Tobirama Toothpick Holder. Imagine It With Me.

tobirama toothpick holder. imagine it with me.

Hour #8: the Botan Dōrō

Summary:

Izuna visited Tobirama at night, with a red botanical lantern in his hand.

Author: greenchair (@greencuttingmat) Rating: Teen And Up Fandom: Naruto Relationship: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Izuna Other Tags: Major Character Death, non-con, Ghost Bride, ghost wedding, ghost, Izuna was already dead, forced marriage, hence the non-con, ghost, Japanese mythology Word Count: 1,958

The cicadas cried through the night. They screamed for love and the end of their life. Inside the house, Tobirama was calmly writing letters to the Daimyo. The summer this year was particularly harsh, and he foresaw a freezing winter, so he would like to <s>beg</s> haggle for a better deal. He would prefer to finish the letter quickly and then get some sleep before tomorrow's battle with the Uchiha. He would need all of his focus to fight Izuna.

Suddenly, from the periphery of his sight, he saw a light shining behind the shoji door to the garden.

"Excuse me," said a man with a voice so familiar and yet so impossible to be here. They had never met in their on the grounds of either clan. It would have been too treacherous, too bold.

<i>What were the guards doing?</i>

Tobirama pulled out a kunai, but he didn't open the door. He didn't feel any killing intent, or anything at all from the other person. <i> Was it a genjutsu?</i>

"If you won't open the door, I will come in myself." The other person announced.

Tobirama created a bunshin to stand in his place while he hid in the ceiling.

The door slid open and the person outside walked in. His steps were silent as if he was tiptoeing. His heels were covered by his long mantle. The mantle was not buttoned, just closed from the wrong side. And his face was shadowed by the light of the large lantern, as red as the spring peony.

It was Izuna.

"Tsk tsk tsk. Don't hide, Tobirama. What are you afraid of?" He said, walking right onto the kunai. Tobirama's clone would have moved away, but it was frozen in place.

Red blood bled like a wave and soaked his mantle. It was where Tobirama had last stabbed him.

Izuna smiled and looked right into the eyes of the real Tobirama.

And then Tobirama felt warm like he was sunbathing. He blinked. In front of his eyes were his brushes. He had fallen asleep on his desk and the evening sun casted shadows into the room.

There was no Izuna.

Read the rest on AO3.

"The best thing we can do with power is give it away" - On the leftist critique of superhero narratives as authoritarian power fantasies:

The ongoing "Jason Todd is a cop" debate has reminded me of a brilliant brief image essay by Joey deVilla. So here it is, images first and the full essay text below:

"A common leftist critique of superhero comics is that they are inherently anti-collectivist, being about small groups of individuals who hold all the power, and the wisdom to wield that power. I don’t disagree with this reading. I don’t think it’s inaccurate. Superheroes are their own ruling class, the concept of the übermensch writ large. But it’s a sterile reading. It examines superhero comics as a cold text, and ignores something that I believe in fundamental, especially to superhero storytelling: the way people engage with text. Not what it says, but how it is read. The average comic reader doesn’t fantasize about being a civilian in a world of superheroes, they fantasize about being a superhero. One could charitably chalk this up to a lust for power, except for one fact… The fantasy is almost always the act of helping people. Helping the vulnerable, with no reward promised in return. Being a century into the genre, we’ve seen countless subversions and deconstructions of the story. But at its core, the superhero myth is about using the gifts you’ve been given to enrich the people around you, never asking for payment, never advancing an ulterior motive. We should (and do) spend time nitpicking these fantasies, examining their unintended consequences, their hypocrisies. But it’s worth acknowledging that the most eduring childhood fantasy of the last hundred years hasn’t been to become rich. Superheroes come from every class (don’t let the MCU fool you). The most enduring fantasy is to become powerful enough to take the weak under your own wing. To give, without needing to take. So yes, the superhero myth, as a text, isn’t collectivist. But that’s not why we keep coming back to it. That’s not why children read it. We keep coming back to it to learn one simple lesson… The best thing we can do with power IS GIVE IT AWAY." - Joey deVilla, 2021 https://www.joeydevilla.com/2021/07/04/happy-independence-day-superhero-style/

GIGANTIC SHOUTOUT to @meeceisme whose freaking incredible Lilo&Stitch!founders comics (here and here) compelled me to draw this (I NEEDED to see the crayon drawing of Stitch!Madara, and then I desperately needed to see Tobirama add his peer review).

anyway... this is canon, right?

IT BEGINS