Kintsugi (ONC Entry - Naruto Fanfic)

Introduction

This story is written for Open Novella 2020. While this story is fanfic, the goal is to make the story something even those not familiar with the fandom I've chosen can follow.

Which prompt did I pick? What drew me to this particular one?

The prompt which inspired the story is number four, a contemporary/general prompt, "when something tragic happens, it's often said we lose a piece of ourselves. How far would you go to find these lost parts of yourself in order to be whole again?"

One of the first things I thought of when I read the prompt was how one of the things I enjoyed regarding Gaara's character is the fact he is a character who put the lost pieces together after tragedy, but I loved his journey, my next thought jumping to putting a twist on this journey of putting together the pieces by writing an AU I've had in mind for quite some time. More on that in a bit.

The second thing which came to mind was where the title comes from. The art of kintsugi is a technique from Japan used to mend broken pottery by filling the crack with a lacquer mixed with precious metals. This may seem odd given that visible repairs normally decrease an objects value, but in this technique plays into the idea that the history of the object – which includes the breakage – is an important part of the value. As such, many times the piece repaired with the kintsugi technique is considered more valuable.

Is there anything regarding the fandom those not familiar with said fandom need to know?

There are definitely some terms used in Naruto fanfic which would through those not familiar wit the series off, so here are the terms which appear in the story.

- Kage – The leader of one of the five great hidden villages is called a kage, but to differentiate between the kage for different villages there is an addition to the word kage.

- Kanji – Kanji is the parts of the word within the Japanese language, but these parts of words represent whole words as character either by themselves or by combining with other kanji. Complicating the fact is the fact a single kanji can have more than one reading.

- Kazekage – The Kazekage is the leader or Kage of Suna. Rasa was the fourth and Gaara the fifth.

- Sensei – The word sensei is title of honor used in Japan for those who teach and/or those who are proficient in their field of study. While said word can be translated as teacher, or doctor, those words do not convey the honor which goes with the title of sensei let alone the level of respect for the person being called sensei. For example, another word for doctor in the Japanese is ishi and another word for teacher is kyoshi, yet neither of these words convey the same honor as the word sensei does.

- Medical-Nin – This is a shinobi who uses their skills for healing others.

- Shinobi – Another word for ninja is shinobi, but shinobi is often used in the Naruto fandom due to the word kunoichi being used when referencing a female shinobi.

- Shukaku – Shukaku is the tailed beast sealed inside of Gaara before he was born. Both are able to use sand both offensively and defensively.

What is the story about? Who are the characters?

The story follows Gaara, who grew up believing certain things regarding his family which in turn led him into a very dark place. The story starts at the place Gaara believes he's found all of the pieces he lost because of a tragic event from his childhood, but that he's also put these pieces together. This process led to the village which once feared him trusting him and making him their next Kazekage, only for said process to be upturned upon learning of certain truths kept from him. He finds himself finding and putting together those lost pieces again.

As for the title, I picked the title based on the idea that the process of finding the lost pieces of ourselves and putting them back together often leads to us becoming a more valuable person as those events do shape who we become later on in life, yet this is exemplified by the fact Gaara in canon and in this story does indeed become a better person through said process. More importantly, the story is starting at a point where he's already become more valuable, yet is still finding himself needing to find and put back together those pieces.

Gaara is also high functioning autistic. No, he's not identified as such in canon. In fact, there is no vocabulary in the world of Naruto which can describe Gaara's non-neurotypical behavior which started from a very young age. He would be considered high functioning, but this doesn't mean he can't be a leader. Whether he is mentally stable is also a constant question in the series, but will be delved into in this particular story. Yes, he's mentally stable, yet there are definite misconceptions regarding the issue in this world, and reasons for his mentally stability to be brought up yet again.

Word Count

- Chapter 1 ~ 535
- Chapter 2 ~ 1,979
- Chapter 3 ~ 3,030 – Word count does not include author note explaining the kanji.
- Chapter 4 ~ 4,209
- Chapter 5 ~ 5,064
- Chapter 6 ~ 6,478
- Chapter 7 ~ 7,662
- Chapter 8 ~ 8,299
- Chapter 9 ~ 9,527
- Chapter 10 ~ 10,764
- Chapter 11 ~ 12,100
- Chapter 12 ~ 13,170
- Chapter 13 ~ 14,223
- Chapter 14 ~ 15,267
- Chapter 15 ~ 16,324
- Chapter 16 ~ 17,368
- Chapter 17 ~ 19,223
- Chapter 18 ~ 20,408
- Chapter 19 ~ 21,506 - Not including note.
- Chapter 20 ~ 22,851 - Not including note.