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When I wrote my last update I was sitting in a hotel halfway through my first week of training. Tonight I’m sitting at me desk trying not to fall asleep after a long day in the sun.

As it so happens working outside in 106 degree weather is not fun- and I’m pretty sure that was the coolest day this week. Even so, I’m enjoying this work far more than I ever did my last position.

I miss the air conditioner, naturally, but even working eleven hour days the time just flies by and before I know it I’m at home with a cold one. I’m making a little bit less but I’ve worked an entire shift less, which I now need to devote to my writing.

I had a chance last night- before I just surrendered to sleep- to at least write down notes for the scenes I want to cover for chapter 96 but I don’t have a single word for it yet.

Was going to start tonight but then I realized I was due for an update so I’ll need to get most- or preferably all of it – done tomorrow. We’ll see how successful I am.

Another week of classroom training is coming up Tuesday which will be an absolute cakewalk compared to this week. The hardest part will be how slow it’s going to feel compared to my last four days.

Overall, however, it seems that I made a good decision in changing careers. It will be even better once winter hits and I’ll absolutely loathe myself come next summer. Hopefully I’ll be used to it by then.

And the sales I was worried about? Some of those customers make it really easy so I think I’ll be fine. Now, if only I wasn’t so damn slow. I’ve managed a whopping two service calls a day so far, which is prety damn pitiful.

Well, today wasn’t so bad. The jobs we were supposed to do had a pretty high labor value and we almost got it all done in time despite everything that decided to go wrong.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk about my job, you want to know about my work.

Huh, I suppose that’s….accurate.

Perhaps a bit misleading but we’ll- I’ll- work on it.

So, moving on to important things.

We’ll start with my response to PraetorXyn so that it’s finally done. I gave up on Sunday because I was tired and didn’t have time but even now I’m looking at it and cursing myself for deciding to respond and again for making those intention known in the Commentary.

One day I’ll stop myself from rambling on these things and save myself a whole lot of trouble.

I’m going to cut the review into pieces and respond to each segment because it’s more efficient. And by that I mean easier.

‘The main thing being Naruto constantly getting prideful and doing the stupidest possible rash thing and then regretting it afterward and sulking indefinitely, only to do it again and again to the point it’s so predictable it doesn’t even need to be foreshadowed.’

I have indeed used his pride several times in the story, burning him with it each time. Perhaps I have not properly shown this within the story but I’ve had him set aside his pride a little bit more each time. He’s not instantly humbled- his children look to him as a god, it would be exceedingly easy for him to allow his ego to get away from him -but he reacts less and less rashly, making decisions based on what is more to his- and his children’s- benefit.

His recent bursts of pride, for example, include the matter of Shizune and Clicky discarding the work he did to aid him. Comparing that to the pride and arrogance he showed back when he interacted with Ino and you can see he has made significant progress.

Again, he hasn’t managed to just toss his pride away- yet anyway- but he has become better at tempering it. As for his “Sulking” I believe that may be more due to my writing style than anything else. I like to focus on character’s thoughts and emotions and when I bring them up so frequently I can see how it might be too much. With Naruto as one of the most featured perspectives it could definitely seem drawn out.

I’ll endeavor to condense my focus on such to scenes directly after- or during- events to keep from making it such a prominent part of the story.

I couldn’t find a good part to cuttoff in the next segment, so here’s the whole paragraph;

“Secondly, making an Uzumaki with a secondary chakra system have “average” chakra is frankly insulting, especially when it is obviously done to keep him from being overpowered, when him being overpowered is the only thing that makes any sort of sense in universe, the sabotaging of which doesn’t contribute to realismit shatters immersion into little pieces. An author’s note to describe why it was done was completely unnecessaryNaruto being OP makes 100% sense, if he’s not it’s always because the author didn’t want him to be just cause. The sad thing here is that he was already substantially nerfed by not being the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, thus losing the ability to spam thousands of clones to gain decades of training in months. Hell, he wasn’t even that strong aside from his chains. I don’t recall him ever doing a thing but stealth, kenjutsu, and the chains. There was no need to nerf him further by crippling his chakra system, and the idea it couldn’t be fixed by biting Karin or working with the Bijuu or Tsunade making a new discovery and healing him to finally make up for her mistake (while I am at it, add the two of them never even meeting to my list) or something is ludicrous too.“

First, I don’t know where this “secondary chakra system” of yours is coming from. He has a single Chakra system and had access to a small pool of Mito’s Chakra. At the moment, he can draw upon Karura’s Chakra but, again, that’s a pool of energy he can access, not an independent system.

He is overpowered, massively so, but not through individual might. I didn’t want to make a story where the main character was the reason all of their allies were succeeding or was walking around as an unkillable god. I wanted to make a story in which someone had strength through those under their command.

The idea behind Naruto is not “power”, it is “control”. No, that’s not a good way to put it. Power comes from might and power comes from control. Naruto is supposed to represent control- it’s why I gave him an army. There’s little point in him having such an army if hes’ strong enough to end one on his own.

While I’m not completely familiar with Karin’s abilities or the mechanics behind them, I faintly recall what I put in that AN. You cannot “fix” his system because it is not “broken”. It is limited. If you break your knee- pretty sure I used this example in the AN too- it can heal but it might not heal to what it once was.

If it makes more sense to you, you can instead say that the issue with the Chakra system stunted its growth. There are things that can be done to lessen the effects of stunted growth but you can never fully undo the damage. It is “healed” it is not perfect.

Of course, if you’ve been paying close attention to the story- and have a really good memory- you may have noticed that I’ve provided a solution for him already he simply has yet to realize or use it.

Not sure why someone might not think he was powerful before his Chakra system felt the effect of Mito’s exodus, though. I quite clearly remember describing him using a mass of chains to tear up training grounds, making and destroying mountains with ease.

He’s also a fucking Ninja. He’s supposed to use stealth. Just because Kishimoto wanted to make his Wizard Manga doesn’t mean I have to keep all of his characters like that.

On the matter of Biju, you may recall that he was able to get around his limitations using the Chakra of Karura so I have absolutely no idea what more you’d want from that- the presence of energy harmful to humans instantly fixing issues caused by other Chakra that’s harmful to humans? It’s not supposed to be there in the first place.

Why hasn’t Tsunade met with Naruto? Because she’s spent the last few decades running from her problems. It’s who she is and what she does. Perhaps that will change in the future, there’s always room to grow and she has an in with Shizune so it’s entirely possible that at some point she’ll be able to face her mistakes.

“Naruto is also just really hard to like at times too. He won’t let anyone explain themselves, see Kushina and Yugao, like a petulant child. He was willing to help Yagura commit genocide just because there’s less risk there. Yes, protecting the wolves is a noble goal, but they are Shinobi for ***sake number one, and number two it’s an obvious mistake he’ll immediately regret if it happens, see my first point. Continuing to make the same mistakes doesn’t make him human, it makes the mistakes seem obviously contrived. The point of making mistakes is to learn from them and stop making the same one.”

Kushina has not attempted to explain herself- she jumped straight into trying to make things right and only managed to confirm Naruto’s belief that he doesn’t need her in his life anymore. Sending away Yugao was an act of restraint, not petulance. He was absolutely furious- primarily at himself for trusting her- but he still cares deeply for her. And while Naruto doesn’t know the exact specifics as we do, he does know that there’s not much to explain.

Her actions were a direct betrayal of his trust and cost his children their lives. The best she could possibly say is that she was duty-bound and why should Naruto care for her duty when his is to ensure the safety of his Wolves? The pack comes before everything and he considered her part of his pack.

Her actions quite clearly tell him that she has no interest in being a part of it.

Yes, they are Shinobi. They are also his children. He worries more because as Shinobi they are going to inevitably be in dangerous situations. He will do whatever he can to minimize that so he doesn’t lose them.

It is natural to want to protect the things that you love.

Naruto may be similar to Danzou, but Naruto is not Danzou. He cannot see his children as weapons.

When it comes to genocide, I’m not sure why you think he would regret it. The Bloodline rebels are not a part of his pack nor are they residents of Konoha which he considers his home. They don’t matter to him in the slightest and if slaughtering them all helps his children he’ll do it in a heartbeat.

You mat have noticed, but he is not necessarily a “good” person.

If you’ve managed to never make the same mistake more than once I have to congratulate you. After my first mistake I usually only realize I’m doing it again halfway through for a few times before I start catching myself before I start.

You know, like writing this at night even though it always takes way longer than I anticipated and I really need to get to bed. Still haven’t learned this lesson, evidently.

And with that I’ll end this response so we can cover the rest of the update before I loose consciousness.

Sealkeeper, as mentioned before, has no progress for the next chapter. I’ll try to keep you updated through twitter so you know how progress is going.

I haven’t had a chance to work on any other writing projects- though I have quite a few I’d like to dedicate some time to- but I did promise Valkipher that for every chapter he managed to post for the story he was working on I would work on one of the projects he really wanted to see realized.

So, as soon as he has his first chapter posted I’ll start working- well, I may start some of it a bit early- on a Naruto/FemDanzou.

Yes, you read that right.

Naruto/FemDanzou.

Pretty sure it ended up coming up in a conversation while I was streaming and he really liked it. I have no idea how it will go but I’m sure I can come up with something.

Hopefully it’s not too much of a disaster.

If there’s more I wanted to talk about I can’t think of it anymore so I’m calling this an update and retiring for the evening. I’m sure I’ll remember what else i needed to say in the morning.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

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Ready the Wolves – Posted 2019.08.19

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.

Movies

Elements from some of the movies may be present later, yes. Will I tell you what I have planned? Maybe when I’ve made solid plans.

Shadowdescender

We’ll have to see what happens, won’t we? I would like to bring up one part of your review in particular, though- Why would Mikoto have any reason to suspect Naruto isn’t living comfortably in Konoha?

As far as she’s aware he hasn’t left since his trip to the capital of Hi no Kuni.

Shock Value

Adis left a guest review on chapter 44 mentioning that what I did within the chapter was for “Shock Value” and is what turned them away from the story. While I didn’t go back to see what happened in the chapter I can make a pretty good guess from the chapter’s name – Blood of My Enemy.

I am assuming Adis is referring to the Wolves and their allies consuming the blood of Inoichi but that left me somewhat confused. Shock value? Why would that be something shocking?

It was meant to be symbolic, ritualistic, and even a bit cultish. At no point was it intended to provide sensationalism to the chapter or story.

But it did get me thinking about how it could be mistaken for that and I think I’ve managed to figure out the issue- to me, cannibalism means very little. Humans are animals, seperated from the rest only by our advancements, and to consume them is not much different than having beef for dinner.

Now, if I was to choose between having beef and having human I wouldn’t choose human because a cow is far more limited in its uses. The human, having more potential, would be wasted in that instance.

If the human was dead, however, the cow would hold more purpose because it can still produce milk and reproduce. I would eat the human.

Value is determined by usefulness and potential. It’s not about who you are, it’s about what you can do.

Perhaps this thinking is a far cry from the attitude and beliefs of many others, something I realized when thinking about this review, but is what shaped that part of the story.

The parts removed from Inoichi were symbolic, Naruto speaking about each one, and so was the consumption of the now otherwise useless flesh. Perhaps there was no real benefit in eating it, no advantage to be had, but it represented the Wolves overcoming those standing against them and that is what gave it value to the participants.

It is entirely possible you disagree. That’s fine.

I am well aware that I see the world in ways that may not make sense to others and maybe that was what allowed me to bring about the Wolves.

Regardless, I hope this can help shed some light on why I decided to include ritualistic cannibalism to the story and I hope this insight into my beliefs did not scare any of you away from my work.

Consuming Abyss

While I’m please to learn that you were still able to enjoy my work after reading it again, I would not recommend re-reading all 600,000+ words with the release of each new chapter.

Seriously

To the Guest who left “Seriously?” as a review on chapter 4.

Yes.

Seriously.

I have absolutely no idea what you’re asking about but there’s a good chance I did indeed do…well, whatever it is you’re referring to.

Itachi

I’ve heard mixed opinions on Itachi’s death and they’re divided about equally from what I can tell. For those pleased with it there’s not much to say, I’m glad you liked it.

For those less than satisfied, however, I will take a moment to go over my thoughts on the matter.

First, Itachi is not really a part of the story. We’ve seen him a few times and they’ve pretty exclusively been in scenes involving Mikoto. The only times he has been brought up are during Mikoto’s thoughts or conversations and I think once when someone compares a young Naruto to him.

Aside from giving more reasons for Mikoto to be in the Akatsuki in place of Tobi, he doesn’t really serve any purpose in this story.

Next, while Itachi is Kage-level {Or thereabouts} that does not make him some unkillable warrior-god. Despite what anime may wish you to believe, the human body is not nearly as resilient as they might portray it.

The human body is by no means delicate, but there are some things that will simply kill you and your strength and skill don’t matter once it happens.

It will certainly help you avoid those situations if your strong, fast, or observant but you only need to be distracted for a second for something to go horribly wrong.

When you think you’re finally going to get some from a woman you’ve lusted over for months? Yeah, you’re probably not considering that they may want you dead. I don’t blame the guy.

A Kunai through the throat? Unless they manage to miss everything important you’re dead. Well, no, you’re not necessarily dead from that but if you don’t have a medic on hand you’re as good as dead.

Last I checked the Akatsuki did not have a medic and Mikoto was definitely not calling in the others to help Itachi.

One of the reviews mentioned that they were dissatisfied with who killed him, saying that Mikoto was more or less a mook. I’m aware that she hasn’t done anything combat related within the story, but Zetsu didn’t approach her to join the Akatsuki just because she had a pretty face.

Well, it probably helped…..

Of all the Uchiha who could have been chosen it was Mikoto because she was capable and, while retired, had been in ANBU. At minimum she was A-ranked and the Sharingan, while complete bullshit, provides a huge boost in combat.

Now, both of them had Sharingan and -while I first dismissed the thought- it was likely that Itachi had his activated.

Because really, if you had a chance to remember that in perfect detail for the rest of your life you would be fucking doing it.

With both of them in possession of that Doujutsu neither really has a distinct advantage and Mikoto still has the element of surprise on her side. I find it entirely feasible that she could manage to plunge a knife into his neck and skip down the halls covered in his blood.

Having considered this issue, I’ve realized that the execution of the event may also play a part on some of you being dissatisfied. I had debated the merit of actually writing the scene but decided it wasn’t actually something people wanted- or needed- to see and that I really didn’t want to describe her seduction of her son any more than I absolutely had to.

For that reason it was done off-screan and, because it tickled my fancy, I turned it into a joke. I suppose I could have turned it into an ongoing joke by having her fail and flee as Orochimaru did and then every so often another member of the Akatsuki- for whatever reason- ends up trying to kill him and having to flee as well.

That actually sounds pretty good now that I’m thinking about it. Pein could notice that everyone seems to hate Itachi and that his presence is severely limiting the Akatsuki’s operations, those who tried to kill him could meet up in one of Orochimaru’s smaller bunkers and turn it into an “Itachi-Haters” club, or we could have a depressed Itachi wondering why no one who joins the Akatsuki wants to be his friend and why he keeps scaring them all off.

Might have to save this for a Crack-esque oneshot.

For the final thing, however, I would like to propose a question- Who else in the Akatsuki would have felt better killing him? He had to die, Mikoto’s role in the story demanded that her subplots be wrapped up eventually {I guess they could have ended in a non-favorable manner for her but that just didn’t feel right.}, so he needed to be killed.

Or die of VD.

Goddamnit, that’s a missed fucking opportunity now.

Having someone like Deidara, for example, being the one to kill him would have been far more unsatisfying and the more respectable members are too level-headed {Odd description to use when talking about the Akatsuki} for me to come up with a good reason for them to want to kill him in the first place.

Mikoto was always going to be the best choice and as soon as I placed her in Akatsuki she became the only choice.

After all, Tobi is a good girl.

PraetorXyn

I was going to try addressing this review- and I saved it for last- but I don’t actually have time and this commentary is overdue. I’m going to try to remember to address this in the upcoming Update and hopefully I don’t forget.

General Responce and Closing

Overall the feedback for chapter 94 was positive, a trend we’ve somehow managed for quite some time now. I may need to change the days for Chapters, Updates, and Commentaries now that my schedule has changed a few time. It wasn’t much of a problem the first time but now that I’m working somewhere else it isn’t working too well.

I’ll probably talk more about that in the upcoming update- another thing I need to remember- but for now it’s safe to assume everything will continue as it has been.

Probably.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

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I’m sitting in the hotel not really sure where to start with this. The last three days have been quite busy and I’m not sure what I should even talk about.

I suppose we’ll start with the familiar and do a quick mention of our progress. Unfortunately I haven’t gotten quite as much done as I anticipated being able to- There’s not much time in the morning and I only have an hour or so after I get back from dinner- but we are sitting at a solid 35% for chapter 95.

I hope to bring that to somewhere between 50 and 65% by the end of tomorrow but we’ll see how everything goes. According to the class head of us tomorrow is the toughest day of the week, though I don’t really see how. Today, after all, was some 114 degrees {Fahrenheit} and we were outside for a good portion of it.

I am pleased to be able to say I dealt with it better than a lot of them but it definitely wasn’t something I could call enjoyable.

And seeing as we’re- sort of – on the topic of my trip we’ll just continue along that vein. It’s been three days of mixed classroom and hands-on training with two more to go. We’ll be spending a lot of time outside tomorrow, which won’t be very fun, and on Friday we have a short day because people need to travel home for the weekend.

Some are only a state away, two of us live in the state, and there are a few unfortunate souls who live nowhere close to the training facility. As someone close, however, I get to enjoy the benefits of a shorted day. Not too worried about the pay because I’m getting close to the standard 40 and am already at a higher rate than my last job. The fact that I have no overhead or food expenses really helps too.

Well, I don’t have to have food expenses. Ended up buying something myself earlier because I was feeling famished but for the most part everything except my gas is covered. The restaurants are three minutes away and the training center fifteen, so I’m not going through anywhere near as much as I used to.

All in all, it’s a pretty good arrangement for this week. Next week I’ll be on the job for four days with a more experienced employee and then I’ll be back up here for a week. We’ll see how everything goes out in the field because I have a funny feeling it won’t be anywhere as simple and straightforward as training has been.

No Bonsai pictures this week- because I’m a hundred something miles away from them right now- but I did take a picture of my bags after I had packed them so feel free to enjoy the picture of everything I need to be able to just up and leave.

Well, almost everything. Can’t do much gaming with this but I can write, draw, and waste my time on the internet with everything here. Not the greatest of packers because there are only enough clothes here for about a week.

Oh, speaking of both being able to draw and not having pictures, I actually do have pictures of a drawing I did recently. I used to draw all the time, though I didn’t really have much control over what I was drawing but recently I tried my hand at it again.

So, what did Eyazahrid draw when trying to get back into it?

An ass, naturally. The best? Not even close. Recognizable? Yeah, I’d say so. Obviously I have a budding career as a creator of adult content just waiting for me to drop my writing so I can dedicate all my time to it.

Then again, I’m sure you’d all just prefer it if I added lemons to my stories, hm? Or perhaps just lemon stories, you people would probably be into that sort of thing.

Not that I have any intention of doing one anytime soon, I have no idea how I could manage to pull one off wile adding my distinctive Eyazahrid signature to it. I’m not even sure what tat signature would be, so I suppose that’s the first thing I need to fix if I’m ever going to provide you all with poorly written adult content.

Or maybe it will turn out really good, I’ll adapt it into a book or three, and then they’ll make a movie about it. Bestselling Erotic Novelist title here I come.

But seriously, I have way too much I’m still trying to get done to spend time on something like that. Maybe when I feel more caught up. Like when Sealkeeper is over.

It’s an odd thought, isn’t it? Eventually Sealkeeper will be over and I’m going to have to start a new project from scratch. Definitely going to have to have the first month of updates done for the new story before Sealkeeper ends so I can get you re-hooked on my work before you manage to escape.

Speaking of work, I’ve been redoing the Forum on Eyazahrid.net and have almost finished it. Hopefully it works better than the last one. You know, for all the use that one received. I’m also trying to get a discord set up- it’s more or less done, I just have to write up some rules for it and make some dedicated channels- which I can probably finish up next week without too much trouble.

Provided I’ve finished that chapter, of course.

No stream this week, as I mentioned in the last update, and next weeks is up in the air too. All depends on what my schedule is next week and when I actually manage to get home. The week following that I’ll be back up here for training, so there will be no stream that week either.

I think that about does it- I can’t think of anything else and need to be getting to bed for training tomorrow- so we’ll call it good here.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

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Double – Posted 2019.08.12

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.

Orochimaru’s Body

Orochimaru has indeed taken over Sasuke’s body, much to the satisfaction of many, and it’s going to be fun writing everyone trying to get used to Orochimaru’s genderchange again. I have no idea how many times I was typing about Orochimaru in chapters 93 and 94 only to have to go back and change the pronouns I’d used.

I’ve also got some ideas developing for Orochimaru’s current and future bodies. I’ll try not to spoil them too much but if I do end up using them, well, CamTheThief is not going to be very happy with me.

Hanko and Other Obscurities

Sorry Seta88, I probably should have mentioned at the beginning that terms were covered at the bottom. Whenever I find something I’d like to use in the story but that I know not everyone will be familiar with- basically if I have to look it up to make sure I got it right I should probably explain it- I do try to make a note of it at the end of the chapter so you don’t have to go look it up.

Some time in the future I may start writing those words in Bold so that everyone knows, but I don’t add things like that too often. Next chapter mentions quite a few countries, some which aren’t used as frequently in Fanfiction, so I did make a quick little reference at the bottom of the chapter. Hopefully that’s sufficient.

I think the next time I introduce something like the Hanko I’ll try making it bold as a sign that I’ve covered it below and we’ll see how it goes. If I could get some feedback on whether that would be preferable, though, that would be best.

I have decided that I really don’t want to write anything above the chapter anymore because I don’t really like how it looks and I prefer letting you all jump straight into the story you’ve been waiting for.

The things I have to say are very rarely important enough to warrant delaying your chapter. Of course, if it’s something important I’ve either included it in a Weekly Update or have Tweeted it so it probably doesn’t need to be in the chapter anyway.

Then again, I think there are 30 or so individuals who actually come to the site and 84 people who might see my Tweet so it’s probably not the best idea to rely on that for important news.

I really like not having actual ANs, though, so that probably won’t change.

Mikoto

Yes, she’s back and rest assured she will not be having intercourse with her son. Her biological one, anyway.

One might consider that a spoiler, but you’ll see what happens in the first scene of tomorrow’s chapter anyway and it’s definitely not something important to the plot. At least, I son’t think it is. Certainly wasn’t planning on it but when do any of my plans work in the slightest?

Well, when they shouldn’t and I don’t expect them to and even then they usually don’t work the way I wanted them to.

Regardless, I never planned on her actually going through with such a thing. Her plan is simply to get him alone and drop his guard. You’ll see how that actually managed to play out tomorrow.

Mito

I think Mito is still everyone’s favorite Biju and people have been asking about her reappearance for a while now. We brought her back temporarily to learn that Naruto had more or less replaced her with Karura but haven’t really seen her beyond that.

I think you’ll all be pleased to here that both she and Karura will have a part to play during this Mizu no Kuni Resolution Arc.

I need a better name for that, actually. That sounds dumb.

I’ll think of something later, maybe along the lines of the “Priest” arc.

Regardless, I look forward to having Mito and Karura make more appearances soon. I’m hoping I don’t screw up too badly as I try to bring about the events I want but regardless it should be fun seeing how everything turns out.

pyoson123

Normally the following review really wouldn’t catch my attention but both because it was submitted twice for the same chapter and because I’ve sort of gotten into the habit of having at least one bad review on here each week- or, I think that’s what’s been going on. I should probably check the other Commentaries to confirm, I just don’t feel like it- so I might as well include this one.

It was, after all, the only negative comment I could find. Well, Comments, I suppose. They managed to leave two, which was curious. I wasn’t aware that you could leave two reviews on the same chapter.

Perhaps they deleted the first to write the second one or maybe FanFiction.net is just being odd again. It still tells me a a good portion of reviews that talk about the most recent chapter are labeled as chapter one reviews when I get them in my inbox.

Regardless of that, I’ll post the two reviews below. The first one was;

“wow idk what I was expecting but I thought it would be better, this chapter just suck”

Which was very constructive. Three minutes later I received this one, which may have been an attempt to…expand…on their thoughts.

“last chapter was awesome and it kept me wanting more but this just straight up suck, this chapter was just boring and short”

Which, I guess, does provide some measure of insight. This chapter wasn’t as exciting as the last chapter, okay. That’s something I can work with. Won’t really change the coming chapters and my style hasn’t ever really been action-packed but I can understand that you really liked the last chapter.

The part the followed, however, is what caught my attention the most.

Short.

Short.

Not the first time I’ve heard this and probably won’t be the last but it is one of the things that drives me nuts. Perhaps its’ just a personal pet peeve. And why does it annoy me so much? Because with the exception of one or two chapter all of my chapters have been posted with the same minimum length.

5,000 words make up a chapter, I set that as my standard with chapter one and have continued with it for almost four years now. There have, of course, been times where I reach a part in a scene at 4,700 words that I think would be a fantastic ending- and you all know how much I love leaving you with a beautiful little cliffhanger- and so I cut it a bit short.

There have also been times I’ve posted a 20,999 word chapter {C65-ITP} but those are equally as rare. Well, I say rare but there was only one chapter that long, the next closest was 17k and I believe that was chapter 36 or so.

The point remains, my chapters are, for the most part, the same length.

Sometimes I regret not making them 2k words, as they were back with some of my earlier work, but 5k seemed like a good sized chapter that i would be able to get out pretty regularly. We’ve had some periods where that hasn’t been the case but I’ve put in a lot of work trying to ensure I provide a certain amount of content at regular intervals.

Having people claim otherwise is a quick way to put me in a sour mood.

And with that said, I do believe that should end my rant on the single word in their review that irritated me.

General Response and Closing

As mentioned above there was only one- I’m countining it as one considering they were from the same person and said pretty much the same thing- negative review and the majority of you seemed to really enjoy it, particularly how Ship Master Yokida and his crew came to realize who they were transporting.

I’ve always hated OCs as a reader but gods above do these throw-away OCs make my job easier.

The next chapter should be posted some twelve hours after I finish this- it’s about 5pm as I type this- because I need to get up early tomorrow to start my training for my new job.

I fully intend to type up chapters and a Weekly Update from my hotel room, so everything should proceed as normal for all of you as readers.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

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Warning – Possible Spoilers

The following post relates to an ongoing plot element in Sealkeeper: He Who Binds and may spoil future revelations within the story. If you do not wish to know the author’s thoughts on the matter please skip to the end where I will provide a brief, spoiler-free recap of this post.

________________

Figured I’d better get this done as soon as possible before I forget about it and have to rush last-minute. There has been some expression of confusion surrounding Naruto and his position as High-Priest so I thought I’d take a moment to go over it.

First, this is not a new thing. The Amulet of Aū was first seen in Chapter 18 ‘Hinata no Mikoto’ and Naruto first made us of it at the end of Chapter 29 ‘Child of Aū‘. The very first serpent he summoned to contact Orochimaru referred to him as High-Priest because he was the one in possession of the amulet.

So, what’s the story of the Amulet of Aū?

That’s a damn good question. It may take away from the experience, but the honest truth is that the recent chapters where I reintroduce the idea was simply a bout of inspiration I decided to follow. Sort of like Mai’s doubt but not universally hated.

I’m going to break this post down into two sections, what I know about the situation and what has actually been covered in the chapters. I’ll be doing them in that order too so that anyone not wanting to read spoilers doesn’t have as large a risk.

First, the Amulet of Aū is a legendary item, closer to Orochimaru’s Kusanagi than Mōryō’s Tooth in status. Aū’s High-Priest was given this as a show of status. Unlike the priestesses who all shared a bloodline the amulet was passed down at the High-Priest’s discretion. If they died before it changed hands Aū would decide who received it next.

As for Aū, he is the Golden Serpent God of the Sun- which is only somewhat ironic considering his High-Priest is using the name of the Moon Deity.

But Eyazahrid, Amaterasu is the Goddess of the Sun!

Aū is intended to be more raw and primal than the Shinto gods, a deity that has been around since long before any creation story and who would have watched them all play out. One might go as far as to say that Aū is above the other gods and that it is by his grace that Amaterasu is allowed to continue calling herself the Sun Goddess.

One can also say that Amaterasu is the goddess of the sun but Aū is the sun.

I kind of like that explanation, actually, considering the moon of the Naruto-verse contains the body of the Jūbi {At least, I think I recall that. I gave up partway into the Fourth Shinobi War and have only a very basic idea of what happened during and after}. It’s got a nice sense of balance to it.

But Eyazahrid, which is it?

Well, having just typed it up and rather liking it it’s now the second one. Like I said earlier I don’t really know the full story because I haven’t gotten to it yet. Until the last two chapters it hasn’t really mattered because Naruto had only used the Amulet once.

Even so, I do have some ideas for the amulet that may or may not end up official Sealkeeper Cannon- and isn’t that an odd concept?- that I’ll place here for you to look over. if you really like something let me know, it will have a better chance of not being scrapped when I second guess my ideas.

Aū and his children {The Golden Serpents} are not actually summons. Despite being summonable through the Amulet of Au they aren’t like the toads, slugs, or even the snakes of the summoning realm. Instead, like their father, the golden serpents are Kami, albeit far lesser spirits than their father.

As for the mother? At this point I’m thinking they were either spawned from sunbeams or that Amaterasu was their mother and carried the children of Aū in return for being allowed to be the Sun Goddess.

Oh, that sounds pretty good. I kind of like it. She already avoids her brother/husband after he slew her friend- I covered this at the end of chapter 85 ‘Amaterasu’ or you can look up the story of Tsukuyomi and Uke Mochi – so maybe after that happened she began to do her duty to Aū and gave birth to his children.

I’m really liking this. Hell, with her being ‘human’ I now kind of want to introduce Yuan-Ti to the Naruto-verse serving Naruto the High-Priest. Elder Children of the Golden Serpent? Sounds almost like a book on its own, or maybe a 5E Campaign Setting. Might have to steal that for my campaign, actually.

And yes, I’m just making all this up now as I write it down. You are seeing my thought process as accurately as it can be expressed in writing.

Lucky you.

Continuing on, with these serpents being spirits it does support the sense of divinity Naruto has been building up around him. When he uses the Amulet of Au he is a vessel for divine powers, powers that haven’t been evoked in a very long time.

What will this mean for Naruto in the future? I’m not sure but it’s going to be a lot of fun finding out. Hmm, Wolf Cult, Sheep Cult, and now a Serpent Cult? I’m detecting a pattern.

The Great Elder Serpent Koshi Nii-sama, featured in chapter 93 ‘Double ‘, is actually one of Aū’s children and the progenitor of the Snake Summons. His name- Koshi – is a reference to the Yamata no Orochi which was called the “eight-forked serpent of Koshi” in the Orochi myth.

For those wondering where Aū’s name comes from, Au is the chemical symbol of gold. I just added the fancy ” Ū ” at the end.

We’ll leave those ideas alone for a bit and move on to what has been covered already in the posted chapters for those not entirely sure.

________________________________

The following section is certified as Spoiler-Free by the Eyazahrid Enterprises Quality Assurance Team to contain only material already covered in publicly released chapters of ‘Sealkeeper: He Who Binds‘.

The EEQUAT is not responsible for your curiosity getting the better of you and forcing you to scroll up to non-certified sections of this document.

Alright, to clarify matters of Naruto’s status as High-Priest I’ll be including things that have been covered in the story so far below. If you were curious about other aspects of Aū and his children in Sealkeeper: He Who Binds you may scroll back up, though you risk spoilers if you do.

The Amulet of Au first appeared in Chapter 18 ‘Hinata no Mikoto’ .

It was first used in Chapter 29 ‘Child of Aū‘.

The serpent summoned at the end of Chapter 29 first addressed Naruto as “High-Priest”.

The Amulet of Au requires blood to be rubbed over its surface, much like the Kuchiyose no Jutsu. The blood is absorbed during the summoning. A secondary requirement for the summoning is that the light of the sun must shine on the amulet. <S:HWB C22-TPM>

In addition to allowing one to summon the “Children of Aū” those who wear the amulet are safe from serpents, even those commanded by a snake summoner. <S:HWB C22-TPM>

Naruto’s second summoning of a golden serpent – Chapter 91 ‘Purple Pineapple’ – lead to him learning that Aū had been watching him and was eager to see what he was going to do.

Naruto received the Amulet in Chapter 22 ‘The Pieces Move ‘ and does not fully understand what it is. Orochimaru, while slightly more informed due to their dealing with the Snake Summons, also does not know the full weight of the gift they gave Naruto.

The Snake Summons hold a deep respect for Aū, his children, and his High-Priest as shown by Koshi and, in a way, Manda. Manda does not believe that there is a High-Priest and instead thinks Orochimaru is trying to deceive him.

Despite that, we learn from Manda that the original bloodline of Aū’s priestesses – which we can assume was originally a hereditary position – was lost long ago and the priestesses afterwards ended up falling away from the faith. There has not been a High-Priest in a very long time. <S:HWB C93-D>

Due to the original possession of the Amulet of Aū, it is quite possible that Orochimaru’s previous body was a descendant of either the original priestesses- the bloodline found- or one of those who abandoned their duties. Even Orochimaru would not know which it was, if they had any relation to the priestesses at all. <S:HWB C18-HNM>

It is entirely likely they just came into possession of a pretty piece of jewelry.

The only one who would be able to say either way would be Aū himself, but they have yet to make a direct appearance in the story thus far.

I hope that by bringing the details we know about Aū and his children into a single document it has helped paint a clearer picture of the situation and has prompted you to consider all the ways it may factor into future chapters. I have found myself rather excited about all the avenues we might explore going forward and am eager to try implementing some of them.

If you like any of the ideas I’ve mentioned here and wish to use them- specifically those dealing with Aū as mentioned in the non-cannon section- you are more than welcome to so long as you give credit and let me know so I can check your story out.

I’d love to see how you make use of Aū and his children in the Naruto-verse.

Or, perhaps, even in other fandoms.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

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Well, this is fun. I’m sure there was a whole bunch for me to talk about- not in the ‘Yeah, I was probably supposed to cover more’ but in the ‘I was supposed to cover more’- but my plans for the day- to be fair I was just going to finish chapter 94, which has exceeded our 5k standard length, and type this up- were rather rudely interrupted by one of the rooms losing the use of its outlets.

Apparently it’s become a common thing for the breaker to trip, which no one had mentioned to me yet. So common, in fact, that they managed to completely wear the poor thing out. Unfortunately for me the nearest hardware store open at 7pm- rather, that would still be open when I was leaving at 7pm- also happened to be, well, not close.

I live well outside city limits anyway so by the time I got back I should have already been in bed and this should have been posted. Judging on the above, I’m sure you can come to the conclusion that neither of those happened. You’d be right.

Switching out the breaker- a little bit of me died inside when I upped the Amp rating without checking the draw- only took a whopping minute and a half in the dark- because the sun was down before I even reached the store- which makes the fact that so much of my time was wasted to fix it ridiculous.

Hopefully the higher amperage will keep it from tripping all the time and I didn’t just condemn the house to an inevitable blaze. Suppose I could have bought the two-pole 25 Amp and just replaced one of the others too instead of jumping up to the one-pole 30 but hindsight is 20/20.

Despite what all my eye exams always said, mine is not. Those letters? Apparently I’m really good at guessing.

I’m going to toss on the customary Bonsai pictures below before I go over the things I was supposed to go over but don’t have time to. Probably just do another update later in the week- maybe another Sunday one- or a separate post addressing the larger subject.

Anyway, Bonsai;

And, as a bonus, I suppose I’ll throw in a picture of the household’s cats. Only one of them is mine.

Left to right; Oliver, Tarzan, Teto

And now that you’re all happy from the cat picture I can disappoint you with what you missed.

Huh, maybe I should have done that in reverse? Bah, who am I kidding? You came here for the pictures anyway, you don’t care about what I’m not including.

Well, aside from a teaser. I don’t have a reserve of chapters yet- though with the way this week is going I might end up one chapter ahead, we’ll see- so I can’t really tease much. I could. I won’t.

Moving on.

Wednesday Updates seem to be working fine. Overall visitors to my site had already dropped pretty low so I can’t quite determine the effect of splitting the posts- maybe it would improve if I announced the posting of the commentaries- but that doesn’t matter much anyway.

I was planning on streaming tomorrow- I have no idea what, but something– but as it so happens tomorrow is my brother’s birthday and the family wants to get together for a celebratory dinner. Depending on what time that is I may do an earlier stream but that was already inevitable because my sleep schedule has changed.

Friday I have my final paperwork for the new job and my training starts on Monday, a few hours after I normally post the chapter. You’ll probably get the chapter much earlier than normal. Well, that or late. Depends on whether or not I can get up on time.

The training is luckily only few hours north- like three or so- so I just have to get up early and drive up unlike whatever poor bastards they’re flying in from out of state.

I’ll be spending a week up there, writing after training is finished for the day, so hopefully I can at least keep up. If I’m really lucky I may even get ahead. I’ll be back Friday evening but because of the new sleep schedule I’ll probably be in bed soon after, so don’t expect a stream that week.

Following that I have a week of on-the-job training here which may keep me from streaming again and may even interrupt my writing- we’ll see how it goes- so with any luck I can get ahead over the next week so it isn’t an issue. That or I really have to crank out the chapters on Saturday and Sunday. Not fun, but doable if necessary.

That whole process will repeat again- another week up north and another on the job- before my training is ‘done’. It’s a new field, so somewhat nervous, but everything should be fine.

Well, as long as I can manage sales. That’s going to be my least favorite part of the job, I can tell. Bonuses for making sales? I’m all for that. Making sales a necessary part of your job when you’re there to install something? I hope we have something good or I’m going to end up looking for a job again.

Which would be a pity because this job seems like something I could really enjoy.

Details aside, work boils down to ‘I’ll try to get chapters out normally but don’t expect streams over the next month or so until I figure this shit out’.

And on the matter of streams, again, we’ll probably be having them earlier. You know, if I continue doing them. Only a few people ever show up so it may be better to just make a discord where we can all chat. Well, I have that actually. I’ve just only sent an invite to one person so far because its so far down on my to-do list it won’t get done until I absolutely need it.

I have some Planetside streams I need to upload to Youtube still [Might be what I end up doing tomorrow] and I hope to have chapter 94 finished and chapter 95 started tomorrow. I’d like to work a bit on my D&D campaign but I haven’t started running yet so it’s not a priority.

Think that about does it, I’ve managed to cover most of what I wanted to. The only thing left- I believe – is about Naruto and his status as the High-Prophet in Sealkeeper: He Who Binds.

Don’t really have time for that right now, so I’m going to make that its own post hopefully tomorrow or Friday.

I need to get my ass to bed so;

Until I next have your attention,

-Eyazahrid

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Danzō’s Lecture – Posted 2019.08.5

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.

Naruto’s Age

I’ll admit I’ve been a bad GM and haven’t really been keeping track of time in the story. I’m sure if I went back and read through the story again- which I do not have the time to do- I could probably come up with some sort of rough estimate. I could always just say something like ‘I’m pretty sure the Suna invasion was near the end of summer in cannon so we’re probably in the beginning of fall…’

Actually, I kind of like that.

Gives me all sorts of lovely opportunities to make titles like ‘The Fall of Mizu” or something equally dramatic. Well, I can do that anyway. I’ll come up with something clever eventually. Or I’ll steal something. You won’t know.

As to Naruto’s actual age, I do believe he’s thirteen at this point, though if we’re saying it’s the beginning of fall he’s not far off from becoming fourteen.

Update Frequency

I’m quite proud that I’ve managed consistent updates – It’s been approximately six months of them now – so I’m always pleased to hear that people have noticed and appreciate it.

As for ThePhenakism‘s comment that I must be putting a lot of time into this I unfortunately must admit that it’s not nearly as much as I should be. I had hoped that during my time between work I would be able to get a whole lot of work done but it seems that the more time I have available the less progress I make.

Flowchart

HollowedPerseus17 suggests that I make an updated flowchart and upon some consideration I realize they’re probably right. The last one I started in December or January and we’ve had quite a few chapters from there.

It is, however, going to be a major pain in the ass. Just the earlier one was a challenge due to the stupid nature of relationships and it only explored them from how they were related to Naruto. Trying to fit in everyone new? That’s one hell of a project.

Might be better off making a list of all their characters and listing their relations to other characters below their name.

Either way we’re probably in desperate need for a new one so I’ll add it to my mental to-do list. At the moment writing that to-do list down happens to be at the top of the list, as it has been for many, many months. We’ll see if I actually manage to accomplish anything on it.

Tsume

It’s actually been a while since anyone mentioned Tsume- probably because she hasn’t made a recent appearance- so I was somewhat surprised to see someone ask about her.

That the question is about her relationship with Mai, however, does not surprise me.

At the moment their relationship is that of very good friends. They did sleep together once but they are neither lovers nor friends with benefits. This said, it is not entirely platonic and there are romantic feelings between them. Other than that one night, however, they have not been acted on.

Kami-Senpai

While I thank you for your flattery, if my story was a woman she would be my daughter and no one would be coming anywhere near her while I still drew breath let alone be stealing her away through marriage.

I believe- though am not quite sure- that you inquired whether I had learned any politics or war strategy before writing this. The answer to that would be no, I’m just bullshitting my way through things and it seems to be working.

Fake it until you make it and all that.

Rogue Survivor

Thank you for continuing to point out typos from forty chapters ago, I appreciate your desire to help, but I assure you I really don’t concern myself with a misplaced letter from a chapter I wrote over a year ago.

As for calling me a “filthy casual” I am indeed. Were I a professional I would be getting paid for this. Most mournfully I am not.

Kishimoto Trash

At first I had been under the impression that the review of “Still Kishimoto trash had been left from a guest and AsashiTheKitsune‘s review of “Kishimoto trash still” was them leaving one with their account. As it so happens the first was left by GalenTheEternal which I’m glad I checked because I would have looked almost as foolish as they do posting my original response. I have a feeling it may be the same person seeking attention, otherwise I’m unaware of some sort of trend where that’s considered an intelligent thing to post on a story based on that artist’s work.

Still, this week [well, last week] it was left on chapter 92 so if it is two separate individuals than I at least can assume this one managed to go through the entire story before leaving it. In that case, I don’t really know what to tell you.

No, my story did not change from something based on Kishimoto’s work in the last 600,000+ words. It’s still a Naruto fanfiction. As for trash? That’s certainly dependent on personal taste but if you don’t like it you’re more than welcome to request a full refund of the absolutely nothing you’ve paid me for my work.

I know this is most likely a cry for attention but the idea stands. If you don’t like the story feel free to tell me why and leave for something else but reading through the entire thing only to complain when it still hasn’t turned into something you like is just inane.

That chocolate malt isn’t going to become strawberry if you complain about the flavor between each sip. Well, I don’t think it is. To be perfectly honest I’ve never actually tried it myself.

Regardless, Sealkeeper will remain Sealkeeper we’ll just have to find out what that’s going to mean by the time I finish it.

General Response and Closing

We received less feedback for this chapter but aside from the one person crying for attention (above) it seemed to be positive. It’s always great to see that people are enjoying my work and that I’m not sitting here wasting my time.

I will admit that I’m kind of disappointed on how everyone’s hating on Asuma but I also know that’s completely my fault. I didn’t want to make my readers hate him, he was just supposed to be a stubborn man doing what he thought was best for those he loved when pushed into a position he didn’t want.

Guess I didn’t quite hit the mark, yeah?

No, he’s not super strong or super smart, but his heart is in the right place even if his methods are poor. Hiruzen certainly didn’t do him too many favors either by more or less dumping the position onto him and figuring that he’d learn.

It more or less worked for Hiruzen, I suppose, but he has so much experience at this point I don’t think he really knows how to impart all of it to the next generation. Well, quickly, at any rate. I’m sure if Asuma spent a few years with Hiruzen advising him he’d probably be much better.

Unfortunately Asuma has been Hokage for a few months and the first things he has to deal with is the aftermath of the invasion, Iroh’s plans on taking advantage of the situation, and a relatively recent group that’s been running around the Elemental Nations like a pack of wild dogs doing whatever they like with minimal consequences.

He’s more than a little overwhelmed, even if he’stoo damn stubborn to admit it.

But, again, all of that’s my failure as an author to properly convey that idea. Instead I managed to create a villain which, I guess, is still useful but not what I had intended at all. Maybe I’ll miraculously pull off a Sasuke and manage to make at least some of you actually start to like him. That would be fun, but if you all start liking him again I might have to kill him.

It’s a difficult balance, but it’s certainly entertaining. As readers you may not realize it but writing is a subtle game played by the author against themselves. Of course, that also means that sometimes we can’t help but cheat.

I think that about does it for this week’s commentary. If I missed something you were really hoping for a response to let me know and I’ll either respond directly, add it to the update on Wednesday [2019.08.14], or make it part of the commentary for chapter 93.

Until I next have your attention,

-Eyazahrid

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As I mentioned in an earlier update we’d probably be moving these to Wednesday which means I had extra time to carefully prepare this update. I totally did not start typing this between Warframe missions an hour and a half after I was supposed to be in bed.

Nope.

Not at all.

Yeah, I totally did. Which ids dumb but time really just slips away when playing that damn game. So does money, but that’s unrelated. Me and my horrid spending habits are not up for discussion at this time.

So far progress for the next chapter is good [50%] so we’ll have another update next Monday unless something goes horribly wrong. I should probably just spend all my time writing to get that stockpile of chapters up again but the temptations of Menoly are hard to resist.

I’m trying to remember what I was supposed to be mentioning in this update but am drawing a blank, so we’ll skip over to the Bonsai pictures while I try to figure out what I’m forgetting.

And for the sake of size comparison;

As you can see, the least favored has surpassed her sister by quite a bit. I’m still waiting for them to gain color so I can confirm which is which, though, but we won’t hit 9 months until the end of next month so color is probably still a long ways off.

That’s fine, I’ve got time.

Well, no, I don’t. I’m supposed to be doing things but I get distracted. Like today, for example. I was supposed to go to bed three and a half hours ago- yes, it’s been two hours since I started this- but I’m still running missions on Warframe and writing this.

Slowly.

On the bright side, I did remember what I was going to say. It’s probably not the brightest plan but earlier when I was making myself some dinner it occurred to me that it’s been a very long time since I actually read a Naruto fanfiction so I had the bright idea that I’ll skim some of the newer stories tomorrow to get a feel for the current offerings.

This should be good because it will allow me to reconnect to the Naruto fanfiction community that I’m probably out of touch with but it does run the risk of me getting hooked on reading- it takes a lot less effort for me to read a story than write a chapter- so hopefully I can still finish that chapter this week.

We should be good.

Probably. Eyazahrid

There was probably more I needed to address but I’m tired and this needs to be done. If I’ve missed something let me know.

Until I next have your attention,

-Eyazahrid

–

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Purple Pineapple – Posted 2019.07.29

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.

Rogue Survivor

While I appreciate the thought, I’m not going back 54 chapters to find the one typo you located among what I know is at least 5k words. Rest assured, if there’s a grammatical error our good Fuyuriku has caught it.

TheGreatBubbaJ

Boogeymen getting ready to boogey? I’m going to have to use “Boogey” in part of a chapter title now because of you. I’m indecisive if that’s a good thing or not.

DaDragon562

If you’re looking forward to Asuma getting his ass chewed out, I think you’ll like chapter 92. Danzou goes on a very long rant about why antagonizing the Wolves is a very stupid thing to do.

I’m also pleased to hear that I’ve managed to deceive you, my “juggle” is really more of a “fumble” and any cohesion is an act of the gods. I have no idea what I’m doing but it’s working- I guess.

Update

To the guest who has left the review “update” on the last two chapters, I’m not sure if that’s your way of saying you’re eager for more or if you simply haven’t recognized the update schedule. [It’s weekly, if it’s the latter.]

Overlord

People keep telling me I should give Overlord a try but I’m barely managing to get the chapters out these days. The last thing I allowed myself to read- because I will go on a story-binge and get nothing done – was a 15k oneshot by LeQuin, who is one of my favorite fanfiction authors for a series of books/movies I never actually finished.

It’s amazing how much of cannon you can learn by reading hundreds of fanfictions, though.

Maybe when I’m on a more reliable schedule I’ll give Overlord a try, but that won’t be for a while yet.

Female Orochimaru

More readers are discovering the earlier Orochimaru and reading their reactions to her as she develops has been fairly entertaining. The results are mixed but I quite like XXxxxadisxxxXX ‘s comment of ” Oh god, female Orochimaru is f*** scary. “

I think that sums up her character quite nicely.

As for her being a “surprisingly adorable villainess”, Cam, I completely agree. I’m very proud of what I’ve created there.

Who Cares

If you’ve continued reading, I’m sure you’ll see that things happen just as you say they should. Orochimaru does indeed provide the Kage Bunshin to Naruto who uses it to be both Naruto and Tsukuyomi.

I just happen to not like the idea that the Jutsu he canonically steals from the scrolls of top-secret, forbidden jutsu of ultimate power is known by everyone and their nan. It’s a bit more obscure in my rendition.

And don’t worry about mentioning the wrong chapter, the system tells me what chapter you have open when you leave your review.

GalenTheEternal

My thanks for your comment of “Still Kishimoto trash.”, it’s some really quality feedback. Of course you made it to the whopping first chapter so I probably shouldn’t be surprised. Now, I’m not sure if you mean “still” because you read the story before- and I’m too damn busy to check- or because you think Kishimoto’s work is trash and that my story doesn’t deviate enough from it on the first chapter.

If the latter, it really begs the question as to why you’re going through Naruto fanfiction or, at the very least, are not searching for Naruto stories with AU in the title. Your profile, it would seem, is not inaccurate. Common sense has indeed died.

Who Cares [Again]

While your view of the CRA would fit the purpose of manipulating the new clan, a law written for the village isn’t likely to be so obviously malicious. The actions you’re describing would be used on an individual basis by the council to suit their needs rather than something proposed to maintain dying clans.

As for training, if they’re trying to bring back an entire clan from the brink of destruction they aren’t going to want to risk any training accidents until they’re done with you. Naruto nearly kills himself training – in cannon – and while he’s certainly unique I just can’t see them taking such a risk when they’re already bending normal laws to accommodate your clan’s poor state.

DnD Boi

Yes, Min-Max jokes. I couldn’t resist.

General Response and Closing

Again, most of you seem satisfied by the chapter. I think we may loose a bit of steam with the next chapter because Danzou’s rant went on for a lot longer than I anticipated but with the Wolves currently on the march to Mizu no Kuni I figure we have some scenes we can get through to cover the passage of time.

Hopefully I’ve managed to pull it off.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid