forever and always tired

I'm on ao3!!!

ao3 works locked because of ai scrapping :/

Hikari dies during either the second or third shinobi war. She makes a deal with her sponsor kami.

The deal, essentially, is that in return for ensuring her clansmen's (yes this includes ninken) bodies will always be recovered, and the promis to shield them from the worst of the pain, Hikari must be the one to reap their souls and guide them to the pure lands.

To Hikari, this is a no brainer. shes so obsessed with her clan that being there for each and every one of their deaths, being able to support them and make sure the two halves (nin & ken) stay together is her calling. if this were practically anyone else, it'd feel like an eternity of emotionally taxing labor.

Oracles

Ever since the caged bird seal, Oracles have been born in the branch clans, and given Cassandra's curse, i.e. no one ever believes what they say about the future/past.

Neji is an Oracle. after the chunin exams, he starts to try and reverse psychology himself. this occasionally works somehow.

Changelings

The Nara have an agreement with their local fae, The Deer. When a child is either still born or died soon after birth, they'll be given to the fae, and the fae will give a changeling in return.

Changelings and their descendants may have one or more of the following features: too small or too large irises, too dark hair, too thick nails, or even retractable fangs

The Nara Forest

When the Nara moved to Konoha, their forest moved with them. everything within, the deer, the fae, the graves, the medicinal plants, the dirt, popped up behind the under construction Nara compound overnight.

Haruki is Tsume's cousin.

Tamotsu is half Inuzuka. His other half is from a civillian clan specializing in death rites and have a side thing in taxidermy.