What if I just read "The Art of Losing" by @wafflelate a million billion times because it's my favorite.
Anyway the rest of this post is just going to be me going !!!!! so, spoilers ahead
Things I think intensely about:
-how suna is going to react to Gaara deciding to become the kazekage
-how any detractors of his new position are going to be IMMEDIATELY shut down because the "first" thing he does is "contract with a seals mistress to get the dead wastes converted into arable land" (who is going to prove it WASNT a seal? Sunas sealing sucks lol. And technically it did originate from a seal. Gelels seal.)
-how devastated Gai is going to be upon learning literally everything Kakashi went through
-how pissed as fuck people are going to be upon discovering that root seals can apparently block soulmate bonds? I feel like sealing people without their informed consent is about to become very very illegal outside of emergency circumstances.
-how the fuck is cat feeling. Does he believe Kakashi is dead? Does he hope Kakashi is alive?
-nara shikakunand yoshino are about to fucking eviscerate the elder council. Either they were aware of this bullshit or they were criminally negligent. Oh, what's that inoichi and shibi? Some of your family got kidnapped too? Maybe we should bring torture back to t&i. Just this once.
-kakashi is going to be so fucking proud of shikimaru. In his super repressed way. Maybe in a he deserves that legacy more than I ever did if he's feeling self deprecating.
-do you think temari has to sit through a million drafts and revised versions of kankuros shikabane play the more information comes out. Soul mates who were cut off completely from their connection, one believing the other dead, and the other never even educated about soul bonds. Them still recognizing each other enough that Kakashi was kind to her and she freed him instead of killing him. Please kankuro why can't you make the fight scenes longer.
-shikaku seeing shikakos complete shadow transformation and being like "yeah that's insanely dangerous to so much as think about attempting, I don't want to consider how bad things had to be for her to create that. Forbidden jutsu on account of who the fuck knows how she didn't end up falling into the black"
-does Gai feel like he failed Kakashi. Does he swear never to do so again. Imagine him thanking shikako for saving his friend. Imagine Kakashi being shocked Gai still considers him a friend
-hi inoichi this is my soulmate Kakashi, he did not take thinking I was assassinated well at all, do you have any self help books because he hates talking about feelings
-obviously she knows about seals because danzo wanted his own nara level intelligent seal master. Obviously she hid as much of her skill as she could from him because she isn't stupid.
-anyway here's a book a better storage scroll some medical seals and the seal to get rid of roots evil tattoo of shittyness.
-actually now I'm thinking about what if she DOES join suna because Kakashi has trouble feeling safe in konoha or just because being around a shikamaru who never knew her and idolizes Kakashi is kind of awkward.
-if they share dreams do you think she explains her original world to Kakashi after he dreams of cities he's never seen.
-wondering who was the first person to remember the lookalike yoshino nara missing nin that got mentioned in that one report.
-if I think about how nervous Kakashi is going to be the first time he trolls shikako and how he'll feel when she grins or laughs or goes along with it I experience An Emotion™
-"I don't know if you'll like them, but here's other you's favorite books. They make a good social barrier, and you've been looking a little overwhelmed."
-yoshino is going to cry so so so much. Her baby needed her all this time and she never knew it.
-kakashi learning that he was absolutely invited to shikakos funeral and danzo is just a dick who lies
wafflelate replied to your post “my uchiha lore is a bunch of things cobbled together that i first saw...”
heart eyes @ seeing def place/time stuff mixed in here
i cannot hope to recall specific details on fics so i reread it and YES THE HAND-PAINTED COATS!! each coat is personal and specially commissioned!! it also draws on umei’s compass of thy soul, with specific figures being lineage/position-locked
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
UhhhhhhhHHHHH i need more fics from Pakkun’s perspective please. Help. I’m having feelings. appreciate @wafflelate and her delightful writing! fic was based off of this comic.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Naruto
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Pakkun
Characters: Hatake Kakashi, Pakkun (Naruto), Namikaze Minato, Maito Gai | Might Guy
Additional Tags: #POV Pakkun, #Canon Compliant, #Pre-Naruto Canon Era, #Mentioned Hatake Sakumo
Summary:
Their contract was made with the Hatake clan generations ago; it's inevitable that Hatake Kakashi will have a pack.
ANBU hair anon. Thanks! Though now I'm curious. Did they figure out he was Wolf after he got discharged from ANBU? Or, well, did most figure it out? I mean, Wolf (his whole team in general?) probably had A Reputation. Kakashi is famous after all. Or did Kakashi's reputation only really take off after he was discharged from ANBU? Before his Sharingan started really impacting his health. He was already dangerous before ANBU of course, but he was still a kid then as well. Not S-class level.
This is pretty similar to a discussion I’ve had with @wafflelate, @math-is-magic and @pepperdoken trying to nail down the naruto timeline (I know, impossible).
But essentially, Kakashi must have been active as Kakashi-of-the-Sharingan during the years he was ANBU, simply in order for him to have that reputation and for Zabuza to know about it in the Land of Wave arc. He didn’t have the Sharingan as a kid, so it can’t have come from there, he joined ANBU while Minato was Hokage and he’s probably only been out of ANBU for two or three years, if that.
Most likely, Kakashi was running two ‘jobs’ the whole time, being active and known as Kakashi Hatake as well as being ANBU Wolf. So while there might have been a link between ‘hey this powerful ANBU’ and ‘hey this powerful jounin’, I don’t think there would have been a shift from one to the other that anyone could point out.
Jukebox the Ghost's "Don't Let My Fall Behind" for that gardens verse thing!
Cause I'm the ghost of your past and mineSlowly combineAnd I am the one with whom your memories you can resideCome back at any time
Native!Shikako pushes Sasuke out of the way and ends up with the cursed seal. In order to stop the fragment of Orochimaru from accessing her Before knowledge, she stuffs all of it she can into the Black. This means she’s completely out of it for the ensuing fight with the sound nin and instead it’s Sasuke who needs to defend Naruto and Shikako. Things go mostly well and he defeats Dosu and Kin easily enough but a curse sealed Shikako wakes up when he begins to waver against Zaku.
The combined intervention of Sasuke and the newly appeared team 10 manages to calm Shikako down but not before she manages to cripple Zaku by cutting off his hands.
Shikako forfeits from the tournament at the behest of her team and team 10 and is immediately shuffled away by Kakashi to have her curse seal sealed. Once that’s done she tentatively pokes at The Black, most of her Before knowledge a fog but with Important Things able to job her memory enough to give her the proper nudge to dip a bit of chakra in to snag the information floating at the top.
This makes her information a lot clunkier, sometimes harder to use and promotes a lot more planning on the fly but Shikako manages as best she can.
I’m not sure if Gardens!kako ever makes it into this world, tbh, mostly I just keep thinking about Shikako with a curse seal and limited use of her Before Knowledge as a plotpoint.
So when my thoughts take off may I breathe deepLord, hold me strong when old loss comes to meet meKeep my fingers crossed, keep my knees weakAre we all such fragile things?
lmao this ended up having almost NOTHING to do with the song but:
Crows hold grudges. Crows hold grudges very well.
When Danzou attacks Shisui – a crow summoner – he raises the ire of even the regulars crows in Konoha, and they begin to target him and his underlings.
Crows are also prone to bringing gifts to those who befriend them – and with both Shisui and Uzume gone, they start bringing their gifts to Amano. A bloody scrap of hair with scalp still attached. A Konoha forehead protector. A tongue with a seal on it.
…the crow summoning contract.
Amano signs the crow summoning scroll as a way to stay close to the memory of Uzume and Shisui. He doesn’t expect to find out Kansoku has one of Shisui’s eyes – but only one of them.
Because after Shisui committed suicide, Itachi went to Uzume to ask to sign the crow contract to have a place protect Shisui’s remaining eye. And he told Kansoku that Danzou has the other one. So now Amano knows.
And Amano – well. Amano picked the crow mask when he joined ANBU for a reason.
Now he has a target he can actually reach.
When gardens!Shikako stops by Konoha to see if she’s home, it’s to find a murder of crows – and ANBU Crow – attacking Danzou in public.
i spent like two hours typing a response and it’s like. story format. so i hope you enjoy!!
---
it starts simply enough. when mikoto begins transitioning back to active duty, shisui takes over bringing satsuki and sasuke to their favorite park. he has the time, and he doesn't really mind babysitting, anyway. he's good with kids.
("satsuki cried when they first saw you," itachi points out when shisui says this, "and sasuke yelled at you and made you apologize."
"that was because of a misunderstanding," shisui insists. "and besides, satsuki was cuddling me within the hour. they love me now. they do. right? itachi? itachi???")
***
satsuki and sasuke mostly keep to themselves--the other uchiha kids usually stick to the nearest park to the compound, rather than this one, which is a distance away--and shisui knows that they're capable of interacting with other kids their age, and he hates that they act like it's a given not to interact with non-uchiha.
after a week and a half, shisui puts his foot down.
"you want us to make friends?" sasuke repeats, scandalized.
"you have to make at least one friend," shisui confirms. "each."
satsuki looks down and away, twisting their fingers. they're more anxious than sasuke is, and shy around strangers. shisui is hoping, though, that the passing familiarity of seeing the same kids in the same place every day will be enough for them to make an effort, anyway.
"all of you are like, four to six years old," shisui continues, waving his hand to encompass the playground. "all you have to do make friends is ask to join in on a game or something." looking down at sasuke's mulish expression and satsuki's uncomfortable frown, he sighs. "I want you to at least try, okay?"
sasuke, predictably, goes to join a clump of kids who look like they're hitting each other with sticks.
satsuki ends up approaching uzumaki naruto.
shisui's life flashes before his eyes. there will be accusations of the uchiha clan trying to take control of konoha's jinchuuriki--rumors will start again, newly aggravated--but naruto is mikoto's godson, for all that the sandaime uses loopholes and makes up new laws to prevent her from taking him in, and that means something.
when satsuki asks if naruto can have dinner at their house, shisui says yes.
when sasuke asks if kiba--who, apparently, abandoned his stick to start biting people instead--can have dinner at their house, shisui says uh. let's go check with his mom.
tsume laughs. it's a very big laugh and very loud. satsuki and sasuke and kiba all stare at her. shisui feels a lot like they're being made fun of, which is more or less the truth.
"you wanna bring my son into fugaku's house," tsume repeats delightedly. "oh, absolutely. I ain't gonna stop this for anything."
***
kiba and sasuke get into an argument during dinner over which of their older siblings is better.
satsuki points out that maybe itachi's the best brother and hana's the best sister.
"and you're the best sibling!" sasuke concludes.
kiba thinks this over, then nods agreeably, backing down from the fight that had him snarling just a minute before. "yeah, makes sense."
everything is quiet, and then:
"wait," sasuke says, alarmed, "does this mean I'm not the best brother?"
***
it's the latest ino-shika-trio next. shisui stopped paying attention for five minutes while talking to hana about itachi, and when he looks over at the kids next, they've got three more people with them and they're playing ninja tag.
or… something like that. there's someone who's running after other people, but everyone they tag also starts running at other people, until there's only one person left who's fleeing from everyone else. that person gets tackled into the ground.
"I have no idea what they're doing," shisui says.
hana shrugs. "they're kids. no one ever knows what's up with kids."
***
ino, sasuke, naruto, and kiba attempt to kill each other with sticks and fangs while satsuki, shikamaru, and chouji apparently make friends with an aburame through close inspection of bugs on the grass.
and then it's a civilian kid with pink hair.
and then it's another civilian kid who reminds shisui strangely of gai.
and then it's another civilian kid with twin buns in her hair and a fondness for projectile weapons.
(shisui takes great delight in informing itachi that he's been replaced as "the coolest shuriken user ever." itachi doesn't believe him right then, but as dinner goes on and sasuke chatters on about how cool tenten is and how she went fwish! and thwack! and made her name in a tree with shuriken, shisui can see itachi's realization that he's no longer the coolest person sasuke knows.
"sasuke," itachi cuts in smoothly, "would you like to practice with me after dinner? I can show you how to make shapes with shuriken."
"tenten's showing us tomorrow," sasuke says dismissively.
shisui tries to disguise his laugh as a cough.
satsuki pipes up, then, with a look of pity toward itachi. "but if nii-san shows you now, you can show off tomorrow, right?"
"that's right," shisui agrees. "just imagine tenten's face when you progress so much faster than kiba."
sasuke straightens immediately at that. "he's going down," he hisses. "nii-san, you have to show me how to do it. I need to rub it in kiba's face that he's a loser.")
***
and then, somehow, at some point, they stop meeting at the park and start meeting at the uchiha compound.
the guard at the gate gets a list of the kids that are part of sasuke and satsuki's retenue.
"huh," they say, amused. "this is the best networking the clan's had in years."
"right?" shisui says. "I know I told them that making friends when they're four is easy, but I wasn't expecting it to be like this."
***
"itachi," shisui says, without taking his eyes off the thirteen children that he's supposed to be looking after, "if you leave me alone with these kids, I'm never going to forgive you."
"oh, no," itachi says blandly. "whatever shall I do."
"itachi!" naruto yells. "you cannot escape your fate!"
that's a new line. it has to come from one of the hyuugas they've picked up.
"return to your family at once!" lee agrees with the kind of intensity that makes shisui worry about the kind of mayhem he may inflict in pursuit of whatever goal he may have at the moment. "otherwise, you may lose that which you can never recover!"
"and what would that be?" itachi asks with vague interest.
"your dignity," satsuki replies.
shisui snorts before he can stop himself.
"… why would I lose that?" itachi asks, this time with vague dread.
"because," satsuki says, with the grand assurance of a queen, "if you don't stay, we're going to chase you around konoha and use you as target practice. and if you disappear, we're going to ask around for you, and all of konoha will know that there are thirteen children trying to find you who want to beat you up with sticks."
shisui slaps a hand against his mouth. the mental imagery that evokes is glorious.
itachi stays still for a long moment, his eyes locked with satsuki's, before, finally, his shoulders sag in defeat. "I will give in," he says, "on one condition."
naruto eyes him suspiciously. "what's that?"
"I want my siblings to meet me halfway."
shikamaru's eyes narrow, and he shakes his head at naruto, but sasuke and satsuki are family. naruto shrugs back.
sasuke, satsuki, and itachi meet in the middle of the training field… and then itachi picks them up like sacks of flour and deadpans, "I have returned to my family. you can do nothing to me now."
the kids wail in protest.
shisui says, "no, no, please don't--" but, nope, there they go, running after itachi and still shouting for sasuke and satsuki to be released.
shisui drags his hands down his face and groans.
then he jogs to catch up so that he can make sure none of them get kidnapped or something.
***
(a little over half a decade later, shisui is looking at three suna shinobi and the hopeful faces of his kids.
"let them stay for one night," satsuki pleads.
"satsuki," shisui says slowly, "these are the kazekage's children. that's suna's jinchuuriki."
"he could be our jinchuuriki," satsuki says, "if you let them stay with you."
even sasuke is doing his best puppy eyes.
shisui curses his soft heart. "you're telling your mother."
