𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨

not only that but the main male characters actively dislike the women they’ve been paired off with. shikamaru is into temari but his infinite dream is not having to marry her. sai ends up with ino despite finding her ugly. naruto thinks hinata is weird and boring. sasuke’s dislike of sakura is infamous.

adult men’s interest in women is seen as comical and alien. (reactions to the sexy jutsu, jiraiya harassing women). almost all of the adult men are perpetual bachelors or sex perverts (and those who aren’t are stand ins for “mom and dad”).

when boys actually do like girls, it’s to show goofy immaturity and innocence (naruto’s crush on sakura that he grows out of as he reaches maturity, lee’s crush which is dropped entirely, obitos crush on rin which lasts into adulthood just to show he isn’t entirely separate from the boy he once was)

the whole ninja society likes to imagine it is a mostly gender blind world where women can thrive but this is SO obviously untrue. women are almost always healers and support. women make up less than 1/3 of the ninjas even at genin level. girls are almost all desperate to become wives and earn the attention of boys who don’t even like them!

mikoto uchiha was a jonin and presumably directly descended from the uchiha line (based on characters commenting that she/sasuke look just like izuna uchiha), but we only ever see her retired and raising her sons while her husband gets to be clan leader. (why?? if he married into the main family and she is an extremely capable ninja??)

similarly kushina uzumaki is borderline royalty and a jinchuriki, but her husband is hokage. once again the mother carries on the burden of power (for her sons to inherit) but the father has the title and status.

even the backstory of ninja enforces this. kaguya literally ate the forbidden fruit, giving the gift of chakra to all of humanity but also dooming them to fight for eternity. literally womens original sin …

It was not Konoha's mind scrapers, thank goodness. But Yashamaru would recognize traditional Sunan clothes anywhere. He had enough presence of mind to lift himself off the floor and the dirt, just enough to sit at attention. And with a low bow, he greeted, "Kazekage-sama."

Yasha let himself get a closer look at the new Kazekage. She was much smaller than Rasa but carried with her the same intimidating face that all the Kage before her had. And yet--- Yashamaru blinked. And it was a face that reminded him so much of---

He hasn't thought of Karura in years. A tear had built up in his eye and fallen before he could blink it away.

"It must have been a long journey," Yasha said, barely above a whisper. "All the way from Sunagakure."

maybe temari should’ve come in with her.

tears immediately bloomed and rolled down her cheeks, she wiped them with the hilt of her palm. it felt like she was a child again, her muscles physically tensed as if she were feeling all of the loneliness and confusion, then the betrayal and abandonment of the only adult who seemed to care about the monster child, the curse of sunagakure.

it was an intensity of emotion she grew familiar handling through her life, and immeasurably easier after shukaku’s extraction. but this circumstance was uniquely evoking.

“uncle.”

headcanons and honestly just me posting a lot of pictures from a fav artist below the cut

Yashamaru lay where the Konoha-nin dropped him, like someone's forgotten doll gathering mothballs at the back of the closet. He figured that this was one of Konoha's deeper dungeons, the humid heat rising from the ground. Chakra-blocking seals kept his hands together, and snaked up his arms-- thorns digging into his chakra system.

At a distance, he could hear the light pitter patter of footsteps. Yasha-ji, a familiar voice called out, why is it so dark?

Cuz debts are due, and it was time to pay up.

Yashamaru figured that Rasa bit the bucket by now--- and beat Yasha to it, that bastard. At least, the old Kazekage let him be for a precious few years. But like all good things, Yashamaru didn't deserve it. He imagined all sorts of scenery in the darkness; imagined himself walking through the wrong coastal towns, old missions, Amegakure, somewhere in Kiri. Anything to throw off Konoha's blonde mindscrapers-- they're bound to come for him soon enough.

Yasha-ji, a little Gaara called again from the darkness. Where are you hiding! They might find you!

she and temari exchanged a few more words, temari holding lines in her brows and lips. the anbu released a seal and the door in front of them opened.

her gourd rattled a heavy percussion, hanging fabrics swayed with each sure step down the stairs. blocking the stray light above the kazekage. she unhooked the embroidered kazekage scarf covering the bottom half of her face, letting it dangle with the other fabrics of utility and decoration. the brittle, fragile look of her frame did little to detract from a sense of menacing cruelty of her presence. dead edge eyes betraying the tenderness she viciously regrew within.