When you're tired of reading crap (Naruto cliches)

A Case of Terrible Hair Care

I've been reading so many amazing fanfics lately that I barely find anything annoying that might be worth mentioning in this book.

But.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) I have found 'something'. It's not that common these days but it still happens.

I've come to call this type of OCs 'the spotlight thief'. (Which was gonna be the original chapter name. But then, I was like, meh! I can do better... hopefully.)

Guess who they steal the spotlight from though-

The one and only, Sakura Haruno!

Admittedly, Sakura doesn't have many significant moments in Naruto (if any) other than in the chunin exams arc. So it pisses me off when someone steals her spot. And by her spot, I don't mean her spot as a member of team seven. I'm all for OC replacing Sakura in the team, actually, given fair reasoning.

Before I get distracted, I present to thee, the points of todays rant.

NUMBER ONE.

What I find mildly irritating is when authors literally steal Sakura's dialogues (mostly when she says something smart).

What the heck? You might as well say - "Imagine Sakura with a different appearance and generally taking more actions". The end. A truly beautiful fanfiction.

Why bother writing a different character at all if you're just gonna shove a Canon characters dialogues up your OCs ass?

But I say mildly irritating because I haven't seen that many fanfics where this happens.

NUMBER TWO.

Now this is something I've seen a lot.

How many of you have read a fanfic where the OC (usually the fifth member of team seven) cut their hair the same way, the same time as Sakura does?

It's not okay. I am totally gonna commit suicide just to haunt you as a ghost for the rest of your pathetic life if you steal this moment from Sakura.

And why hair? Why not something that was the last thing they had of a deceased family member? Why not a invaluable family heirloom? Why not a gift from a special someone? Heck, why not even her clothes? Why the fuck do you have to make it the exact! Same! As! Sakura!

That moment in the chunin exams is a defining moment in Sakura's character development. It's where her journey as a real Kunoichi begins. If you randomly decide to copy this moment just because it's a cool thing to do, I'm gonna have problems with you.

Pre-shippuden Sakura is not my favorite, but she deserves better. She cared about her appearance because she cared about what other people thought of her more than her career. A lot of kids her age do. So give her a break. She was a twelve year old child who didn't know how shitty the world can get, unlike Sasuke, Naruto or even Hinata.

Comparing her to Hinata is not okay either. They have vastly different upbringing. Hinata is a kind soul who's had to deal with family shit from a very young age, where as Sakura (an insecure, shy yet headstrong girl in her early years) is an only child who is the apple of her parents eye. She didn't have anyone to prove herself to, neither did she have any goal that required her to be stronger that anyone else. She probably thought, in all her childish glory, I'll leave it up to the future me.

I know that's what my pre-teen self thought when it came to doing homeworks.

The point I'm trying to make is, just because you don't like Sakura it's not okay to label her as totally unnecessary and ship off her moments to another character. I think it's just you being too lazy to come up with original ideas to make your OC look better. If you do, just know, I hate your OC. (Unless you yourself were very young when you wrote it and aren't afraid to show the world your cringworthy writing phase. Then I love that abomination from the bottom of my heart.)

I don't know where I got this sudden inspiration to write from. It's probably the routine creativity overdose of the night before an exam. WHEN THE LAST THING YOU NEED IS TO GET THE URGE TO WRITE RANTS/FANFICS/CONSPIRACY THEORIES/WHATEVER-THE-HELL WHENEVER YOU PICK UP YOUR FUCKING PEN. *Ahem* I'm not stressed about the exam. Not even a little bit. Nope.

(I've filled my mathematics notebook with plot ideas. The exam is in 5 hours. Help...)