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By Raven’s Wings – Posted 9.23.2019

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.

I’ve been mostly avoiding- or, that’s been the intention- quoting each and every review I respond to but it’s become evident looking back that I’ve been including them more and more. So, for purely experimental purposes- and not so I don’t have to summarize- I’ll try this commentary with the full reviews

And I suppose I really don’t have to worry about how long this is because it’s not a part of the chapter.

Biju

“Great chapter the best part where either danzo swearing or the ten tails of nope! Hilarious! And if yagura pisses Naruto of enough it will be 13 tails of nope! (on that front can we get an estimate of the bijuu genders or are they all female?) well Naruto will need additional firepower against pain anyway…” – Wicked.A

Generally, I was assuming that after Karura any Biju encountered would be female and I would make exceptions. Mainly i was going to keep the Hachibi Male and everything else was more or less a toss-up.

Upon consideration, however, the thought of turning Gyuki into a sassy black woman is beyond tempting.

So yes, I’m probably making them all female.

Danzou

Apparently chill Danzou is still very popular which is great because he’s fun to write. Giving him a successor and reminding him of his morality has gone a long way to relaxing him.

Akatsuki

“Somehow I feel nearly the entirety of Akatsuki will end up under his sway. Kisame and Sasori mos certainly at least. Hidan will likely be butchered by the wolves for blasphemy and I doubt he’ll want to spend the capital to keep Kakuzu on retainer. The rest are a toss up.” – TheGreatBubbaJ

I think Sasori and Deidara may find themselves in the company of the Subaku family for a bit, but there’s a very good chance of Kisame finding himself pulled into Naruto’s circle of influence. Or, at the very least, being affected by it.

Especially because Tobi is a good girl.

As for the others, well, we’ll have to see.

And, on a related note, I’ll add this bit from another review;

“Sasori and Deidara chatting with Gaara and Kankuro was one of the best conversations in your fic, I swear. Even though your plot is serious I’m really glad to see the humorous oddities of powerful ninja continue to extend to Akatsuki. Obviously it was like that in canon, but it’s still nice to have confirmation that the rather colorful villains will get their chance to shine.” – CamTheTheif

I continue to stick by the idea that success in the Shinobi world is determined solely by one’s instability and while others might argue, I would say that the members of Akatsuki have been successful.

You know, in their own sort of way.

Of course there’s also probably something to say about being some of the most powerful people in the world. I’d assume you’re much more relaxed if you generally don’t have any threats to worry about. And even if that’s only by perception you’re still being left alone by the majority of potential irritants. I’m sure that would go a long way to improve their mood.

Really, though, it’s because having powerful Shinobi be unhinged to varying degrees is just too much fun.

Mito

“Actually, I’m not sure if I missed it or just forgot, but whatever did happen to Mito?” -DPSS

I know my memory is rather shoddy- there’s no denying that- but I’m pretty sure I answered this in last week’s commentary too. In case I did not, I’ll answer it again here.

She’s in Naruko’s tummy, where she’s been for, well, the entirety of the series. In the seal on her tummy, to be more specific.

As for her ability to communicate with Naruto, she has regained some access into his seal {She’s close enough that she can again reach the bars} but she is unable to speak to him through the Sealscape. He, however, could visit her though he has no idea of her presence and really no desire to interact with her after their parting.

Light

“This was lighter than your last couple of chapters. Thank you I needed that this morning had a rough weekend. Great stuff. 100 chapters is a hell of a milestone, I wonder what you have planned for it.” – Home of the Brave

and

“I feel like theres no more seriousness to how you’re writing now. Each pov is starting to sound the same and its making me sad my guy” – WarFlower

Both relate to the idea that the story is lightening up which, honestly, should probably have people being just a bit more uneasy.

I’m not sure if it’s a good thing, but even I’ve come to notice- and I’m often oblivious- that my story moves in cycles. It will start to lighten up and characters will start to settle into a peaceful normality and then I as God-Author will disrupt their newfound serenity and plunge them into darkness for a time.

Is it good storywriting? No idea. Does it mean things may become more dark and serious shortly? Yeah, there’s a pretty good chance.

It should be fun.

Direction

“At first this story had potential to be great, but here we are at ch99 just going around in circles, just updating this story for the sake of updating and frankly thus story is going nowhere and it’s going to be a disappoinment. What I think this story need is a rewrite and an actual storyline and you actually need to visualize were this story is heading and that is all I have to say. Take it or leave it, it’s just the opinion of a guy but this story has no future and need a rewrite or to scrape it entirely. No flame just stating my opinion.” – johnycage802

First, yes. I’ve been updating for the sake of updating for more than 90 chapters now. We’ve established that.

A rewrite may eventually happen, but not until long after I’ve managed to finish the story.

I do, however, know exactly where the story is going.

What I don’t have is any idea what’s goign to happen between now and that end.

Well, I have a general idea and a couple thing’s I’d like to see but nothing in stone.

I will most certainly have to respectfully disagree that this story has no future because I have promised to finish it. Is it some shinning gold future of promise? No idea. Will I somehow manage to achieve the ending I have planned? I’d damn well better.

Regardless, it will not be scraped.

Ever

General Response and Closing

Overall the response to this chapter was positive, which isn’t something I can say for the chapter I posted this morning. Hopefully Chapter 101 will go better.

Until I next have your attention,

– Eyazahrid

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Where do we begin in this update? Hell, what do I cover?

I guess we’ll start with a quick update about work and move down from there. So, I’m not fired yet, which is good, and the money is about the same as I was making previously so I don’t have to worry too much.

I have a bit more free time these days because of it, which is why chapter 100 isn’t just done but has 20% extra to it.

Yeah, that’s right. I have the chapter done early again and it’s larger than normal. As far as you should all be concerned my career choice was absolutely the right decision.

Could I stand to be doing something a little more….lucrative? Absolutely, the sooner I pay off my debts and can buy a house the better but I’m not likely to get something better than what I’ve found.

I just need to manage to keep it- and do well- over the next few years in order to be making enough to hopefully get a house. It would certainly be nice to be a home owner by 30, but we’ll see.

You know, unless one of these damn lottery tickets end up winning the jackpot or I find a way to make money from my writing, either works.

Still, if I can manage a chapter in two days- because I did absolutely jack-shit for writing on Monday- and it’s larger than normal imagine what I could do if I was able to dedicate four or five days a week to writing without having to worry about bills.

It’s a pipe dream, I know, but it’s hard not to think about it.

But work and…work….aside, there’s not a whole lot more to cover.

Bonsai are doing well, I just changed their soil about an hour ago. I would have pictures but they weren’t feeling very photo-ready after the re-potting so I’ll give them some time to adjust.

But we’ll have those pictures next week, it’s a promise.

We streamed yesterday and I finally got to play Borderlands 3 which has been sitting on my desk since release taunting me. I was as good at it as I am any other game so you can imagine how that went. Voice isn’t all the way back, either, so I couldn’t talk too much.

Still, it was good to start getting back into it. As I mentioned in the last update streams are moving to Tuesdays going forward because it gives me Monday to recover from work and I have Wednesday off in case the stream goes on longer than I anticipate.

Beyond that, I don’t think there’s anything else to really cover. Progress on my other writing projects are steady but slow and the side projects I’ve wanted to explore, well, they haven’t been touched.

I’ll have time eventually.

The only thing I’ll leave you with is the curious thought I had while writing this; can I make a living pimping out sex dolls? It might seem weird, it might seem impractical, but is it profitable? How the hell would you determine the need for such a market, anyway?

I’m probably going to spend the rest of the night thinking about it, so hopefully I’ve damned you to the same fate.

You’re welcome.

Until I next have your attention,

-Eyazahrid

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The First Son – Posted 2019.09.16

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 Serpents

DaDragon562 has posed the following comments and questions about Aū and his children.

“I’m curious if naruto ever actually used the amulet or how he knows about it if he hasn’t actually met the serpent god.

That bigass snake is one hell of a deterrent is right. Also a note of caution for Yagura if he can just flex his serpents body and crush kirigakure to dust

I am curious to see if the rest of the summons will be aware the so called serpent deity’s children have returned to the world”

Naruto’s only knowledge on the Amulet- including its existence- is from Orochimaru who, presumably, learned of it through the Snake Summons. Orochimaru is no expert on the item- or on the matter of Aū’s High-Priest- but learned enough to instruct Naruto on it’s basic use.

I hadn’t considered using Koshi like that, but it is an excellent idea.

Koshi, the First Son of Aū , has been between the summoning realm and the real world for longer than recorded history. The other summons are completely aware of his existence, though like the elder toad he typically stays in the summoning realm.

Aū’s grandchildren are the Snake Summons themselves and are likewise well known to the others.

On the Subject of Koshi, daniel2610994 commented “But damn that snake is so freaking old man, I bet it could easily battle any of the bijuu and win simply because it’s the son of a god hehe, that and it must be f* strong too after all the millenias it’s lived, and damn from what I understood of their conversation it’s father was an a* xD that and Manda will be on huge s*** if he ducks up and doesn’t answer the summon hehehe.”

Koshi’s only strength comes from his size, otherwise he is no different from a regular summon. Well, maybe a little different but until something comes up in the story I won’t be mentioning it here.

But yes, Manda is on some thin ice.

And, still talking about Koshi we have Wicked A.

“Millennia? The bijuu are 940(at least in Canon(the Sons of Kaguya defeated her 1000 years before naruto the lastare they as old here? That would make the great serpent sage also much older than gamamaru the great toad sage(BTW will you make gamamaru an manipulator? The way he interacted with Kaguya sons in canon was very suspicious to me)”

Koshi is really goddamned old. His father is much, much older. This will tie into a response I have for another comment and is related to the post I did a while ago; “Naruto: High-Priest of Aū” .

I have no idea what you’re talking about when it comes to Gamamaru because I gave up pat way into the Fourth Shinobi War and only have a vague understanding of what happened during and after.

High-Priest

I almost made this part of the last section but decided to tackle it by itself.

Shadowdescender;

“I love how Naruto had no issue rebutting the children of Au regarding the favor he asked of Orochimaru and quickly reminded the snake of its place. Beyond that, the elder snake’s implication of just how important the position of high-priest means and how he laughed when Naruto mentioned his title of Tsukuyomi implies that Naruto may simply be a pawn in the eyes of the gods. I cannot wait to find out more as you further explain just what a high-priest of Au is and what is expected of them.”

Aū, as I’ve mentioned in “Naruto: High-Priest of Aū” predates the world itself. Au watched the common gods come into existence and squabble among themselves. Koshi’s amusement at Naruto’s chosen name is due more to Aū’s interactions with the deity Tsukuyomi than anything else.

This has not yet been covered in the story, but I wouldn’t quite call it a spoiler as it doesn’t have much of an impact on it at this time. In the future, however, it might be more important.

And yes, being the right hand of such a deity is not an insignificant position. In fact, one might argue that it would elevate Au’s High-Priest to a level of status comparable to the common gods…

Zabuza

I have to admit, I am somewhat concerned of the following comment from S1L3NTSH1NG4M1 as I have no idea what prompted it.

“I’m just waiting for zabuzas reaction when he realizes Tsukyomi is Naruto”

Zabuza doesn’t know Naruto, they’ve never met. Other than realizing how damn young he is, Tsukuyomi’s identity will hold no real significance to the man.

I have been thinking of ways to have Haku realize he’s Naruko’s brother because I think it would be amusing but nothing’s really developed on that front.

100

“Awesome chapter ! So close too 100 chapters !”

Quite right, ThePhenakism. Quite right indeed.

Rebels

I suppose there is going to be a race between Zabuza and Naruto to see who get’s the information they need sooner. It shouldn’t be to hard for you to realize who would win, but you should also keep in mind that after Naruto receives his information he has a lot of work to do.

daniel2610994 had the comment of Naruto vs Zabuza for the race and we also have DaDragon562 proposing a race between Naruto and the ANBU Mei intends to have assassinate him. That second race will probably be a lot closer than the first.

As for slaughtering them in seconds, well, that’s pretty unlikely. In a straightforward fight, at least. Naruto is definitely not ANBU level, though he does have quite a lot of resources he can use to level the field a bit and steal away the advantage. How that fight would go- if it happens- would depend on the situation.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

Mei and Haku

Considering how many people were commenting about it- or at least how many times the same person did, I can’t be sure- I decided to give it a section all its own.

Naruto can’t be…involved….with every female character in the story. While I’ve enjoyed plenty of stories like that- I won’t hesitate to admit it- Sealkeeper isn’t going to be like that.

Well, I’m not planning on it and will try to avoid making that the case but I suppose it might still just happen that way.

I will say that of the two…Mei….is more likely.

Actually had to stop and think about that. On one hand he’s currently working directly against everything she’s trying to achieve, but compared to the fact that we already have Haku interested in Naruko I think it would be less difficult to overcome.

But, again, who knows what will actually happen? I sure as hell don’t so it’s entirely possible that Naruto will end up spending at least a night with each of them. Perhaps at the same time.

Fire and Ice? Oh, that’s tempting. We might have to make that a one-shot eventually if it doesn’t happen in Sealkeeper cannon.

I still have trouble wrapping my head around that concept but maybe by the time it’s done- and my one-shot ideas for it are exhausted- I’ll be used to it.

Kyuubi

Arraia would like to know “Where’s the kyuubi ?”

Mito remains in the Shiki Fuin as she has the entirety of the story. Naruto has regained his ability to communicate with her on his side of the seal but is, at this time, unaware. Karura is able to speak with her at this time, which may become important soon.

Popular

Back in classic faction, we’re ending with a negative review. this one from a….wait for it….anonymous account.

Is anyone as surprised as I am?

Jokes aside, it’s a very high-quality response to the chapter and I’m afraid even copying it here might taint its feeling and somehow lessen its value. For the sake of sharing it with you all, I’ll do my best to transcribe it here.

“i have no idea why this is popular”

See? Perfection.

Two things for this one- though I could probably squeeze out at least six, I was a master of writing papers about nothing in Highschool- so I’ll get the smaller one out of the way first.

You’re leaving this on chapter one, the first 5k words out of the 646,478 total words of the story. Perhaps if you kept reading you might figure that out.

Second- I have no idea. Is Sealkeeper popular? As far as I’m aware it’s not, but I also don’t know why people like it. If I did, well, I would just write a couple books and hopefully retire. Still going to try that, actually, it’s just going to be slow because I have so damn many writing projects at the moment and writing my own book is like priority 5.

General Response and Closing

Overall the chapter was received well which I hope continues with tomorrow’s post. I didn’t get nearly as far into the scenes I had planned out as I had, well, planned so it might feel a bit filler but I think it has some important parts to it.

It also has Gaara playing in the snow, so, yeah. Trump card has been played.

That about does it for this week, reach out to me if I missed your question or comment and you really wanted a response.

Until I next have youir attention,

-Eyazahrid

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Alright, we’re doing this fast because Muse just returned to me about two hours ago and I was finally managing make some progress in chapter 99 despite attempting to write it for the majority of the day.

I might even manage to finish it tonight, which would be grand.

With that said, chapter 99 of Sealkeeper is at 83.2% as I write this and, well, that’s almost everything I have for this week.

No, seriously.

I’m still sick, though these three days off have really helped my recovery. Sealkeeper is still moving steadily along, which is good. There’s been a pause in streams first because of training and then because I was sick. I was going to stream Borderlands 3 last night but with no voice decided it was a bad idea even if it was really tempting.

There hasn’t been much progress on any side projects- though I’ll have some time this week if I finish the chapter tonight- but that’s not much of a surprise.

I was supposed to replant my Bonsai during my days off but have just been too out of it. Hopefully next week I can get them into some new soil.

Other than that, the only real thing to talk about is how my personal schedule is being modified now that I’ve received my regular work schedule.

Sundays are still reserved for Commentaries.

Mondays are new chapters.

Tuesdays will become our stream days, though depending on the timezone it may be very early Wednesday. I’ll work out the exact times when I next announce a stream. Well, I’ll try. I might announce a stream right when it happens in which case no, I probably haven’t worked out the times but I want to play now damnit.

Wednesdays will remain the Weekly Update and, hopefully, the day I finish the chapter for the following week. With our upcoming change to chapter updates it will be every second Wednesday that I plan to have chapters done by but we’ll see how things work out. If you don’t remember what’s happening with chapters after 100 you can check out the 2019.09.04 Update again or wait until the update after chapter 100 where I’ll give a recap.

It will also be in the AN- yes, we’ll have an AN for it- of chapter 100 considering how important it is.

That should cover this week- I know I’m skipping something in my rush- so I’m going to return to the chapter before Muse gets bored and finds something else to entertain herself with.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

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Similarities – Posted 2019.09.09

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.

Gaara

Gaara was one of my favorite characters in cannon and has usually been a favorite in other stories but something about keeping him broken has created the “Absolute weapon of fluffiness that is Gaara…” {Mr. Blackwood}. Admittedly it’s still not as strange as the support for Sakura we’ve been seeing recently, but I am quite happy with it.

Danzou

Granddaddy Danzou seems to have become another modified character to be met with overwhelmingly positive reception. As often as we see Hiruzen as Naruto’s grandfather figure I don’t think I’ve really seen any stories in which Danzou has a familiar relation of any kind.

Wait, don’t quote me on that. I think there was a story I read that gave him like an OC daughter/granddaughter for Naruto’s love interest and the idea that Sai is his legitimate grandson has floated around too, so that’s not completely accurate.

Still, you don’t see much of it.

The strange thing is that i can’t actually see Danzou settling down and getting married but I can completely see him adopting.

Maybe because he’s already abducting children?

Bah, must be a coincidence.

Regardless, it’s remarkably easy to see him as a grandfather which I found quite surprising. The thing is, when I look at the relationship between Naruto and Danzou it often feels like Danzou is Naruto’s grandfather rather than the Wolves which makes Danzou a great-granddaddy.

I don’t think I have to tell you how much I adore that wordplay.

Yagura

Oh, yes. Yagura. They aren’t really getting along, are they?

Kukukukukuku

Many of you have predicted that there will be a …shall we say “disagreement”?… between the two of them at some point in the future.

You may be on to something.

I’ll try to avoid spoiling anything but lets’ just say I’m of the personal opinion that Mizu no Kuni is far too small for three separate factions.

Make of that as you will.

Xager-the-Chaos-King seemed to expect an even more hostile meeting between Naruto and Yagura and he apparently wasn’t the only one. Dregus was disappointed that Naruto didn’t instantly rip out the Sanbi from him to give Karura a new roommate and {knowing my readers} sister-wife.

Patience, I have plans for the Biju.

Well, some vague ideas for them, anyway. Close enough.

I don’t know why Naruto razing Mizu no Kuni to the ground could possibly be considered “rash” after what’s happened, CamTheTheif, so no worries there. Naruto isn’t the kind of person to let that slide. Controlling his personal pride is one thing, disrespecting his children is a completely different story.

Opportunities

We have some suggestions that Naruto begins supporting the rebels in order to spite Yagura, recruits the rebels to increases his own strength, or cuts his losses and simply pulls from Mizu no Kuni completely.

Of those three, only one of them really makes sence to me. I’ve established that those on the bloodline side of the war aren’t particularly strong or skilled with the exception of a few so bringing them into the pack simply wouldn’t be worth it and if they pulled out now then the lives of the fallen Wolves would have been spent for nothing.

Joining the rebels, though, that’s something I’ll keep in mind. Not sure how receptive the rebels would be to him aiding them directly but I can definitely see him stabbing Yagura in the back and positioning the rebels to finish off the loyalists for him.

Using his enemies to eliminate other enemies? That seems like something Naruto would do, especially after Yagura’s comments about his children.

Favorite

I’m flattered to receive no less than three reviews mentioning that Sealkeeper is their favorite story on the site. My ego appreciates it, thank you.

As for making money off of it, I wish I could Drakensong24. Gods above know I would much rather make a living by enjoying my hobby. I’ll try my hand writing a book at some point, if only for the ability to call myself a published author, and we’ll see if it’s a viable career option for me.

Considering how many side projects I’m behind on already, however, I don’t expect to have that done anytime soon. It doesn’t help that I’m absolutely horrid at planning out a plot. I’ll need to work on that first.

And yes, Linksun, it’s pretty old. Sealkeeper’s fourth anniversary is coming up in December. I can hardly believe its’ been so long already.

The Response that Wasn’t Actually for the Story Itself

I normally reserve the last spot for negative reviews but we didn’t have any this week- fantastic- so I figured I’d use it to address the review on chapter 97 that was actually for something written on the site.

Because I’m lazy- erm, “Minimal Effort Inclined” I’m just going to paste the whole thing below.

Wicked.A brought up some points about one of my side projects, a Naruto/FemDanzou story I’m using to motivate Valkipher.

“Just read the responses naruto/fem danzo? While that sounds unique and I have read Naruto x fem orochimaru before this still sounds incredibly weird and if you make danzo born later it would not be danzo anymore… Maybe a danzo/tobirama obsessed granddaughter of danzo? Would make it narratively easier?


PS. Can’t wait to start reading it when it comes out but pls don’t burn yourself out if you need a week or two orcringes while looking violently sick… a… month…off we understand and can wait (even if we wouldn’t like it to wait a month waiting a month for Unordinary S2 is hard enough…”

Oh you of little faith, the resources at my disposal are limitless. Arranging things to allow this is a trivial matter, which I can rightfully say solely because I’ve already figured it out.

Kukukukuku

Honestly, it wasn’t too hard. Expand on things left unsaid, blur some cannon a bit, and it all fit together surprisingly well. I hate that I can say that, actually, and I hate it more that what I have gotten around to planning out actually looks pretty damn good.

Damn you, Valkipher. Damn you.

Speaking of which, I still haven’t seen that chapter of yours up. There will be no Naruto/FemDanzou fluff until I do.

I have no idea when it will be out because I have very little time- because I’m bad with time management and not because it isn’t available- and I’m totally not using Valkiphers unposted chapter as an excuse not to start the actual writing yet.

I’d really like to get some reserve chapters for Sealkeeper done first but I don’t think there’s much chance of that happening. We’ll see.

General Response and Closing

I believe the following quote from Dreamer 7s sums up the general response to last week’s chapter; “Freaking wholesome end to the chapter and I love it.”

You all really seemed to enjoy it, which I’m very pleased to hear, and I can’t wait to post this so I can look at all the responses for chapter 98 that have been collecting in my inbox all day.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

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It’s not often that I read a story in which Yagura sticks around long enough to develop a personality and with Sealkeeper’s recent arc in Mizu no Kuni I’ve taken the opportunity to platy around with his character a bit.

The first thing I had to do was determine what kind of person might do the things he did in cannon when Obito was no longer a part of the equation. There were several answers to that, of course, but one that just felt right was a man of order and control who is simply unable to cope with the chaos of the outside world.

That desire for organization and a focus on his thoughts about administrating the country he rules also served to make him similar to Naruto which I quite liked.

Reading chapter 96 and 97 I’m sure you can see that they are pretty similar but there is a very big difference that keeps them from getting along- how they deal with change and emotion.

Yagura is very steadfast in his ways, stubborn and unyielding. He has his own visions on how the world should spin around him and he does whatever he can to enforce his personal laws and beliefs upon everyone he can.

Naruto, in this case, is the exact opposite. Naruto is flexible, adaptable, and will not think twice about dropping what he’s working on to address something that pops up unexpectedly. It’s not neat, it’s not organized, and despite all his attempts to reign it in it’s best described as chaos.

Regardless of how similar they might be in their cruelty, administration, and willingness to go to any length for their goals the two conflict in how they react to situations and why they react.

Yagura only recognizes two emotions, irritation and satisfaction. He is a creature of habit and a being of his own twisted logic, an unyielding machine driven by a need for things to be ‘right’.

Naruto has the reverse problem, allowing emotions like fear, anger, love, loss, and his greatest weakness pride to control his actions. Whatever has the largest emotional weight at any given time is given first priority, everything else cast aside until it’s resolved.

Neither method is correct, and neither way of thinking is necessarily healthy. Naruto could benefit from being able to look at situations more objectively, setting aside feelings to determine what’s best for the future of his Wolves while Yagura would be amazed at how well things go for him if he managed to care for his village, his country, and the men under his command.

Both are, most simply, wrong and both see their weaknesses in eachother.

Yagura cannot abide the chaotic drive of Naruto who storms into Mizu no Kuni without warning to ensure his forces are safe and Naruto is unable to allow himself to be so restricted in his actions by personal choice that his Wolves become nothing more than numbers on a report.

Were their beliefs not so opposed on that one front than there is no doubt that the two of them would get along very well and the rest of the world would have great cause to worry. Because they see their own weaknesses and aspects they hate in eachother their similarities do little more than remind them of what they are not and what they never want to be.

I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love it. Having them so similar but so incompatible that they could never manage to work with eachother for long amuses me greatly and provides excellent opportunities for the story.

Opportunities you may be seeing pretty soon.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

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I suppose I’ll start this update with the fact that I’ve managed to catch something during last week’s training- on the last day- and brought it back with me to enjoy over the final week of hands-on training.

It. Sucks. Balls.

Ten hours in the sun climbing up and down ladders when you can hardly breath, are having trouble with your vision, and sweat from walking up the stairs when you get home is not a very good combination.

Boss-man came through for me before I left though, recommended a medicine that worked almost instantly to clear my body of absolutely everything it contained. It was….Lovely.

And by that I mean no, it was not.

I do feel a bit better though, so I cant’ say it didn’t work like he promised.

Managed to snag a day off, too, so hopefully I can use tomorrow to finally get over this.

I’m not that lucky, though, and it will be just my luck that the only opportunity I have to finish chapter 98 will be spent with me barely awake and unable to see my screen.

And why don’t I knock some out tonight? Because my dumbass wasted my freetime this morning- admittedly I wasn’t exactly awake- browsing the internet for things I cant’ afford. Didn’t get much writing done for tonight’s update or next week’s chapter so I have way too much to get done over the next twenty three hours.

Lets’ try to knock it out quickly, then, before I end up falling asleep.

First, if you didn’t read the 2019.09.04 update I would highly suggest doing so. After chapter 100 updates will be every two weeks, more details available in last week’s update.

Next, well, I went back through the update myself just now and it looks like the only thing I promised was to talk about Naruto and Yagura in either this update or a separate post.

And with that in mind I’m going to cut this here and type it up real quick.

I hope.

If we’re fortunate I’ll see you all in Monday with a completed chapter. I used to manage 5k a day and I did it sick once, too. Granted, it took excess of twelve hours but I should be able to manage.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

by on

Clear the Path – Posted 2019.09.02

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.

As most of the responses for last chapter were about Sakura- yeah, try to wrap your head around that– I’m going to address the matter of her last. Normally I do the most negative response last but with mo st of the others being pretty short- in comparison- it simply feels better this way.

So, without further delay, let’s dive into last week’s chapter.

Main Characters

sakurasucks brings us the question; “Naruto U., Kushina U., Naruko U just wondering on how you determine that they are part of the story since there has been little interaction with them”

Good question. There are three points to be addressed for that question.

First, two of those characters were in the chapter you left that review on.

Second, even if characters are not currently being shown the effect they had on the story is still present. Kushina, as the most obvious example, caused the majority of the story even if she hadn’t intended to. Because she’s had such an impact she’s included on the character list.

Finally, I haven’t changed the summary at all since chapter one nearly four years ago. Considering how much it’s evolved I’m probably massively overdue to update it but haven’t really bothered.

Rogue vs Rouge

Rouge Survivor has again mentioned that I used “rouge” instead of “rogue”

Have you considered that I might just be petty enough to continue my typo purposely because you keep bringing it up?

And yes, I’m very well aware I messed up your username too.

I am a petty motherfucker.

Chapter Size

Mem0ry and a Guest have both mentioned my short chapters again. I address this in the 2019.09.04 Update.

Rest assured larger chapters will be coming, though they will not be without cost.

“Naruto’s Women”

First, I’m not too fond of the term “Naruto’s Women” because it makes it sound like a harem of some sort. Naruto has lovers, but there’s nothing to make them exclusive. Whether or not the women in his life have other lovers is a matter of their own preference and circumstance.

I’m not going to enforce some sort of double-standard on my characters. Naruto can have multiple lovers and so can his lovers. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise.

Of course, the matter of him being their favorite lover is without question. He’s not the side hoe.

Onto the matter of the women themselves, Ino has a larger chance of ending up with Naruto than Hana does, though it’s still entirely possible.

CamTheTheif

I could have split your responce into the categories it covers but I’m laz- erm, “exhausted from a long day of teaching people that they have to have shit plugged in for it to work” so I’m just going to take care of it all at once.

Don’t worry, I’ll hate myself for it halfway through anyway.

Personally I wouldn’t consider mental stability to be a value that goes down but rather a balance that could go either way. In Yagura’s case he’s too stable and it doesn’t fit the reality of the world around him.

I suppose that’s still ‘unstable’ because he’s lost his balance but it’s definitely not the same instability common with the Shonobi world- or my characters- so I should probably get a better word for it.

Regardless, in Yagura’s case he requires too much structure and is far too rigid in his beliefs on how the world should operate. I’ll speak more on it in the upcoming update- 2019.09.11- so I wont’ elaborate too much here.

Seals should be showing up a bit more soon, I have some plans for them.

At the moment Naruto does not have plans for Asuma. I- erm, he has been too occupied by the matters of Mizu no Kuni. When that’s wrapped up he’ll look into Asuma.

I’m quite fond of Naruto and Danzou’s relationship too.

Sakura has been fun to write, she’s always such a fantastic tool for any writer because she provides so much potential to a story. Even if a writer absolutely loathes her she can still be utilized to set up elements of the plot rather easily.

It might be because she’s so bland and worthless in cannon, but I really wasn’t all that fond of her so I may be a bit biased. Have read quite a few enjoyable Naru/Saku stories though, so I’m not too unreasonable.

More of Sakura to come at the end of this commentary, though I do hope I’ve been able to make these “cute but crazy” characters stand out from each other. I want them to be similar- it’s the feel I’m going for -but I don’t want them to seem like the same character with a different appearance.

Yagura

As I’ve mentioned I intend to do an entire thing on Yagura (and Naruto) in thsi week’s update so I won’t go into as much detail here.

I’m also not so cruel as to ignore your questions.

Or am I?

There seems to be a lot of positive feedback for Yagura which pleases me despite him not really being a “main” character. I hadn’t seen a lot of stories that actually included Yagura for more than a chapter or two and they typically didn’t give him anything more than a sub-plot enemy personality so I tried to come up with something that might explain his actions- because Tobi is a good girl- and allow you all to want him dead at the same time.

I’ve seen both, so I am hoping that both is the general opinion on him. If I’ve managed to acheive that balance I’ll consider him a successful character.

Regardless he’s been a bit..”fleshed out” in my own humble opinion and I’m happy to see that you like it.

I nearly started writing about responses to chapter 97 here which is an example of why I need to have these done before the new chapter comes out each week. I’m leaving this here in hopes that it will remind me to stop procrastinating, though we all know how successful that will end up being.

As for Naruto and Yagura getting along, well, you’ll see that in chapter 97- in fact, you probably already have- and I’ll discuss it more in the next update.

Sakura

And now for the star of chapter 96, Haruno Sakura.

What a strange thing to say.

I had some vague plans for Sakura long, long ago and tried to move things towards them a while ago only for things to spiral into…this.

I’m not entirely sure how it happened but I’m certainly not complaining. Like with Sasuke, writing her- this way, at least- is really giving me an appreciation for her character.

Or lack thereof.

It’s debatable.

There hasn’t really been any negative feedback for her, per se, but some have commented on how Naruto reacted to her.

To the comment that he shouldn’t stick his dick in crazy it’s a little too late. He and Anko have been getting it on for some time now.

And for the “red flags” Sakura shows, again- Anko. The woman crawled into bed with him covered in blood- yes, that’s Sealkeeper cannon though I can’t be bothered to look up the chapter right now- because she thought it would be arousing. Sakura wanting to make bloody flowers is going to seem rather mild for him in comparison.

Sakura may resemble a mini-Anko but she has a long way to go to even think about reaching her level.

While were on the subject of mini-Ankos, no.

No.

No.

We cannot have a squad of mini-Ankos running around. That would be absolutely horrifying. It most definitely would not be made of Anko, Sakura, Tayuya, and Kin.

Stop making me think of these, things, dammit.

We’ll cut it here for the Sakura section before I get too many ideas and end up taking up another project- that Naruto/FemDanzou? I’ve come up with a fucking plot for it. I have scenes planned out. Oh, merciful gods above, it’s actually going to happen- when I barely have time for the existing ones.

General Responce and Closing

No one seems to be back to hating me again yet, which I consider a success. Sakura was wildly popular- which is still weird to say- and Yagura was pretty well received.

I’d hope you all receive chapter 97 well but I’ve already seen your responses to it. I haven’t fucked up too badly just yet, we’ll see how long I can keep it up.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

by on

Time for another update, huh? The bad news is that being in a hotel for training I didn’t take pictures of my Bonsai this morning.

The good news is that I’ve made some progress.

What have I made progress in, you ask? Excellent question. We’ll start with the Bonsai just so it’s taken care of.

Made progress with the Bonsai? Yeah, you know damn well what that means-

I finally decided on names.

The Bonsai in the red pot will be known as ‘Coch’ and my favorite- the one in the blue pot, if you’ve forgotten- will be ‘Glas’.

What do they mean? Red and Blue, respectively. Did you really expect anything else from me? You should know better by now.

The fun part is that the plant in the red pot- which I can’t be bothered to look up and can’t for the life of me remember- is supposed to become purple eventually and the one in the blue is supposed to be- ready for it? – red and orange.

Little bit of irony, little bit of contrast, little bit of effort.

Perfect.

Oh, and it’s Welsh if you were wondering.

Cymru am byth.

But Bonsai aside, we made progress in other areas too.

Sealkeeper, for example, already has chapter 97 ready. Well, not “ready” as in I could post it immediately but the writing itself is done and i just have to go through for typos and such before I post it.

And come up with a name, I don’t think I’ve done that yet.

Nevermind, I went back to check and managed to come up with something. Another item off my list.

What else do we have? Ah, yes, I mentioned last week that I would be doing a Naruto/FemDanzou story to motivate Valkipher to write his own and I think I’ve figured out some of the most critical parts I needed to have in order to start.

I’m assigning that to Saturday, though I may do some work on it Friday when I get back from training just so I can enjoy my day off without any responsibilities.

Actually, I’ll probably end up using Saturday to prep Monday’s chapter because I work Sunday and know I’m going to be exhausted when I get home. Better to only have a Commentary to get done that evening rather than having to do the Commentary and the edit. It always keeps me up much longer than I plan for.

Before I forget a recent comment- you’ll here about it Sunday- combined with what I managed- by some miracle- to get done on Monday and Tuesday this week has me thinking that it would be a good idea to elaborate on the similarities and differences between Yagura and Naruto in a non-narrative medium.

Don’t quote me on that, that last paragraph could be all sorts of incorrect. Still, I’m going to write about the two of them- with a focus on Yagura- and I’ll include it with the weekly update. No, don’t quote me on that either.

I’m going to write it on Wednesday, it may or may not be included in the Update but it will be posted to the site.

On one hand saying things on here helps me get things done because I feel obligated, on the other I don’t have the best memory and I’ve probably;y forgotten a lot of the things I’ve said.

At least it’s saved on here so I can always go back and look, that’s definitely a benefit of writing these.

The last thing I can think of is an important change to how I’m going to update Sealkeeper after chapter 100. Believe it or not I do pay attention to feedback I receive- my commentaries aren’t me guessing or making things up- and something I have noticed pretty regularly for some time now is dissatisfaction with the length of my chapters.

Because of this, I’ve decided that chapters after chapter 100 will be 10,000 words long each at minimum.

Don’t start celebrating just yet.

Because the chapter length is increasing, the time between chapters will also increase and I’ll be updating every other week. This will start with the posting of chapter 100 on 2019.09.30 so chapter 101 should be expected on 2019.10.14.

This should bring back the larger chapters of the past my readers seem to want without completely returning to updating only once every couple months.

I managed to get a chapter done pretty quickly this week- and I’m not sure how- but because it’s an exception to the norm I’m not considering it feasible for me to churn out a 10,000 word chapter every week. Maybe pother writers manage that a day, maybe with my three days off a week I can dedicate two of them to knocking out 5k each, I don’t know.

I used to be able to do it, I remember, but that was before I worked full time and had more free time than I knew what to do with.

So, to make sure it’s an obtainable deadline I’m simply doubling the time I usually take to account for the amount of work increasing. As far as I’m aware, the logic in that is reasonably sound.

Hopefully this middle ground will be more satisfying for my readers.

That’s all I really have to cover this week so;

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid

by on

Contrast – Posted 2019.08.26

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 Garage

Quantum qwazi has mentioned my “Angsty garage” in their recent review, which I find quite concerning. Sure, it can be a bit melodramatic but as the house isn’t that old I’m sure it will grow out of it soon.

Pretty sure they meant Angsty Garbage, but the idea of my garage being angsty is much more amusing.

They only made it to chapter 14, too. I can only imagine what they would have thought of the rest of the story. Who knows, maybe they would have correctly identified the feelings of the rest of my house.

Wicked.A

Sane is subjective, though I really wouldn’t consider Naruto’s clone acting as he normally does entirely stable.

Yes, even as I write some of the characters I normally hate in cannon and fanfiction I’ve found myself liking them. It’s a very strange feeling.

Dining Rooms

I’m very relieved to hear that it amused you, YuukiAsuna-Chan. I was having second thoughts about it when I was writing it. I’m glad to see my sense of humor isn’t too poor.

Daddy Danzo

TheGreatBubbaJ, I’m not sure I appreciate you using those words together like that. I’ve done some weird shit in my story with a grin on my face but those two words just feel wrong.

DelayedInspiration

While I appreciate the concern and advice, this chapter was no more rushed than any other and certainly less rushed than tomorrow’s.

I do go over each chapter before posting- because I learned the hard way not to correct things while writing or it will never get done- but I don’t always catch everything. I’m heavily spellcheck reliant.

I’m not sure what grammar issues you’re noticing but if you could point them out next time it would go much farther in improving my work.

General Response and Closing

There was a lot of positive responses to the last chapter which I really appreciate. Hearing that you enjoy my work makes it much easier for me to write and is probably one of the only reasons I’ve managed to continue writing this story at all.

If I missed a review you left and you had really been looking forward to a response please reach out to me. It may sometimes take a bit to respond but I do my best to reply to PMs and Emails in a timely manner. You can also join me during my next stream- which is looking like 2019.09.12- to ask any questions you have live.

Until I next have your attention,

–Eyazahrid