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I keep leaving these for the last minute and I always end up regretting it. Maybe I need to move these to Wednesday or something. Commentaries on Sunday and Updates Wednesdays? Doesn’t sound too bad, we’ll just have to see if I manage to make it work.

If I miss the update next week it’s definitely because we’re witching to Wednesdays and not because I got distracted by something.

There isn’t a whole lot to cover this week- though I usually say that and end up rambling forever- but we’ll try to run through what we do have quickly so I can get to bed.

First, the Commentary for chapter 90 is up. I spend most of it being an asshole, so be aware. I will admit it’s probably undue but work these past few days has been absolute shit and even two glasses into my favorite wine I’m still in a piss-poor mood.

So if it is too asshole-ish [Is that possible?] then it’s most definitely my fault. Should have had something a bit stronger before writing it, evidently.

The good news is that I only have 20 labor hours left until that nightmare is over. Feel a bit bad for my employees because things are probably going to be pretty bumpy for a while- and they won’t have me taking the heat for everything anymore- but maybe I’m overestimating my worth and things are going to continue smoothly.

I’ll have to ask one of them how things went, if only to know for certain if I was indeed the source of all problems in the store. I will take a great amount of pleasure in hearing that people realized those problems were the damaged-controlled remnants of other people’s shit I was trying to correct.

If it does turn out that I was the main problem then I guess it’s a good thing I’m leaving and they’ll be better for it.

Regardless, it won’t be my problem soon.

Really, that was an attitude I was trying – and managed for 12 days- to avoid. I’ve been putting my all into my work like usual as if I’m not going to be gone in the next few days but I’ve now reached the point that I can’t even bring myself to care.

I can say that I know what it’s like to be some of the other managers, though. Who knew doing nothing and letting the employees do as they saw fit would be so easy? Really, the time flew by today as I shrugged at employee questions and told them to go for it. It didn’t’ go too badly either- except for dinner, which we never have enough people for on Sundays anyway- so maybe that was the secret I’ve been missing this whole time.

It kind of disturbed some of my employees, though, they weren’t too comfortable with me not working my ass off and stressing over everything.

Hmm, venting about work too much, let’s move on. It’s not going to be a problem by the thirty-first.

Actually, on a similar vein I have more or less secured a job. I was extended an offer dependent on the results of a drug test and a background test. I’ve never actually done drugs, so that should be fine, and my background should be clean- aside from a speeding ticket or two- which means I’m just waiting to learn the first day of my training.

Hopefully it’s not too far off or I’m going to have to find some temp work to make ends meet in the meantime. Meh, I can always do GrubHub or something for a week or two if I have too.

I have a feeling I’ve mentioned this already, too, so if that’s the case I apologize, Might have just been during a stream, though, I can’t really recall.

And speaking of streams, if you’ve missed any and want to check them out I do have them all- current up to Friday’s, I believe- up on Youtube.

That said, Sealkeeper’s updates are still pretty uncertain as I’ve lost my chapter lead. I’ll be posting chapter 91 soon and I’m about 20% done with 92 so we might be able to scrape by with weeklies still but no promises.

Not sure what’s happening with Warlock of Winterhold but I’ll figure that later. It does have less priority than that Sealkeeper one-shot, though, so be advised.

Think I’ve figured out the next Naruto story I’m doing, though. I have a lot of ideas I want to explore but oneof my more recent ones has really caught my favor. Haven’t seen anything else like it, either- though I am quite out of touch- so hopefully it’s original enouhg to be entertaining.

Work for that, however, probably won’t be until 2022 or so; plenty of time for me to lose interest.

And the Naruto fandom to die, I suppose. We’ll see.

No pictures today, mainly because I didn’t take any this morning in the good lighting, but we’ll have some next week. Their growth will look more impressive that way, too.

I’ll probably be making a discord soon where you guys can chat and ask me questions live(ish) without stopping by the stream, but I have to figure out how I want to set it up.

And, you know, find time to sink into another project.

Think that about does it for this update- though I probably missed something important I wanted to mention- so we’ll call it good here.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

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Call of the Moon – Posted 2019.07.22

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.

This Week’s Agenda

Mixing it up a bit this week. We’ll start with a normal response I wanted to address, move on to the general response- as most of it was very similar- and then I’m going to be mocking someone. Usually I have mocking right before the general but I have to go back to some of my other stories- you know, the ones that have been dead for years- so I can properly respond to this genius.

And who, might you ask, is the lucky person getting a personalized response?

Lord Kyuubi gets that honor with his comment. Partly because it was the last one I had on my list when I went back and read them all again and partly because it’s a follow up response to his response on my response to his response.

….I think I did that right. Moving on.

I believe the misunderstanding in this instance is linked to the fact that you are under the assumption that the Wolves love Naruto because  “…he freed them from Danzo whom they hated. “.

That is not the case at all.

They felt resentment towards Danzou, certainly, but that’s only because he cast them aside. Danzou himself released them from his service and they love Naruto because he gave them purpose again by bringing them into his.

Had Naruto not taken them in and Danzou approached them with an offer to rejoin ROOT they would have accepted in a heartbeat. They want to serve, they want to be used. That’s what they were trained for and that’s what Danzou molded them into.

Because they didn’t fit Danzou’s needs, however, he had no use for them and returned them to the Konoha populace as civilians. They were not suited to a civilian lifestyle. It is from that which Naruto rescued them, not Danzou.

General Responses

Again, I’m blown away by the possitive feedback. I was concerned the chapter wouldn’t live up to everyone’s expectations after seeing how excited everyone was after chapter 89 but it seems I managed to appease most of you. Well, those of you who reviewed at least. I have no idea how many people I dissapointed who didn’t leave a comment.

I’d like to thank all of you who wished me well with the job search, I appreciate your support. I won’t talk about it here but I’ll mention it in the 2019.07.29 update which should be posted soon after this is.

I know I grouped a lot of the responses into the same category of “Oh, they enjoyed it” this week so if I missed a question you had or you were really looking forward to a response from me please don’t hesitate to reach out to me in a PM or by clicking ‘Contact’ above.

Next, we have the really fun part.

StoneTheLoner

If they were attention-seeking than they’ve found it. Assuming they know to check here. I was originally unsure if I was going to mention their reviews because they were leaving them on my other stories but as soon as they left one on Sealkeeper [Chapter three, it seems] I knew it was too good to pass up.

The first thing to address is the fact that they’ve apparently checked out the story before based on their review., though I am unsure how far they managed to get. If this is a regular,current reader acting out for attention I’m going to be very disappointed.

If they have reviewed in the past, however, I am unable to locate it. That may be because I emptied my inbox a few months ago -which took fucking forever– and deleted anything from bot@fanfiction.net because it was easier and I was lazy.

Up to four thousand emails again, though. I should probably get to that before I end up 10k+ likeI was last time. Having all my Fanfiction notices going to my main inbox? Yeah, maybe not the best idea.

Back to the reviews.

Only one of the reviews was for Sealkeeper, mentioning how clunky the first few chapters I wrote almost four years ago were. Yes, thank you, we really weren’t sure until you mentioned it but it would seem we have indeed improved in the 600k+ words we wrote.

I was scared for a bit that it wouldn’t be the case.

Now, if the story had been done and they picked up a book to read it and found the first few chapters to be clunky then fine, comment about it. The piece is done and should have been corrected. Sealkeeper, however, is not done. Hell, one could say that it’s not even a complete first draft because I have yet to reach the end.

Just because people are enjoying my work as it is doesn’t mean it’s anywhere close to professional, this is a personal project that I’m using to improve my writing and that I’m sticking with because I promised I would.

It’s also free, so unless you’re offering advice on how I can make it less clunky you’re really not doing anyone any good. If you’re telling me I’m doing something wrong let me know how I can do it properly. Not only does that help me and make your criticism useful, but I’m far more likely to believe you if you support you comment.

And when you don’t have any of your own work posted I can be a little skeptical about your advise because I have nothing to base it off of.

Sounds kind of asshole-ish, but if I look at what you’ve posted and it’s …erm…below average quality…I’m probably not taking your advise. Similarly, if you’re an author whose work I myself have really enjoyed and I know you write well than I’m much more likely to accept it.

That’s for criticism on the writing itself, of course, plot, pacing, and other general story elements anyone can share their opinions on and I do take them under consideration.

How often I listen to them, though, that’s a completely different matter.

The cliffhangers, for example, aren’t going anywhere.

As for the other reviews, they thought it would be fun to pick the bones of Awaken, Noblesse, which has been dead for nearly six years. For this reason alone, I’m assuming their intentions are less than constructive.

The fact that including a single element in my story makes it an “Automatic D tier story.” is also humorous. I had been so hoping for a higher grading on the StoneTheLoner chart. I do have to wonder if they actually have it written down and go through marking it as they read stories to assign ranks but I have a feeling they’re just trying to insult the long-dead story.

What that accomplishes, I don’t know, but perhaps that’s just because I don’t posses the intellect to understand the ways of StoneTheLoner.

I can’t wait to see what Sealkeeper ends up ranking, or maybe another dead story like Botsuraku. When they have the time to officially inspect those I’ll let you all know how we did, I promise. I know you’re all as nervous as I am.

And Stone, that attention you were so desperately seeking? There you are, sport. Now go fetch daddy another beer.

Well, that just about fills my asshole quota for the day, let’s call this done so I can get to work on that update and go to bed.

Until I next have your attention,

-Eyazahrid

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An update that managed to get posted before midnight? Must be a damned miracle. Unfortunately that’s the only fortunate news I have for this update.

You’ve probably seen my tweet back on the fifteenth but if you’re still unaware I put in my letter of resignation that day and have been searching for alternate employment since.

Yeah, I quit without having another job lined up. I’m well aware how dumb that was. I would try to say I needed to make sure I was properly motivated or that I like living on the edge- which is a damn lie- but the honest answer is that I reached my limit at work and handing it in on the fifteenth ensured my employers had two weeks of notice.

My letter listed the 31st as my last day, so we have about ten days for me to finish finding a job. It’s not too bad, though. I’ve already had an interview for a job I think I would enjoy quite a bit and while there is a slight pay cut it’s based on the fact that I won’t have ten hours of overtime scheduled every week.

There’s a high likelihood of overtime in this position too but with starting pay being a bit higher and three days off most weeks I’ll be in a much better position for focusing on other things.

You know, like my writing.

Of course, I’m still waiting for them to call me back. They liked me well enough to reach out to me to set up the interview and it seemed to go well so I’m hoping the delay is only because my interview was on a Friday afternoon and that I’ll here back sometime tomorrow. If I don’t I figure I’ll just give them a call myself to see if I need to resume my search.

Just didn’t feel right to be applying to other places and trying to get interviews when I’m just waiting to hear back from them.

And if I don’t get the job? Well, worse comes to worse I can always do deliveries of some kind. I have a car and if it takes me running food, cannabis, or medical supplies around the city to pay my bills then so be it.

Actually, the medical courier job I saw seemed like it might be a good fit for me too so I’ll probably try that first. I’m not too worried about it because I have those ten days with my current employer and another paycheck and a half coming from them.

Things might get a bit tight but like I said there are plenty of jobs I can do just because I have a car so I have no problem doing them until I find something more reliable. Hell, maybe I’ll end up doing them to make ends meet only to realize I really enjoy the work. We’ll have to see.

Now, you’re probably wondering how this has anything to do with yourself and why Eyazahrid has been rambling on about the fact that he needs to generate a source of income for the imminent future.

Good question.

Because I need to pay my bills and none of my lottery tickets have done me any good securing my financial future- sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? – is a very high priority. Such a high priority, in fact, that it comes before Sealkeeper or any of my other projects.

What this means for you as readers- and audience members, if you watch my streams- is that Sealkeeper is going on a soft hiatus. Chapter 90 will be up in nine or so hours but after that it may be a few weeks until I have more chapters coming out.

Streams have a slightly higher chance of continuing on any given day simply because I use games to unwind and I can stream just about anything. Nearly did one tonight, actually, but despite having already prepped tomorrow’s chapter yesterday my other weekly tasks seem to be taking more than their due time tonight.

Probably because I wrote so much about my current employment status.

Whoops.

Not too much more to cover with this update, I suppose.

More than a little nervous about tomorrows chapter because the expectations have been set pretty high if the reviews are anything to go by. I’m not sure why everyone seemed to love it so much- though I really need to figure that out- but I hope whatever I did right in that one I also did in chapter 90.

For the stream I’d really like to have a main game we play most weeks- actually, I’ve been wanting that since before I ever streamed- but I have no idea what I’d want to play that frequently.

I’m thinking I might need to get into an MMO again, though I haven’t played one in quite a long time. ESO was fun enough, I suppose, even if I only ran around with the Blade of Woe murdering everyone and ransacking houses but I’m tempted to give FF14 a try to see how that is. I couldn’t back when I was playing games all the time but now that I work I could definitely try out some subscription games.

Actually played EQ2 a long time ago, I wonder how that’s going these days. Terra was an old favorite too.

All I really know is that I won’t be going to WoW ever, but that leaves us with plenty of options. If you have a suggestion- or a preference between those I’ve already mentioned- please let me know.

I need something with some longevity so I can dedicate some effort to it.

All that said, let’s wrap this up with some Bonsai.

As you can see she’s grown quite a bit since you last saw her. Her sister, on the other hand, well….

She hasn’t grown all that much. With the latest branches coming in near the top I may remove some of those lower down but we’ll see. They both hit the eight month mark in about four days and that’s sad.

Not because of their age but because I can remember their birthday- plantday?- but I can’t remember those of my siblings or parents.

Or my cat, apparently. My brother told me recently that she’s already six years old. I hadn’t exactly been keeping track, to be honest, but that sounded a bit high.

He wasn’t wrong, apparently it’s been six years.

My sense of time aside, let’s finish this up because I’ve somehow managed to work on this for the last two hours. Don’t ask, I have no idea.

I don’t have a teaser for you this week- again- but I did recently show both a clean Command Center and my setup being, you know, less than set up. With that in mind, let’s get some more pictures up in this post. Why? Because I took ’em so I might as well use ’em.

Besides, I’m sure you’re all terribly curious.

Okay, maybe not. I’m going to show you anyway.

The command center is no more, my writing/work desk having been removed from my room, leaving everything pretty empty. It’s also a damn furnace in there so I haven’t spent much time after I got everything set up.

Learning that none of my spare keyboards apparently work may have had some influence on that decision. I have a new one coming in Tuesday to remedy that. We’ll be back to gaming soon enough.

Well, I could just use my gaming keyboard with the gaming pc but I’m a lazy bastard and already have it set up on the writing desk. Moving it between the two for the next few days- as I’ll be doing with my chair- is just too troublesome.

Here’s a picture showing where the rest of the command center used to be, now replaced only by the same emptiness in my heart that I harness to create my cliffhangers.

I’ve spared you the close-up of the computer were you’d be granted the image of a horrendous tangle of wires. Ended up with a handful of wires to….something…after I had set it up again but I guess they weren’t that important if I can’t figure out why I had them in the first place.

My writing desk- actually, you may note that this desk used to be the one the gaming setup was on a few updates ago- has been moved out into the loft where there isn’t a fan but it also isn’t the fiery pits of hell, which is nice. The separation also helps keep me from being too distracted.

It’s not entirely effective, but I did sit down yesterday and manage to get a thousand words down which is a lot better than progress had been over the last week. A good sign, perhaps?

Actually pretty fond of this setup, I’ve been thinking about doing it for months. I always pictured it with the smaller desk but this is probably better. What you see on the screen is actually what I’m typing right now, which means I really need to hurry up and finish this. Seriously, I had so much time before midnight that I actually mentioned it in the first damn sentence- and no, I’m not changing that or the date of the update title- but by the time this is up it’s going to be quarter to one.

Ah, fuck it. What’s the harm in one more?

There you are, my current setup. I’m sure you were all dying to know after seeing the picture of my pc on the floor Friday.

Now I need to end this damn thing so I can finish the prep for chapter 90. Remember when i said it was done? Well, not quite. Proofread the chapter- also known as eliminating all the red squiggles in the document- but I still need to upload it to Fanfiction.net and ensure the formatting is correct. Shouldn’t take too long.

I hope.

Either way, this has gone on much longer than I expected and I need to get to work and then get to bed so I can get to work that pays the bills in the morning.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

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The Weight of Reality – Posted 2019.07.15

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.

Cliffhangers

Yes, I’m an evil bastard. Kukukukukukukuku.

Warflower

No, I’m not familiar with Overlord. As for his Fuinjutsu use, when he does start using it more it won’t be for combat. Speed, Stealth, and Accuracy would be his main focuses. A single hidden cut to end nations is more his style. You know, when he’s not indulging Anko or the Wolves.

DaDragon562

I’m actually very tempted to do something similar but at the moment I still have some use for Konoha. It is entirely possible you may see Naruto taking steps to prepare for such a change, though.

Then again, he can always stall in Konoha where people think they can keep an eye on him and his activities…..

General Response and Closing

There actually wasn’t a lot to respond to which is kind of ironic because I don’t think I’ve ever received such a large response to a chapter and certainly not a positive one. In fact, it was such a massively positive reaction for this chapter that I’m actually terrified that the next chapters will be disappointing.

Maybe I’ll be lucky, because I didn’t expect this one to be taken so well either.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

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This is going to be another short one, I’m afraid. We haven’t made a lot of progress in the chapters and there’s not much going on to tell you about.

Chapter progress has slowed down- and I only have one completed chapter after the posting in about eight hours- because my free time has been going to finding a new job. I’ve worked at my current one for almost five years now- thought I did take a break from it for about a year to try something else- and I think it’s time I moved on.

I won’t start ranting about the job itself or my coworkers- because if I did I’d be typing this until my next shift starts- but I will say that there are a lot less stressful opportunities around and most of them offer the same pay- or more- for less hours a week.

Extra time for writing? Possibly a bigger paycheck? Less stress?

I’m not really seeing any negatives, especially if I get to gain experience in a new field. I’ll continue doing customer service- though I would prefer production or administrative much more- if I have to, but I can at least switch it up a bit and explore other aspects of it.

No interviews so far but as my most recent applications were submitted over the weekend I figure I’ll call on Monday – which is now, technically- during more regular business hours to check up on them. With any luck, I’ll be somewhere new before the end of the month.

Or, you know, I’ll win the lottery and won’t have to worry about it. I’ll let you know if that happens.

Other than that, the only thing I can really mention is that I now wear glasses. It’s been interesting but apparently they suit me because some friends I spent time with on Thursday didn’t even mention them.

I’m only slightly bitter. Is this how people feel when you don’t notice a new haircut?

Well, that’s just about all I had. If there’s something in particular you’d be interested in hearing about in these updates let me know and if my current stream schedule is inconvenient for you guys let me know that too. I do have some flexibility- not much, but I’ll do what I can- so we’re not stuck at 0400 on Fridays and Saturdays [UTS].

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

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Cuddles, Now – Posted 2019.07.08

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.

Danzo

Lord Kyuubi has made the most amazing discovery that Naruto is pretty much Danzo. This is incredible because no one has ever made this connection before, especially not a character in the story itself.

Oh, wait, Hiruzen mentions how similar Naruto is to his rival in one of the early chapters- as does Danzo himself.

You may also note that the majority of the people who actually like him are Shinobi I’ve made very clear aren’t the most sane of sorts. No, normal people wouldn’t really care for Naruto but when he’s surrounded by people like himself it doesn’t much matter.

Category

While I can’t remember what I eventually settled on, Silently Watches is absolutely correct that the theme of the story fluctuates wildly. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure what kind of story it’s supposed to be either.

I’m pleased to hear you’re enjoying that, though.

Ino

Pairing Ino with Naruto seems to be a popular request as of this last chapter. While I haven’t planned for it happening yet it is definitely a possibility- just not for a while. We’ll be firmly into ‘Shippuden’ territory before those two get together.

Kage Bunshin

[May be slightly spoiler-ish in regards to Mai-drama. I don’t consider it such but skip to the next set of brackets if you don’t want to risk it. Note that after the brackets addresses the rest of Cam’s review and not the Kage Bunshin.]

This is more or less just a response to Cam’s review, but we’ll focus a bit more on the Kage Bunshin.

Mentioning the Kage Bunshin would indeed be a very easy thing to mention. It’s so small that slipping it into a conversation should be easy- the problem there is that it’s such a small thing that he’s not really registering it as important.

He’d already been using them by the time Mai returned and she was gone the entire time he was learning them. She knows that Orochimaru sent the technique to him because she was there when we introduced Tayuya but she doesn’t know that he’s even spent any time looking over the scroll let alone figured it out.

Because of that she doesn’t bring it up or question it and because she doesn’t bring it up he keep forgetting to go “Oh, yeah, I figured out that technique Orochimaru sent me like a week ago.”

When she learns of it it will probably be through a comment by Shizune or a report by a Wolf involving Tsukuyomi interacting with Naruto. Haven’t quite decided but both could be rather fun. What I will promise- and that’s a rare thing indeed, I never promise anything- is that I will not use the discovery of the Kage Bunshin to create more drama between Mai and Naruto. We’ll be letting all the current drama burn out first before I start stoking the flame again.

We’ll see how long the respite lasts.

[It’s safe now. Maybe.]

In defense of Naruto’s density, Anko has a lot of expressions – playful, bloodthirsty, flirty, childish, arrogant- and many of them end up blending together. He knows the look enough to be cautious, he just can’t recall exactly what he should be expecting.

She also tends to be aroused, which means hes’ getting that look when she’s playful, bloodthirsty, and all the others. He’s not quite recognizing it on its own.

If he spent more time with Orochimaru, he’d probably start describing it as ‘hungry‘.

As for action, I have some coming. The chapter I’m posting later sets everything up and it starts happening in chapter 90. I’m going to try to maintain momentum but I haven’t exactly planned everything out.

General Response and Closing

Again, the overall response has been pretty positive which I’m very pleased to see. The two biggest requests have been to pair Ino with Naruto and to speed up the story itself. Hopefully the next few chapters don’t disappoint.

Unless you were hoping for Ino.

If we do that it’s going to be a while before you see it.

I think that will do it for this week’s Commentary so until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

–

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I’m going to try keeping this brief because chapter prep and the Commentary for chapter 87 took longer than expected.

That Commentary is up, by the way. You know, in case you wanted to check it out.

So, chapter progress has improved. I had been a bit stuck with chapter 89 but chapter 90 went much faster. We;re still not up to five spares but at least we’re not falling further behind.

The vacation was good, we streamed a lot and my casino trip only ran me some $400. More than I really wanted to be spending, but i suppose it was better than sitting at home for my entire vacation.

Work still sucks, the Bonsai are doing well [pictures below], and most of the older stream have been moved to Youtube so we don’t lose them. If you’ve missed them, feel free to head on over.

And speaking of streaming, I have been debating over switching from Twitch to just Youtube for the streams. It would make saving videos easier but I’m not sure what you’d all prefer.

Let me know- PM, email, or comments are fine- and if there’s a time that’s better fro you to catch a stream live please tell me that too. [UTC, please. It helps avoid confusion.]

I don’t think there’s much else going on that needs to be mentioned.

Oh, no, there are two more things.

Working on a D&D campaign- again- which I’m thinking about posting here upon completion. If that’s something you’d be interested in let me know.

We may also be skipping the stream on Thursday because my D&D group- though we’re currently trying out Overlight- may be meeting later in the day due to some schedule conflicts. I’ll try to keep you all updated on that front.

With all that covered, I think this about does it. If I’ve forgotten anything feel free to yell at me. I’ll either write down a note for next week or- depending on how much I forgot to mention- I may even have another update in the coming week. We’ll see.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

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Duty of the Eldest – Posted 2019.07.01

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.

The Mizu Plot

No, this won’t be dragged out much longer. Chapters 89 and 90 really get the ball rolling for Mizu and it’s likely to be wrapped up by chapter 95. The consequences of it, however, well, they may last quite some time.

As for Yugao’s part in it I’m afraid she hasn’t quite reached her suffering quota just yet. Sorry Cam.

Naruto’s Girls

As pointed out by DaDragon562 Naruto has not been with any girls his own age. That is deliberate. The only women Naruto has been with have been older and they have always approached him first. It will be some time until those his own age have a chance of being with him.

And yes, Mai is a few years older than Naruto. It’s at least two, but may be four. I’d have to go back to see what I wrote.

Mito and Karura

Ah, yes, Mito is definitely still a favorite. She may be making new apperances very soon- you know, like possibly during the conclusion of the Mizu arc- and while I still haven’t completely decided how things between her and Naruto will work out they should be fun to write.

I have been meqaning to add more scenes with Karura but have sort fo set them to the side to keep the chapters from beign even more bogged down. As the Mizu situation is resolved both Mito and Karura should be making more regular apperances.

Update Schedule

Unfortunately A starved fool, I cannot release two chapters on the same day, especially when I’m behind in chapters. When I win the lottery and can spend all day writing that may be an option, but that doesn’t seem likely to happen.

Amusement

I suppose one could describe an amused Naruto as begin a “Smug purple eyed read head”, but his amusement is tempered more with fondness- like a parent- than any sort of gloating. Usually, anyway.

How many days does a bird take from Kiri to Konoha? I suppose it depends on the bird. As Keigo is sending a box of masks he may have used an African Swallow, but I understand they’re non-migratory.

More seriously, it should take a messenger bird a little over a day- perhaps less in favorable winds- to make the journey. As Keigo is including his report with the Masks, however, it’s traveling by runner.

And yes, I suppose he could have sealed it in a scroll or something. I didn’t think about that until I was writing this. We’ll just say it’s more respectful this way.

Wattpad

I’m glad you like it deeyaunclaudy and no, I have never posted this story- or anything- on Wattpad. If you do happen to run into it there, kindly let me know, won’t you?

Clone

Yes, Mai slept with Naruto’s clone. Mai does not have any idea that Naruto can create Kage-Bunshin as she was absent when he managed to accomplish it and it hasn’t come up in conversation.

Suffixes and Syntax

I normally love the reviews like the one below because I get to rant for a bit on how stupid they are but Open Office decided to crash on me as I was saving and I lost a good chunk of the rant I had already written. Because I don’t have time to rewrite it all again- I still need to work on the Update and I have work in the morning- I’m not going to bother. I’ve done rants like this before so you can go back and read those if you like. The exact review is as follows;

“Do you use Japanese Suffixes because a public school education is so atrocious you don’t even realize how utterly wrong it is to mix syntax and grammar from two fundamentally different languages? If you went to a private school then your parents have grounds for a refund.”

And my simple response is that it’s English, the most freeform language of inconsistent rules that I know of. If I want to adopt a system from another language that my English doesn’t have an exact equivalent of then I’m going to do it. I seem to be conveying my ideas well enough this way and that’s the entire point of language anyway.

I appreciate grammar but I’m no grammar nut and I’m certainly not some sort of language purist [that’s kind of hard to be when you speak English, which has a habbit of stealing bits and pieces it likes from other languages.] so I’ll continue to use whatever words, phrases, and elements I see fit to convey my message.

Language is a tool, how I use it doesn’t mater so long as the task gets done.

Attention

I do believe I can say, with much confidence, that OmegaRealism was indeed just- and still is- looking for attention. Despite their previous comment they seem to still be here- a fan, perhaps?- though they seem to be a bit tuckered out. Their review of “boring, you are boring, your writing is boring, you are trash and everything you write is utter garbage and complete dog s*** trash” just doesn’t seem nearly as creative- or long- as the last one.

I’ll assume they either didn’t see my response posted here or that they did and are desperate for more attention.

Still waiting on that amazing story he can write, the anticipation is killing me.

Really though, I feel a bit bad for the bloke. At first I was feeling bad for his wife, but with this I realized if he has to come on here and leave such pathetic cries for attention- or maybe it’s for confidence?- than it’s more likely that she’s been crushing his self-esteem and he’s desperate to regain it however he can.

Not the markings of a healthy relationship, mate. You should find yourself some help.

Unless you like it, I guess. Not sure what you’re into.

Regardless, we’re not impressed. The least you could do is entertain us with more creative insults.

General Response and Closing

The trend has continued with overall positive responses to my chapters. I’m pleased to know you’re enjoying them so much and look forward to how the next chapter is received. I’ll warn you here, it’s very fluffy.

Until I next have your attention,

-Eyazahrid