Sealing Salientia - Chapter 31: Alleys - Author: PenSmoke
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor make any profit from writing this.
Previously on Sealing Salientia: Jiraiya leaned into Tsunade and wrapped her up in the biggest hug that he could. Feeling her tense up for a second, then relax, he hugged tighter. They sat like that in silence well into the night. Jiraiya comforting Tsunade whilst Naruto slept next to them.
Konoha
Wednesday, October 14th, Year 71
The boy with the white hair stirred in the silence of the apartment. He felt uncomfortably warm, like he was completely smothered in blankets. Attempting to fidget and find a cooler position, he found that he was practically unable to move, as something had a vice-like grip around his midsection. His squirming became stronger and more erratic as he struggled to move through whatever was holding him down. After a few moments, the offending restraint moved to the side, accompanied by a light groan from a female voice.
This action was enough to stir his conscious mind awake from slumber. His eyelids fluttered open, revealing the electric blue irises underneath. His eyes darted from shape to shape taking in the scene around him. It was easy to recognize the sleeping form of Jiraiya leaning up against the person next to him, who was also in sleep's peaceful grip, judging from the light and regular breath coming from her. The arm that had likely been wrapped around him just a moment ago shifted from him to looping around his father figure's shoulders, as the woman snuggled deeper into the self-imposed embrace.
Naruto was able to extricate himself from the two forms on the couch, and watched as they soon filled up the newly occupied space, shifting weight to lay down rather than lean on each other. He felt refreshed and awake, even though it looked like it was just barely pre-dawn, a slight lightening of the eastward sky outside the window the only indication of the time of day. Running through a brief set of morning stretches to get ready for the day, Naruto limbered up for the exercises that he would be going through later at school.
After spending a couple of minutes to help not strain a muscle, Naruto's stomach growled hungrily. While he could make breakfast himself, he didn't want to wake the other occupants of the room. And it was super early, so he decided to just grab something a little later once the shops opened up before school. After scribbling a note to Jiraiya, he quietly opened and closed the front door and snuck out down the stairs to the ground below.
Upon opening the door to the apartment building, he was struck with the sense of peace and quiet that pervaded the early morning air in Konoha. Clouds had rolled through overnight keeping the fall air just warm enough to not be uncomfortably cold. The rays of sun burst through the clouds overhead, creating cascading bursts of colors through the remaining cover, even though the light beams did not yet touch the ground. The buildings reflected the early morning colors of pink and yellow, creating an almost springtime feel to the town.
Naruto set off through the empty streets at a jog, just enjoying the feeling of tranquility that enveloped the town. For small bursts of time where he saw nobody around on a straight stretch, he would close his eyes during the jog and let the world communicate to him through the smells and sounds, rather than sight. The dew had formed on the blades of grass and the tree leaves, giving off a fresh scent that was pleasing to his hyper-sensitive nostrils. His feet were already slightly moist from scraping the water droplets of the greenery. It was just early enough that the birds that had not yet left for winter were chirping their early morning songs, hopping from tree branch to ground in search of food. He could hear the scraping of his sandals against the soil underneath him, the pecking of birds into the earth in search of their own breakfast, and the sound of a fist slamming into a person.
His eyes shot open when that last sound clicked into recognition within his brain. He slammed his feet to a stop, trying to locate the sound. After catching another echo of the vibrations to his left, he spun on his heels to try and find the source. Turning down the next street over, the fleshy thumps led him to an alleyway. There were three figures there, two standing up and one laying on the ground.
The two standing were teenagers, both of them boys, obviously beating up the figure on the ground, whom he could make out almost no features of. As one of the standing boys kicked the prone figure yet again, the other reached and grabbed a handful of long black hair, brutally yanking the face into view. It was obscured by dirt, so Naruto couldn't make much of a guess as to the person's identity, but he could immediately tell that it was a kid, not much older than him. He could hear one of the older boys whispering something into the ears of the victim, though he couldn't make out all of the words. The phrase "traitorous scum" did reach him and pique his interest though.
His brain went into gear. He had several options here. He could just keep on walking and let this play out, as it would not be expected of a young boy to break up this fight. He could turn right around and nobody would ever be the wiser that he didn't do anything.
But, that didn't sit right with him. A person was being beat up and it didn't feel right to not at least try to step in. Walking away felt like the coward's way out.
The two figures had seemingly not yet recognized his presence, even though he hadn't been trying to hide it at all the entire time. He realized, too late, that it was a huge mistake to approach a potential conflict without being as stealthy as possible. But, it did provide him some useful information in this case. It meant that the attackers probably weren't shinobi, or were sloppy shinobi at best.
Which meant that stopping the bullies would likely be comparatively easy. While he realized that his 6-year-old form probably wouldn't be all that imposing to some teen bullies that were already beating up a kid his age, he knew a form that would be.
Ducking back around the corner of the alley, he quickly made the required handseals for the Transformation jutsu, picturing Jiraiya in his mind. Once the poof of smoke that would give away the technique had faded, he stepped back around the corner, this time a picture-perfect replica of his Pops. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" He tried to lower his voice as much as he could to sound like a gruff barking that he had heard used on him many times, but it still sounded much more like a child's than he would have hoped for.
The two teenagers whipped around at the sudden soundwaves, faces turning to see the Sannin facsimile standing at the exit of the alley. Two sets of eyes went from anger to panic in the span of half a second. One yelled to the other, "Shit! That's Jiraiya! Run!" Both turned away from the false appearance to start running, only to realize that they were in a dead-end alley. The two teenagers rotated back to him, realizing that they were trapped. They bent at the waist, shrunk their shoulders inwards, and tried to present as small of a target as possible to him.
"If you leave that kid alone, I'll let you go." Naruto said in his best impersonation, moving a step to the side. However, even though he wanted his voice to be as deep as his Pops actually was, it still sounded high and squeaky. This made an eyebrow rise on one of the boys' faces. Unfortunately for Naruto, he saw a pair of black onyx eyes below the raised eyebrow swirl into red, just like he had witnessed Sasuke do yesterday.
The boy straightened up, his posture relaxing as the red dissipated from his eyes. "Hah! It's just a kid!" A cocky attitude took over the persona of both teens, rising back to full height and casually strolling towards Naruto. He could make them out clearly now, and considering that they were walking directly towards him without any fear at all, he knew the charade was over.
Thinking quickly to himself, he realized he didn't know what to do. He didn't know what would be okay to do against someone in a Hidden Village, even if it was in self-defense. If he really hurt these guys, would he get in huge trouble? He was new and it would just be his word against theirs. So, could he really fight them?
There was the option of escape still. But, running away wouldn't help anything. That would just make him feel like a coward and wouldn't actually help the kid lying in the alley. He could just try to block whatever they attempted to do, which was seeming less likely by the moment.
"So, kid, you thought you could scare us with that? Nice try. Though that's a pretty good transformation for a little kid. You must be in the Academy? I supposed we won't beat you up too badly then." The boy with the shifting eyes folded his hand into a fist, made eye contact with his partner in crime to give him a signal as to where to go. The other boy, with light brown hair held up in a ponytail, an ugly scar down the left side of his face and a sneer, made his way to the other side of the alley. They were trying to surround him, he realized as he backed up out of the alley into the street.
They both moved at the same time towards him. Unfortunately for them, he was much faster than they were expecting, and he slid underneath their combined grasp while dropping his transformation technique. Darting forward, back into the alley, he took up a defensive posture in front of the prone kid. His ears picked up the sound of ragged shallow breaths bouncing off of the nearby brick walls, which meant the kid was at least alive and breathing.
"Slippery little bastard, aren't'cha?" The probable Uchiha spat out with a note of venom in his voice. Apparently, he didn't like it when his targets evaded his grasp. Naruto internally smirked, that was something that he could use against the older boy, make his angry and lose focus. Against the teens, he would need every advantage he could think of.
Naruto taunted back, "Next time, actually try to grab me." It worked exactly as he hoped, as the little self-satisfied smirk on the boys' face dropped into a scowl. He nodded to the other boy as they approached again. Naruto balanced on the front of his feet, preparing to make a move in whatever direction, watching as they moved forward. When they were about 5 feet away, they lunged forward in unison.
The two boys were horrible at disguising their movements though. He had been training all his life with the toads and Jiraiya, and it finally felt like it was paying off. His spar with Sasuke had left him feeling doubtful about whether or not he actually was a good ninja. But, these two were ridiculously worse. He felt like they were charging at him in slow motion compared to how Jiraiya would blitz him. He watched their muscles tense as they prepped to lunge and was already moving before they had left their left. Naruto let the tension in his legs completely fade and basically melted to the floor, coiling up like a tiny human spring.
As his opponents had already leapt through the air, their trajectories were already set, and he watched as they sailed towards where he had been. The black haired one had gone high with an overhead strike that would have hit him in the top of the skull, and the brown-haired one had been going towards his chest a split-second later with a punch that would have hammered his solar plexus. It would have been impressive teamwork, had they actually been fighting a civilian.
However, as Naruto watched them, he saw the moment that they realized he wasn't just some ordinary entry level Academy student. As the heads both angled down to watch his drop, he saw their eyes widen when they realized they were going to miss. The Uchiha tried to correct, using the momentum that he was going to get from the downward strike to spin around faster to bring a leg drop on top of Naruto's new position, but the white-haired boy was already moving to strike.
Uncoiling from his lowered position, he exploded upward in a burst of energy, slamming the top of his head directly into the outstretched arm of the brown-haired boy, while using his right fist to land a punch directly into the scarred face of the bully. The arm caromed upwards into the other boy as he was spinning around, knocking him off-course as well. Naruto's continued momentum brought him up into the Uchiha's back, allowing him to smash his small frame into the spinal area of the larger boy, disrupting his attempted kick.
Naruto landed a half-second later, pumped chakra to his legs, and jumped to the side, allowing to two other boys to land in a pile together. The jinchuuriki landed next to the wall of the alley, then bounced back to be next to the fallen figure while the other two were extricating themselves from each other.
"Why you little!" The Uchiha's eyes glowed red again after separating himself from the other bully, who was rubbing his jaw on the ground. The older boy jumped forward at a higher speed than before, obviously taking the confrontation much more seriously. Naruto did not have nearly as much time to create a counter-attack this time, and so opted to just block the fist aimed at his head.
He raised his arm up, and intercepted the fist as it approached his face and pushed back as best as he could with chakra-reinforced arms. The older boy was definitely stronger than he was, but he was no Jiraiya. While the deflection hurt, it wasn't that bad. Naruto tried to keep his calm and watched for the next attack, which presented itself in the form of a whirlwind kick from the opposite side, as the boy dropped the punch and spun 270 degrees around to try and connect with the boy.
Ready for the blow, Naruto used the momentary break from the released punch to jump back. Unfortunately for him, he forgot about the other kid behind him, and his foot caught on the prone form, causing him to tumble backwards and land clumsily on his back.
Capitalizing on the moment, the ugly scarred face made its return, jumping on top of him while he was on his back. The brown-haired boy quickly tried to pin down his arms, and Naruto pumped chakra into them to try and resist. During the momentary struggle for positional supremacy, the Uchiha finished with his failed kicked, landed and saw the opening. Sprinting around his partner-in-crime, he lashed out with a foot at Naruto's head, connecting with the skull while the white-haired boy was trying to push off the other boy.
Seeing stars, Naruto lost focus for a second and in that moment, lost the fight to control his arms. Quickly finding himself pinned to the ground by one, he received several quick kicks to the head to disorient him, and then a strike to the chest to knock the wind out of him. Naruto's vision blurred for a couple of seconds as the brown-haired boy spit in his face, a thick stringy wad of hot saliva coursing into his eyes. His immediate reaction to rub his eyes was foiled by having his arms pinned to the ground. The struggle only made them laugh.
"Not so tough now, are ya, whitey?" The Uchiha's voice was pompous and prideful. He kicked dirt in Naruto's face, creating a muddy mixture with the spittle that remained, forcing him to close his eyes.
"Hah! I bet you're gonna go cry to your mommy now?" The other boy's voice was rough and thick, sounding like he had a chronic issue with phlegm inside his throat. Spit flew out of the boys' mouth when he talked as well, further adding to the nasty mix on Naruto's cheeks.
"Yeah, I bet he's gonna go running home, crying! Crybaby!"
"Actually looking like that, he probably can't even run. Has to use a cane to go anywhere. Old fart." With this, the boy rubbed the dirty mess on his face into his hair, coloring the snow white locks into mud brown.
Naruto struggled against the hold on his arms, and actually started to push back a bit, but the Uchiha saw the motion and stepped down violently on both of his biceps, locking them back against the ground. Frustrated, Naruto realized that the shift of weight to keep his hands down meant that his legs barely were restrained at all. He put even more power into his arms to keep them distracted while he tensed up every muscle to kick up.
The Uchiha stopped talking mid-gloat to yell "Watch out!" But, it was too late. By the time that the red eyes had detected the changing of movement, predicted the muscles moving in an attack and the words to form in his mouth to warn his comrade, Naruto had already released the action. His legs sailed upward and met with exactly the place where he wanted. He felt a squelch as his shins collided directly with the boys crotch. The eyes of the boy who had just spit on him went wide as the nerve endings signaled the pain to his brain. Instantly curling into a fetal position and going limp, the scar face boy collapsed, howling in pain.
"You bas…" The Uchiha tried to yell an obscenity at Naruto, but the son of the Sannin didn't let up. He had used the motion to roll up his feet into an attack, and launched upwards, pushing off of the ground from a handstand position, using his smaller body as leverage. The black-haired boy had been pushed back from the balls of his feet from the initial movement, and now was off-balance to defend himself. Naruto's feet connected with the underside of the older boys' jaw mid-word, making him slam his teeth shut on his tongue, blood shooting out of his mouth as a couple of millimeters of tongue was bit off. The 'clack' sound of the teeth echoed across the alleyway, as did the muffled scream a moment later as the boy yelled.
"AAAAAGGH!" The Uchiha howled at him. "You bathtard! You thucking bathtard!" The eyes were bloodshot and angry, his speech lisping from the blood pooling in his mouth and trying to hold his tongue in place. Several handseals flashed in front of his chest, and he raised a hand to the mouth. A small burst of fire started to form at his lips.
Naruto was ready to try and dodge the incoming technique, whatever it would be, but it turned out not to be necessary. A masked man dropped down behind the boy, an axe-hand crashing down on the shoulder, instantly sending his attacker down to the ground, unconscious. The mask looked down at the pile of flesh and bone on the alleyway ground and then raised up to look right at Naruto, the eyes of a cat glinting from the mask.
Another dropped down behind him, tightly gripping his shoulder. A voice spoke in his ear, "Do not resist." Naruto released all tension in his body, recognizing that these were the ANBU. He might be able to barely fight off some sloppy shinobi, but ANBU were a whole different story. They were way out of his league, and he knew it. He slowly raised his hands, signaling that he was not resisting.
"Follow me" The command came from the voice behind him and he obeyed, watching as the shinobi lifted the other bully off the ground and ordered him to follow as well. He then lifted the original victim up, and apparently, he was unconscious, as the ANBU slung him over the shoulder to carry back. The other ANBU also lifted up the Uchiha and unceremoniously carried him as well. Naruto stayed in between the two, away from the severely limping teen, following them as they walked towards the center of town.
At first, Naruto ducked his head at the occasional stare from passerby, feeling ashamed at being paraded around like a prisoner. After a moment of self-reflection, he stopped. He hadn't done anything wrong. There was nothing to be ashamed of. So, head held high, he followed the ANBU and met the curious glances of any civilians that stared.
As the small parade entered the Hokage tower, the lead ANBU deposited the still unconscious Uchiha in a chair on the first floor, and then disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Naruto watched, intrigued by the technique, as the shinobi returned a half minute later in the same manner. The two ANBU exchanged some words in a coded language he didn't understand, after which they were led to a plain unassuming door. They were made to enter the doorway, walked down a flight of stairs, and forced inside a small dark room.
The office was not large or ornate, but rather small and functional. A man in a mask patterned in the style of a Dragon was sitting behind a wooden desk, several swords on the wall behind him the only thing that could be called a decoration inside the barren workspace. There were no chairs to sit on, and the two unconscious members of the group were casually laid on the floor like rugs. A moment later, one of the ANBU produced something in a vial and held it under the noses of the two figures. Each person abruptly jolted and retched after being exposed to the powerful smelling salts, and even Naruto felt a little sick to his stomach from the wafting aroma.
After the four kids were awake and able to respond, the man in the dragon mask spoke up. "My troops reported that they found you four involved in an altercation in which ninja techniques were used. Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"
Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but was beat to the punch by the Uchiha. "That brat there came out of nowhere and attacked us when we weren't doing anything wrong! I was defending myself!"
The sniveling scarred boy took on a frightened persona, "We were just minding our own business and he came in and kicked me!"
Naruto grew red with anger and yelled back, "That's a lie! You were beating up that kid and I tried to stop you!"
The mentioned kid said nothing, standing there with long black hair falling in front of their face.
As the yelling back and forth between them devolved into bickering, Naruto caught the ANBU agents that brought them whisper something, again in coded language, into the dragon-masked person's ear. That was getting annoying, he liked knowing what people were saying. He was going to have to try and learn that language. A moment later, Dragon nodded. Cat and Turtle disappeared in a blink and were immediately behind the two older boys, restraining their hands.
Dragon spoke, "These ANBU agents witnessed your altercation. They reported that you instigated the attack, and also were the ones to use ninjutsu. That is when they became involved. As former Academy students, you should be aware that using ninjutsu techniques against fellow Leaf citizens can be considered traitorous behavior and can be punishable up to death." Naruto watched the color drain from their faces and was immediately glad that he didn't use anything but punches. "Since this is the first time that you have done so, I am willing to allow some leniency, and you will instead be remanded to T&I for rehabilitation services. Cat. Turtle. Take them please."
The boys' shouts of protest fell on deaf ears as the ANBU operatives marched them out of the door. Dragon turned to stare at Naruto directly. "They told me that you attempted to scare those two off using the image of Jiraiya of the Sannin. It was reported that the appearance was near perfect, only being given away by your voice and usage of the Sharingan. Once the illusion failed, you fought only to defend yourself, keeping even with the two of them. Impressive work for a child, considering that they are quite larger than you are and were both trained for years in the Academy before dropping out. What is your name, boy?"
"Naruto." He kept his answer as brief as possible.
"Do you have a last name?"
"None."
"Who are your parents?"
"My father is Jiraiya."
"Ah… that explains the transformation then. It is much easier to create an appearance of a familiar figure. Do you need me to fetch him?"
"No, I can find my way to the Academy."
With a nod, Dragon then turned to the final person in the room.
"My agents reported that those two were beating you up. Are you okay? Do you need medical attention?"
The long black hair swished back and forth, indicating a no.
"What's your name?"
Barely above a whisper, stuttering at the beginning of speech, the answer came. "N-Neji, sir. Neji Hyuga."
"Cat said that she overheard them calling you 'the son of that traitor'. I assume those two were bullying you?"
"Yes, sir."
"Do you need an escort home? I can fetch your aunt."
The long strands of hair whipped fervently this time. "N-N-No! Please don't."
Naruto looked at the child, obviously scared of his aunt finding out, and felt sorry for him. He wondered if his aunt was mean if the kid didn't want her to find out about being picked on. Without even realizing it, Naruto spoke up. "I can walk with him, mister Dragon."
If the face wasn't hidden by the mask, Naruto would have sworn there was a bemused smile from the man's voice. "Very well. Naruto, I trust you to escort Neji home. I'm sure he can point you in the correct direction." A small nod from the boy affirmed this. I'll show you out." And with that, Dragon got up from his desk. Surprisingly, the man with the imposing mask had a very small, slender frame. The way the body moved indicated a great power hiding underneath, every movement exuding strength.
A few moments later, the unassuming door tucked away in a nondescript corner of the Hokage tower opened from the inside, letting the two children out. They exited the darkened hallway into the bright light of the foyer, blinking a few times to adjust. Dragon shut the door behind them, but not before Naruto caught the whisper out of his mouth. "Have to keep an eye on that one."
Naruto smirked for a moment, before turning and inspecting the person next to him. At first, he hadn't been sure if they were a boy or girl. The overall build suggested a boy but the long black hair was very feminine. In addition, the name was more masculine but the demeanor of the kid was more like that of a scared girl. He didn't know how else to identify Neji yet, so he settled on a middle ground. "So, Neji, where do you live?"
The Hyuga turned to look at him, and Naruto was struck by the ghostly near-white eyes set in the face. They looked incredibly creepy and yet a little cool at the same time. The features of the face, now that he wasn't trying to fight off other people, could actually be inspected. Boy, he determined. Definitely a boy. Possibly the prettiest boy he had seen in town, even including Sasuke. Why did this town have a bunch of pretty boys?
He shook the thought from his head, it wasn't relevant. He needed to pay attention to where the boy lived so that he could direct him home and then get going to the Academy. It was now getting later in the morning, and if he took too long, he wasn't going to be able to get any food before classes. He could already feel his stomach grumbling at the lack of nourishment.
Neji spoke up. "It's this way."
He was pointing out the door and to the left, so Naruto just replied with a simple "After you."
The two proceeded out the door and walked down the paths a few hundred feet in silence. Naruto used the time to gather information as best he could. He remembered the Hyuga name from Jiraiya recently, something about them being a clan within Konoha. There was also something said about how Pops didn't think that he'd see any though, which was odd.
"W-Why did you jump in like that?"
Naruto jumped at the sudden question, he had been caught in introspection, totally not expecting the silence to be broken by the seemingly timid boy. He looked up to find Neji staring directly at him with those odd barely purple-tinted eyes. In those eyes, even as strange as they were, he could see a dozen different emotions in turmoil bubbling around. "Because I didn't think anyone should be beating up a kid."
"But, you're a kid. They could have beat you up too."
"Nah, not me!" Naruto proclaimed with an air of self-confidence that he didn't truly feel. "I'm gonna be a ninja, and I've been trained by the best for years already. I'm not scared of a fight." Which was a complete lie, he was totally scared for the moments after they saw through his disguise.
"Why would you fight fate like that?" Neji's words were softer than the previous sentences, seemingly more to himself than to Naruto. His head hung down now, no longer making eye contact.
The wording struck him an unusual. "Fate? What do you mean?"
Neji looked at him again, briefly, before looking away. "Everyone is bound by fate to their destiny. They beat me up because I am the pariah of the town. It is my fate to be the target of their anger and hatred."
Naruto wasn't really sure what that word actually meant, but he got the idea from context. "And why would they do that? What could you have done?"
The words from the Hyuga were getting softer and softer, and if not for Naruto's exceptional hearing, he probably wouldn't have picked them up at all. "My father died a traitor to Konoha, leading a failed revolution that killed almost the entirety of the Hyuga. My aunt, my cousin and I are the only ones left. Everyone treats us like dirt since then."
This made Naruto irrationally angry and he had to stop to think about it, literally halting his walk. Neji visibly flinched after Naruto paused his strides, possibly thinking that Naruto was going to hate him too, once he realized who he was. After several moments of thinking about it, Naruto asked one question.
"When was this?"
"Three years ago."
"Then that's bullshit!" Naruto exploded, using a phrase he had heard Jiraiya occasionally curse with. He watched as Neji's neck nearly snapped as he spun around to focus on him. "You would have been what? Four? Five? Like you had any control over what your dad did. Why would they treat you horribly just because of something that he did? That's stupid. If that's what people think, then this town is full of stupid people. And I'll fight every one of them that thinks that way. I don't care how strong they are, I'll train to be the best ninja ever to beat them down. Because they're wrong."
Naruto didn't think that the Hyuga's eyes could get any wider before he spoke up, but he quickly realized he was wrong. Neji looked at him much like an owl looking at a new threat, eyes opened to the maximum. Cerulean blue met pale lavender, and Naruto finished up his fiery recitation with the phrase, "Believe it!", teeth showing in a vulpine grin, highlighted by the whisker marks on his cheeks.
They walked the remainder of the way to Neji's house in silence, this time much more comfortable to Naruto than it had been previously. Upon arriving at a small single-family house in the civilian sector of Konoha, Neji thanked him politely for escorting him home and disappeared inside.
Naruto was about to turn away and leave to the Academy, when his ears picked up Neji's voice again.
"Auntie? Can I enroll in the Academy?"
AN: So, that's Neji. He is one of many that will be completely different than in canon. How different? Well, I think you get an idea already. His belief in fate remained unchanged, it just went a different direction with the inclusion of the shame from his disgraced father, inducing learned helplessness. Until, just like canon, Naruto's 'Talk no Jutsu' creates a difference. Naruto is already changing minds and winning attention from Konoha in his first week.
Also - 100 of you beautiful people have favorited this weird story idea of mine. Thank you so much! When I get the mail notification on my phone that I get a new review, follow or favorite, it makes me smile everytime. Thank you all!
I'm looking for a highly detailed canon-accurate map of the Naruto world. I've found a couple of maps that are highly-detailed but just make stuff up. And the only canon maps I can find have barely anything listed. Anyone have a recommendation?
Lastly, excellent news. I took a week of time to expand my storyline and potential arcs. I now have events planned out through past chunin exams, and a good framework of what will happen up to and through them. They won't be anything like any genin arc or chunin exam arc you've ever read before. At least nothing like any I've read before.