s also why you don’t understand why I’m so pissed at you. I had to debase myself this much and you can’t even lie and say you don’t have balls or something to spare my feelings.”
“It’s not like you’re ugly or something,” he muttered after thinking a moment. “We’re just… we shouldn’t be doing this. Even if we’re Chunin, we’re still only-“
“I’m old enough. The minute I was old enough my teacher told me that the second I got a moment alone with someone with a decent kekkei genkai-“
“You’re under orders?” he asked.
“I’ll just lie about it in the report,” she muttered. “It doesn’t really matter. I’ve just known ever since I was a little girl that Konoha has as many bloodlines as there are stars in the sky, and it’s the women who bring babies back with them. No one ever had to order me to put it together.” She sighed. “They didn’t even know that you three would be in the land of snow with us.”
He thought for a moment about her situation, how many clues he had missed in his state of near exhaustion. There was the way her teammates responded to her subtle manipulations about the sleeping arrangements. Did they know? Were they okay with it? What could they have done, anyway?
“Just don’t say anything, then,” he said. “The others… I guess they can fudge the details in their reports-“
“You don’t have to worry about me not saying anything, red eyes. Even if it kills me, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to tell anyone that I couldn’t get a virgin Uchiha hot blooded enough to- it doesn’t matter. Being pregnant would have been a pain anyway.” She curled up into a ball. “It doesn’t matter.”
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this is legitimately one of my top five favorite kakashi scenes.
i love seeing kakashi break the rules in the name of doing the right thing, and this scene especially is particularly satisfying to me, because his moment of defiance here is, to my mind, long overdue.
one of my eternal frustrations in early naruto is how the leaf village administration gives kakashi the job of caring for a group of super high-needs children and then continually makes that job as difficult for him as possible. they task him with being solely responsible for the development and well-being of three twelve year-olds - a group that includes naruto (a walking disaster with a god’s power trapped inside his body) and sasuke (a genocide survivor fixated on killing his own brother), BOTH of whom are being hunted by different groups of supercriminals - and then the village keeps getting in kakashi’s way or dropping the ball or actively ordering him to prioritize other things.
so much of what goes wrong with the kids in this period is the result of other people interfering with kakashi’s work or being negligent or endangering the kids/putting kakashi in impossible positions. team 7’s first big mission sets the tone for everything that comes after, with someone else’s lie putting kakashi in a situation where he has to single-handedly protect not just the client who deceived him, but the three children who were supposed to be the clients’ other protectors. and after that, the list just multiplies:
ten anbu operatives can’t manage to protect sasuke’s hospital room from orochimaru’s minions, so kakashi has to do it himself and then whisk sasuke out of the village for a month, leaving naruto in the hands of a substitute and sakura with her parents
genma orders sasuke to chase after gaara when the chunin exams blow up, saying “you’re at chunin level already,” which forces kakashi to immediately dispatch more kids to bring him back, because “ffs NO i do NOT want him out there doing that why the fuck would you tell him to do that?!”
aoba runs his mouth off about itachi when sasuke is standing RIGHT THERE, instantly undoing all the work kakashi just did to prevent itachi and sasuke from coming anywhere near each other (and thus sending sasuke to that disastrous first encounter, the outcome of which ultimately leads to sasuke’s defection)
jiraiya decides he should let sasuke try to fight itachi himself, “out of respect for the boy’s feelings,” leading to sasuke ending up in a tsukuyomi coma
tsunade orders kakashi to drop his teaching work and leave the village on a mission even though a) he’s just gotten out of his own torture-induced coma and b) sasuke is having a crisis that kakashi is trying to manage
and then when kakashi gets back from that mission and finds out that surprise, all of this meddling has led to a disaster, tsunade tries to order him away AGAIN
but this time - he just says no.
he walks right out of her office. he turns his back on her. and there is NOTHING i love more than seeing kakashi embody the philosophy that he’s chosen to adopt as his guiding light: those who break the rules are scum. but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.
it’s not that he doesn’t understand where tsunade is coming from here. but he knows she’s wrong. she’s making her decisions based solely on concerns about the Leaf Village being in a tight spot - feeling like they can’t turn down missions because they’ll appear weak and thus become vulnerable to attack when they’re already operating at half strength. she sends a group of twelve year-olds to bring sasuke back because supposedly the village can’t spare anyone else, “even if it means letting the sharingan fall into orochimaru’s hands” - but like. it’s not the sharingan. it’s a child. sasuke isn’t just a repository for his hereditary jutsu; he’s not a pair of eyes to be passed around from one wielder to the next. he’s a human child.
tsunade doesn’t know sasuke. she’s new to the situation and doesn’t know enough about it to understand how serious it is. i don’t even think she was still in the village when the uchiha massacre occurred; the timeline makes it sound like she left long before that. she doesn’t really understand who sasuke is or how much trouble he’s in - she makes her decision because she feels like her first priority has to be the well-being of the Leaf as a whole, not the individual people who comprise it. kakashi, though, who a) lives his life by a very different philosophy and b) does understand sasuke’s situation, would not have dealt with the issue like this, and if the village had let him do his job from the beginning, things wouldn’t have gotten to this point in the first place.
kakashi is horrified that tsunade sent a bunch of twelve year-olds out to fight orochimaru’s ninja, and i think he’s also probably angry and/or frustrated about having been ordered out of the village in the first place. he was dealing with the situation before tsunade sent him away. he interrupted the fight between sasuke and naruto even though he himself had literally just gotten out of the hospital, and then he continued addressing the issue with sasuke privately (unlike jiraiya’s non-attempt to address it with naruto, when he said he was going to give naruto a talking-to but actually flaked out). kakashi knew sasuke was struggling, and he was doing all the things a teacher is supposed to do to address it, but then he was ordered away, and even though it was just for two days, it was enough time for everything to go to hell.
if people would just let him do his job - if the administration would let him focus on the task they themselves assigned to him - things would be different. but everybody wants him to do everything. they want him to be everywhere. they want him to protect the nine-tails jinchuriki (who is also kakashi’s dead teacher’s son), and train the last surviving uchiha (which is a task only kakashi and his sharingan can perform), and give equal attention to a third kid, for good measure, and they want him to do it without stepping away from any of his other burdens, all while other people around him constantly frustrate the progress he makes.
so this time, when tsunade tries to send him away, he refuses. he disobeys her orders and walks out of the room. he doesn’t care about the rules or what he’s “legally” obligated to do. he knows what the RIGHT thing to do is, and so he rejects his new mission in favor of rescuing the kids.
i love these moments. i love when we’re shown so clearly the person kakashi has chosen to be - someone who does what’s right, not just what he’s told. he made an active choice many years ago to adopt that philosophy, and he’s been living by those new rules ever since. he's wiser now than he was when he was a child - sometimes you have to break ranks to do the right thing. sometimes you have to buck the system, even if it means you might face severe personal consequences.
he had one of two choices: either save the mission or his comrades. of course, according to the law of the village, you cannot abandon a mission. but to save the life of his comrades, he put the mission on hold.
kakashi may have spent a good chunk of his childhood trying to reject everything the subject of that story stood for, but none of his attempts to harden his heart ever stuck. he is, in the end, his father’s son.
#naruto#pan watches naruto#meta#i got lost on the path of life#*#anyway i just LOVE seeing kakashi break the rules#gives me so much satisfaction#he's worked so hard to become who he is today#and he's grown so much#on the other hand...#i HATE seeing kakashi take all of his frustration with how the village has mishandled things#and immediately turn it around upon himself#'i was too naive'#'i'm too late'#'it was my cowardice that drove the three of you apart'#'i'm sorry you have such a careless sensei'#none of that is even REMOTELY true#literally the last thing kakashi ever was with these kids was 'careless' or 'cowardly'#the deck was stacked against him from the beginning and he still did EVERYTHING he could#but he blames himself for all the things that went wrong#even when they were completely out of his control#and that's why i maintain that the last hurdle kakashi is going to surmount in this story is guilt#that's the natural progression of his character arc#the one thing he has never been able to do -#despite all his other achievements and hard-won personal growth -#is let go of his guilt and shame#that's why his character design looks the way it looks#the way he wears that headband isn't a fashion choice. it's a symbolic representation of how he hasn't cleared this obstacle yet#he has never released himself from blame or forgiven himself for anything#maybe someday...but i guess i'll just have to wait and see
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Congrats to 100 follower ✨💖 you really deserve it. You constantly put quality content out there 🥺
As for your celebration, what about the alphabet for Kakashi? 🥰
Kakashi X Reader | A-Z Headcanon
Masterlist
A-Z Headcanon
Warning: 18+ Content
A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)
Once you two are done and tired, he's gonna take a moment and then turn over to you to smile and adore how flushed you look. He usually kisses your forehead and then pulls you into his chest. Once you two are all calmed down. "You want to hop in the shower baby?" Still running his one hand through your hair. If you say you want to rest a bit more, he gets up to get you water and towels, or if you say yes then expect a "Round 2?" joke on your way, which wasn't actually a joke.
B = Body part (Their favorite body part of their partner’s)
Your thighs! Doesn't matter if you have thick thighs or not he likes to grab them while you're on top or you two are just chilling and he is running his hand through them and they slip certain places "by accident"
In a non-sexual way, it is your hair, for sure. He likes to bury his face in them because the scent of the fresh shampoo is relaxing to him. If you change your shampoo he'll notice it right away, expect a new bottle of the same shampoo on the shelf next to your new one the next day.
C = Cuddling
Cuddling with this man is a dream! He likes to be all over you with one leg over yours and your face buried in his chest. Even if you are being the small spoon, his one leg will be over you and your head resting on one of his arm and his other arm over your shoulder pulling you closer to his chest.
Whenever you two are on a nap date, his hand is always resting on you. He becomes restless when he can't find you but calms down after finding you on the other side of the bed. Then just keeps his palm on you rather than pulling you in and waking you up.
D = Dirty Secret
This one time, you two had an idea of taking some nudes together just for fun to see whose turns out to be the better one. You both set a rule to get rid of them after the winner was announced, which never happened since you two were so turned on in the process that you two ended up doing it. You forgot it but he still has your photo with him. Shut up, it helps him on long missions.
E = Experience
He was not a virgin, but he wasn't much experienced either. If you want to know more about this scenario find it here.
In starting he kept things vanilla, he didn't want to freak you out. But you wanted more but that was the case with you too so this one time you stole his Itcha Itcha to read what type of stuff he was into. AND YOU ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. You had to read it as fast as you can because he'd notice that it was missing.
And when you suggested something, it was a shock to him because he knows exactly how to do it but to ACTUALLY experience it and that too with YOU? The guy was in actual heaven that day.
F = Favourite Position
It depends, he is a tease so he likes when you do all the work but just wait till he has your image of having one leg over his shoulder while he's pounding into you and you're all flustered, aaaaand the guy is pinning you down and going at it.
Or if he is IN THE MOOD he's gonna start with you on all fours and will end up having you burring your face in the pillow.
G = Goofy
Hehe he is the best type of goofy. He says the jokes with a straight face while everyone is on the floor dying. He only lets out a small laugh when you are laughing your "so-called ugly laugh" in front of others too.
But sometimes he starts laughing even before cracking the joke because it was that funny, "Oh boy, naah it's nothing" he says wiping a tear, off his one eye. You all will beg him but according to him "the moment is gone" lol he IS a tease.
H = Hair
His hair is sooooo fluffy! And after how little he looks after them? It is almost a joke on you. You take care of your hair a lot but this guy probably washes it with body wash and still has such good quality. He always says that it is a good diet to trick you into healthy eating too. This guy never misses a chance to do that.
I = Intimacy
Your emotional intimacy is something that is beyond this world. You both never knew that you were capable of feeling emotions so strongly. You're hurt? He feels this burning feeling in his heart that he can't get rid of. He is having a nightmare? It breaks your heart that you cannot do anything about what he had to go through.
Not for once have you two felt any sort of negative emotions to one another but just love and CARE! You love your people but for the first time, you've felt that "care" not from the words but actions.
For the first time, you two have felt that you don't have to do everything on your own, you can divide it and let your guard down for a moment because you know that other one will be there if something goes wrong.
J = Jack Off
He does it normally when he is out on a mission or away from you for a while. One thought of you can turn him on in that case.
K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)
Ohohoho where should I even start? He LOVES to handcuff you because that just gives him more power over what he wants you to feel. Which is why he likes blindfold too.
As your relationship grows he likes the risk factor too so he likes to do it in a tricky place. But while making sure that your reputation doesn't get compromised at any cost.
L = Location (Favourite places to do they do)
Umm isn't it obvious? Anywhere? Literally. But he loves to bend you over the kitchen counter and take you then and there as he enters the house and finds you cooking or just having a drink or something.
M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)
He will do anything you ask for while doing it to make sure that he will be able to see that face of yours when you have just let go and you're too flustered to even care. It shows him that you are enjoying it.
Or if it is just you pleasing him and you look up to him with "puppy eyes" heh don't blame him for what is about to happen to you.
N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn-offs)
You risking your reputation for the "risk factor". See, everyone sees you highly in the village and he loves the respect that they give you. He WILL NEVER ruin it just because he is feeling it right now and won't let you do the same too.
O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)
It may not seem like it but he LOVES to give it to you. Actually, if this time it is more of a sensual one then he always starts with eating you only. It is his way of showing that you're his priority.
He has long fingers so umm ya. You're overstimulated most of the time. As much as he loves seeing this, he holds your hand with one while the other one is pumping in and out of you as he plays with your clit with his tongue.
He loves to hold one hand with you even while he is eating you out. Wow.
P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)
He starts with "slow as death" ones and then once you're begging to him theeen he goes fast and deep. You ARE lucky to have him honestly :')
Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)
You don't even have to say anything? You are looking good before you two go out? You'll be doing it before leaving the house.
It's not his fault! You look too good, it's your fault.
And sometimes these quickies turn into something more and you two end up staying home.
R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)
Risk who? That's all I'm gonna say.
S = Stamina
He can go for a lot of rounds. But if he is just back from the mission or has been busy all day and now he is tired. Please don't push him. Not because he is a "poor guy" or something, nooooo, this idiot will get horny and do it anyway. But regret in the morning because he didn't take enough rest.
T = Toy
He bought it only when you two started experimenting so you both have handcuffs (used for you only he doesn't like to be a sub that often), a blindfold, and a vibrator for sure. This fucker likes to edge you a lot.
U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)
Heh isn't it clear already? This guy is the definition of being unfair. As you start to get a little annoyed and turn to him and catch him smirking, all that "annoyance" turns into "lust" lol you simp! But can we really blame you?
V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)
If you are doing it somewhere out? He'll keep shut and even cover your mouth to avoid getting caught. But if he is at home, he will grunt a lot but will let out a loud moan once he reaches his high
W = Wild Card (Just a random headcanon because I cannot think of anything starting with W)
He cooks for you in the morning. That is the only time he can make sure that you have a good healthy meal since he is not there for lunch and you make the dinner.
If he is cooking in the morning then expect your lunch prepared for you too. *and meal prep for dinner* bro he wants to make sure that you are taking care of yourself because you work too hard okay? Shut up and have your fruits and drink some water as you read this...... Go now, sip some water.
X = X-Ray
He has a lean physique but specifically, his arms are muscular and they are getting buffer after you mention that you like buffed arms. Hehe being slick, okayyyy.
Also, he has long slim fingers, umm good for you.
But you like to draw in his hands too sometimes. Just some little things. He smiles at them as he looks at them later.
Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)
He kind of has a strong sex drive. Most of the time if it is because of the fact that he is too excited to try new things on you.
Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterward)
He doesn't sleep until he knows that you are sound asleep. He likes to take in the scent of your hair and just run his fingers through your hair to calm you down a bit. Do it back too, please. He loves it a lot! If you stop and start doing something else, he'll bring back your hand to his hair and make you do it for as long as you don't fall asleep. In any case, he is sleeping once you're asleep.
____________________________
Shikamaru is my favorite character but ya’ll are making me change my lane with how many posts I’ve written for Kakashi XD
Thanks For Reading and for the ask!
If you liked it you can check out the masterlist too!
#kakashi x reader#kakashi smut#team kakashi#kakashi x y/n#kakashi hokage#kakashi hakate#kakashi x oc#kakashi fanfiction#kakashi sensei#naruto#kakashi hatake#hatake kakashi imagine#hatake clan#hatake kakashi icons#hatake simp#kakashi#anbu kakashi#hatake kakashi#naruto shippuden#naruto shippuuden gif
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From a very young age, Obito's grandmother had cautioned him to guard his heart.
"There is nothing more dangerous than an Uchiha in love," she warned him. "If you're not careful, caring too deeply will destroy you, drive you to madness."
For a five-year-old Obito, all it took to fall in love were three words, coming from a girl with sparkling brown eyes and the brightest smile he'd ever seen.
"Hey, nice goggles!"
~~
Obito, as a general rule, tried to avoid thinking too much about Hatake Kakashi. As far as he was concerned, stupid Bakashi already had too many people thinking about him. It felt like Obito couldn't go five minutes without hearing the whispers of "prodigy" and "genius" and "future-Hokage" trailing Kakashi everywhere he went (and what really stung was that they probably weren't wrong-- what Obito worked at for hours upon hours to accomplish, Kakashi managed in minutes without breaking a sweat).
Obito thought he'd been doing a pretty good job of ignoring Kakashi all things considered, despite the other boy's annoying attitude and annoying hair and annoying voice and annoying mask and annoying everything. He didn't even care (much) about Kakashi's annoyingly large number of fangirls-- up until he noticed that Rin had also started watching him.
He lasted three days before he confronted her about it.
"Why're you watching Kakashi?" Obito blurted out. He'd considered straight up asking her if she had a crush on him-- like half the girls in their class, he thought bitterly-- but had chickened out at the last moment. He wasn't sure what he'd do if the answer was yes--probably something that would land him in detention again.
"He's walking home alone again," Rin said quietly, gaze still fixated on Kakashi's departing figure. "It's been weeks now."
"So?" Obito asked. "He walks home by himself all the time."
Rin shook her head.
"Only when his father's on a mission. Which he might be, I don't know, but given what happened--" Her voice trailed off. Obito didn't need her to complete the sentence, anyway. Everyone in the village knew what had happened on Hatake Sakumo's disastrous mission.
"We're going to follow him," Rin decided. That got Obito's attention.
"What? Why?" He wasn't whining. He wasn't.
"Because something's not right here. And until we figure out what it is, I'd feel better watching over him to make sure he's safe." She glanced at him and grinned. "Besides, this will allow you to practice your stealth skills. And my Henge skills. Think I can make a convincing bush?"
~~
Through some miracle, because Rin did not make a convincing bush-- bushes didn't move for one thing, nor did they have legs-- they managed to follow Kakashi back to the Hatake Compound undetected. The moment the compound came into sight, Rin jolted, her henge dropping away completely.
"Oh," she whispered, eyes widening. Obito swallowed, feeling rather sick to the stomach himself.
The wall of the compound was completely covered by graffiti. Obito clenched his fists, mouth going dry-- there were words on there that would make Obito's grandmother scrub his mouth with soap if he even thought of saying them but worse than that were the words scattered between the cursing and insults:
Failure
Disgrace
Weak
Monster
Shameful
Your fault
Your fault
Your fault
"Obito." Rin's voice was strangely calm.
"Y-Yeah?" Obito cleared his throat, tearing his gaze away from the Hatake Compound. Kakashi didn't deserve that, he found himself thinking. His dad didn't deserve it either. No one deserved that.
Rin glanced at him, eyes hard.
"Do you think your grandmother would be okay with you sleeping over at my house tonight?"
Obito blinked, then slowly began to smile.
"I think I can convince her."
"Great." Rin folded her arms across her chest. "How are your painting skills?"
~~
Of all the things Sakumo expected to find outside his house in the middle of the night, two kids wearing badly-made face masks painting his wall was not one of them.
"What are you guys doing?" Kakashi demanded, looking like he wasn't sure whether to be angry or confused.
"What does it look like we're doing, Bakashi?" The kid in the orange eye-mask retorted. "Everyone calls you a genius, figure it out."
This night was getting weirder and weirder, Sakumo thought bemusedly to himself.
"You're...vandalizing my house. At two in the morning," Kakashi replied. It looked like the confusion was winning out over the anger.
"It's not vandalism if it's done with good intentions," the girl in the purple eye mask said primly. Sakumo resisted the urge to rub at his eyes.
"Friends of yours, Kakashi?" Sakumo asked, and received an immediate flurry of responses.
"No, I hardly even know them, they're just some kids from my class--"
"Friends with Bakashi? No way, I--"
"Not yet at least."
Sakumo let them talk over each other, gaze drifting back over to the half-completed paint job. They'd...done a surprisingly good job, actually. He could barely see the words underneath anymore.
He held up a hand, causing all three kids to go quiet.
"Why?" He asked finally, addressing the two kids who apparently weren't friends with Kakashi and yet had gone to the trouble to do all...this.
"Why not?" the boy said defiantly, jutting his chin up. "We felt like it and your wall is messed up, so we're painting it to look better."
The girl remained silent for a beat longer, before turning to look him in the eye.
"Because you deserve better," she said. Sakumo's mouth twisted.
"I'm not sure I do," he murmured, almost inaudibly. He blinked as the girl suddenly narrowed her eyes, brandishing her paintbrush at him like a kunai.
"Don't say that," she hissed, glaring fiercely at him "Don't you dare say that! The first thing they teach us in the Academy is that your teammates always, always come first. You acted according to that and the fact that people are treating you like a monster for it is wrong."
"It's not that simple--"
"It's not your fault that Konoha is on the brink of war,” she interrupted sharply. "If you didn't trigger it, someone else would have. You don't teach five year olds wartime tactics if you're not expecting...if you're not preparing for a war. People don't want to admit that, so they look for someone to blame-- but that's their problem, not yours."
She turned around, re-coating her brush with paint.
"I can't make you believe me, Hatake-san. But what I can do is cover up this wall of yours. At the very least, Kakashi-kun doesn't deserve to look at this every day."
At that, Kakashi straightened up, scowling at her. If his glare seemed rather halfhearted, no one pointed it out.
"I don't need you to do it, I can do it myself," he grumbled.
"Great," the girl said without missing a beat. "While you're here, you can settle a debate between me and Obito-- hypothetically speaking, would you prefer snakes painted on the wall or dragons?"
"C'mon Rin, dragons are so much cooler, what kind of person would prefer snakes--"
"Obito, neither of us can even draw a dragon and besides, they summon snakes--"
"What? No we don't! We summon dogs!"
"Oh. Really? But your dad is called the White Fang. That wasn't a reference to snake fangs?"
"No!"
"Huh. Who summons snakes then? Someone summons snakes."
"Forget the snakes, is there a dragon contract I can sign?"
"They'd take one look at you and eat you, dead last."
"Shut up, Bakashi!"
Sakumo felt his lips twitch. He turned around to walk back inside, feeling lighter than he had in weeks.
And to think, he'd been worried about Kakashi making friends.
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Are you alright with a/b/o? not for any of the raunchy stuff of course XD this is the pg blog (i hc him as a Beta anyways) but i've seen some cute wholesome ones where Kakashi as an omega just has no clue or that much desire to do any of the "typical" omega activities, or even just general knowledge of a/b/o in general since he was so busy with training and kinda-maybe-somewhat dealing with his trauma, plus in ANBU anonymity is sacred also he just didn't give a damn about it lol AND THIS IS OKAY- he get's taught by Tenzo and friends how to make a nest, the yes and no's of scenting people etc. Gets ribbed (affectionately) by Rin for ignoring his health for so long, and just generally have a good time with his friends being very understanding but also teasing his clueless ass, Even Tenzo knew more even tho Danzo fucked up his gender so much-
Anyways just a soft vibes- what are your headcanons about it? (if you have any- i get a/b/o can be damn weird and ridiculous at times sorry i get if this makes you uncomfortable- i didn't see it on your rules list so i'm just making sure- T.T)
I donMt do A/B/O a lot because it’s just not something i’m familiar with
But my favorite thing is Beta Kakashi, because it fits with my demi sexual Kakashi Headcanon and just fits best with him. I don’t like the Omega or Alpha standards that are attributed to the types as a rule, and Kakashi isn’t someone i can fit into either role.
Partially because i feel like if he was in heat (i might get terms wrong, please don’t scold me for it Xad as i said it’s not something i’ve delved into a lot) he would be very likely to break an alpha’s arm or even neck if they tried anything without his full concent. As for him being an alpha, Kakashi is a character i feel would try to avoid people whose scent might get to him
The main headcanons i do have for this AU are
Beta Kakashi who is often the in between in Anbu stopping Alpha’s from getting out of hand and just trying to do his job. I feel like because of the ‘hierarchy’ alpha’s would often assume the role of leadership over beta’s and omega’s, so Kakashi stands out a lot by being such a strong tactical leader that he often gets the leadership roles over alphas, even those more experienced than him.
Gai is an Alpha but something about his body doesn’t agree with the omega scent, so when an onega’s in heat he actually gets sick and wants nothing to do with it. Because of this he’s quit happy to be with Kakashi who he doesn’t have this problem with and is someone he loved completly and has for years
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In Which I Attempt to Wreak Havoc Upon Panharmonium's Heart. Or Something.
Because I am an awesome friend, clearly, and possibly making people sad/verklempt is definitely an excellent way to (belatedly 😔 but I did start before the 15th!) celebrate Kakashi's birthday, right? ;)
I will admit up front that this is nowhere near as deftly structured and compiled as your Kakashi fanmix, @panharmonium, but that is precisely why I'm not even going to try to organize all these songs into individual playlists. Yet. Plus, I have a tendency to over-explain so this way I can better expound on why certain songs remind me of certain characters. Sorry that I sorta went a little... overboard?
Everything--except a few that aren't available on spotify, I'll link to them directly--can be listened to HERE.
What I'm Looking For - Brendan Benson | Kakashi
→ I may be a little biased with this one because it fits SO many of my favorite characters so well, somehow, but there's just something about the upbeat/tongue-in-cheek musical cues/delivery of lines such as 'I visit hell on a daily basis, and I see the sadness in all your faces' that just feels so Kakashi to me.
Happy Ending - MIKA | Kakashi
→ This is presumably a breakup song, but I enjoy it so much more in a non-romantic context (and the song itself isn't really boxed in with overtly romantic framing, so I appreciate that!). Anyway, some very important instructions IMO for listening to this with Kakashi in mind: everything before the bridge is about Kakashi up through his ANBU years, but when you get to the 'little bit of love' refrain, picture Kakashi meeting Tenzo, and then becoming Team 7's sensei, opening back up to Gai, adopting all the other leaf genin, assimilating Sai and Yamato into Team 7, and it keeps building with Kakashi gaining more and more loved ones to fill the hole in his heart, and then cry tears of joy with me! Just my personal suggestion. :D
Light - Sleeping At Last | Kakashi & Team 7 (/all his kids)
with every heartbeat I have left I will defend your every breath
→ I've seen this song used for ship vids and I'm all ????? about that because this is clearly a song about the love you have for your child! But I suppose if one of my favorite pastimes is aggressively re-interpreting love songs in non-romantic ways, I can't begrudge the opposite process... too much, lol.
Heroes - MIKA | Team Minato
your blood on me/and my blood on you/but to make you bleed/the only thing I wouldn't do/.../I wish there was a way/to give you a hand to hold/'cause you don't have to die in your glory/die, to never grow old
Long Lost Friends - Transit | Kakashi & Obito
how long/do you have to say that/this is not the person I used to know/you are not the person I used to know/.../because lately, you've been looking at me like you've seen a ghost/and isn't it obvious who's been missing who the most
→ What the heck! What the heck! What the heck! What the heck! What the heck!
Against the Voices - Switchfoot | Kakashi
'cause everybody knows/the hardest war to fight/is the fight to be yourself/when the voices try to turn you into someone else
Out of the Darkness - Matthew and the Atlas | Obito? Yamato? Kakashi? Itachi & Sasuke? Naruto & Kurama?
→ I'm a bit undecided about this one, or if I should just not worry about choosing one character and just let myself feel all the "inner darkness is not an innate characteristic, Danzo! They're just grieving/in a lot of pain, and they can find their way out of that dark place!" feels.
Save A Place - 1969 | Kakashi & Sasuke
so I'll keep away and save a place for you/and I'll only make the same mistakes as you/.../when all the blood all over your fingers is dried up/the pain will still linger
→ I'm not uber-confident in picking out really fitting Kakashi & Sasuke songs yet, but I hope this hits a lot of the right notes for you. :)
Thrive - Switchfoot | Kakashi
I'm always close, but I'm never enough/I'm always in line, but I'm never in love/I get so down, but I won't give up/I get so down, but I won't give up
→ See, it says right there that he's never in love! Not the crux of the song, and he's not always 'in line' either, but still! :)
Disarm - The Civil Wars | Kakashi & Obito
the years burn, burn, burn
→ I don't know how I keep collecting fictional relationships that work so well for this song, but literally every single line of this song hits so hard for these two?? Will never recover from this. (Also, I usually disregard when 'my love' pops up in the last line of the chorus, as the mood dictates. :) It's pretty incidental as is IMO.)
Renaissance - Paolo Buonvino & Skin | Sakumo & Obito & Kakashi & Naruto
let me show you one last time/let me show you one last sign/you can find it/I can't say that I can change the world/but if you let me, I can make another world for us/let me suffer all for you/make this vision all brand new/we can fight them/I can't say that I can win it all, [but] come with me and I will make my words stand tall
→ Okay, this is a very odd choice given that it's actually the theme song for a different show about the Italian renaissance (if you happen to see this, Mirjam, don't hate me!), but this could be IT! The "those who break the rules are scum, but those who would abandon their friends are worse than scum" anthem that's all about building a better world based on these principles! I really hope our sharing-a-brain talent translates to listening to this song in this way because I am feeling SOME KIND of way about this!
The Lament of Eustace Scrubb - The Oh Hellos | Kakashi
→ I really liked the song you chose from this album for your fanmix, so now I've feeling a tiny bit too on-the-nose with my choice, but I guess this is just a Kakashi album all around. 😆
Glass Heart Hymn - Paper Route | Kakashi(+ Obito) & Sasuke(+ Itachi)
memories as heavy as a stone/ I am empty, in my end you are my beginning
This Is Home - Switchfoot | Yamato & Kakashi (+ Team 7)
and now, after all my searching/after all my questions/I'm gonna call it home
→ All finding-where-you-belong songs are actually Yamato songs. True story!
Faust, Midas, & Myself - Switchfoot | Obito
you have one life left to leave/you have one life left to lead
→ Could this be any more perfect for Obito? It even has creepy-old-man!Madara!
Pluto - Sleeping At Last | Kakashi
Always Gold - Radical Face | Kakashi & Obito/Sasuke & Itachi/Naruto & Sasuke
all my life, I've never known where you've been/there were holes in you, the kind that I could not mend/and I heard you say, right when you left that day/does everything go away?/yeah, everything goes away/but I'm going to be here till forever/so just call when you're around
→ ...but mostly Kakashi & Obito because 'there were holes in you' 😭😭😭
Lemon Boy - Cavetown | Yamato & Kakashi
→ You already know the delights of this song of course, but I gots to be comprehensive. :)
Everywhere I Go - Lissie/cover by Sleeping At Last | Kakashi & Team Minato
danger will follow me now everywhere I go/angels will call on me and take me to my home/well, these tired eyes just want to remain closed
→ I chose the Sleeping At Last cover for maximum angst, 'cause sometimes it be like that.
Uneven Odds - Sleeping At Last | Kakashi
maybe your light is a seed, and the darkness the dirt, in spite of the uneven odds, beauty lifts from the earth
→ ...just like an earth style: mud wall :') Okay, okay, bad jokes aside, the seed metaphor of course makes me want to associate it with Tenzo, but this is clearly a Kakashi song!
Twenty-four - Switchfoot | Kakashi & Obito
life is not what I thought it was twenty-four hours ago/and I'm not who I thought I was twenty-four hours ago/still I'm singing spirit, take me up in arms with you/you're raising the dead in me/I wanna see miracles/to see the world change/wrestled the angel for more than a name/for more than a feeling, for more than a cause/I'm singing spirit, take me up in arms with you/and you're raising the dead in me
I'm Still Here (Jim's Theme) - John Rzeznik | Kakashi
and how can they say I never change?/they're the ones that stay the same/.../they can't tell me who to be/'cause I'm not what they see/.../and their words are just whispers/and lies that I'll never believe
→ Yeah, I might've accidentally imprinted on Treasure Planet as a 14 year old, and then someone made sure this song would forever live in my heart by making a fanvid of it with my favorite character from my robin hood show, but! He's still here!
See You Again - Wiz Khalifa (feat. Charlie Puth) | Kakashi & Obito/Team Minato
how can we not talk about family when family's all that we got?/everything I went through, you were standing there by my side/and now you gon' be with me for the last ride
→ I am being very unoriginal here, and there are in fact already fanvids made for these relationships set to this song (along with many others featuring different Naruto relationships), but I don't think I'll be able to rest until I translate the movie playing in my head whenever I hear this song now into an actually watchable format. After all, they have come a long way from where they began, and I intend to make that both as touching and ironically hilarious as possible!
Goodnight, Travel Well - The Killers | Kakashi
→ Admittedly, I got this idea from a magnificently crafted fanvid done for my robin hood show, but I genuinely think it would be really interesting to make something similar for Kakashi centered around the time he technically died but got better? I don't know how to explain it, but I think it fits quite well.
30 Lives - Imagine Dragons | Kakashi & all the people he's loved and lost
→ can be listened to here.
A Pound of Flesh - Radical Face | Kakashi
then today I wake up feeling easy/and find I'm on more familiar roads/I got a darkness wrapped inside me/but now it ain't so hard to let it go/so keep a candle burning in the window/I'm almost home
Hold Back The River - James Bay | Kakashi & life getting in the way of him being with his precious people (you may be sensing a pattern here)
→ @the road of life: Let! Kakashi! And his People! Hold! Each! Other!!! Also, 'tried to square not being there, but think that I should have been' is absolutely about Sasuke's defection and Kakashi adding it to his long list of undeserving self-recriminations.
The Fall - Imagine Dragons | Yamato & Kakashi
→ 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
Shadowman - K's Choice | could work equally well for Kakashi or Obito, I think
any time tomorrow a part of me will die/and a new one will be born/any time tomorrow/I'll get sick of asking why/sick of all the darkness I have worn/any time tomorrow/I will try to do what's right/making sense of all I can/any time tomorrow I'll pretend to see the light/I just might/.../and doesn't it make you sad?/to see so much love denied/see nothing but a shadowman inside
Paint - The Paper Kites | Kakashi & Team 7
still there's a wound and I'm moving slow/though it don't show, though it don't show/I've got a hole where nothing grows,/how little you know, how little you know
→ A song for just how much Team 7 doesn't know about their sensei.
Always Find Me Here - Transit | Kakashi
→ ...most likely at the memorial stone. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (why am I like this)
Taste - Sleeping At Last | Kakashi
it’s bittersweet, it’s poetry/a careful pruning of my dead leaves/it’s holy ground, a treasure chest/I'm on my knees and only scratch the surface/like fists unraveling, like glass unshattering/we’re breaking all the rules, we’re breaking bread again/we’re swallowing light ’til we’re fixed from the inside
Help - Hurts | Yamato & Kakashi
take my hand and lead the way/out of the darkness and into the light of the day/.../'cause I know what I've been missing/and I know that I should try/but there's hope in this admission/and there's freedom in your eyes/.../I can feel the darkness coming/and I'm afraid of myself/call my name and I'll come running/'cause I just need some help
→ NO ONE TOUCHE ME.
Your Soul - RHODES | A mish-mash of Kakashi & Tenzo and Rin & Obito & Kakashi
and Gai & Kakashi vibes?
→ So like, 'oh you know when you're alone/I'm holding on and on and on and on/to your soul' reminded me of your 'when you're all alone...the only thing you really think about is dying' 'but when there are two of you...the only thing you can think about is surviving.' and now kakashi - who just saved his life - is asking him 'did you want to die' and yamato is saying 'no' there are two of them and yamato wants to SURVIVE. tags as well as Gai's steadfastness as a friend, and 'I just wanna hold your hand' made me think of Rin's "Well then, I'm just going to have to connect the two of you." while holding their hands, and the sunlight/'soul shine'/'your light' motif is just A Lot in this song!!
7 Years - Lukas Graham | Kakashi
→ Alright, yeah, there are already approximately a gazillion pre-existing Naruto AMVs for this song and even one or two focusing on Kakashi, but they don't capitalize on all the angst possibilities in many of the lyrics or reach the fluff potential of 'will I think the world is cold or will I have a lot of children who can warm me [when I'm old]' and I cannot abide that!
Putting The Dog To Sleep - The Antlers | Kakashi & Sasuke
→ Okay, on one hand, this song is One Big Oof. But I do like the (potentially odd) way I've conceptualized it for Kakashi & Sasuke? Like, the first half is Kakashi going through all the tragedies in his life and getting lost in ANBU, but then in the second half it transitions to him wanting to prevent Sasuke from having to be as alone as Kakashi once was and they can face life together? It makes me emotional!
Trust Me - The Fray | Kakashi & Obito
I found a friend, or should I say a foe?/said there's a few things you should know/we don't want you to see/we come, and we go/here today, gone tomorrow
→ There are a few lines that call Tenzo & Kakashi to mind, but mostly it's Obito & Kakashi.
The Lightning Strike (What If This Storm Ends?) - Snow Patrol | Kakashi
→ I had to, right? My mindscape is a little murky/scattered about what specifically I want to think about when I listen to this, but obviously it has to do with Kakashi in one way or another.
Kettering - The Antlers | Team Minato(???)
→ Honestly not sure if this will make any sense, but yeah, vague team minato vibes?
Swans - Unkle Bob | Kakashi & Obito/Rin/Minato/Kushina/Sakumo
→ They should be by his side always!!!
Looking Too Closely - Fink | Kakashi
→ I honestly feel rather ambivalent about this one too, but I can't deny 'truth is like blood underneath your fingernails/and you don't wanna hurt yourself, hurt yourself/looking too closely' always destroys me because... well, you know. I love suffering. :(
Souvenirs - Switchfoot | Kakashi & Obito & Rin
wolves - Switchfoot | Kakashi
snowfall for the battlefield/roses for the father's sons/see them red on the ground:/bleeding/when the revolution came/we were more than hungry men/we were hoping for more:/bleeding/end. begin again./all of my world is collision and spin/hope is a world that has yet to begin/awaken, oh sleeper/awaken, oh sleeper/a new day begins
→ I wanted a wolf-related song too. :)
PRODIGAL SOUL - Switchfoot | Obito, Itachi, & Sasuke; just all them wayward Uchiha boys
Coming Down - Dear Euphoria | kid!Kakashi & his relationships
the shell/that I wore/it wasn't for fun/it wasn't to make you/stick around/it was for survival/it was what I've learnt/it was for the sun/.../our love has grown/our love has flown
→ Another one I'm a little unsure of whether it makes sense outside of my head or not, but I like the vibes?
Ghosts That We Knew - Mumford & Sons | Kakashi & Yamato?
→ Hmm, can I maybe submit this as a Kakashi-&-Yamato-just-need-to-mske-it-through-this-war-so-they-can-have-a-bright-bright-future song?
All Is Well (It's Only Blood) - Radical Face | Kakashi
→ ...he said as he's bleeding out or after he's thrown himself in the line of fire protecting someone he thinks is a better person than himself...
Bleeding Out - Imagine Dragons | Kakashi
when the hour is nigh/and hopelessness is sinking in/and the wolves all cry/to fill the night with hollering/when your eyes are red/and emptiness is all you know/with the darkness fed/I will be your scarecrow/you tell me to hold on/oh, you tell me to hold on/but innocence is gone/and what was right is wrong
→ In a similar vein to the previous song. But goodness gracious! Were they NOT straight up describing Kakashi here?
Amaryllis - Shinedown | Yamato & Kakashi
→ Just tossing this one out there, not sure if it will make sense or if it's a reach... but I like it?
lost 'cause - Switchfoot | Kakashi & Sasuke
are we a lost cause?/or are we just lost 'cause/we won't be the future we refuse to see?/and if I'm your lost cause/it'll be your lost 'cause/you won't see me as I am, the possibility/that I'm not the enemy
→ 214 feels. (And before and after that, but yeah.)
Through the Ghost - Shinedown | Kakashi & Obito
so many silent sorrows/you never hear from again/and now that you've lost tomorrow/is yesterday still a friend?/.../everything that mattered is just/a city of dust/covering both of us/did you hide yourself away?/I can't see you anymore/.../did you hide yourself away?/are you living through the ghost?/did you finally find a place/above the shadows so the world will never know?/the world will never know you like I do ... like I still do
Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men | Kakashi
→ Just Kakashi having little chats with his ghosts, totally the most heartwarming way to conclude this section. 😅
Sleepyhead - Passion Pit | Kakashi
→ Just kidding! Here's a slightly less morbid song for the Most Tired Boy Of Them All.™ (Random aside: this was my customary song to listen to on my walks to 8AM organic chemistry classes; I found it strangely soothing! On a different occasion, after a particularly long day for her, one of my roommates didn't have the energy to make it to her bed but nevertheless requested a lullaby from us. So I obliged by playing this song for her, but she didn't seem to gain the same peace of mind from it as I did. 😄 I know it's not my place to propose anything like this, but it does amuse me to imagine bookends!Kakashi in these situations, even though it's not OChem classes he has to go to.)
General/Miscellaneous:
Rise Above It - Switchfoot | Ensemble
don't care what they're telling me/we can be what we want to be/.../just because it's law doesn't mean that it's fair/.../don't believe the system's on your side/.../the curse is spoken/the system's broken; rise above it
→ I mean, how could I not think about Naruto when this song also has the lines 'hear us sing tonight like the last night on earth/we will rise like the tide/like dead men coming back to life/we are rising, rising'? It's fun to be literal sometimes!
Doorways - Radical Face | Allllll the traumatized children
→ Someone has to put all those tragic childhood flashbacks to good use, after all.
Ghost Towns - Radical Face | take your pick of Itachi, Sasuke, or Post-Kannabi-Bridge!Obito
there's no comin' home/with a name like mine/I still think of you/but everyone knows/yeah everyone knows/if you care, let it go
Blinding Light - Switchfoot | Hey, Hiruzen? You may have coined the phrase, "children are the king" but I don't think you truly understand it... (insert Princess Bride joke here)
hey boy, don't believe them/we're the nation that eats our youth/.../still looking for the blinding light/still looking for the reason why/still looking for the sun to shine/all my life I've been living in the darkest night/still looking for the blinding light/to take me higher and higher
Brother's Blood - Kevin Devine | EVERYONE
→ ...but certainly so much you could do with Itachi & Sasuke, Obito & Kakashi, Shisui & Itachi, even Hashirama & Madara! Sakumo's teammates turning their backs on him and saying 'I don't know one thing about my brother's blood'?!?! There are SO MANY ideas I have for this song! It gives me chills and makes my brain scream.
We Need Each Other - Sanctus Real | Ensemble
→ Already mentioned this one to you, but I have to include it here for thoroughness' sake!
Whispering - Alex Clare | the Hidden Leaf's lost/ostracized children/orphans
who will care for the falling?/who will care for the falling leaves?
So this is probably a strange concept to come up with and apply to this song, but the 'whispering, whispering, whispering' parts brought Konaha's virulent gossiping/passing judgement about others and often kids they don't even know problem to mind, too, and yeah?
The World You Want - Switchfoot | Ensemble
→ If I were to make a fanvid set to this song, I would definitely keep a broad focus, but I can't deny that the lines 'you start to look like what you believe, you float through time like a stream, if the waters of time are made up by you and I, I could change the world for you, you change it for me' FOR SURE has strong Obito & Kakashi/Kakashi & Tenzo vibes.
Red Eyes - Switchfoot | Ensemble, but definitely many dashes of Uchihas 😄
→ I would like to thank Masashi Kishimoto for creating a world where red eyes are a Thing of Importance so I can one day make a fanvid using this song in not just the tired or teary bloodshot-red eyes way, but in a very literal sense too.
TAKE MY FIRE - Switchfoot | The Will of Fire
→ 'Cause I think I'm sooooo clever. 😄
Above The Clouds Of Pompeii - Bear's Den | various parent & child relationships
→ This obviously derives from the not-caring-about-your-female-characters problem, but it always gets me that all the single parents in the Naruto universe are almost invariably the fathers! I guess sometimes you can safely guess that the mothers are still alive/exist, but either way we hardly ever get to see them. :/ The one exception I can think of right now is Kurenai, but maybe I'm forgetting another conspicuous single mother. Anyway, I don't know if this helps or hinders more a potential Naruto fanvid for this song, but regardless, it still gives me feelings?
Who We Are - Switchfoot | Ensemble
→ It just makes me inordinately happy that the chorus for this song starts with 'who we are (in the fever of our youth)', you know? :D
Brother - Kodaline | all the friendships we can stuff in here and then some
→ Quite a well known song I'm pretty sure, but I love how many dynamics one could showcase in a potential fanvid of this. And, not gonna lie, 'oh brother, we go deeper than the ink beneath the skin of our tattoos' deserves to be used in some sort of Tenzo 'n' Kakashi or Team Ro fan creation!
Special Bonus:
Shake It Out - Florence + The Machine | Kakashi & Obito
→ I'm not sure whether I would have realized how well this works for Kakashi & Obito on my own, funnily enough, but then I found this fanvid of it (containing only scenes you've seen naturally!) and it hit me like a ton of bricks. It's so well done!
youtube
#I do apologize for all the switchfoot/other repeated bands or artists#I wanted this to be really varied but switchfoot just has my number I guess?#I'd like to say I got it all out of my system now since I'll likely have to do a part two at some point#but that's not completely true *rubs back of head sheepishly*#also all the mentions of fanvid creation are just because I've always been a heavily visual learner/how I process stuff#--ironic given my visual disability--#so I suppose when my brain gets attached to something that's in an auditory medium it still has to find a way to add in a visual component?#anyway I hope this 60+ songs behemoth of a playlist is not too overwhelming and that the musical styles are somewhat up your alley!#I swear I'm going to jump back into our Kakashi & Yamato conversations now!#turns out I really suck at multitasking sometimes /0\#kakashi hatake#obito uchiha#team minato#kakashi 'n' obito#kakashi 'n' rin#kakashi 'n' tenzo#gai 'n' kakashi#sakumo hatake#naruto uzumaki#kakashi 'n' sasuke#kakashi 'n' sakumo#kakashi 'n' naruto#kakashi 'n' minato#Itachi 'n' Sasuke#itachi uchiha#itachi 'n' shisui#yamato#tenzo#sasuke uchiha#sakura haruno
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Age gaps
Ahh... I dread this but I'll speak anyway. I keep seeing people have a problem with big age gap couple in fandom. Now before your nostrils all fluff up let me say this, if you can't have an open mind or too fragile for my input please take your leave. This would be wasted on you.
About age gap on fandoms couple (canon or crack) I personally have no problem as long as both parties consent (without child grooming or forced relationship aspect) and considered legal at the start of their relationship and the legality here is not referring to our modern standard but on the couple's world and time. I'll try to explain but it might get long and boring but if you're still okay, continue.
I'll give an example, during the age of samurai if the situation permits like Uesugi Kenshin they can join battle at age 13 and there are still other examples of other famous child samurai. We call it child now because time change but during that time they were considered an adult once they enter battlefield. Why? They already trained years prior to kill and to protect their lord. Example of this in anime would be Himura Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin. His first marriage was when he's around 16 and that was an acceptable age at that era since he was considered adult at age 14. So even though I find it icky if modern day teenager marry at that age, I can understand Kenshin's situation. If I'm still okay reading about him killing people around at even younger age I'm not gonna complain about him wanting to marry (although it's not that simple white and black for him).
You get what I'm trying to say?
More example of the acceptable norms in past era. During certain era in certain place like for example Victorian England and prior, 14 year old boys and 12 year old girls are passable for marriage depends on whether the family want it or not as it's more political than anything else. Same in China for example during the Manchurian Dynasty 14 year old girl is considered adult enough for marriage. And usually the age of the husband is always older by few years up to few decades (officials and emperor). But of course over time all of the above would change. Not by much maybe? Depend on the country I say.
Still we can't just hold the old days custom and norms on our modern day standard that would be akin to the present you calling your two or three year-old self a moron for defecating and not wiping your own ass. Or like when you do something stupid at your young age (pick whatever stupid situation that you have take as a lesson. Done?). You just didn't know better back then but now you do and from your failure you learn, although it would be better if you learn from other's lesson but I say pain is an effective lesson for oneself. Would you rather have that memories of your lesson be removed or ignored? I wouldn't. I don't know if I might do the stupid thing again just to find out whether I can or not. Same as this this whole age gap, young age marriage in the past and present in some customs thing. Don't erase the fact, don't gloss it over because people have and can still learn from them. My grandma married at young age and I came to be as the result of her choice.
Have you ever seen high schooler called Robert D Jr handsome? I've seen it recently on youtube. They call him very handsome and another video talked about cool and handsome senior male models. I've scrolled through the comments and no one seems offended that these high school girls simping for male old enough to be their granddad. These girls called them daddy and commenting how hot they are and the comments either agree or saying the girls reactions are cute. Huh... reverse the situation if these old models commenting female korean idol for example and calling them cute or hot what would people think? "creepy" "pedobear" even though senior female might think the same lines, heck maybe even we think the same lines. See the double standard people use? Maybe not everyone, but the loud ones are there. They're so loud I don't even know if they're majority or minority. I have celebrity crush too when I was young and as it happen, he's my father's age and to be frank, I would not mind an older partner if said partner is compatible and emotionaly mature. My sister is 17 years younger than her husband and they turn out well because her husband is matured enough to understand her ups and downs emotion back when they're dating, even before. Are all men mature emotionally as they became older then? No, just as not all oranges is sweet. My sister is 10 years my senior but she's more bratty than I am sometimes. Is it wrong of my bro in law to be with my sis?
Oh you're just trying to defend pedophilia anywayヽ(`Д´)ﾉ.
No stupid, I'm trying to make you think. I don't accept pedophilia, shotacon or lolicon. My sis is old enough to be called spinster when they go out. Anyway, when you follow a certain series, try to see it from their era and custom's perspective. Some era is okay with 16 year old marrying. Some tribes in Asia allow marriage between cousins while others and the majority of the world frown upon them. That's just how they see and do things. For me as long as both side consent without pressure and not in the case of 'parents sending their child for marriage without their input' thing I'm okay to leave that alone, I'm pretty much sure we're on the same page there. I hope.
So, just as when you come to another country, you adhere to their rules and norms or you have no right to complain if they deport you out for not learning beforehand and breaking their rules. Or when you have a guest come to your home and they suddenly start demanding you to do stuff their way, you should kick them out if not slapping their face. Or if you want to be kind, explain how you do things in your home and hoping they would understand and respect it.
I'm jumping around but see what I'm trying to say? I'll get to another anime example.
In Naruto for instance, they became genin at 12 and killing people left and right. People are okay with that right? Yeah well, since it was soo popular I suppose... besides it's pretty glossed over in both manga and anime. But the same people that's okay with children killing left and right, would they be okay if suddenly the mangaka put in story about one of the chara going on seduction mission? If it's carried out well as in the chara being bamf, maybe no problem. But if things went south for the chara? I'm sure there will be outrage, especially if that's a female chara or worse if it's one of the main like Sakura. See? People hold the characters, the series and the mangaka to their own convenient double standards. Back to the age gap when shipping, I pick Naruto as example because apparently Sakura was just so shippable that people actually ship her with Kakashi and even Madara and she makes easy example. Don't ask me why she's shipped with Madara and I don't ship any of the two with Sakura. Anyway, if Sakura is mature enough to choose to kill as a teenager (and don't give me crap about Sakura never killing on screen. Their line of work involves lots of death and she's been through war) she's mature enough to decide her romantic partner even if it's suddenly Orochimaru(ㆆ_ㆆ) (did they even exist?). You can say her taste is terrible because he's an asshole but don't say it's gross cause the age difference because apparently Orochimaru can just rejuvenated to new body and be as good as a babe (I wish I could too). Anyway saying it's about age on these kind of chara is just straight up lie on people's part. Another example I can think of atm is snk. I've seen people against pairing the 104th with the veterans because of age gap. Now I'm not trying to be rude, but hear me if you please. The whole 104th are trained child soldiers and they're killing titans and even humans. You're all okay with that? If you still follow the series far enough and liking it maybe you enjoy seeing the action sequence, drama and intrigue? The fact that you still come back to the series after this long proves that you're still okay with all the gores and blood spilled with all the glorious child soldier most of all. They become soldier because of circumstances you say? I'm glad you think so too! Although I must point out, the 104th did CHOOSE to be soldiers (just as Naruto and co choose to be ninja). They could be farmers or thugs for all we know. All the soldiers in snk choose their occupation, thay all trained and decide to join the Survey Corps, in fact the only one that join reluctantly in the first place is the former thug although he continues in the end. That aside, their circumstances certainly are different than us don't they? They don't even know a car and blip exist before Marley... They must have a whole lot of different mindset and norms than ours too for a civilization whose life are about survival against titans that's 100 years behind than other civilization in their world. Ever think of that?
Seeing modern day teenage in romantic lights are indeed hard as I'm sure the majority can't even survive without their gadget and parents' money. I certainly can't at that age. Immature. Even those in their twenties and thirties are immature these days. But now when one of those child soldier who have a whole lot of different mindset and maturity level is being shipped with older chara, you're against it. Okay. Maybe it's indeed easier for you to see 15 year olds regardless of their profession to commit act of violence and even kill than to love... (does that sounds okay to you?)
...I'm not saying killing mindlessly is alright because it is NOT. But that would need a whole lot different threads and time to spare and maybe someone else can do it or already done it before me.
But here's the good thing, even when the ship starts when they grow and at the modern legal age of 18 and 19, or even far above like centuries, it's still not okay for some people to ship them. I don't mind if it's your preference and you don't go disturbing other's corner when they don't even enforce their ship as words of god and even acknowledging that 'yes, maybe it's not canon and just our bits of fun' but sometimes it got to the point of belittling those who do ship age gap couple and treat them like a criminal in need of help or wishing them death. Seriously? Yes. People are that immature.
If you don't like a ship because you think your own is better, fine. Do your thing in your corner but don't go to other people's corner just to talk shit without even knowing why they ship what they ship. Most of this ship is just in our head in the end, and even if your ship is canon it does not make you any greater in real life.
I can't think of anything else to say now, but thanks for reading with open mind. ◝(⑅•ᴗ•⑅)◜..°♡
Now before anyone waste their time typing out comments, I refer to my first paragraph. Here's some imaginary flower for you all🌷
Apparently I'm not clear enough so I fix my wording. I'm here not defending minor and old people relationship but age gap couple who happen to be aged up to acceptable age despite their profession. Here's some choco🍫
#shipping#again apparently#kakasaku#madasaku#sasosaku#rivamika#rivahisu#hopurai#don't know what else to tag
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Paralyzed in Lust | Sukuna x F-Reader
Part 1
Urban legends always seemed to intrigue you, but that’s all they were. Just legends. You’ve seen enough horror movies to know that practicing those rituals never ended well. Your college friends seemed to have the opposite idea, however.
They loved to go to abandoned areas and attempt some of the rituals posted online. Safely, of course, but how safe is it? They talked about salt circles, protection wards, sigils, and protection amulets or crystals but is that enough?
They would mention that attempting to summon a demon is dangerous, but here they are in your studio apartment, talking about calling forth a demon from an urban legend that seemed to pop out of nowhere.
The urban legend about Ryomen Sukuna, a four-armed demon that no one could seem to invite. You didn’t understand why anyone would want to summon a demon, but you guess curiosity killed that cat.
You sat on your twin-sized bed lined up against the wall while your friends sat on a two-seater bench situated in front of your bed, underneath the long window. Your studio apartment held all the essentials for a financially struggling college student.
Entering the apartment, you would be met with a small hallway. On your immediate left is the door to the bathroom, while on your immediate right is a small storage space. Farther in, you’re met with the small space for your bed on the left with a walk-in closet that shares the wall with the bathroom.
Facing the entrance is the bench underneath a horizontal window with a view of the busy street, covered by some window shutters to give you some privacy. These shutters were currently open, letting in the remaining light from the sunset, but were slightly blocked by your friends.
To the right of the hallway entrance behind the storage, is your kitchen. It had enough space to fit a bit of counter space, fridge, sink, and dishwasher. Adjacent to your kitchen, across your bed, and near the bench was an L-shaped divider hiding a portable washer and dryer.
“[Y/n]!” your friend, Nobara, exclaimed. “Will you finally join us for this ritual? I know you’re not really into these things, but it’s safe, I swear. We even have our protection spells and everything.”
You hummed in apprehension. “I’m not sure I’m ready to do those yet.”
Megumi, your other friend, nodded his head. “Okay, but just let us know whenever you want to join us or if you end up doing it on your own...” he grabbed some of Nobara’s amulets and his salt bags. “Here, I’ll lend some to you in case you change your mind.”
He placed the items in your bag.
“Thank you. When are you both planning on doing the ritual?” you asked them.
“Ah, maybe tonight? We have nothing else planned, and we’ve been itching to try this ritual out ever since we saw it on a forum.” Nobara replied. She pulled out her phone and scrolled for a while before handing it to you. “Everyone’s been talking about it, but no one’s been able to pull it off.”
Megumi then spoke. “Yeah and no one’s sure about where this urban legend came from anyway so we don’t know if it’s real or not. That’s why we want to see for ourselves.”
You took a peek at Nobara’s phone and read parts of the forum out loud.
“Ryomen Sukuna... Four-armed demon… To begin the ritual, cut the pads of all your fingers until blood oozes out. Bro what?” You looked at your friends in confusion. They simply shrugged and told you to continue reading.
“Soak your bloody fingers in a large bowl of water until the water is stained dark red. Remove your hands from the bowl and do this hand sign by connecting your thumb, middle, and ring finger pads while your index and pinky fingers are bent towards your palms. What in the summoning-jutsu is this?”
You attempted the hand signs after you had placed her phone on your bed. Megumi lightly laughed and showed you how to do it properly.
“Girl, you watch too much Naruto.” Nobara snickered.
You rolled your eyes and smirked. “I’m not the only one simping over Kakashi and Itachi. You’re just as guilty.”
“Here [y/n], continue reading the rules.’ Megumi said, handing you the phone.
“Say ‘Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine’ after performing the hand sign and dunk your face into the bowl of water and blood. After this, Sukuna will appear. To properly end the ritual, thank him for his time and say ‘Cleave.’ This is critical. Failure to do so will leave you with cursed energy around you. **For extra protection, perform an exorcism.”
You sighed after reading the rules of the forum. It seemed easy enough but you weren’t sure whether it was worth the risk to have cursed energy if it failed and did you need to perform an exorcism?? Wasn’t that a bit too much? Plus, you wanted all the luck you could get since you just applied for an internship for the fall quarter.
“Well, if you both decide to do this, please be safe,” you told your friends.
Nobara smiled and grabbed her small backpack. “Don’t worry, we’ll text you what happens. We were thinking of recording it anyway, so we’ll send that to you later tonight after we try it.”
She hugged you and started walking to the door followed by Megumi.
“You can keep the rest of the pizza. It’s not easy for me to digest,” he said, as he double-checked to make sure you had the amulets and salt bags. You smiled at him, eyes showing appreciation because you had very little food left in your fridge.
“Thank you, Megumi. Good night, you two. I’ll see you both tomorrow after work.” you said, waving to them as they left your apartment complex. Once they were out of your sight, you closed and locked your entrance door.
You grabbed your laptop and made your way toward the kitchen, putting it on top of the small counter space you had. You sighed as you put away the leftover pizza in the fridge. Being an avid horror fan, you enjoyed the paranormal, but partaking in anything of the sort in real life made you nervous.
The urban legend of Sukuna intrigued you, even if the ritual was slightly strange. Wouldn’t you faint from losing so much blood? Plus, who the fuck is Sukuna anyway? What made him so special for people to want to do this sort of thing?
Facepalming, you opened a web browser on your laptop and did a simple search. Who is Ryomen Sukuna?
You scrolled through countless forums, talking about the ritual and how it didn’t work. No one seemed to be able to conjure Ryomen Sukuna. The problem was that no one knew who he was. Only that he was a strong demonic entity that holds a lot of cursed energy and has two faces and two sets of arms.
Two sets, huh? What, does he have two dicks too? You laughed to yourself, but then rolled your eyes and groaned. You needed to get laid.
Further throughout your research, you decided to take a break and looked over to the clock on the wall above your washer and dryer. It was 11:56 PM, indicating that your friends left three hours ago.
You took a glance at your phone that was charging next to your laptop and noticed that Megumi and Nobara had sent an attachment to your group chat. Unplugging your phone from the charger, you unlocked it and strode over to the bathroom.
Your group chat read:
“Hey [y/n], we finished the ritual but nothing happened. Bummer, I was looking forward to summoning one of the most difficult demons to conjure up.” Nobara sent at midnight.
“Oi, here’s the video,” Megumi replied, with a black screen video attached after his message.
Oh wow, they actually recorded it. You thought, adding some toothpaste to your toothbrush. You pressed on the video and let it play while you brushed your teeth.
You watched as both your friends performed the finger-bleeding step and you couldn’t help but gag a little. That’s a shit ton of blood. It took a while considering each of their fingers had a small cut, and the bowls were large. After a couple of minutes, Megumi and Nobara removed their hands from the bowl and performed the hand sign.
“Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine.” You heard them chant once and then watched them dunk their head into the bloody water as you spit out your toothpaste and rinse your mouth.
Standing in front of the mirror and sink, you stared at the video, watching your friends and waiting for something to happen.
In the video, you saw Nobara and Megumi look at each other and shrug. You fast-forwarded the video a bit, looking for any sign that the ritual worked but the video ended with them thanking Sukuna and saying “Cleave” before anything appeared.
Exiting out of the video, you sent a response to the group chat.
“I’m sorry nothing happened, guys. I know you were excited for something to happen.”
“It’ll make us feel better if you tried it yourself hehe” Nobara replied with a smirk emoji.
You stared at her message for a while, contemplating what you should do. Preparing for your night routine, you stripped and stepped into the shower, letting the hot water run down your back, massaging your aching muscles.
You had a long day at work, and now you were stuck on whether you should do this ritual or not. Nothing has been happening to anyone anyway, so most likely nothing will happen to you. This ritual was probably a hoax, just a trend since people were bored. Right?
Please conscience, what do I do? AH FUCK IT.
After you had finished your shower, you hastily applied your lotions and pajamas which consisted of a tank top and lace underwear. You grabbed your phone from the bathroom and reread the forum on what to do, sending another reply to Nobara saying that you’ll do the ritual.
You grabbed the essential items you needed: salt, amulet, a large basin of water, and a pocket knife. You released a large breath you seemed to be holding and read the text you just received from the group chat.
“AYE, that’s my girl!!” Nobara sent with a grinning gif.
“Be safe [y/n]. Text us if anything happens and don’t forget to use the salt and amulets.” Megumi responded.
“I’ll record myself and send it to both of you once I finish”
You balanced your phone on the foot of your bed, pressed record, and placed the ritual items on the floor beside you, grabbing the amulet first and placing the tie around your neck.
Please protect me. You thought as you gripped the amulet and placed some salt in a circle, trapping yourself within it.
You steadied your breathing and positioned the bowl in front of you.
All right. Let’s get this over with.
Slicing the pads of your fingertips with the pocket knife, you held your fingers over the large basin, watching the blood drip into the water.
God, I should’ve played some music in the background. The silence is killing me. I swear to God if that fucking Tip Toe Through the Meadow song from Insidious plays on a radio, I’m going to burn this building down.
The water rippled as each blood drop collided with it. Your nerves were on high alert, but you were too scared to glance around your room. What if there was a shadow at your doorway or a ghost in the mirror? WHAT IF it was right behind you?!
You cried internally and tried to rid your thoughts of anything horrific. After what seemed to be forever, waiting in agony, the bowl was painted crimson. You released another breath and tried to remember the next step of the ritual.
Ah right, the jutsu sign.
You formed the hand sign and said out loud, “DOMAIN EXPANSION: MALEVOLENT SHRINE.”
Cringing, you dipped your head into the bowl and stayed there until you needed a gulp of air.
This is disgusting, why am I doing this again?
Your face was tinted with blood and you carefully looked around your room without the blood dripping onto your laminated floors. Your hearing was heightened due to the lack of light in the room, but you heard nothing. You felt nothing.
It probably didn’t work. Thank you, God. I can live to see another day.
“Ryomen Sukuna, if you’re there, thank you for your time. Let’s not do this again, please and thank youuu.” you sang. “CLEAVE.”
You grabbed your phone from the footrest of your bed, ended the recording, and texted the group chat.
“I just finished. Nothing happened to me either. I guess it is just a hoax.”
“Damn. What if we did something wrong? Let’s try it again.” Nobara said.
“My face has my blood dripping from it, no thank you.”
“You said ‘Cleave,’ right [y/n]?” Megumi questioned.
“Yup. I’m gonna go clean up and try to sleep. I’ll see you both tomorrow. Good night!”
Bidding each other good night, you swept the salt circle and drained the bloody water into the bathroom sink. You rinsed your face of any remnants of the ritual and reapplied your moisturizer.
Plopping onto your bed and hiding under the covers, you glanced once more at the clock. It read 2 AM.
Damn, I have class in 6 hours. Note to self: stop registering for 8 AM classes in case you decide to do rituals late into the night.
You closed your eyes and attempted to sleep, but you couldn’t stop tossing and turning. Something didn’t feel right. You felt suffocated like something was watching you. You were too scared to open your eyes and hid further into your covers.
Sure, [y/n]. They’ll never know I’m under here.
You kept tossing and turning for thirty minutes because you just couldn’t find that comfortable spot. Suddenly, you felt a sensation on your limbs.
What the fuck?
You froze. You felt like each of your limbs were grabbed by one… two… FOUR HANDS?! You didn’t want to believe it. You couldn’t believe it. No fucking way the ritual worked. Counting to three, you screamed and punched into the air.
Nothing was there. No one was there. You were alone.
Part 2: https://smutkuna.tumblr.com/post/655579886704017408/paralyzed-in-lust-sukuna-x-f-reader
#jujutsu kaisen#sukuna#sukuna x reader#megumi#nobara#smut#jjk smut#ritual#demon#summoning#alternate universe#college#university
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Hi it's me again! May I request a hcs for Kakashi, Jiraiya and Naruto react to their s/o who didn't come back from the mission?
I love you but i hate you. -SIPS TEA-
Warnings: Angst. Death. Suggestive themes-alcohol. Like one cussing word.
N A R U T O
At first, he is furious though he doesn’t know if at the world of himself, the one who caused it or the one who could’ve kept the tragedy from happening, he gets trapped in loop of thinking what if he could’ve done this or that then make the regret stronger by remembering he didn’t do anything.
He was aware you weren’t weak and you could deal with things on your own still he can’t help but think a single time he was more insistent with joining you on the mission could’ve made a difference.
Ramen doesn’t taste the same for several days, it’s not broth from the gods anymore but boiling water with dough and condiments in it, even the food reminds him of you, he cried several times to his ramen remembering the time he’d bring you to Ichiraku or give you his special edition ramen.
This also makes him think about Sasuke, everyday he was exposed to a danger that could take his life, yes he did it willingly but he lost the way thanks to his hatred and dispair clouding his judgment, he had to save him.. if only he was able to.
He thought all his tears have dried to the day of the funeral, little did he know the double of what he shed before would burst out at the sight of the gravestone, all the people around flinched at the sudden sound of his weep.
After that, he is way more protective with the people around him as much as he can, each succes or victory lifts him up to the sky but each failure slams him to the groud, it takes a while before he process things the way he used to.
He visits almost daily, taking breaks of one or two days, and brings fine white flowers always saying hello and goodbye, maybe just trying to make himself think someone is listening.
J I R A I Y A
After so many unexpected losses he blames himself, after losing people throught his life so many times he should’ve gotten used to it but this must be of the most painful ones yet.
He had learnt to let go of his uncorresponded love for both’s good, he was finally experiencing the love he longed for after so long just to see it slipping like water through his fingers, it was beyond his reach to do anything.
Tsunade, as the Hokage was the one to tell him. That day was the second time she witnessed him losing control of his tears, the first one being after he found out the Rain orphans have died in the war. The look on his eyes changed completely, his gaze stopped being up in the sky and there were no clumsy steps or any words as he left the office.
At home alone he wants to scream his lungs out in insults and push everything on sight to the floor but as he was about to release the words his teeth gritted prisioning the cursing, his fingers froze in place when they were about to touch any object. He simply fell down as tears subsided.
Each time he looks at Naruto, Tsunade or Kakashi he feels afraid inside, of not doing anything about it or being the cause they end up getting hurt or worse, specially for the ones he had trained, what if all this time it’s not a coincidence but his wrongs what caused the death of those innocent people-
His magazines stay in the same place for more than a week, so does his pen, he stopped showing up in the Hokage office and the hot springs, all the way until the funeral. The Jiraiya of that day was different, his hair didn’t look as treated as usual, his glance was dull and tired, his words reduced to the minimum.
The day after he drinks sake until everything seems to spin around at home, not in a restaurant where he usually would, this wasn’t a careless way of having fun and killing time.. it was a quick escape borrowing the relief of the next day, if there even was.
K A K A S H I
He has to remind himself he was prepared if the day ever came, as shinobi death was part of their everyday rutine, there always was the chance each mission could be the last one. Even aware of this fact, why didn’t he do more when you left for that mission?
Looking at it on a rational way, the most optimum option was to stay away from thinking about it more than he already had, even before it happened it already was like a memory rather than a thought but wouldn’t that turn him into a heartless man? He was struggling with the same shit again, to follow the rules or not.. for his sake-
He remembers the day Obito died, he wishes it had been him who got crushed by the debris instead, Rin and Obito would be together, you would have met someone better..
His pervy novels feel meaningless, there was no heart attacks out of mistakenly thinking you had found his books, no use of willpower to not blush infront of you while reading, it all was gone forever. What was the point of reading those books again anyway.
He was completely silent during the funeral, he stayed there staring at the grave even after everyone had left, each of them felt bad of leaving him there but no one was able to move him. His feet were glued to the grass.
It was a desolating sight, the jounin unbothered by the strong rain or scorching sun with his eye fixed on the ground, if any tears formed they would never fall as the fabric of his mask would absorb it. Is this how his father felt with his mother and.. himself?
I need a tissue ;-; ... Requests are now closed!
#that's all#thanks for the ask!#naruto headcanons#naruto x reader#this hurt#i'm serious#stop making me sad#srry this took too long#naruto angst#k done
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What traits do you think would turn Kakashi off in a partner?
Hi bb im so sorry im answering this so late dgsgsj i hope you're doing well!!
Okay so to answer, Kakashi has pretty high morals so anyone who doesn't value that and follow the same in their own lives is probably not gonna be right for him. That is not to say that he's uptight or that there's no place for mistakes w him...all he needs is to know that the person he's with really does try to do the right thing. Even if they falter once in a while that's okay but he just needs to know that their heart is at the right place
Second thing is selfishness. I think he'd definitely be turned off by selfishness cause it's already been established that teamwork is important to him. so anyone that doesn't think of others or value others is gonna turn him off. He wants someone who has compassion for the people around them, someone who wants to protect and fight for the ones they love. Not someone who only thinks of themselves and would use/abandon others for their selfish needs. Even in the relationship he needs a partner who'd hear him out and understand his side during times of conflict. someone who'd cooperate with him to resolve their problems instead of being adamant and refusing to take his side into consideration as well
He also wouldn't like someone that's vindictive. Someone who brews hatred or attempts to seek revenge. He really doesn't think that vengeance is the way to go and it's not the kind of negativity that he needs in his life or the kind of people he wants to surround himself with. He needs someone who'd bring positivity, help him look at the bright side of life and appreciate the good things, not someone who'd take him along with them into a spiralling tunnel of hatred and darkness. Kakashi himself likes to be hopeful, he likes to be optimistic and believe that things do get better if you just hold on and keep going so he needs someone with the same belief and capacity. This would apply in the relationship as well because he really won't appreciate a partner that likes to play mind games or someone who'd have a mindset to "get back" at him if he ever messes up, or just someone who'd purposefully try to make him jealous or wtv as a way of seeking revenge for any mistake he might have made unknowingly. If they go through a rough patch, he'd need the other person to keep faith and be willing to work on the relationship instead of giving up
He also wouldn't like someone who doesn't stand up for what they believe in. Someone that sees something wrong being done and chooses to remain silent. That to him is as good as committing the wrongdoing. To know that something is wrong and let it happen anyway is cowardly to him and he's not here for it. This also includes someone who keeps complaining about something and still refuses to take action themselves to make the change they want to see. But a person with a mind of their own, who takes action and stands up for the right, even if it means breaking any "rules" would be very attractive to him
I also feel like he wouldn't like someone who is too power-seeking or gets caught in the strive for power so bad that they begin to step on others in their way to get to the top. He definitely appreciates ambition but he wouldn't appreciate someone that becomes so obsessed with the idea of having power that it becomes the only thing they live for, and they become blind to everything else around them
Also.. i think he won't like someone who's too serious. he's got a goofy side so i think he'd do well with a partner who can complement that side of his, someone he can joke around and let loose with yknow? Someone that makes him laugh and laughs with him. If you're in a relationship with him, there's gonna be a lot of playful teasing and dumb pranks so it's gotta be someone who can appreciate that
Lastly, he'd be turned off by a person who gives up too easily or simply succumbs to a bad situation without even trying. Kakashi is someone who's has faced a lot of hardships and adversities in life and still managed to keep going with the hope for a better future. He believes in having faith and not giving up and that kind of determination, that kind of will to refuse to let things crumble you down is a very attractive and admirable trait to him
Oh and also, disloyalty. He's not here for it. He's very loyal himself and he expects the same of his partner, in terms of their relationship and everything else. He likes a person who knows where their loyalties lie and don't keep oscillating
sooooo uh yeah that's all that i could think of rn ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ kakashi isn't gonna fall for just about anyone, he's got a lot of values and principles of his own and he'd want someone who reflects the same. so if he does fall for a person you better believe it'd be one special as heck person with a big dick personality
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Fanworks bingo - other people’s works
And the second version of this! :) As you will soon see on this list I don’t read much outside of what my friends do, mostly because I’m lazy. Anyway.
1. (notitle) by @mamasboysasuke - Kakashi shadow clone smut, its what I (the reader) deserve
2. Break my baby by @.lutelyre (ao3) - Tenzo has issues and Kakashi is all of them it made me saaaaaad (And also kinda love the ship)
3. Bloom by @uchihashisuii - the imagery is so wonderful
4. HC about Kakashi’s mother by @uchihashisuii - I wrote a fic based on their hc’s
5. Pitch black by @butter--peanut - all the time
6. One week in Kiri with the Hound by @butter--peanut - nothing to add (i love this fic)
7. The cat and the hound by @lemony-snickers - so cute so sweet so cute
8. The White Wolf in the Woods by @pinkrelish - perfect, I love it so much already
9. Bend the rules for me by @pinkrelish - hot, very very very hot. in my mind rent free
10. Favourite AU: ObiObito by @kanekolinkk - Just- such a good joke
11. you need me (like I need you) by @uchihashisuii - íf you want to know my thoughts just read my verrrrrrrry long comment
12. the moon thus led by its angel by @mamasboysasuke - wonderful, so so so wonderful and sad but amazing.
13. Wrapping you like a gift by @whatshernameis - uhm I read this on a bus -////-
14. oc’s daydreaming by @foolishkali - all of the uchiha lovers and then sayuri just “pfffffffff”
15. curiosity. by @uchihashisuii - female shisui getting pleasured by akari? yes please?
16. The new recruit by @butter--peanut - just it could have failed but its amazing instead
17. Kamui Blues by @butter--peanut - nothing to add, if you know you know.
18. impossible to chose there are sooo many great ones written by my friends. they are all great, I love reading them all. ALL!! However (but but butts) if I had to chose one that literally took me out its
call me home by @uchihashisuii - hit me personally just very very hard
#uhm so idk what to tag here either but i recommend all these fics and fanarts#alright byeee#fav things
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Life as a Shinobi
Story Notes: This story is a reader x character romance. It takes place during the Great Ninja War, however, the timeline of my novel is different. It is loosely following the anime storyline but here Kakashi’s generation are between 15 and 16 years old. Even though this is a reader point of view, I really didn’t want to use “Y/N” so I chose a name instead. The character’s name is Katsumi. I chose this name because in Japanese it means “victorious beauty” and I thought it was beautiful. Feel free to replace your name, though!
This is just part one of a multitude of parts. I’m excited to endure the adventure with you all!
SFW, Slight Gore.
6,629 words
My hair whipped my face as I ran, constantly blocking my view. I cursed under my breath for not putting it up in a ponytail when I had the opportunity. A cool trickle of blood trailed down from my bicep to where I held my kunai. My legs shook, desperately waiting for the numbing phase, as I jumped from tree branch to tree branch.
Where the hell is Obito?
I continued my search for about a good mile before witnessing a giant ball of fire engulfing a fraction of the forest.
I sprinted to the origin of the heat to see Obito panting on the ground, sweat dripping off the tip of his nose. Across from him was what remained of a shinobi of the Hidden Stone Village. The lifeless ninja’s skin was charcoaled, the raw smell of burnt flesh stinging my nose.
“Obito! Are you okay?” I panted, doubled over with my hands on my knees as I tried to catch my breath.
Obito looked up at me, his soft brown eyes gaining more of an orangish tint from his goggles.
“Yeah...” he smirked a bit, obviously proud of the accomplishment of his defensive attack.
His eyes trailed to my bleeding arm and his smirk vanished.
“Katsumi! Your arm! What happened?!” He rushed to stand and grabbed my arm to observe the lightly grazed flesh wound.
I shook him off.
“I’m fine. A shuriken just grazed my arm.” I straightened up and began to observe our surroundings. Obito was not pleased with my answer but he knew better than to test me.
“I took care of the two close to base, I see you got the one here... but shinobis always travel in parties of four. We’re missing one, don’t lose your guard.” I said, spinning the kunai in my hand and preparing it for the final enemy.
Obito nodded and turned to press his back up against mine while also readying a kunai.
It was eerily quiet. I closed my eyes to focus on my sense of hearing. The faint ruffle of leaves and the soft whistle of the breeze was all I heard.
Swiiiiiish
“Obito! Kunai! 4 o’ clock!” I yelled. We both looked in the direction and dodged out of the way.
The kunai struck the ground with a hard thud.
I was already sprinting towards the direction where it was thrown, making jutsu hand signs along the way.
Horse. Serpent. Tiger. Rat. Monkey.
My right hand glowed from the lightning that was infused with a sword made of ice. The sound of wood crackling from a fire expelled from the strong chakra in my hand. I dragged my hand down as I ran, leaving the grass sizzling behind me.
My speed picked up as I jumped into the air in order to lunge at the enemy. My war cry was nearly as loud as my special jutsu.
Fear overtook the man’s face as I plunged my electrified icy sword into his vital spot. Blood spouted from his mouth as his eyes became lifeless. His body hit the ground with a hard thud as I repelled my hand.
I caught my breath once more before turning around to see the same starstruck expression I always see on Obito’s face. He never fails to show me how much he admires my fighting skills.
“You know, it’s pretty unfair to lay claim to three of the four enemies. How about giving me the chance to go for it for once?” He says.
“Sorry Obito, but I heard where the direction of the kunai came from and was not about to risk our lives for you to just have an ego-boosting moment.” I tried to say it softly, but it came out harsher than intended.
“Tch. Just wait until my sharingan awakens. We won’t even have to wait for the enemy to attack as I’ll already see him and beat you to it!” Obito grinned largely and pushed his shoulder back into a prideful stance while aiming his thumb at his chest.
I smiled softly. “I don’t doubt it. C’mon, let’s head back to base. Minato-sensei and Kakashi should be on their way back from meeting with Choza-sensei’s team.”
—-
The sky was dark and the fire pit we extinguished the night before was glowing with life once again. Kakashi’s silver hair glistened in the soft light. His back was turned to us while he fed the fire. Obito and I just arrived back to base after a four mile trek.
“Obito’s tardiness is to be expected, but I’m surprised in you Kat.” Kakashi said expressionlessly. He didn’t even turn to look at us.
I walked around to grab a seat beside the fire. I exhaled as I took out my overly tight ponytail, my beachy blonde hair pooling around my face and down the length of my back. I ran my fingers through my scalp to ease the tension.
“Sorry, Kakashi. We got caught up in a good time with some of our Stone Village friends.” I said lazily. The heat of the fire pursuing my exhaustion.
Kakashi looked at me for a moment, then back to the fire. The tips of my ears burned slightly at his quick gaze.
Obito joined us at the fire, sitting directly between Kakashi and I. I was too entranced by the warmth of the flame to notice Kakashi’s annoyed expression.
“Yeah Kakashi, while you were playing messenger, Kat and I were kicking ass back here at base. Cut us some slack.” Obito relayed while side eyeing Kakashi.
Their feud will never end, I swear.
Kakashi scoffed. “I wasn’t just relaying a message; an important, lifesaving one not to mention; but Minato-sensei and I were also assisting team Choza in a battle against a fleet of Stone Village shinobi. And don’t ask me to cut you some slack. I’d be surprised if you even took down one enemy while Kat did the rest of the work!”
Obito was clearly getting worked up and was about to open his mouth to start defending himself.
“Where is Minato-sensei anyway?” I quickly asked before the feud could progress.
Kakashi looked over at me again, his dark gray eyes bore into mine. The butterflies I’ve always gotten around him since we were 4 years old returned to my stomach. My eyes shifted back to the fire.
“He wont be finishing the mission with us. He was called back by the hokage. I’m not sure what for, but he did leave me in charge as captain.”
Obito rolled his eyes. “Tch.” He muttered.
The silver-headed boy shifted his glare to Obito before finishing. “We will leave at first light to the Stone’s hideout. Our goal is to meet up with team Choza and rescue the three tailed jinchuriki and return promptly to the Hidden Leaf. We’ll work out our offenses tomorrow once we see the layout of the enemy territory. Let’s just get some rest for now. I’ll take first watch.”
At that, Kakashi stood up and walked over to the tallest tree to take post.
“Man, I hate when he gets all bossy. I know he hit jonin a long time ago and we may still be chunin, but c’mon. We’re the same age!” Obito said with frustration.
I looked over at him. I took in the sight I saw. His floppy brown hair that grazed over his forehand protector, his goggles hung around his neck granting me the view of the fire delicately flickering off his eyes, his full lips pulled into a frown. Puberty really blessed Obito. I smiled at him.
“C’mon Obito. Kakashi is a wonderful leader. He’s lead us through many successful missions. You respectfully accepted him as your captain years ago after learning about his father remember?”
We both sat in silence for a moment. Obito reflected on how his and Kakashi’s relationship changed that day. Kakashi softening up and realizing that the lives of his comrades are worth becoming rule breaking scum. Obito realizing that Kakashi has always cared for his team and always had the best intentions despite the trauma his father left him with. Even though they still bicker, their friendship became prominent that day when they both saved each other from death.
I reflected on how proud I was of them that day, but also how I decided from then on, I would not be useless. I would not be taken captive, I’d stay alert at all times, I’d defend myself and my team, and never be the damsel in distress. I’ve proven my worth since then. It was like a spark lit up inside of me. I developed my own new special jutsu by combining my natural ice kekkei genkai with the lightning nature. Kakashi lent me a hand there. I trained hard to the point that even Minato-sensei was impressed and used me more in the front lines. Unfortunately, he used me more than Obito as he is still awaiting the awakening of his sharingan... poor thing.
“Yeah, yeah. Just wait until I become hokage. Then we’ll see who’s throwing orders around!” Obito snickered.
I giggled. I always loved hearing Obito talking about his dreams of becoming hokage.
Obito blushed at my giggle. He looked at me with soft eyes. “Ya know, a hokage always needs someone by his side to help guide them in leadership.”
“I’d be honored to be your assistant, Obito.” I said with a playful bow.
Obito stuttered, “Well, I-I meant more as-“
“But you know, Kakashi would definitely make a better assistant with that incredible mind of his.” I unintentionally interrupted.
“Yeah haha..” Obito looked back at the fire.
“Alright, well I’m off to rest. I’ll take second watch, okay? G’night, Obito.” I stood up.
“Goodnight.” He kept his gaze on the fire.
I walked to my sleeping bag and tucked in tight, allowing sleep to overcome me the minute my head hit the makeshift pillow.
—
I opened my eyes and let out a yawn as I stretched my arms up. I looked at the fire pit that was now just glowing embers. It was definitely time to switch who was on look out.
I grabbed a water canteen and made my way to the branch where Kakashi was posted.
“Hey.” I said quietly. “Here, drink some water and head to bed, I’ll take over on watch.”
Kakashi looked over at me. His half-lidded eyes were soft. The butterflies returned yet again.
“Thanks.” He said and accepted the canteen. He didn’t drink from it in front of me, most likely because it would require him to remove his mask. I always wondered what he hid from the world under it. As curious as I was, I loved the mask. It made him appear even more enigmatic than his personality already let on.
I sat down beside him and stared out. It was silent between us for a few minutes before Kakashi was the one to break it.
“Tomorrow is going to be a very big day.”
“It sure seems like it. But we have each other’s backs. And our faith in you.” I said, turning my face away slightly to conceal a blush.
Kakashi looked down at the canteen in his hands. “You’ve always put so much faith in me. Even when I let you down.”
“We all make mistakes, Kashi. We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t. But I’ve always seen your potential and your intentions. I’d follow you ‘til the end.” I didn’t look up as I felt his gaze on me. My face turned a crimson shade as he continued staring.
With his silence to my response troubling me, I finally decided to look up and match his eye contact. The butterflies went silent as my heart decided to skip a few beats instead.
He looked at me with such soft eyes. His presence was so inviting. I just wanted to scooch closer to him and take in his scent.
My already crimson face turned into a deeper tomato red when I saw him break eye contact to look at my lips.
Does he want to kiss me? I won’t lie, I’ve harbored the thought of kissing Kakashi Hatake since the moment he saw a flower and put it in my hair, declaring me as the flower princess. Granted we were 4 years old playing around... but still.
Even with the mask on, I could see an outline of a grin as he finally looked away. “Thank you, Kat. Your kind and encouraging words always pushes me to be the best I can possibly be.”
I nodded, “Go get some rest. You’ll need your strength tomorrow.”
He shook his head in agreement and stood up to leave. Before jumping down, he gave my shoulder a thoughtful squeeze.
Life as a shinobi really prevents you from owning up to the feelings you have towards someone in fear of it being a distraction while on the battlefield. But then again, whether the feelings were spoken of or not, Kakashi will always be my distraction. Maybe one day I’ll tell him how I really feel.
—
A sliver of light brightened up the horizon as Kakashi, Obito, and I began our journey towards the Stone’s hideout. As we arrived, we were greeted by Team Choza. Might Guy ran up to Kakashi first.
“Kakashi! Good to see ya again. I thought about it all night and I believe another sushi eating contest would suffice as our next rivalry competition! So let’s take on our sides of youth and kick some Stone cold butts!” Guy’s eyes glistened from his speech.
I couldn’t help but giggle. Their rivalry was always so entertaining and I just absolutely adored Guy and everything he stands for. Even though Kakashi won’t admit it, he is grateful for his rival and his crazy antics.
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s talk about it after we survive today and complete our mission.” Kakashi dismissed with the wave of his hand.
“H-hi Obito...” a soft voice spoke.
Obito shifted his glance and put on an award-winning smile. “Hey Rin!”
I was the only one to notice Rin’s blush as she tucked a strand of her short brown hair behind her ear.
“Ah team Kakashi, right on time. We did a quick scan of the cave. There’s about 15 Stone shinobi on guard surrounding the outside. We estimate only to be about 7 on the inside.” Choza spoke.
Kakashi nodded and put his leadership skills to work. “Alright. Choza-sensei, you and Genma take the south and western side of the outside of the cave and Guy and Obito will take the north and eastern. Kat and I will make towards the entrance of the cave to retrieve the jinchuriki. Rin, since you’re the one with the medical ninjustu, keep a safe distance surveying the attacks. But remain close enough where you can assist if someone is injured. Everyone got it?”
The majority of us nodded our heads in approval.
“There’s more guys on the outside, Kakashi. Wouldn’t your skills prove to be more effective out here? I’ll go with Kat to retrieve the jinchuriki.” Obito announced.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes. Everyone else just silently stared as the tension began to build up.
“Obito-“ Rin began.
“I am your captain, Obito. This is the plan I see fit. I am more than confident that you and Guy can take out the enemy surrounding the north and eastern part of the cave. Don’t sell yourself short.”
Obito was shocked by Kakashi’s compliment. His jealousy subsided as he nodded along.
“Okay disperse!”
Everyone spread out to their commanded locations and began their fights. Kakashi and I crouched by the entrance of the cave.
“It’s too dark to analyze what we are dealing with, we’re going to have to just proceed with caution.” Kakashi said in a low voice.
I nodded. We slowly walked inside the cave, keeping our sounds to a near mute. I put my hand on Kakashi’s shoulder to allow him to guide me as I closed my eyes to listen to any sounds of the enemy.
The sound of rocks crumbling came from directly above us. I wielded my kunai tightly as I leapt off the ground to meet my foe halfway in the air. The enemy that kicked off the ceiling to attack us hit the ground lifeless as my kunai slid effortlessly through her throat.
I gracefully landed back by Kakashi as he gave me an approving nod. The entire cave suddenly lit up, our presence no longer being a surprise. Six figures stood before us, all with the same red forehead protector engraved with the Stone Village insignia.
My brows furrowed in confusion. Where was the jinchuriki? The cave didn’t stretch beyond what we saw. Kakashi surveyed the area and came up just as confused as I was.
There was no more time to think as our enemy lead the first attacks. Kakashi preformed flawless taijustu against three of the enemies. He took one out with the saber his father left behind. He backed up enough to provide himself a minuscule amount of time to weave hand signs and ignite his chidori. The mock sounds of birds chirping echoed throughout the cave.
Kakashi growled as he sprinted towards his target and plunged his chidori straight through the enemy’s vital spot. Blood pooled around the Stone shinobi has he dropped on the ground. Kakashi’s third target retreated to my location.
“Forget it! just do it now before it’s too late!” The enemy yelled.
The three I was against nodded. While battling them, I noticed they only fought defensively. Of course at the time I was naive to believe I had the upper hand, especially without having to exhaust through my chakra. But my thoughts alluded to a giant mental slap to the forehead as the Stone shinobis preformed their true intentions.
The fourth enemy that was originally against Kakashi swung a kunai at me, causing me to flip back to dodge. As I was flipping back, a different Stone Shinobi snuck up behind me and slapped my exposed forearm. A jutsu formula imprinted on my skin.
Kakashi quickly realizing what had happened screamed out. “No!!!”
I stood still, confused by the encounter. The jutsu formula began to glow and a pentagon of words formed at my feet. One of the enemies stepped in front of me with a sealed container in his hand. The man broke the seal and lifted the lid.
The entire cave lit up as if the sun was trapped within. Pain seared through the core of my stomach. It felt as though a savage animal were digging its claws and ripping through the flesh of my abdomen. A high pitch scream echoed throughout the cave, the source coming from my vocal chords.
The amount of pain coursing through my body left my mind hazed in unconsciousness. Once the cave returned to darkness, my body collapsed to the ground. The only glow left inside was the light emitting from Kakashi’s chidori as he assassinated the remaining enemies.
“Kat! Kat! Katsumi! Can you hear me?” Kakashi brushed his fingers along the side of my face, pushing the hair away. No response.
Kakashi knelt down and scooped me in his arms. He held me tight. His heart was beating rapidly in his chest.
He brought me into the bright light outside and was greeted by the two teams.
“Katsumi! Kakashi what the hell happened?! You’re supposed to protect her!” Obito screamed as he rushed towards me.
Kakashi dropped to his knees in defeat. “There was never a jinchuriki host. They planned to put it in one of us the entire time.”
Rin gasped and ran over to my body. She began preforming medical ninjutsu, but stopped quickly to realize I wasn’t injured.
‘C’mon, let’s regroup at our base.” Choza grunted.
—-
Growling. That’s what I was hearing right? Growling?
My skin was wet. Blood? No... water?
I open my eyes. Were they open? Everything was dark.
I sat up, water dripped down my face from my soaking hair.
I looked down at my hands. I was sitting in water.
The growling continued. I turned my head to see the direction it was coming from.
My eyes opened wide in fear. Was I in hell?
Staring back at me was the three-tailed beast. His one visible eye shooting menacing glares. His turtle-like physic stood in a defensive stance.
I was trying to understand what was happening. I remember last the scorching pain that shocked through my whole body. Then nothing.
I moved to stand, the water pooling at only my ankles now.
“H-hello...” I nervously let out.
The beast remained shrill.
“My- my name is Katsumi. I....I’m sorry you’re stuck here. Our original mission was to rescue you and the host you resided in. We had no idea this was the Stone’s plan.”
The beast scoffed at me. He didn’t believe me. Why would he. Whether if it were me he were stuck in, another host, or that sealed container, the beast was never free.
I always believed there were something more to the tailed beasts than let on. They are living beings as well. All we humans do is capture them and make them slaves to our military. No one ever understood how I thought.
I looked down at the water, guilt flooding through me.
“What is your desire?” I asked.
The beast froze for a moment, shocked by what I asked. Anger filled inside of him as he misunderstood the true intentions behind my question.
“I desire to eradicate humanity. All you foul monsters take pleasure in war and deception and have the audacity to call us beasts. It disgusts me.” He hissed.
I nodded my head in agreement. “You’re absolutely right. I’m so sorry for everything my species has done to yours. You all are living beings as well. You never deserved to be enslaved to our military.”
The beast studied me for a minute. No human has every expressed sympathy to him before. Was it all an act?
“Let me reword my question. If humanity wasn’t an issue, what would your desires be?” I asked again.
The beast sighed. Closing his one eye and envisioning everything he ever dreamed of.
“Peacefully swimming openly in the vast ocean. Exploring the endless bottom of the the salty water until I’ve seen everything I could.”
I smiled. I was right. These beasts- no - beings, have dreams. They have goals, emotions, and plenty of intelligence. Right from this moment, I knew that there was a new duty I must fulfill. I must fight for these creatures. Fight for their freedom, their feelings, their rights.
I slammed a fisted hand to my chest and made a vow to the creature. “I, Katsumi Saratobi, vow to you Mr. Three Tails, that I will do EVERYTHING in my power to fight for you and your species. I will fight for your freedom and rights.... for your dreams.”
Three Tails was utterly shocked. Of course he didn’t fully believe me, how could he after centuries of human torture. But he recognized the sincerity in my voice. No human has ever spoken to him in this manner before.
His face softened.
“Isobu.”
“Pardon?”
“You called me Mr. Three Tails; the name is Isobu.”
—-
Kakashi opened his eyes at the sound of me breathing a little heavier than I previously was. He stayed right by my side since the moment I became unconscious. His soft eyes looked at me in curiosity as a smile was plastered on my face.
His hand reached for mine. “Hey, I’m right here Kat. I will not leave your side under any circumstances.” He said softly.
Obito scowled at Kakashi from afar. Stupid Kakashi. You were the one that LET her get hurt. You shouldn’t be the one by her side. It should be me. I deserve to be her hero. Obito began to stand before an arm reached up and grabbed his, preventing him from moving.
He looked down to see Rin looking up at him with pleading eyes.
“Obito. It’s been a long day. Please don’t start anything with Kakashi right now.” She spoke with such sadness in her voice. She knew Obito loved you. He’s loved you since as long as she could remember. And as much as she wanted Obito to be extremely happy, she pitied herself for loving him.
Obito huffed and sat back down again. “It isn’t right, Rin. He let this happen to her. He’s only by her side now because he feels guilty as a leader. He doesn’t truly care about her.” His nose scrunched up in disgust every time he said “he.”
Rin looked over at the silver-haired teen. His eyes expressed so much sorrow as he stared down at me. He was hunched over, his hand over mine.
“I think you’re wrong, Obito.”
He looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“Look at the way he is looking at her. Look at his hand. Not only do I think Kakashi cares about Katsumi, but I think he loves her.” She knows the look all too well. She gives it to Obito every time he is injured. And Obito the same to me.
Obito scrunched his face in utter disgust. “Love, Rin? Really. I doubt Kakashi is even capable of such an emotion. And what would you know?!”
Ouch thought Rin. She was starting to get upset.
“What do I know? Please Obito, you make the same face at Kat.” Rin rolled her eyes.
“Wha-whaat?! No I don’t!” His face started turning a soft shade of red. “I mean yeah, I love her. But like a sister! We practically grew up together!”
Rin shook her head at Obito’s denial. “Well, Obito. I’d get your feelings and shit straight sooner rather than later. Because once you finally open your eyes to it, she’ll be out of your reach. And I have no doubt that Kakashi will be the reason.” She said harshly. She was pissed. Pissed at herself for trying to help the love of her life be with the love of his.
Before he could respond, she dismissed herself to search for more firewood.
Obito stared at the fire then looked up at Kakashi. Anger and jealousy flooded his chest. Kakashi capable of loving? Tch. Yeah right. He couldn’t stand the sight before him anymore and got up to trade look-out shifts with Genma.
—-
I slowly opened my eyes. Everything was bright and blurry at first. Kakashi leaning up against the tree right next to me was the first sight I saw. His head was tilted down and his arms crossed. His breathing was heavy and consistent, evident that he was still asleep.
I stared at him for an extra few seconds, enjoying how incredibly handsome he was. His hair looked so soft, I wanted to run my fingers through it. His toned arms revealed due to the sexy muscle tank he was wearing.
I finally sat up and looked away. I scanned the rest of the base to see Genma, Guy, and Choza also fast asleep. The sky was hardly awake itself.
My mouth felt extremely dry and my throat was scratchy. I stood up to go fetch some water. Before I had the chance to move, Kakashi’s hand wrapped around my wrist. Startled, I looked down to see him look at me with relief in his eyes. He then rose and pulled me into him. His embrace was strong, and his scent of pine cones, campfire, and a hint of aftershave filled my nostrils.
Home was all I could think. The butterflies returned yet again.
He pulled away from me to arms length, hands still on my shoulders.
“Kat.” He spoke softly. “I-I’m so sorry. I should have done more to protect you. You put your faith in my leadership and I failed you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t need protecting, Kakashi. You fought your own battle, I was clumsy and naive within my own. I will never doubt my faith in you.” My voice came out dry and raspy, causing me to end my spiel in a coughing fit.
Kakashi rushed to get me some water. After fixing my dehydration I looked over to him. “So... what is the plan now?”
“Well,” He scratched the back of his head. “Technically, our mission did not fail. We now have the jinchuriki of the three-tailed beast. Now we return home and report to the hokage.”
—-
Lord Third always carried a fierce, almost menacing glare. His eyes remained unwavering even after our report. The seven of us all stood in front of him, backs straight, legs together, and arms behind our backs. Kakashi, Choza-sensei, and I stood in the very front.
“Hmm.” He grunted. “Very well. The Stone Village must have a very specific plan of attack in mind if their intention was to seal the Three-Tailed Beast inside of one of our shinobi. Kat-“
“Isobu.” My mouth spoke without my permission.
The tension of the room built as everyone gasped at my sudden outburst. Kakashi even side-eyed me.
The Third raised a brow. “Pardon?”
“I apologize for my outburst, my Lord. However, you called him Three-Tailed Beast when his name is Isobu.”
I felt everyone stare at me as if I were spouting nonsense. Kakashi turned his head to fully look at me now, an inquisitive expression plastered on his face.
The Third didn’t question my correction. “Ah, I see. Well in that case, Katsumi; since you are harboring Isobu, you are most likely a target to the Stone Village. You’re assignment will be to remain in the village for now and to always be monitored. That being said, Kakashi Hatake, your assignment will be to monitor her.”
Kakashi nodded his head. Obito blew out air behind me.
“As for everyone else, thank you for completing your mission. Your orders are to take a two day rest. I will send an anbu to your location if needed otherwise.”
Everyone replied with a solid “Yes sir” and took their leave. As everyone walked out, I stayed behind.
“What is it Katsumi?” The Third asked in a disinterested tone, not taking his eyes off the paper he was looking at.
“Father..” The nerves in me began to grow. “There is something I need to discuss with you.”
He sighed. “Does this have to do with your outburst earlier?”
“Yes sir. I wanted to talk about Isobu and his species. There is so much more to these creatures that we haven’t even fathomed!” Excitement began to overtake my nerves. My passion for this topic runs deep beneath my veins. I’ve always had this hunch but my interaction with Isobu proved it all.
The Third put the paper in his hands down and pinched the bridge of his nose. Not this again, he thought.
“After Isobu was sealed inside me, I was awakened spiritually and got to interact with him! Father these creatures are not docile and it is wrong to enslave them to our military. These beings are intelligent, they harbor emotions, thoughts, dreams-“
“ENOUGH!” The Third slammed his palms onto his desk and stood up. He glared at me. “Enough, Katsumi. I’ve had enough of these crazy antics of yours. It is never ending. I don’t want to hear about this again. Ever. You are dismissed!”
He raised his pointer finger to the door. I stared back at him. My father would never understand. He never listens to me. Nor my brother. He has always taken more pride into the Legendary Sanin he so gracefully trained over his own children. If I am going to fight for these species, I will have to do it without him.
“Sir.” I mumbled and headed straight for the door.
Kakashi was leaning against the wall outside of the room, one leg kicked up against the wall and his arms crossed. He looked at me expressionless. I dismissed him and kept walking down the hall. Anger swelled inside of me.
“Kat.”
I continued walking, ignoring his calls.
“Kat, wait.”
Once I rounded the corner and entered an old study room I raised my leg and kicked a desk. It flew to the other side of the room, breaking in half after its impact against the wall. I stood there with my eyebrows knitted together and breath heavy.
Kakashi stood in the doorway with his arms crossed. “Finished?”
I took a few deep breaths and straightened up. “Yes.”
“Alright. Well, Obito, Rin, Guy, and Genma are down at the BBQ House waiting for us. We had an exhausting mission, we deserve a nice dinner out.”
I looked at him. If only it were just you and me going out for dinner.
“Yes, you are right. Let’s go.”
We were halfway through our twenty minute walk to the restaurant.
“So.” Kakashi began. His hands were tucked in his pockets and his eyes were trained downwards. “Do you want to talk about what went on between you and your father?”
“Knowing you, you’ll probably dismiss my thoughts as well.” I said thinking about the side-eye he gave me back in the office.
Kakashi was extremely offended by my honesty. He scoffed. “Try me.”
I thought about it for a second before I stopped walking and grabbed his wrist to guide him to sit down next to me on a bench. “During the time I was apparently unconscious I was actually awake spiritually. Internally where Isobu is sealed, I was there and interacting with him.”
Kakashi held his full attention to me. Neither of us realizing that my hand was still on his.
“I’ve always had a hunch that these “beasts” were much more than a weapon. They’re beings, just like us. And all we do is enslave and abuse them. My hunch became true once I talked with Isobu. At first he looked at me with such hatred. He talked about how he wanted to eradicate humanity. Why wouldn’t he after everything we put him through? But after digging deeper, he told me about his dreams. His dream to explore the vastness of the ocean. His dream of peace.” I smiled at the ground, Kakashi’s eyes still on me.
“I vowed to him, Kakashi. I vowed that I will do everything in my power to help him and his species.” I turned to him and grabbed both of his hands into mine and pulled them to my chest.
“We’ve always been at each other’s sides, Kashi. Will you stand by my side now and help me?” I looked deep into his dark gray eyes.
His eyes were soft. He heard the plea in my voice and saw the evidence in my eyes. He let out a breath and moved his right hand to tuck a tendril behind my ear. Then he cupped my cheek.
My heart was going into overdrive.
“Of course I’ll be by your side.” He spoke softly.
We continued looking into each other’s eyes. I didn’t want to look away. I wanted to pour my heart and soul into his eyes and hope that he would lay claim.
His left hand tightened around mine and I slowly leaned in. Could this actually be happening?!
“Ahem.” A light pitched voice called a few feet away from us.
I blinked and looked away, moving myself out of Kakashi’s grip. He stiffened and tried to maintain his grip on my hand even as I shrugged him off.
My face was blood red. Rin came to a halt in front of us. A huge smile was plastered on her face. “Hey guys! I thought I saw you walk by the restaurant so I wanted to be sure you knew to come join us! We just put our orders in, c’mon!”
“Right.” I said and stood up. Kakashi said nothing as he followed my lead.
Rin continued to smile brightly as she guided us to the restaurant. She witnessed everything that just happened. Seeing what nearly went down between Kakashi and I gave her high hopes that Obito would fall to her. She might have a chance.
—-
Lighthearted chatter filled the evening as we all enjoyed the savory BBQ meat. Kakashi barely spoke the whole night and I only spoke when addressed. All I could think about was what nearly occurred on the bench outside. He wouldn’t look at me, he only focused on his food, which he toyed with and didn’t eat.
No one noticed our awkwardness as they all drone on about our mission’s success. Rin would occasionally glance at the two of us and plaster on that smile she shone when she fetched us outside. Obito bragged about his successful fire ball, Guy ravaged on about his youth, and Genma talked about the new girl he was seeing.
At the end of the night we all paid our separate checks and said goodnight. Kakashi opted to walk me home as it was his mission to ensure my safety. Obito was displeased, but didn’t counter since Kakashi’s excuse was legitimate.
The walk to my house was silent. All I could think about was what we discussed on the bench. Was I hallucinating? Was Kakashi feeling what I was feeling? Even if he were, this was probably wrong. We shouldn’t progress past our friendship. We’ve been friends since we were little kids. I value that more than anything and wouldn’t want a broken heart to disrupt that. Who am I kidding. I am getting ahead of myself. Kakashi doesn’t feel that way. His duty as a shinobi is what he prioritizes most in his life. He wouldn’t allow anything or anyone to come in the way of that. It is decided. I will act as if nothing happened and value our friendship and his morals. Yes.
We walked up the stairs to the porch and stopped in front of the door. Kakashi’s eyes were downcast and his hands tucked into his pockets.
I took a deep breath then plastered on a smile. “Thanks for walking me home, Kashi. And thank you, so much, for what you said on the bench earlier. It means everything to me to have your support.” My voice came out a little higher pitched than usual.
I turned my head to look at him. He was already looking at me. His half-lidded eyes were soft.
Next thing I knew, Kakashi’s calloused right hand was pulling the back of my head towards his. His left hand pulled down his mask right before he crashed his lips into mine.
I was completely frozen.
So was Obito as he watched nearby.
End of Part 1, stay tuned!
#kakashi x reader#reader x obito#kakashi#kakashi fluff#kakashi fanfiction#naruto shippuden#naruto#kakashi hatake#kakashi hakate#best anime#my love#copy ninja#anime#black mask#kakashi vs obito#kakashiedit#obito uchiha#kid obito#rin nohara#obito x rin#fanfic#pt 1
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Sasuke/Karin, 48+100
Fanfiction Trope MASH-UP
Rules: Send me two (2) tropes from this list + a ship and I’ll describe how I’d combine them in the same story.
48. Fake Dating
100. Accidentally Saving the Day
Okay so I have been struggling with this one because it just feels really mean to Karin but I finally have an idea.
Takes place after Sasuke kills Itachi, but before he goes after Killer Bee.
Also available on AO3
————
“I’ll stay with Sasuke-kun!”
Karin latches on to Sasuke’s arm and presses her cheek to his shoulder. Sasuke doesn’t want anything as little as he wants human contact right now, but there’s a pitch in Karin’s voice that isn’t usually there, and her nails are digging in to Sasuke’s arm. It’s enough that he doesn’t immediately shake her off, trying to figure out what she’s getting at.
“Oh,” the man who claims to be Madara says, voice low and rough. “I wasn’t aware you two were so… close.”
Sasuke isn’t close with anyone. Not Taka, not Naruto, not Sakura, not Ita–
“Hn,” Sasuke says, looking away. Karin giggles in a way that sounds like someone else, someone that doesn’t have scalpels in her soul, and rubs her cheek against his arm. She nuzzles, like a cat.
“Aren’t you a little young to be sharing a bed?” Madara asks, tilting his head.
“Aren’t we a little young to be international criminals?” Karin challenges back.
Madara scoffs. “Teenagers.”
He disappears in a whirl, right into his eye, and Sasuke moves away from–
Her lips press to his ear, and she whispers, “he’s still watching us.”
She pulls back, and when he meets her eyes, there squeezed half-shut, looking at him over her glasses. There’s a blush in her cheeks, an embarrassed smile on her face, and she tucks her hair behind her ear nervously. “I mean, um, if you want to, Sasuke-kun.”
Sasuke doesn’t remember how to smile. He doesn’t remember what it is to act like he enjoys somebody’s presence. His soul feels like it’s scrubbed raw, clawed open, scooped out and filled back in with pitch and tar.
He inclines his head, and says, “I’m… not in the mood.”
He just killed his brother, and Karin is implying that she suggested something like out of those dirty magazines Naruto used to look at for ideas on that stupid pervy jutsu of his.
“Of course,” Karin says, with a soft smile that does not belong on her face. She’s acting like–like Sakura. Sasuke doesn’t want soft and sweet around him. Soft and sweet get ripped up and spit out by the world. He picked Taka for a lot of reasons, but they’re all Oto brats. They’re all assholes, even Juugo sometimes. “I’ll stick to my side tonight, okay?”
There is no ‘her side.’ They’ve never shared a bed before, except that one time all four of them had been on a single mattress, and that was only because the bed had been big enough for six. For some reason. It was cheap, he hadn’t questioned it.
“Thank you,” Sasuke says instead. He meets Suigetsu’s eyes and narrows his eyes just a tad. He almost casts a genjutsu to share information, except if Madara is still watching them somehow–and Sasuke trusts Karin, if she says he is–then there’s no way to do it either handsigns or Sharingan, both of which Madara would notice. Sasuke isn’t that good yet. Very few people are.
“Let’s lie down,” Karin suggests, a hand on his upper back propelling him towards the bed in this room. Sasuke doesn’t want to leave Juugo with just Suigetsu, but whatever’s going on must be important. It has to be.
Karin wouldn’t be pulling this shit if it wasn’t.
She changes a few feet away from him, as if it’s normal for him to see her half-naked, which it isn’t, even if she’s seen him nearly naked for battle reasons, medical reasons, onsen reasons and…
Well, Karin doesn’t strip as often as Sasuke does. Most people don’t, but Karin is even more concerned about keeping her body covered than, like, that one Hyuuga in his Academy class. Karin’s got her scars, and that’s more than reason enough.
Sasuke wonders if Itachi had scars. If he’d--
“Hey.”
A hand lands on his shoulder and squeezes. He doesn’t shake it off, much as he wants to. “What.”
“You’re spiraling,” she says, like they’re actually together, and not just... whatever this is. “Come back to me.”
Is this what couples are like? He’s not sure he likes it. Sasuke’s not sure he likes anything right now.
“Come to bed,” she coaxes, like they’ve done this a million times. “You’ll feel better with some sleep.”
“I’ve been asleep for days.”
“No, you’ve been unconscious for days, it’s different,” she insists. “Listen to the medic.”
Karin isn’t, technically speaking, a medic. She’s a biological researching with a working understanding of the human body. She’s the closest he has, though. She’s probably right about this.
“Hn,” he says, but slips into bed anyway. She follows, and pulls at him when he tries to curl with his back to her.
“Sasuke,” she says, a request and a reprimand all in one. “Let me see your eyes.”
He stiffens, and her hand presses lightly to his shoulder.
“Please?” she asks, and the faintest pulse of chakra on his lightning-charred pathways taps out ge-n-ju-tsu. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
He rolls over and lets his eyes come to life, meeting hers and trapping them both in... it’s not Mangekyo, not yet, he doesn’t want to bleed for this, to bleed away Itachi’s gift on a farce of subterfuge, but there’s a bit of time-compression anyway. He knows how to do that much.
“Oh thank fuck,” Karin swears. “Thank you for playing along, Sasuke, you have no idea wh--”
“Talk,” Sasuke says.
She blinks, and pouts, and huffs, and adjusts her glasses. “That man is mad as a hatter and I don’t know exactly what his intentions are, but they’re not anything good.”
Sasuke crosses his arms and waits.
“He’s lying about being Madara, obviously,” Karin says. “And he’s... I don’t know, he’s got some technique that lets him be here-but-not, probably a variation on that teleport he showed off. I think he’s spying on us after he leaves, so I needed an excuse to just... yeah.”
“Okay,” Sasuke says. “What else?”
“Whatever he said about Itachi and the village... he’s holding back the whole truth,” Karin says. “He told some of the truth, and obviously I can’t tell exactly what he’s hiding, but there was... I dunno, satisfaction? Vindictiveness? He was, like, proud. Of Itachi getting pushed into killing the clan. I don’t know if he was involved in it or not, but my money’s on this fake Madara manipulating the clan, Itachi, the Hokage, or... I don’t know. All three? Anyone else that was involved? I don’t have enough background information to know for sure.”
Sasuke’s mental representation of himself squeezes his fingers into his biceps. He can’t keep this genjutsu up much longer without it getting suspicious. “Is he still watching us?”
“Yes.”
Fuck. “I still need to kill--”
“Sasuke, no,” she says, coming closer. “Please, just... just hold off on the revenge until we know more about what’s going on.”
“But Itachi--”
“Sasuke, please,” Karin says. “You killed Itachi. You did that, because you didn’t have all the information, and you were being manipulated and lied to by people older than you. What did I just say was happening?”
“You said he told the truth,” Sasuke says. “That Konoha--”
“FUCK Konoha,” Karin says. “Who do you trust more, me or the guy that wears a full face mask and lies about being a hundred-year-old relative?”
“But--”
“Who do you trust?” Karin demands. “Me or him?”
Sasuke doesn’t trust anyone.
“He is telling you what you want to hear,” Karin says, teeth grit. “But you met him a few hours ago, and he’s clearly incredibly suspicious. Please listen to me when I tell you that it makes more sense to collect information first. Hell, we can break into Konoha’s archives if you want. We can, I dunno, find your old team captain and tell him what fake Madara told us, and get him to break into archives for us. But, Sasuke, please remember that you picked us. You picked this team, and part of the reason you picked me is because I am the best goddamn sensor on the continent, and I know when people lie.”
She’s not wrong.
But... Itachi.
“We’ll talk again in the morning,” Sasuke decides, and breaks the genjutsu.
Karin pouts at him for a moment, and then wipes the look away and smiles at him, kind and pitying. “It gets better,” she says. “Eventually. Usually. Um, I mean, we’ve all lost a lot, but Juugo killed his parents by accident when he was four, ya know? He probably has all that ‘similar life experience’ stuff going on.”
“Can we not talk about this?” Sasuke asks, trying to talk like a... he doesn’t know. Like an upset boyfriend, maybe. “Just... I need to sleep.”
“Okay,” Karin says, and tries to take one of his hands. He pulls it away before she can touch it, and she freezes, then pulls her hand back to her own chest. “Good night, Sasuke.”
“Good night.” He sounds stilted even to his own ears. Hopefully, fake-Madara will attribute that to the trauma and grief instead of the awkwardness of not actually being in a relationship with Karin.
-------------
From there on, things drift sideways into Sasuke making slightly better decision on account of not trusting Obito as much, and trusting Karin to tell him when something’s a bad idea. He still makes bad decisions, because that’s just who Sasuke is as a person, but those decisions tend to skip over things like “attempts to kidnap Killer Bee” and just goes straight for Danzo. Obito is tired of his shit, but so is Kakashi, so Obito lets it slide. Sure, he’d rather have the Hachibi in the statue, but Sasuke’s causing grey hairs in a man that Obito half-hates and half-is-in-love-with, so it’s not all bad.
Zetsu does not agree, but Zetsu’s opinion is trash so we don’t care.
Technically Karin’s choice to fake date Sasuke in order to get him information does save the day, if only in the sense that the world is slightly less-fucked-over by the end of the fourth war, because Sasuke was faster about getting his head out of his ass.
#SasuKarin#Uchiha Sasuke#Uzumaki Karin#Uchiha Obito#Team Taka#Anonymous#Fake Dating#ninjas#Phoenix Answers Memes
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