Unlike most clans, Hatake rarely display their clan’s sigil on their clothing or even on flags/armor and Sakumo is no exception to this rule. Public consensus is that it’s related to the nine-pointed diamond’s resemblance to a target, and they aren’t far off. The policy dates back to the warring states period. Given that the Hatake have always been one of the smaller clans, marking their members did more harm then good. Pragmatically, a clan sigil acted as a bull’s eye for enemy ninja clans and discouraged neutral parties (blacksmiths, farmers, etc) from interacting with or supplying them for fear of retaliation. Not wearing a ninja sigil gave Hatake clansman plausible deniability as civilians thereby flying under the radar of larger clans. Passing as civilians also let Hatake take on espionage and sneak-attack missions with less risk of getting caught. In contrast, the only Hatake who wear the nine-pointed diamond are ninja who are trying to stand out or can’t blend in: those whose reputations are too well known to hide their surname or those who act as the clan’s public face i.e. the clan council. While Sakumo arguably falls into the first camp, he still opts out of wearing the Hatake pattern. In the grand scheme of things he thinks it’s more important for someone well known as he is to identify with his village rather than potentially show favoritism to his own clan. It’s both a show of village unity and helps shield his family from his many enemies in albeit a small way. 

Character Trope Quiz!

Tagged by: me~! (@introverses)

Tagging: @hyuga-natsu 

The Side-kick

The friends and helpers of the main hero.They can be almost any type of hero playing a secondary role, a normal character observing the action, or be used as comic relief -- sometimes all three. Typically they are a foil, and this is often underscored by their dramatically different appearance. You like to be the friend of everyone around you and help out others whenever you can. You often hold the role of someone else’s self-control and can be very supportive when you have to be. You’re a bright ray of sunshine in your friend’s life and they love having you around!

One of the more obscure parts of modern ninja history Sakumo experienced was the boom of new technology during the second shinobi world war. Due to the heavy rains and soup-like soil throughout “rain” country many basic ninja tools had to be completely reinvented to function in such a harsh environment. In addition to the scratchy first generation of portable radio (a work around for when the weather impeded messenger birds) and non-metal weaponry and armor, came food pills. They removed the need to light fires to cook and significantly lowered the risk of water-born diseases like dysentery and cholera.

However, the same properties that made them hold up so well didn’t add to their flavor. Sakumo remembers them tasting “like natto gone sour” and being quite oily. Additionally, like the Akimichi’s food pills, the benefits they provided had a variety of equally bad side effects. The food pills of this era were also very caustic and having one too many often caused stomach ulcers. Many shinobi who were stationed at Amegakure front for the duration of the war came back with permanent GI problems.

While Sakumo can’t enjoy spicy food quite the way he did before the war he thinks that he got off relatively easy. 

*Bonus headcanon: Having seen how long it took Torifu-sensei to recover from using the yellow food pill, made Sakumo wary of using them in the first place. 

demonicvulcan:

Since television cropped up midway through the second shinobi world war ninja have struggled with using it in intelligence gathering without winding up on film themselves. This was a problem Sakumo faced at the end of the conflict.

Having gone undercover as a Suna shinobi to get near Chiyo’s son and daughter-in-law, Sakumo learned the hard way that Suna had investing heavily in the new technology. Despite his best efforts even he couldn’t avoid the mandatory base camp monitors forever. Once Suna’s assassination investigation team (i.e. Anbu) acquired the footage the video made the rounds within the Suna ranks and abroad. Several screenshots eventually made their way into the bingo books of multiple hidden villages and helped cement Sakumo’s reputation.

While it was never broadcast or published in the land of Fire, given how many people all over wind country and its outlying neighbors saw the ten second clip Sakumo doesn’t think he’ll be sent back to Suna for a very very long time.

Sakumo is slow to anger. Usually he thinks it’s only right to try to be considerate of both perspectives and look for a diplomatic option. In general he also thinks raising your voice should be reserved for missions and emergencies. Instead, he tries to funnel his anger into a firm "exit strategy” (as he thinks of them): ‘this is what is bothering me and here is my solution’. But in the event someone does manage to go that extra mile Sakumo is the type to forgive but never forget. Even years later he finds it difficult to separate the idea of the sandaime or his genin teammates from how they acted when he didn’t go along with what they wanted.