A new chapter is here and it has a couple special things in it, most notably the later part.
Question on the story pacing: I prefer fleshing things out and taking my time, but I'm not sure if it is being somewhat of an impediment to the plot progression. If need be, I can try to streamline some things to get there quicker, (Chunin exams, specifically the beginning where Naruto meets a certain red haired Jinchuriki, happens in one or two chapters from now.) Should I quicken the pace, or do the slow and steady route. (Slow and steady will mean the story will probably be close to 700k before it's done, if not longer.)
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything I make reference to. This is a work of fanfiction that I make no money off of.
Anyway, here's the chapter.
Naruto POV:
The last week had been an absolute pain, or as Shikamaru would put it, troublesome.
Nearly all my time was being focused on getting accustomed to the speed boost I'd get when I opened the first Gate, something that required Gai giving me help with personally.
This day marked where Hiruzen wanted to speak with me about something, something that necessitated him telling me to not train for the day.
I was on my way to the Hokage tower to speak with him, when I ran into Ino, who seemed to be relaxing from an off day, given that she was wearing regular clothes.
"Hey, Naruto," She said with a wide smile on her face, "What's up?"
"Heading to talk with the Hokage," I shrugged, hands in my pockets, "I could use some company, if you're not busy."
Ino shook her head no.
"I'm in no hurry. Daddy won't mind me keeping him waiting at the shop for a little bit."
I gave her a quick grin and continued onward, the blonde girl sticking right next to me.
We took our time as we walked there, heading through the streets of the village.
Ino broke the silence after a few minutes.
"Do you ever use your sensing just to feel people?" She asked, turning her head to look at me.
I noticed someone give me a glare, which I ignored, and turned towards Ino, not breaking my stride.
"All the time," I answered truthfully, "It's something I've always done since I started using my sensory ability."
"How long has that been?" She asked.
"Six, almost seven, years." I said quietly, my tone hinting at when.
Ino's eyes widened slightly at my change of tone.
"Oh," She looked down, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up."
"It's not an issue," I said, waving it off, "I'm passed it now."
"But Rin isn't." Ino grumbled, still not on the best of terms with my sister.
Sighing, I looked forward and kept walking.
"Rin is hotheaded on things, especially when it concerns proof of her usually untouchable and invincible brother having a sign of weakness," I said simply, "You probably have noticed that, knowing who your dad is, and Hinata would agree with me on that."
Rin, even when she tried to hide it, hated any reminders of that night, Ino's mind jump being one of those.
We eventually got to the tower and Ino turned to leave.
"Thanks for the company." I said, watching her back as she left.
Ino turned for a moment and smiled, before taking off to go to her family's store.
I made my way to Hiruzen's office and knocked on the door, sparing a glance towards the guards.
I heard a muffled "Enter" and I opened the door, seeing Hiruzen at his desk, simply staring at me, no papers being attended to.
That's odd. I thought to myself, trying to spot anything else.
"Ah, Naruto, thank you coming on such short notice," He began, getting up from his chair, "Would you mind walking with me, just to indulge an old man?"
I tilted my head slightly in confusion, but nodded anyway.
"Good," Hiruzen smiled, "follow me." He left out the door of the room me following him.
We left the tower and made our way to somewhere I did recognize, a secluded area near a waterfall outside of the village somewhat.
"What is this place?" I asked curiously, looking at the old man.
"This," Hiruzen pointed towards the area hidden underneath the waterfall, "Was where the Nidaime did his personal training and where I do as well."
My eyes widened in surprise, not expecting him to have brought me somewhere like this.
"Kakashi and Gai have spoken of your progress, of how another type of training could be helpful to you," He looked towards me with a smirk, "Something like sparring with me."
My head jerked to his in shock.
"You?" I asked, trying to run my mind through what was said.
"It will do nothing but good for you to know what it's like to fight a Kage level Shinobi, even if I'm a rather old one." He chuckled.
Thank God I'm wearing all my gear already. I thought, feeling my heart rate quicken at the prospect of fighting a Kage.
"Okay," I said brightly, my entire mood much better now, "When do you want to?"
"Now, actually." Hiruzen stated, walking towards the waterfall.
I followed him and noticed him stop at where there was an entrance to an opening underneath the waterfall.
The old man stepped towards a part of the stone and pressed his hand to it, pulsing some of his chakra.
Once that happened, I felt several seals deactivated, the air shifting marginally.
Hiruzen stepped into what looked to be a wide area that had pockmarks of previous training exercises, some of the ground looking like it had been glassed from extreme heat some time prior.
"You can stop gawking now." He chuckled, noticing my look of shock.
I just walked slowly into the training area, still trying to digest how personal this area must be for Hiruzen, and how much trust he was putting into me by showing me.
Hiruzen walked to the other side of the training ground and pulled off his robes and sealed them into a scroll, rolling it up, and throwing it to the side.
He had his armour on underneath, already prepared.
I prepared myself for a difficult fight, speeding up my mind with lightning chakra.
"Begin." Hiruzen said firmly, his hands up and knees bent.
I shot towards him at full speed, driving my fist towards his face.
He blocked the punch, the follow up flurry of punches and kicks were stopped as well.
He countered with a sweeping kick, which I jumped up and over him to avoid, my sword coming out as I was flipping over him and swung towards his head, him ducking under it no problem.
A kunai was flicked into his hand and he charged at me, preventing me from using a jutsu.
The fact that a 70 year old man was moving at this speed had me wondering how fast he was when he was in his prime. He was still showing signs of the grace and balance he had in his youth when he was trying to break through my guard with a simple kunai.
I finally got a reprieve when I switched with a chunk of rock on the ground, getting around 15 meters away from him.
Hiruzen, without missing a beat, made one hand seal and shot a massive fireball at me.
I countered with a Teppodama, the ball of water I sent out of my mouth clashing with his fireball, a massive explosion of steam being the result.
I went to manipulate the water vapour, but I didn't expect the 50 plus kunai to come through it.
I dropped to the ground and felt them fly over me, one of them clipping my shoulder.
Hissing in pain, I jumped back up and barely caught the flash of movement that was Hiruzen sprinting through the steam, his staff out and crashing down towards my head.
I barely raised up my sword to stop it, the strength behind the hit jolting my arms.
"Good," Hiruzen said, backing up for a moment, "But not good enough. You rely on speed and cover, but that won't work against me, Naruto."
I didn't have time to respond because he began to attack me, each end of his staff being used as a weapon.
Even with the Kenjutsu I use being geared towards defense and weathering attacks, I was barely preventing myself from getting struck by him, and I knew he was holding back.
His speed moved up a notch and I nearly saw stars when the end of his staff smashed into my head, the man continuing to sneak in a hit here and there.
I kept backing away, trying to think of something to do. I eventually stopped and felt my foot scrape against something metal.
The kunai that Hiruzen cloned.
I used chakra to stick it to the bottom of my foot, letting Hiruzen's attacks break my guard.
I let the one hit towards my gut get through, falling backwards from the hit.
My legs kicked up and I let go of the kunai, flinging it at around his midsection.
Hiruzen, in a display of quick reflexes, avoided the kunai hitting a vital area, but the kunai still opened up a cut on his left wrist, his sleeve beginning to darken.
Hiruzen winced and backed away from me, glancing at his wrist and my foot.
"Excellent," He said happily, "Even something learned as a young Shinobi may very well save your life. That little trick was something that would have gotten lesser Shinobi."
He seemed to be in a good enough mood to let me get up, grabbing a bandage from a scroll and wrapping it around his wrist.
I can't keep up with him. I thought. Anything I use has a counter from him. He's not called 'The Professor' for nothing.I needed more speed. The mind enhancement portion of the Lightning Cloak didn't speed up my body, only my speed of thought. There was something that I had available to speed myself up, but I didn't know if I could get it to work.
Screw it. No time like crunch time. I thought, dropping the lightning chakra from my brain and shifting regular chakra towards the tenketsu needed to open the first Gate.
Gate of Opening: Kai!I forced chakra into it and felt the Gate open.
Hiruzen had his staff ready for what I was going to do, but he still had a look of slight surprise when I seemed to blur towards him, stabbing towards his shoulder.
My balance was somewhat off, still not completely accustomed to the inhibitors on my muscles being shut off.
But Hiruzen wasn't as able to take advantage of that because my attacks were coming extremely fast as he was on the back foot from holding me off.
I realized the staff he was using wasn't Enma when I used my Bloodline to add to my chakra conductive blade, making it sharper and with a little more length.
The staff broke and Hiruzen ducked under my downward swing and kicked at my lower ribs, something cracking in the process.
I staggered and swung blindly at him, the man ducking again and driving several punches into my ribs, gut, and finally my face, sending me to the ground.
I tried to get up, but Hiruzen raised his hand and shook his head.
"That's enough for now," He said kindly, breathing a little heavily, "I can tell I hurt something."
"I'm fine," I said tightly, closing the Gate forcefully and trying to hide the wince when I grabbed at my ribs, "Just give me a few minutes."
Hiruzen scoffed and waited patiently as I stood up slowly, still nursing my healing ribs.
"You're extremely fast for one your age, Naruto, and very strong. It's not common for a 13 year old to be capable of sparring with me."
"Itachi was one," I pointed out, seeing Hiruzen's face twitch slightly, "He was an S-rank at my age."
"And you fight like an A-rank," Hiruzen said flatly, "You can learn a great deal about someone by fighting them, especially someone who fights like my Sensei did with me."
I just realized why Hiruzen wanted to spar with me, my mind not made up on whether I should be aggravated.
"You wanted to see how I fight against someone I have no hope of beating," I said slowly, not breaking eye contact, "You didn't want to rely on what Kakashi said on my ability."
Hiruzen chuckled and winked.
"Guilty as charged."
"Perverted old man." I grumbled, scowling at the look on his face.
"I wasn't the one beaten by several kunoichi." Hiruzen pointed out, grinning slightly at my irritation.
"What even is in the water here?" I asked, gesturing at the general area, "They didn't just beat me, they stomped on my balls more than once."
Hiruzen cringed at what I said.
"Jiraiya said that civilian women never did that."
"So it means kunoichi are insane." I stated, still not happy about it, even after some time.
Looking back, it was funny, but me supposedly peaking on them shouldn't have warranted several kicks to the balls. Getting punched several times in the face? Sure. But not hits to the balls.
Hiruzen's face then shifted to an odd look, his posture shifting slightly.
"Naruto," He started softly, "Has there been anything said by the Kyuubi?"
I'd mentioned to Hiruzen and Rin about my little talk with Kurama, leaving out the comment he made about Rin.
"About?" I asked, not sure what he was getting at.
"Who unleashed the Kyuubi." Hiruzen said quietly.
"Only that it was someone with a Sharingan," I replied, "He kept saying that it was Uchiha Madara, but he's obviously wrong since he's been dead for awhile."
Hiruzen had a contemplative look on his face.
"What all can you think of that might point to who did it?"
Sighing, I gave what information I could without aiming it towards Obito.
"His chakra felt...wrong," I eventually said, "Almost like he himself was bad enough to stain his signature."
Hiruzen remained quiet, listening to me with rapt attention.
"He definitely had a Sharingan, it felt like how Sasuke or Kakashi feel."
"And he felt like the Jonin Kakashi brought to training last week."
Hiruzen sighed and seemed to be resigned to something, covering it up with a soft smile.
"I think it's time for some ramen, don't you think?" He asked, trying to change the topic to a more light-hearted one.
I decided to agree and let this day be a relaxing one. The Chunin exams were in a week and I needed to think of something aside from hurrying things along.
"Sure, Jiji," I grinned, "But you're buying."
Hiruzen scoffed but gave a small smile, the two of us leaving the training ground.
"So, how was your day?"
Kurama asked in a bored tone, "Your sister doesn't wish to speak at all."It was nighttime and I was doing a new tradition of mine, speaking with Kurama each night before I went to sleep.
"You really bored enough to want to listen to the random crap I did for training?" I asked, sitting down and lounging on the ground.
There wasn't much I could do about the cramped nature of the cage, the tightenings still being there.
"Nothing to do in here." Kurama said simply.
"Let me use your chakra without screwing with my head and you'll be able to see through my eyes most of the time I'm awake." I offered again, knowing he was on the fence about it.
He snorted and readjusted how he was curled up laying down.
"I'll think about it."I sat there for a minute, thinking on whether I should ask him.
Sure, I'll do it. I thought.
"Do you have a name?" I asked.
Kurama turned slightly and looked at me, his eyes almost glowing.
"Why ask that?"
"I doubt your name is 'Kyuubi'," I shrugged, "I'm a human, but my name is Naruto. I doubt you only had a name when humans saw fit to give you a title."
"Again," Kurama stated, "Why ask?"
"All but the first hour of my life will involve you being with me and Rin," I replied, not impressed with his short responses, "We might as well be civil towards each other and a name is more personable."
Kurama didn't answer, simply laying his head back down.
"Tell me the story you wanted to say before," Kurama said, "The one about the two brothers."
Shrugging at his evading of the question, I started speaking of a story that at first glance, had a couple of similarities with another set of brothers that Kurama would be familiar with.
Danzo POV:
Hiruzen wished to speak with him, privately, in his office.
Danzo wasn't sure what his old teammate wished to speak with him about, but he was prepared in case he needed to convince Hiruzen to not kill him like he suspected he was going to do after Itachi wiped out the Uchiha.
A discreet use of Kotoamatsukami ensured that Hiruzen would think about the ways Danzo could destroy the reputation of the clan heads.
But he had no such dirt. Bluffing was almost as important as actually having evidence. Anything he had would have incriminated himself more than any of the clan heads. He had a noted disdain for the Uchiha, and the destruction of his arm during the Kyuubi attack gave motive.
He made sure to not have his bodyguards with him, not wanting to tip Hiruzen off to his plan to turn the tables on him. He was certain he wouldn't need them, even if it left him feeling slightly vulnerable.
He made his way to the tower, using the skills of acting he had owned by walking slowly through the village like any other disabled old man, noticing the small number of people out at night.
His thoughts were interrupted by a man walking out of an alley, reeking of alcohol.
His face curling in disgust, he tried to ignore the man.
But the drunkard thought different and started drunkenly staggering towards him.
"Whas up witthhh thu wrapsss?" The man slurred, cackling at the wrappings on his arm and head to cover the concealed Sharingan, "You llloook liiike a mummy."
Danzo kept walking, trying to ignore the idiot.
"Wait!" The man yelled, lunging towards him and grabbing him for a moment, "You look liiike someone I know." He stilled slurred, almost falling over.
Danzo wheeled around and pushed him away with his good arm, staggering from the lack of cane balancing him.
"Stay away from, fool." He hissed, noticing the man's eyes widening.
"Sorry." The man whispered, his head tilting back and he began snoring, passed out in the street.
Danzo scowled and left the drunkard where he lay, quickening his pace to get to the tower.
He eventually got there and made his way in, spotting the door and the two guards at the front.
He walked slowly to the door, leaning on his cane heavily.
He approached the ANBU guards at the front door and cleared his throat.
"The Hokage is expecting me." He said with a gravelly tone, still keeping his weight on the cane convincingly.
The two guards let him in, his equally as old former teammate sitting at his desk, his left hand bandaged.
At his raised brow and glance towards the limb, Hiruzen spoke.
"I had a rather enlightening spar with Naruto," He said smoothly, "Our resident prodigy isn't lacking in creativity."
"But where are my manners," Hiruzen continued, "How have you been?"
Danzo knew that Hiruzen wasn't the sort to dance around a subject, so he spoke up.
"Shall we dispense with the pleasantries and get on with what you are wishing to speak with me about?" Danzo asked, "You have shackled my abilities to aid the village due to your kindness."
"If you call what you have done, I question your judgement of the word 'aid'."
"I have broken my body for Konoha," Danzo said tightly, "An eye, the use of my leg, and an arm. Do not question my devotion to helping Konoha."
"You undoubtedly love the village," Hiruzen replied, "But your tactics have robbed us of strength."
"Get on with what you are wanting from me, Hiruzen," Danzo almost exclaimed, "Unless you just want to condemn me as you always have, which is a waste of time now that those actions are in the past."
Hiruzen's face hardened and he leaned forward in his chair.
"The spar with Naruto today woke me up to something," He stated flatly, "He is too much of a child."
Danzo was shocked that Hiruzen would complain about something like that.
"You undoubtedly know about the increased effort the clan heads have been dedicating to training, as well as the group training for the rookie Genin."
Danzo nodded, knowing it was probably linked to Orochimaru.
Danzo had fed some information about Konoha's defenses to Orochimaru in preparation for the attack, mostly less than vital things that would increase the number of civilian casualties, but leave the Shinobi forces and clans less damaged.
Better to have the body count be padded with civilians instead of Shinobi. Konoha needed to be galvanized to take a more martial inclination, something that had Kumo nipping at their heels on the power and influence level.
"I can only theorize why that is the case," Danzo lied easily, "But it still doesn't answer why the Jinchuriki is important in this conversation."
Something that had him concerned was how Hiruzen discovered that Orochimaru was planning to attack, something that was unforseen.
He didn't inform Orochimaru of it, not seeing a reason to stick his neck out for the man, only seeing him as a way to trim the diseased branches of the tree that was Konoha.
"A show of force is needed to show that Konoha has recovered from the Kyuubi attack," Hiruzen said firmly, his eyes alight with the fire that had him be made Hokage, "Naruto must have the ruthlessness to fight for Konoha, no matter the cost."
Danzo couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"You're wanting me," Danzo tried to say, still trying to wrap his mind around the request.
"To begin teaching Naruto the way the Shinobi world works," Hiruzen finished for him, "He disobeyed orders twice on an active A-rank because innocent people were at risk. Could you imagine the backlash of what would have happened if word got out of two teams with Kakashi, my son, and 5 clan heirs failing a mission?"
He thought about this for some time. Danzo thought, quietly thanking the naivety of the elder Jinchuriki.
The clan heirs were supposed to be the strongest in their clan. A critical mission failure by the two Genin teams would have reflected terribly on Konoha's strength, specifically its clans.
"You obviously understand what that will entail." Danzo said flatly, a leading tone present.
"You will train him how to look underneath the underneath, just as Sensei taught us."
Danzo nodded wistfully at the memory of Senju Tobirama, the pragmatism of the man was a welcome reprieve from all the talks about the naive outlook the Shodai had.
"But don't think this is me forgetting what happened, Danzo," Hiruzen said fiercely, "You will report everything that you teach him and all of it must be approved by me."
Danzo felt the ghost of a grin on his face, realizing what could be done.
Kotoamatsukami worked even better when the order wasn't completely contrary to the opinion of the target. If Hiruzen already was willing to let Uzumaki Naruto, the more gifted of the two Jinchuriki, be trained by him to build him up into a ruthless pragmatist like Tobirama, the need to turn Konoha to a more militaristic mindset wouldn't require the body count of hundreds of civilians.
Orochimaru, you have no idea what awaits you. He thought smugly, pleased that he'd be rid of the traitor.
He had his uses, especially when information that was useful to Konoha was a part of the agreement, but his use was coming to an end now.
"Thankfully, Hiruzen," He shifted the bandage around his right eye to loosen it, disguising it as scratching an itch, "I think I can convince you to let me have a more free approach in training the boy." He let the bandage fall free, opening his right eye lid.
Kotoamatsukami.The Genjutsu struck Hiruzen, Danzo's smile widened into a broad one as Hiruzen seemed to still.
What happened next caused his thoughts to grind to a halt.
'Hiruzen' disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving nothing behind.
Before he could comprehend what just happened, he heard the sound of rushing behind him, a searing pain shooting up his shoulder.
A Hyuga disguised as an ANBU jabbed him several times in the right shoulder, the artificially grown limb going completely slack.
He shouted in pain as another hit struck the side of his temple, the chakra for Shisui's eye being cut off.
But the sound of birds chirping was the worst part.
He felt a fist tear through his left shoulder and saw it protruding elbow deep in front of him.
He tried to yell, but the pain was so great that he could barely breath.
He collapsed to the ground, the two men being the only reason he wasn't flat on his stomach.
Hiruzen appeared at one point, he couldn't tell when, and had a look of disappointment on his face.
"I really wanted to think better of you, Danzo," Hiruzen said, staring at his right eye "I really wanted to be wrong, but it seems I wasn't."
Danzo started coughing up blood, one of the juken strikes hitting a lung.
"How?" He choked, his strength leaving him.
How could Hiruzen have known about his arm and eye? Not even Orochimaru knew about Shisui's eye.
"You will never know," Hiruzen growled sharply, striking him across the face, "You killed a loyal Shinobi for his eye and you took Biwako from me."
Danzo tried to speak, but was shocked by what Hiruzen had said.
"What do you mean?" Danzo coughed, trying to keep his breathing from sounding like a death rattle.
"Even in your final moments, you still lie," Hiruzen growled, drawing a kunai, "Out of respect for our Sensei, I'll make it quick." He then signaled to the two men, one obviously being Kakashi, to let him go.
They let Danzo stagger forward without them supporting his weight, the last thing he saw being the inferno dancing in Hiruzen's eyes, the kunai being driven into his temple.
Shimura Danzo died moments later, still wondering where the hell he slipped up.
Danzo's body crumbled to the floor, not getting back up.
"Remove his shirt." Hiruzen instructed, looking at Kakashi.
Kakashi stooped down and tore off the shirt, all three of the men repulsed by what they saw.
The limb was extremely pale, the eyes imbedded in the flesh still twitching slightly.
"Thank you for your assistance, Hiashi." Hiruzen said softly, looking at the look of hatred on Hiashi's face.
"Barbaric," He spat, gazing at Danzo's corpse with contempt, "To think this creature did such a thing."
Hiruzen gazed at the body of his former teammate, wondering how it could have come to this.
"What should be done about the eyes?" Kakashi asked, his own uncovered Sharingan visible.
"That will be for another time," Hiruzen said, "For now, they will be preserved until a decision is made. Hiashi, you are dismissed."
"Hokage-sama." Hiashi nodded, walking away and clenching his hand like he'd touched something foul.
After Hiashi left, Kakashi looked at Hiruzen.
"Should Sasuke be told about this?" He gestured towards the corpse, specifically the arm, "Naruto and Rin, as well?"
Hiruzen looked down at Danzo's body, thinking.
"Naruto should know," Hiruzen said softly, "Danzo was the one he felt and I'll ask him if he thinks Sasuke should know. Sasuke seems to open up to him and Rin more so."
Naruto would be able to talk to Sasuke about this. Itachi didn't want Sasuke to know the truth, but it felt wrong to keep out the fact that Danzo committed Bloodline theft against the Uchiha by desecrating their bodies.
Hiruzen looked a little closer towards Danzo's body and noticed something.
There was a letter poking out of his pocket.
Glancing at Kakashi, who backed away, he made a Kage bunshin and had it pick up the letter, just in case it was a trap.
The bunshin inspected it, then looked at him and said one word.
"Hurin."
Ordering the bunshin to pop, Hiruzen grabbed the letter, seeing it addressed to him in Hurin's hand writing.
He pushed his chakra into the lock on the seal that kept the letter closed, revealing the contents.
The contents filled him with fury.
Danzo wasn't the one that unleashed the Kyuubi.
The fact that the perpetrator has the Mokuton, Black hair, and a Mangekyo Sharingan in his right eye socket is a coincidence.
The fact that you filled in the blanks in such a way is not my fault.
Danzo should have been killed after the stunt he pulled stealing a Sharingan from Shisui.
Thank you for killing the bastard anyway. It makes things easier for the future.
As an apology for not giving you the name of who actually did it, here's an olive branch.
Hanzo has been dead for years. The man you, Jiraiya, or Orochimaru is incapable of killing is the new leader of Ame. DO. NOT. Let Jiraiya try and investigate on his own, only death awaits him. He couldn't kill Hanzo with the backing of Tsunade and Orochimaru. His hopes of killing the one who killed Hanzo is next to none.
Tell Jiraiya I would love to speak with him when he gets back.
Burn this.
Hurin.
Hiruzen spiked fire chakra into the paper and burned it to ash.
At Kakashi's look of question, Hiruzen explained what it said.
Kakashi also looked angry, but calmed himself and sighed at the state of things.
"Danzo was a traitor," Kakashi said, "Do you think he could have aided Orochimaru with his experiments? That arm is one of them." He pointed at the body.
Hiruzen now knew that the things Danzo did, not even counting it turning out he wasn't the one who unleashed the Kyuubi, carried a death sentence.
The fact that he used Shisui's eye on his bunshin meant that he held no qualms about manipulating him without his knowledge, making him double guess what his choices were following the Uchiha massacre.
"Help me clean this up." Hiruzen said simply, making 3 Kage bunshin.
Kakashi nodded and made a few of his own, the group beginning the process of disposing of Danzo's remains, save for the Sharingan until it was decided what to do with them.
End Chapter:
This chapter is shorter than the others, given that this is more of a conclusion one.
After rereading what I've written, I've started to wonder whether I've been putting too much stuff in the story, bloating it.
I'm at 300k words and the Chunin exams are just about to come up. Much of it was to build up on how the presence of an insert influences the people around him, but I'm just thinking over whether it makes the story unwieldy for new readers. Not that I'm complaining about how other stories with less words have more followers, that's just foolish for any Author to do.
Don't compare yourself to others, compare yourself to what you were in the past.
Anyway, it's probably just me being overdramatic about how I'm 300k words in and I'm not even through part one.
Here's a new chapter and I hope you have a wonderful day.
Raging..