
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