Trust By My Side

by Kuru0

Naruto had tried to run away from the orphanage at age 5. Upon being brought back, he found that he had left his only friend, Tenten, alone and hurt. Seeing her cry, he realized that he would do everything he could to make sure he never hurt those close to him again. Smart Naruto, Academy rework, Genin cell overhaul, Jutsu research, NarutoXTenten, slow pace, NOT A ROMANCE!

26. Chapter 26

Welcome back everyone. Took me a while but finally got around to getting the next chapter out. Please enjoy chapter 26 of Trust By My Side.

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Shisui idly watched the competitors in the booth glancing around the arena cautiously as the timer ticked away. 'Not that it will do them any good.' He thought as the timer ticked down to zero. "Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention. The ten minute break is complete so please return to your seats and we will begin the second round." Shisui called out as he turned to the screen once more.

The screen changed to show all six names before they once more vanished and two names reappeared. "Will Rock Lee of Konoha and Ino Yamanaka of Konoha please come down." Shisui called as cheers started coming for another round with two leaf shinobi in it. Ino cursed under her breath as she made her way down. Lee was waiting for her eagerly as he rushed to the safe stones as quickly as she could. Neither of them setting off any traps on the way.

"Both competitors ready? Begin!" Shisui called before he vanished. Lee nodded fiercely as he charged straight forward into the offensive. Ino managed to dodge the first few blows before Lee managed to land a blow knocking her back. Lee went to follow up with another kick but Ino managed to substitute with a log behind herself in time. The log was shattered and Lee quickly started looking for where Ino managed to get away to.

A small rain of senbon was thrown from the small treeline which Lee easily dodged. He was being extra careful knowing Ino had many poisons at her disposal. After the second barrage ended, Lee dove into the tree line in search of Ino. He heard a branch snap to his left and quickly rushed towards the noise. Looking, he saw a branch further to his left still moving and jumped to follow the trail he was finding.

After a few moments, he finally caught a glimpse of blonde hair and dashed forward to cut off her escape. What he found instead was another barrage of senbon coming from his right side. He dove forward and avoided them but looked up in time to see a tag burning away. Lee covered his face and managed to mitigate the worst of the damage. 'I don't think that was a trap from Ino. Must have been one of the traps the proctor mentioned.' Lee thought as several more senbon started to rain down on him.

This time he managed to catch up to Ino, much to her shock, and throw a punch before she could react. The Ino he punched however wavered slightly before disappearing leaving behind a small tree. Lee blinked before pulling his now bloody hand free in time to close his eyes as a flash tag went off in front of him.

Lee barely managed to dodge more senbon with his head spinning before throwing a few kunai of his own into the forest. The gasp he heard made him think he actually hit Ino. Dashing forward once more, he spotted Ino taking a kunai out of her arm before going through several hand seals. Lee flinched slightly at his slow reaction and rushed forward to sweep her off her feet before she could finish her jutsu. As his leg came into contact with Ino's, his leg merely kept going through without any resistance. 'Gen-jutsu again.' Lee though as he bit down on his lips to break it.

His surroundings wavered slightly and he regained his clarity. Several more senbon came from multiple directions. 'I can't afford to let her continue with the senbon and gen-jutsu. Just one slip up and I'm out.' Lee thought as he frantically started dodging before sprinting at full speed in a small circle to knock out whatever was throwing at him.

The first area he went to he saw Ino ready another handful of senbon before he managed to sweep her off her feet. His foot went right through her but this time she collapsed into a puddle of water. Lee managed to blink before he spotted a tag light up just below him. He managed to jump back as a small burst of lightning flashed before him. He had a slight tingle in his toes on his wet leg but managed to avoid the worst of it.

Lee was slightly frustrated at the lack of true fighting but he was a ninja after all. Hearing the sound of water movement, Lee turned in time to see a fair sized wave of water coming for him. It was pretty low so jumped and grabbed on to a tree as the wave passed below. He watched the wave continue past him before his vision turned purple. He gasped slightly and coughed as he dove back to the ground out of the cloud that had surrounded him.

"I finally managed to poison you, please surrender Lee, that stuff is potent." Ino's voice called out from seemingly everywhere. Lee knew he was on a very strict time limit now and without hesitation snapped his left pinkie finger. His surroundings wavered once more to show he was close to a small pond of water.

Ino was standing next to where he got hit by the poison and gasped when she saw him break his own finger to get out of her gen-jutsu. She jumped towards the water as fast as she could but Lee rocketed after her with the last of his strength and managed to kick her over the pond into the wall past it.

Ino hit the wall harshly and slid down it until she was laying on her back with her feet still up the wall. Lee was standing over her shakily with a kunai pointed at her. "I'm done fighting Lee, I wouldn't be able to continue anyway." She said as she pulled out a small vial and weakly tossed it to him. "That's the antidote. This way, it's not cheating if you have it before the end of the match. I surrender." Ino said as she closed her eyes and passed out from the pain.

"Winner is Rock Lee of Konoha." Shisui called as he appeared behind Lee. The crowd cheered at the close fight as Shisui waved up to the walls. Tenten nodded and vanished from her position. A moment later, she led the medical team to Ino. "You did good Lee. Since the match is over, she has no reason to lie to you. I would drink that as fast as you can. The sooner you get it out of your system, the faster you will recover." Tenten said quietly as the medics got Ino on a stretcher. Lee nodded and drank the vial quickly.

Lee slapped his face a few times before he started slowly walking back to the waiting area. He grabbed some bandages he had on him and after snapping his pinkie back in place he quickly wrapped it to his next finger. He probably wouldn't be punching with that hand for the rest of the tournament.

Once Shisui saw Lee in the waiting area he called for the next round to start. The screen changed once more and the next two names were revealed. "Will Shino Aburame of Konoha and Sabaku no Gaara of Suna please come down." Shisui called out. A few moments later, a few explosions were heard.

Gaara emerged from the small tree line a moment later with his sand returning to his gourd. 'Automatic defense seem quite useful.' Shisui thought as both made it to the center safely. "Now then, both competitors ready? Begin." Shisui called before vanishing once more.

Shino instantly jumped back and threw his arms wide. Bugs scattered into the surrounding area before Shino himself slipped further away. Gaara's gourd opened and slowly started spilling sand out onto the ground around himself. He leaned forward and let his arms sway slightly, side to side. The sand started rolling away from him slowly, covering the arena floor.

Seeing this, Shino quickly tossed a kunai with a tag tied to it over Gaara before holding a hand sign. The tag burst, showering the area below in water. Not a constant flow of water but a quick explosion that scattered across most of the open ground.

Gaara frowned slightly before standing up straight again. Once the tag was finished, Gaara quickly flashed his hands in front of himself. Several shuriken formed from the sand that was still in his gourd and scattered into the trees. Rustling was heard it stopped at the edge of the trees.

Shino appeared at the edge and started going through hand seals. A wave of water rose up from the ground around him before it surged forward. Gaara made no move to dodge and merely lifted up a wall of sand in front of himself. The water split to the sides as expected, but a kunai managed to pierce through the wall of sand and imbedded into the ground in front of Gaara.

Gaara didn't have a chance to react before the kunai glowed briefly and sudden raging winds appeared from the kunai. A white dome appeared, surrounding Gaara and pulling the water towards him. Within seconds, the water was frozen leaving Gaara inside.

Shino quickly landed next to the dome of ice and slammed a fist full of explosive notes on it before leaning back to get out of range. Knees bent to jump, as he tried, the ground under him gave away revealing a pit of sand. The sand quickly wrapped around Shino's feet up to his thighs.

Gaara had his hand open, pointing towards Shino from inside the dome of ice. Being still inside the range of the explosive notes he had placed Shino quickly called out. "Proctor, I forfeit." Shisui appeared next to him and announced Gaara as the winner. The sand retreated back into the hole under Shino and under the ice wall, quickly shattering it.

Both contestants stood up and offered each other a small nod before they left the arena, Gaara once more triggering a few traps on his way out. Up in the stands, Jiraiya had a silly grin on his face. "What's with the face pervert?" Tsunade asked. "Kid did good. I'm proud." Jiraiya said.

"He lost though." Tsunade said. "Of course he did. Would have been amazed if he did win. Rich, but still amazed. His fuin-jutsu was superb though. Timing was also perfect." Jiraiya praised. "He put up a good fight, but could have won." Tsunade said. "Sure he could have, but we don't teach blood thirst. If if was a fight to the death, kid might have actually won. Leaving it non-lethal though, not a chance." Jiraiya said.

"Fair I suppose. What do you think about the next one? Big kid versus the Fence Sitter's granddaughter?" Tsunade asked. "I am actually not sure. I have seen the big kid fight so far and seen him spar before a few times. He is strong, no denying that. Hard to tell from his first fight but he is quite kind hearted. I don't know that he will have what it takes to put her down hard. You know how stubborn Iwa-nin are." Jiraiya said bitterly.

"Yeah, we all do." Tsunade said bitterly as she turned her attention down to the arena. Choji and Kurotsuchi had both made it easy enough and Shisui swiftly started the match. Kurotsuchi instantly spat a ball of mud at Choji from point blank and started going through other seals. Finishing fast, she spat a larger glob of quicklime at Choji as he was still recoiling from the first hit. He managed to get his hand up to divert most of it away from his chest but the follow up jet of water hit him full force.

Rolling backwards, he righted himself quickly and fully got into a tai-jutsu stance in time for Kurotsuchi to rush towards him, kunai drawn. Realizing his left hand was now completely encased in cement, he raised his hand high and slammed it down at Kurotsuchi. She sidestepped it easily and slashed at his over extended forearm.

Choji's other hand quickly made a hand seal and his left arm and fist tripled in size in an instant. The cement was shattered like glass and was sent right towards Kurotsuchi's face. Her kunai was stuck in his forearm and the split second hesitation and slight flinch from the rocks hitting her face was enough for Choji to back hand her away.

He pried the kunai out of his arm and tossed it at a still recovering Kurotsuchi. She sloppily dodged backwards to avoid it. Upon landing, she heard the sound of an explosive note activating and covered her face and jump forward to avoid it. The explosion shook her already hazy sight and was met with a pair of hands pulling her underground up to her neck.

She felt cold steel on her neck and quickly looked up. Choji was squatting down towards her with a kunai to her neck. She looked behind him dejectedly causing Choji to relax slightly. That moment, her head snapped up and spat a small chuck of molten earth up at Choji. He managed to roll backwards avoiding most of it but still got a wide burn on his neck.

Brushing off the small amounts of lava that had stuck to him, he quickly and mercilessly slammed his hand forward into the ground. Kurotsuchi, who was slowly digging her way out, suddenly screamed in pain as several stone spikes stabbed into her arms, legs and stomach under the ground.

She managed to scream for a few moments before Choji was declared the winner. Naruto dropped down and quickly lead the medical team towards Kurotsuchi. "She has spikes in her arms and stomach." Choji managed to raspily cough out. Naruto nodded and looked to the med team. "I'm going to clear a space out around her, be ready to plug holes." Naruto said as he knelt down and put a hand on the ground next to her.

A moment later, he went through a few hand seals and slammed them on the ground. The earth split in front of and behind her leaving a few feet on either side of her. A medic dropped down and carefully hoisted her up where two more medics laid her on a stretcher. The third hopped out of the hole and swiftly started working on the hole in her stomach. A minute later, they picked her up and took her out of the arena.

The third medic gave a thumbs up to the crowd and they erupted into cheers. The silence while they were getting her out of the arena had been deafening. Choji had been peeling burnt skin off of his neck and side of his face as he awaited to know if she would survive or not. Naruto had quietly asked him why he let his guard down. Choji didn't answer but nodded somberly.

Choji made it to the waiting room before Shisui took the stage and started his next announcement. "With this, the second round is complete. As I am sure you have realized, there are three contestants left. There will be two fights left, one lucky competitor getting a bye on the next round. The betting information will be released in a moment. We will be having another 10 minute intermission to allow everyone to get new bets in and stretch. Please be sure to be ready within 10 minutes." Shisui announced with a small bow.

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Within a few minutes, Tsunade returned to her seat with her betting ticket in hand. "Jiraiya, who wins?" She asked as she showed him the ticket and the names written on it. "Well, Sarutobi-sensei for one. Damn. Why do you need help on this one though? You should know good and damn well who is going to win this one." Jiraiya said.

"Sarutobi-sensei? Whatever, I guess if it should be obvious it means the kid doesn't have some other ace in his sleeve. Fine, be that way. And here is was going to give you a cut if you were helpful." Tsunade said as she walked away. "Ehh? Hey I gave you advice. Just had to look under the underneath and all that right? Tsunade? Hime?" Jiraiya said.

"She is gone Jiraiya-sama." Shizune said quietly. Jiraiya just sighed. After a moment, he looked up in time to see the Hokage get a slip of paper from one of his Anbu guards. Seeing him check over the slip and then laugh slightly before making eye contact with him shattered what little hope he had that he forgot the bet.

In the Kage box, the Kazekage turned towards Hiruzen with an eyebrow raised. "My apologies, seeing the betting information told me that my student lost a bet to me. Would you like to bet on the last two fights Kazekage-dono?" Hiruzen asked. "Oh? That is the betting information for the next round correct? I suppose I can indulge myself a little. This has been quite a tournament so far. Would you mind Anbu-san?" The Kazekage asked.

"Not at all Kazekage-dono." The Anbu said with a bow. "Would you care for a betting ticket Tsuchikage-dono?" Hiruzen asked. "Bah, with my daughter out I don't have much interest left in this tournament, I'll pass." The Tsuchikage said bitterly. "What about you Fuma-sama? Would you care to bet on this round?" Hiruzen offered. "I would love to Hokage-dono. Thank you very much." She replied with a light bow. Hiruzen smiled and waved his Anbu guard to run and grab the extra tickets.

Returning swiftly, he passed the tickets to the Kazekage and Miss Fuma. A light chuckle escaped the Kazekage's lips before he passed his ticket back to the Anbu. Receiving the tickets from him as well as Hiruzen and Miss Fuma, he vanished once more.

"Who do you believe is ready for promotions so far Kazekage-dono?" Hiruzen asked. "The three final competitors without a doubt. Shino Aburame as well. I did not think I would have to worry for my son at all but he proved me wrong. I would also ask your opinion on Ino Yamanaka." The Kazekage replied.

"Yes, Shino did quite well and would push for him quite hard myself. Ino also has the potential and I think she would do well as a chunin. What are you thoughts Tsuchikage-dono?" Hiruzen asked. "Hmp, you both forgot my daughter. Shino and Ino both did well enough I suppose, the last three are obvious." The Tsuchikage replied roughly. "Her first fight was, decisive, enough to warrant a promotion. I believe easily being out maneuvered by Choji by forgetting their clans abilities in the first few seconds shows too much rash decisions for a chunin." Hiruzen replied calmly.

The Tsuchikage just snorted and the Kazekage just tapped his armrest a few time before agreeing. "What about you Fuma-sama? Dosu looks quite strong but was given a poor match-up and wasn't given enough time to show his skills." The Kazekage asked.

"Thank you for the kind words of praise Kazekage-dono. Dosu is a strong young man but unfortunately no match for you talented son. I agree fully that Shino Aburame and Ino Yamanaka are worthy of promotions and would personally put forward recommendation for Kurotsuchi-sama as well." She replied cheerfully. All three Kages nodded before they turned their attention back to Shisui as he called the end of the intermission.

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"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that the intermission has come to and end and we will be resuming the chunin exam finals in just a moment. Two of our three finalists will compete next to see who goes on to the final match." Shisui called out before turning back to the screen behind him.

All three names appeared at the top before Choji and Lee's names came together in the center. "Will Choji Akimichi of Konoha and Rock Lee of Konoha please come down. Here we will have the match to decide who will fight Sabaku no Gaara of Suna in the grand finals. Both contestants ready? Begin." Shisui called before once again vanishing.

Once Shisui left, Choji and Lee stared each other down. "Let's have the best match of the tournament Choji-san." Lee said cheerfully, breaking the tension. "All out it is Lee. Let's do it." Choji said as he extended is arm. Lee bumped his fist and both vanished instantly.

A few yards away, the ground was suddenly cracked and ripped apart by Choji as he blocked a downwards kick from Lee. Lee's eyes opened wide when Choji managed to completely block the kick and managed to grab his leg. Choji spun Lee around several times before throwing him straight in the air.

Choji started a long string of hand seals before slamming his hands on the ground and shouting. "Earth Style: Rising Pillar Prison Jutsu." Six pillars of earth rose from the ground and started circling under Lee before shooting higher to capture his arms and legs between them. Lee managed to easily recover from the throw and kick away the six pillars with no problems.

Upon landing, he closed his eyes to concentrate for a moment as he swiped his hand across his chest. "Lee? You, you had your seals on still? What about your weights?" Choji said nervously. "Ah, the seals were on higher than normal because the weights were destroyed in my fight with Fuu." Lee said sheepishly. "Level, 3?" Choji asked slowly. "Huh? No, 5." Lee said in a confused tone. "So you were on 4 with your weights?" Choji asked. Lee just nodded.

Choji dropped his stance. "Yeah proctor, I forfeit." Choji said raising his hands in defeat. "No Choji, let's fight it out." Lee pleaded. "Sorry Lee, I'm not going to be able to win so at least this way you have some surprise when fighting Gaara in the finals. Make sure you win ok?" Choji said.

"Winner is Rock Lee of Konoha." Shisui shouted. The crowd let out respectful claps but no real cheering. "With his win, he will face Sabaku no Gaara of Suna in the grand finals. We will hold one last 10 minute intermission to allow for the new betting information to be released. Make sure you are back in time so you don't miss a second of the grand final match between Rock Lee of Konoha and Sabaku no Gaara of Suna." Shisui announced.

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"Shit did that kid say 5. Good call bailing on that fight." Jiraiya said in admiration. "5, what does that mean Jiraiya-sama?" Shizune asked. "Well most of those kids have weight seals on. Higher the level, higher the resistance. 5 is, well, 5 is, uhhh. Well, 5 is a lot. I was a jonin before I considered going to 5, though mine were a bit outdated compared to the fancy ones the kids have now." Jiraiya said.

Shizune just nodded slowly. "The, the weight seals you had back then? Is that kid insane? If its as much as you had as a jonin his body is never going to develop properly. I am half amazed all his limbs are still attached properly." Tsunade said with her mouth wide open.

"Well, the kids isn't as barbaric as my old ones. I think his are just resistance so the actual weight isn't that bad. He does usually wear weights though. I'm guessing probably up to maybe 300 pounds a leg from what I remember last time I saw his weights." Jiraiya pointed out.

"I need to kick Gai's ass it seems. Mutilating a genin and calling it training is just stupid." Tsunade said. Jiraiya thought about pointing out that Gai would probably win that fight but decided against it. Looking back to the arena, the final match was ready to begin.

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"Both competitors ready? Then it is my great pleasure to announce the grand final of these great chunin exams. Begin." Shisui shouted before vanishing one last time. "Let's have a good fight Gaara-san." Lee said. "Alright." Gaara said flatly.

The sand from Gaara's gourd burst forward to smash Lee into the ground from the start but Lee managed to sidestep it and rushed forward. A second tendril of sand came around Gaara to block the punch from Lee. Most of the sand burst right past Gaara from the force of the punch.

Gaara's eyes opened wide as he brought both hands forward causing the last of his sand to sweep towards Lee's sides. Lee saw it coming and slid right under the first wall before grabbing Gaara's legs and pulling them out from under him.

Gaara managed to catch himself before wildly swinging his arms around casing a dome of swirling sand to form around him. Lee cautiously threw a few kunai but all fell away harshly. 'Well I can't punch that.' Lee thought bitterly.

Gaara was carefully swinging his arms in sweeping circular motions after his initial panic to keep his dome of sand moving. He overestimated his automatic defense or underestimated Lee. Neither were comforting thoughts. Realizing that Lee could break his automatic defense and was vastly faster than himself, he began to plan for an uphill battle.

Lee started running around the dome as he pulled out a kunai with an explosive note attached. He activated it and threw it as hard as he could at the dome and rushed after it. The explosion caused him some damage but managed to catch Gaara off-guard. A straight kick to the stomach sent Gaara back directly into the wall of his protective dome.

The gourd on his back absorbed any damage his own jutsu would have caused him. A pile of sand pooled in front of Gaara, dripping off of his clothes around his stomach. Gaara quickly clenched his fist and the dome collapsed in on itself. Lee managed to barely duck back out of the hole he created before the sand rushed in on him.

The pile of sand shifted a small amount before going still. Lee eyed it carefully for a moment before he felt the ground under himself become unstable. He quickly dodged as a hand of sand came from the ground before swiftly collapsing. He barely landed before another hand appeared to grab him. How quickly he dodged, he had to slam his hand to the ground to slow himself down.

Standing up slowly before looking around he noticed something. There was a lot of sand scattered around. 'Must be left over from his fight with Shino. He must be using it to find me.' Lee thought as he had to dodge again.

Gaara was getting nowhere with his attacks and was getting frustrated. He slowly rose up from the pile of sand left over from his dome and started going through hand seals. Lee decided whatever jutsu it was, couldn't be good and ran straight backwards. Once done, Gaara lifted his hands, fingers spread wide, in front of himself.

Sand from in front of him in a wide cone slowly lifted up and started forming into very long javelins. The javelins shot forward as Gaara quickly crossed his arms in front of himself. They twisted, turned and curved through the rocks and trees in their way until they stopped at the wall.

Gaara watched for movement before spotting a kunai with a burning tag racing towards his right. He turned slightly and lifted is right arm causing a pile of sand to smother out the kunai before he felt another kunai against his neck. He managed to turn enough to see Lee standing behind him before a wall of sand rushed up from his feet to get in between the two of them.

Lee jumped back, still on guard before Gaara sighed. "Proctor, I forfeit." He said tiredly. "What? Why?" Lee asked. "If you had it in you, I would have died. I lost." Gaara said blankly. Shisui chose that moment to appear next to Lee and raise his arm high.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. The winner of these great Chunin Exams grand finals is Rock Lee of Konoha." Shisui called out. The crowd erupted into cheers. Lee smiled widely and started waving to everyone he recognized in the crowd. Moments later, fireworks exploded above the arena. The kanji for fire burned bright in the sky.

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In the kage booth, the Kazekage let out a bitter chuckle. "Well that is a tough bet to lose. That Rock Lee is something special Hokage-dono. Won't be long before he gets his own monicker like his teacher." he said. "Those two are so similar and both have made me proud." Hiruzen admitted.

Hiruzen was interrupted by a single, and soft word coming from behind him. With his many, many years of being a ninja, he only just caught it. "Roshi." Just one word, a name, coming from his fellow Kage. It barely made it all the way from his lips before a blur rushed past him towards the arena.

Shisui caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and activated his sharingan as fast as he could. In front of him, Roshi had his palm flat against Gaara's stomach, a tag burning in his hand. Shisui quickly kicked Roshi away from Gaara before a wave of demonic chakra poured out of Gaara, knocking Shisui away.

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Feel like such a dick for ending the chapter like that but thank god all that is done and over with. I think total now I spent almost a year redoing the Ino vs. Lee fight. Really didn't enjoy writing the chunin exams. As I have probably said a dozen times by now, no fight I write will be some long, drawn out slug fest. They are ninjas, one mistake and it is over.

Also points out that skill gaps among those of the same rank is very obvious. Also, a chunin exams actually finishing, don't think I have read that before honestly. Anyway, as always, constructive criticism is welcome. Let me know if you liked the fights, hated them, just be more informative than, 'They were good' or 'They sucked.'

Excuses time, yay. Main excuse, began reading into other story types other than just Naruto fanfictions. These were mostly web novels that fall into the 'Another World' genre. I think 'In Another World with my Smartphone' is one of the more well known novel/manga/anime of that genre. I haven't personally looked into it but I know it is popular. My recommendation would be 'Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody'. I have read the novel twice and watched the one season of the anime that is out. Great stuff, look into it. Trying to watch the entirety of the Dragon Ball franchise also probably gutted a lot of time.

In more Naruto related excuses, I have spent a lot of time working on other stories. All of these are going to be posted when they are complete all at once so that is waaaay off. Main one I have worked on is based off Jiraiya taking Naruto with him to learn how to be a ninja instead of Naruto going to the academy. Got 60k words done on that and feel it needs around 20k more or so to be done.

Quan, if you end up reading this, message me on kik. The group misses you. Curious how you have been.

Anyway, hopefully next chapter will be out much faster but I am not even going to try and convince anyone that I am responsible enough to actually keep that word. Go read 'Son of the Sannin' by Ander Arias instead. Much better story.