To Infinity and Beyond

So I have been experimenting with art styles, and when I was making this piece I wasn't all that happy with how it looked in my usual colouring style. I was like- I really really want it to look like it was plucked straight out of a comic. So I thought might as well hit two birds with one stone, and make this piece a Style study as well. The artist whose style I tried to study is one of my favourite One Piece artists. Their Shuggy art just gives me the butterflies. Shoutout to @huyandere

I have fallen in love with the fem Naruto design that I made for @bugbeee 's 'In Sound Judgement' and I adore creating fanart of her.

So here is a continuation of the Mission disaster - wherein Kakashi and Nana get separated from the rest of the team 7 and are attacked. In my mind, they were hit by a stray jutsu and were blasted to the past. The scenario was also influenced by that one Boruto episode, where he and Sasuke go back in time and meet 12-year-old Naruto. And I know we already have the Lost Tower and Road to Ninja, but that’s different. In them, Minato was older and there was a criminal lack of Kushina. I was like damn, what if Naruto/ Nana were to meet their parents when they were 12? Before they got together, and Kushina still had a major chip on her shoulder, and Minato and his team were- according to my timeline calculations- freshly abandoned by Jiraiya in favour of the Ame trio in the middle of a war.

I included both Kakashi and Nana because they are both Minakushi’s kids and deserve to know more about them. Kushina is this shining beacon of wonder in Nana’s mind. Someone whom she admires and who can do no wrong. She is the parent whom Nana has yearned to meet and make proud. Vs Minato who, she wants nothing to do with and ignores so much that she doesn’t even see him as her father, much less process the messy feelings she has regarding him.  

Nana knows when she meets Minato he will find her lacking and doesn’t bother, but she fears what Kushina will think. Because Nana knows without a doubt that Kushina loves her child, and that means a lot to a kid who keeps getting abandoned by the people around her. Kushina is a part of Nana which she selfishly guards, but if Kushina were to reject her then it would kill Nana.

This experience would make Nana realise that she is a lot more like both her mum and her dad than she realises. It would also make Nana get to actually know who Minato was before he was shaped to be the co-dependent martyr he was by the major traumas he suffered.

Same for Kakashi who thinks, he is the only unlucky bastard who got screwed over by a benign village, and much like Nana and Minato refuses to process the trauma.

The necklace is, of course, a dead giveaway. It comes directly from the nature of this What-If AU. The same goes for the Sage eyes.

His robe and overall attire draw from Kushina’s look in the Minato one-shot, along with Naruto’s Kabuki painting phase and his first jacket. Any resemblance to Minato is completely unintentional on his part.

The blue hair is a small ode to Hinata and her actions in Solivagants.

The eye and whisker patches take inspiration from Kakashi’s “Sukea” disguise.

Naruto’s hair is long, unruly, and constantly growing. The more Kyuubi chakra he uses, the faster it grows, stretching as long as Kurama needs it to. Once the chakra is dispelled, it retracts to its usual resting length. Due to his early access to Kurama’s chakra in Solivagants, along with the hardships of this darker timeline, Naruto has grown more dependent on bijuu chakra. This has led to some changes in his natural appearance, including his hair growing faster than normal even when he isn’t actively using the chakra. Thankfully, it only grows up to a certain length before stopping. The weird state of his hair both helps and hinders the dyeing process, frustrates him endlessly, and gives him a feral edge he dislikes. At the same time, it helps keep smaller annoyances like bandits, thugs, and even the occasional chunin at bay. Once or twice, it has even acted as a good misdirection tactic.

I couldn’t resist the idea of giving Naruto a straw hat with chimes. No, I wasn’t thinking about the Akatsuki while designing this. I had Mr Haganezuka from Demon Slayer in mind, and how he calms down when he hears the chimes on his hat. For Naruto, who struggles with emotional regulation, has loads of issues he refuses to acknowledge, and a fox sealed within him that is not only itching to take over his body, but also covets negative emotions like a drug addict, this felt like one of the healthiest coping mechanisms available to him.

The earrings and piercings are Naruto’s own additions.

Many Runaway Naruto interpretations either keep him too recognisable or push the design so far that he feels like an entirely different character. While those have led to some iconic looks, I wanted to explore a version of his disguise that would actually work (something sustainable, practical, low maintenance and natural) without losing the “Naruto-ness” of it.

Let Kurama have some fun 2k2k.

Kurama has standards and will never fall to the same level as humanity (whom he considers to be a breeding cesspool of dogshit).

If Kurama had to raise Nacchan he would do a better job than all of Leaf combined.

Bijuu are Eldritch Gods and should be treated as such

Jinchuuriki must be biologically enhanced to survive their prisoners.

Jinchuuriki are creepy and unnerving. The way they move, operate, function, and look screams OTHER.

A convention of basic standards for treating a Jinchuuriki was passed at the same Five-Kage summit, where laws regarding their deployment in battlefields and other villages were made.

The law was passed shortly after the elemental nations were shaken by the aftermath of a string of atrocities committed against Jinchuuriki. Both Tobirama and Mito had been present at that summit.

Minato sealing Kurama in baby Naruto very much resulted in the already tattered convention of standards to burst up in flames. His seal creation also introduced a whole new level of horrors for Jinchuuriki as a whole.

The Jinchuuriki HATE Minato's guts. Yes, including his own child.

The remaining Bijuu detest the Senju in the same way Kurama HATES the Sharingan lmao. Which is pretty tragic as Hashirama’s chakra, as intertwined as it was with sage chakra, reminded them of their father. A memory they associated with safety.

It's safe to say that the remaining Bijuu automatically have a beef with Nacchan. A consequence of them having Kyuubi “I am the greatest and thou must bow before me maggot” Kurama and Hashirama “I will strip away the freedom and autonomy of Bijuu and dispense them like candy after falling out with my something” Senju chakra.

Bonus: The OG version of the art. Lmao look at how thrilled Nacchan looks.