桜人

Kaguya is an odd case. On the one hand, she did a lot of harm to the world of ninja. Yet her goals and initial motives were entirely benevolent. Perhaps the most moral member of her clan, she wanted an end to the bloodshed she had the misfortune to arrive in and while she didn't permanently defeat Isshiki, she did force him to retreat for an extended period of time. Inadvertently giving mankind a chance to prepare themselves for the invasion of her clan.

Yet she was also the creator of Black Zetsu and was the final villain of Shippuden. So she's hardly a saint. The question remains: how did we go from a loving mother who wanted what's best for Earth, to one of its greatest threats?

To start, there is of course the obvious culprit:

This is cited as the primary reason in the manga for why Kaguya went "insane". While it was implied in the manga, Hagoromo said that it was considered a sin to eat the Divine Fruit. Not to mention there is an overall theme of accumulating so much power that it risks one sanity. Such is the cause with Danzo who tried to graft all of the Uchiha's Sharingans on his arm, Orochimaru and Kabuto's to perfect their bodies and become stronger via genetic manipulation, and so on.

While this is certainly possible to let the power go to your head and warp your perception, it's also...fairly simplistic by Naruto standards. All the above characters mentioned had some reason for going to those lengths to acquire power (Danzo wanted to protect the village in his own twisted way, Orochimaru had a terminal illness, and Kabuto was on the bottom rung of society). Kaguya doesn't have that, and comes off as...a little flat as a result. Granted this is part and due to the writing which didn't really set her up all too well. So the manga doesn't give us a whole lot to work with.

Due to that, I'm gonna be using the details given both by her filler arc and Boruto so...take them with a grain of salt (mainly due to the former's canonicity and the latter's overall quality). And we're venturing into the realm of headcanon so again, feel free to disagree because this isn't necessarily official.

We know that Kaguya herself is a member of the Otsutsuki Clan, a rather violent people that has a track record of wiping out entire planets in order to become godlike beings by feeding on Divine Fruits. Now Kaguya is unique in that she's the only one who disagrees with their violent ways, to the point of betraying Isshiki and derailing their plans for Earth.

Now, here's where things get interesting. While Kaguya certainly wants to turn over a new leaf and maintain an era of peace...she's coming at this from the wrong perspective.

Remember, Kaguya comes from a warlike clan where the acquisition of power and lording it over others is intrinsic to its structure. Again, Kaguya's intentions are noble, and she did bring about an era of peace. This is undeniable.

Unfortunately, she also did it via how the Otsutsuki clan would've done it. While she certainly didn't set out to exterminate mankind like her clan members, the philosophy of her clan is right there in how she obtained power in the first place. Realistically, it's pretty hard to break out of a mindset you've been raised in all your life. You really need to unlearn that belief in order to break free of the clan.

And nothing about Kaguya's time amongst the humans really did much to unlearn that mindset. Sure, Kaguya was able to form genuine comradery with Aino and cared about humanity to try and safeguard them from the rest of her clan. But she arrived during an era of war where the Land of Ancestors was under threat by the expansionist Land of That. And diplomacy during that time was usually rife with subterfuge and violence right before even war broke out.

There's nothing during her time that would've convinced her that humans were deserving of chakra. To be protected? Certainly. There's no doubt innocents like Aino existed. But the only way Kaguya was able to stop the fighting was by taking control by force, which further reinforced the mindset that man needed to be ruled over via a powerful individual rather than being able to govern themselves.

It's this belief that being powerful makes her worthy of leading mankind is not too dissimilar to the Otsutsuki belief of dominating lesser races. And this extends to how she ruled.

Kaguya ruled by subjugating the populace through her power, rather than through empathy or working with mankind. Again, this is adherent to the Otsutsuki doctrine. Whether Kaguya realized it or not, she's still guilty of perpetuating the "might makes right" mindset her clan believes in.

That being said, I doubt she consciously knew exactly what she was doing. Again, a mindset like this is difficult to break out of. Especially when it was reinforced by...

...yeah.

I think another part of what drove Kaguya to go that far was because she was that traumatized by Aino's death and just how brutal mankind could be. And mind you, this wasn't something she brushed off in the episode proper. She was nearly brought to tears by Aino's sacrifice.

Suddenly trying to rule over humanity through power makes sense if your only experience with them was during a bloody period of warfare. The lesser of two evils so to say.

There's just one problem: Kaguya was never able to properly deal with her trauma.

She was the only Otsutsuki on the planet. Chances are she didn't feel comfortable talking with the humans because of what happened, and her sons didn't have any context cause they grew up in an era of peace. So that trauma and distrust of humanity are never addressed and are allowed to fester and distort inside her spirit.

Suddenly a distrust of humanity mutates into paranoia. And once she finds out that the same humans that waged a bloody war and slaughtered their own may have gotten their hands on chakra...things won't end well.

Sadly, this segues into our final bit on why I feel Kaguya turned bad...she may have believed that she was the only one that could save mankind from her clan.

Think about it: Kaguya believed she was the only one who could wield chakra. The only one who could hold this world together from descending into barbarism. It's that arrogance inherent in the Otsutsuki doctrine combined with the trauma of what she went through and the amount of power at her disposal. Especially since she's the only one who dealt with Isshiki and she was the only one who made the plan to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi to get enough power to deal with Momoshiki and Kinshiki when they arrived.

And it gets easy to do some pretty horrendous things if you feel you're the only one in a position to do something about it. Especially if you feel you need to get even more powerful to stand a chance.

And because she wasn't able to properly deal with her trauma, Kaguya may have felt that she alone needs to do this so nobody else would get hurt. That no one she cared about would have to get needlessly butchered. And she did have somebody to care about. Two in fact.

Hagoromo and Hamura would've been able to even the scales against the clan, and giving humans chakra may have given Kaguya more allies so she wouldn't have to fight alone. But Kaguya was already traumatized by the loss of Aino, so chances were she couldn't bear to lose her sons, let alone trust mankind with chakra. And since she had the belief that power alone gave her the right to rule and determine how to lead, it seemed unlikely she'd explain to her sons her issues. Possibly to spare them the truth about what was coming so they wouldn't follow her into battle.

In her mind, she didn't have to explain herself. She was the strongest, she could handle things herself. Sadly, that caused a rift between herself and her sons until...

Her inability to unlearn the Otsutsuki mindset, her trauma that was not properly dealt with, her issues with humanity that were never addressed, and having so much power in her hands is what lead Kaguya down the path of darkness. I do genuinely believe that Kaguya had every intention of doing good. Perhaps in the right conditions, she may have turned out better.

obito & sakura

Who said “I love you” first

Obito. He’s shy and awkward, and absolutely dorky but he manages to get it out at one point. Seeing Sakura blush as bright as him was comforting. She still teases him over how he stuttered years later but she secretly finds it endearing.

Who would have the other’s picture as their phone background

Both. Obito is cheesy as hell, and he likes seeing Sakura’s face every time he glances at his phone to see the time. Sakura adores him, and she initially set him as her background picture in reply to him doing that with hers, but she later finds she really enjoys seeing his face whenever she unlocks her phone.

Who leaves notes written in fog on the bathroom mirror

Both. It’s a little game between them that started one morning with Sakura leaving him a cute note, ‘you’re cute when you’re sleeping’. The next day he left a reply: ‘you’re always cute’ and since then they look forward to the next day to see the other’s reply to the previous day’s statement. 

Who buys the other cheesy gifts

Obito. He likes to remind Sakura he’s always thinking about her, besides, the way she blushes and finds eye contact difficult is absolutely adorable.

Who initiated the first kiss

Sakura. Obito is literally terrified of doing any unexpected move near this woman, he likes his head where it is on his shoulders, thank you. Sakura wasn’t going to wait forever, she’s a focused and determined woman and she always gets what she wants. Obito totally didn’t lose his balance when she kissed him (he did).

Who kisses the other awake in the morning

Obito. He thinks Sakura has the prettiest skin ever and he never passes on the chance to appreciate it. 

Who starts tickle fights

Both. Oh, their house is a war zone when it comes to tickling. It’s a little ninja game of sneaking up on the other and poking their hips and then proceeding to tickle them. Obito denies using his sharingan to win (and he’s a big liar).

Who asks who if they can join the other in the shower

Neither. Shared showers, especially in the morning, is one of their favourite things to properly wake up. Obito gets a little distracted, however, because he ends up getting soap in Sakura’s eye when his drift to other places. 

Who surprises the other in the middle of the day at work with lunch

Obito. This man is attentive. Trust him to check up on his girlfriend and make sure she’s eaten and staying hydrated. ‘You know I’m the medic right?’ ‘and the best one. But it never hurts to check.’ ‘you’re a dork.’ ‘you love it’

Who was nervous and shy on the first date

Both. But especially Obito. He really, really likes Sakura and he can’t believe she agreed to go out with him in the first place so he was sweating the entire day worrying about messing something up. However his worry was needless, Sakura is especially sweet when she’s not pissed off.

Who kills/takes out the spiders

Sakura. Obito HATES spiders, they terrify him with their numerous legs and small size. Sakura thinks it’s hilarious. ‘you’re a ninja.’ ‘yes, and they’re a spider’ ‘gods, I married an idiot.’ 

Who loudly proclaims their love when they’re drunk

Obito. Obito gets so sentimental when drunk he starts rambling about Sakura and how much he loves her. He complains about embarrassing himself when sober again but Sakura secretly enjoys his speeches. 

“Hello.”

Obito raised his head, blinking slowly at the one who greeted him as he studied her in silence. Sakura must have a meeting today, he decided. She’d foregone her usual comfy athletic wear in favor of an incredibly formal pantsuit.

“Hello.”

With that one word reply, Obito tucked his head back down in to the file in his hand, lifting his coffee to his lips with the other and continuing on his way. She wasn’t the only one who had a meeting to prepare for today, after all. 

As soon as he rounded the corner, however, Obito stopping walking to lean against the wall and wheeze. Sakura looked good every day but damn if he hadn’t nearly drooled all over himself just now. It simply wasn’t fair to have someone so gorgeous running around, distracting people, making it hard for him to concentrate on his computer when all he wanted to do was take her by the hand and-

Clearing his throat roughly, Obito straightened up again. He could fantasize about his coworker later. Not that it would ever come to anything. The two of them never said anything more than a quick ‘hello’ as they passed each other in the hallways. Disappointing. From the snatches of conversations he’d picked up over the years, Obito was damn sure he’d like to get to know her better.

-

Sakura ducked in to the nearest empty room as soon as she could, leaning down to brace her hands on her knees as she tried hard to regulate her breathing. 

That voice! She’d very nearly melted all over his dorky sweater vest, the same way she almost did every time he greeted her. What she wouldn’t give to hear that voice say more than a simple greeting. She wondered what it would take to entice him in to an actual conversation some day.

-

“Can I just say, I love the way your face lights up when someone says something might be dangerous.” Obito pauses with a hand on his chin, considering. “It’s probably the sexiest thing I ever seen.”

From her spot crouched just in front of him, Sakura looks over her shoulder and raises one eyebrow. Her hands heft the medium sized rifle already cocked and ready to fire. “How about you watch my six instead of flirting, Corporal?”

Heaving a large sigh, Obito resettles his own gun and returns his gaze to a position more proper for a red lookout. To be honest, he’s not paying as much attention to this as he should, but he doesn’t see the point. No one knows they’re here so there is little chance of anyone sneaking up in the drop ceiling to find them.

“All I’m saying”–he continues without looking at her–“is that you are roughly half my bodyweight, two thirds of my height, and you still terrify me. How does no one but me find that hot? By rights you should be beating men off with a stick every time you go outside.”

“I place more value on what’s in my head than what’s on my press bar.”

“Don’t get me wrong, watching you come up with new tactics that even our old pros never thought of definitely gets my motor running too. It’s just, well, watching your face when you punch someone else’s is ever better.”

“You are quite possibly the most insane man I have ever met. Taking the shot.”

Obito braces, checking the screen on the laptop sitting open next to them. Their target is at the head of the room in a building across the street, standing atop a tall dais as he gives a speech to a bunch of people who aren’t even aware of how badly he’s pissed off the wrong people. A moment later they find out in the bluntest possible way. Shimura Danzo’s brain is the same color as anyone else’s splattered across the floor and Obito kind of takes exception to that. Evil brains should be a different color, in his opinion. Black, maybe, for the darkness in their souls.

“Shot taken,” he murmurs in to the com attached to his ear. “Target eliminated.”

“Come on home, kids,” Kakashi’s lazy voice murmurs back. Sakura nods to herself in satisfaction and begins to meticulously dismantle her weapon. They’ll need to be able to slip out of the building and look entirely inconspicuous while doing it, which means no obvious weaponry hanging from their persons.

By the time they slip out of the ceiling and drop in to the hallway with the disabled security cameras, neither of them look like anything more than tech nerds arguing about which coding language is better for writing phone apps. Of all the people they pass in the hallways, not a single one gives them a second look. Obito shifts the laptop holding government secrets and reaches in to his pocket, pulling out a glittery purple pen. He waves it in Sakura’s face with a smile.

“So how much would it take for you to let me come with you to the gym some time?”

“Why, so I can grind your face in to the floor in the ring?” She murmurs back, keeping her voice low. The shapeless sweater she’s wearing neatly conceals her muscles from onlookers but both her and her partner know what’s under there.

“Oh god, yes please!”

“You are so weird.” Despite her words, Sakura is smiling as she shakes her head.

Once they’re out on the street, Obito leads the way back toward the nondescript van that’s been left for them by another ANBU operative. He makes a show of handing her up in to the passenger seat before all but skipping back over to his own side.

“Is anyone watching the traffic cameras?” He asks. Kakashi’s disembodied voice hums in his ear.

“Yeah they’re on in the background. To be honest my book is more interesting.”

“Do your job, Bakashi!” Obito huffs. “Useless lout. Anyone paying us any extra attention?”

“Nah, you’re fine.”

Grumbling under his breath about lazy, no good team captains who make everyone else do the work, Obito revs the engine of their van and pulls away from the curb. Sakura retrieves the laptop to look into their next job. Always looking forward, that one.

“So, you never answered my question.”

“Didn’t I?” Sakura relies absently. “I probably tuned you out. I do that a lot when you start talking.”

“Gym date?”

The sound she makes is somewhere between a laugh and a sigh but it has a distinct note of surrender in it. “You can sit on the sidelines and watch, lover boy. Maybe if you’re extra good I’ll throw you around the mat for a while.”

“It would be my infinite pleasure. Er, where’s your gym?”

“Here, I’ll write down the address for you – and the time, so you won’t be late. If you’re late I’ll lock you out.”

soulmates au

“It’s definitely the same mark.”

“No, I don’t believe so. That’s not how this works.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, do you have some sort of mystic soul book that told you otherwise?”

“It’s soulmate, Obito. As in just one soulmate. Singular.”

“Is that so?” the dark haired man sneered. “Then explain this!”

Sakura yelped when Obito snatched her wrist and held it tightly alongside his own so Kakashi could examine the markings in their skin. Quietly, her former sensei leaned in for a closer look, eyes narrowed in careful scrutiny. Sakura stared at the marks, too. They were identical beyond doubt.

“Nah,” Kakashi said at length.

Obito groaned, “For fuck’s sake, Kakashi.”

“I just don’t think they’re the same.”

“Are you fuckin’ blind?” Obito snatched at Kakashi’s hand the same way he had Sakura’s, capturing his old teammate’s wrist with surprising dexterity.

“Yank his glove off, Sakura. I’m out of hands.”

Wordlessly, Sakura did as she was told and peeled away the kevlar fiber glove. Kakashi didn’t protest much and despite knowing what she would find, Sakura gasped anyway. His mark was the same as her own, the same as Obito’s. They all matched, all three identical and binding. Kakashi made an odd noise somewhere in the back of his throat, half whimper and half sigh, and pulled free of Obito’s grip.

Sakura threw a flower onto the water, watching it swirl and slowly sink into riverbed. “Goodbye, love. I’ll miss you,” she said.

“Sage damnit, I’m not dead.” Obito sulked.

“I still hear you sometimes,” she said with a sniff.

“Stop writing me off! I said I’m sorry already!” Obito pulled her into his arm. “I”m sorry I’m scared you, okay?”

She turned her face from him, throwing another flower into the river. 

“Sakkkuuuurrraaa,” he whined. “I solemnly promise that I will not try to block any blows for you unnecessarily again. Especially if it might cause me to almost die.”

She sniffed, pressing her face into his chest. “Promise?”

“Promise. You can castrate me if I do it again.”

Sakura wrapped her arms around him and Obito hugged her tightly, pressing a kiss into her hair. “I won’t castrate you. I’ll miss that part too much. But if you do it again, I’ll ask Kakashi-sensei to make you do three months of D ranks and morning workouts with Gai. You understand?” she asked, poking into his sternum hard. 

Obito winced both at her words and her poke. “Yes ma’am. I understand.”

“Good, now carry me home my silly shinobi.”

“Ma’am, yes ma’am!”

A/N: I was going to write a soulmate au on this and wax poetic on angst but eh… I thought it’d be more fun to make it funny… (funnier)

I hope you like it, m’dear!!

Send me a prompt

Summer had yet to arrive in Konoha, but the heat was already skyrocketing above normal temperatures. Sakura had been clad in only a tank top and what could barely pass as a pair of shorts when Obito had arrived with popsicles. What had started as a sweet treat quickly devolved into using them to cool spots all over each other’s bodies and then licking the fruity remnants away. Of course, that only served to make each other hot again, and the only way to extinguish those flames was to give in to them.

When Kakashi showed up later that afternoon, he was only slightly exasperated to find them in Sakura’s bedroom. They were sprawled out on her bed - Obito in only his boxer briefs and Sakura in his T-shirt.

“How the actual hell did you manage to cause this much trouble in 5 minutes?!”

To be fair, this was Team 7 he was asking, but looking around the training field, even Obito had to take pause.

“Hn” Scorch marks and still burning shrubs littered the area, kunai and ninja wire still strung and scattered about between trees.

“Oh, hey Obito! I totally kicked the bastards ass, Believe it!“ Broken trees scattered the area, some little more than twigs while others looked as if they’d been thrown clear across the field, roots and all still intact.

“Did you get lunch while you were looking for Kakashi-sensei?“ Speaking of the field, the only part that looked to still be intact was the area they were seated in- Sakura sprawled out between the two boys, all of them dusty and sweat covered yet looking silently smug as if they’d done no wrong in tearing this place to pieces.

“Just…how???How did you manage this?? I didn’t even hear anything and i was just- Just over there….“

Monsters. 

Kakashi had raised monsters.

“Come on over, Kakashi won’t be here for another hour or two yet so you might as well make yourself comfortable.“ Sakura invited, waving him over as her teammates (the blonde in particular) made a show of groaning and muttering to themselves, ignoring her sharp look.

Alright, so he probably deserved that- the two did know about his not so innocent interest in the pinkette.

She was cute, and kind, and invited him over for dinner every other day once she’d seen how much takeout he lived on these days…

And yes, okay so that did mean he was intruding on ‘Team Dinners’- he just hadn’t thought the others would be so put out by it…

…maybe it was the flirting…

Okay, yeah it was. He wasn’t even smooth about it- it was like he was a kid all over again and couldn’t even form a coherent sentence when she smiled at him like she currently was.

“A-alright, but you three are-“

A kunai lightly grazed his cheek as he took a step forward, the hidden wire under his foot snapping up and sending him flying as he was strung upside down, swinging lightly from side to side as he flailed about in embarrassment, only just catching a glimpse of Kakashi seated in the tree above him, smug satisfaction seeming to radiate from the man as he flipped another page in his book.

“Yo”

“I think–” he says, then stops. He looks toward the back of the cave, face wan in the pre-dawn light. “If you could start all over again,” he starts again, very soft, “would you?”

There is blood lingering in the lines of Sakura’s palms. She has not been fully clean in a long time. It would have been hell on Kakashi’s nose, she notes distantly. It had been, back when there were more of them, when they felt safest clumped together, when there were enough of them to clump together.

“Yes,” she replies, just as soft. “I would make it better.”

Obito is bored (so bored) and currently The Plan is running well without his supervision (so bored) and so he decides to take some time out of his life to go glare at Kakashi from behind some bushes. The asshole always twitches and spends the next several months paranoid, checking behind his shower curtain and throwing kunai at squirrels. It’s excellent.

So Obito moseys over to Wave where apparently some would-be dictator shipping magnate is having some Konoha nin difficulty.

Only to find out that some idiot put Kakashi in charge of a genin team??

Obito decides to hang around to watch what is surely to be a disaster. And, yeah, sure enough. Blood and tears.

And, like, it’s not like Obito particularly likes watching Kakashi be useless at something. (Yeah, who’s he trying to kid, he adores it.)

He just. Wow. Feels really bad for the girl.

She reminds him Rin. Sort of.

No.

Not really.

Not at all.

But he thinks that maybe the superficial resemblance is why Kakashi can’t even look her in the eye.

And. Look. The kid’s obviously got promise: tree-walking on the first try?

It’d be a shame if the asshole ruined her. (Like he ruined Rin.)

So, y’know.

Obito is really doing her a service when he kidnaps her.

(Kidnap is a harsh word.)