AN: North South here. This is chapter 2 of CoG: Pen to the Paper. In this chapter, we get to see some more of Storia being awesome. Sorry, Naruto still hasn't become important yet, but don't worry, he will be eventually. Let's begin, shall we? Also, production of CoG: NOT might slow down a bit. Due to a slightly rankling comment by a friend of mine about it, it might take a little bit to get the inspiration to keep writing. Oh, I will keep writing, it just might take a little bit.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the things that come out of the Spellwright Trilogy. I do, however, own Storia.

"Speech"
/Translation/Alternate language\
Thoughts
(Narration)
Bijuu/Jinchuuriki/Elemental form
Jutsu/Technique

Chapter 2: Take note, all

The next morning found Storia in the kitchen of a small apartment. He was making pancakes and toast, having gotten the mix for the former earlier that day. (I'm not exactly the best cook in the family, but I can certainly make pancakes) Earlier that evening he'd managed to secure a place for the two of them to live. The landlord had been...reluctant to accept the boy as well as himself, but when Storia showed him the paper from the Hokage, he had no choice but to let them choose an apartment, free of rent. (Actually, I forgot to take the paper from the Sarutobi, so I had to improvise and use Psychic Paper) There had only been one bed, so Storia had had to sleep on the couch, while Naruto used a bed for practically the first time in his life.

The young lad in question stumbled into the room just as his new guardian was performing the tricky maneuver of flipping a pancake while trying to keep it in the (fucking) pan. He stopped and stared as Storia carefully lifted up the food before quickly flipping it over with a hiss. "Yes! Got it." he cheered. When he looked around and saw Naruto, he correctly interpreted the look on his face. "No, Naruto-kun, it wasn't a dream. I'm still here. Now, why don't you sit down and tell me whether I got these right or not."

After a few minutes of watching Naruto wolf down the pancakes like a starving person (and for all I knew, he could have been), Storia cleared his throat. "Er, Naruto-kun, there's something I need to straighten out, if you'll listen."

"Mm?" Naruto asked, looking up from his plate, "What is it, Storia-jii?"

Ignoring the slight on his age, Storia said, hesitantly, "Well, you remember, last night, Hokage-sama said that I had no immediate family of my own, yes? And that was why I chose to adopt you? Well, to tell the truth he just made that up on the spot. I do, in fact, have family. It's just that they live outside the village and are rather extended."

"Then why'd you adopt me?" Naruto had a suddenly suspicious look in his eye.

The man just waved off his concern. "If I wanted to hurt you, Naruto, I would have just poisoned your pancakes. As for why I wanted to adopt you, well, why not? I don't need a reason for wanting to help a person, do I?"

A knock at the door interrupted him. Grumbling, he walked to the front of the apartment and pulled the door open slightly. There was an ANBU standing outside. "May I help you, ANBU-san?" he asked curtly.

"Daisho-san," the masked man began, "Your presence is requested in a council meeting. You have fifteen minutes to arrive."

"I see," Storia said gravely, "Would you give me a minute to get ready?" He shut the door and turned to Naruto. "My apologies, Naruto-kun, but I must be going somewhere. I might be gone for a while but hopefully I'll be back. In the meantime, I'll leave someone to stay with you." He quickly made a hand-sign. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." There was a puff of smoke and another Storia stood in the room.

Naruto's jaw dropped."What- how-" he sputtered.

"It's a ninja thing," the clone shrugged, "Would you mind not telling anyone? I don't make too much of a habit of doing things with chakra, seeing as I'm not a Shinobi."

Naruto nodded, stars in his eyes. He knew what chakra was, as he'd seen Shinobi practicing in its use at the training grounds. "Ne, ne, will you teach me how to do that?" he asked, pointing at the bunshin.

Both original and fake shrugged. "In time. In fact, it might help you learn the other things I intend to teach, so yes, I will." As he got to the door the Daisho looked back over his shoulder. "Ah, yes. If you hit the clone hard enough it'll disappear, so be careful. Also," He pulled out a small slip of paper and slapped it on the door. It bore the kanji 'Taeru,' or 'Withstand.' "Just in case," he said, tapping it. He pulled open the door and smiled at the ANBU. "Ready when you are, ANBU-san."

(Council chambers)

Hiruzen Sarutobi was feeling pretty grateful that he hadn't made a bet with that Daisho man. Not only would he have probably lost money for betting against him, but he would have felt just plain stupid. He quickly schooled his face into a stern expression as the ninja council filed into their rows of seats. Judging by what he'd heard last night, it seemed that they would all be in for a long day. Shikaku Nara looked as if he might fall asleep at any moment, with his friend Choza Akimichi half-carrying him and Inoichi Yamanaka following. Tsume Inuzuka, as usual, looked slightly uncomfortable at having to leave her ninken, Kuromaru, outside. Shibi Aburame was merely stoic. To the surprise of those who bothered to notice, the Hyuuga were not being represented by Hiashi, as per usual. Instead, the table was joined by his wife, Hara Hyuuga. She smiled softly at the Hokage and inclined her head, to which he returned the smile unwittingly. While Hiashi was always wooden-faced and had no sense of humor, Hara was, if not more talkative, then at least more likeable. There had always been talk that theirs was a cold, loveless marriage until Hara's twin daughters, Hinata and Hanabi, had been born. Finally, Fugaku Uchiha trudged in, looking as grim as usual.

Everyone tried to hold back a grimace as old Danzo Shimura shuffled in, swathed in bandages. Even Hara could not smile at the old war-hawk, who sat himself near Sarutobi, glaring at him with his one eye. How Danzo had gotten a seat on the ninja council when he had long since retired was a total mystery. It was no secret, however, that he frequently tried to stir up trouble for Sarutobi, although no one ever had any proof. Behind him trailed Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, the Hokage's 'advisors,' followed by the members of the civilian council. (I couldn't help but notice the long-suffering look on the clan-heads' faces)

After about a minute of waiting, the door opened again and Storia poked his head in. "Am I late?" He asked tentatively.

"Not at all, Storia-san. Please, enter," Sarutobi invited lightly. Quickly! Before we have to stay here all day!

The civilians regarded the gray-haired man with suspicion, while Danzo's eye narrowed at him as he entered and sat down in a seat before the council. So, this is the man who is taking care of the Jinchuuriki...that is unacceptable! He thought grimly. (I'd like to see you try and stop me, boy.)

"May I ask what this is about, Hokage-sama?" Storia asked innocently.

"No, you've already done so," Sarutobi muttered.

However, the advisors stood up. "Storia Daisho, it has come to the attention of this esteemed council (Ha! Only half of your council can be called such) that you have chosen to adopt one Naruto Uzumaki. Is this true?" asked Homura. The Civilians shifted and muttered angrily to themselves, while the Clan heads all looked at the newcomer with new interest. Well, except for Shikaku, who was too asleep to care (Lazy bastard).

Storia scratched his chin unconcernedly. "This is indeed true," he admitted readily, "I told Hokage-sama as much last night. What, then, is the problem?"

"Do you realize that there is a law in place that prevents such a thing from just happening? Naruto Uzumaki is a civilian, so we, the civilian council, must be informed through the proper channels if a child such as that...boy...is to be adopted." This time it was the old woman, Koharu, who spoke.

Storia's eyes narrowed behind their square frames at the disdainful tone in the word 'boy.' That settled it; he was not going to make this easy. "My apologies," he began lowly, "But I do not understand what you're asking, old- sorry, I mean honored council-members." Sarutobi stifled a grin at the not-so subtle jab at the advisors.

While the advisors scowled at the 'inadvertent' insult, Tsume snorted before speaking up. "I think, Storia-san, that they're trying to ask for your train of thought on the matter. Care to share?"

"Ah, yes," Storia's expression cleared from the mock-confusion, "Well, you see, I knew that if I tried to adopt young Uzumaki, I would be stonewalled due to an...unexplainable amount of prejudice where the lad is concerned. Seeing as I didn't care one way or another about what people think of him, I simply decided to cut out the middle man and spare myself an unpleasant argument with the adoption office." He gave a harmless smile.

Several civilians started shouting at this blatant disregard for the law. "Do you consider yourself above the law, Storia-san?" Danzo asked, speaking up for the first time.

The Narrator merely fixed the old war-hawk with a stern eye. "Shimura-san, considering myself above the law would indicate that I consider the law to be a valid adversary. I do not. The law, where Naruto Uzumaki is concerned, is not a law at all. Any act of legislation that would see a five-year-old boy thrown out onto the streets is not worth me listening to."

"N-nicely said," Murmured Hara Hyuuga, nodding down at the man (And revealing just where Hinata got her stutter), "I feel that I at l-least, if not th-the Hyuuga clan as a whole, s-support this line of thinking." If they weren't so self-centered.

One civilian, a man with a bushy mustache and a thick neck, just huffed and muttered, "Tch. Demon lover," under his breath.

Unfortunately, the Shinobi council heard him, as did Storia. The man flinched slightly under the light killing intent from a majority of them. Storia, however, merely took on a frosty, detached expression. (Thank you, Grace Ghiaccio.) "You're very lucky that I know what you're talking about, or you would probably would have been executed," he said coldly, "If there's one law in this village that I will take seriously, it's that one."

"If I may ask, Storia-san," Sarutobi began firmly, "How do you know of the boy's status? As you yourself told me, you only just got to this village yesterday."

Storia drooped slightly. "That...is a long story," he said quietly, "Before I begin it, I must ask a favor. I need someone to ascertain in some way that I am telling the truth. I don't want anyone thinking or calling me a liar."

Sarutobi nodded, intrigued. "Granted. Inoichi-san, can you use your clan jutsu for such things?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The blond man stood up and walked over to stand behind the gray-haired man. "Could you tilt your head forward a bit, Storia-san? Yes, like that." He placed his hand on the base of Storia's skull. " Alright, then. Ninpou: Shinjitsu no Furui no Jutsu!" (Ninja art: Sieve of Truthfulness Technique) In Inoichi's mind's eye, he saw a dark well, representing Storia's mind, with a silvery sieve on top of it. The jutsu would allow the user to detect lies by trapping the things said in the sieve. If Storia knew the words to be true, they would slip through. (A nice concept, but not foolproof. You'd be surprised at how many people can and do lie to themselves.) "Would you mind saying something true to test this?"

"My name is Storia Daisho, also known as Storia Spellwright."

That seemed to be true. "Now say something untrue."

"Hrm...that's a tough one...Tobi is a good boy."

Inoichi did a double take. "Er, okay, you may begin."

Storia closed his eyes and thought. "I may as well start from the beginning," he said, "and tell you that your world is not the only one in existence. For every story, work of fiction, myth, or even idea, there exists a corresponding world. This world is not even unique. It is based somewhat loosely around the events of the original version, known as 'canon.' I am part of a group that lives in a world between all others. If it helps, imagine a bunch of bubbles all stuck together. These bubbles are each a universe, with my home-world existing in between them. My clan is known as the Gormim. Our...purpose, for lack of a better word, is to go into these 'side' worlds and interfere; intervene in fights, interact with people, explore the land, etc. Our other objective is to find a way to reproduce any power we discover in these worlds so that we may use it ourselves. Knowledge, techniques, artifacts, copies of souls, even bringing people into our group to join our activities, although that's more out of necessity. Bottom line is, if there's a way to reproduce an ability, we will find it and use it."

"Ano," everyone looked at Hara Hyuuga, who was writing all this down. She blushed slightly at the attention, but said, "Storia-san, if I may ask, w-why does your, er, c-clan do these things?"

Storia shrugged. "We don't have a specific reason," he said bluntly, "We just do it for the sake of doing it."

"You amass such power, power from other worlds, and you expect us to believe that you have no dreams of conquest?" Danzo demanded.

Sarutobi held up a hand to silence him. "That's quite enough, Danzo. Although I must admit, Storia-san, this habit of collecting power sounds much like an old student of mine." Everyone shivered at the mention of the missing-nin Orochimaru.

Storia grimaced. "Yeah, I'll admit that it does sound similar when you put it that way. But that's not all we do, like I mentioned. But anyway, my role in all this is that I'm the Narrator. My job is to oversee and record the events of stories. As I also mentioned, every story has a corresponding world and vice versa. When I looked at this world, I decided to interfere and raise young Naruto and teach him. Any questions?"

"Why would you want to raise that demon?" Called one civilian, only to be swamped by killing intent.

"Weren't you listening earlier?" Storia asked incredulously, "I did it because I want to!"

Now Fugaku spoke up. "If you are raising the brat, does that mean you'll be showing him the secrets of your clan?" (Who the hell wants to know?)

"Eh, not quite in the sense that you mean. Each of the houses in Gormim have their own abilities. While I know how they all work, I can only teach Naruto my own skills, since only those can be taught. The others have to be earned."

"And those sorts of skills are?" asked Koharu.

Storia just shook his head. "My apologies, but I am only comfortable with sharing this information with the Hokage and the Shinobi council." He set his jaw as there was yet another uproar. Really, these people were idiots.

"Order!" Roared Sarutobi, instantly quieting the disgruntled Civilians.

"You say your abilities can be taught," Danzo said, "Do you intend to share this…gift…with others in the village?"

Storia noticed a tightening in the old war-hawk's face, indicating that this was a loaded question. (You know, the old, 'say yes or I'll have you killed' variety.)

"Sure, why not?" He asked, shrugging, "I am in need of a paying job and it's fairly simple to teach. However, I will only teach those who want to learn. To do otherwise would just waste time."

Fugaku leaned forward. "Yes, but what are those abilities?" He asked. (Geez, could it be any more obvious how power-hungry you are? Make a good Blacklight, you would.)

Storia just jerked his head in the direction of the civilian council. "They leave first," he said bluntly.

The aged leader held up a hand to stem the next outburst. "Very well. My apologies, honored council, advisors, but I must ask you to leave."

When the civilians had left, Fugaku said shortly, "Well? What is this power?"

"Hold your horses, Uchiha-san," Storia snapped back, "There's some more stuff that's gotta be explained. Right...so, this power I wield is one I copied from another universe. As such, it does not require chakra to use, though it is very versatile. It is called Spellwriting."

"Spell?" Asked Shikaku sleepily from over his arms , "Like magic, you mean?"

The Spellwright nodded, then shot Danzo a sharp look as he snorted, "Oi, no skepticism! Am I being false, Yamanaka-san?"

"Um, no, as incredible as it may seem, everything you've said so far has been true."

"So, this magic," Sarutobi interrupted, before Danzo could further provoke the man's anger, "How does it work, exactly?"

"Well," Storia began, pulling two scrolls and a small crystal out of his pocket, "I'll need a flat surface to properly show you. Here." He walked over to the table while the clan heads gathered closer. Inoichi followed closely behind and kept his hand on Storia's neck. As they watched, he spread the scrolls across the surface, showing them to be blank. "Spellwrights such as myself work by manipulating special written languages. Now, normally, you can't see the runes without learning them first but...Hyuuga-sama, would you mind activating your Byakugan? If I'm correct, your eyes should be able to see what's written."

"H-hai," said Hara, a little surprised to be called on, "Byakugan!" As the veins along the side of her face swelled, she gasped slightly. "Oh my."

"Do you see anything, Hara?" asked Tsume.

"Y-yes. One scroll contains these silvery marks, while the other is gold. I c-can't really make out any shapes, but whatever they are, they certainly not made out of chakra." She deactivated her bloodline and smiled at Storia. "You may consider me interested in this, S-Storia-san," she said formally, trying not to stutter too badly. (No, Storia! Don't fall for the attractive, married woman! No matter how cute her stutter is...)

"I shall put you at the top of the list," Storia said with equal formality, "Anyway, for those of you without eyes that see chakra (Or things similar in nature), I have this." He indicated the crystal. "It's a little invention of mine. When I apply the right spell to it," He curled the fingers of his left hand and gave a flick, "It can display the runes for the illiterate." The crystal began to glow with a golden ring around it, and at the same time, the scrolls lit up with silver and gold runes each. "There are multiple types of Spellwrights," Storia explained, "The languages you see here belong one type, the wizards. Each type has their own 'High' languages, such as these, as well as the three 'common' languages, which I won't go into now. Anyway, the High languages of the Wizards are Magnus," he indicated the silver runes, "Which can imitate certain substances and affect the material world, and Numinous," He pointed at the golden language, "Which has the ability to manipulate other text and can bend light."

"These are quite interesting, Storia-san," Sarutobi began, "But is it necessary to write these in such colors? It would be quite impractical if you had to use gold and silver ink for-"

But Storia had started laughing. "Ink?" He snorted, "Who said anything about ink? Spellwrights forge runes for their spells directly from their muscles. Gold and silver just happens to be their natural color. Here," He held up his arm and pulled back his sleeve, showing a muscular arm, "This is how real men write things!" Even as the assembled ninjas laughed at the joke, Storia concentrated, twisting his arm and flexing the muscles. Within seconds, the skin of his left arm was blazing silver with tiny symbols. "Spellwrights are taught anatomy before anything else," He said seriously, as the runes began to gather in his palm, "So they know what they can use for writing." He tossed the spell into the air. As it flew, the written passages organized themselves and took on a shape. Without even looking, Storia caught the rock as it fell into his palm. "As you can see, the Magnus has taken on the shape that I wrote it to take, as well as becoming stone-like."

Hara was scribbling furiously on her notepad, trying to take all this down. She looked up, saw Storia looking at her and blushed. "G-gomenasai," she said embarrassedly, "Er, c-could you show us what the N-Numinous Language does, Storia-sensei- san! I m-meant -san!" The Hyuuga matriarch flushed crimson at her slip up while everyone else snickered.

Ooh, looks like Hara-chan's got a little crush! Tsume thought, grinning evilly. (Stay out of this, lady)

Fugaku smirked at the woman. It hardly a secret that the Hyuuga and Uchiha were rivals, so the man took great pleasure in seeing said rival embarrassed. (Sure. The fact that she wouldn't go out with you when you were younger has nothing to do with it either. Jackass.)

Through it all, Storia just kept up a blank look. "If you're quite done," he finally said, after the laughter had died down, "Then we can continue." He pointed at the gold scroll. "As I mentioned, Numinous is capable of affecting other text and can bend light. Here's how it works." He reached forward and with a tug, pulled the Numinous out of the scroll. "Oh yes, wizard High languages can only be stored in paper after being written. Otherwise they'll just disperse in the air if not cast." He tossed golden, net-like spell into the air, activating it. The spell swirled, golden lines spiraling out and downward over the Spellwright. As Shinobi watched, the air around Storia shimmered before he and the spell vanished altogether. "A spell that causes invisibility is called a subtext," his voice spoke out of the air, "Using it is called subtextualizing." He reappeared as the spell unraveled and quickly put the runes back in the scroll.

"Excuse me, Storia-san," Choza said, "But are there any other languages that you could show us?"

Storia nodded. "I have one other on hand at the moment," he said, "Hold on a second." He fiddled with the ring of light around the glowing crystal. As he did so, the Magnus and Numinous faded away, while his clothes began to glow with sky blue runes. "This is Sarsayah, the language of the Hierophants," he explained, "Sarsayah can only be stored in cloth like this. When activated, spells have the ability to control the cloth that they're cast into. Also, when they disperse in the air, they have the ability to create gusts of wind. The old Spirish Hierophants use that to create these giant kites and fly around. Hell, they made airships out of cloth and became a merchant nation in the old world."

Out of the corner of his eye, Storia noticed that Danzo was suddenly paying a lot more attention.

If our ninja could learn how to fly with this language, we'd never be caught by the enemy again! The old war-hawk thought, as close to glee as he could be. I must get this man to teach my ROOT Soldiers. (I can hear what you're thinking, old man.)

"Sarsayah runes are also unique in that they can only be forged in the heart muscles," the gray-haired man continued, pointing at his chest, "Hierophants are very good at controlling their heart rate and wear veils to catch the runes when they breathe them out."

Shibi nodded slightly. "No doubt the Hierophants wear much clothing," he said in a deep monotone, "In order to store as many spells as possible."

"That's correct."

Sarutobi nodded to himself thoughtfully. "Are there any other languages, Storia-san?" he asked.

Storia shrugged. "There are, but I'm neither in the mood nor prepared to show them to you. If I do end up teaching these to someone besides Naruto, you may see them then. I'll probably be able to teach each person only one discipline, however"

"Hang on," Tsume broke in, "How do you intend to teach a lot of different people how to be a different kind of spell user?"

"Kage Bunshin," Storia said promptly. Then he deadpanned at the surprised expressions on the Hokage's face, "You forget that I'm a Gorem. I've seen that jutsu performed hundreds of times in hundreds of different words, all by the same person. Also, it's one hand sign. It's not that difficult to do. And no, I will not be joining the Shinobi ranks, either."

Sarutobi sighed and rubbed at his temples. "Very well, I think that's all. Inoichi, you may release him."

The blond man stumbled slightly as he disengaged his jutsu. "My god," He said, his eyes wide, "It's hard to believe, but it's all true."

"Of course," the Spellwright muttered back, "I'm the Narrator, everything I say is true." (Well, mostly, anyway.)

"Daisho-san," Danzo suddenly spoke up.

"What?" It was all Storia could do to keep a few choice insults out of his answer.

"Are any other members of your…clan… in this world?" If I can convince any of them to join my cause, Sarutobi won't stand a chance.

Storia just shrugged. "Not that I'm aware of. I came into this world alone. That's also how I'd like to keep it." (Though I doubt that it'll stick.)

Sarutobi looked around. "Well, if that's all the questions you have, this council is dismissed." (Same time next week, everyone! What? Someone had to say it.)

As Hara walked out, Storia quickly caught up with her. "Hyuuga-sama, may I have a word?"

She looked surprised. "Ah, y-yes?" she asked.

"My apologies, Hyuuga-sama, but there's been something on my mind since I saw you." He paused, before correcting himself. "Er, as a matter of curiosity, that is."

"W-what is it?"

The Spellwright just looked at her. "Why were you the one to come to the meeting? In all of the worlds that I have observed, Hiashi-san has always been the representative for the Hyuuga clan."

"Ah…" Hara looked slightly embarrassed, "Well, I'm n-not sure if you've heard or not, but there is an ambassador from Kumogakure in the village. I believe the ambassador requested a meeting with Hiashi, so he sent me in his stead. Is something w-wrong, Storia-san?"

Storia's face had become very grave. "I…I'm not sure what I should say," he mumbled, almost to himself, "I don't know if things will turn out the same as always."

"Eh?" She was confused. "What do you mean? Are you saying something w-will happen?"

"Something might happen, yeah. It has a pretty high chance of happening," he replied, clearly agitated, "But I'm afraid of saying too much and having Murphy get to it."

Hara cocked her head in thought. "Perhaps if you were v-vague?"

Storia was silent for a moment, looking around to make sure no one was listening. Then he leaned in and whispered, "Keep your daughters close, Hyuuga-san."

Her eyes widened. "W-what? My…"

But Storia had backed away, suddenly looking embarrassed. "Ah, I'm so rude," he groaned, "I haven't asked what your name is!"

She blinked. "Eh? M-my name is Hara. But, if you're the Narrator-"

"It's still good manners to ask, even I've already managed to learn it. Besides, your name keeps changing from world to world. Well, the ones where you're alive, at any rate."

Hara frowned. "Wouldn't the name I have in—canon, was it? –be the one that I always have?"

Storia averted his gaze. "Er, yes, that would be the case," he agreed, "But the thing is, you were never named. You were never even mentioned, just shown briefly in a picture."

Hara drooped slightly, a cloud of depression darkening the air above her head. "Oh," she mumbled.

"Sorry."

"N-no, it's quite alright." She bowed to him slightly, "Thank you for your words, Storia-san, but I must be getting back to the compound." And I'll be sure to 'keep my daughters close.' What on earth does that mean? Will someone from Kumo target them? But for what? (Hara-san, I hope you don't find out. I'm also glad that they never got away with it.)

A few minutes later, Storia arrived at the door of his and Naruto's apartment. When he tried to turn the doorknob it wouldn't budge. Oh yeah, I forgot about that, he thought dimly. Looking over the top of his glasses, he saw the seal he had applied on the other side of the door. He placed his hand over the seal and spiked his chakra, then opened the door. As he entered, he called, "I'm back!"

Naruto came running from the other room, the Kage Bunshin following. "Storia-jii!" Exclaimed Naruto, hugging his guardian. "What happened?"

The older man grimaced. "It's a long story," he said. He dispelled the Kage Bunshin and sat down on the couch. "Let's start from the beginning, shall we…?"

.

AN: And that's Chapter 2 down. I hope I did alright with the main explanations and didn't deviate too much. Tell me what you think.

Summary time:
1. The Bold-Italic words are Storia's Narrator thoughts. Basically he's got his normal, in-story thoughts, and his Narrator, Fourth-wall-breaking thoughts.
2. Storia knows Kage Bunshin.
3. Very few of the Gormim will be showing up in this fic. Only two others besides Storia.
4. Storia is a guy who almost always keeps his cool. Also, being the Narrator makes it very difficult to be surprised, since he's literally seen nearly everything.
5. Storia has a great dislike for the civilian council, hence his wanting to throw them out. Couldn't overtly do anything about Danzo, though.
6. Whenever someone writes Hinata's mother as being alive, they almost always name her Hitomi. That just seemed a bit too...stereotypical, so I named her Hara, or 'Prairie.'
7. Yes, Hinata and Hanabi are twins. Fraternal twins, in case anyone's wondering.
8. Storia explains about the Gormim and the Centerplane. It's a pretty abridged version of how things work, but that's not the point.
9. Hopefully the POV will switch to Naruto by the next chapter.
10. Should I eventually pair Hara and Storia? I could go either way.
11. Storia explains a bit of how Spellwriting works, as well as the effects of the various language. Naruto, through the power of Kage Bunshin, will be able to use multiple languages, same as Storia. Others of the Konoha 12 will also learn how to be a Spellwright, in addition to their ninja skills. Sakura, however, will only become a Spellwright.
12. Storia is wary of giving away too much knowledge of his future events. For one thing, alternate worlds are so divergent that his knowledge might not even help. For another, Murphy is a very real entity who is always peering over his shoulder. Hence his reason for being cagey and vague when talking about the kidnapping of Hinata.

As I mentioned, this story will be a semi-large harem. The girls in it are as follows:
Hinata (Hydromancer)
Hanabi (Pyromancer)
Genzi Uzo [OC] (Hierophant)
Haku
Fuu [+fem Nanabi] (Demonic)
fem Kimimaro (Druid?)
fem Sasuke
fem Itachi?
Ino (Shaman)
fem Kyuubi (Demonic)
Tenten (Highsmith)
Jenna Gloma [OC] (Golem)
Samui
Shion (Wizard)
Anko (Chthonic)
Kin
Tayuya (Chthonic?)

Spellwright Notes:

All Spellwrights are capable of writing runes for spells inside their muscles before casting. Spells can be edited after being written, but can only be stored in certain mediums. The Wizard High Languages can only be stored in paper, for instance.

Languages:
Sarsayah: Hierophant High Language. Sky-blue in color. Capable of manipulating and altering the properties of cloth. Releases gusts of wind when dispersed in the air. Can only be stored in cloth.

Spells:
Withstand: A seal modified from a Skulduggery Pleasant-verse spell. When applied to a door, the seal projects a thin but impenetrable force-field over the door, keeping it from being opened or damaged.

Rune-Revealing Crystal: One of Storia's own inventions. When a certain Numinous spell is applied to the crystal, it can illuminate Languages for the magically illiterate to see. Can only show the languages of one type of Spellwright at a time. The Numinous must be edited to show other languages.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. My next update will probably be for CoG: NOT. In the meantime, all I'm going to ask is that you leave a review.

North South out.