I didn't have to do too much in the Chunin Exams. I just had to supervise an exam where genin were given a true or false question and told to not touch the ink. This was a trick question because all they had to do was not fall into the ink pit. I decided to watch the rest of the exam from the audience. The young ninjas seemed a lot stronger than I remember being, but maybe that's because I'm an observer now, and it looks more intense from the audience. Naruto's son was the final one standing after the combat exam. Still, Naruto had to disqualify him because he used some sort of jutsu producing equipment, which would be considered cheating. The poor kid seemed like he just wanted Naruto to acknowledge him.
I heard that Chunin Exams in Konoha are always plagued with attacks, which was no different this year. Some pale men attacked the arena, and they looked just like the kid who stabbed me. These men were more powerful than the kid because they had the power to go against Naruto and his tailed beast. This was also the first time I saw Sasuke fighting to protect his daughter. I managed to get the audience members sitting in my area away from all the chaos. Naruto was kidnapped, and Sasuke went to rescue him along with Naruto's son. Sasuke's daughter was injured during the attack and was taken to the hospital. It took a few days for the three of them to come back. I was hoping to talk to him, so I took a chance and went to the tower, but he didn't show up. I guess he had finally decided to find his happiness, and I would need to find mine. I happened to see Sasuke and his wife holding each other and saying goodbye to their daughter. He had a smile on his face, and I guess he had taken my advice. I was happy for him. He saw me and flashed me a smile, and I smiled back.
Early reviews of my book were coming out, and they were positive. I was starting my book tour that week, so I had that to keep me occupied. This would be my chance to forget him and let him find his happiness. The first stop for my tour was going to be the Hidden Sand Village. Because the book was about great shinobi, I was invited by the Kazekage for dinner. The underlying story was somehow appealing to preteens and teens. Because the main character was fictional but based on a real person, it had more global appeal because every village had its own shinobi and kunoichi hero. My agent told me I should be prepared to stay for about two weeks since I would be stopping by a couple of bookstores to sign copies when the books started selling. I would also have a press tour where I would be speaking in three morning shows and two radio stations.
"This is Kazue Senjurama, author of The Great Shinobi Who Built Nations. Kazue, this is Kazekage of the Hidden Sand Village, Gaara. This is his brother, Kankuro, his son, Shinki", my agent introduced us.
"Nice to meet you all".
"We will also have the rest of my family join us for dinner", Gaara said
We all talked about the book and what the influence was. The Kazekage and his brother were also interested in finding out if this would be the first of a series or a standalone book. My agent told me to build intrigue over a second book, so I told them I was still brainstorming on the second book's plot, so I didn't know yet.
At the dinner table, I found out the rest of Gaara's family was Shikamaru and his family, his wife, Temari. She was Gaara's sister and their son, Shikadai. I remembered that I had given him an advanced copy of the book too. Hence, I was interested in whether his son had an opinion on it or if it appealed to kids his age.
"Well, the best part I found about it was that it read more like a comic than a picture book. The graphics were really great too".
"Thank you. I drew the graphics myself".
"That must have taken some time to get through", Shinki said.
"Not too much time. With my process, every chapter I finish, I sit down and finish the illustrations too. I typically do a chapter a week. Drawing is the easy part since I've been drawing characters since I was eight".
"How did you start drawing?" Shikadai asked me
"My parents moved us from Konoha to Iwagakure, and I wasn't adjusting to it. They gave me a sketchbook and pencils then told me to draw everything I'm feeling. I started creating characters to describe my issues and started using that to explain what was bothering me. I started doing that for everything. There are probably a bunch of villages all over the five countries where kids have my drawings of everything that went wrong when I was traveling".
They continued asking me questions about my travels and experiences, and I told them about my adventures. Still, I did not share the actual stories I collected because my agent told me to save those for the books. The kids said that I should consider doing a comic of my adventures since I had some mishaps everywhere I traveled. I also met interesting people, some of who would make good villains for a story. I told them I'd think about it. I had noticed that throughout the dinner, Gaara had been throwing glances at me and smiling. He was handsome. His haircut was a bit cheesy, but he was the Kazekage, so he had to be professional, I guess.
After dinner, as I was about to go back to my hotel, Gaara had approached me and invited me to tea. I told my agent to go ahead without me, and she reminded me that I had an early morning interview. How long did she think I was going to stay there? Gaara turned out to be a fascinating person to talk to. His backstory was a bit sad but hearing how Naruto is the one who pulled him out of the dark place he was in was pretty inspiring. I had to end our talk early since I needed to be well-rested for my interview, but he said he was interested in seeing me again. He gave me the number to his personal phone line, and I told him I'd check what my schedule looks like for the rest of the week and let him know when I would be free. After learning my timetable, he ended up asking me on dates every time I had an opening in my schedule. He also invited me to dinner almost every night, so I got to know more of his family as well.
Shikamaru was also in the Hidden Sand Village for work, so he had stayed all week. I got to talk to him for a bit. He had asked me about my relationship with Sasuke, and I said we were just friends since he had saved my life. He noted that Naruto had implied that Sasuke talked about me a lot. He had changed his personality since he met me, and I told him that I just told Sasuke to try and enjoy the village he spent so much time protecting. He then said that I must have made enough of an impact because Sasuke was spending a lot more of his free time in the village. I asked if he seemed happy, and Shikamaru said he did, so I guess my work was done. He also told me that if I was going to date Gaara, I better go in with the best intentions because Temari was overprotective of her brother. I took that as she'll beat my ass if I broke his heart.
My press tour was ending, and I would be moving on to the next city. I had to tell Gaara that trying to start a relationship would be too complicated with my schedule. I could only offer my friendship since I enjoyed conversations with him. The last night I saw him, he kissed me as a goodbye. I kissed him back, but I felt guilty afterward for some reason. I thought the press tour would make me forget Sasuke, but I would find little things reminding me of him. My press tour was going to be in Iwagakure. I was excited to see how much it had changed since I had left. I was excited at the possibility of seeing some of the friends I had left behind. I also wanted to stop by my parent's memorial site while I was there. Because this was my hometown, my press tour involved many more events since I was the up and coming author from Iwagakure.
I went to the bigger cities in all the other countries. I could even meet with the feudal lords since the book was a positive representation of the five nations' shinobi. I was on the road for six more weeks, and at the end of those, I would be finishing off the tour in Konoha. I was looking forward to the Konoha part of my book tour since I planned to move out of the boarding apartments and into my own place. My books were bestsellers, so I was getting my shares of the book sales. I had been saving the advance money I was given for if I had to pay it back. Still, I had far exceeded the break-even point for the book sells, I felt financially secure enough to rent a place. In Konoha, I was able to meet a lot of familiar faces during the book signing. Shikadai brought some of his friends to one of my book signings, and one of them happened to be Sasuke's daughter. She had the advance copy book I had given Sasuke. Naruto's son also had his advance copy and wanted me to sign a second one for his little sister, Himawari. I had one more event then I would be done with my press tour. I had a meeting with Naruto-sensei since I met with all the other Kages.