tricksie

Posted a new story. Angsty NaruSaku.  

 

Shattered Bonds

I hate, hate, hate the new character filter. Instead of getting just straight Naruto/Sakura, you get any combination of Naruto/Sakura/someoneelse/someoneelse.  For instance, I'm filtering for Naruto and Sakura, but since they automatically fill in the other two blanks, I get stories back with Naru/Sasu, NH, Gaara/Saku, etc.

 

That's right, Sasu/Naru yaoi on the NS filter. I don't care about the yaoi. Just that it's a useless filter if there's no way it can be isolated to a main pairing, like most of the people on ff are looking for. It just makes it impossible for anyone to search for their chosen pairing.

Liu Bie also asked if there were any shonen manga characters that ever cheated or had been cheated on. Any thoughts on that one?

 

(Curious, because that would make the shonen manga focus on romantic relationships and from what I've seen they generally don't go that deep. There's a main love and competition for being the main love, but cheating makes things messy.)

Nah. Sakura and Naruto both are pretty one-track minded characters. More than just about anyone else in the series. Save for Lee. Others have spurts of it (like Shikamaru seeking vengeance for Asuma's death), but then they go back to their own immediate concerns.

 

To have an affair means you want something that in conflict with another thing you also want. Neither Sakura nor Naruto would ever accept living with a conflict over wanting two things. They'd decide what they wanted and pursue it, or decide to live without it forever.

I think people can ship different pairings for reasons other than the original media or character presentation.

 

For instance, I've not ever thought much of an SS pairing from what was in the manga, but then I read an awesome SS fanfic, where Sasuke was a little more involved and Naruto is a little more of a goof. The interaction between SS was pretty steamy. And I liked Sasuke's character more than I ever did in the manga. (He wasn't more likeable, there was just more reason/justification for his actions.) So in that environment, SS worked and worked well. After that I could see why people liked the idea of it. (Of course, I don't think it will be the end pairing. And I never have.)

 

Same thing with Zutara. Read a great fanfic and came to appreciate the characters more. Especially Zuko. Again, not ever going to be the main ship. But it's like a guilty pleasure I guess.

 

Anyway SK is different than these two examples because it doesn't take away from the main NS pairing, in fact it complements it in a way. The same way that Hinata pairing up with say Kiba would. It takes the competition away from the main pairing in the manga.

 

If Sasuke was ever going to turn good/redeemable, Karin would be the most likely ship. 

Yes, sakutonaru was kind enough to post some rules in the first post of the thread, so please adhere to them. This thread was made by request for NS fans to discuss a specific side ship. Not debate. There is a big difference. Please keep the posts on topic and within the rules. Thanks.

Think this whole thing is a tragedy.

 

And at the end of the day Zimmerman still has an unarmed teenager's blood on his hands. And that's not an emotional plea or some sort of manipulation by media outlets. 

 

When Zimmerman put a loaded gun in his car, he decided that he was ready and willing to kill someone. When he got out of the car, not heeding poice requests to wait, and took the gun with him, he was making the choice to kill someone. When he approached Trayvon Martin, gun in hand, he was making the choice to instigate a confrontation that could result in his needing to use that weapon. Even when Martin fought back, Zimmerman still didn't have to shoot. He could have taken the beating, knowing the cops were on the way. 

 

Instead, he used his gun, his trump card. The term "spoiling for a fight" comes to mind. As the instigator, Zimmerman had the greater responsibility to self control. Not Martin.

 

While you can point fingers at a media circus, I prefer to look at the interviews with Zimmerman himself, where he said that the shooting was God's will and he wouldn't have done anything differently. He clarified later, saying that he misheard the question, then apologized to anyone and everyone, and wished he hadn't done it. But, just as on the night he shot Martin, the first response was aggression and defensiveness. If only he had taken time to "clarify" his thoughts that sitting in the car that night, maybe he would have realized how precious any life is before he decided an armed confrontation was his only choice.

 

At the end, the verdict is simply a footnote to a tragedy. It doesn't change anything. Martin is still dead, and Zimmerman will forever be his killer. That's his life sentence.

Love the pink!!

I wish Minato still looked like Minato. I'm not crazy about the Minato-as-Naruto look. I like him looking like Naruto's dad, not as some powerful cohort of Naruto's.

I love this show. This and Game of Thrones. Love. Love. Love.

How about no?

Given that a good 13 pages are nothing, but ragging on Hinata (and mostly nothing to do with the chapter), I figure this was a change of pace. I could just make it its own thread, but I rather put it here cause it discusses the writing style of the manga itself including up to this chapter. Take that as you will.

How about yes. A mod tells you to stop posting about SS/NH and their fandoms...and what do you do? Post about SS/NH and their fandoms!?!
 
Let me repost what Sakura Blossoms said. Read it carefully:

 

NO MORE NaruHina/SasuSaku discussions IN CHAPTER THREADS.
 
Absolutely NONE.

 

Your post is not a 'change of pace.' It specifically goes against what Sakura posted. At the very least the NS Debate thread would have been a more appropriate area. If a mod tells you not to post this here, then DO NOT DO IT!

 

As for clarifying, the mods are working on it right now. There is a line between discussion and bashing, and we will be making the rules clearer. More discussion about this should live in the Q&A thread, and the mods will post there as we sort this out.

100%. Not happy about the path of Sakura's development (wish there was more, I mean) but I don't doubt NS at all.

Well, I can't speak for other authors, but I've been incredibly busy lately. Writing falls to the back-burner when that happens.

However, I'm writing today! Hooray!

And I have some new fics coming, but I want to have it mostly done before I start posting (so I can post at a regular schedule, even when life gets hectic). Anyway, like I said, can't speak for other authors, but I am writing, just saving it up. So it's like a trade off. A longer wait, but more consistent updates.

I have wondered though about the recent slowdown in NS events (and the surge in NH ones) and if that slows down the momentum of the fanfics. Like is NH pairing experiencing a boost in stories right now?

I would expect it to be the opposite, that shippers would turn to ff when their pairing is lagging, but maybe it's the opposite. Or rather, maybe the readers are there but the writers aren't motivated. *shrugs*

It's interesting that Sakura and Hinata have swapped places in the course of the manga. Sakura going from long to short; Hinata from short to long.

In rl, longer hair takes more care and more time (obvious, I know). And having long hair suggests you have a lifestyle to support having time to fool with it. And that's why so many women cut their hair shorter and shorter as they age. (I'm a long-hair girl...and I don't have a lifestyle to support it! )

So with Sakura, cutting her hair because it didn't suit her lifestyle as a ninja was a big part of her story. Huge, actually. And once she made the leap to ninja over silly school girl, she never went back. Her hair stayed short.

Hinata's went the opposite way, however. There's no reason given as to why her hair was so fashionably short in the first place. And there's no reason given why she grew it long after the chuunins.

It is strange that she had such short hair in a clan of predominantly long-haired men. So in some ways, maybe Hinata's hair growth is a sign of her coming into her own and breaking away from a look that was forced on her as a child. And ironically, having longer hair makes her fit in more with her fighting clan members.

So maybe her long hair was a sign of her commitment to her shinobi family, like Sakura's short hair was a sign of her commitment to her shinobi life.

Anyway, interesting to think about.

NaruHina is fairytale love, as is SasuSaku. Both are one sided, where the girl never develops, never truly personally evolves. She just endures some hardships and is awarded the affections of the guy who finally turns his head and looks at her. Think Cinderella, who waits for the prince to acknowledge her because she is a kind, sweet person and worthy of his love.

NaruSaku is more a realistic love. Both sides work hard, both evolve and support the other's change, and both recognize the other as partners or equals. Think Cinderella, who stands up for herself, kicks the stepsisters out, throw her own ball and chooses the man of her dreams.