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mixelation · 6 months

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okay i did something interesting. here's a scene from reborn au (the ONLY thing i have written from kushina's POV) and then how the same thing would go in reborn au au. spoilers: obito makes everyone worse.

reborn au first. kushina after she backs back to konoha from iwa. includes some Adult Intimacy with minato but the actual sex is fade to black. also this was inexplicably written in present tense so i had to edit it to match the other bits; apologies if i missed a sentence

****

Kushina let Minato lace his fingers through hers while they waited for their Ichiraku order, then step directly into her so their shoulders brushed. He always got so needy whenever her missions went bad.

She didn’t mind. She’d missed him. She leaned her head on his shoulder, watching Teuchi’s daughter Ayame set bowls in front of dine-in customers.

“Thanks,” Minato said, accepting three plastic tubs in a plastic bag from her. Half a second later, they were in their dining room.

“Naruto!” Minato called. “Your mom is–”

A small orange hurricane crashed into Kushina. Kushina grinned as she wrapped her arms around her son. She knew Naruto really loved her because he hugged her tight and told her how much he missed her before grabbing for his share of ramen.

They didn’t tell Naruto a thing about her kidnapping. He was still too young, and the incident already had Minato’s ‘need to know only’ stamp on it. Kushina hated keeping secrets from her son, even ones that would upset him, but a ninja’s life was always filled with secrets. The only reason she didn’t have to keep any from her husband was because she lucked out and married the Hokage.

Kushina was already mostly healed, anyway. She didn’t have to explain away any injuries, only that she was tired from travel.

“Did you do anything cool?” Naruto asked through a mouthful of noodles. “Dad said there’d be a big tournament.”

Kushina grinned at him, and then spent the rest of the dinner recalling all her students’ matches through her own mouthfuls of noodles.

“He won the whole thing?” Naruto whined of Itachi. “Sasuke’s never going to shut up!”

“I won the tournament at my exam,” Minato told him. “You can tell Sasuke about that.”

Naruto rolled his eyes. “That doesn’t count, you know.”

Kushina winked. “Deidara really gave Itachi a run for his money, though. And all the Iwa-nin think he’s your brother.”

Minato buried his face in a hand as Naruto’s brows furrowed.

“Why would they think that…?” Naruto wondered. “Cuz he’s blonde? That’s stupid.”

Kushina laughed.

After dinner, Naruto very excitedly showed Kushina a project he’d been working on at school. They’d been learning to make traps, and he proudly showed her diagram after diagram of traps he made up himself, which largely overestimated the laws of physics. Kushina grinned and ruffled his hair anyway. She knew her son. He might be a disaster on paper, but he would figure out how to get every one of those traps to work, even if he had to make a hundred nonfunctional traps first.

She dumped the duty of actually checking Naruto’s homework on Minato in favor of taking a luxuriously long bath. She loved her long hair, but it accumulated travel grime like no one’s business. Her joints felt truly exhausted while she brushed out her washed hair after her bath, making her wince. Kushina almost never got this tired. Iwa had really done a whammy on her.

By the time she was out, Minato was talking to Naruto down the hall, putting him to bed. Kushina listened to their faint voices affectionately as she went through her clothes in search of pajamas… ah, an old shirt she’d stolen from Minato. Perfect. She’d missed home so much.

It was only once Naruto was sound asleep in bed that Minato came back to the bedroom. He was still adorably needy.

“I was worried,” Minato murmured between kisses to her neck, his hands buried in her damp hair. She was so glad she’d washed it.

Kushina huffed in exaggerated irritation even as she tilted her head to the side to let him at more of her neck. One of his hands switched from her hair to his hip, fingers pushing up her pajama shirt. Kushina moaned as his familiar callouses brushed over her bare skin. God, why had she even bothered putting anything on?

“It was over before you even knew anything had happened,” she said as Minato backed her up to their bed, his other hand also working its way under her shirt. His teeth grazed the shell of her ear. “My team had me out almost immediately.”

“That’s why I was worried,” Minato replied. He obediently leaned back so she could pull his own shirt over his head. “What’s the point of you having a hiraishin marker in your seal if things happen before you can use it?”

Kushina snorted as she tossed his shirt away and dropped down onto the bed in one motion. Minato still had his mesh armor on, and she ran a hand over it, enjoying how it fits his chest. Minato was always making puppy dogs eyes at her about how he missed being able to kiss her first thing in the morning and last thing at night when she was away, but Kushina had always missed the warmth of his skin.

She very carefully rolled up the mesh armor, watching his chest move with long, relaxed breaths.

“Like you teleporting into Iwa wouldn’t have made everything worse,” she said, discarding the mesh. It clunked to the carpet, deceptively heavy.

Minato whined at her like the giant needy pushover he was, pushing her further back onto the mattress so he could straddle her. Despite the topic of conversation, Kushina couldn’t keep a juvenile grin off her face.

“Who cares?” he said, carefully brushing hair out of her face. “They kidnapped my wife.”

Kushina knew Minato was not being serious. The third war lasted more than half their lives, cost him two of his students and Kushina her entire clan, and Minato would never do anything so brash that he might rekindle it. But also, when it was just the two of them, she kind of liked this side of Minato.

Also, even though it had been almost ten years, it still makes her stomach flip to hear him say my wife.

“Your wife is fine,” Kushina told him, cupping his face and running her thumb over his bottom lip. “But she’s a little disappointed she’s still wearing clothes.”

Kushina was barely wearing clothes. She was in her panties and a baggy T-shirt, currently bunched up around her armpits, and she felt great. Minato’s gaze dropped from her face for the first time since they’d started making out, his eyes lighting up with acute interest at the sight of her under him, like it had just occurred to him he could look and not be hopelessly lost in her eyes.

You dweeb, Kushina thought affectionately.

“I missed you,” she said out loud.

Maybe she was a little needy too.

In the morning, Kushina woke to find Minato on his back, frowning at the ceiling. She blinked a few times, trying to focus on his profile in the dim light of sunrise. This exercise didn’t last long, as Minato realized she was awake. He beamed at her, rolling over and pushing himself up to lean over her.

“Good morning,” he said, and then pressed his lips to hers.

Usually, his good morning kisses were brief. A small peck to say I love you before he ran off to some new Hokage crisis, or before one of them went to wake Naruto. Often she was only half awake, and he’d have to go for her cheek or temple. Sometimes it was Kushina initiating it, on the rare occasion a mission had her out of bed earlier than him, or on his days off when he’d let himself sleep in.

This time, his kiss lingered, and god, she’d missed just the weight of his body on hers. He opened his mouth, poking his tongue at her lips, and she almost let him in.

Instead she turned her face away, and he drew back.

“I am so tired,” she admitted. “Rain check?”

He flopped back down into bed next to her, careful to avoid her untied hair as best he could, and she could tell from his body language he was upset. Minato never got upset when she denied him, though. Something else in the exchange had gotten to him�� oh, was he upset because of why she was so tired?

She poked his side. “Hey. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t think I can let Iwa get away with kidnapping you,” he said. “Bad optics. Can’t let Konoha seem weak.”

“Well…” Kushina said, tracing a finger across his ribs. “Deidara did take out the entire demolition squad, and they think he’s your bastard child you used to steal their bloodline limit. So you might be even, you know.”

Minato covered his face with a pillow.

////

okay, so then here's just the very last bit, but now reborn au au. minato POV. assume the mission went exactly same, even though i might retcon this

****

Minato pulled back when Kushina turned her head, his eyes focusing on her face. She was so pretty in the morning light, her eyes dark and her hair turned to a red glow. He would kiss her forever if she let him.

“I am so tired,” Kushina admitted. “Rain check?”

Kushina’s hair looked so good spread out over the sheets, beautiful red swirls against their cream-colored linen, like a painter’s masterpiece across canvas. Minato loved it, loved seeing it after weeks without her, loved the way it made the whole bed smell like Kushina, but he was keenly aware it would hurt if he laid on it. Kushina had yelled at him more than once. He was very careful as he laid back down next to her.

Kushina was almost never tired first thing in the morning, not after a good night’s sleep, and Minato had made sure she’d slept very well. She might have healed any wounds, but her mission had taken a lot out of her.

Chakra poisoning in Iwa, Kushina had said. It was a very tricky thing to manage, but Iwa had correctly hypothesized it was one of the few things that could reliably take out an Uzumaki. It was also one of the few things that would reliably work on a jinchuriki, although he was reasonably confident Kushina’s status as one remained confidential.

Minato felt a flash of anger, both at Iwa and at himself. How dare Iwa send him so many simpering letters about peace and good-will, and then do this to his wife? And how dare Minato be so stupid as to let her walk right into their village?

Kushina poked him. “Hey. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t think I can let Iwa get away with kidnapping you,” he said. He said it slowly, feeling the weight of the words on his tongue. He would not let another long, pointless war break out. But how could he let Iwa get away with this insult? What else would they do to Konoha, if he let them do something so brash without consequence? “Bad optics. Can’t let Konoha seem weak.”

“Well…” Kushina traced a finger over his ribs as she described her team’s destruction of the Iwa Demolition Corps, and Minato wanted nothing more than to ease into her touch and just listen to her talk for hours.

He couldn’t, though. In a little bit he’d get up and get Naruto ready for school, because Kushina needed rest, and then he’d go into his office and schedule a full day of meetings about what to do about Iwa. He had to think this over.

“Obito burned down Kusa,” Minato said contemplatively. Kushina’s fingers didn’t stop. “And Ame said it was understandable. Nothing bad happened.”

Ame was in the neighboring country and leadership was… kind of nuts. If anyone would flip their lids over Kusa being decimated, it would have been them. But they hadn’t, and they’d more or less told Iwa to shut up when they’d sent an inquiry.

“Mm,” Kushina hummed. “But that was in the moment, part of a rescue. That’s more justifiable than retaliation after the fact.”

This was very true. Minato highly doubted Iwa would go public with losing their strongest combat group, but if they did and tried to point the blame at Konoha, it was unlikely anyone on an international level would get involved. Iwa had kidnapped Team 4’s beloved sensei, and they’d gotten her back. What else would anyone expect?

Then again, as the peace treaties currently stood, no village could drag another one into war by virtue of their alliance, as had happened in the Third Shinobi War. If he did something to Iwa, as long as their ally Kumo didn’t want to be involved, Iwa couldn’t force them to help. This also meant that if Konoha got into an altercation, they couldn’t force Suna or Kiri to send aid, but… did they really need that? Unlike Iwa, who had turned funneling civilian children into shinobi training into an art, the number of active shinobi in Konoha still hadn’t recovered since the war. However, several key individuals meant their actual combat power was higher than ever.

Would it be worth the risk?

Maybe he should talk to Obito…

#reborn au #reborn au au: it's gotten sillier #my writing

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the-babygirl-polls · 4 months

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Babygirl Polls Lineup: Week Three

Hi everyone! Here is the lineup for the third week of the Babygirl Polls! Thanks to everyone for your submissions!

Chris McLean (Total Drama)

Diego Brando (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Benjamin/Hokma (Lobotomy Incorporation)

Sir Crocodile (One Piece)

Leone Abbacchio (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

Getou Suguru (Jujustsu Kaizen)

Yami Bajura (Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters)

Troy Barnes (Community)

Cahara (Fear and Hunger)

Zuke (No Straight Roads)

Five Pebbles (Rain World)

Obito Uchiha (Naruto)

Matt (Eddsworld)

Spamton G. Spamton (Deltarune)

Luo Binghe (Scum Villain Self Saving System)

Raphael (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

Death (Discworld)

Kimimaro (Naruto)

Cronus Ampora (Homestuck)

Lorenz Hellman Gloucester (Fire Emblem)

The Doctor (Doctor Who)

Riddle Rosehearts (Twisted Wonderland)

Klaus (The Vampire Diaries)

Caroline (The Vampire Diaries)

Jammie Tartt (Ted Lasso)

Catra (She-Ra)

Adora (She-Ra)

Natalie (Yellowjackets)

Prince Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Caesar Flickerman (The Hunger Games)

Sasha Nein (Psychonauts)

Scott Pilgrim (Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off)

Vergil Sparda (Devil May Cry)

Aran Ryan (Punch Out!!!)

Raymond (Animal Crossing)

Randall Ascot (Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask)

Peter B. Parker (Into the Spiderverse)

DJ Octavio (Splatoon)

Tape (Paper Mario: Original King)

Tangent (I Was A Teenage Exocolonist)

Gargamel (The Smurfs)

Tobari Durandal Kumohira (Nabari no Ou)

Emil Castagnier (Tales of Symphonie: Dawn of a New World)

Israel "Izzy" Hands (Our Flag Means Death)

Deadpool (Marvel)

Viago (What We Do In The Shadows)

Julian Devorak (The Arcana)

Grimer Wormtongue (Fleetway Sonic Comics)

Will Turner (Pirates of the Caribbean)

Sea Hawk (She-Ra)

Muriel (Good Omens)

Axel (Kingdom Hearts)

Crowley (Good Omens)

Castiel (Supernatural)

Crowley (Supernatural)

Jack Skellington (Nightmare Before Christmas)

Bow (She-Ra)

Scorpia (She-Ra)

Frenchie (Our Flag Means Death)

Oluwande Boodhari (Our Flag Means Death)

Dr. James Wilson MD (House MD)

Seeley Booth (Bones)

Will Graham (Hannibal)

Niklaus Hendrix (Just Roll With It: Riptide)

Ambrosius Goldenloin (Nimona (2023))

Hawkeye Pierce (M*A*S*H*)

Sandalphon (Granblue Fantasy)

Kai (Kung Fu Panda)

Tai Lung (Kung Fu Panda)

Mikoko Mikoshiba/Mikorin (Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun)

Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill (Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul)

Doctor Starline (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Adam Stanheight (Saw (2004))

Infinite the Jackal (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Xenk Yendar (Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves)

Espio the Chameleon (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Neo (The Matrix)

Morgana Pendragon (BBC Merlin)

John Reese (Person of Interest)

Dr. Cameron (House MD)

Anthony "Anton" Herzen (Professor Layton and the Elysian Mask)

Drumbot Brian (The Mechanisms)

Ivan (Shadow and Bone)

Holland Vosjik (Shades of Magic)

Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal)

Jesus (The Bible)

Edgward/Nygma (Batman)

Gabriel Reyes/Reaper (Overwatch)

Big Boss (Metal Gear Solid)

Gunpowder Tim (The Mechanisms)

Gaueko (Nasty Dogs)

Hancock (Fallout)

Mothman (American Folklore)

Harry Wilson (Leverage: Redemption)

Kiyoka Kudou (My Happy Marriage)

Rand al'Thor (Wheel of Time)

Nam Seon-ho (My Country: The New Age)

Steven Grant (Marvel)

Howl Jenkins Pendragon (Howl's Moving Castle)

Redos (cuz i messed up in one way or another)

Jason Todd (DC Comics)

#poll lineup #the babygirl polls

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acerathia · 8 months

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two birds || Act V

Summary:

Hanahaki: A disease stemming from bottling up romantic feelings, as these decide to grow inside the lungs and the blood system of the sick person, resulting in flowers. Thus the first symptoms are the coughing up of flower petals accompanied by pain and breathlessness, as the flower continues to grow as long as the affected does not confess their feelings. Alternatively, the growing flower can be removed via surgery, but it may affect the ill person’s ability to feel love in various forms. Or How do you react with falling in love with no real chance? Simple, a tragedy in five acts.

Wordcount: 0.7k

Read on AO3 || Masterlist

Pairing:

Obito Uchiha / Reader

Tags/CW:

features of a tragedy, hanahaki disease, childhood friends, some degree of isolation, No War AU,

Note:

Please note that I choose to not tag some stuff, as it contains heavy spoilers, proceed with caution and with the knowledge that everything is either connected to the tragedy aspect, or the hanahaki disease itself. last chapter, enjoy!!

Scene I. – OBITO UCHIHA, your home, dust settled into their new home, boards creaking with and echo of ‘i miss you’

He hadn't entered this place in such a long time, he couldn't bear the sight of the creaky floors, singing the tales of your past, of the dusty curtain, unmoving when the wind should be blowing through its threads. And despite the old air, or especially because of the rotting air, everything smells like flowers, sickeningly sweet with a tingle of iron embracing it. The smell covers everything, the faint wisps of tea of the past, the fresh paint cracking.

A wave of nausea threatens to spill into his insides, but he gulps and pulls through. He has to, his honor as a ninja demands a cool head (he had to, or else he wouldn't know what to do with himself). Still, he enters the kitchen, not the bedroom, never the bedroom, filled with blooming, rotting flowers, and opens a window to at least allow a tiny breeze in, in hopes to get rid of that clogging smell. He's almost inclined to just stick his head out of it, but pulls himself together before doing so and takes a seat, his seat at the table.

For a moment he expects to smell warm tea, to hear the clacking of the utensils. But there's nothing but his own strained breath. Silence in front of him. And before he can think too much about it, he pulls some crumbled paper out of his pocket, putting it on the table, smoothing it down as best as he can.

He hadn't opened the letter yet, had been waiting for some calm space, for the right time, even if in truth he had been pushing it away, trying to not think about it. But he's aware of his need for closure.

That's why he's sitting there, fingers slowly opening the heavy paper, carefully. Unfolding it he averts his gaze lest he skips over the text in his slow haste.

An Inhale. And exhale. A gaze upon the paper.

Hello Obito, honestly, I don’t know what to write, what to tell you, but if you’re reading this, it means I’m dead. I barely remember a time when I wasn’t by your side, when we hadn’t talked for hours, or simply sat in silence. And this changed of course, like everything else had to. We grew up and our routines changed, time squeezed tight. Still, that didn’t take from the joy of being in your presence, the laughter deep in my lungs. That laughter didn’t stop this, though. The disease settling there. The Hanahaki Disease, apparently. The flowers were beautiful, and they kept blooming inside me, the love unfurling and killing me slowly. The first time it happened, I knew there was something wrong with me. Why did this happen to me? Did I not deserve to love, to be loved? But I realized that despite the deep ache, I loved, and I loved too much, everything, and nothing. And love was such an ingrained part of me, I could hardly get rid of it, only to survive. So I allowed it to consume me. Doesn’t it sound romantic? To be consumed by your own immense love… And you’re probably asking yourself, why, or rather who. Well, I’m taking the seeds of that secret to my grave. They shouldn’t carry the guilt, the burden, as they have no responsibility in this. It’s my fault, and mine alone. I’m the one who refused to get rid of that all-consuming love, as in a way I loved it too… I’m getting off-topic, as usual. I’m writing you this letter to apologize, I’m sorry, wholeheartedly. I never wanted to leave, I never wanted to avoid you, I never wanted to hurt you like this. Writing this hurts more than the roots inside of me; I keep thinking of everything we've ever done together, your dreams, our hopes, and the giggles as Sensei broke you and Kakashi apart. I miss you, with every breath I take. And you’re always going to be in my heart, the dearest and closest to me, for eternity and beyond. I hope I can rest in yours, never forgotten. Take care of yourself, as I will be always watching over you, in the sunshine tickling your nose, the whispers of the wind, listen closely.

Again, I’m sorry, for everything I left behind. Yours, dearly

#obito x reader #obito x you #obito x yn #obito uchiha x reader #obito uchiha x you #obito uchiha x yn #uchiha obito x reader #uchiha obito x you #uchiha obito x yn

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waffliesinyoface · 1 year

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The Akatsuki, Ranked by How Normal (and/or insane) They Are

Now, listen. I love the akatsuki. You, dear reader, presumably love the akatsuki.　They’re great. They are also, however, the biggest collection of walking buckwild basket cases to ever exist. So. Lets rank them.

Kisame - he is literally a shark. He is literally a giant blue shark man with face gills and a semi-sentient sword that can eat things. This is our barometer for “normal person” here.

Sasori - i hear you protesting but, hold on. Yes, he has literally turned himself into a puppet man. Not a deal breaker! He’s just. Dedicated. You could have a reasonable conversation with him. Provided you don’t annoy him in some way, and/or don’t qualify for his internal standard of “artistic”, he is no more likely to kill you than any other S-rank criminal ninja.

Kakuzu - Similar to Sasori in that you could probably survive a conversation with him, but also, he has a lot of anger issues and not a lot of self restraint. “Normal”, but only relative to other ninja.

Deidara - We are now at the point that other ninja are giving you the side eye. Excitable, loud, obnoxious, a little mean, and passionate about art. That by itself would not be out of place on like, any college campus. However he also has mouth hands, a penchant for arson, and the ability & desire to explode anything that looks slightly artistic.

Konan - Not even normal from a distance because no one looks that put together all the time. Flies around with giant paper wings and calls herself god’s angel with a straight face. Genuinely means it. Enters and exits rooms/conversations by turning into paper and fluttering away on the breeze. If you’re not a citizen of Rain Country, your life is of less consequence to her than an ant. Absolutely fucking inscrutable woman.

Zetsu - “isnt zetsu literally a fucking alien plant dude or something?” yeah “doesnt he literally shlorp out of the ground all the time?” yeah “isn’t he actually two people, and frequently talks to himself” yeah “how the fuck is he not the LAST person on this list?” listen to me. the rest are worse.

Itachi - You think he’s normal but then he opens his mouth and oh no, he’s so not. His plans have plans. None of these plans are good plans, but he will genjutsu you into going along with them anyways. Stabs people in the face while calling himself a pacifist. Logic is a distant relative and he killed all of those. You do Not want to be a target of his affection by any means.

Hidan - He’s an asshole and god loves him for it. Will ritualistically disembowel himself and then complain about the rain five minutes later. Even when viewed through the lens of Jashinist ideology, he is an outlier and should not be counted.

Obito - His plans make no sense and he is basically losing his shit throughout the entire series. Good times. Has weird hangups about kakashi. Got kidnapped by an evil grandpa and was convinced that using the moon to reflect a super genjutsu onto the entire world was Necessary for the Greater Good. Decided to pretend to be Tobi for months, if not years, for ??? reasons, instead of actually advancing his plans. Despite being obviously in his early twenties he decided to tell Pein & Konan (& Itachi) that his true identity was Madara Uchiha, century-old-grandpa, and they fucking bought it.

Pein - Named himself Pein. Because he was in so much pain, you see. His best friend died so he decided the clear and logical thing to do was to pilot his corpse around and call himself god, and also grab like 5 other corpses and dye their hair the same color. That’s a lovely coping mechanism, Pein. You do you, buddy!!

Honorary Mention: Orochimaru - there are not enough words to describe this man adequately. What the fuck, sir.

#naruto #akatsuki

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cool-thymus · 7 months

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Give me 3 fave headcanons of your blorbo! 🌈🌤️✨

omg you want my headcanons?? oh, ok-ok! *gets up on tumblr stage, knees shaking, fumbling with note cards*

Obito

He is a reader. As a kid he used to have a lot of adventure books and encyclopedias because he was a very curious boy. He used books to keep him company; since there was no one to tell him bedtime stories, he'd read them himself! Then (if it's a Good!Obito AU) as he gets older and dreams of becoming Hokage, Obito reads books to understand how the ninja world works, some humanitarian papers maybe, because he wants to understand what he can do to change things for the better. He is easily distracted, true, but he's not dumb! And if it's post canon where he survives the war, my hc is that he gathers all his life experience to produce good quality philosophy papers that would become guidelines for future generations to build a happier world.

He is a good dancer! A natural. He just KNOWS how to move those hips and is rather confident on the dance floor (people be turning their heads 'cause wow that guy's hot!) This hc stems from my Obito parents headcanons one of them being that family celebrates by dancing together - Obimama, Obidad, and their boy Obito.

He looks best in red (and he knows it xD). No srsly, guys, imagine him wearing a read headband and you'll get what i mean (or check out @maireyart 's pretty arts).

Obito is self-conscious because of his scars. He always covers his right arm and hand, his empty eye socket. He doesn't think he's an attractive guy. He doesn't believe it when people compliment his body, and oftentimes it prevents him from seeking intimacy. And it takes him some time to overcome. (this one breaks my heart so i'm not gonna go into detail, BUT it's so nice to daydream his special other (Kakashi in my case) doing everything to help Obito be more comfortable with his body, not being covered by layers of clothes and gloves) .

I hope you enjoy these headcanons, lovely anon! Sorry it took me so long to answer <3

#i'd add my kakashi headcanons too but the ask says blorbo singular xD #uchiha obito #obito headcanons #thank you for the ask!#just noticed i gave 4 instead of 3 🤭

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tsukuyomii45 · 7 months

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ObiKonan. Canon divergence obviously. Pick any AU you'd like. What are some ways these two would meet?

Yay, ObiKonan again! :3 Get ready, this is a long one!

!!! NSFW - NO MINORS !!!

-A canon divergent AU could look something like this: Obito would be on his way to Amegakure on a diplomatic mission in order to deliver a message from the Hokage and to discuss a few political decrees, but then he gets ambushed by suspecting, rebellious Ame ninjas regarding his presence since Konoha is not seen in the best light amongst their people. He manages to fight against some of them, but then he's outnumbered, and this delays his mission.

However, he suddenly witnessed a flurry of papers wrapping around his opponents, and then some paper shuriken and kunai flying around and even paper bombs exploding on tree branches. Obito then follows one of the bounded men's line of vision, and sees Konan floating above with her paper wings spread out.

He walks out of his hiding spot, composing himself despite his awe of her, and Obito goes, "So, you're the Paper Angel that everyone talks about."

Konan would then ask what he's doing here and what's his purpose, and then Obito tells her his name that he's on this diplomatic mission and would need to enter the village to speak to the leader (we could assume it's Yahiko). Konan is astonished and surprised that she's meeting a member of the Uchiha clan for the first time, and then she further turns Obito on by disintegrating into papers and reforming before him, and subtly looks him over, noting the glow of his Sharingan. Obito would subtly check her out, noting that she's one hell of a beautiful ninja, and he would compliment her jutsu on how original and out of the ordinary it is. Konan would tell him that she spent years perfecting her jutsu and it is unlike any other, to which Obito responds, "A true testament to your dedication and talent. I like that."

Konan would give him a small smirk, and tell him that she would happily escort him into the village where he would face no threats from other ninjas, and Obito would be delighted that he'd be escorted by her, than anyone else.

-Another AU could be a Greek mythology AU; in which Obito would be Hades and Konan would be Persephone. xD Obito is the god and ruler of the Underworld while Konan is the goddess of spring and nature, and spends her time in beautiful fields and bringing life to the gardens of the world. One fateful day, while the goddess of spring was wandering around in a beautiful, blossoming meadow, she catches Obito's attention. Because he's so fascinated by her, he continuously watches her, and finds himself leaving the underworld to catch a glimpse of the beautiful goddess of nature in the gardens.

The sight of her bringing life to the lands makes him start to yearn for her, desire her, and he could no longer hold himself back the more he watches Konan looking so graceful and vibrant - he just wanted to feel the warmth and radiance of that beautiful goddess that he's so intrigued by because all he's ever known was the cold atmosphere and lifelessness of the underworld. So...he decides to once again leave the underworld and pay her a visit as she's tending to the gardens, where he abducts her and takes her with him to the underworld.

Konan spends a good portion of the year in the underworld with Obito, where crops don't grow during that time. At first, she resents him for bringing her down here without her consent, but then as time passes, she sees how lonely he has been despite the fact that he's been the king of the underworld for a very long time. He tells her that he longed for life and warmth, but all he's ever seen was a lifetime of emptiness. They get to know each other, and with time, Konan starts to fall in love with him, and Obito makes her his queen, and he allows her to leave the underworld from time to time in order to resume her role as the goddess of spring and grain. :3

Another AU would be a very sexy assassin x assassin AU; where Obito and Konan are rival assassins and would often compete on who would take out their targets first - because they unfortunately have the same target. Konan's codename would be Paper Angel while Obito's codename is either Masked Man, or even Swirly (for comedic effect, perhaps?). They met one day when they both took out their target at the same time, and then became aware that they were both rival assassins. Both of them broke into a small fight, but then decided that they'd meet again. XD

They meet a few times in an unspoken race to see who would take out the target before the other. One day, Konan was making her way to the hotel where her handler told her to meet the target, and she was disguised as a normal civilian wearing a long, sexy dress, not knowing that Obito was around at the same time, also disguised. He recognizes her and is stunned by her beauty, and decides to follow her around. He's aware that they're both taking out the same men, but in order to spice things up with her, he decides to disrupt her by sneaking up behind her and covering her mouth, then drags her to a private room and pins her to the wall. "I did say we'd meet again, didn't I?" Konan pushes him off her, and they both get into one hell of a physical fight where they throw heavy objects at each other and even hidden knives (strapped on Konan's thighs), and then they would tackle each other to the ground and Obito would once again manage to pin her down. The two would stare at each other for a few seconds in awe, before clashing their lips together and heavily start making out, then they'd rip out each other's clothes and have the hottest sex in the middle of the big mess and chaos they caused. After they're done, they'd change their clothes (they're always prepared), and they would assassinate their target together.

That would be the start of their very secret relationship, and whenever these two meet, they'd playfully combat one another - either by shooting their guns or throwing their knives, and then tackle each other to the ground and literally have sex in the shadows. Sometimes, the winner would have to give the other head in public or they would sometimes hand over their weapon/underwear as a prize. xD

That's all for now! :3

#under the influence #au #obikonan #obito x konan #obito uchiha #konan akatsuki #konan #uchiha obito

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lesbiankoby · 1 year

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i think my sole bizarre obito headcanon that absolutely nobody but me cares about is paper-ninja obito. he hyperfocused on obscure legislation. he's really good at it and absolutely nobody on gods good earth comprehends why.

#on his ninja adhd meds obito can be unstoppably pedantic if its funny #naruto tag

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maireyart · 1 year

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I offer that Obito wears his old goggles sometimes when he works because it turns Kakashi ON.

Does it though? Oops........ 😈 Art request #7. Btw, is the whole fandom into "Kakashi and Obito work together in the same office" trope? It's my fourth request pic that features Hokage Kakashi and paper ninja Obito xD

(they look like teenagers in the last pic bc I wanted to draw chibis at first, but then got carried away xD) Tell you what. I have orange cycling glasses, and it's the best thing ever. Any gloomy day looks sunny and incredibly positive in them.

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electrasev5nwrites · 9 months

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Ninja Daily: Clarity 22

"Take her to the Hokage immediately," Yamato ordered in an undertone. He gently pulled away the arm that Aiko was still clinging to-just for warmth, obviously. "She needs to debrief. She was approached by Tobi less than an hour ago." He gave Aiko a lingering look to promise, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Tobi? Obito. It was Obito, damnit.

ANBU –what was that, a tiger?- was a cold fish. All the agent did was incline their head slightly, pretty black hair brushing over paper-pale ears. "I see. This way, Uzumaki-san."

Aiko craned her neck to watch Yamato's back disappear into the night, fussing the fingers of her free hand against her skirt.

"Uzumaki-san?"

ANBU whatever was waiting patiently, head cocked like some oversize bird.

'I think that's a man,' Aiko decided for no particular reason. Those uniforms were designed to obscure gender- it wasn't the bodyguard's build that gave it away. The voice was also androgynous, without any unique intonation or emotion.

'So how do I know?' she wondered, letting Tsunade's personal bodyguard lead her into the home. They were immediately intercepted by another ANBU.

REQUEST: IDENTITY. PREROGATIVE.

If Aiko hadn't already had her fill of shocks, she would have jumped in surprise when she realized that the sign language the ANBU were communicating in was not the one Obito had taught her. As it was, she languidly blinked and didn't bother to hide that she flicked her eyes to see ANBU What'sHisFace's response.

AGENT TIGER. EMERGENCY DEBRIEFING.

'I definitely should not understand them,' she noted, only mildly interested in the turn her night had taken. This was small potatoes, in the grand scheme of things.

The second ANBU nodded, purple hair swaying. PROCEED.

Aiko waved with splayed fingers in the moment before the house guard disappeared back into whatever hiding spot they had crept out of. The ANBU was gone in a flicker of motion-or that was probably the intention, at least. Aiko traced the shunshin's path over to what appeared to be a blank stretch of wall. It was probably hiding an alcove of some sort. The trick was oddly familiar.

Whatever. She fought down the temptation to activate her Rinnegan to tear through whatever genjutsu was at work. There would be better times to pursue her curiosity.

'Maybe I'll remember something pertinent soon. There's really only one explanation for why I would know ANBU sign language: I had to have been one of them. What was that like?' Her eyes widened in realization. 'That could explain why there appears to be almost no record of me working with teams. ANBU work would be classified.'

Counter intuitively, her mood brightened. Perhaps she wasn't a friendless loser after all. She'd have to keep an eye out for possible ANBU friends. She chewed the inside of her cheek, watching the male ANBU beckon her into what must be the Hokage's personal quarters. Word had proceeded them- Tsunade was walking in through a rice paper door on the other side of the long room, pulling mussed hair back in a single high ponytail.

'I wonder if she's upset about being disturbed so late.'

Aiko eyed her up. "Nice pajamas."

"I trust you didn't come here to critique my wardrobe," Tsunade said crisply. There was a bit of danger in her tone.

"No." She let her gaze linger on the silk button up that the hokage had apparently worn to bed. It would have been rather classy if it didn't have a grotesquely kawaii kitten lapping out of a sake cup on the lapel. "I wouldn't criticize that."

Mostly because she wanted to keep her bones where they were.

"Hokage-sama." ANBU Tiger knelt fluidly. Aiko watched with eyebrows raised. "Yamato-san wishes you to know that the Akatsuki Tobi approached Uzumaki-san tonight."

She didn't stiffen- but then, she was the hokage. Tsunade wouldn't be roused for anything less than a state of emergency: she'd been anticipating bad news. "I see." Tsunade snapped her fingers, summoning two more ANBU who knelt at Tiger's sides. "You raise the alarm and have our perimeter locked down. You mobilize search patrols with the intention to identify and contain, not confront. You-" she paused for the first time, brow furrowed. The other two ANBU fled without even raising their heads. "Why did Yamato leave?"

Tiger looked at Aiko. Aiko looked at the wall behind Tsunade's head, slightly regretting the promise she'd extracted out of Yamato before agreeing to see Tsunade.

"He's at the women's onsen," she shared. My, that was an interesting wall hanging. It was so fascinating, in fact, that she didn't have any mental energy left to notice that Tsunade purpled at learning where her agent had gone in a time of crisis. "I was intercepted on my way there to meet a friend."

Well, sort of. That was what she'd told Yamato. It would be impolitic to go out of her way to share that she had sought out Obito and not tried to get backup.

"I convinced him to tell my friend what had happened so she didn't think I ditched her." Sheepish, she kicked at the tatami. "I may have refused to see you until he agreed."

She didn't want to admit that, but she didn't want Yamato to get in trouble either.

Tsunade's chest expanded and then shrunk when she gave a long, tired exhalation. "He should have just-" She cut off, something stricken entering her tone. Her eyes widened guiltily, focusing on Aiko's face.

'I am definitely missing something. What was she about to say?'

The Hokage coughed into her fist, angling her face down so that tawny eyelashes hid her expressive eyes. "Very well. Bring me Nara Shikaku and Hatake Kakashi." She gave a strange sort of laugh. "I doubt either of them has quite made it home yet."

'They wouldn't have made it home yet? Is something else going on?'

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Tiger's bow deepened, and then he was gone. In his wake shunshin traces arced down the long hallway, leaving the two kunoichi alone.

"Uzumaki." Bare feet whispered against the matted floor, passing Aiko for a room off the hall. "Describe this encounter. Who initiated contact?"

The Hokage, Aiko reflected grimly, was no fool.

"I was almost in the onsen when he allowed me to sense his chakra." Aiko swallowed. "Presumably, my ANBU guard had just retreated to give me privacy to bathe. I can only assume-"

"That he had already been observing you, yes." Tsunade's mouth was pinched. "So you allowed him to bait you out?"

She couldn't speak. So she nodded confirmation.

"I don't think I have to tell you how stupid that was."

No. Aiko knew it had been reckless even as she'd done it. Obito was dangerous enough when he hadn't picked the field of confrontation. Following him had been unforgivably asinine.

'I'd do the same thing again.'

Amber eyes bored into her, heavy with the full knowledge of exactly what Aiko had been thinking. Tsunade blinked, breaking the trance. "What did he do? Did he attempt to hurt you?"

She could all but physically feel the analytical assessment checking her for signs of damage.

"No." She cleared her throat. "He expressed no desire to harm me, although he did make a point of off-handedly mentioning the damage that I did to his plan." There was absolutely no abashment in her tone. If Obito had hoped to make her feel guilty, he would have to cope with disappointment. "He offered an incoherent apology, gave me two packages that Yamato confiscated, and then said something…" she trailed off, closing her eyes to better remember his exact words.

She could still see the easy sincerity on Obito's face. "He said, 'I apologize for what I'm going to do, but I promise that it'll work out.'" Aiko paused, parroting the rhythm he'd used. "'You'll see,'" she finished tonelessly.

Because that wasn't ominous as fuck.

Tsunade began to pace, fingers locked behind her back. "Aa. Do you have any idea what he could be referring to? How his plans might have changed after you left? If he is still pursuing jinchuuriki?"

Aiko shook her head. She didn't bother to clarify. She'd already told Tsunade everything she knew about Obito's old plan. Anything else he thought of would be news to her- although she seriously doubted his ability to come up with something usable. If he'd had any options, he wouldn't have clung to the same unworkable plan for so long.

Saying those things might have been helpful, but she'd gotten the message by now that no one cared to hear her personal assessments of Obito.

If she hadn't looked at that precise moment, she wouldn't have seen that Tsunade's interlocked fingers were white with tension. Aiko's eyes widened, fixating on the crack in her façade of emotional control.

"Hokage-sama?"

And then the Hokage turned, and the moment was over. Aiko reluctantly tore her eyes away to check the newcomer.

An older man- forties or older, perhaps, with dark hair and attractive scarring- was inclining his head to Tsunade. The instant he was finished, the straight line of his spine relaxed and he seemed to be another person altogether.

Tsunade didn't waste any time on frivolities. "Nara-san. We have had another security breach by the Akatsuki Tobi."

'If I didn't know any better, I'd say that she was completely relaxed,' Aiko marveled, fidgeting.

She paid attention again when Nara heaved a sigh, hands shoved deeply into his pockets. "It's always something." His eyes were much keener than his tone. Aiko repressed a shiver, refusing to look away. "Did he bother Uzumaki-san again?"

"Yes." Tsunade's tone was short. "He made a point of mirroring a previous incident, although this time he approached her before she got in the onsen instead of afterward."

Wait. What? Aiko gaped at the implications of that comment.

'Obito, you filthy fucking perv! I had no idea.'

"That is likely intended to make a point to you, not Uzumaki-san." He nodded politely at her in acknowledgment.

"Yes." The two Jounin followed when Tsunade set off briskly, leaving the hallway behind. "Aiko. I presume the ANBU at the perimeter took the suspicious packages that Yamato-san confiscated?"

"Umm-" it took a moment for her to remember. "Yes, that's right."

As they rounded a corner, no less than three ANBU appeared kneeling in front of them. Tsunade halted, hips swaying. "Have you discovered anything hazardous?" A bowed head shook in denial. "I see. Bring a mission report form to Uzumaki-san and the materials from Tobi to Nara-san for analysis. Aiko, I want you to write down everything you remember."

'That guy is going to analyze my pornography and clothes. What is my life even. What. Why.'

Her tone brooked no dissent, so Aiko just nodded. When a folder and pen were proffered, Aiko took them without complaint.

"You can just sit anywhere." Tsunade gestured distractedly at the room, indicating the kotatsu and cushions. One of the ANBU had already gone, but the others took up posts beside the door.

The cushions were appealing at the moment. Aiko sank down onto one, wiggling just enough to get everything below her hips under the blanket on the kotatsu. Some chivalrous ANBU switched on the heat without being asked. She shot him a grateful look and set pen to paper.

'I'm going to tattle the hell on Obito. Crazypants. I can't believe he said Zetsu was dead. I killed the crap out of Zetsu.'

Aiko frowned thoughtfully, sucking on the end of her pen. 'Maybe I didn't kill him well enough. That would suck. I don't think he liked me even before I smote him.'

Tsunade was still giving orders, talking quickly with her ANBU and Nara-san, when chakra fluttered politely outside the room. "In fact-" She inhaled sharply, and then relaxed. "Oh good, I was wondering what happened to you two. Mitarashi, why are you here?"

Aiko glanced up to see that Yamato had finally returned with Anko at one side and Kakashi on the other.

'Oh god. What is Anko going to think about all this?'

"That's the friend I asked him to get," Aiko spoke up. Who, you know, on second thought, probably shouldn't have been dragged to the Hokage's home at ten thirty at night while her hair was still piled up in a towel. Oops. She flashed Anko a, 'hey, what can you do' sort of smile and then ducked her head back over the report, letting her hair cover her face.

There was a pause and Tsunade gave the two young women a narrow-eyed look, heavy with meaning. "The friend from the bar?"

Something about the tone clearly put Anko on alert. The older woman gave Tsunade a vaguely suspicious look and pressed her back flatter against the wall. She did look a little suspicious wearing her usual mesh but accessorizing it with a towel over her wet hair.

Aiko could all but hear Tsunade's raised eyebrow and the rest of what went unsaid. For instance, the part where Aiko had let Shizune assume that she'd tumbled into bed with some drunk stranger instead of coming home.

Aiko frowned. That was almost exactly what had happened, except it hadn't been as fun as Shizune had likely assumed.

'Shizune is a rotten tattletale.' Aiko filed that away for future notice and became very busy writing her report. It was imperative that Nara-san have it as soon as possible, after all. It was probably going to be more helpful to national security than her spare bras. Which he was probably inspecting at this very moment in this very house. Oh god.

'Surreal. Better to not think about that.'

What had she been thinking about? Oh, right. Shizune's gossip. It was probably too late to learn how to travel back in time and lie to Shizune about where she'd spent her night. And if she learned time travel, there were probably more important things to rectify. She had so many regrets about the past year of her life, and thinking about Obito only made them sharper. For example…

'On a second go, I'd get the pink holster.' Aiko tapped her fingers against the bone normally covered by the red kunai holster she habitually wore on her hip. Index finger, middle finger, ring finger. Then she tapped all of them at once. Tap tap tap. For a novelty item based off a movie adaptation of erotic literature, the leather weapons holster was surprisingly high quality equipment. She could have accessorized more carefully if she'd had the full range of colors.

"Are you almost done?" Tsunade's voice in an adjoining room carried more strain than Aiko thought it really should have. Aiko straightened her back and gave a stretch before settling back down.

"Almost," she called.

When written in cold, black ink, her conversation with Obito was much easier to cope with. He'd attempted to give the impression that he had come to assuage his curiosity about her survival, but that was a lie. That could be why he'd come to Konoha, but that didn't explain why he had stopped to talk to her. He'd obviously had her under observation.

His agenda was harder to pin down, but she kept eliminating possibilities. She flexed her feet under the table, relaxing a bit as heat seeped into her bones. Tsunade's personal rooms were much warmer than the rest of the sprawling traditional home- perhaps she only warmed the areas that she frequented.

Apologizing to her hadn't been his real agenda, and neither had returning her clothes. Those were all surface, weak excuses he could use to justify the trip.

"Aiko, did you hear that?" She jerked to attention, seeing that Tsunade was gesturing to Nara-san. "Do you think Tobi would have left for the moment? Did he get what he wanted?"

That was a harder question than it initially appeared to be. Obito's mind was a twisty place. If he hadn't come for a fight, it was hard to know what he had wanted.

She hesitated to answer, running her tongue along the side of her gums. "I don't know much. He implied that the sole purpose of his trip was the interaction he initiated, but he wouldn't balk at lying to me."

"Do you remember the conversation word for word?" Tsunade stepped fully back into the room, dismissing someone with a hand wave.

She closed her eyes to think, scanning her recollection. "Yes, or very close to it," Aiko said slowly. She pried her eyes open. "He was unstable. Like he was critiquing himself aloud." She cleared her throat. "He claimed that Kakuzu had abandoned him and that his only comrade left was Zetsu. There was one thing that stuck out as alarming to me."

Behind Tsunade, Yamato leaned forward to hear.

She could still see the easy sincerity on Obito's face. "He said, 'I apologize for what I'm going to do, but I promise that it'll work out.'" Aiko paused, still parroting the rhythm he'd used. "'You'll see,'" she finished tonelessly.

No one breathed.

"Sounds like a nice guy," Anko said conversationally, breaking the solemn moment. "Does he have a brother?"

If there was a group reaction to that, Aiko missed it because she had pressed her face into her hands to stifle an inappropriate grin.

She tugged down the presumably stolen white towel from her hair and balled it against her hip. "Who the hell are we talking about? The Akatsuki who kidnapped Aiko?" She shrugged negligently, somehow appearing disinterested despite her prying.

"One of them," Tsunade acknowledged distantly.

Oh right, Anko wouldn't know-

One of them? Meaning other Akatsuki had kidnapped her?

"Wait, what?" Aiko let her face fall into unconcealed bafflement. "What are you talking about?"

'What other Akatsuki could she mean? Surely not Kakuzu-kun.'

Yamato gave her a mildly pitying expression. Anko coughed into her closed fist, looking embarrassed. Tsunade just rolled her eyes and gave the wall a long-suffering stare.

"Seriously, what does that mean?"

"We don't have time to explain all the fatuous situations you get into," Tsunade bit out, sounding as though she wished she didn't know the details. "We need…" She trailed off, mind working at top speed. "We need you under watch," Tsunade decided firmly. "Madara has only approached you when you are alone."

(Anko gave a start at that name, knocking her head against the wall in a way that did not fit with her persona of cool grace).

"I'll take this information under advisement, but I need to consult someone else." Tsunade's harried eyes flickered towards the door a full second before Aiko registered that there had been a subtle chakra pulse on the other side. "Mitarashi, you can lead a search team. Yamato, stay with Aiko. There's something that I'll need to talk to you about when I have time. You can wait in the front rooms or you can return."

Anko gave the window a longing glance, but turned and left the conventional way. Whoever had just signaled the Hokage was nowhere to be seen. Aiko stepped in line behind her, Yamato on her heels. As they filed out, a thought occurred.

"We have free time," she said casually, nodding significantly to the blank stretch of wall that a scent trail lid up to before disappearing. She didn't get anything so gratifying as a surprised curse or chakra flicker in response to her greeting, but hopefully she'd startled some poor bastard in a damn good hiding place. "And you said there was no time for us to get my hot chocolate."

Yamato sighed.

Yamato's breathing had settled into a pointedly slow, calm pattern. Aiko was sure that if she looked over, she would see that he was demonstrating the concept of patience. Ba. By the time she made it to see the Hokage again, two hours had passed and her hot chocolate was sugary dregs slowly crystallizing into mush. Also, she had been accused of melodrama, which was totally fucking ridiculous. Fingers numb, Aiko dug a thumbnail into the Styrofoam cup that she held against her shins, missing the heat of her candied drink.

'I'm going to die here on this tacky chair. I'm going to freeze to death because the Hokage is too cheap to heat her house. She can't be that poor. She's the freaking Hokage. And everything smells like ink.'

Aiko grimaced, wishing that she could plug her nose with cotton. Why did everything in this town have to stink? Shouldn't a place with so many dog-nin be sensitive to how they reeked?

From his seat in an anteroom of the Hokage's home, Yamato shot her a look, a thin line pressed between his brows and an uncertain frown tugging his lips down.

She wiggled her heels against the edge of the chair, noting that her skin was too numb to register the feeling. Somehow her chin had just enough nerve endings left to register the miserable chill of her bare knees.

'It's somehow so much worse when I'm not moving around.'

"It's really not that cold in here."

"Lies," she responded morosely without thinking.

He gave a snort. Despite his words, Yamato leaned over and wrapped his left arm around her shoulders to rub at the space between her shoulder blades. Aiko shivered, unfolding just enough to push back into his hand.

'That feels good. He's really warm. Or maybe I just have poor circulation.'

"Remind me not to take you to Lightning Country." His thumb dug into the taut muscles where her neck and shoulder joined.

It was a dumb joke, but her eyes fluttered shut and she unconsciously leaned towards his low voice. She was just so tired of all this bullshit. It wouldn't hurt to rest her head against his leg for a moment.

"Aiko? Yamato?"

That was someone else entirely. Someone she had not heard enter the room.

'Did I just fall asleep?' Unsettled, Aiko let her brow crease and lifted her head to better pay attention.

Shizune stood in a beam of tired moonlight in the now-open door, eyes haggard and miserable. "Is something else wrong?"

'What's that meant to mean?'

Broad fingers gave one last massaging movement into her shoulder before Yamato stood professionally and gave Shizune a slight bow. "I'm afraid so." His shirt rustled when he straightened. "The Hokage should have received a message about an hour ago about an intruder in the village. She took a written report from Aiko-san and asked us to return at her convenience. I assumed that she would require a more detailed debriefing as soon as she had a moment."

"Oh, that." Shizune snapped her fingers. "Of course. I haven't spoken to her in about two hours, but I noted the search patrols." She stepped further into the room, letting the door to the outer building slide shut behind her. "It's just not our week, I'm afraid." There was something sympathetic in the way her dark eyes slid over to the chair Aiko was still curled up in like a child.

Then she sighed and the moment was gone.

"You two might as well follow me. Tsunade-sama can pass off what she's doing now to me while she receives your report." Dutifully, Shizune made her way to the door where two ANBU had taken Obito's suspicious giftbags off of Yamato's hands and pushed it open. The ANBU didn't bother to materialize to halt her approach.

'Why would they? Shizune has higher clearance than they do.'

When Aiko tried to get up she stumbled, nearly falling before she adjusted to the fact that her legs had fallen asleep. Yamato offered a steadying hand that she ignored. He stood still for a second, which was just enough time for Aiko to muscle past him. With some concentration, she made sure her expression was impassive enough.

"Thank god." Tsunade blurted out, breaking into a thin smile when her older apprentice crested the corner. "I was starting to think you'd left me to this." At some point, the Hokage had changed into her regular clothes, although her jacket was wrinkled and her hair falling loosely over her shoulders.

"Never," Shizune promised seriously. She did glance around the room, holding an arm out to accept a stack of files. "Where did-"

"I sent Sasuke home," Tsunade explained, apparently understanding her apprentice without the full question. "Someone has to be sentient enough to manage the hospital tomorrow, and it's starting to look like both of us are going to be in a right state." She waved her left hand, seeming to indicate either the room or Konoha as a whole. "And…"

Aiko shrugged a shoulder in greeting, not moving the hands she had wrapped around her torso for warmth. Rustling indicated that Yamato had gifted the Hokage with a proper bow.

"Oh, hell," Tsunade said simply. "Forget you were still waiting. I had a question about timing, actually. Aiko didn't give an exact time for the confrontation. How long exactly has it been since your encounter-" she cut herself off, shaking her head. "Doesn't matter," she said in a very quiet tone, presumably to convince herself.

'She really is having an awful night.'

The Hokage ran a hand through her loose hair, rubbing a few strands between a thumb and forefinger. "I had the sweep report in eight minutes ago." She looked at Yamato for a moment, and then settled her gaze on Aiko. "No one reported any sightings of Tobi in Konoha. It is likely that he is gone."

Some tension that Aiko hadn't noticed slipped out.

"Don't thank me yet." Tsunade's expression was regretful, mouth turned down. "I said there wasn't another sighting of him in Konoha tonight. I had a report of Tobi harassing your brother's team in the Land of Iron about forty minutes before you tried to check in."

Electricity sung through her veins, tingling sensation back into twitching fingers.

It couldn't be true. Obito wouldn't-

"I apologize for what I'm about to do," Obito murmured.

That had been what he'd said, hadn't it?

'He meant Naruto. He thinks an apology would make up for taking Naruto away from me. That bastard. That spider-infested floral-fucking-scented cowardly bastard. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to fucking kill him.'

Just like that, all the work that Yamato had done to relax her muscles was undone.

Yamato gaped. "How is that possible, Hokage-sama?" A hand clenched convulsively against his thigh. "I didn't personally see the intruder, but Aiko would know-"

"Kamui, remember?" Tsunade interrupted sourly. "Additionally, Naruto's report had hours of delay. His summons are fast, but they can't Hiraishin just yet." She sat up a little straighter, amber eyes glinting. "Naruto and his team are fine, don't worry. But it's been made clear that he's a target." Grim, the Hokage's eyes slid halfway shut and her jaw tensed. "No harm was done. It seems that something about the situation caused Tobi to reassess. But he'll try again later. He'll have to if he still intends to collect the bijuu."

'That timeline doesn't make sense.' Aiko let her mouth fall slightly open. 'If- if the report came to Tsunade before we did, that means Obito approached Naruto first. But if that'd happened, why apologize in the future tense?'

Well. Other than that he'd failed. He could have been referring to his future plans. But he hadn't seemed like a man who had just come from a failed confrontation.

It just didn't quite work, no matter how she looked at it. She felt an ugly premonition that something she didn't see was about to nip at her heels.

"I don't get it." The older shinobi focused on her with an intensity that would have made a lesser woman quail. "It doesn't quite make sense," Aiko explained, frowning. No matter what they said, she knew Obito. This scenario didn't fit his modus operandi as far as she could tell. Perhaps another shinobi would back down at seeing a full team of Konoha Jounin, the leader of Ame, and the team of Samurai who were her official escorts, but it didn't seem like Obito to walk into that situation without knowing exactly who he was about to confront.

Before Tsunade could speak, she shook her head. "He doesn't do things like that. Whatever happened, he didn't fail, and I doubt that he was put on the run. His chakra levels were normal and I didn't see any evidence of stress or agitation." That, of course, meant that, "Whatever his aim was, he succeeded in it."

'Does that mean he succeeded with the other jinchuuriki? Did I actually save Fuu and the Mist-nin, or did he get what he needed?'

Tsunade's face twisted and she let out a curse that made Yamato turn pink. "I don't need this." The Hokage dug her fingers into her hair and glanced up just enough to glare at Aiko. "You're certain about this?"

She tensed the muscles in her legs, acid and energy building up into the potential for violence. "Yes." Her teeth clipped together sharply. "There's something else that I can't put my finger on, but I know that. He doesn't back down, even when he should. He wouldn't retreat unless physically forced to, and he wouldn't have been in the healthy condition I saw if that was the case."

'I know something. What is it? I'm trying to make a connection, I know it.'

Aiko tasted blood. That was the only reason she realized she was gnawing at the flesh of her cheek. Her right cheek had split open between her teeth, and she still clenched her jaw, worrying at the meat.

"If you know something," Tsunade began, leaning forward. "Anything at all-"

"I know it, it's just not coming to me," Aiko snapped. She licked blood off her teeth and sucked at it, wallowing. It was like sucking on dirty old coins. The idea that she wouldn't share information that could help Naruto and Karin and Hinata was insulting beyond belief. She'd kill to keep them safe. She had.

"That team shouldn't be alone in these circumstances," Shizune said quietly. "They're a good team, but they're young and not that experienced. But we just aren't ready to depart, yet. Not with the political climate this way."

There had to be something.

"Yes. And even if we set out tomorrow they'd be out in the field alone for weeks." Tsunade sounded as if she had already considered every angle of this.

Anything.

'If I had re-mastered the Hiraishin, it wouldn't matter. Travel time wouldn't be an issue and then I could be there to make sure nothing happens. Tsunade and Shizune could go back and forth as needed to keep things under control.'

She wrapped a hand around the end of her braid and pulled, not noticing when her scalp began to ache and stretch from the abuse.

Naruto was in danger. Maybe Obito had already gotten what he needed. Maybe it was like her inkless Hiraishin seals- a danger that couldn't be seen until it was too late.

There had to be something.

But what? Self-loathing tore through her chest. She couldn't just make her head straighten out. And god, what a stupid fucking failure, unable to put together the things in her own head in her own memory she was a moron and-

"Yamanaka." Aiko let go of her hair and looked back to Tsunade. "Yamanaka Inoichi or my therapist or whoever, I don't care. Just get me a Yamanaka. I need all my memories back now. We need Hiraishin so we can go without worrying about the atmosphere here, and I need to know what it is that's wrong about this situation."

Shizune's eyes widened, and she took a step into Aiko's personal space to make a peace-keeping gesture. "No one is asking that. You had a bad reaction to mind jutsu," she reminded.

She said that like Aiko had forgotten or something.

"It's not completely safe," Tsunade warned. "Your therapy was meant to be scheduled over months of appointments. The mind is nearly unpredictable." Her tone was hard. But she wasn't saying no. Shizune shot her mentor a betrayed expression, shock pulling her lips apart. But the Hokage's eyes were cold, utilitarian. "It's not even guaranteed to help," she continued. "You might end up too confused to be of any use regardless. I won't force you."

'That's a laugh. It's my idea.'

"You don't need to." Decisive, Aiko tilted her chin up to look down at the Hokage over her cheekbones. "I'm telling you what I'm going to do. Get me a Yamanaka. I need to know what I know."

Horrified, Shizune stared at the two lighter-haired women. Her mentor was dangerously still, eyes narrowed so that her blonde lashes covered most of her pupils. "You don't give me orders," Tsunade said very, very quietly. Aiko wasn't entirely certain if she was pissed or considering, measuring something only she could see.

Aiko met her gaze and didn't back down, feeling a snarl rising in her throat. She closed her lips against it so that it only roiled and shook the roof of her mouth.

'I'm right. Naruto is in danger and I'm not playing games.'

"Let's just all calm down!" Yamato raised his hands, drawing peripheral attention with just a hint of nervousness in his voice. It was amazing how he could sink into the background. Neither woman broke their staring match. "Hokage-sama, would you like me to fetch Yamanaka-san?"

A slender, fine muscle tensed in Tsunade's neck. She licked her lower lip and opened her mouth with obvious hesitation. "Yes," the older woman allowed. She looked away, back to the only man in the room. "Get me Yamanaka Inoichi. Bring him to my office at the hospital. We'll move there."

Yamato left. Shizune fled a moment later, waving the papers she'd collected from Tsunade's hands like a talisman against evil.

Aiko took a deep breath in through her mouth, intentionally steadying her heartbeat. It was racing out of control.

"Aiko." Tsunade's voice was without inflection or discernible tone. "If this works, we will leave tomorrow."

She nodded, deliberate and slow. Now that they were alone, the older woman seemed much more sorrowful than aggressive.

Yamanaka Inoichi walked into the examination room adjoining Tsunade's hospital office (how many offices did one women really need?) only fifteen minutes after Yamato had ran to fetch him. The situation had settled into sullen silence that he didn't give any indication of noticing.

Tsunade rose gracefully to greet him, sleeves sweeping up. The effect was undermined by the painful-sounding crack that her back gave.

'She's what, seventy years old?' Aiko subtly rubbed at her chest without straightening her posture. 'She shouldn't be doing this anymore. She shouldn't be up all night dealing with external threats and then pacifying internal tensions in the day.'

Aiko was suddenly hyper conscious of her own aching eyes and the crisp burn in her nostrils from harsh chemical cleaners.

"Inoichi-san." The Hokage's voice was level. The Yamanaka took his cue from her and bowed politely.

'Apparently we're going to ignore the facts that she's super old and that he just walked in wearing his pajamas. That's cool too.'

"Hokage-sama," Inoichi murmured.

He did wear them with a surprising amount of dignity, Aiko decided. You know, for a fifty year old man in jammies patterned with atrocious cartoon kawaii kunai. They had smiley faces nestled in the handle loops.

"What do you need of me?"

Tsunade dug a knuckle into the curve between her eye and nose, rubbing at tension. "We need you to do everything you can to restore Aiko-chan's memory, now," she said simply. The wounded pride of earlier was gone. She just looked tired.

And for the first time, Aiko wondered if that anger hadn't been directed at herself, not anger that Aiko had challenged her but anger that the situation had come to this point. But that was nuts. Tsunade couldn't possibly be that masochistic or overly protective.

"Hokage-sama!" Inoichi glanced at Aiko and then back immediately, flustered. His ponytail whipped behind him, just the slightest bit frizzy from sleep. "That is inadvisable."

Aiko uncrossed her arms and straightened her back, no longer feigning nonchalant disregard. Now wasn't the time to look like a grumpy teenage dissident.

Tsunade's shoulders rose a millimeter in defensive tension. "It's necessary,"

"I'm ready." Aiko took a step forward, forcing the Yamanaka to pay attention to her instead of arguing with the Hokage. "I understand there are risks."

When he did look at her, Aiko wasn't sure that he was really seeing her. There was far too much pained fondness in the creases around his eyes.

"Well, you will survive." He exhaled, fluttering the thin material on his chest. "I do know better than to argue with young women." He settled into the doctor's chair, gesturing for Aiko to sit on the bed. "Let's see what we can do, hmm?" He made eye contact. She held her breath and looked into the watery blue iris where there should have been a pupil. Then they spun away into black and white, a dimension that Aiko was quite attached to falling away in the process. What little remained of her stomach twisted.

On that first attempt, Aiko lasted twenty three minutes and seventeen seconds before she threw up. She came back to consciousness with the familiar sounds of Tsunade's cursing ringing in her ears. It took a moment for her to place it- Sasuke. It reminded her of Sasuke. He'd picked up a lot of creative profanities from his apprenticeship, apparently.

"Damnit." Disgusted, the medic strode over to the sink and wet a towel. "Clean up the worst of it," she ordered. "I'll get you a drink." Dazed, it took Aiko a moment to comply. Her breathing was hard, and her chest shaking. There were foamy flecks of old chocolate drink on her skirt. The glass of cold water Tsunade offered sort of helped. Not really.

"I'd get a hospital gown, but there's no point in her changing if this is going to happen again," Tsunade's voice warbled across the room, going up and down and sideways in ways it had no license to be doing. "Yamanaka, progress?"

The hospital tile really was ugly. Aiko took a deep breath, inhaling a sour stench that was somehow competing with antiseptic cleaners, and tried to count the gray flecks on the off white square directly between her toes.

"I need that much time again, and I think I'll be done," he said with a sort of pained sympathy.

Oh god. She'd hoped to be done in one long go and held out as long as she could.

Aiko threw up again, heaving up putrid fluid and tucking her head between her open thighs. Ino's dad pushed his chair back to avoid splatter on those ratty sandals he always wore. God, he hadn't replaced those yet? So cheap.

Their second attempt spanned two minutes of nervously attempting to pretend she was anywhere else. Anywhere other than in claustrophobic pressure while information slotted wildly into place in her head, clanging and chittering and begging for attention that she didn't have time to give it there was just too much at once coming too fast-

She hyperventilated, chest aching from the force her heart was pounding it with.

"Damnit." Tsunade gritted out, a pin-straight figure looming in the sudden onslaught of light and color and sensation. "Calm down. Breathe for a moment." Her voice was soothing, but the intensity of her expression made Aiko's heart race. "Aiko, get your head together. We nee-"

"Hokage-sama. Perhaps it would be better if you would leave," Inoichi said sweetly, turning an expression Aiko couldn't see on the older woman.

'Did he just-'

Yes. Judging by the offended way that Tsunade lifted her head and stalked out, he really had just kicked the Hokage out of her own office. Inoichi turned back to her, pleasant professionalism on every inch of his features. The cartoon kunai on his button-up top wrinkled cheerily. "If it would help for us to take a short break before we resume, I would be amenable," he said. "I do recommend that we attempt to make each session last as long as possible, for your sake."

Despite her best efforts, it took four more attempts to cumulatively match the progress of her first session. By the end of it, Aiko was a shuddering wreck, plastered to the bed by sweat and anchored by the fingers clenched into the plastic mattress covering, joints stiffened past the point of pain. The paper sheet was torn, ruined under her hands.

"Take deep breaths."

She complied. The room slowed a little bit, but it was still spinning in a way it had no right to.

"Can you look at me?" She could. "How many fingers am I holding up? When did you meet the current Hokage? Remind me, who was your Academy teacher?"

She rattled her brains for the last one, taking a moment to remember Iruka-sensei. Which was bizarre. She'd spent a lot of time with him. So did someone else. Naruto? Yeah, Naruto.

Inoichi gave a nod, relief bleeding into his expression. "Excellent, Aiko-chan. What's your identification number?"

Aiko froze at that one, wide-eyed. She had three. She knew that she had three identification numbers before she remembered why or what they were. It took a few seconds to retrieve the information: There was the code she'd gotten assigned as a genin, her ANBU identification, and the false id she'd used in Root for personnel checks.

'Don't be thick. He'll want the first one.'

When she carefully listed it off, Inoichi seemed to decide she was as good as he could expect her to be.

Ino's dad unfolded from his chair, knees creaking. If Ino hadn't pointed it out, she might have missed the facial twitch that betrayed the pain his old wounds gave him. Without thinking, Aiko stood to steady his weak side. He ended up being the one to support her. The look he gave her was wryly knowing.

"I keep telling Ino-chan that I don't need her worry." Still, he gave her hand a paternal squeeze before lifting it off his arm. "Glad to have you back."

"Good to be back," Aiko replied automatically, eking out the polite lie and listing slightly to the side. She widened her stance to improve her balance. She stopped moving, but the room didn't, spinning slow and rebellious.

'This was not my best night.'

He seemed to know what she was thinking, carefully not looking down at the dried vomit plastering her skirt to her legs.

"I'm certain that Tsunade-sama will send in a change for you." He turned the doorknob, giving one last polite nod that stretched out for more time than it was allowed to and was then suddenly over. "I'll go relay the good news."

"And then go to bed." She smiled weakly, indicating his pajamas. "Have a good night, Inoichi-san."

The night passed in bits and pieces, sliding out of focus. Aiko stepped into the shower and then realized that she was pulling on a Jounin uniform while Anko explained something funny that had happened at work the other day. Then Yamato was there, a bruise blooming under his left eye that he didn't quite explain before she noticed that she was in the Hokage's office going over her encounter with Obito and the details of their trip to the Land of Iron.

"Should she be alone like this?" Anko smelled like a milk-based soap, sweet and whole. Oh, right. She'd gone to the hot springs. When had she showed up? Aiko tilted her head back to blink up at the special jounin, eyes focusing on a strand of surprisingly long purple hair.

She'd missed something. People had moved around the room. Oh, hello Kakashi. She waved with her free hand.

Anko carefully pulled her hair out of Aiko's grip, agreeing with whatever the Hokage had just said. "Come on, then. We're having a sleepover with your bummer teetotaler bodyguard." Her tone didn't match her words- like Anko was perhaps not as displeased as she wanted to seem. Aiko shot a curious glance to Yamato and grabbed his arm, linking their limbs before he could lurch away or protest. But that didn't seem fair; Anko was left out of the chain. Aiko held her left elbow out wordlessly and Anko copied the linking motion Aiko had made to trap Yamato with a wry look over Aiko's head at someone Aiko didn't remember. They stumbled to someone's apartment that way. Aiko wasn't sure whose it was.

No matter how invitingly Aiko patted the futon, Yamato shook his head and refused to join her in curling up against Anko.

Wasn't he tired? He was going to be cold if he slept like that, arms crossed defensively over his chest. And his face was pink, probably already fevered.

"Don't worry," Anko drawled, sounding oddly close to laughter as she physically restrained Aiko from wobbling over to pull Yamato to lie down for his own good. "I'm sure that he'll regret that eventually. We'll get him."

"To bed?" Aiko confirmed, obediently curling against the older girl's front.

"Yes." Anko choked, petting the back of Aiko's head, inadvertently pushing her nose further into the mesh over her chest. "We'll get him to bed. That's a verb. That shit holds together, sweet pea."

Aiko hummed, nuzzling in.

She woke up at first light with a choked sob of pain. There was a sudden flurry of movement, but all Aiko could think to do was press her palms down over her eyes.

"Oh." Yamato, she identified the man's voice. "Just a moment." She swallowed hard, registering the sound of blinds being drawn over the pounding in her ears. "Is that better?"

"I…" she trailed off, unsure. "Maybe."

"Aiko." His voice was gentle. "Let's pull your hands off your face and see, alright?"

She really didn't want to. She didn't think she could do it herself, no matter how much it needed to be done. He must have seen that in the set of her mouth, because he knelt by the futon with a deliberate rustle of fabric and gently pried at her hands. She blinked into the dim light, feeling tears cling to her lashes. It hurt, damnit. But she could handle it.

Brow furrowed in concentration, Yamato wiped a droplet away and frowned at her. "There's a lot of redness," he said dubiously.

It took a moment to think that one through. Light sensitivity made sense, but redness?

'I was probably rubbing at them in the night and just irritated them more. All the stress and mind jutsu couldn't have possibly done anything to mitigate whatever's wrong with my Rinnegan.'

Anko cursed, wiggling out of the covers and twisting on the floor to have a look for herself. "There is," she agreed, an unhappy twist to her mouth. "I'll get Shizune."

"Get Sasuke," Yamato corrected, not unkindly. "I think we'd be better off with a medic who slept in the last twenty four hours."

Anko snorted in quiet concession, rotating her shoulders and maneuvering with a little shake in order to re-position the flesh colored fabric that had apparently slipped down under her mesh in a revolt against decency while they slept. "Fair enough, shitface. I'll be right fucking back."

Aiko tore her gaze away from the very interesting movements that Anko had been making just early enough to notice that Yamato had also been watching with wide eyes. She raised an eyebrow at him. He flushed and scooted backwards, skin a brilliant pink.

She carefully waited until the door had closed behind Anko to admit, "She's really sexy. I wish I looked like that."

Wasn't the first time the thought had crossed her mind. She'd wanted to look like Anko the first time she saw her naked in the hot springs-

Aiko flushed, suddenly thankful that there were no mindwalkers in the room.

"Don't. You're not half bad yourself," Yamato replied absently, still staring at his knees. "Different, but still attractive."

She could pinpoint the millisecond that he registered what he'd said by the tightening of his shoulders. Her mouth fell open. One of her first crushes- the man who'd been her best eye candy for years- well. "I thought you were incredibly good looking the first time I met you," Aiko shared, taking pity on his obvious humiliation. Then she paused, because that said something about the consistency of her taste. "Both times, actually," she mused aloud. "Did I really ask you-"

"If I am an underwear model?" he interrupted, strain obvious. "Yes. Please stop asking. It made me think about that time that the kazekage's sister-"

"Tried to get you to do her laundry in your swimsuit!" Aiko remembered, cracking a smile. That… Huh. That didn't seem as funny as it should. Was she jealous? She shouldn't be. Gaara had put a kibosh to the affair when he realized what the stuttering wreck of a Jounin was doing in their suites.

'Good dude, Gaara. Kinda wish I hadn't unleashed three bijuu on his country.' Aiko winced. 'Well. One hardly stayed out at all. So two bijuu, really, and two jinchuuriki.'

That didn't really sound much better, even in her head. How had he handled that? She hadn't the faintest idea.

"I should have been paying a lot more attention to current events," Aiko said ruefully, blinking down the pain and coming to a vertical position.

"You know, I often tell myself that as well," Kakashi mused.

Yamato yelped, falling onto his ass with a surprised expression. "Senpai!" he protested. "Don't do that."

"Don't do what?" He only sounded mildly curious. Aiko craned her neck to see the older man perched on the table, giving Yamato a pleasantly expectant look, like he hadn't just broken into someone else's house and waited for the optimally entertaining moment to reveal himself. "I didn't interrupt something, did I?"

'Of course he's not embarrassed,' Aiko thought with a rush of fondness. 'Shitbird.'

"Aiko-san?" Kakashi was looking at her with what she would have pegged as cool detachment yesterday. Today, it was painfully obvious that he was expectant.

"Shishou," she replied, because that was what he was asking.

The resulting smile was all the more brilliant because it wasn't a cheesy imitation- it was just creases forming around his eyes to match what she couldn't see happening under his mask.

Oh my god.

"I saw under your mask," Aiko blurted, more to herself than Kakashi. "I saw- and I didn't-"

"What?" Yamato yelped, leveling puppy eyes at Kakashi. "That's not fair. Senpai!"

"I was a bit underwhelmed by the initial reaction," Kakashi mused. He seemed disgustingly pleased with himself, almost preening.

She barely remembered what she'd seen. There's been a scar- and he was pale, but of course he was since he was always wearing that damn thing, and-

"I liked your teeth." Contemplatively, she tapped at her own. "Is that-"

"It's a dog-nin thing," he explained, dropping to the floor and ruffling Yamato's hair carelessly. The brunette was still sulking. "If you'd compare with a photo, yours are a little sharper than they were when you were a genin, before you contracted. But since you grew in your adult teeth long before you signed, you missed out on the full effect." He didn't bother to hide his amusement, lifting his pitch slightly to address Yamato. "You're still my favorite kohai, ne?" He kneed the ANBU's side.

Yamato looked up, sullen. "My feelings are still hurt."

"This is fascinating," Sasuke drawled, hip-checking the door open. He did not sound remotely fascinated. "But I think it's time for you two clowns to shut up and you to sit up so I can examine your empty skull." When Aiko didn't immediately move, he gestured impatiently to Yamato's couch. "Now."

"You got bossy in your dotage," Aiko mumbled under her breath, dodging the slap he aimed at the back of her head. "Is that really a good idea right now?"

"Can't hurt," he said blandly, taking her skull between his hands with a gentleness that belied his catastrophic bedside manner. Sasuke grunted in displeasure a moment later, but Aiko was already relaxing into the cooling relief his chakra offered. "Your tenketsu are swollen," he said, sounding personally offended. "What have you been doing?"

Oh, right.

"Is now a bad time to mention I have the Rinnegan?" Aiko murmured, leaning into his grip like an oversized dog. Dog, she needed to talk to her dogs. Would they still want to contract with her? Had they moved on? Gotten other jobs? Her chest ached at the thought, bereft.

"What?" Sasuke's grip tightened painfully for just an instant. Her world went white.

Aiko screamed, trying to wrench back away from the inhuman force digging into the side of her skull.

"Sorry!" He actually sounded flustered, ripping his hands away. "I forget how fragile people- my chakra control isn't as good as it could be," Sasuke changed tracks. His fingers hovered, clenching and unclenching.

"It's- fine. It's fine," Aiko decided, leaning back in. She swallowed, putting a hand on her chest. "It only hurt for a moment."

"Probably because bone was bending," Sasuke informed, apologetic. "I am sorry. My control slips when my temper does."

"And that won't happen again, right Sasuke-kun?" There was more than a hint of censure in Kakashi's tone.

"Right." Sasuke cleared his throat. "Ah. You were saying something about the Rinnegan?"

Instead of answering, Aiko closed her eyes, channeled chakra, and re-opened her eyelids to show off the Rinnegan.

'Would now be a good time to show the two middling stages?'

She bit at her lower lip, not realizing that was a contemplative habit she hadn't regularly indulged in for quite a long time.

It didn't seem fair to keep that information from Sasuke. But he'd always been sensitive about his family. What would that information mean to him? What did it mean in general? She'd taken for granted that these eyes had come from Nagato… But had they come from someone else beforehand? The Sharingan indicated that they could have been stolen from one of Sasuke's ancestors. That was pretty fucked up. But it wasn't really her prerogative to keep the information from him.

"There's this, too," Aiko said before she could change her mind, funneling chakra through her eyes to change to the Mangekyou and then the Sharingan.

'Wait. How did I know it was called Mangekyou?' Stunned, Aiko missed Sasuke's initial reaction. 'That wasn't anything I knew before, with Obito. I don't remember learning about it in my time in Konoha, either.'

Strange. She didn't remember learning it, but she remembered thinking about it? That didn't make any sense at all. How could she think about information that she hadn't acquired?

"At least that's something I am uniquely qualified to deal with," Sasuke was saying, just a bit unsteadily. "I've been working on the damage that airhead did to his Sharingan over twenty years of inexpert use."

Kakashi looked spectacularly uncomfortable, shoulders traveling up level with his ears.

"Down, boys," Aiko warned, reaching out to pinch Sasuke's side. He was too proud to squirm away, and too well-trained to let pain show on his face. "Both of you. Leave each other alone."

"Not Tenzou?" Kakashi asked with a pout, kicking a heel against the table leg.

Yamato wasn't being a brat to anyone else. "He's fine."

Her scumbag former shishou made an exaggerated sound of polite comprehension that prompted Sasuke's eyebrows to shoot up in question.

She wasn't interested in listening to Kakashi's play by play of the conversation he'd overheard between her and Yamato, so the subject needed to be changed. "Is there a problem or not?" Aiko pushed. "I have constant migraines, sometimes I have to lay down and avoid light. But I've been adjusting and making it work."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, placing his index fingers and thumbs against her temples. "I don't think you're about to go blind anytime soon, so that's a good sign. You actually have the chakra reserves to cope, unlike some peop-" his voice broke off in surprise, pitch veering unflatteringly high.

"Is something wrong?" It was Yamato who took a step too close, forehead creased.

"No." Sasuke drew back just enough to give her a baffled examination. "It isn't. I should give Naruto an ocular exam," he mumbled, leaving her confused for a moment before he continued in a louder tone. "You have the secondary chakra feed to your eyes that an Uchiha would," he explained, sounding personally offended by the medical anomaly. "It's not big enough. It's about the third the size of mine or Itachi's, half the size of Fukiko's." He shook his head, indicating a size with his thumb and fingers. "It's defunct from generations of disuse, I would presume. But you have an ancestor with a dojutsu somewhere in your family."

'That makes a lot of sense.'

Her lips twitched into something that definitely wasn't a smile. "I suppose that's why he knew to put them in my head."

Comprehension visibly dawned, darkening his features. "That's why you were taken-so that Akatsuki could have a Rinnegan user again." Sasuke huffed, blowing air out the side of his mouth to ruffle his bangs. "They weren't counting on how contrary you are." He sounded almost proud.

'I don't know if I'm complimented or offended.' She frowned, considering hitting him on principle. But more urgent matters distracted her. Obito. That was why she'd gone to all the confusing trouble- she needed to remember something to do with Obito. But try as she might, she didn't remember anything that would help explain how he could benefit from putting Konoha on guard to a possible attempt on Naruto.

The only people who could conceivably benefit from that were Konoha and her allies with jinchuuriki to protect. Gaara (who could protect himself)-Fuu (whose shithole village didn't seem committed to her well-being)- the two jinchuuriki in Mist, they had a lot of worry about didn't they, that was an interesting train of thought-

"Is something wrong?" Sasuke tapped the side of her head. For the first time, she noticed that her pain had been reduced. "I can't end it. It's going to be a constant, but I can relieve the pressure periodically. That'll have to be good enough."

Aiko nodded, opening her mouth to banish the irritation Sasuke seemed to be directing at himself for failing to solve a problem the first time he'd seen it. "I feel much better, thanks. I just drifted off for a moment there."

"I hear you've been doing a lot of that," Sasuke said, voice dry enough to chap her skin. "I don't know what Tsunade-shishou was thinking. That was an irresponsible decision."

"She was thinking that we don't have a lot of time," Aiko snapped, kicking him so that he backed up. She used the new space to stand. "We still don't. I should start packing."

"Already done." Yamato hooked a thumb over his shoulder at an intimidatingly oversized pack by the door. "I think it's all new equipment, assembled to match Tsunade's specifications."

She fought down a grimace. "Great," Aiko replied sourly. "I love wearing clothes that other people picked out for me. Really makes me feel like an adult."

"So does complaining, I suppose," Kakashi mused. He tapped a book to his chin thoughtfully.

Damnit, he was right. Had he always been obnoxious when he was right? She shot him an offended look that he didn't have the decency to quail from.

And for a moment, that nonchalance was unspeakably bizarre. Because she wasn't just Aiko, his student and comrade who pouted and begged pretty jutsu off of him and had nursed a thoroughly inappropriate crush once upon a time. She was also Aiko who had worn a black and red cloak and established her own niche in the criminal underworld and killed Ame nin with a giggle in her throat and thoughts in her head of the errands she needed to run at home once she was done. Aiko faltered, off-balance.

'Six months ago, I might have seriously hurt him for talking to me like that.'

The worst part of all was knowing that wasn't completely out of her original character. She'd killed Konoha citizens before- shinobi and civilians. Not always for the best of reasons, although admittedly not for anything quite that petty.

'I'm not the person he thinks I am. Maybe I never was.'

By the time she'd gathered herself, everyone had noticed the break in her composure. No one said anything.

"I should change." She pulled at her collar of her dark blue shirt and wondered where she'd put the headband and vest last night when she went to bed.

As if he knew what she was thinking, Yamato gathered and proffered the missing parts of her uniform. "Bathroom is that-"

"I know where it is," Aiko interrupted, giving him a disbelieving look. "This is the same layout as my old apartment."

Although it was obviously not the same building. The walls carried a much fresher wood scent, with the characteristic sweetness of Hashirama wood instead of old pine. It was less familiar and homey.

Yamato scratched the back of his head and looked away. "Right."

#vapors #uzumaki aiko #electrasev5n #ninja daily #fanfiction #naruto fanfiction #clarity

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plinkcat-gif · 2 years

Note

For the fluff prompts 1 or 15 for obkk pretty please 🥺

hiiii this is from like 15 days ago <333 and i finally came up w something for it!!! (actually i did like three days after u sent this but never got around to writing it bc i started working on the collab w bp :333)

some info: kakashi has sound to taste synesthesia! he has a little bit of both sound and word-stuff, which i’m not entirely sure is real, but it’s going to have to be for the prompt LOL

there are of course more than five words that taste bad but so far, only those five invoke uncontrollable reactions (and it’s his duty to report them as a ninja. because they’re pretty common words and he wouldn’t want to out their cover by being asked to take midnight watch lol)

obito and rin’s voices generally taste good!! words that usually invoke no particular taste invoke something when they say it. i didn’t specify the tastes of anything bc i wanted to leave it up to the reader shdjsjfhdk

ok enjoy!!!!!

prompt: "Should I stop talking?" || "Don't, your voice is very soothing"

Kakashi always had some pretty well-established rules about himself that, for the most part, were normal. Don’t look when the mask is off, no hugs allowed, and no stealing food unless you were Rin and Obito. Genma nearly had his hand stabbed through with chopsticks when he’d tried.

But by far, the weirdest was the list of words that by any means, were not allowed to be said near him. And not the expected words from a shinobi, like the sensitive-topic ones.

Knife, sleeve, spider, contradict, and midnight were the five words written on the paper that Kakashi handed Minato-sensei on the first day of training. Minato explained the list to Obito and Rin, and then did not explain why that list mattered or what it had to do with Kakashi.

But, whatever. They avoided the words as much as they could, and never really questioned why.

It wasn’t until Obito was a eighteen (impressed he’d lasted that long? So was he) that he found out the reason for Kakashi’s aversion to those words. He’d accidentally let “contradict” slip when he had been arguing with his teammate, and Kakashi had suddenly gagged so violently that Obito worried he’d torn his throat or something.

Immediately disarmed, Obito had quit his yelling and kneeled next to his fallen teammate, who had yanked his mask down to breathe. He averted his gaze and asked, “Holy shit, are you okay?”

“I’m…I’m fine,” he panted, smacking his lips. “Ugh.”

“What happened?” Obito asked, a hand resting on Kakashi’s back. “Are you going to hurl? Should I find Minato-sensei?”

Kakashi shook his head. “Please just keep talking.”

Obito blinked, taken aback. “Um. Okay? Why?”

“Your voice…” The younger trailed off, looking away.

“Kakashi. You have to tell me now that you’ve said something.”

“Fine. I have synesthesia,” Kakashi spat, rolling his eyes as he pulled his mask up. “I taste sounds and words.”

“What the hell?” Obito said before he could stop himself, and Kakashi rose to his feet with a scoff.

“Yeah. Bye, Obito.”

“Wait, what? Hey! That doesn’t explain why you wanted—Wait, does my voice…taste good?”

“Yes. Bye, Obito.” Kakashi formed the signs to a shunshin, deceptively calm but Obito could see the crease in his brow. He lunged forward and grabbed Kakashi’s wrists, splitting his hands.

“Kakashi!” he shouted, yanking the younger to a sitting position. “I think that’s super cool! And I want to help!”

“And I’d really like to go home to wallow in my shame.”

“I mean, if me talking helps, then I’ll talk. Please? Will you at least stay and we never have to talk about it again?” He batted his eyelashes and pouted, hoping to make himself look like a bigger fool than Kakashi felt to redirect his attention.

Kakashi stared at him, then cracked a small smile under the mask and bonked him gently on the head. “Fine. I’ll stay. I should probably help you clean up the training field anyway…”

Obito glanced behind him to the fallen trees then flapped his hand dismissively. “It’s fine. We can do it later. I wanna watch clouds again.” He flopped onto his back and Kakashi followed, crossing his arms over his abdomen.

“That one looks like a duck.”

“Oh please never say duck again,” Kakashi groaned.

#jsut a short one!! and as usual the pacing is weird the pacing is always weirddddddd idk why #prob bc it’s so short lmfaoo #kirpy answers #kirpy writes #kakashi #obito #obkk

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lesnodziadyzm · 2 years

Text

Completed Naruto fanfiction recommendations, part 1

List with summaries under the cut.

Hoshigaki by writer168

When Sakura was three, her father told her he was a criminal. When she was seven, the last thing she saw of him was the sword on his back. When she was eight, she had a friend named Kiba. When they were twelve, they met Shino. And when they were genin, they began to fight for the truth because they could no longer fight for the sake of Konoha.

***

Eight (sequel to Hoshigaki) by writer168

The Third Hokage was dead. It wasn't enough. Team Eight knew loss like the seals on the backs of their tongues. They'd been silenced, branded, abandoned, ambushed, left on the enemy's doorstop like a gift--unlucky was their nickname, but they would make it their trade. The Third Hokage was dead. It was Danzo's turn.

***

Pulling My Weight by itsthechocopuff

During their mission to Wave, Sakura realises how behind she is in her training and decides to do something about it. She vows to become a shinobi her Village and her teammates can respect and depend on. But Sakura has always been a paper-ninja, so her first stop for inspiration is the library where she finds unexpected help in the form of one very bored tokujo who quickly goes on to become an integral part of her life. Soon, despite the neglect of her sensei and all odds seemingly against her, Sakura's destiny begins to change.

***

Dirt and Ashes, or: The One-and-a-Half Body Problem by Tozette

The invasion of Konoha during the chuunin exam didn't fail. Team seven is broken, people are dead, and Sakura is hurt and frightened and a very long way from home. Alternative summary: In which Sakura carries half of Hidan across two countries, leaving a trail of blood, bodies, and other people's legs.

***

Bloodstained Hands in a World of White by dogloser

Kakashi had never entirely understood the Kamui Sharingan. It was supposed to have killed him in his fight against Pein, and yet he somehow wakes up - within his thirteen-year-old body and without Obito's Sharingan, no less. Stranded in a new but old second life, Hatake Kakashi determines that he will fix what he had broken, so many years ago, all while he fears that a broken man will only do what he knows best, and continue to break everything he touches.

(Or: Team Minato worries about their loneliest team member, especially when he starts acting nice to Obito and looks at Rin and Minato like they're ghosts. Kakashi tries to shut them out and pull them closer at the same time, and he swears he will keep his promise this time around.)

***

Time Flows Like Ink by GwendolynStacy

After a fuinjutsu experiment gone wrong, Minato is yanked into a future where his family is dead, his team fell apart and the Uchiha were slaughtered. With the defective seal burning in his palm, Minato struggles to stay afloat in a Konoha that isn’t his.

***

Sing as their bones go marching in again by felinedetached

Instead, it goes like this: Haruno Sakura is the daughter of two civilians, from civilian families. She is nothing and no one—smart, yes, top kunoichi, yes, but she will never be on par with clan kids. She is teammates to an orphan powerhouse from a dead clan and the last remaining Uchiha.

Haruno Sakura is nothing and nobody, but she breathes and grows and thrives and the forest thrives with her.

(She opens her eyes to wood, grown from nothing, and Hatake Kakashi stares in disbelief at the tree where his student used to be.)

***

survival of the fittest by cywscross

Sakura is thirteen, still a Genin, lost in the middle of Earth Country, lugging an unconscious Chuunin around, and so far beyond scared that she’s moved right on to pissed off.

***

The Infinitely Curious Woman by chararii

Sakura is thirteen when she first finds the journals. Sakura is fourteen when she has studied enough to understand them. Sakura is eighteen when she finally accepts what she has become.

The air around her tastes like victory and she thrives in it.

***

Satori (Between the Lines) by jaylene

While attending the Academy, Sakura's field experience assignment with the Konohagakure Intelligence Division ends up being more valuable than she'd ever guess.

***

Trials of Change by Espoiretreves

Haruno Sakura made a promise. Looking in the eyes of her Shisou and the reanimated Hokage, she took on the most important mission of her life.

Go back in time and try to prevent the 4th Shinobi War.

Now, Sakura is back to her 5-year-old body, with all the knowledge and haunting memories of the future. She vows to keep her precious people safe and stop certain events from happening, without altering the timeline too much. The trials her emotions and logic put her through have her questioning her very existence, but for the sake of peace, she has to push forward. No matter what.

***

Waves by IncompleteSentanc

Sakura dies on October 10th with green eyes that slowly lose their shine and bright pink hair that turns dark with blood. Then Sakura is born on January 12th with dark blue eyes that get lighter and lighter and red hair so dark it looks black more often than not.

She doesn't know it immediately, but she's a child reborn and time is reborn with her. It's time for a change, and Sakura will do all she can to bring it - for one reason or another. She's a woman reborn, and she's already died once before. What more does she have to fear?

***

tired to his very bones by cheshire_carroll

“You killed Izuna!” Madara snarls, as if Izuna’s death is a heinous, unspeakable crime, instead of just another one of the countless casualties of war.

Usually, Tobirama would remain icily silent on this matter– he may be an “ice-cold bastard” at the best of times, but he does possess enough heart to be kind, even to his once-enemies.

Usually, he is functioning on more sleep.

***

sabotage by stirringwinds

“Itachi,” His mentor and commanding officer says grimly, his single visible eye angry, the line of his jaw tense under the black of his mask. “You forget that I was the Yondaime’s student. I may not be as politically influential as those old codgers sitting on the council, but there is plenty I can do to try and stop this shitshow.”

The horrible, cold feeling in the pit of his stomach hasn't vanished. But, staring at the firm, unflinching expression on his captain’s face, he feels the tiniest flicker of…hope.

Or: In another universe, Itachi breaks down and ends up spilling the beans to Hatake Kakashi.

***

Shinra Tensei by multifandom_fanfic_writer

The world of shinobi is a harsh one, full of shades of grey. In the aftermath of Sasuke's death, Sakura changes. Konoha does not notice.

Slowly but surely, Sakura's loyalty to Konoha wavers, and starts to reach its breaking point...

(A story about Sakura finding her strength; her identity; her new family. A story about how there is no good and bad in a world full of trained killers. A story about how to deal with that.)

***

before you by theformerone

When she is somersaulted back in time to Uzushio before it was Uzushio, with Kurama's yin chakra folded into the seal on her forehead, heart bursting with loss and the weight of her burden, she tells them her name is Tsubaki.

Uzumaki Mito looks at her like she is an enemy.

***

Masks by madstoryteller999

Sakura's Inner is far more diabolical than anyone ever expected, crows demonstrate themselves to be cruel mentors, the complications of selfdom in ANBU are realized, and Sakura comes to learn exactly how much she hates Kakashi (and how alike they are in the most terrible of ways).

#naruto #naruto fanfiction #naruto fanfiction recommendation #naruto recs

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mixelation · 1 year

Text

more caution to the wind epilogue. click the tag if u want to find the previous bit

She wakes when the guard changes at dawn, and her waking in turn wakes Minato. This is one problem with dating another ninja– they’re all paranoid, light sleepers.

Karin can’t tell if Minato knows exactly why she’s suddenly awake and tense, but he shifts and blinks and must (correctly) decide there’s no real threat present, because he rolls over lazily. Karin lets herself relax too as he wraps an arm around her and presses his face into her hair.

“Good morning,” he mumbles.

A few minutes later, he gets out of bed. Karin follows.

The rest of the morning features a lot of awkward fumbling. Karin had felt so in tune with him when they were traveling, not having to do much verbal communication at all toward the end to split up tasks. But they’d been camping for most of it, and the quarry house hadn’t had running water, and coordinating using the bathroom ends up… weird.

In Oto when Karin had had to share a sink with other residents, years and years ago, she’d just shoved other people out of the way. She obviously doesn’t want to do that with Minato, even if he takes too long to wash his face.

Minato clearly has his own routine he likes to go through, in the comfort of his own house, and he too seems confused about how Karin should fit into it. Luckily, he’s a much better communicator than Karin, and he keeps flashing her sheepish, cute little smiles and asking for her input on what she wants.

They try for a shared shower, and he tries to initiate sex again.

“Don’t you get tired?” Karin wonders, because she’s definitely still both mentally and physically drained from yesterday.

“Not for you,” Minato answers earnestly, water spilling over his hair and then over his shoulders and chest, and ugh. Unfair tactics, really.

“It’s not fair,” Karin tells him afterwards of him being unreasonably attractive, searching his cabinets for a blowdryer he promises he owns. “I have to do more work and use more energy than you to get ready, you know.”

“I can control myself, next time,” Minato says, towel-drying his own hair. He winks. “If you want me too, that is.”

Karin isn’t sure she will. Eventually they’ll both have to back off of constantly putting their hands on each other, but she wants to roll herself in the exciting energy of this honeymoon period for as long as it lasts. Minato must understand this about her, because his little smile broadens into an outright smirk as Karin’s face flushes with brand new ideas about future morning routines.

She eventually finds the blowdryer in the guest bathroom, and Minato makes an underwhelming breakfast of toast and a single sliced apple while she dries her hair. Apparently someone just brings him breakfast in his office most mornings, and he doesn’t have a lot of food in the house.

“I can go shopping,” Karin volunteers. “Unless you need me around…?”

Minato leans back in his chair, gaze moving thoughtfully up towards the ceiling.

“I…” he starts, then frowns slightly. “You know what, it’s been so long that I don’t remember what else I had going on this week.”

Time travel is… weird.

Karin lets him teleport her into his office with her. They arrive earlier than most of the usual day staff, because Karin woke them both up early. She then watches as Minato shuffles through all sorts of papers on his desk and then Obito’s to figure out what he was up to pre-time travel. In the other timeline, Karin would have automatically jumped in to help with this task, and she would have been good at it. But here she might run into something she isn’t to see, and she’d promised Minato she wouldn’t be digging up Konoha secrets he didn’t let her at himself.

She sits awkwardly and watches him, noting that his guard rushes over from his house at top speed. Hokage tower has its own ANBU sitting around, and they peel back and go off somewhere else when the guard shows up. Karin wonders if this pattern was already in place when Minato became Hokage, or if ANBU had to adjust its protocols to Minato’s refusal to just walk places like a normal person.

She wants to ask him, but she’ll have to wait until later. Ninja usually get all upset when they realize they can’t hide from Karin, and she’s supposed to play nice with Konoha-nin.

Eventually, Obito walks in to find his Hokage has rearranged his desk, and he shoots Minato a deeply disparaging look.

“I had a system,” Obito insists, even though his desk looks no messier than it did before.

Karin eventually gets released. She doesn’t have to go through any sort of crazy screening process as a perk of dating the Hokage, and most tasks related to integrating her into Konoha are being handled by other people. Even setting up an appointment for an ID photo is being taken care of by someone else.

Karin walks out of Hokage tower feeling extremely weird. She’s used to being the only one organizing her life, and she almost feels like her autonomy is being ripped away from her again, except it… isn’t? Her life is going exactly the way she wants it to, by largely her own design. It’s just that now she has an actual village where people aren’t actively trying to fuck her over, and so she can theoretically rely on other people whose job it is to accomplish frivolous tasks for her.

Very weird. She can’t help but feel a vague sense of suspicion about it. Surely something will go wrong if she lets someone else do it.

She debates going back to Minato’s house– their house, now, she supposes– and getting a few extra hours of sleep. But she’s filled with a quiet, nervous energy that she can’t explain, and she wants to expend it immediately. She ends up wandering Konoha.

She paces the streets like she would any foreign city– methodically noting where useful things are and doing her best to look like she knows exactly where she’s going and blend in. It is really different from the village she’d seen before in her timeline, with more unpaved roads and older buildings. This Konoha has a quaint, more lived-in feeling to it, although it's no less busy with civilians and ninja alike rushing around. She thinks she likes this version better.

Her brain is automatically sorting ninja: Threat, threat, threat, her subconscious tells her of every ninja with more chakra than a genin. Except they’re not. She knows they’re not, even if she doesn’t know who they are. She can’t go forward living in Konoha and treating every unknown person as a possible enemy.

She calms herself by picking out familiar chakra signatures while she walks. Sasuke is here, his chakra tiny and untrained, and she finds little Sakura next. Would it be weird to go visit one of them? Probably. They’re only four years old.

She keeps scanning the village as she browses a street of little pop-up stores selling mostly jewelry, and picks out Kakashi and then Rin and then–

Karin stops walking entirely when she realizes Uzumaki Kasumi is in the village. A man stumbles into her.

“Oi,” the man says, stepping around her, and usually Karin would yell at him to watch his step, but. But.

She steps out of the stream of people in the street and onto the doorstep of a closed shop. She focuses on keeping her breath even. She’d known her mother would be here.

Does she want to go see her? No, she shouldn’t. She should wait for Minato to introduce her.

She’s not even sure she wants to. How could she possibly behave normally, when the last time she saw her mother, she’d been slowly murdered by their own village? How could she look her in the eyes and not have a crying break down, right there and then? The thought terrifies Karin.

Calm down, she commands herself. You’ll cross that bridge when you get to it.

She focuses on Minato’s chakra, big and familiar and in its constant, swirling motion. He moves to a building adjacent to the tower, and his little guard movies with him, like extra, invisible appendages. She breathes. She steps back into the street and continues browsing.

Karin finds herself in a corner store, considering scented soaps. Scented soaps and lotions and shampoos are discouraged for missions, but if she’s just hanging out in Konoha… why not treat herself? She’s sure Minato would like it just as much as she would if she smelled all pretty and nice.

She gets a body wash that’s lotus flower scented. Something nice and light, in case she finds out she actually hates being able to smell herself.

While she’s waiting in line to pay, she notes a ninja appearing on the roof of the shop, and one on the roof of the restaurant opposite them. She doesn’t think much of it, because in a ninja village, ninja are everywhere, until she wanders out of the shop and both the chakra signatures follow her. They follow her while she lazily browses two different clothing stores. They follow her when she buys a can of juice and drinks it while she wanders a park at random.

Konoha is very pretty, she’ll admit. She was working on a vitamin D deficiency in Oto, with the lack of windows. If only she weren’t being followed.

Her first instinct is to go yell at Minato for siccing a tail on her. But he’d promised he wouldn’t without warning her first, and Minato has only ever kept promises to her. Besides, he’s not stupid enough to think she wouldn’t notice and be mad at him, and both signatures feel like… well, she’d need a visual to confirm, but they feel like children.

They feel like children, but they’re expertly hidden like no genin could, their emotions under such tight control Karin can’t even guess at if they’re nervous or upset with her or what. Their patterns and hiding are indicative of ANBU. She knows kids can end up in high-ranking positions. But two of them, trailing her secretly and unseen and feeling exactly like Danzo’s assistant?

Are you fucking kidding me? She thinks.

She’s tempted to go up to Hokage tower anyway, to run Danzo’s secret kiddy ANBU into Minato’s own guard and see what happens. The idea is entertaining, but she doesn’t want to be pulling shit like that on Minato without talking to him first.

Instead she enjoys the rest of her day like normal. She spends a lot of time flipping through books at a used book store. She reads the first two chapters of one of her purchases at a tea house Minato recommended. Then she grabs some vegetables for dinner and heads home.

The kiddy ANBU vanish the second she steps foot into Minato’s house. Interesting.

She didn’t have a real plan with the vegetables she bought, but she does wash and chop them by the time Minato gets home.

“Welcome home,” she tells him, and the words feel bizarre on her lips. Home? What? She gestures at the pile of vegetation on her cutting board. “I have made an attempt to be domestic.”

Minato kisses her, more eagerly than really necessary. He rushes at her with the earnesty of a teenager going for his first kiss and nearly topples over in his haste to remove his sandals.

“This is what couples do, right?” he says when he pulls away, grinning at her. His smile chases away all the nagging, uncomfortable feelings of the day.

Minato takes over the cooking, switching out his cloak for an apron. The apron is pink. Karin watches him, bemused, for way longer than she meant to before telling him about her day.

“How secure is this place, anyway?” she asks, taking the cutting board and knife to wash in the sink once all the vegetables are in a pot. “Like, when you said ‘private,’ how private did you mean?”

Minato pauses in the middle of searching his cabinet for stock for soup.

“In what capacity?” he asks.

“Hmm,” Karin leans a hip against the sink counter. “What if I wanted to tell you an… interesting story?”

She raises her eyebrows at him. Minato suddenly looks exhausted.

“Absolute privacy, as long as you stay away from open windows. Not even ANBU can eavesdrop,” he says. “Please tell me your interesting story is just one of your redacted teenaged crimes.”

“Sorry,” she says, turning to rinse off the cutting board. She tells him about being stalked by creepy children.

Minato frowns as she speaks, staring down into his vegetables sizzling in the bottom of the pot.

“Well,” he says when she’s finished. “I certainly didn’t send anyone after you.” He tilts his head back and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I can practically hear Danzo telling me he was just correcting an oversight.”

“This is why Kiri just killed all their elders,” Karin says sagely. Minato snorts.

“Yeah, because that worked out well for them,” he mutters. He sighs. “Still, this is a bad look for me, isn’t it?”

Well, yes. A Kage was supposed to be an absolute authority in a village. If the Hokage said Karin was to be treated a certain way, then you did it. You didn’t send semi-secret child soldiers to spy on her.

“Do you think he knows I’d notice?” Karin wonders.

The corners of Minato’s mouth quirk upwards.

“I didn’t have enough time to sufficiently brag,” he says.

“You didn’t have time,” Karin repeats, putting a hand on a hip, “or you wanted to have an ace up your sleeve?”

“Maybe I think it’s really sexy,” Minato replies, “and I wanted to keep you all to myself?”

“Ooh, good answer,” Karin says. The smell of cooking onions is starting to fill the room, and it makes her stomach growl. No, she won’t attempt a spontaneous make-out session right this second.

“Usually people think hiding their chakra signatures will hide them from sensors like me,” Karin muses. “And I’m pretty sure I didn’t have any noticeable tells. So unless you said something, I’d assume your friend Danzo thinks I didn’t notice.”

“Hmm.” Minato stirs the vegetables with a spatula. “I’d like to keep it that way, for now.”

Karin doesn’t like being followed. She doesn’t like people in her business unless she’s very specifically invited them in. But she does like waltzing around and actively deceiving people and pretending she is just some harmless woman, nothing to see here–

Day two in Konoha continues this, with Karin exploring and carefully monitoring the two ROOT agents tailing her. The two today are different, and she finds it frustrating she can’t get a good read on their emotions. Even the adult ANBU agents, who go through their own strict training, are not so disciplined to not occasionally let their chakra flicker or wane with stress or boredom or interest if Karin’s paying close enough attention. ROOT must involve some intense training to hide these reactions from Karin.

She eats lunch with Minato in his office, with Obito eyeing them suspiciously from his own desk. Minato walks her down to an office on one of the lower floors to set her up with a desk worker in charge of building her official Konoha identity.

She takes Minato’s hand and does her best to tap code into his palm the location where her tail is lingering half a kilometer away. Minato leans his head backwards, and she can feel his chakra tighten in concentration. Karin doesn’t know any official Konoha codes, but both Orochimaru and Sasuke were trained in Konoha. The ones they used in Oto were supposed to be similar.

She gets a flicker of recognition in Minato’s chakra at the same time he opens the door to the Shinobi Affairs office. He catches her eye and grins.

The Shinobi Affairs employee Karin is assigned to aims almost all her questions at Karin herself, but her eyes keep flickering nervously over to Minato. Minato looks as calm and friendly as ever, but Karin is certain that without him there, she wouldn’t solicit all the promises to rush certain documentation through.

Karin gets an ID number right there and then, which she needs for things like her own bank account and subsidized health care.

The one question that gets specifically aimed at MInato is: “Am I requesting any security clearances?”

Minato tilts his head thoughtfully. “Leave it blank,” he says. “I’ll fill it out when I process it.”

Wow, Karin thinks. That could imply… so many different things.

He leaves them when the employee leads her off to a little side room for an ID photo. His little ANBU cloud go with him, although Hokage tower definitely has its own mix of ANBU just randomly scattered around.

Karin’s own tail doesn’t reappear the second she steps out of Hokage tower. She has to get a bit away from the tower before they start moving again, and she wonders if it’s the tower they're avoiding, Minato, or ANBU proper.

She spends her afternoon window shopping again, but this time she twice purposefully passes by active ANBU agents doing whatever the fuck they do. Both times her tail peels back, avoiding them.

When she finally calls it a day, she swings by a butcher to buy something to compliment the rest of her vegetables. Karin is used to shopping for herself, obviously, and she’s usd to being the one organizing supplies in official, job-related capacities. But this time she’s buying stuff for her boyfriend to cook for her, because they live together and get to spend the most boring and unexciting and domestic parts of their lives together, and something about that difference makes her feel giddy.

When she gets home, she closes the front door behind her and leans against it, feeling weirdly happy and warm. She concentrates as her tail pauses a little bit down the block, dithering for longer than the two yesterday did. Maybe because she’s home earlier, they think she might come back out?

She puts the meat in the fridge. The two ROOT agents move away, and Karin sits at the kitchen table and concentrates on where they go.

Minato has a little office set up in a back room, which he claims he uses more for personal projects than official Konoha business. Karin doesn’t feel at all guilty poking around in it for pen and paper. She sketches a vague map of Konoha.

Minato comes home late, teleporting directly into the living room and flopping down on the couch. Karin sticks her head out of the office and eyes him. Minato looked exhausted, and he only perks up a little bit at her appearance.

“...do you want me to make dinner?” she offers.

Minato blinks at her.

“Yes?” he says slowly. Then he immediately looks apologetic. “But if you don’t want to–”

Karin rolls her eyes. “I’m volunteering, Minato.”

She makes cooing, flirty commentary about getting to take care of him while she digs things out of the fridge, and Minato calms down. He disappears into the bedroom for a bit, and then comes back down in pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. He sits at the kitchen table and watches her.

Karin did really like the fantasy of him in his pink apron, cooking for her. But this is also good, she thinks.

“I did some snooping,” Karin says, pointing at the map she’s left on the table while she watches her curry simmer. Minato pulls the paper towards himself, a tiny bemused smile on his face.

His chakra flickers a few times with interest as his eyes skim the paper, his brain processing what he’s seeing. Then his chakra suddenly spikes with alarm.

“What?” Karin asks, face whipping around.

Minato blinks at her, an unreadable look of surprise on his face.

“Nothing,” Minato replies, his expression mellowing into something more like affection. His chakra calms just as quickly. “It’s just…” He points at a spot on the page. “This ANBU cache is, um… super classified?”

Karin eyes at him. He’s not mad or upset. He’s more… resigned, maybe, but it’s colored with a sense of amusement that makes the feeling more positive.

“I knew you could do this,” Minato clarifies, pulling the paper back towards himself. “I just, uh…”

“Didn’t know-know,” Karin finishes for him, moving to grab plates. She remembers having several similar moments herself. “I understand.”

Karin isn’t a great chef, but it’s hard to screw up curry too much, and Minato eats heartily. He gets up to make them tea when they’re done, and then he asks Karin follow-up questions about her map of where her tail went and how they interacted with other on-duty ANBU around the village.

“You just casually mapped my whole ANBU from my own home, huh?” Minato says, eyeing her up and down with an expression that’s a little bit heated in a sexy way. Karin turns her face to hide her blush.

“I don’t know what you expected,” she mutters back.

Minato already knows where ROOT’s headquarters are, of course. It’s a little underground facility just outside of the village proper, in one of the forested areas still within the village walls, and the place Karin’s tail retreated back to when they were done with her. The facility was originally dug out as a shelter, which Minato has the original blueprints for, and then expanded during the Second War. Any blueprints or records of the expansion have gone mysteriously missing. Minato has had difficulty getting any further information on the place, or sneaking any of his own operatives in.

Minato has only been seriously picking at this problem for a few months, and he hasn’t tried grilling any ROOT operatives just yet. He’s had casual conversations, but they all have crazy experimental seals on their tongues on top of intense psychological conditioning, and even Minato is pre-emptively exhausted by the idea of trying to untangle one without harming the poor bastard it’s tattooed onto.

“I thought about letting Danzo have Kakashi to use him as a mole, but…” Minato wrinkles his nose at the idea. “Well, I only let Kakashi join my ANBU to keep other people from digging their claws into him.”

“Hiruzen left you a real mess, huh?” Karin observes, and Minato buries his face in his hands.

“It’s my fault,” Minato replies, his voice muffled by his hands. He sounds deeply, truly exhausted. “I prioritized international politics and let it get completely out of my control.”

Karin reaches across the table and pets his arm. She is not naturally good at comfort, but she could carefully pet a pretty man all day.

“Do you know what’s going on inside of ROOT?” Minato asks after a while.

This time it’s Karin’s turn to pull a face.

“It’s really heavily warded,” she says slowly. “I can tell there are people in there, but I can’t tell individual chakra signatures.” She runs her tongue over her teeth. “Well, no– it’s like I can almost feel them, like when you can’t quite remember the word you want. I might be able to get more with meditation, or if we figured out an excuse to go for a picnic right on top of them.”

Minato stares at her like she’s a fucking witch. Apparently “there’s chakra in there” is more than literally anyone else has been able to tell him.

#fic: caution to the wind #me: i'm not going to write a real sequel #me: (writes like i'm making a real sequel)

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