hey... I'm olive!

These moments are always so weird to me. "I noticed his evil intentions, I was too soft on him." "Look at that malicious child." Meanwhile Orochimaru just looks like a 6 yo kind of chilling. Like that's a toddle, what kind of maliciousness are they going to have in them??

What we see in later flashbacks doesn't support this attitude either. Usually Orochimaru is just seen hanging out in the back, being quiet and maybe smugly shaking their head over Tsunade and Jiraiya's antics, if they emote at all. And you want me to believe there was always evil? Even the cruel things Orochimaru sometimes says like Tsunade being unable to recognise Nawaki's corpse, it doesn't feel out of the ordinary considering the times they live and grew up in. Many shinobi have grown bitter, say dark and crass things, we still don't consider say Kakashi a root of evil or whatever.

Anyway, I actually like Orochimaru being evil and unapologetic about it and usually hate when people attempt some sort of excuse or redemption, but the way the idea of "Orochimaru was born evil" is presented is always kind of funny to me because that just doesn't match with what we are shown.

LOOK UPON THE FACE OF EVIL!

and it's literally just a child

These are GORGEOUS

I like the sannin dynamic in this scene (and similar ones like talking about what they do after the war or if an end of war is even possible) so much. It's funny in its own way. They talk about touching stuff, Tsunade and Jiraiya are sharing their dreams and hopes. Meanwhile, Orochimaru sits/stands next to them completely silent, seemingly disassociating or just preoccupied with his own thoughts.

Usually Jiraiya is the one inviting/urging them to speak up and share some of their own dreams and thoughts. So Orochimaru does and the immediate reaction is "well, that was weird" and awkwardness with Tsunade being nice enough for some "thanks for sharing with the class :)" or "don't worry, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to" platitudes. Even defending him to Jiraiya here. Like a teacher awkwardly trying to reassure the student that yes, their essay was good...totally...how nice of them to speak up! All resulting in Orochimaru huffing exasperatedly and giving up on communication once again.

The Yamanaka clan has a big springtime celebration every year when the flowers bloom: they mark their years by springs, so it’s like their New Year’s celebration. Tons of friends and allies from other clans are invited to enjoy the flowers and a traditional Yamanaka tea brewed from a special blend of flowers to promote a healthy and prosperous year:)

Close ups in case Tumblr wrecked the image quality:

Part 1 of a 3-part series that my darling @sourstacks created! Each one features the Sannin as babies, along with our headcanons for their families!!

First up, we have little Tsunade, pictured with her grandparents! While her parents not being mentioned in canon could be because they weren't relevant to the story, we've decided it means they either died young or were just not very active in raising her. So instead, Mito takes on most of the work with caring for her granddaughter, with Hashirama joining when he isn't busy with Hokage duties. Of course, this also means that Tsunade likely took their deaths much harder than she lets on...

Plenty of rock bands have either protest music or have sporadically broken into the mainstream for a bit, but it's never at the same time, or the political music is completely sidelined.

Meanwhile, country of the past 25-30 has purged itself of anti-authoritarianism that was present in its founding, and especially in the post-9/11 era has leaned heavily into conservatism and reactionary politics. The newest set of country is either vapid pop-country or insufferably conservative.