Alright, so the next week is going to be fun for me. My boss was on vacation over the last week and I was so damn busy that I didn’t even finish the next chapter [87] and I certainly didn’t have a chance to work on any of my other projects.

A big chunk of that is my fault, really. Why I thought staying up all day Tuesday after being up all night I’ll never understand. I was up for 33 hours and managed to write like 10% of a chapter because I was too preoccupied by not falling asleep to focus on the story.

It was a fun stream, though, even if I’m sure there were moments I had dozed of for a second or two. Part of me wants t ogo back and check, the other reminds me that I dont’ have the time.

My ego is also adamant that I did no such thing and was perfectly coherent and aware the entire time. I think it’s lying but I like what it’s telling me so we’ll go with that.

I really need to get to bed because I have once again managed my time poorly, so I’ll try to keep this as brief as I can while covering everything that needs to be mentioned.

First, the commentary for chapter 81 has been posted. If you need a little pre-chapter reading or think the chapter is missing something- like an unnecessarily long AN- go ahead and check it out.

Next, I spent an hour playing around on the site and managed to get a basic forum set up. Eyazahrids’ Project board is accessible through the link at the top of the page or at Eyazahrid.net/ProjectBoard . It’s empty at the moment, but I figure this would probably work better than the Google Drive folder I had set up.

Haven’t had time to post things for either, but hopefully soon.

If you have any ideas or challenges you’d like to share with the community feel free to post them under the Eyazahrids’ Community Projects thread. I don’t think you can post on the other two, but in case you can please don’t. I’m going to be using those so you can see the projects I’m currently workign on and the ones i plan to do as soon as I have the time.

Third, I don’t have any Bonsai pics for you this week but next week brings us into June which means the girls are due for some new soil- and one of them still needs both a pot and a name – so after I do that I’ll take pictures and post them here.

Next, I do have three days off coming up – though I’m supposed to show up for some additional training during one of them- so hopefully I can at least catch back up. I’ve already promised a stream for Tuesday [2019.05.29 @ 0300-0700 UTC] but I’ll try to get us back on track by at least streaming on Thursday [2019.05.31 @ 0300-0700 UTC] as usual. Won’t make any promises for Friday [2019.06.01 @ 0300-0700 UTC] but chances are pretty good.

If you have any questions- related to the story or not – this would be an excellent chance for you to stop by and ask. If you’re going to miss these or have missed my older streams, I do post them all to Youtube – usually a few days late, but they get there- so you can always go back to see what we were up to.

Finally- I have a nagging feeling I’m forgetting something important- we have our teaser for chapter, erm, one second.

Ah, chapter 86. Damn, I gave those out too fast, we’re almost caught up to my current chapter.

Oh well, you’ve waited patiently enough. Not like you’ll remember it by the time the chapter is posted.

Sasuke asks for a favor, Overseer Jirobo shows off his work, Naruto gets protective, and Anko finally receives her present.

That should do it for this update- I fucking know I’m forgetting something- so we’ll end it here. I need to get to bed.

Until I next have your attention,

Eyazahrid

The Most Essential Iryō-Ninjutsu Posted 2019.05.20

The following are the recorded responses of Eyazahrid to the feedback he received on the above listed chapter and the story in general for the week following. This document is to serve as a replacement to the traditional Author’s Note at the beginning and ending of chapters and will be kept separate from both the above listed chapter and any future chapters unless deemed sufficiently important.

Tsume and the Inuzuka

I’ve been hearing a lot that because Mai got with Tsume for a night that she’s been compromised and is now at risk of siding with the Inuzuka rather than the Wolves. What I think many people have forgotten – which is probably because it hasn’t been mentioned since chapter thirty-something – is that the Inuzuka are not just some random group the House of Wolves has allied with.

The Inuzuka are part of the pack.

As far as the Wolves are concerned, at least. Not all Inuzuka may feel the same way, thinking of the House of Wolves as allies or friends, but those like Hana do. She’s the daughter of the head and heiress to the clan and serves as an essential linchpin for the relationship between them.

The Wolves have already wholeheartedly accepted her as one of their own back in Nami no Kuni so as long as she continues to hold the respect of her clan the two groups will not be separating.

Also of note is that Hana doesn’t recognize Tsume as the single alpha of the pack, believing that Tsukiyomi and Tsume both control the combined pack with Mai who has the favor of both.

Really – and I think Hana mentioned this in her thoughts at some point – it’s like Mai being either a mamma’s girl or a daddy’s girl. Regardless of her favorite, she’s their girl.

Perhaps I haven’t shown enough- or any – interactions between other Inuzuka and the Wolves to properly convey this, but the groups will not be separating.

Well, unless inspiration strikes me again. We’ll see.

Lazy Argument

I have been helpfully informed that “”If you don’t like it don’t read” is one of the laziest arguments ever.” in a review tied to chapter 1. While I’m not completely certain why I’m being told this, I’m going to assume it’s in reference to my AN where I say “If you don’t like the story, well, I’m not exactly charging you to read it, am I?”.

I could argue what I believe the differences between these are, waxing on how my reminder that I’m providing free entertainment and that if you don’t care for it after giving it a try you haven’t lost anything is different from telling those who don’t like it to piss off, but instead I’ll take this opportunity to address the “If you don’t like it, don’t read” “argument”.

First, I have no idea how that’s an argument, it seems like sound advice to me. I can’t fathom doing something you don’t like if there’s no benefit for doing it. I work because I need to pay my bills, but otherwise I most certainly would not. I don’t watch movies I don’t want to watch, I don’t listen to music I don’t care for, and I don’t spend time with those I dislike- outside of work, anyway.

Why someone would not just waste their time like that- and gods above I wish I had that kind of time I could just throw away like that – but then complain about it I have no idea. It isn’t uncommon for people to tell me they’ve lost interest in my story, which I completely understand, and most of them are more apologetic about leaving than angry that my writing didn’t fit what they were looking for.

They shouldn’t be, I’ve stopped reading stories that I had really enjoyed at first because they went in directions I didn’t care for after a while.

When people do leave, however, I try to wish them luck in finding something more suited to their tastes. This is easier when they send me a PM about their imminent departure, but I try to respond to reviews saying the same. Not sure how successful I’ve been in that.

That said, threats to leave don’t bother me and I usually won’t respond to them. I have my story and if you don’t like it I guess that’s just one less person I’m entertaining for free.

Huh, putting it like that makes me sound kind of dumb, I should really be charging for this. Damn shame I can’t, would be a way better job than my current one.

The same reviewer also mentioned that the fact that I have chapters done has no bearing on the story itself and it doesn’t matter how long ago I wrote them if they’re bad.

Completely correct, but not at all the point.

The chapters are done, which means if you suggest something it will not be immediately addressed. By some miracle I’ve managed to pull my shit together and stick to a strict(ish) schedule but the absolute earliest you’ll see something you mentioned in your review is in another month when the chapter I wrote right after reading your review is posted.

Saying that I still haven’t changed something over two chapters is pretty useless because if I did make a change – to plot or writing style – it’s still two weeks away. I also do not have the time to go back and rewrite the five reserve chapters I keep ready to go, so you get what’s already been made. If I realize I’ve made a mistake- which I’m sure will be pointed out to me if I don’t – it’s correction is a month away for my readers.

Chances are good I’ve already incorporated the correction into the current chapter I’m working on.

Unless my mistake was not enough action. I’m not an action writer throwing around fights scenes and explosive confrontations as my characters race against the clock.

I like the technicals of world-building and the drama that can be made between characters. More than any of that, I like causing emotional suffering in those characters. Overall, I’d say I’ve done a very good job at reigning it in for this story.

If you’re tired of the world-building I can understand that, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s something that gets focused on because it is one of my favorite aspects of fanfiction.

And plot? Well, that’s something I haven’t had since chapter one. I’m making this up as I go along so I really don’t have anything to keep me from getting distracted. I’ll try to remain more structured in my next story. But, if you remind me, do try to keep in mind that it will be another month before I’ve gotten back to whatever passes for a plot in this thing.

I’ve probably been going on a tangent for three chapters by the time you’ve said anything.

Kind of like all my writing, actually.

We’ll just go ahead and end this here, then, before it happens again.

Minato

Something else that hasn’t been mentioned recently has to do with the father of Naruto and Naruko – Namikaze Minato. It’s true that Kushina never told them any more than that he died on the night of the Kyuubi’s rampage, but the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni informed Naruto back when Nami no Kuni first gained the support of Hi no Kuni.

Naruto knows.

Seeing as there hasn’t been any backlash from him knowing thus far, it’s unlikely to suddenly happen.

Should Naruko be told there may be something, but it’s unlikely.

I just can’t see her blowing up negatively about it. Rather, I can easily picture her bouncing around in excitement at being related to a famous Hokage.

As for Naruko believing Kakashi might be her father no, shes’ not an idiot. A little dense in a cannon-esque way, perhaps, but not an idiot.

She doesn’t know who her father is, doesn’t know how old Kakashi actually is, and not only does her brother act in a very similar manner and seem close to the man but Kakashi himself called Naruto a Hatake.

Now, Kushina did tell her children that their father was dead, but from Naruko’s perspective Kakashi is the kind of person you wouldn’t admit to sleeping with so there’s no way anyone would tell their children that he’s their father.

So, in the end, Naruko dose have reasons to come to that conclusion. Is it anything solid? No, not really. That’s why she asked. She didn’t just immediately assume her far-fetched conclusion was correct, she worried about the possibility for a while and waited for a chance to confirm her suspicion before actually acting on it.

In that sense, she did not remain very true to cannon Naruto, who she more or less replaces in this story.

Still, I did have her panic about it because I found it humorous. Sort of like when I had Anko and the Gals panic about the possibility of Naruto being gay. I thought it was funny so it ended up in the story.

Closing

There weren’t many specifics brought up for me to address this week but if I missed something you said and you’d like to know my thoughts on the matter feel free to send me a PM on Fanfiction.net or reach out to me via Twitter. You can also discuss it with me live during one of my streams, should you be so inclined.

For the most part, the feedback for chapter 81 was positive, focused around the ending. I’m pleased to hear that so many of you enjoyed it and look forward to seeing how the next chapter is received.

Until I next have your attention,

Eyazahrid

Seems we’ll be doing this weekly, almost like a pre-chapter sort of thing, and that should be fine. I would like to do them more often but I’ve been strapped for time lately and it just wasn’t a priority when all I really had to talk about was finishing a single chapter.

Well, I say strapped for time but during the 2019.05.17 stream we ended up spending over an hour playing slots in Moxxi’s Bar. We’re going to go ahead and consider that “work” because I was streaming.

It’s how I’m justifying it, anyway.

Speaking of streaming, I typically stream every Friday at 0400-0700 UTC and on most Saturdays at the same time. For me that’s Thursday and Friday evenings but who knows what that might be for all of you.

This coming week will be a bit different because my boss is going on vacation so my schedule is a bit weird. I’ll be off Wednesday the 22nd and Tuesday the 28th. I’m not sure about the 28th, but I should definitely be able to stream on the 22nd (2019.05.23 at 0300 UTC). I’ll probably keep it something simple because I will have work the next morning- in fact, I may end up streaming earlier because of it- but we’ll see.

There should be no interruption to your regular chapter on Monday the 27th because of this.

If you miss a stream they are available on Twitch at Twitch.tv/Eyazahrid or posted on my Youtube. I’d give you three guesses what my channel name is, but you probably don’t need them.

You may have noticed that there’s another post here today that isn’t an Update. I mentioned it in the Author’s Note of Chapter 80 but my Commentaries will contain responses to the feedback I receive over the week after posting a new chapter.

It helps keep the Chapters more tidy and allows me to make Author’s Notes as long as I like. My plan is to do these every week, but hopefully it won’t take two days like this last one did. Didn’t have much free time, which was the main reason, but I didn’t start Chapter 86 until Wednesday or Thursday because of it.

Couldn’t work on the next chapter when my mind was still on one of the earlier ones. Writing it down certainly helped.

Unlike Updates, I will not be announcing the posting of Commentaries. They’ll be mentioned with Chapter updates but should be available the day before on Sundays.

If you’re interested feel free to check them out, otherwise enjoy the more story-focused chapters. It should look a lot cleaner without my giant Author’s Notes taking up the first page.

With alternate media out of the way, let’s focus on the progress we’ve made over the week.

Chapter 86 of Sealkeeper is done, as you probably know, despite being started later than I would have liked. On Friday evening before the stream I did get to work writing more for the Tatsuki oneshot (though who knows, it might become an entire spinoff depending on how things go.) which I continued working on Saturday morning before work.

My seven new pages (Just shy of 3k words as I write this) flowed pretty easily and it was incredibly refreshing to be able to write without worrying about all the things the main story has in play right now.

If I’m to be completely honest, I probably could have posted what I wrote back in February of last year (some 1600 words) and been satisfied with it. Not the best ending, certainly, but there was just a rightness to it that had this sense of hope for the future. It had me grinning at my own brilliance, which is always fun.

The Warlock of Winterhold didn’t see any progress and neither did any of the other projects I have on my list- which I really should write down soon – but with the next chapter done, the commentary for last week’s chapter, and the progress I made in the Tatsuki oneshot I’m pretty satisfied.

Just wish I had more time to work on all of this.

And speaking of time, I still haven’t done my final inspection of the next chapter yet and there are plenty of mistakes in this update I need to correct so i can post it. With that in mind we need to wrap this up.

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten what you’ve really come for — Chapter 85’s teaser.

Mai takes some chances, we meet two of the next generation Wolves, Mikoto contemplates the thought processes of plants, and Gaara writes a letter to his Tou-sama.

And there you have it, the May 20th Update. I was going to keep it the May 19th Update as I started it on the 19th but seeing as it’s technically morning now I’ll just go ahead and change the name.

Now, I’ve got a lot more work to do before I can enjoy a shower and collapse into bed.

Until I next have your attention,

Eyazahrid

A Bit Tied Up Posted 2019.05.13

The following are the recorded responses of Eyazahrid to the feedback he received on the above listed chapter and the story in general for the week following. This document is to serve as a replacement to the traditional Author’s Note at the beginning and ending of chapters and will be kept separate from both the above listed chapter and any future chapters unless deemed sufficiently important.

Thank You

Before anything else in this Commentary, I would like to thank you all for the support you’ve shown me over the years and more specifically with the posting of chapter 80. While the Author’s note – any of the three, actually – hadn’t in any way been intended to fish for compliments, hearing the immediate response of support and understanding was beyond heartening.

It’s knowing how much others are enjoying my work that pushes me to keep working and I never would have made it this far without you all.

Thank you.

My Deepest Apologies

Just as I needed to express my gratitude, I also need to offer a sincere apology for the Author’s Note of chapter 80. The 2019.05.06 Author Note was written last week, specifically after a string of negative responses, and I had simply wanted to be done with the whole Mai situation and the backlash it’s caused.

I did not have the patience to wait until 2019.06.17 for the issue to conclude- most of it, anyway – naturally and was very rash in revealing what happens between Mai and Naruto in chapter 85. I may be able to forgive myself for writing it down last week, but when I looked it over last night I deemed it appropriate for posting when it obviously is not.

It was seta88 who brought this to my attention, for which they have my thanks.

With the upcoming reductions to Author’s Notes in the chapters themselves this should no longer be a problem and I will endeavor to include warning in these commentaries should they include anything that may be construed as a spoiler.

Politics

Looking at the story now, I can definitely see that Redhawk29 was right about the lack of recent political action. In the beginning that was a very important aspect of the story and despite Naruto’s political influence increasing recently it hasn’t been brought into play as much.

Naruto is supposed to be a leader and a commander, maintaining his group from the shadows and taking care of the things the Wolves wouldn’t be able to address. I should keep this more in mind considering it’s one of the most frequent complaints I hear.

I’ll make note to show more of the political ramifications of recent events and further explore the Noble Houses of both Hi no Kuni and the other countries.

Timeskip

While I have considered making use of a time skip, the way I would want to execute it would involve two separate stories. I have decided against doing so with Sealkeeper so any timeskips will continue to be minor.

Tsunade

Tsunade is in an interesting position within Sealkeeper, as her actions – or inaction – was a main contributor to the early events of the story. Despite that, she’s faded into the background, content to wallow in her guilt. With Shizune having been given a position within the House of Wolves, they no longer have need of a medic and Naruto has no interest in her infamous strength.

Really, I don’t see any further role she might play within the story itself.

Well, I do, actually. If Naruto had need of the Senju name he could probably call upon her and she’d eagerly jump at the chance to try making amends. If Sakura came to her for training she might pass on the skills that Shizune wasn’t interested in just so they don’t become lost.

Should Naruko – Her goddaughter – visit and ask for any sort of help she’d do her best to provide.

Beyond those- all of which are initiated by others – I’m not coming up with much. Except maybe visiting Naruto to examine his Chakra system just to confirm that the reports she read had been accurate. I’ll have to keep that one in mind.

Regardless, her part in Sealkeeper is more or less over and I wouldn’t expect her to appear much in the future.

Naruto’s Strength

One of the biggest complaints I receive is on Naruto’s strength, so this part should be fun to write.

Overall, I’m understanding that people are of the opinion that he’s completely worthless and has zero strength. That may be because I gave him so much trouble with the Kage-Bunshin but some people have pointed out that I raised Kage-Bunshin from a mid-tier Jutsu to an obscure S-Ranked Kinjutsu.

Maybe people missed that and are only making the connection now that I’ve brought it up here, but I’ll say it again just in case.

In Sealkeeper, the Kage-Bunshin is an obscure S-Ranked Kinjutsu.

This has been done both because I think a technique that creates a perfect copy of a person able to do everything they can and transfers their experiences – somehow – back to the original over any distance with the only weakness being that they dispel after taking a solid attack is incredibly overpowered.

The second reason is, being overpowered, I didn’t just want to hand it to him on a silver platter.

Naruto had to work for the overpowered technique and, more importantly, he had to work for the solution to his administration issue. Just handing him a fix-all technique for his problems from his loving godmother was too easy. This way he’s actually accomplished something and is using the results to better provide for his children.

It also opened the gate for utilizing a Biju’s Chakra.

Not sure if you noticed that, but for the first time he has willingly accessed the Chakra of Karura. Even back with Mito he never asked for any of her Chakra, so this is important. You’ll see more in the coming chapters so I can’t continue too far down this train of thought, but suffice to say it will not be the last time.

Add to that his chains- which he still utilizes just not in the vast quantities he did before – quality vs quantity, skill vs raw strength – and Karura’s sand and he has a nifty bag of tricks invaluable for any Shinobi.

Which leads us to the next part of this;

Naruto is a Shinobi.

He’s not a Chakra sage, Mystic Knight, or some sort of Karate Wizard.

He. Is. A. Shinobi.

When you ask how he’s going to deal with people like Madara in the future when he doesn’t have that sort of raw power I’m going to laugh at you and mutter “Not from the fucking front, that’s for damn sure.” because that’s not his character.

Actually, let’s amend that. Naruto might be in the front, but that’s just to serve as the face of the Wolves as they jump at Madara’s exposed back. Naruto doesn’t fight fair, he doesn’t care about open combat, and he would try to poison Madara long before he stood across from him on a battlefield.

And if Madara just suddenly pops up without any time for him to prepare? He still has two other options.

  1. He can try to ally himself with Madara.
  2. He can run the fuck away.

Pride has been an issue for him in the past and I try to keep bringing it up. I don’t know how well I’ve been conveying it, but each time he reacts more calmly and he moves on more quickly. Slowly, he is letting go of his pride, knowing that for the most part all it does is harm him.

Worse, it places his children at risk.

What I’m getting at there is by the time Madara becomes an issue- – you know, unless I have plans in the work to nip that in the bud. Who knows? – he should be capable of both of those options, especially if they’re for the good of the Wolves.

And moving onto the Wolves, I’ll just say it here so there’s no confusion about my vision –

A good portion of the Wolves are stronger than Naruto.

Danzo trained high A-Ranked Shinobi in his ROOT program but very few of them were able to be conditioned – or properly broken, if you prefer – to serve his needs. Just because they’re failed ROOT agents doesn’t mean they’re failed Shinobi. Like Naruto they prefer a blade to Jutsu but they are capable of both.

Naruto is currently considered high C-rank or low B-rank and he will probably only reach an A-rank by the end of the story. But Naruto isn’t just Naruto, Naruto is the Wolves which means you may not be fighting a single SSS-Rank threat but you still have to face an army of A-ranked opponents.

It is not an attractive prospect.

And in case there’s any confusion on rankings, I consider the majority of a village’s forces to be made up of B-ranked Shinobi. A-ranked is considered elite and S-ranked are more or less legends.

Note that my use of “legend” is not completely accurate, as people like Deidara are more “Infamous” for his actions than any sort of legend. Also, when it comes to Rogue Shinobi part of their ranking is also based on their bounty. If they have a bounty comparable to an S-ranked mission (which would be an S-ranked bounty, naturally) then they would be considered an S-ranked Rogue Shinobi.

It’s an earned rank, certainly, but not the best way to judge the strength of your opponent.

Just to wrap this section up, I would like to point out that unlike in games where a powerful opponent must take a certain amount of damage to be defeated, an amount far greater than less powerful enemies, in the real world – or at least my version of it – everyone – with a few exceptions – dies after the same amount of damage. A blade to the throat is a blade to the throat, it doesn’t matter how many Jutsu you know or how much Chakra you have.

Naruto, the Wolves, and every single person in the world of Sealkeeper can end anyone with a single successful strike.

It might not be easy, but it’s possible and that’s the important part.

And with all that said, I’ll consider this matter closed unless someone has further questions on it in the future.

Chapter length

While I used to be able to dedicate the time to provide 10k words every fifth chapter, I no longer have that sort of time. I suppose I could dedicate the last couple days of the week to making a longer chapter, but it probably wouldn’t reach 10k. I will, however, consider doing something similar. Perhaps a 7.5k chapter at the beginning or end of the month? We’ll have to see how that goes.

The Mai Subplot

While I am quite pleased with how things have played out for the Mai situation in the story, the execution of it has certainly been lacking. I had been looking forward to people fretting over a beloved character, not calling her a traitor and wanting me to kill her off.

There was never any “betrayal” planned, but when a large number of reviews called it such I adopted the same terminology in an effort to explain it. That was a mistake.

The biggest mistakes, however, were my attempts to run damage control – which I felt was necessary considering she didn’t show up again for a few chapters, which was not actually by design. – and when I gave up on trying to explain it and simply told you what would happen in chapter 85.

That was unacceptable.

Things were not helped when I made the genius decision to tease you about Mai’s lack of presence.

Again, I like what’s become of the story because of this subplot but I did not do it well and I can see that clearly now. Hopefully I’ve learned from this mistake and don’t make it again. If I do, though, I’m sure you’ll point it out.

Communication

While from an outside perspective strangers can see how foolish people are being, miscommunication is nonetheless a common part of relationships. It’s why communication is stressed so much when you’re talking about ways to strengthen relationships and avoid marital conflict.

One reviewer– MidnightRE – mentioned that Naruto was an idiot for lying to her and expecting her not to find out. I’ll avoid spoiling anything, but you’ll see it from his perspective in the next chapter. Is it still dumb? Of course, just like telling loved ones you’re fine when you aren’t, pretending to like something someone worked hard on, and telling your children that there’s a fat man in red who comes down your chimney.

We – or at least people – lie to those they care about all the time and it’s more or less expected in simple, polite conversation. “I’m well.” or “That’s interesting” are probably two of the most common lies you’ll encounter but it’s frowned upon to unload your troubles on someone else or to tell someone you don’t care about what they’re telling you.

While I agree it causes unnecessary drama in the story, I also have to argue that it causes unnecessary drama in real life too and that’s the feeling I want to convey. For as many plot holes or logical fallacies I might have included in my work, I still want it to feel real.

I have quite a ways to go, I’m aware, but that won’t stop me from trying because I’ll never improve if I don’t experiment with my writing.

Closing and the Community

In conclusion of this commentary, I want to again take the chance to thank you all for your support and for taking the time to give your feedback.

While Sealkeper has been around for over three years now, I still consider it a beginning. It marks the change from my previous experience as a writer and has helped me grow tremendously. More than that, it has managed to attract all of you.

I don’t want to leave it there, however, I want it to keep growing. Not just the story, not just the fanbase that will enjoy my future works, I want the community that’s began to grow around this story to continue growing. I want to create a community of people willing to take a chance writing something and experience the joys of shaping worlds to their whim.

Even after that, I won’t be satisfied. I want to go beyond fanfiction at some point, creating a group of writers and world-builders who can eventually lay claim to their own original works and who have the support of an entire community of like-minded readers and writers to help drive them forward.

It’s a long ways off, I know that, but we’re already off to a great start.

I know some of you have begun working on your own stories and some of you have even reached out to me for advice. Words cannot express my satisfaction in seeing new writers emerge to continue the sacred art.

When we pour ourselves into our work it’s not just fanfiction, it’s the changing of worlds – one word at a time.

If you have not already tried your hand at writing I would encourage you to do so and if you need any help or advise please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Over the years I’ve had people there for me, I’ll be here for you.

And if there’s something I can do or provide that would help you all feel more connected, let me know. I’ll do what I can to help make this a reality.

Until I next have your attention,

Eyazahrid

It seems that I don’t have a whole lot to keep you all updated on now that we’ve managed to build up that reserve of chapters. Chapter 85 was finished this week and chapter 80 will be posted tomorrow morning.

I have managed to start getting work done on The Warlock of Winterhold but its’ not even the full first chapter yet. It’s been really strange working on something new but it also kind of refreshing.

Of course, I have to figure out why my Skyrim saves aren’t loading now and why I cant’ save new games. Hopefully I haven’t lost the game I was using for inspiration because that will be a huge setback.

Probably should have played through what I intended to write about first so that I had all the materials I’d need but it’s a little late for that. When I have more free time I’ll try to figure it out but what I have already should last me quite some time.

It will be taking a back seat this week, however, as once I finish chapter 86 — hopefully I can start it on my break — I’m going to try to put in more work to a very special project I’ve been slowly making progress on over the last two years or so.

Writing the Tatsuki oneshot is proving more difficult than I could have imagined. Overall I’d say it’s about a quarter of the way done, but I don’t know how long it will actually end up.

I also don’t know if I’ll post it before Sealkeeper ends.

Knowing the ending as I do, you may need something fluffy after getting through it. At the same time, it would be nice to have a completed work posted somewhere for you all to enjoy and I know you’ve all been eagerly anticipating this for quite some time.

When I do post it, however, I don’t think it will be to FanFiction.net. Instead, I’m considering posting it only here on the site. Not sure if that will be well received, but it just feels right to have that particular piece of work tucked safely away from the general community and somewhere only the readers of Sealkeeper– and I suppose any future works — can find it.

Going forward I’ll probably alternate between TWoW and the oneshot [Which I haven’t decided on the name yet, but am leaning towards “Ties that Bind” or “He Who Is Bound”] every week and hopefully I can have the oneshot done within a month or two. At the very latest I’d like to have it done by Sealkeeper’s fourth anniversary coming up in December.

Actually, posting it on the fourth anniversary is a tempting option too. I’ll have to keep that in mind.

Beyond those two projects I also need to prepare a 5E oneshot as my DM is busy with school and the rest of us are taking turns until his exams are over. When I get that done I might end up putting that on the site for others to use too.

I really need to write all these projects down, I haven’t even uploaded those story ideas to the folder yet and I was meaning to have that done like a month ago. There is just not enough time for me to get everything done these days.

If I cut back on time with Menoly, reducing it to only Thursday and Friday evenings during streams, and move my desk out of my room so I’m not as distracted I might be able to get more done but even then work just takes up so much of my time that I don’t think I’ll ever manage to get to everything I need to.

Well, not in the next two and a half years at least. By then my debt should be all paid off and I should have enough saved up for a down payment on a house.

Should everything go as planned my living expenses will be low enough that I could get a less time-demanding job which would really help because I’d much prefer to be doing this.

Probably a pipe dream, anyway. Even if I end up with the house I’ll probably just find myself taking on more work because I can’t not work.

I suppose I’ll come up with something eventually.

Maybe my own business so I can work on my writing between customers? It’s an attractive thought.

Enough about my lack of time, you’re here for the good stuff.

Like my Bonsai.

Look at her, growing like a weed. I’m thinking “Natasha” but I’m not sure it really fits her. Maybe I should wait until she starts showing color before thinking of anything.

It would also confirm which Bonsai is which, but I have a fairly good idea these days. And yes, I did have it backwards.

Her sister is also growing well, though she doesn’t seem to posses the same balance. I don’t think I’m rotating them frequently enough, so I’ll have to work on that.

I’ll need to change the soil sometime next month, too. Maybe I’ll find a pot for this one by then.

And now that we’ve covered the girls — Huh, I like the sound of that, actually — we can get to what you really want from this update-

The teaser.

If I recall, we’re up to chapter 84 for these so here we go.

Anko finally gets her reward, Mai contemplates godhood, Kushina can’t help her curiosity, and Naruto learns of Hayate’s death.

It’s probably the last scene of the chapter I like the most and I’m sure you can all guess why by now. Gods above I love causing my characters emotional anguish. There are few indulgences so sweet.

That’s all I have for this week so until I next have your attention,

Eyazahrid

And again it’s been much too long since my last update and, as you might expect, I don’t really have a good excuse for why either.

Only needed to write up one chapter this week [Chapter 84] and I finished that Friday morning. I suppose i can blame part of it on the fact that one of the tabs I had open- of like 89 or something, I need to go through them- was a story I hadn’t read.

Of course, as soon as i finished it I clicked on the author which lead to their favorites list and some old favorites which continued to spiral out of control. What I’m trying to say is that I gave Mydia quite a bit of attention over the last few days- I was only twenty minutes early to my shift and nearly gave them a panic attack when I wasn’t two hours early- so I didn’t get much done.

What I did get started on, however, is the start of that Skyrim story. Yes, that’s right, it may not be very far but the project has been started. Only managed some 300+ words between eating during my break yesterday but it was the starting point I was most worried about.

Mainly because I had no idea how to explain how he ended up starting the game in Ivarstead or why he was even in Skyrim in the first place. Didn’t really flesh it out yet, but at least I have a general idea.

Also figured out a name for it-

The Warlock of Winterhold

— which I think feels quite nice. Hopefully he doesn’t feel too much like Naruto from Sealkeeper. Their personalities should be different enough but I’m familiar with my writing style and realize there will definitely be similarities,

Then again, that might be a good thing.

There wasn’t too much more to mention in this Update- that I can remember anyway- so let’s wrap up the normal stuff so you can get to the part you really want.

I tried something different with the AN for tomorrows’ chapter, starting to write it as reviews were coming in. Hopefully it will lead to a better response from me when I can remember what I wanted to bring up.

Yesterday was May the Fourth, so I did grab a bunch of Starwars games from steam. Perhaps when the entertainment of me failing in Oblivion runs out we’ll give one of them a try.

Streaming on Thursdays has become more or less concrete, usually starting about 2100 hours (9pm) Mountain Time, but Fridays are still rather loose. If I’m free I’ll usually try to stream a bit but there have been a couple of Fridays that I’ve taken for myself as it’s the one day in the week I don’t end up stopping by work- usually, anyway.

If Fridays work better for everyone, however, please let me know. I can always take Thursday evenings off instead.

Alright, with that covered- I’m pretty sure I’ve missed something, but it will come to me eventually- we can move on to my little teaser for chapter 83;

Naruto tries his hand at amateur psychology, a cherry blossom discovers its edges, and we briefly check in with Otogakure

Not entirely sure how to feel about the chapter- it was one of those that sort of just kept going and I just followed it along- but it doesn’t feel too off, so we’ll see how well it’s received.

Chapter 84 though, oh, that will be fun.

Mainly because I love tormenting my characters.

Bah, stop panicking. I didn’t touch Mai and Naruto isn’t the focus of this one. Well, not completely anyway. He’s certainly hit by some of it, but I’d chalk a good portion of that up to Naruto being Naruto. He just can’t help but blame himself and shoulder any burden he comes across.

Might be the most noble part of him that survived my meddling, actually.

Naruto’s character aside, we’ve reached the end of this update. Hopefully I’ll have another for you in a few days.

Until I next have your attention,

-Eyazahrid