"They called her lazy, apathetic, and amoral. They also said she was, by turns, too smart and too dumb. She liked to think she was funny. None of them were wrong." - Description
Of the River and the Sea
is a Naruto fanfic written by Aleycat4eva. Enter the story of Watanabe Ryuishi (Asian style, surname first) who is reborn into the Naruto Universe after dying as Cat Frank in the "real world". She isn't born into a nice place like Konoha, nor is she born into a nice time like the peace they show during the first part of canon. She is reborn into Kirigakura no Sato, just before the Third Shinobi World War. She is born as a child of a whore, during the height of the Bloody Mist. It only gets worse from then on.
Born into a horrible situation she does the only thing she can, runs with it. She's from a First World Country, used to modern necessities (read luxuries) and armed with the knowledge of Naruto canon. And she really, really wants to get home.
Songs gone Unsung is a collection of side stories by the same author.
Of the River and the Sea contains examples of:
- Big Sister Instinct: Cat Frank was devoted to her little sister, the family member Ryuishi now misses most. After leaving Kiri she has an urge to play "big sister" to kids she meets, and seems to associate them a lot with her lost sister.
- Blunt Metaphors Trauma: Zabuza's shishou attempts to give him The Talk, and does so badly that Zabuza (a very literal-minded nine year old ninja) briefly thinks that he might have gotten Ryuishi pregnant by stabbing her.
- Breather Episode: The two chapters where the team are on medical leave. First Ryuishi has to give Zabuza The Talk, then the boys teach her to access elemental chakra. This comes after their first time going to war, and before they're sent back to the frontlines.
- Crapsack World: Ryuishi believes that the Naruto universe is this. So she does something about it.
- Daughter Of A Whore: Ryuishi was born the child of a civilian prostitute in Kiri. She didn't follow in her footsteps, but she's kinda foul-mouthed and has No Sense of Personal Space.
- Naruto is a variant, as he was not born in a brothel but was sorta-adopted by the whores he was presented to by Ryuishi.
- Damsel in Distress: Ryuishi is subjected to this twice when she was captured by Kakashi and later on, Kisame, for their own purposes. While normally Ryuishi is the typical Damsel out of Distress, she was compromised on both accounts by her deteriorating mental and physical faculties.
- Deadly Graduation: Zabuza's Deadly Graduation is one of the defining events of the early arc; Ryuishi forgets that it's coming and fails to prevent it. She confronts him, they fight, and she nearly kills him... only to spare his life because she ultimately decides that as a child, he's not responsible for the slaughter, Kiri itself is. Subverted for Ryuishi herself: she's promoted to genin without killing any of her classmates, because her fight with Zabuza is considered impressive enough to justify giving her genin rank.
- Evil Mentor: Zabuza's teacher is one, although he never appears. Ryuishi believes that the man is hoping she'll die on the front lines, removing the main humanizing influence on Zabuza. Later, Orochimaru is this to Ryuishi, although she goes in knowing how bad he is.
- Fingore: Baki had his some of his fingers removed as punishment when Gaara and his siblings ditched him to go and find Ryuishi.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Ryuishi strikes up a friendship with Kakashi, even though she's a missing-nin and he's a loyal Konoha shinobi. She manages to frame it to him as intelligence gathering, but he definitely comes to care for her over time.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: This is the second half of Ryuishi's genjustu's and why they are so terrifying. After a few seconds in one the victim is dragged into the Void and experiences the total loss of all senses. It's bad enough that even Orochimaru is haunted by the experience.
- Hero-Worshipper: Hanako is almost religiously devoted to Ryuishi. Strike the "almost". By the time they're adults, she's basically Ryuishi's high priestess.
- Imagine Spot: The "omake" of the three children's dreams for the future. Zabuza wants to be Kage with Ryuishi as his assistant, Kisame wants to be a respected and well-liked member of the Seven Swordsmen (and for Ryuishi to retire but continue to support him emotionally), and Ryuishi herself wants to leave Kiri far behind and live on a beach. She's the only one to achieve her goal.
- I Will Find You: When Ryuishi deserts Kiri, Kisame promises himself that he'll find her, either to kill her or to get answers. Actually, Zabuza finds her first.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Kisame and Zabuza to Ryuishi, during her years on the frontlines of the war. She basically relies on them to stay sane. When she finally puts her plans in motion, she starts falling apart mentally as soon as she makes the decision to leave them. Of course, since she delayed her plan out of a desire to stay with them, they're also a big part of the reason she needed a crutch in the first place.
- Making a Splash: Ryuishi has a water affinity, the same as Zabuza and Kisame.
- Morality Pet: Kisame and Zabuza for Ryuishi: she loves them and delays her revenge against Kiri in order to stay near them for a bit longer. To an extent, she's also a Morality Pet for them; they worry about her safety and want her to become stronger so she can survive.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Played for Laughs. Ryuishi is appalled when she realised that Kisame, who she just jokingly proposed marriage to, is only eleven. Kisame doesn't understand why she's so upset, as she's younger than him and anyway, he said no.
- Played straight when Ryuishi discovered that her introduction of modern Western ideals into a very feudal Eastern culture, has led to an impending civil war. One far worse than usual, as not only ninjas would be involved but civilian combatants as well. It would be the Warring States Period all over again. This, coupled by the fact that her most trusted follower has turned rogue, made her believe that it was time for her to take off the mantle of Rakki Ryuu and hand it over to Itachi instead.
- No Name Given: "The Hozuki", one of Ryuishi and Zabuza's classmates, and the only one with combat abilities on a level with theirs. He dies in Zabuza's massacre, and his first name is never revealed.
- Scar Survey: Platonic example. Meeting for the first time in years, Ryuishi and Zabuza naturally share a bed again, and he takes the opportunity to go over her scars and note the one he gave her is still there. He also promises to kill whoever gave her the one on her neck—that is, her "partner" Orochimaru.
- Sensory Overload: The first half of Ryuishi's genjutsu's. Unlike most people she uses her own memories to construct the illusion then drops the victim into her role in the memory. This makes them experience all the feelings she did and can momentarily overwhelm even extremely powerful enemies. It just makes the second half from above all the more terrible.
- Shipper on Deck: Apparently the Mumei have been speculating (and betting) extensively on how the relationships between the Kiri no Kaijuu will pan out. Beyond that, Haku ships Zabuza/Ryuishi since they're essentially his parents, by
Word of God Itachi vaguely ships Kisame/Ryuishi because they're the only two adults who were nice to him after the massacre, Sakura ships Kakashi/Ryuishi because she's a bit of a romantic, and Hanako ships Zabuza/Kisame because she worships Ryuishi and doesn't believe that mortals should date gods. Oddly enough no one ships Zabuza/Ryuishi/Kisame yet...) - Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Ryuishi has few rules for the Mumei, but one of them is "People aren't cargo." This extends to forced prostitution.
- Taking the Bullet: Ryuishi has a habit of intercepting attacks meant for "her boys". They disapprove, as she's smaller and not as tough as them, and they think that they could shrug off the wounds that take her ages to heal.
- The Talk: A seven-years-old Ryuishi has to explain "the swords and sheathes" to nine-years-old Zabuza while Kisame is busy laughing his ass off. A brief misunderstanding leads Zabuza to believe he accidentally impregnated Ryuishi by impaling her.
- Team Mom: Ryuishi's role in her "unit", even though she's two years younger than Zabuza and four years younger than Kisame. She provides emotional support, gives them The Talk, and even makes Zabuza eat his vegetables.
- There Are No Therapists: True in Kiri, which may have something to do with the sheer number of missing-nin they produce. Averted once Ryuishi defects. Orochimaru not only serves as Ryuishi's therapist but more or less invents psychiatric medicine in the interests of keeping her functional.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Played with. While at first Ryuishi's first revolution caused chaos in the Village of the Hidden Mist, Ryuishi kept the Mumei under control, understanding that while violence can be useful, her ambitions requires planning, structure and a slow dismantling of the current feudal rule. Unfortunately, without her keeping the Mumei in check, Ryuishi's followers are less inclined to do things slowly. When Ryuishi was abducted and imprisoned by the Akatsuki, Hanako, self-proclaimed High Priestess of the Rakki Ryuu, turned rogue; adopting a more terroristic stance, starting with the murder of the Grass Daimyo and spreading her teachings through violence and terror, killing those who were not part of her religion. This revelation causes Ryuishi to undergo into a minor Heroic BSoD and a realisation just how much her 'meddling' might have made things worst for the Naruto universe.
- True Companions: The Kiri no Kaijuu. They may not be entirely healthy, but their devotion towards each other is more than real. Jiraiya even praises their teamwork as something the Hidden Leaf would have been proud of.
- Wham Episode: Several.
- "Meet the Burning of Kiri". We finally find out what Ryuishi has been planning all this time: not just the near-destruction of Kiri itself, but the erosion of the entire ninja system. Ryuishi herself has had a dramatic break with sanity and goes missing-nin at the ripe old age of eleven... and when Kisame confronts her, she traps him in a genjutsu of her memories from her previous life before making her escape.
- "In Which There Are Some Changes" Kisame and Itachi kidnap Ryuishi from Konoha itself.
- "In Which There is a Culmination of Sorts": While incoherent from the loss of her psych meds, Ryuishi reveals to Obito that she knows his identity just by mentioning Rin's name, and to Zetsu that she knows about Kaguya Otsutsuki. Kisame is there, and on learning that a) "Madara" is not who he said he was, and b) Zetsu now wants Ryuishi dead, he takes Ryuishi and runs. Itachi comes along, with Ryuishi's meds because he is actually sneaky enough to have gotten them.
- "In Which Everything's a Mess" Zetsu attacks Otogakure, with a stolen Rinnegan and successfully resurrects Madara.
- Wham Line: Ryuushi rapid fires them in one short span of time and essentially takes everything right off the rails."Rin would weep if she could see you now.""Liar. Not Madara. Obito. Obito and Bakakashi and...""-Sharingan and Rinnegan and the Sage and the Moon. A mother's will made manifest, a broken nursery-""-Not Madara. Not a clone. Just a boy and a beadt. Nine for one, one for ten, and mother comes back.""Mama. Ka-Gu-Ya."
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Orochimaru is not impressed by Ryuishi's ability to sense the places where large numbers of people have died. Neither is she, really. It's a power she has yet to find a use for.
- This origins of her power, the Void comes back in a big way in the second to last chapter. Using her strange chakra, Zetsu is able to bypass the Impure Resurrection weaknesses (namely requiring a sacrifice and being a technical zombie) and revives a fully powered Uchiha Madara.
- Wretched Hive: Kiri is a downright horrible place to live, even for a ninja—but especially for a civilian. Ryuishi hates the place.
