tricksie

New chapter is up for Voice in the Wind. Ch 51 - Perfect Vessels Lowkey Sasori/Sakura. It's my take on how Sasori should have been obsessed with Sakura. 

ohmygosh what an adorable manga update!! Soooooooo cute! And a chapter update! Arg, I'm so behind on everything! Can't wait to read it!

Happy New Year everyone!!! xoxo

Itachi realizing his father would not backdown and his plan was insane went ahead with the massacre.

 

Just to make sure I answered your post. We don't know how strong he was he was considered to be one of the stronger ninja in the village just like a lot Naruto's friends' parents were as most were clan heads as well. Though it was implied that Minato was stronger then all of them. He was never offered nor nominated as hokage which was part of his resentment. He never fought on screen and even refused to fight his son. He had a basic MS which would allow him to control Kurama though I doubt for long either due to him going blind or someone killing him. Itachi didn't want to kill his father and only went against him once he felt he had no choice. He did sweat when Fugaku revealed his plan but I still think it was because how crazy it was and him realizing he was going to have to do the massacre.

Bail, amazing post - thanks for breaking it all down. I never read the light novels, just some bits and pieces posted online. 

Even with all that, I still get suck on Itachi killing his best friend and lover first. Basically, Itachi had to kill the part of himself that was possibly decent to go on and commit the massacre. Let's face it - the Uchiha were all just crazy pants.

 

All of this also reminds me too of how Danzo is to blame for a lot of tragedy as well as Madara (be it directly or through Obito) that befalls the Leaf Village after Obito unleashed Kurama. Like how Danzo spilled that Naruto is Kurama's Jinchuriki in the hopes he could ostracize him and be able to then use the experiments Orochimaru did to him with the Sharingan and Senju DNA to be able to control Kurama (which didn't help too with how Hiruzen seemed like he blamed Naruto for his wife dying when she acted as Kushina's midwife as well as how angry the villagers were, especially to an innocent kid). As for the Uchiha, Madara only did what he did and through Obito as revenge for the Uchiha turning their back on him, plus what Tobirama did as 2nd Hokage, even with his good intentions, was done because of resentment from the years of war the Senju and Uchiha had, and how he was likely too afraid of actual peace.

Yes - Danzo is the worst! He's such a bad dude, and I wish it got played up a little more. I wish it was carried through till the end, like just when you think it's all over maybe forcing he and Tsunade to fight for the future of Konoha, cause he's been pulling the strings all along.

Also, Bryon, your comment reminds me how many of the kids had crappy childhoods, marred by death, and that they were then used to fight their parents' battles. Obito twisted by Madara, Naruto forced into being the kyuubi vessel, etc. etc. 

Byron, I felt the same way too with my works, in which I was suppose to start this year but I was busy with real life and work. I really want to bring forth my OC's Natsumi and my way of bringing back Naruto to his original self and the franchise's roots, with a spoiler:

Derock's works

erasing Boruto stuff off the map for a time reset to a certain point. 

 

Squeeze in time to write it, when you can! We need some back-to-roots Naruto!

 

This could've been the perfect story, aaah! T_T

 

Also for the story, needless to say I am doing the same with Kaika.

 

I have a background created that goes beyond even the era of the Sage of Six Paths, actually, lol.

 

I created bg for Senju, Uchiha, Uzumakis, Haruno, Hyuga etc. And they all fit nicely because guess what? I GIVE A DAMN about these characters.

Even for those that I didn't particularly favor, like Hinata's cuz omg what she ended-up representing.

 

But that doesn't mean girl should receive some proper love and characterization.

I am here for allllll your background and character development!!

 

Exactly how I feel too with the story, Chatte! I've been working with my co-creator, Kurt who is a friend of mine from our days in high school and who is one of my best friends, and we've tried to make sure we do come up with some good ideas with how to make things our way and how to make sure we can also be able to tell some great stories too with TDW.

 

Some of the background I've been working on especially has been tied to not just the Sage of Six Paths/Hagoromo and his brother Homura and what their descendants would do, but also about their abilities and things like that as well as the way the many clans each of the villages, not just the Five Great Villages, have to offer, and what it plays into the story itself.

Okay, so this is what I love about Naruto. The Naruto world is so big that there are so many different aspects you can write about. I am not digging too deeply into the Sage storyline, so I looove knowing that you guys are diving into it. Cause I want to read it!!!!

But I love that you can write about so many different parts of the world and still have a great NS-centric story. It could focus on the reincarnation stuff...still end in NS. It could focus on the wars between the villages/shinobi world...still end in NS. It could totally be AU...still end in NS. 

I think the fanfics and fan creations (like our beloved NS zine!), far outshine the manga at this point!!

 

asdjaidhasfha coming from you this makes me so happy, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!  thank yooou! 

 

 

Well Kishi isn't the one designing Boruto, is that dude Ikemoto or what's his name.

 

And yes, I was like wait a minute, since everyone & their mamma write an AU that they want, why shouldn't I? So I started doing it, lol.

 

As for the pairings, well, they are under the radar cuz in order to properly develop NS I gotta first properly deal with the NH and SS. 

 

I even had someone mentioning how they are so tired of this thing and i know it mustn't be easy, but I don't wanna be a cop-out like Kishi    

 

I want to treat all characters with the respect they deserve.

My feelings about NH and SS in fics is that it will just make the inevitable NS all that much sweeter!!   

I love it when the characters choose one another cause they are best for each other, despite each one having things in common with or even good relationships with other potential ships. That build up, overcoming obstacles, totally takes time.

Love that you are giving the NS its due! Yes way better than Kishi ever did!!!!

This is the kind of stuff I want to try to show focus on in my fanfic, to compensate for what wasn't done in canon and because I feel it would be a lot of fun to work on!

And it reminds us too how even editors beyond Mr. Yanagi and others besides Studio Pierrot never really had respect for Naruto as the main character or his story period to just focus on other stuff and putting it on Kishimoto when he was exhausted a lot of times and also hurting from loss, even if his inability to put his foot down didn't help.

That's why I feel working on The Demon Within is so important, even as I am scared to share it. The fact all this wasted potential is there and the "winners" of the NH community just don't care.

Yes! Keep working on it! When it's ready to share, it will feel right and you'll know it! 

There's so much story there that was just abandoned. Like more than I even realized at the end of the manga. But going back to write fanfic, and you start to question motivation and history of the characters, you see that there was so much that could have happened. And it would have been a much better series. Like FMA.

I think they kept adding new characters, and it distracted from the fact that they were no longer moving the plot forward. It no longer focused on anyone who started the story. 

So yeah - keep writing! Your fanfic needs to be out there, filling in the gaps in the story where they didn't care enough to do it!!

 

The Uzumaki/Whirlpool Village history, and refugees were suddenly gone because the editors wanted more Uchiha stuff, especially at the war, despite having a lot of information given to the audiences in the franchise's run. 

 

We were supposed to get Itachi's stories and Minato's via Gaiden materials but that just went off and gone because everyone was in NH-lovefest mode with the Last. 

 

There are too much potential down the drain here.

Being robbed of the Senju history was really disappointing — and then to have it be Sasuke the one who goes to the old clan compound. Which apparently Naruto didn't even know existed? Really makes Naruto looke like a chump for never connecting to his clan that way. And it also makes the rest of the village look really awful in raising him like he was an orphan...when the most powerful clan's compound was just sitting around, waiting for him!!

Like, what if this had happened to Sasuke instead? What if Itachi wiped out his clan when he was a baby...and he was raised as an orphan in the village, never knowing his clan was so powerful and never knowing that a giant, walled off area of Konoha belonged to him?

(This would actually make a good fanfic...if you cared about sasuke! lol)

Same with the Uzumaki - Naruto actually encounters red-haired Uzumaki descendants in Nagato and Karin. Both of them are redeemed and are important in the story until the very end, with Karin even being the parallel to Sakura as the Uzumaki that saves Sasuke. It would have been SO EASY to bring the connection full circle there. To explain how that lineage he never knew somehow supported him. 

But nope. *sigh*

The manga should have hinged on three storylines: one supporting Naruto and his background; one supporting Sasuke and his; and one about Sakura's journey inheriting the medical/healing chakra from the past. Each should have had struggles with how the past supported and failed them, and how they make the their inherited powers/skills better for the future. And with those unique innovations to their unique powers/skills, they end up saving each other, and as a group become more powerful as Team 7.

Naruto and Sasuke's powers should have been equally matched and in opposition to each other, and it should have been Sakura's unique powers that were able to bridge the gap and bring the two together. Thus the two rivals become more powerful when they are together than they were when they were separate.

All thanks to Sakura, who firmly establishes herself as the element that holds their team together (take that, haters), as was already hinted at by the circle on her back the whole dang time.

And then Naruto and Sakura fall in love.

In general, many plot elements and characters were wasted were wasted potential, because there was not enough forethought or focus on  theme. The clans that had significance to the plot were one such example. One instance is how Hashirama outshone all other members of the senju clan that you don't actually see what makes them so special in the first place, even Tobirama that was the inventor of most forbidden techniques. but those techniques were copied by so many and some even did his techniques so much better better such as Naruto with shadow clone, Minato with Flying Thunder God and even Kabuto took his Edo Tensei to its highest level to create a whole undead army that the so called second strongest Senju in history had his accomplishments seem as redundant. Uchiha were supposed to be Senju's equals but you don't see it and they are supposed to be masters of ninja weaponry, which is never expanded upon. They are supposed to be un paralleled in the the use of Fire Element ninjutsu but that is a mundane skill and again you don't see it. Sharingan lets them copy moves but copying others is a whole other set of writing problems so you don't see it utilized often. Not even Madra seemed to possess any special skill outside of his full powered mangekyo sharingan Point being, point being almost anything you can think of in the story was "wasted potential" because there was not much thought put into them except that they "sounded cool"

I could go on about the wasted potential for days. DAYS. lol.

Some of my biggest questions are:

What happened to Kushina's family and the rest of the Whirlpool refugees were supposed to have gone to Konoha? How does a child, who is apparently more powerful and equipped to be a bijuu host than any other shinobi in the Leaf, end up alone in a foreign village?

What is the connection between the Uzumaki refugees (like Nagato and Karin) to Naruto? (Of course, to know that, then you'd have to focus on Naruto's story. And we can't have that in a manga named after him. duh-doy.) 

What is the real history of Jiraiya, Orochimaru and Tsunade? Orochimaru was the Third's favorite student, and was also apparently a genius medic. Jiraiya was being trained to become Kage. And Tsunade...? She was a great medic and very powerful nin, but she left that all behind when she was young. So it is a very winding path that lead her back to being Kage, over the two teammates who were so much more favored by the Kage than she was.

— Also, those three are legit, well-known mythological characters in Japan. Would have liked to have had so much more based on their adventures, instead of more nonsense about the overpowered Uchihas.

Where are ALL the Senju? How are Minato and Kushina the most powerful people in the village, and apparently both orphans? So much so that when their son is left parent-less after they gave their lives to save the village, there is NO ONE who will take up for him. Especially not the Third - he leaves Naruto's care to Kakashi (another orphan), only after Narutuo is about 10-11. Where are the Senju clan or the Uzumaki refugees? 

And don't get me started on how the medic/chakra users power is handed down. So many straight-up chakra wielders like Sakura in the story, but everything revolves are the Uchiha, the Hyuuga, Nagato and anyone else with eye jutsus. Konan, Tsunade, Chiyo, Sasori, Orochimaru, Kabuto and Sakura — these are massive characters in the story. But their power takes a back seat to the sharingan. 

So. Much. Wasted. Potential.

New chapter up for Voice in the Wind! Chapter 49 - Master and Student

Big long chapter about Sakura's fight with Sasori. Basically my take on how it should have gone down. Things do not go the way you think....

love love love love love love love this!!!!!!

Preorders are open! 

Prepare yourselves for 80+ pages of art and writing with various NaruSaku stories based on fairy tales from around the world! This year we’re offering a variety of charms, stickers, postcards, and even a NaruSaku acrylic standee!

This is your chance not only to buy NaruSaku Zine 2020, but also NaruSaku Zine 2019 AND 2018! Get all the zines while you can!

okay...so how long have I been a fan of NS? like forever?!? yeah.... I swear I thought this was a fan made holiday. What was I thinking?

From the 2010 Shounen Jump Calendar: "April 3: The Day Naruto fell in love with Sakura-chan."

So... I have feelings about Sakura. lol-obviously!

I think it's too easy to see Sakura as just the 'normal one.' Even though she's definitely portrayed that way in the manga, over and over again. It's too simple of a description for her. I think she's got so much more going on, but it gets swept aside from her lack of backstory or evolution of character.

In fact, instead of finding her more normal, I just keep finding more and more ways that she and Naruto are alike!! Both are powerful but come from unknown backgrounds. Both are 'orphans' in their world: neither has family support/presence in their shinobi career. Both had minimal training to unlock their abilities, and both from the two least-teachery teachers of the Sennins (Jiraiya and Tsunade). They are both misfits in a way (Naruto is the class slacker, Sakura is bullied), till they find each other. Then of course, both grow together, have the same motivations, admire each other and never give up. 

It is shocking how perfectly suited they are to each other, for him to end up with Hinata who he has NOTHING in common with. 

Back on topic, since Sakura was billed as 'the normal one' of the group, it would make sense for her to be revealed at the end of having some ancient power. Perhaps even latent, which is why she a had non-ninja family. She doesn't have to be special like that, but it totally feels like it's being set up in the manga for that outcome. The normal girl turns out to have some ancient power in the end that saves the hero. (But of course, her growth in the story stops after the Pain arc. So we'll never know.)

I actually think Sakura has an untapped power that even she didn't know about (like Naruto growing up). She is so much more powerful than everyone else, even Tsunade. In that way she's never been a 'normal' girl even though she grew up in a normal home. She's always done twice as much as her team and all her other classmates, and then still outpaces Tsunade's abilities in the end. None of the other rookies does what she does.

Imagine if Lee, the closest comparison to her skills and journey, were to become a go through med-nin training at the same time as his shinobi training, come out and become a doctor and a top-notch ninja, then surpass Guy's abilities...and then surpass the Kage's sage level!! That's what Sakura does, and yet people still think she can't carry her own weight! 

So like I said, I think the normal girl set up would have been that much sweeter if she was revealed to have a more complex power/background in the end. But if that was the plan, we'll never know.

There is a whole medic storyline built into the manga. Chiyo was a medic. Tsunade was a medic. Orochimaru was a medic. Who taught them? There are clearly healer types and warrior types, using the same medic abilities. 

As for fanfic.... muwahahahaha! I have thoughts on this too! 

If you read my fic, Voice in the Wind, Sakura's story development is a major point....

Sakura has to uncover the origins of her own power. And that even though she thinks of herself as 'the normal one' on the team, she comes to realize that she's not. She's an 'odd one' just like the rest of her over-powered team. She discovers she has a hidden power that some people know about and can even see in her, while most people don't know. Which is exactly like Naruto's story. So she has to come to understand her unique chakra capabilites, with people who want to help her, or hurt her, or use her. Again, just like Naruto. 

The next chapter breaks all this open, so I'm not exactly spoiling the plot. Just giving a little preview! 

Anyway, love this thread! I could talk/read about this for days!!