Kakashi's day had gone about as well as he expected honestly.
It started out fine though he woke up before dawn to an empty bed as Hiro was out of the village for a speedy but top secret mission, a mission that Kakashi had a sneaking suspicion had everything to do with Orochimaru. She'd told him two days ago through a flurry of packing — the woman was so damned messy that she couldn't keep all her own belongings contained to just her own flat but it's not like Kakashi minded much — , moving around his apartment so quickly that if he was a lesser shinobi, he wouldn't have been able to track her. Hiro'd been gone after a swift kiss on the cheek with a shunshin and Kakashi was left with burgeoning feelings of irritation and the ever-present worry that always came when she went on an S-ranked mission. But this time was different, however.
He'd been left behind.
The Copy-nin scowled at his ceiling, his room still bathed in the shades of the early, early morning. It wasn't her fault that he'd been overlooked for tracking down the Snake Sannin— he knew that. But it did grate on him that he was left out when he knew for a fact that his impeccable senses and varied skillset made him an almost perfect fit but he'd been skipped by the Hokage because of something as inconsequential and stupid as a conflict of interest.
Or at least that's what the Sandaime had told him when Kakashi met with him…
Well, it wasn't a meeting, so much as Kakashi showing up in his office after Hiro's team had left and demanding his own dispatch— they were ANBU, but Kakashi could catch up to them no problem. But Sarutobi had refused to send him, telling him instead to focus on his students and basically throwing him out of the office on his ass when he became too belligerent.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Hiro and her team to get it done; Sage knew how effective her regular ANBU unit was on most missions and any squad with Inuzuka Hana as the main tracker was bound to turn up some kind of lead, even if it'd been almost a full day since Orochimaru was seen in the Forest of Death when they left— the Inuzuka Clan heir was the only person in Konoha with a better nose than him despite her not even out of her teenage years. No, Hiro's team would probably be fine without him, it was just that he couldn't shake the powerless feeling that clung to his bones when he watched the team leave.
It should be him out there leading the charge against Orochimaru.
Hiro would backhand him if he said it, but it was true, godsdamnit. The fucking snake attack his team, not hers. Kakashi trusted her as a comrade and as a soldier— Hiro was scarily efficient; you don't survive six years non-stop in the wetworks corps and make achieve a captain rank without being deadly to a different degree — he trusted her to get the job done and to get it done well, but that rotting bastard had purposefully attacked his genin so it was only fair that any form of retribution that he faces comes in the form of Kakashi's chidori.
The man sighed, scrubbing a hand down his uncovered face and turning his head to check the time on his digital alarm clock.
3:32 am.
Welp, it was as good a time as any to go train.
—
The hospital still made his nose itch.
Kakashi didn't know what it was about the unnaturally sterile environment that made his sensitive nose was to commit olfactory suicide everytime he got near it, but Sage of Six Paths, if he didn't have two of his genin in there, he wouldn't touch the place with a fifteen meter pole.
But, when he gets summoned to the hospital at half past six in the morning by a Sannin, even contrary, difficult Kakashi knew that he had to answer.
He breezed past the front desk chunin of the children's ward, barely giving a nod of courtesy. Normally guests had to check in, verify their identity, and sign a bunch of bullshit forms before they were allowed past the front desk but at this point, every medic worth their coat knew who he was and any intern worth their temp badge knew that it was a bad idea to stop the Copy Nin on the off-chance he made an appearance in the hospital to see someone.
Sasuke and Katsumi were kept on opposite sides of the ward since Katsumi was more or less just recuperating and Sasuke still needed procedures done, many of which Kakashi was the only person qualified to perform.
Until now.
He kept a brisk, silent pace, little more than a ghost as he walked through past the different rooms full of sleeping children — most of them genin — only pausing when he reached a room number he recognized: Katsumi's room. Kakashi peeked his head in to check on her still sleeping form like he always did when she was in the hospital and wasn't surprised to see the supposedly permanently locked window wide open and Naruto sleeping in the armchair beside her bed, drooling on the decorative pillow as he dreamt.
Kakashi felt a small smile tug at his masked lips, affection for his genin squad getting the best of him. He knew his team thought he never visited them in the hospital — he'd heard their occasional complaints when they thought he wasn't there. But the truth was that he did visit her; she just wasn't awake most of the time. It was cowardly of him, he knew, but it was hard to see his kids all battered and bruised and hooked up to different devices to keep them alive. The guilt that threatened to overwhelm him every time one of them ended up in the hospital was unbearable and the accompanying self-loathing kept him from sleep more often than not.
It was easier to see them when they were asleep though— they look so peaceful and relaxed and not in pain.
So when his kids got hurt enough to earn them a stay at Konoha General, like clockwork, he came and checked on them when he knew they were asleep just to make sure everything was alright. So what if he looked at their nurses' meticulously-written patient reports on them without them knowing? Sure, one might call it a little weird (if not bordering on obsessive), but he was just making sure that they were alright and caring about them in the best way he knew how.
But it had been almost four days since the events of the Forest of Death and Katsumi's records told him that she would be released in the morning for another three days of taking it easy at home. Because of that, there were no nose tubes, no casts, no IVs, no bandages. If it weren't for the steady beeping of a heart rate monitor and the unmistakable scent of hospital, Kakashi might've been able to fool himself into thinking that she was simply at home.
No, Katsumi was not the genin he needed to worry about, at least not right now.
He allowed himself a small, fond smile for his favorite student before he moved on from that momentary delay and prepared himself for what was to come.
Sasuke.
It didn't take him long to reach the Uchiha boy's room. He came upon the ordinary wooden door and pushed it open, noting that it was already ajar.
"Took you long enough, boy."
Kakashi slouched a bit, choosing to lean against the door frame as he kicked the door shut with his foot. "One could say that same to you, Jiraiya-sama."
The older man was uncharacteristically solemn and Kakashi tried to focus on him, not on how young Sasuke looked when he was sleeping. Jiraiya flipped through the clipboard Kakashi knew had Sasuke's medical information on it, scanning it with intelligent eyes. "Whoever had the idea to keep the boy in a coma until I got here might've saved this boy's life," he noted offhandedly, vaguely impressed. "But, the seal did a fucking number on his system."
Jiraiya looked up, an unreadable expression on his face. "You lot would've been better off calling Tsunade instead of me."
Of course Kakashi was well aware that the Sandaime taught all three of his students the art of fuinjutsu — which was why they were in the predicament they were in — so it wasn't an unreasonable assumption. The only problem was that Tsunade was elusive at best — she'd been dodging the Hokage's summons long enough that anyone could argue that it was downright treasonous. The only reason why she hadn't been punished yet was because Sarutobi was a sentimental old bastard and he felt guilty for what happened to her during the war.
But if you asked Kakashi, he'd say that she was just a rotting coward and she should be treated as such, regardless of nepotism. If he tried to pull some shit like that, Minato would've never—
Stop living in the past, he ordered himself internally, the old ache of thinking about his old mentor rearing its head. Focus on the present.
Kakashi quirked a brow. "The problem is a seal," he said, keeping his tone light, "and, last time I checked, you are the only seal master Konoha's got."
Jiraiya grunted. "Yeah, and not for lack of trying on my part," he muttered.
Kakashi almost rolled his eyes; if he really wanted to teach somebody fuinjutsu, the best person to start on would've been his own godson. But, the man in front of him, no matter how mighty, was a coward when it came to facing his old mistakes and because of that, Naruto grew up without a family.
Kakashi was still bitter about that.
Jiraiya had no excuse for not being responsible and doing his duty as Minato assigned him. He was just sad and scared and grieving and decided that that was enough to condemn the kid to what could've been a life of misery if Naruto wasn't so much like Kushina-nee. Tsunade also could've taken him in since she was technically his last living relative on his mother's side, but as to be expected with her, there was complete radio silence.
Kakashi envied them both. He was told, in no uncertain terms, that he was to stay the hell away from Minato's boy because he was too close to his parents. Kakashi had been fourteen and grieving and definitely wasn't ready to take care of a child, but he'd been willing to do it for Minato and Kushina when it became clear that no one else was going to step up and take him in. He had begged the Sandaime to let him take little Naruto on as his ward but he had refused and gave him a 'do not contact' order.
Kakashi was still bitter about that too.
Jiraiya huffed. "Still, enough of Orochimaru's chakra has escaped into his system to wreak havoc on his internal organs." He shrugged. "This kind of stuff is kinda outta my wheelhouse, kid."
Kakashi took a deep breath, trying his hardest not to attack him. "So, you're telling me that even though you're a fuinjutsu master, you can't undo your rogue teammate's work on my student?" The ex-ANBU member's only sign of his increasing ire was the tightness around his one visible eye.
"No, brat, that's not what I was saying," Jiraiya shot back, slinging a large scroll off his back and laying it on the bedside table. "If that were the case, I wouldn't still be here talking to you."
Kakashi shifted his weight and waited as the Sannin explained his plan.
"It might not work since the seal is so powerful and it's had the benefit of being on him for so long…" he paused before grabbing the clipboard again and flipping to a specific page to read it. "The damage," he said at last, "should be much more extensive with a seal of this calibre." Sharp, dark eyes cut to Kakashi before going back to the pages. "And there are chakra burns that have nothing to do with Orochimaru on his neck. What am I missing here, Kakashi?"
Kakashi shrugged. "That was the work of his team, sir."
Jiraiya quirked a brow, setting the clipboard down. "His genin team? What, do you make them carry around premade chakra blocking seals, you paranoid little bastard?" he asked incredulously as he began setting up his mobile fuinjutsu studio. "Because you really need to practice more if these—"
"They were engineered by your godson actually."
The room fell silent for a couple beats as the older man's hands stilled. "Naruto made them?" he asked in a quiet voice. "Himself?" Jiraiya seemed to come back to himself, keeping what he thought about Naruto carrying on something akin to a family legacy to himself. "Well the boy might've saved his teammate's life with that." Jiraiya glanced at Kakashi with narrowed eyes. "How did he know to apply the seal in the first place? No amateur is gonna see that the seal's simultaneously feeding chakra into his system and draining it at the same time."
Kakashi shrugged again, feeling a surge of pride for his genin. "It was actually the kunoichi on the team that figured it out. She applied the seal herself after finding it in Naruto's journal."
"Clan?" he asked, likely expecting her to be from some family that specialized in sealing like the Uzumaki. He set out several pots of ink and began the process of drawing out what Kakashi recognized as sterilization seals on chakra paper.
"None."
Jiraiya gaped at him before chuckling. "Boy, how'd you luck out and score three prodigies on one team?" he asked, genuine mirth and a little bit of something else dancing around in his eyes. "Sage, Naruto and Sasuke I understand, but a little genesis girl?"
Kakashi forgot sometimes that Katsumi was a genesis, or a first generation shinobi from a civilian family. Well, technically she wasn't, but it wasn't like he was cleared to tell Jiraiya that.
"Stranger things have happened," he offered, quelling the feeling of indignation on Katsumi's behalf. "And Minato-sensei was a genesis too."
Jiraiya waved a hand dismissively. "He's the exception, not the rule. Shinobi like Minato come once in a millenia." His hands stilled again on their work. "Brilliant was what he was."
Kakashi could only nod against the lump in his throat.
Jiraiya sighed, dispelling the somber mood that began to overtake the room. "Welp, brat, I'm gonna need your help for this procedure." He leveled Kakashi an uncharacteristically serious look. "It's not going to be easy, but you're all I got right now and if we wait any longer, the boy could die." Jiraiya handed him a small stack of sterilization seals. "Place these around the room. Keep the spacing as even as possible and use all of them. I already spoke to the staff and told them that we are not to be disturbed under any circumstances."
Jiraiya smirked at him. "Well. what are you waiting for, boy? Get comfortable. We're gonna be here a while."
—
It had been a full week since the events of the Forest of Death and Katsumi was getting antsy.
It turned out that Ino was right; the whispers about the Sandaime pushing back the exams were found to be true and Katsumi wasn't sure if she knew how she felt about that.
He'd announced it on the night after the second trial ended while she was still in the hospital;, standing proud and tall outside the Hokage Residence as he told the assembled group of prospective chunin and their sensei that they would have to stay in Konoha for what looked to be another month at least.
Katsumi didn't imagine that went over well.
But it had been decided that for the next week, they would be able to recover from the Forest of Death before all remaining and able participants would battle it out in the preliminary matches before the finals, another month later.
Sasuke had been livid when he found out, easily coming to the conclusion that the delay was for their team to be…
"Shown off like some… some… show-ponies!" he exclaimed, his brows furrowed deeply. The boy crossed his arms across his chest, showing little sign of any lingering pain. If eavesdropping on Asami-sensei was to be believed, he would be cleared to leave the hospital within the next couple days and as such, the boy was more than ready to be discharged.
It made Katsumi almost miss the blissful quiet of a good old fashioned medically-induced coma.
Katsumi winced, "It's just so we can have a fair shot at ranking up," she tried halfheartedly, her effectiveness lowered by the burgeoning headache in the base of her skull. "It's a blessing," she continued, "I mean, it's not like we asked Orochimaru to try to kill us."
"It's a hand-out," he shot back and not for the first time Katsumi wished Naruto were here; somehow the blond knew exactly what to say whenever Sasuke was in one of his moods like he was now. Naruto had always been the more emotionally intelligent of the two, somehow knowing intuitively how a person felt, why they felt it, and how to handle it without them even needing to say a word. Personally, Katsumi thought that was much more impressive than her booksmarts even though when she brought it up, he said otherwise.
They took turns visiting Sasuke in the hospital most days. At the moment, Naruto was stinking up the apartment with some new idea for a seal that was supposed to manipulate some law of nature or other that he didn't want Kaka-sensei knowing about quite yet.
'Not 'til I work out all the kinks!' he'd told her after a bigger explosion than normal had Katsumi banging on his door to investigate. Sealing, in Katsumi's opinion, held a lot of similarities with civilian chemistry, enough that when she'd pointed it out to Naruto, he'd rushed to the library of all places to check out books about the subject.
Katsumi didn't even know that her friend knew where the library was.
He'd turned his room into a makeshift sealing studio, complete with several pieces of expensive pieces of equipment that she was certain he'd nicked from somewhere like what looked like a chakra-powered fume hood, a fridge he claimed he didn't use for food, several burners that he somehow hooked up to the main gas line, shelves stacked with vials upon vials of different colored powders, and so much more that Katsumi didn't even bother asking about. All she knew was that when his door was shut, she probably should knock before entering lest she interrupt some potentially dangerous fuinjutsu work and contaminate the seal with ambient chakra from the environment and organic chakra from herself.
How he slept in what looked like a laboratory, she'd never understand.
Sage, she loved her team, she really did, but sometimes they made her want to take a kunai to the face. "Okay then just take it," she retorted, her tightly leashed irritation escaping slightly. "I mean, Sage, Sasuke, is it such a bad thing for something to be easy for a change?"
Dark eyes cut to hers, narrowing in righteous fury. "It's not supposed to be easy," he replied. "If it's easy, then I'll never get strong enough to—"
A series of swift knocks interrupted Sasuke furious tirade. Katsumi turns to the door, wondering who it could be, knowing it wasn't Naruto simply by the virtue of there being knocking in the first place or Kaka-sensei because he would just appear in the room with a well-placed shunshin to startle them. However, as quickly as the knocks sounded, the door was opened to reveal Sasuke's usual iryo-nin, Asami-sensei and a tall, burly man with…
Stark white hair?
Katsumi's eyes flitted around him to catalogue the other weird details about the shinobi in front of her as he walked in, quickly catching on the weird forehead protector and the oddly silent geta on his feet before she realized who he was.
Jiraiya of the Sannin.
It seemed Ino was right about that too.
An odd surge of respect made her rise from her chair and bow deeply, her forehead almost touching her knees with her fervor, an act that stopped both of the adults in the room in their tracks.
"Jiraiya-sama," she said, her hands clenched in fists at her sides. "It is an honor to meet you, sir. On behalf of the entirety of Squad 7, thank you for helping Uchiha-kun. We are truly in your debt."
Sasuke groaned and Master Jiraiya let out a boisterous laugh just on the edge of faux-bashful, holding his arms akimbo. "Finally, one of you brats has some manners! At ease, little genin."
Katsumi does as she's told and tried her best to keep the confusion off her face.
He smiled at her, his eyes looking for something on her face and seeming to find it before saying something that made her stomach turn.
"Oh you're a pretty little thing, aren't you?"
Katsumi fought the urge to cross her arms over her chest — to shield what, she didn't know. She was 'flat as a washboard' according to Ino who'd already started developing in that department compared to Katsumi who was still wearing training bras, much to her continued dismay — and stared back in something akin to disbelief. She'd heard stories of the Toad Sage, of his bravery and strength; she'd heard stories about all three of the Sannin in school, they were legends. However, she was a little caught off guard by his demeanor. He was, well for lack of a better term…
Creepy as fuck, she thought with the beginings of disgust rolling around in her stomach. What was he, in his fifties? He could be her father and he was calling her a 'pretty little thing'? She tried to keep the discomfort off her face but Sasuke saw it.
Her teammate cut his eyes to the Sannin, his irises flashing a dangerous shade of crimson. "Hey! Stay away from my teammate you fuc— ow!" Faster than Katsumi's eyes could follow, Jiraiya bopped Sasuke on the top of his head.
"After all I've done for you, Uchiha? Show some damn respect in front of the little lady, brat!" Jiraiya roared, completely unremorseful, never mind the fact that he'd just hit someone in a hospital.
Her eyes widened, shocked at the display while Asami-sensei scowled.
"Jiraiya-sama, I will not have you manhandling my patients," she said with quiet fury, crossing her arms over her white coat. "Behave or I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
You can do that?! If Katsumi had any less self control, her jaw would've dropped to the floor. You can kick one of the Legendary Sannin out and you don't burst into flames? Gold eyes flitted to the man in question, looking for any sort of anger and or irritation and finding none.
He just laughed.
"Now, now, Asami-chan, there'll be none of that," he chided, and if Katsumi didn't know any better, she'd say that he wasn't talking to her, so much as her chest. He took a step forward, encroaching a bit on her personal space in a way that he probably thought was charming. Katsumi thought it was creepy. "Why don't you relax, eh? I promise I won't hurt little Sasuke-kun and—"
Asami's dark eyes flared and she took a step back. "One, Jiraiya-sama," the honorific seemed overly saccharine in nature as she held up a single finger, "it's Rinha-sensei, not Asami-chan. It would do you well to remember that and show me the respect I deserve," she corrected icily. "Two," another point, another finger, "that wasn't a request. You may be a Sannin, but I have the authority in and around Konoha General. You do as I say, not the other way around. Three, Make no mistake; do that again with me or any of the female staff and I will report you to the Hokage. Are we clear?"
Jiraiya's eyes were firmly on her own, any semblance of flirtation or mischief gone from his posture with only sheepishness in its place. "Of course, Rinha-sensei," he agreed smoothly. "Whatever you say goes. I apologize for the slight." He held up his right hand. "I'll behave. Scout's honor."
Asami rolled her eyes and turned back to the stunned children, Katsumi gawking at the two adults with wide eyes and Sasuke looking viciously satisfied. A light flush took residence on her pale cheeks as she tucked a stray lock of dark hair behind her ear and cleared her throat to dispel the awkwardness that had taken residence in the hospital room.
Katsumi was floored with how well Asami-sensei handled that. She had a feeling that Asami-sensei didn't quite like the Toad Sage from how she kept her body angled away from him and kept at least a meter of distance between them. It was disgusting, honestly, how disrespectful Jiraiya was for no reason other than that she was a pretty young woman. He'd been overly familiar and almost lecherous because he took one look at the doctor and decided that he didn't have to treat her as a medical professional that commanded respect. The genin was almost scared for her though. She couldn't imagine the fallout from threatening a Sannin so openly would be very easy to manage, even if he did deserve it.
"Anyways, Sasuke-kun, you have one more treatment session before you'll be cleared to go home," she told him, ignoring Sasuke's look of triumph. "However, I would strongly discourage further participation in the Exams."
"What? Why?" Sasuke demanded.
Katsumi winced, having figured that something like this was coming. Since she was fairly certain that she'd be here for a while yet, she sat back
Asami had the decency to look apologetic. "Due to the nature of your injury, the more you use your chakra, the harder you work your recovering chakra system, and the higher likelihood you have of stimulating the seal on your shoulder."
Sasuke scowled. "I thought it wasn't an issue anymore."
"It's not a life-threatening issue anymore," Jiraiya chimed in, more serious that he was before. "All that sealing work your sensei and I did was mainly draining Orochimaru's chakra and isolating the seal to keep it from reopening again," he explained. "To put it into layman's terms, we quarantined the seal with another seal to starve it of chakra as evidenced by the buffer seal on the opposite shoulder," he said, gesturing to the dark, swirling lines that started on his left shoulder and disappeared beneath the collar of his hospital gown. "That's been making your chakra sluggish," he added. "It's more of a stopgap than a solution."
Katsumi nodded from where she was seated and Asami-sensei continued. "Since chakra's corrosive in nature, the more high-powered chakra that comes in contact with the buffer seal, the more it weakens the matrix, the more malignant chakra from the old seal can slip past it and corrupt your system again."
Sasuke wanted to argue Katsumi could tell. For the most part, he listened to rebut whatever was being said to him if he decided to listen at all, but, unfortunately for him, the two adults in front of him were both experts in their fields. He wasn't going to find a way out of this.
"The point is that you need to do your best to not perform jutsu for at least two months, three to be safe, to fully get rid of the curse seal," Jiraiya instructed. "The higher powered jutsu you use, the higher the risk of reverting and all of the hard work Kakashi-kun and I did is for nothing."
Asami nodded with sympathy. "I understand you wanted to continue to compete, Sasuke-kun. But for your safety and well-being, you have to wait. Do you understand, Sasuke?"
Sasuke's face was unreadable for a moment beyond the obvious fury at being held back by his own body and Katsumi was worried. She knew that he probably hated this more than anything but there wasn't anything he could do really.
Finally, the boy grunted out a harsh answer to the affirmative, turning his head towards the window and away from the other people in the room. "Let's just get the stupid treatment done now."
Asami-sensei glanced at Jiraiya, a question in her eyes and the man shrugged. "Fine, brat. Ladies out."
Katsumi opened her mouth to argue but Jiraiya shook his head. "Sorry, kid. Can't have any foreign chakra contamination."
The girl sighed and rose up from her chair, sending a meaningful glance at her teammate and noting that he was still staring moodily out the window as he sulked. She almost snorted. "I'll be back around later," she told him as she made for the door. "Maybe I'll bring Naruto and some Ichiraku, yeah?"
The boy just grunted. Katsumi took that as an 'okay' and left the room and the hospital as a whole.
Her feet took her down the stairwell and out into the heat of a Hi no Kuni August day, the air hot and humid enough to make sweat appear on her brow in no time at all. She was lost in thought as muscle memory took her where she needed to go— where she'd been going since she was released from the hospital.
The library.
She had research to do.
—
A/N: What's up y'all? Hope this kinda lengthy chapter can make up for the absence. But, I'm home for winter break so I have plenty more time to write before the new year so cheers to that lmao.
So Jiraiya's here.
I know some of y'all are probably gonna be a bit mad at me, but I didn't write anything that he hasn't done in cannon (including hitting on underaged girls *coughKONANcough*, fuckin gross, right?).
(Now ik that he didn't actually hit on Katsumi, but if you're a fifty year old dude, don't comment on the beauty of a random twelve year old girl. That's fucking creepy and weird. Shoutout to Sasuke tho for being ready to fight Jiraiya for that. This version of Sasuke drinks his respect women juice daily Mikoto wouldn't have it any other way)
Some of y'all bouta be real mad at me, but it must be said.
Unpopular opinion: Jiraiya is not a good person.
I don't even think I need to explain why considering Kishimoto gave plenty of evidence proving my point. But I will. He skipped town before even bothering to try to make arrangements for his GODSON after his parents died. He trained three orphans to be chunin level before leaving them in a WARZONE when they still very much so needed an adult or maybe, idk, being taken out of said warzone. He's a creep that spies on bathing women and brags about it. He hits on underaged girls with no shame. And let's not even get started on his weird encouragement of his twelve year old godson turning into a naked, older, female version of himself for his own sick personal amusement.
And he's never faced any real consequences because of his status; he can basically prey on women because he's a Sannin and, for the same reason Tsunade can basically be a missing-nin, Sarutobi does nothing. Whew chile, it reeks of nepotism in here.
But yeah, enough about that guy.
Hope you guys liked the Kakashi POV. He's fun to write. He loves his kids so much if anything happened to him, I don't even wanna imagine what he'd do to the person that did it…
ANYWAYS, Sasuke is better now. He's been told not to use chakra or do anything remotely ninja-y for the next two-ish months. Let's see if he can follow the doctor's orders. I personally give him a week before he gets pissed at Naruto and tries to set his hair on fire, but hey, maybe he has better self control lmao.
Also, I wonder what it is that Katsumi's researching…
QoTP: We got options today. 1. What's your opinion on Jiraiya? or 2. Which match do you wanna see the most in the Finals? Lmk in the reviews.
Shoutouts: the tumblr fam! But, special welcome to our newest homies: elpissly, awesomejazzmina WHO MADE A FAN ART OF KATSUMI THAT I LOVE GO CHECK IT OUT WOW ILYSM, chaotic-titania, and cleargothhandssoul. Welcome to the family!
Valen Goncalvez: Thanks, I'm glad you liked the chapter so much!
JasmineTheWitch: I'm happy you liked Sasuke's POV! He was so hard to get right. Lord, he's so mf EMO. And I'm glad you think my writing is fluid because LORD KNOWS I struggled with trying to make sure that this makes actual sense outside of my head lol. And college is going well! I made the GPA I needed to keep my scholarship so Merry Christmas to me! And what is Kakashi doing? Too much. He deserves a mf vacation. Thanks for the constant support and ilysm ;-;
Ana Kookie: Ugh Sasuke and Katsumi are so adorable I agree. Like they're so fun to write and Naruto knowing and being a dick to him is hilarious. Honestly it's what keeps me going.
: Thanks, I'm happy you think my fanfic is 'not bad'. It's what I strive for. To answer your question, Kumo officially stopped looking about 2 years after Katsumi's disappearance. The key word is official. Take from that what you will.
TheVulcanNara: Ahhh yesss! I love how bad Sasuke's crush is and how Naruto makes his life so difficult because of it. And oh my god, Kakashi would have a meltdown if he found out that one of his kids had a crush on the other. Lord, he'd feel caught between a rock and a hard place because on one hand, Sasuke having something to worry about other than fratricide would DEFINITELY be better for his overall well-being but Katsumi is his little duck and no one can see her romantically because thats just… wrong. Not his duck! Oh lord, that'd be hilarious. He'd probably end up staying the hell out of it and praying that it just resolved itself. Thanks for the review!
'Reader': Glad you like the story so far! Lord, the differences in plot between chapter 7 and this one is insane. Lmk what you think so far. Thanks dude!
wyattharto8: thanks so much! I'm super happy you think the story is fun and interesting! One thing I didn't want this to be was boring so I'm glad I did my job lol.
Guest: Thanks! I don't plan on stopping writing any time soon, dude! Thanks for the words of encouragement!
ZeraphEnd: Oh my god I could talk for legit HOURS about how much I love Ino. Lord, she's my favorite girl other than Katsumi so I'm glad you love her too! Sasuke is cute or whatever, but Ino would eat that boy for breakfast. Also, I'm suuuper happy you like how I wrote Naruto! It's not even necessarily that I made him smarter, I just made him put his neverending determination and fox-like intelligence and applied it somewhere that I could see him thriving! Naruto is a true Libra in that he reflects what he's around. That's part of the reason why he was put on Sasuke and Sakura's team in cannon since if they're super ambitious and strong, he's going to wanna keep up and he's going to reflect that back. So since he's around Katsumi all the time who is more studious, clever, and ambitious, he reflects those qualities and it makes him smarter. Basically I just made Naruto apply himself lmao. Thanks for the review!
Anyways, Happy Holidays to everyone and I'll probably see you guys in 2020! Don't forget to follow hosffblog on tumblr for my inner ramblings and even polls for what should happen next in the story!
Onto the next!