[DISCONTINUED]
I was re-reading this recently.
So, this will be my last notice as this is officially discontinued. I'm sure nobody is surprised, and I highly doubt any of my original readers are around anymore. I started this fic almost 7 years ago and I have a strange attachment to it.
If anything, I will upload this final...er...notice. Not for anyone else but myself if need be. I once promised to never abandon this fic. A promise I will fulfill today, by just shutting it down. I don't want to outright delete it either. I want people to read this and learn from my mistakes. I want to talk about my experience writing this story. The ups and downs - and I will even mention plot points I wanted to get to in the future. But never got to.
When I started this story, I think I must have been 18. I was into Naruto deeply, One Piece, and Kenichi. Kenichi was underrated for me b/c the concept was so good.
Anyway, these are plot points I wanted to get to. Since I am discontinuing this story - I will share with you the ideas I had.
HONOKA'S FATE
I intended for Honoka to slowly fall into the Killing Fist. Sometime by the end of the story, she was going to be Satsujinken and join Yomi. And join Yami when she grew up to become a Master Class. You could tell early on that she was beginning to think deeply about the philosophical parts of the martial arts realm. I hinted after the Sougetsu chapters. There was meant to be a great inner turmoil. And at some point in the story, she would kill an enemy martial artist because she would see it as the best option. I intended for this person to be a Konoha character.
Renka who I portrayed to be a rival as well would be torn about her turning. Even though they grew up as heated, bitter rivals - she still respected Honoka. It would be a tough fall-out b/c she would observe the kind of man Naruto is, in comparison to his reputation. I intended to explore a lot of inner feelings for this as well.
NARUTO'S FATE
Naruto would still be Katsujinken but he will be retired after eventually thwarting the Demon Sect. I don't know how I would have handled Kurama though. In my mind, I intended for him to be the strongest antagonist in my story. Naruto would fight him, but I'm not sure how I would have handled it. It's possible I would have allowed Naruto to lose to Kurama in a martial confrontation, but for Naruto's cause to win in the end, forcing Kurama to admit a philosophical defeat. There are other ways to win battles than physical fights, it was a theme I intended to have in the story eventually.
I had other plans in mind too that included him assembling his own team and confronting the Demon Sect. Team members include some of my OC characters, some Akatsuki characters (Itachi would be one), and a couple Jinchuuriki characters.
Like Kurama, I intended to create a human version of all the Biju. And their apprentices would be their corresponding Jinchuuriki. Shukaku in my story was going to be an enlightened monk who had gone mad after having caught a mental disease. I intended for Gaara, his student, to put him out of his mercy. I never got to this though. It was a half-baked idea.
HONOKA VS. CHIKAGE
I desperate wanted to make a Honoka vs. Chikage rivalry which would serve as the story's main rivalry until the end. I intended to make Chikage eventually fall into the Katsujinken. Which would be opposite of Honoka, who would fall into Satsujinken. I intended to make the two bitter rivals, but best of friends in some ways. Chikage is one of my favorite characters from Kenichi. She is so young but hardened, but ignorant of the world. Honoka is the opposite. She knows more about people than Chikage ever will.
I forgot a lot about what I intended for these two. I had so many good ideas that just...disappeared with the times. Honoka and Chikage were two primary reasons I even began writing this story. They were going to be the focus.
KAKASHI
I'll be honest, I am not happy with how I handled this concept. When I re-read it, it sort of felt like I was just forcing a way to include young Kakashi in the story. He's such a dang good character you know, there's a reason he is a fan-favorite. I think I kind of made him too...important of a character, maybe? He wasn't meant to be a main rival for Honoka. Their paths diverge for good until the distant future, when Honoka is already a Yami Master.
From a martial arts standpoint, I introduced Kakashi with the Escrima style. This would eventually lead to him being tutored by the Begger sect leader. Wuxia fans know what this means. Kakashi was meant to learn Hong Qi-gong's Dog staff techniques.
DEMON SECT / YAMI + YOMI / HACHIO DANZAIBA
These would be the primary antagonists but some of them would also be tentative allies. There were two characters I adored. Shou Kanou and Rachel Stanley. I felt my portrayal of Shou in the ONE scene I wrote of him was perfect. Arrogant, confident, condescending - it was perfect. Rachel, I intended to introduce her using the underground battle dome system I set up super early. Honoka would end up in a situation where she had to investigate VIPs of the system, but had to acquire rankings, so she would end up fighting her way up.
There Rachel and Honoka would face off. I didn't have any deeper plans than that, all I know is it would have been fun.
UNDERUSED CHARACTERS FROM CANON
One thing I liked to do back then was use characters that were too easily brushed aside and give them relevance. Chou Enshin was going to be a respectable opponent for my protagonists. It also gave me room to add in Wuxia elements. Wuxia elements + Kenichi was one of the primary reasons I began the story in the first place as well. I felt the fit was good. And I was into both at the time.
HANABI
Hanabi was meant to expedite Honoka's path to Satsujinken. I intended for her to become a close mentor character for Honoka, as well as a close confidante and sister. I did consider killing off Hanabi much later on in the story that would set Honoka on a dark road. I would have tried to keep it as non-cliche as possible, but I enjoy revenge stories. Revenge stories have so much room for raw passion and emotion - I would have loved writing this.
And if you are wondering why Naruto is not discouraging Honoha from Satsujinken (because he is a Katsujinken) it is because of a few things. For one, he is not a true Katsujinken martial artist. He is a shinobi and a known murderer. When I said he murdered actual young teenagers during the massacre, I meant it. Although I will leave it up to speculation if he intentionally killed them knowing their age because in a heat of rage, you are blind. But it doesn't excuse anything. He is a monster in this fic. The only reason Ryouzanpaku does not try to arrest him is because they know too little about the events of that night - all they know is he massacred an evil organization who he used to work for. I never intended to reveal the extent of the massacre also, I intended to leave the reader have their imaginations work it out. Nobody but Naruto and Danzo know the extent of the massacre. Everything else is rumor.
Hinata's last wish was for him to stop. He respected this final wish. Of course, over the years, he 'adopted' Katsujinken but internally he feels he is too far gone to truly be one. To him, the philosophical divide between killing or not means little to him. This was also a theme I wanted to eventually explore.
DIVERGENCE FROM CANON + MISTAKES I MADE
I should have never relied too heavily on Kenichi canon. It made my writing lazy and unimaginative. I didn't even intend to in the first place, my original point of divergence was going to be around the tournament arc. But that was way too far into the future, and I never made it there. I should have spent more time on world-building and developing my cast of characters. I should written more Kenichi POVs as well, but Honoka was just too fun to write at the time.
After the timeskip, Honoka is far more powerful than any Ragnarok member. So to her, the Ragnarok arc was just a bunch of dumb idiots playing a game they had no business being in. But because she hates bullies so much, she got involved. It even stroked her ego to feel so powerful. Her sense of vengeance was also raw. I loved writing the scenes where she tortured Loki's assistant because to Honoka, the girl deserved it. In her mind as long as she didn't cross a certain line, it would be okay to harm her opponents in any other way. I remember a reviewer pointing out how dark it was when she broke Koga's leg intentionally so that he would think twice about bullying people. I liked that he pointed that out. Because it was going too far.
Honoka is a kid. I wanted to portray her sense of justice like this: Pragmatic, straight-forward, harsh, cruel, and effective. Like her martial art, she is conditioned by Naruto to execute things efficiently. When she fights, she observes her opponents before calculating the most efficient and deadly way of taking out her opponent. Honoka's challenge was to do this without landing killing/life-crippling blows.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I started this story because I felt the narrative was unequal in canon between Satsujinken and Katsujinken. They are equal, one is not supposed to be more just than the other. The act of killing to me is not completely an evil act, but sometimes a necessary one.
Honoka and Kenichi would have different in ideologies, but would they separate because of this? I don't think so. Kenichi understands more than anyone in the story how Honoka is as a person. So when she turns to Satsujinken, it hurts him but he makes the effort to understand. And this would set him apart from others in the story who sees Honoka as someone who became a killer.
I don't have much else to say on that though.
There was so many things I wanted to get to, but never did. I've forgotten more than half of my story points in the past seven years.
I had a lot of fun writing this fic. It was seven years in the making. And I had to do this just for closure. So I can finally put it away, and be at peace with it.
I am so thankful for all my readers, reviewers - I sincerely hope you enjoyed my story. The thought that anyone could like my writing...that gives me joy. I wrote this during a hard time in my life (and life is still hard) so in a way, it was like a light in my dark days. I'm no professional writer or story-teller. I'm just a fan. I didn't even have a beta for this story which is why you could probably catch a good deal of inconsistencies/plot-holes. I saw one earlier during my re-read but now I'm just too lazy to fix it (when Valkyries mentioned Xinku hurting Haruka. They're not supposed to know that b/c they don't know Xinku is Honoka). Like I said, I'm too lazy now.
I am truly humble and grateful. Thank you, and I hope everyone lives their lives well from here on out.
Signing out,
EnP