RE: What You Want To Read
nixofcyzerra said:
Today I was thinking about the concept of "Kayfabe," and how a similar sort of thing could apply to Naruto Shinobi.
The idea of a public persona, or a persona that they assume in fights, appeals to me, as I've always thought that Shinobi should be like Swans when they fight: on the surface appear to be gliding/moving serenely, but when you look underneath (or under the underneath,) you find that they're "peddling furiously."
I want to see more fics with stuff like that, where Naruto/Kakashi/Jiraiya/Itachi (especially Itachi) go through a fight appearing all effortless and oh-so-cool, only for them to later reveal that they were fighting "almost all-out" and working their tails off.
For some reason I'm reminded of this whacky notion I had for an interesting spin on the match up genre.
Naruto is Naruto as far as everyone is concerned; But there's an underside. I say underside, cause he isn't dark or shit. See, he has to survive, and he long since came to the conclusion he wasn't going to get a hand out, or a fair deal, so he does what he has to do to survive and turns to a life of crime on the sly.
The whole concept was Naruto, or his alias the 'Cat Burglar (Insert snazzy title here)' being chased by a purple headed ANBU for *years*. It all started when Naruto decided to leave a calling card in his robberies (Something that links to said snazzy title) and said ANBU being assigned to investigate. It's just a job at first to the ANBU, but as more time goes on it starts to become a bit of a challenging obsession.
Slow build up, as you run through investigations but they never catch the criminal. Naruto finds out later(After years of being a burglar) that a particular ANBU has been tracking him from the beginning, so he turns it around and begins to 'enjoy' the ANBU who apparently recognizes him enough that they just won't let him go. A game of cat and mouse ensues, back and forths as Naruto tempts and taunts her with the truth of who he is, but the ANBU never really put the picture together.
Naruto (His true self, the lovable idiot) meanwhile makes 'friends' with this ANBU and her sick boyfriend, or as close as he can considering he's just a kid, but it let's him get close and observe the woman. Develops a halfway sisterly/half way annoying boy-next-door relationship. While the relationship between Yuugao and his criminal alter-ego develops a short of half hate/love/challenging relationship. Thinking a very nior type feel for some reason.
So a good bit is a build up of a normal relationship and such. Only for the Chuunin exams to roll around, and then Hayate bites the dust. And Suddenly Yuugao finds the criminal she's been chasing has sworn to find her lovers killer. See, Naruto himself recognizes Yuugao and Hayate as precious/people who acknowledge him (Either his true self, or his alter ego) and he'll be damned to see them get away with hurting em.
Years roll by, Yuugao discovers the criminal alter-ego has expanded beyond Konoha (Naruto *is* traveling with Jiraiya at this point) and is, of course, determined to find the guy. Since Hayates death she threw herself into her work, and her obsession to solve this case just gets pumped to the 23rd power.
Eventually it all boils down to Naruto (His Alter Ego) giving Yuugao a choice. She can take what's in the file to the left, within is the information on Hayate's killer, their where abouts, information and such, allowing her to get the revenge she always craved. Or she can take the information in the right folder, which will lead her to the true identity of the criminal she's been chasing for years.
I'm probably not explaining it right or anything. As far as the world goes, it's all canon crap, but you never touch on it very much. The idea itself required the story to be primarily about the game of cat and mouse between Yuugao and Naruto's criminal alter ego. Bah, think I need to just stop and go find some coffee