The Butterfly Effect
"My pack? You make it sound like I'm some kind of leader. I am not a leader. I merely know what I value in this world, and to keep it safe I will weather any hurricane, hunt you down, and kill you. Questions?" Continuation of 'Butterflies'. Character death, Anbu operations, gratuitous violence and some adult situations. May change to M rating.
Bonus Content 3 – Perspective
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Whereas Butterflies was written almost exclusively from Aya's Point of View, The Butterfly Effect would flop if I were to write it all the same way. I mean, the CSE with Hoshie and the others? If I'd only shown what Aya or Chouji could see? It'd be as interesting as watching paint dry, which is why the Sound Conquest was so dull. You wouldn't believe how interesting it actually should have been, and I will show that next round of Bonus Content, through Guren's eyes. But, from Aya's perspective? It was pretty boring. I did that (wrote that mini arc that way) because I want to show just how complete I try to show the world. And this is something I've delved into repeatedly throughout this fic: subjective reality. Aya was left out of most of the mission, so it was pretty boring for her. That doesn't mean the mission was actually boring!
That aside, I've reached the end of my 'save me quota'. Something is going to happen very soon in which Aya will decide, unequivocally, that she doesn't need more people in her district. (bit of a teaser, but that's kind of the point of most of these bonus chapters)
The point of divergence is coming closer. That means, that soon the cannon storyline will be all but useless in 'future knowledge' for this fic. That was one of the reasons 'the butterfly effect' fits so much better that 'butterfly hurricane'. After all, the theory behind the 'butterfly effect' is that one little change -like a stone cast into a pond- creates a ripple, which builds and build until it's become a tidal wave that washes away everything we know.
I mean, look at the situation. Danzo no longer feels like he needs to step in as 6th Hokage. He's found Aya, who -as much as she hates to see it like that- does things the way he likes. Sasuke never actually went rogue, so there's no 'Sasuke killing Danzo' Arc. There's no 'Itachi persuit' Arc, because Itachi's home. And there's no way in hell Obito would ever convince Aya he's Madara. So... what does that mean? Where does that lead the story? That's why I wanted to show that meeting still takes place, the Five Kage Summit. But why does it take place? What are they to discuss? And why is it still in the Land of Iron?
I've done all I can to ensure that the Elemental Nations seems rich in life, diversity, detail. I want it to be immersive, deep, and I want each city to have it's own unique feel. I haven't given them that yet, not in my opinion, but that's why I've had Aya going through the things she's going through. Even now, she's still quite closed off, almost world-weary. That was the reason Okichi needed to come into her life. Okichi is slowly helping Aya to grow up in a way no one else managed. She's giving her mama a childhood, a chance to play and be at ease, while still needing someone to guide her through this broken world. I assure you, nothing done in this fic (Butterflies and The Butterfly Effect) is done at random. Every character introduced has purpose, a story, meaning. Every event has hidden motif. And once I go over both with a finetooth comb to weed out the 'oopsies', you'd still find a lot of little things that... stick out.
Like Aya's personality split, her duality. I've carefully hidden that in word choice. How she seems to argue with herself over the simplest thing. How, sometimes out of nowhere, she'd just shout out 'irrelevant', even if only in her own head. Or how she'd like one thing, but argue with herself or come to a completely different outcome. Like in the Intro to Butterflies, her thing with cherries?
"Anyway, let me see. Chocolate, chocolate, or chocolate. Hmm, that's a hard decision to make, but I think the winner is obvious! Cherries! Yup, definitely che... didn't I want chocolate when I opened the fridge? I blink, wondering about that. Does it matter? I want cherries now! But I really had my heart set on chocolate... Both then? Yes, both."
If you only read the story once? You'll never see the significance of that. But after reading the chapter Duality..., then rereading that? It's meant to make you wonder, which part of her is doing that? It's meant to make you question every little internal tiff she has. Which is why Aya -as a character- is so much fun for me to write. Because I can get away with having her say or do pretty much anything.
And now with Tayuya getting into the pack? With Zabuza itching for her to be pissed off and take missions? And with Grass begging to be ripped to shreds? That's why Saya, and her being possessed by Kannon -the goddess of mercy- was needed. After all. If you put together a team like that? With half a reason to get Aya pissed off? You need someone to make sure she doesn't actually burn down half of civilization. That doesn't mean bad thing won't happen. That doesn't mean Kannon will defend EVERYONE from her. That doesn't even mean that Aya will always listen to the warnings. But, it does mean that Aya will (FINALLY) be able to only take stupid missions like that only when she believes she must. And that means... when she must... countries will burn.
In other words. The Butterfly Effect is a slow burn, a slow build up. As are most of my stories. We're coming to one of the biggest climax peaks. And soon there won't be any cannon storyline to tell you what. THAT'S why I set this story up the way I did. And THAT'S why I won't need more people to be introduced any more. We've gotten to the point I've been itching to get to. The point where I can cast off the known, and tread into the dark just to see what's there. And we have a vague speaking mystic that tells half the story in a weird and cryptic way, just so that the 'unknown' can still seem 'predestined', just as 'cannon' had been thus far.
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End Bonus Content 3
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A/N: ^_^