The Historian’s Department of the Hidden Leaf

This blog is NOT spoiler-free! The ask box is open. Mod: MK (she/her)

[hiddenleafhistoriansdepartment]

Welcome! Basic Info for this blog:

Hey there, wandering user! I'm glad you're here.

My name's MK, and I happen to have a passion for understanding fiction and sharing it with others.

I mostly use this blog for miscellaneous Naruto ramblings. You can ask me about Naruto lore, characters, opinions, etc., and I'll do my best to answer.

For more information and guidelines, keep reading!

A bit about me

Online, I go by MK.

I use she/her pronouns.

I'm not a historian irl, I'm just a student with a passion for fiction.

Ask guidelines

I love asks and will be more than happy to answer them whenever possible!

Asks can be about anything Naruto-related! Characters, episodes, plot points, lore, conflicts, etc. I'd be happy to research for you!

You can also as me about my opinions on Naruto topics.

This should go without saying, but please keep asks respectful.

Other guidelines for this blog

The ask box is always open unless I say otherwise.

I'll be making posts about certain topics I personally find interesting to fill the blog outside of asks.

As stated in the header, this blog is NOT spoiler-free, obviously.

In my ask answers and informative posts, I try my best to be as canon-accurate as possible and nothing more. That being said, if I make an error, please tell me. I would appreciate it very much. However, be respectful.

Citations, where appropriate, will be in APA style. I will do my best to remember to link the source to every in-text citation, where applicable, because the traditional "references" structure isn't practical for tumblr posts.

Tag guidelines

#hiddenleafhistorian: basic tag for all of my posts.

#ask: used for posts that come from an ask.

#notanask: used for posts that do not come from asks.

#character, #lore, #conflict, #places, #episode: differentiate broad topics that the post covers.

Individual tags will be used with broad tags to make it easier for people to search for what they're looking for. Character tags go by the Japanese name order of surname-given name. Examples include #uchiha shisui, #final valley, #era of warring states, #hidden sand village, #senju clan

#naruto: used for every post to extend the blog's reach. Different from #uzumaki naruto, which is the character's tag.

#thehistorianspeaks: me posting on the blog, not articles

Thanks for reading and happy browsing!

[atoriv-art]

comic based on one of my favorite clips of all time [link]

[uchihasasukes]

[0fficelady]

[a-book-of-creatures]

Made some stickers for when you just gotta express yourself with a failed cake

[maleypoo]

I saw this and thought "oh yeah this is them" (don't mind the choppy coloring I was rushing)

[foxgirl1668]

upped my antidepressants and now lack of motivation fears me. we’re so back team

*also this is a redraw of this image!

[mochisquish]

Thank you, Snoop Logg...

[xmonday-mintx]

I had to do my favorite KpopDemonHunter scene with SaiIno

[unhappy-sometimes]

joint mission

it would be so funny if this was how the identity reveal happens

[hiddenleafhistoriansdepartment]

hi mkat! 🧡

Hi mable!!

[writingonthewalls1832]

The Outsiders and Naruto is an unlikely combination but...

I've been listening to the Outsiders Broadway Cast Recording that came out recently (great book, good movie, great musical) and the song "Death's At My Door" was soooo Kakashi-caded to me. The lyrics are below the cut but it takes place in the show when Ponyboy and Johnny are hiding from the authorities in an abandoned church and Ponyboy is reflecting on how he keeps losing those he loves and how he feels like death's shadow is following him.

At one point in his life, Kakashi had lost almost everyone he'd ever cared about, so he learned to not form easy attachments to people and became an emotionless weapon for the ANBU Black Ops.

I can totally imagine some of his innermost thoughts sounding a lot like this song: full of grief, pushed into a corner and trapped by the idea that death will never leave him, and being afraid of something bad happening to the people closest to him. In Kakashi's case, the role of Johnny in this song would be someone like Guy, who made the decision time and time again to be there for Kakashi and to believe in him, even when Kakashi was at his most unhealthy points.

[hiddenleafhistoriansdepartment]

Hello! I saw your post about writing a fic where Inojin would fall into a revival of the Foundation and that sounds like such a fantastic premise for a story! I would definitely be intrigued if you were to write it 👀

Would this be your first dabble into writing fanfiction? Or do you have other works already? If so, would you mind sharing where we can read them? 😁

Hi there!

Thank you so much for asking! The idea is filed under the "unsure" box in my brain. I've never really been good at reliably writing multi-chapter fics, and I've never written anything with heavy parenthood themes (this fic would be heavy in them, really), but there's a first time for everything! We'll see what happens!

This would be far from my first fic experience; I've been a writer for most of my life in some way or another, and I've been writing fic for several different fandoms for about three years or so? My AO3 is here! I'd personally recommend Somehow We'll Be Okay, which is a pretty good example of what I tend to drift towards.

Thank you for the ask!

[hiddenleafhistoriansdepartment]

So I watched Naruto the movie: Bonds and took notes

What is this movie??? I don't know.

Why are they flying

The lore?

Sai is unusually amazing (clarification: he had some really good moments, he's always a great character)

It’s crazy how we view female and male friendships differently from each other

Zero-tails?????

SAI??? He’s doing amazing

Why did they frame Sakura like that…

Please Yamato save him 🙏

How did he just…exit the advanced Nine-Tails stage like that? Without burns or anything? That was weird.

What is the Land of Sky bruh

Wet hair Shino

Whoah that got dark

“A person who has saved someone’s life will never be doubted.” Ouch? That kind of reminds me of The Foundation and how their unconditional obedience is bred from an early age.

The doctor basically went Super Saiyan

That gut punch hurt

Why are his muscles rippling like that 😭😭😭

Naruto says these inspiring lines and then the skidding noise ruined it 😭

The concept of laying hatred and burdens on Naruto even when he is already beaten and battered is so reminiscent of Christ to me

I can’t take a picture of it but they knew what they were doing with that one scene where Naruto takes the knife to the arm…his face, his eyes, it’s drawn so much like that one frame of Minato after being impaled by the Nine-Tails. It’s a similar situation, too: taking pain for another out of love. I wonder if that was purposeful.

WHAT IS SASUKE DOING THERE 😭😭😭

WHOAH

Shikamaru’s reaction: 😨😨😨

This whole time Sasuke’s just like 😐😐😐😐😐

Amaru holding themself up with one arm is impressive

Tornado rasengan?

Sasuke throwing Amaru 😭

[hiddenleafhistoriansdepartment]

Okay so if I wrote a fic about Inojin being slowly pulled into a revival of the Foundation and Sai going after him (with the help of Ino) and, in the process, opening Inojin’s eyes to the way manipulation can be used and how hard Sai has worked to give him a better life than he had,

Would that be something you think is worth reading?

[r--kt]

Do you like Kakashi's dogs? Let's talk about why there are eight of them.

another example of naruto's ✨cultural code✨

contents | the eight dog warriors chronicles · legacy · eight confucian virtues. also look at the cuties love them sm

Naruto Vol. 10 CH 90

[ one dog is wonderful, I'm saying as the owner of a sweet little york terrier. two dogs are good, they won't be bored together. three dogs? yeah, cool! how are you going to walk them though? four? yes... look, maybe we have to draw the line h- wha- EIGHT? Excuse Me!? ]

surely, it's worth starting with the fact that eight is a lucky number in Japanese culture — everybody watched Hachi. of course, this is not the only cultural detail where the eight is mentioned. I want to pay special attention to a thing that I didn't know about until I googled it, and this is clearly what Kishimoto was doing homage to with Kakashi's eight ninken.

The Eight Dog Warriors Chronicles

Better known as Nansō Satomi Hakkenden. and it's not just some kind of book, it's a novel, consisting of 106 booklets written by Kyokutei Bakin in XIX century. Hakkenden is considered the largest novel in the history of Japanese Literature. this is one of the main representatives of the gesaku genre, which includes works of a frivolous, joking, silly nature. further I will emphasize a few more times how damn popular this work is and how often it is reflected in culture.

here are some illustrations for these books

now let's talk about the plot. It's weird, but it's weird at samurai-dogs-story level so stay here.

In brief, the story tells about the commander Satomi Yoshizane, whose native lands were attacked by the army of a man, whose forces surpassed those of Satomi, and the samurai in despair swore to a dog named Yatsufusa that the dog would get his beloved daughter Fuse as a wife if he chewed that man's throat. surprisingly, the dog not only understood the owner, but also fulfilled his wish! after that the commander refused to keep the promise. however, Fuse, true to her word of honor, went with Yatsufusa to the mountains and became his wife. upon learning that his daughter was pregnant, Satomi, in a rage, sent a samurai to kill Yatsufusa and bring Fuse home. she stood up for the dog anyways and died with him. at that moment, eight pearls with hieroglyphs that denoted the foundations of Confucian virtue burst out of her womb. (...cheers for mythology, I guess)

Soon, eight dog warriors who were Fuse's spiritual children were born in different parts of Awa province. after going through hardships, they got together and became vassals of the Satomi clan, then won the battle, and soon reached peace.

some more illustrations made by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. from left to right: Inukawa Sōsuke (the dog warrior), Inumura Daikaku (the dog warrior), Princess Fuse (their mother).

the novel mainly tells about each individual warrior dog and his shenanigans in a funny adventurous way. huge fame has led to excerpts from Hakkenden being staged at the Kabuki Theater and mentioned in the anime and manga, such as Inuyasha, Dragon Ball, as it turned out, Naruto and so on. there's also a lot of films and video games.

The eight virtues

these are loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, love, honesty, justice, harmony, and peace.

they relate more to Chinese culture, but basically Hakkenden was inspired by it too. since I did not read the whole novel, I would still like to mention at least the values on which it is based, and which were embedded in the symbolism of this story. It's quite interesting to apply this to Kakashi's dogs. gives them more weight and depth.

It is also interesting to note that the reason why Fuse gave birth to dogs was also that her father was cursed earlier in the story in a way that his descendants would become depraved like dogs. in Japanese culture, dogs embody the duality of character: the same mentioned filth and depravity, and devotion and bravery. so as samurai. but this is a different conversation, more related to Kakashi and his dog poetry.

Did you get here? Here's an additional discovery for you✨

Pakkun's name (パックン) is derived from the Japanese onomatopoeia “pakupaku” (パクパク) which reflects the sound of munching.

Kakashi, that's very sweet of you.

thank you for reading this to the end ♡

[hiddenleafhistoriansdepartment]

Announcements

Hello!! I’m back from my small hiatus that I forgot to announce. I gave up fandom for Lent, and that included tumblr, but now that it is Easter, I’m back!

My family and I also finished Naruto: Shippuden a couple of days ago and have started Boruto (quite the feat, I know) and I’ve started reading the Shōnen Jump Naruto manga since I didn’t watch the early anime.

The Danzo article will take a lot of research, and I’m also thinking about writing articles about Gaara’s Ultimate Defense, and Indra and Ashura and…all of that lore (whoah). But I also want to do some speculative articles!! I want to talk about the new innovations in technology that occurred between late Shippuden and Boruto, the economy of the hidden villages during the war, and how information is censored in Shinobi society.

All that to say, expect more content from this page soon!!

[hiddenleafhistoriansdepartment]

An article on The Foundation's psychology?

Realistically, what do you think would be the best way to do this article?

Yes, all in one long post

Yes, in installments (command structure, dehumanization, extremism, etc.)

It's not interesting enough imo

Voting ended onJan 5, 2024

Something I've been wanting to do for a little while!