#stratxgically

He almost shushed him, he almost shushed Nara Shikaku, but was halted by a simple thing like logic. That would get him kicked off the property and possibly tangled in shadows. Neji preferred to maintain control over his own body. The Hyuuga bowed, though not as deeply as he would be expected to bow to his uncle. “I was hoping you wouldn’t see me,” hence why he hadn’t entered through the front door. “I was just...looking at the shogi board. For...Shikamaru...” he lied, though he immediately realized it was a ridiculous lie. 

    unlike the boruto era’s depiction of ino yamanaka, my portrayal of her keeps the representation of ino during the blank period / the last era.

    with the death of her father during the great shinobi war, the traditional yamanaka styled ponytail she had worn since her early teens had since been retired in his honor and memory. both ino and inoichi would brush and tie up one another’s hair after their morning routines, from childhood in the academy to adulthood missions, and she can’t bring herself to do it without him anymore.

kakashi stares dubiously at the crab. it’s the size of a large man, watching him right back with its weird crabby eyes as it polishes water stains off a glass behind the bar.

“alright, hatake-san?” the crab asks. kakashi twitches, and its mouth moves.

maybe he should’ve just gone home, after debriefing. not to the bar. at least nara’s here. he’s clever and loyal. if nara says the crab… is, well. if nara is telling him to stand down, he’ll stand down.

they walk out, and kakashi ignores the tiger in the potted plant. the bamboo in the painting rustles as they pass. distantly, kakashi thinks, ‘drug interactions are a hellova drug.’ it’s not genjutsu. he hasn’t actually slept in four days; brief fits of rest doesn’t count.