Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor Naruto Shippuden
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I thank ZiyareHellsing for this chapter's above decent grammar.
"So you failed the mission…huh…?" The 5th Hokage said, trying to hold back her anger after being told that the Naruto Retrieval Squad had failed to accomplish their mission. "How come you were unable to bring him back…? Don't you all know what that means?!"
"Lady Tsunade, I take full responsibility for our failure." Neji said as he took a step forward, causing everyone on the Hokage's office to turn their attention at him. "After all I was the team leader, guaranteeing that Naruto returned with us was my job."
All the Naruto retrieval Squad except Rock Lee and Kiba, who had both decided to go to the hospital upon arrival because of their damaged eye and broken jaw respectively, started to discuss whether it was fair or not for Neji to take all the blame on the events, the opinion that it wasn't was unanimous, but the team also didn't want to face Tsunade's wrath.
"No, Neji…while you had your fair share of blame in the failure of the mission, according to the report you gave me, you were one of the longest lasting against Naruto even though you were tired when you fought him." Tsunade said.
"Lady Tsunade…" Tenten called out with a step forward so she was by Neji's side. "If I may, Naruto had shown quite a diversity of jutsu along with skilled swordsmanship. I think that he'd be more than able to handle himself against a small group of ANBU if needed."
Tsunade pondered on the girl's words for a moment before having an idea. "Well…tell me then; what jutsu did Naruto use while fighting you guys?" She asked, expecting more info on the boy.
A moment of silence and recalling was present on the room. The first one to speak was Sakura. "Well…against me he used Shadow Clones and a Rasengan…but he used it with one hand, while the last time I had seen him use it he needed a clone to help him form it…"
"Well…he used a fire jutsu against me along with another Rasengan…" Neji said.
The Naruto retrieval squad started listing Naruto's techniques, but they didn't vary much from Rasengan, Fireball Jutsu and Shadow Clones.
"What about you, Hinata?" Sakura asked the shy girl.
Instantly, everyone turned to face the young Hyuga. Hinata felt herself getting more and more nervous, but managed something out. "He…Umm…He used a Fireball Jutsu and a Rasengan to knock me out…" She said, convincing most of the people on the room.
"Hinata…?" Tsunade asked herself in deep thought. "What could she be hiding?"
"Well, that has been a nice talk. I believe that you all are very tired from that last mission so I will give you guys the rest of the day off." Tsunade said, a big smile on her face proving that she was telling the truth.
All of the team members stared at the Hokage in silence. Surprisingly, the one who broke the silence was Neji. "Really…?" The Hyuga asked.
"Yes, yes! Go out! Have fun!" The Hokage said with a smile on her face. "All of you!"
The Konoha shinobi stared at each other, but as soon as Tenten reached for the door, the Hokage spoke again. "All of you except…" She pointed at Hinata. "You there! Hinata! Come, let's talk."
The young Hyuga blinked. She looked at her cousin, Neji only smiled and nodded at her. Hinata then took a seat in front of the Hokage's desk as everyone else left the room.
"So…may I know the reason you kept me here, lady Tsunade?" Hinata politely asked once the Naruto retrieval squad had left.
The Hokage chuckled. "Cut the crap, Hinata. You and I both know that you are hiding something."
Hinata felt herself getting nervous, but quickly managed to hide it. "Excuse me?" She asked with a confused tone.
"You're good! I'll give you that." Tsunade told her with a small smile. "But not good enough…"
"Lady Tsunade…" Hinata said with a sigh. "What exactly do you want to know…?"
The Hokage's smile disappeared as she looked eye on the eye with Hinata. "What happened between you and Naruto?" She asked.
Hinata thought for a moment and decided that maybe the Hokage was indeed someone to be trusted. "Well…the truth is that I managed to knock out Naruto when he was distracted by throwing a Gentle fist in a pressure point directly connected to his brain. When he woke up, we talked and he explained to me why he was being hunted down by Konoha."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing, deciding to let Hinata continue on before skipping to conclusions.
"First he told me about the ANBU that hunted him down."
"Wait, ANBU?!" Tsunade shouted, breaking her own rule. "But you guys are the first search party I sent after him, how can an ANBU be sent after him without my knowledge…?"
"I don't know…" Hinata said. "Naruto told me that after he killed the ANBU there was a bounty placed on his head."
"A bounty?!" Tsunade shouted yet again, this time getting up.
"Yeah, according to him, he is known as Shadow Fox Naruto Uzumaki and his alive bounty is ten thousand ryo." She explained.
"An ANBU search party which I had no idea of and a bounty of ten thousand ryo…I think I know who is behind this…" Tsunade thought to herself, referring to a certain war hawk. "I'll have to talk to Danzō about this…"
"Anyway, after that he told me about a few of his encounters with bandits and Shinobi from other village until he found us. I then asked him why Konoha wanted him so badly and…" Hinata didn't finish the sentence.
"Did he tell you…?" Tsunade asked. Hinata nodded. "Damn it! For the kid to tell you something like this…what was he thinking?!"
"So it's true? Naruto has the Kyuubi sealed inside him?" Hinata asked with a bit of tension present in her voice.
Tsunade sighed; she couldn't hide it from the girl anymore. "Yes…Naruto has the Kyuubi sealed inside him…but you can't talk about it with anyone in your age group, it's prohibited by the Third's law. Am I clear?"
Hinata nodded. "Crystal." She simply said.
"Good. What else did he tell you?" The Hokage asked, not expecting much else.
"Well…" Hinata hesitated. This was even worse than the Kyuubi sealed inside Naruto…but she had to tell the Hokage. "He told me…that if he was captured by Konoha, the people who exiled him would torture him and try to use the fox inside of him for power." She said, taking a piece of Naruto's book and explaining it on steps.
"Nonsense…" Tsunade said. "I would never let anyone hurt Naruto."
"He said that it was beyond your power…after all, you had already failed once." Hinata added that last part with a bit of malice and saw how Tsunade reacted. As expected, the Hokage lowered her head and looked down with a sad expression.
"And then he told me about the rumors…" The Hyuga said, finally deciding to drop the bomb on Tsunade.
"What rumors….?" The Hokage asked.
"Well…rumor has it three countries joined in an alliance…the Triple Alliance." Hinata told her.
Tsunade lifted her eyebrows a blinked twice, she wasn't sure what to say… "He…he told you that…?"Hinata, once again, nodded. Tsunade, once again, sighed. "He knows a lot…I guess I have to tell you now. The Triple Alliance really does exist. It's formed by Kumogakure, Kirigakure and Iwagakure. Since then the Konohagakure and Sunagakure have been on high alert, we have been sending our ANBU and Jiraiya's spies to try and discover what the objective of this new alliance was, but we haven't succeeded. The details behind it are very well guarded…I am uncertain…but…most people who know about it theorize…that that may very well be the beginning of the Fourth Great Ninja War."
Silence. The topic was tense for both Hinata and Tsunade.
Hinata was afraid. Her father had told her stories of his battles in the Third Great Ninja War when she was a child. He had lost his both teammates from his Genin team in battle. Hinata also knew, to some extent, how alliances were dangerous. She understood politics, but mainly alliances since her clan had many alliances with clans outside of Konoha. However those alliances were usually forged by a Marriage of State. That meant that two important members, one of each clan, got married. Their marriage would be the chain that brought together two clans and thus an alliance was born. Hinata herself would probably end up married to a snobbish heir to a faraway clan after she reached the age of sixteen.
However, she didn't like to think about it, even though her father's relationship with her had gotten better since her first Chunin exams, there was no way he would ever let her have a relationship with Naruto...despite that relationship being such a farfetched thought at the moment she couldn't help but to dream, could she…?
Tsunade on other hand was afraid because of Naruto's knowledge. The boy had known that from rumors even though her best ANBU couldn't get info on the alliance. Sure, all he got was basic information, but still…it was very impressive. She sighed. Exiling Naruto may have been one of the biggest mistakes this village had ever made after all…
"I think it's obvious, but a warning can't hurt." Tsunade said. "You cannot talk about the Fourth Great Ninja War and the Triple Alliance…not with your father, not with your friends, not with your sensei…not even with me. This talk never happened. Are we clear?"
"Yes, Lady Tsunade. This never happened." Hinata nodded. Tsunade smiled. Later she would ask herself why she had told all of this to Hinata, the conclusion she would come to was that all the stress caused by the Triple Alliance and possible war had been building up on her. Telling it t Hinata was, in some sort of way, refreshing.
"Good. In that case you may now go." The Hokage said. Hinata got up, bowed and walked out of the door. Moments later realized that she hadn't been told the whole story behind Hinata's and Naruto's talk. "Oh well, I guess that if she didn't tell me it's not important." She thought. "I just hope Naruto didn't do anything that Hiashi will make him regret in the future…"
The Sannin smirked at the thought but couldn't take the boy out of her head any longer. With that, she sighed. "Naruto…where are you…?"
Five days later…
A lone figure walked along the wind desert's road.
This lone figure in particular wore a white cloak that covered his whole body but his feet and head and a straw hat that covered his face. Despite being too early for the sun to be present, if one were to look directly at the figure's eyes they'd notice the only physical quality one was able to make out; his blue eyes.
"Good, I'm nearly there…"Naruto thought to himself as he watched the twin walls of Suna from the distance.
He had revised the plan one thousand times: He would enter there as a tourist and try to make contact with Gaara. The fewer people who saw him the better it would be. Making contact would be particularly difficult for the fact that Gaara was now Kazekage, but he'd find a way…eventually. If he was forced to, he would engage in combat, but that was only if everything went wrong.
And everything did go wrong.
The first sign was the sound of an explosion going off. Despite him being nearly a kilometer away from the Twin Walls, he could clearly tell that the sound came from inside Suna.
Instantly he thought the worse possible had happened.
"Shit!" He let out as he got rid of the hat and the cloak, revealing his normal attire with the black cloak and white shirt underneath. He ran as fast as he could and eventually arrived at the walls. He chose the left wall and soon began climbing it to the top with the help of his chakra.
It took him about two minutes to get to climb the wall, as soon as the end of the climbing was in sight Naruto jumped from the side of the wall to its top, smoothly landing on his feet.
At first he tried to localize the source of the explosion, but with no avail. That is until he looked at the village skies.
And then there it was, a gigantic sphere of sand was being formed atop the skies of Sunagakure; Naruto wondered how he had missed it at first… Needless to say it was obvious who the mastermind behind the sphere was. "Gaara…"
Naruto quickly spotted two other figures on the night sky. One was what looked like a white bird of the size of an elephant with someone on his feet riding it. The other was obviously Gaara, riding a small amount of sand that looked like a cloud. They were there, floating in the air (At least in Gaara's case) at least one hundred and fifty meters from the ground.
"Damn it, I'm too late…" Naruto thought to himself while clenching his fist. "The Akatsuki made their move and all I can do is sit here and watch…"
Suddenly, something appeared between Gaara and the white bird, a giant white projectile, same size as the bird. It started falling down to the village's ground. "What the hell is-"
Before Naruto's thought was concluded, a gigantic explosion coming from the middle of the village blinded him for a second before he was hit by the wave of impact, which due to the distance didn't do much more than blow some wind at his face.
He opened his eyes and what he saw surprised him. There was a large amount of sand, acting as a shield over the village. Because of the heat produced in the explosion, at least half of the sand shield had been turned into glass. "Gaara…" He whispered, worried for his friend's state after using such a jutsu against his opponent.
Sure enough, moments later a smaller explosion appeared in the sky. Naruto then saw a man's body diving down head on into the village's center.
"FUCK! GAARA!" Naruto shouted, ready to jump off the top of the wall and go after Gaara... but the man in the bird caught him midair. Of course, the Akatsuki needed to capture him alive… He also watched as the white bird and the man flew over his head carrying Gaara.
Naruto ran to the other side of the wall, the desert faced side. He was about to give up, but then he saw the white bird landing nearby and the man on top of it jumping down on the ground next to a smaller new figure. The first figure and the newcomer started to walk away as the bird carrying Gaara flew alongside them.
The Jinchuuriki saw this as his second chance. He closed his fist and took a few small steps back before dashing and jumping off the left wall, diving head on into the desert's soft sand. He wouldn't let anything bad befall one of the few people he could call a friend.
Later…
The two Akatsuki had left the Walls of Suna behind a long time ago. The enormous monument was now barely visible in the desert's horizon.
Not one shinobi had gone after them, which was weird considering that the Jinchuuriki was no one less than the Kazekage of Suna. Then again, they were a force to be reckoned with. Suna couldn't simply send a normal group of Shinobi to fight off the two Akatsuki after one of them dispatching of their Kazekage.
Both the men were wearing matching straw hats and the Akatsuki cloak, The taller one was no older than 20 and had blond hair that covered his left eye, however his visible right eye indicated that the man had blue eyes. The smaller one looked like he had a hunchback, dragging himself as if he was on all fours. As for his face, he had black eyes, wrinkled skin and wore a Kakashi like mask that covered his mouth.
They had been walking for about 40 minutes nonstop, but then the smaller one stopped dead on his tracks. "Sasori? What's the matter" Asked the blond Akatsuki, turning to face his partner.
"I wouldn't have thought it possible…" The one called Sasori said. His voice was surprisingly deep and a bit cruel. "We're being followed."
The blond looked at his partner as if he had grown a second head. "That's ridiculous. For someone to follow us without being detected for so long he'd have to be around the Kazekage's level of power…but Sunagakure is the weakest main village of the five Elemental Nations! The Kazekage himself was Low Kage level, and we know for certain that there isn't anyone even close to his power…" He thought, he would have labeled Sasori as crazy if it wasn't for the voice behind them.
"Okay, so I'm going to give you two assholes five seconds to let the Kazekage go or else." The voice boldly said. Sasori and the blond both turned to see a black cloaked, blond boy pointing a Katana sword at the bird that was carrying Gaara.
"Or else what?" Sasori asked in a threatening tone.
"Or else I'll kick both your asses." The newcomer said with a smirk.
The blond Akatsuki opened up a smile. "I don't know who you are, kid…but you have messed with the wrong guys." He opened the bottom of his cloak to reveal blue trousers with a weapons' pocket strapped to each leg and shoved his hands deep in each pocket. "And you will have to pay for that..."
"Deidara, no!" Sasori called out as he jumped to land between Deidara and the newcomer. "You took care of the seven tails and the one tail. Let me handle this one…"
A chill went down Naruto's spine as he realized…they knew.
Meanwhile, the one called Deidara raised an eyebrow. "Hmm? What do you mean, Sasori?" He asked.
"This boy…" Sasori said. "His name is Uzumaki Naruto. I trust that you remember his name from a certain meeting we had about two and a half years ago."
The Akatsuki focused for a moment. The name did cause him slight déjà vu …two and a half years ago…
Flashback…
The eight figures were standing in a circle, all of them were holograms, lightly glowing blue because of the Astral Projection Jutsu that brought their presences together in one room.
"Excuse me, leader. But could you please tell me why we are reunited today." Kisame Hoshikage asked.
"Zetsu." The leader called out, apparently the black and white member understood the message.
"46 hours ago, Naruto Uzumaki, Jinchuuriki of the Nine Tailed Demon Fox, was exiled from his own village. The specific reasons behind his exiling are still unknown" Zetsu reported, causing the members to start discussing amongst each other.
"If that is so, then what will our next move be?" A tall silhouette wearing a mask that covered most of his face except for his eyes asked.
"We should wait." Itachi loudly proposed. All the attention was turned to the Uchiha. He looked at the leader as if asking permission to continue talking. The leader nodded. "We have no jutsu powerful enough to get seal him. Besides, the nine tailed Jinchuuriki, despite being a mere child, is a very powerful foe, powerful enough to stop even the fully transformed One Tail." He said, referring to the report Zetsu had given them in one of their previous meetings.
"Itachi is right." Kisame said. "We don't have a jutsu powerful enough to get the boy and if his Tailed Beast feels like it is cornered, it might go as far as to cooperate with the boy by lending him its power."
Discussion broke out in the room once again, many of the members taking sides. For example while Itachi and Kisame voted on not going after the Kyuubi at the moment, Deidara and Sasori had the opposite idea, they wanted to go after the Jinchuuriki there and then.
The Leader gestured for silence, having power over the other members they naturally quieted down the moment they saw his gesture. "You brought up a good point, Itachi…" The Leader said. "Even though the Demon Fox might be taken care of, we still do not have the sealing jutsu ready. We will wait." The leader had given his opinion. And as every Akatsuki member knew: the leader's decision was the Akatsuki's decision.
Deidara however didn't like the decision. "But leader, we could easily-"
"Like you or not the decision has been made, Deidara." The leader said in a harsh tone, interrupting the blond with a warning tone clear in his voice. "We must have caution to proceed from now on. With that, you are all dismissed."
Deidara gave a silent grunt at the leader's decision before all the eight Akatsuki disappeared, having all dismissed their jutsu.
Flashback End…
"Hmm…that's right…so he's the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki." Deidara said. "But how did you recognize him, Sasori?"
"Simple, there are two elements that give his identity away." Sasori said. "One of them is those whisker marks in his cheeks. Legends say that the Kin and Gin brothers of Kumo developed whisker marks after being exposed to the Kyuubi's chakra. Seeing the marks on his face proves that the legends spoke the truth."
Naruto touched his cheek. "Damn it, the whisker marks gave me away…but he said two elements…what is the other?"
"Hmmm…I see…" Deidara said, observing the marks on Naruto's cheek. "But what is the second give away?"
"Simple. His cloak." Sasori explained.
Naruto looked at the black mantle on his back. "My cloak?"
"His cloak?" Asked Deidara; raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. Don't you see the symbol on his forearm?" Asked Sasori. Deidara checked the boy's cloak and spotted a red whirl inside a circle on his forearm, although he didn't saw it, there was also a bigger version of the symbol on the cloak's back.
"Hmm…yeah. What about it?" The blond Akatsuki said.
"It's the symbol from the Uzumaki clan." Sasori explained, sending shivers down Naruto's spine. "A powerful clan, there are a very small number of members left. Apparently this Jinchuuriki is more than what meets the eye…"
"They know that as well…but how?" Naruto asked himself, finally deciding to speak up. "How do you know about my clan?"
"I know quite a bit about your clan, boy…" Sasori chuckled as he felt that he had touched in a subject of interest. "In fact, the blood of Uzumaki runs in my veins as well…"
Both Naruto and Deidara stared at Sasori, processing the revelation that he was an Uzumaki.
"Sasori?! What the hell!? Is that guy your relative or something? Cause that's weird, hm!" Deidara shouted.
"You are a relative of mine?! You?! A weird imp bald man thing?! You look nothing alike me!" Naruto shouted while pointing his finger.
Sasori didn't look very happy at Naruto's comment, but decided to save it for later. "Yes, I am his relative, Deidara. But we are most likely very distant cousins. And for your information, Jinchuuriki…this is not my real body, this is Hiruko, a puppet of mine. I am a puppeteer." He explained.
"A puppeteer…" Naruto thought. "Then he must be somewhere close by…but I don't feel any close chakra…is he telling the truth…?"
"Hm. I don't care! Whatever clan you belong, I won't let you escape alive!" Deidara announced as he shoved his both his hands in his weapons' pockets again.
"Deidara, don't!" Sasori shouted, and in a second a tail like weapon with various smaller blades coming from Hiruko's back was pressed against Deidara's neck, not being forced enough to cut the young man's skin, but still strong enough to make a point. "He is mine…"
"Fair enough…I took down two Jinchuuriki, I wouldn't mind you taking down one." Deidara agreed.
"Excuse me, but aren't you two forgetting something? Tell me: Why in the holy hell would I stay here fighting Mr. Puppet instead of saving my friend?" Naruto rhetorically asked.
"Well, you're right." Sasori said with a small smile on his true face. "But what if we make a deal?"
The Jinchuuriki laughed. "What could you have that interested me?" He asked, still being rhetorical.
"Information…" Sasori said in a dark tone. "I know you, Naruto Uzumaki. I know how you were left behind by the ones you thought you trusted and about the battle that you lost. The battle that changed your whole life…"
Naruto's smile disappeared as he realized what Sasori was telling him. "No way…you can't be talking about-"
"Sasuke Uchiha." The puppeteer said, trying to get a reaction out of the blond. "Orochimaru was my partner before abandoning the Akatsuki. As such, I keep my eye on him with a small spy of mine. I know about Sasuke and I know about your-no…OUR clan…and I will only give you this information after you have me beat…do we have a deal?"
Naruto stopped to think for a second he look up to the morning sky and spotter a few clouds. If he did agree, he'd get a chance on one on one with the Akatsuki plus information that he wouldn't get a second chance of acquiring. If he didn't agree both would team up on him and kill him…he didn't really have a choice….plus, he had a few things he had left unfinished with Sasuke.
"Fine." He said, entering his kenjutsu position "I'm sorry, Gaara…but this is just something I gotta do…"
"Sasori, my man, are you sure you wanna take him on alone?" Deidara asked. "He does look pretty tough…."
"Don't worry about me, Deidara." The Uzumaki said, moving his Tail Blade in such motion that caused his straw hat to drop down on the ground, revealing a nearly bald head. "This is going to be glorious…yet quick…"
"Fine then." Deidara agreed, jumping on the back of the bird that was carrying Gaara's unconscious body, causing his hat to fall and revealing a blond ponytail on his hair. "Just be careful." Were the Akatsuki's last words before flying off into the morning sky.
"He's going east…" Naruto observed. "The Land of Rivers…"
"Now that he's gone, I do believe it's time for us to settle this" Sasori said to his fellow clansman.
"Fine then…" Naruto agreed as a small wind blew his cloak behind him, this was going to be one hell of a brawl…
Author's Note: Now, I'm in a bit of a rush, so I'm gonna make this authors note quick. I am really, really sorry for being late in my postdate and I'm sorry for the grammar errors on this chapter.
That being said, I got to be happy for writing what was originally meant to be two chapters in only one, check out TODFJ in my profile if you want to know what i mean.
On the topic of my profile, I posted Naruto's and Hinata's current stats there, so some of you might want to check that out as well. I will post Sakura's stats as well later on, but now, as i previously said, I'm kind of in a rush
I will also try to find some time next week to fill in for the week I've missed since next week is carnival week here in Brazil, thus I get a small holyday of my own...
Yes, Sasori is an Uzumaki, at least in this story. He has Red Hair, strong enough life force to survive having his whole body compressed into that chunk of meat in his chest and his grandmother, Chiyo, knows Fuuinjutsu (She was the one who sealed the Shukaku in Gaara)
What else could I add...? Oh yeah, Kankuro!...no...that's for another chapter.
Well i guess that's that for the author note, now for the guest reviews...
Guest Reviews:
phone: Just don't make this Sasuke story. Kishi kind of forgotten he writes Naruto manga.
SkywardStrike: While I disagree with you, I don't think that will be a problem. I plan on giving Sasuke a decent amount of screen time, a secondary protagonist if you will, but he won't steal Naruto's spotlight.
bunnyguest:i liked the flow of this chapter. Naruto and Hinata's conversation was well written and I could find anything missing (it had all the stuttering, blushing and awkwardness one would imagine Hinata would have when talking to her crush)
this only bit you sort of by-passed was the part about Hinata removing Naruto's seal on his hand...the seal shouldn't be that easy to remove (first because you should need knowledge on seals and also to remove his seals the chakra amount need to overpower it would have to be huge...not something someone who had just found in an attack would have) also you didn't really explain what the seal did.
so overall I liked the changes for your original, but somehow I felt that this chapter was a bit short for my liking (even though I did check again to see how small the chapter is and found that realistically it isn't really that short...I must just be being ungrateful and be wanting to just keep reading more and more).
SkywardStrike: Thank you, l like developing the NaruHina pairing, even though I have to play it slow. As for his seals, those are simple storage seals, a different version, designed to be placed on a person's skin instead of paper, but still normal seals. It's just like the seals Tenten has on her scrolls, super basic stuff. And Naruto also acquired a basic knowledge on seals along the time skip, which you guys will see later on.
PeterKim: I'm trying to warn you that making this fic into a pro Sasuke will end up people from stop reading this fic and yes, there a few rare fics that pro Sasuke that people liked but that's what 15 percent more or less and you cannot make Sasuke into a likable character since too many people hate and loathe Sasuke and yes you can blame the creator of Naruto for that and you can rewrite and modify, etc. this and still a lot of people will not read it if it is a pro Sasuke fic but this is your fic and you could do what you want and most likely you will erase this message but I did try to warn you.
SkywardStrike: I won't delete this although you are starting to piss me off. To disprove you, I looked up the most favorited Naruto fanfics on this site. I didn't find a Sasuke until the second page. So like you or not, I am gonna make Sasuke a decent character in my point of view, and no matter how many times you review, I will not change my mind. Understand that this is my story and mine alone, and that while I take advice from my readers, there are and will always be do's and don'ts.