In the Blood (fanfic)

In the Blood is a Next Gen Naruto Fanfic written by justplainrii. It takes place twenty-seven years after the current arc in the manga, and is a slowly unfurling mystery that starts when Sasuke finds a young boy who is the spitting image of his deceased older brother, Itachi. So he brings him back to Konoha, despite having a genin team of his own to look after. And that child turns out to be a clone of Itachi.

Pretty soon, more clones start to show up, and all the evidence points to Orochimaru being responsible. Despite the scale of the plot and large number of OCs, the story manages to stay firmly grounded in Konoha.

Updated every Wednesday. It's really long.


 * Abusive Parents: Sasuke, full stop. Both emotional and physical.
 * Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: Takeru, Sasuke's second oldest son.
 * Aloof Older Sister Nadeshiko.
 * Babies Ever After: Though not necessarily a happy ever after for everyone.
 * Badass Adorable Inou (Sasuke's youngest son) and all of Sasuke's genin team.
 * Benevolent Boss: Naruto after becoming Hokage of course.
 * Body Horror:
 * Asaoto, who has the same bloodline limit as
 * Sakura gets a glimpse of Karin's pregnant stomach. It's riddled with scars, some of which are from carrying.
 * Cloning Blues: with all the cloned children.
 * Door Step Baby: Yakata, Yuki, and Kurunari. This also happens to be a common thread.
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: Yuki.
 * Emotionless Girl: invoked by Takeru trying to scare Yakata from befriending Nadeshiko.
 * Flower Motifs: the sixth arc, Marigolds, uses this. Also invoked by Nadeshiko, who works in the Yamanaka flower shop.
 * Happily Married: Lee and Sakura.
 * Hates Being Touched: Sasuke.
 * Hidden Depths: Nadeshiko.
 * In the Blood: Sasuke has this attitude towards Ooda and Yakata.
 * Keet: Kotoji
 * Kick the Dog: Sasuke instigates a lot of these moments, often towards Nadeshiko and Inou.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: Many of the canon characters are married with children. This adds up after awhile.
 * Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy Yuki, Kiine, and Kou.
 * Mysterious Waif / The Ophelia: Murasaki.
 * Pregnant Badass: Karin.
 * Promotion to Parent: Nobuhiro, Yuki's adopted older brother.
 * Rebellious Princess: Taki Kiine.
 * Simultaneous Arcs: acts 4 & 5; and acts 6 & 7.
 * Spin Offspring: The canon characters' children, though the plot doesn't give all the focus to them.
 * Theme Naming: the chapter names for each arc.
 * The Nicknamer: Shingetsu, to everybody.
 * Unwanted Spouse: Ino ends up being this towards Sasuke.
 * Verbal Tic: Yakata has a stutter and a habit of repeating words and phrases.