highkey i feel like the leaf village did a shit ton of covering up. i mean, compared to all of the other villages, konoha has produced the most lethal rogues like orochimaru, itachi, obito, madara, etc., all of whom together were almost responsible for all of the major violence and for perpetuating war.
i mean for the leaf to still be seen largely as the "good" village is sometimes a little off to me. like we've been shown in the show, danzo and the village elders have the power to manipulate narratives and history to hide evil acts and the dark past.
though since the story is mostly about naruto and his opponents, we didn't see as much in depth of the systemic corruption. the anime focuses on the "will of fire" with naruto being optimist #1 or smth, instead of the pragmatic horrors.
because i mean the leaf IS a military dictatorship by all definitons. they got child soldiers, trafficking in regards to bloodlines like with danzo, and selective ignorance.
the village, especially the higher-ups, was fully aware of the hyuga branch family system and the outright torture/slave methods. yet there was absolutely zero measures taken? just letting their own people be disposable life shields.
AND the chunin exams. the forest of death is just an pen to throw genin into for unmonitored murder. nothing to stop the truly violent participants like gaara, who didn't even bother just getting the one scroll his team needed and going to the tower, but instead stayed and actively sought out others to kill.
i wouldnt go so far as to say that the village is completely "evil" considering the whole naruto world isn't exactly a pretty place (like the "bloody mist" and whtever tf zabuza did, murdering his entire class js to graduate). but they're ruthless fs. i js dk whether the system was just ensuring their establishment was sustained or going a bit over a line.
konoha, end of the day, is js a mercenary city-state that functions as a military base for the land of fire. a lot of violence and problems in the show stem from the village's internal politics, neglect, or unethical experiments/measures fs tho. argue with the wall
"I want to take a bite out of you, find out what you’re thinking."
Intro Rambles 💗
KuroEne with MR2 Saeru 🖤❤️💙🐍 🐇
Snake go mlem 🐍
Saeru can use Awakening Eyes to change his body into whatever he wants. That's genderfluid swag to me 🏳️⚧️🌈‼️
I headcanon that he can transform his body to have a long forked snake tongue like many demon charas do. 😈
I love the expressions so much... 😚 I love how the colours turned out too 🤭 I love using saturated colours 💓
This really captures what I had in mind for their Red/Blue visual contrast. I love when Saeru takes more blood red tones compared to Ene's cool blues. ❤️💙
I wanted to draw KuroEne in traditional clothing~ 👘
I'm planning for them to wear Việt Phục inspired outfits (or loosely inspired EA/SEA fashion)
We'll see. I'll play around and experiment 💝
I just wanna post my WIP progress shots and post my rough coloured sketch drafts atm 🙏
Design Inspiration 🎨
The hair and horn shapes are inspired by the lovely MR2 (Manga Route 2) Saeru redesign by Dirtsooop (@/dirtsooop) ❤️
I love this redesign version that takes more inspiration from Azami's design, the fluffier hair, and sharper, devil-like horn shapes... ❣️
I prefer to draw MR2 Saeru with fluffier hair and sharper shape language in general, since it fits my art style more, and also cuz villains are usually designed with sharp pointy shapes to indicate a sense of danger. 😈✨
I think it fits him so well since villain charas are usually designed with sharp, pointy shape language to indicate a sense of danger.
It inspired me to do an MR2 redesign where he has more Azami inspired traditional clothes 👘😌
You can read under the cut if you'd like to see my art process (WIPs) and rambles about my HC version of MR2 Saeru with traditional clothing inspirations. 👘
Art Process 🎨
Alt Versions 🎨
Tested different gradient maps :>
I added some new ones that adds some post processing effects. They're also nice, but I prefer my more subdued colours up top 👍
The coloured line Auto Action I use lowers the lines opacity, uses Gaussian Blur on the lines, adds Saturation, then sets Layer Mode to Colour Burn or Multiply.
Colour Burn has a super nice vibrant effect on the lines, but it doesn't work on near white colours, so gotta fix that ✍️
Multiply lowers the lines' opacity so it blends in more with the colours underneath, has more of a subdued look. Multiply has dark lineart but lowered opacity.
I wanna combine aspects from both eventually to have both the glowy lines on the outside, and softer look on the lines 💞
MR2 Saeru HCs 🐍👘
In my HC version of MR2 Saeru, he wears traditional clothing and takes more design inspirations from Azami's design. 💗
I love everything down to the face. I don't vibe with the outfit tho, so I'd just draw my redesign/HC version instead. ✍️
Cuz I fuck with everything on this design EXCEPT for the canon design's crop top and X-shaped strap (and entire clothes, tbh)
I love the black snake scales on his face, the cute little tufts of hair and black horns, the braid in the back that looks like a scorpion's tail, red sclera and red gradient limbs, and the white sash with bloodstains on it. 🥰
Just not everything else 😭
In my HCs, he wears a long, thin floating scarf loosely inspired by the Chinese hanfu shawl Pibo (披帛), as well as the Japanese floating scarf, Tenne (纏衣/天衣) or Hagoromo (羽衣) 🤍🧣
Tenne/Hagoromo are long, thin floating scarves normally depicted with Japanese deities, gods, and celestial beings (and also, sometimes demons and youkai in animanga and games).
I HC he wears them around his arms. We'll see if I add them or not here 👍
I'm planning to redraw the horn shapes and make them more detailed and slightly more twisted looking... ✍️
I'd make him take more inspo from his Design Poll outfit and Azami's clothes.
He's an ancient being, so I'd rather him wear traditional clothes instead.
I'd make him have a white floating scarf around his arms. I'll probably play around with the outfit design
In my redesign, I'd give him a Pibo (hanfu shawl) inspired scarf to wear around his arms.
I like the shape language of Áo tứ thân (lit. "four piece/part dress")
I feel like I'd draw him in this Áo tứ thân but in black and red instead.
So he'd mainly be wearing a black cross collared top with red accents ❌
I'd have him wear black pants, white sashes tied around the waist and over his arms, and have the black front panel be dyed with a red gradient at the bottom.
And his usual form can wear a Áo dài (lit. "long dress") in black and yellow colours.
Art Rambles ✍️
I drew the initial sketch in April 2025, then redrew the expressions to the current version in July 2025. Recently filled in the colours for it 👍
The only reason why I didn't have his red sclera with black pupils was cuz it'd lose readability, especially with my style of drawing eyes.
I don't draw very big eyes in my style, so I just made his eyes red.
I'll adjust the shadows and coloured lines effect later! And ofc I'll also clip the airbrush layers to the colours, and paint over stuff too.
These are WIPs for now, so I'll post updated versions whenever I get the time.
Tried to colour with a different lighting method recently! I also tested a bunch of different gradient maps 💗
I love the glowy lines effect with either Colour Burn or Multiply 🤗
I used Gray Multiply layer and Overlay layer with airbrushed saturated colours. This method is so OP for doing dramatic lighting 🤯💥
At first, I wasn't sure how it'd look, but it starts coming together when you start adding more saturated colours.
I prefer this over the initial version I did. The colours look SO pleasing 🥰
It's so easy and quick to do. Gonna colour like this from now on 👍
Also, I'm not sure how this looks on other screens. My monitor lightens the colours considerably compared to my laptop and phone, so I brightened the art a bit with Adjustment Layers (Level Correction and Tone Curve)
Art Plans
I'm waiting for when I get more free time to adjust some things :>
I'll refine and redraw some stuff (redraw Saeru's horns, Ene's hair and headphones, adjust the light) 🫰
And I'll combine the coloured lines effect to have both Colour Burn's saturated glowy effect on the outer lines and Multiply's softer effect on the lines 🙏
Ngl I was debating whether to make his sleeves that huge that big tbh cuz it hides Ene almost entirely but I love how the clothing folds look… 💗
Gotta say I do love the way his sleeves lovingly drape over Ene. 🤭💞
Perhaps she could be clutching onto his sleeves…
I'm pretty obsessed with "Chara's long hair or sleeves lovingly drapes over their lover like a wedding veil" in compositions. 💞
I've been saving this art for when I have time. I wanted to decide on the sketch first. I usually redraw hair, face, eyes, clothes, etc., multiple times and then decide on the best one 👍
Quote
Quote comes from this Quotes bot.
Basically, people find and collect their fave quotes from poets, various media, etc., to assign to their fave charas/ships, then have the tweets send hourly/daily from a collection of quotes 💖
“You've been invited into the snake's den, and now, I'll consume you whole. And my venom will be sweet poison, yes...”
Summary: Saeru approaches Ene with the offer to create her a new body, and invites her to come live with him.
A KuroEne AU where Saeru builds an android body that Ene can transfer her consciousness into, so she can move around in the real world again.
Saeru invites Ene to come live with him in one of his spare homes while keeping his darker tendencies hidden, and the two eventually develop an intimate relationship.
Snippets of my fave lines will be posted under the cut~ 💗
Ellipsus Previews: Fave Snippets ✨
These are my fave lines from my KuroEne Fic so far. 💗
The most refined ones imo.
(Not in order, this is just a random assortment of fave lines)
Ellipsus Previews: Other Fave Snippets ✨
These ones aren't as refined, so I have to clean them up and add to them later, but I still like them.
They have good ideas ^^
Tentative Notes ✍️
Tentative Draft for now :3
Wanted to test how the tags and notes will look. 📝✍️
The Notes section is tentative rn, since it depends on which ones I'll include in the Fic.
KuroEne Fic: Summary 🖤💙
My KuroEne Fic is basically the lead-up to Kuroha/Saeru meeting Ene and offering to build her an android body so she can move around in the real world again, and their intimacy. 🖤💙
Saeru uses his knowledge to build an android body for Ene, that she can transfer her consciousness into (since he's basically a living encyclopedia that holds knowledge from the beginning of civilization, all the way up to modern science)
Saeru's temptations, the call of a devil pretending to invite Ene to "paradise," under the guise of a "perfect/ideal lover," fully intends on dragging her down to hell with him.
Their intimacy is a metaphorical dance/eventual fall to hell.
I'm pretty satisfied with how the elegant prose style in this Fic, captures Saeru's dark eroticism... 🖤🐍
It shows his twisted view of love, indeed.
Saeru's temptations are definitely more in line with the "Demon/devil tempts their lover with honeyed words" kind. 😈😇🪽
Saeru is 3rd person narrator, so the Fic is from his POV.
This chara has a dark, cunning, calculative side. He's twisted and manipulative by nature. I wanted to be able to portray that. 👍
KuroEne AU: Context 📝
(I worded it better before in prev posts, so need for me to write it all again, but here's a short summary)
As I said, his main goal in the KuroEne AU is the same as in canon. He acts on a one track minded desire to fulfill Azami's wish with the utmost devotion. He wants to fulfill his purpose, what he was created for.
His secondary goal in the KuroEne AU is that he wants to make his S/O crave him and be addicted to him, by becoming the center of their universe.
He's trying to compensate for losing a sense of purpose when Azami forgot about him, by making his existence become "necessary" to someone.
Golden Apple of Immortality and Pseudo Immortality 🍎💛
I just think about how KuroEne are exact opposites in every single way, with characters and personalities that balance each other out perfectly. 🖤💙
And yet also, what they share (have in common), is a "connection to pseudo immortality," at least in some way...
Saeru inadvertently managed to succeed with the (pseudo) immortality he was searching for with her body. Regardless of whether it's in canon-verse, or my AU.
In canon-verse, Ene got a pseudo immortal body via Opening Eyes, and in the AU, both that and the android body he made.
KuroEne → Possession of pseudo immortality, and craving for it...
Ene → Possession of pseudo immortality due to her cyber body (via Opening Eyes)
Saeru → One who craves pseudo immortality (and uses the time loops to keep up his pseudo immortality)
KuroEne Fic: Rough Outline 📝
Saeru's inability to understand the selfless love of Azami and Konoha - the kind Azami harboured for her family.
Saeru recalls a memory of his Master cradling a baby Shion, Mary's mother.
Saeru's motivations for indulging with a human, wanting to find a way to spice up the cycles to appease his boredom
Saeru's motivations for seeking out Ene (realizing he could weaponize her connection with his body's vessel)
Saeru recalling his 1st meeting with Ene, approaching her with the offer to make a body for her
Saeru's observations of Ene, and how he's charmed by her, and her nature
Saeru working on building the android body for Ene, which instigates his obsession
Saeru can read her so well due to his excellent observation skills, making Ene believe he's the only one who can understand her, and thus, gets attached to him
(I still need to add to the Fic ofc cuz it's a super rough draft)
Other Rambles
I'm extremely picky about their (KuroEne's) characterization. So I did feel like my 1st KuroEne fic shouldn't be a short drabble, but one that's able to capture their essence as a ship. 🙏 So it's a retelling of my AU 👍👍
I wanted to write a Fic that'd sum up their relationship in my KuroEne AU succinctly. I want it to be able to portray the essence of how I see them... 💗
Since I want my first KuroEne fic to be able to capture the essence of my KuroEne AU, and their relationship, in ways I'd be satisfied with. 🤗
I want to take my time writing it so I'll be working on my Fic on the side, over the next few ~ couple months! I wanna make sure it turns out well. 🙏
Art and dialogue scripts (often seen in film/screen writing) come naturally to me, cuz I imagine the ideas visually (so they're based on my visual imaginations)
To me, the best lines are the ones that rely on my own chara analysis and interpretations/observations of them. ❤️
I originally planned to do a short Fic drabble but I just kept adding to it LOL
I think it's gonna be a long Character Study Fic. Realistically, it's gonna be in the 2k ~ 5k words range, at least.
I started writing it in mid March. It's been really fun to write! 💗 I love getting to infuse my character analysis and interpretations of them into my writing 🤭
A lot of the dialogue lines from my fic, come from dialogue scripts and rambles I wrote back in 2024. Though, I also wrote a lot of new lines (which are either based on my old rambles, or written from scratch)
I'm so picky with my stuff, so I fuss a lot over how to word things. Just like my dialogue scripts, I write the rough drafts first, then refine and reorder them as I continue.
I really like writing in this elegant prose style!! 🙏
I yoinked a lot of dialogue from my old KuroEne AU dialogue scripts. ✌️ 🤸
I think my dialogue is much stronger since I have experience doing Dialogue Scripts (turning my art ideas into play/film script format), but I still love a lot of the lines I wrote.
KuroEne reviving urges in me that I haven’t had in like 5 - 10 years like OMFG... The power of love is real... 🥺🥹🙏
I've been drawing for over a decade, so I really didn't expect to seriously take up learning how to do Fic writing for the 1st time.
Like I haven't had the urge to seriously write Fic for several years cuz I always thought "I should stick to art as my main creative art form" 🤔💭
But then I got hit with the urge to write for them. So it's my first time learning how to write Fic ❤️
Yippee!! 🤭 ❣️
Poems
Takane, Haruka, Konoha, Kuroha/Saeru, Takane/Ene
I've been reading Ogura Hyakunin Isshu poems more because I wanted more exposure to poetic prose. I love the Hyakunin Isshu so much... 💗
I feel like reading poems in the past few months have really helped my prose.
While slowly working on my KuroEne fics on the side, I feel like reading poems made me become more conscious of sentence flow, structure, and word choice… 💭
Reading poems only improved my way of writing dialogue/prose, me thinks… 🤗
Before, I'd mainly just think of converting my visual ideas/imaginations to dialogue script format… My way of writing dialogue def improved over time with practice.
My main concern would be prose, whether it's in character (which is easy enough for me), and if it sounds good.
After some exposure to reading more poems, when I write, I contemplate a lot about how the words sound, and if they flow well.
I get really indecisive, so I often rewrite lines with different wording to see which one sounds best… 🤔
Glad that I started taking this journey cuz there are lines from my KuroEne Fic WIP that I really love… :> 🖤💙
Since I've been drawing for over a decade, I'm way more confident about my art than my writing. 🙏🤲
As a newbie writer atm, I feel like my writing has to rely heavily on my characterization portrayals of them. And some poems inspo 📝
A lot of my fave dialogue lines were taken from my KuroEne AU dialogue scripts, cuz I'm way better with dialogue. But I wrote a lot of fave new ones recently too :>
Ellipsus
Ellipsus is SO cool. I've been using it to write my Fics. 👍
I usually write most of my dialogue scripts on Notion since it's my all in one digital workspace ✍️
I've been trying out Ellipsus to write my fic drafts! I love the Share Snippets feature that lets you share your fave lines as quotes 🤭💗
Gonna start backing up my rambles and writing on both Notion and Ellipsus~
Ellipsus' formatting is SO nice 🤗 I love the folder organization, Drafts, Focus Mode, Share Snippets, and Reader Preview features ✨
I love how Ellipsus lets you organize your Fics in folders. I love the UI, the Drafts feature to compare changes between multiple Drafts, and the Share Snippets feature that lets you share your fave lines as nicely formatted quotes. 😌 🙏
The literall darkness was lingering above the village just like the cold-blooded murder that happened in close to the Uchiha district. The gossip surrounding were terrible, but he was the one who helped them spread around the village like a deadly illness, he helped them wreathe and helix the walls of Konoha like an ivy. It was all clear who the villagers pointed to when the shadow of the person walked by them. The white chrysanthemums around the village didn't even have the time to wither just yet.
The darkness returned Hashirama in the view. The plan was clear, unlike the sky. To take away Madara's hope and to dispers his dreams. To induce the feeling that this time, maybe this time, he won't be able to handle it alone anymore. Hashirama had to hold Madara close to the ground together with himself, drag him through the same mixture of mud and blood he was walking in. These things were supposed to eat him from the inside.
Hashirma looked at the clock. He ordered Madara to appear, so he was waiting, with the only light coming from the lamp standing on the table in his office. Although the wars were over and the weapons were in storages, new strategies, the ones that didn't need battles, were shaping themselves inside of Hashirama's head. It was easy to come up with such things when your face was decorated with a soft, warm smile that could thaw a glacier around anyone's heart.
Madara had to hear the rumors and he couldn't wait to see how they imprinted themselves already on Madara's face and on his movements. He expected the thing to be marvelous, like watching the building just seconds before it gets demolished and turns to ashes and ruins. That was how the Hokage felt.
