Chapter Nine
Itachi Uchiha snapped his eyes open, body and mind immediately alert as his heightened senses detected a series of activities going on in the hallway.
Unsheathing his tanto, he carefully crept towards the door; listening and deciphering what was happening outside their inn room. There were quiet footsteps, creaking of the doors and hush conversations. There was a minute pause before another door was opened again.
"Itachi-kun?"
Itachi shifted his attention towards Kushina who was sitting up in the bed and worriedly looking at him. Returning his tanto to its sheath, Itachi rapidly signed what he had discovered to Kushina. Immediately understanding what was happening, she quickly woke up Naruto while Itachi scurried to the room for their little belongings.
"We have to go now, Naru-chan," Kushina whispered.
Naruto, although still sleepy, readily came down the bed while rubbing his eyes and yawning. He waited for Itachi to activate Kushina's transformation seal before he carefully wrapped his mother in his small arms.
"We'll be running at full speed, Naruto-kun. Hold on tight," Itachi said as he adjusted his hold around the boy.
"Un! I'm ready Itachi-niisan," Naruto replied, wrapping the blanket tighter to his small body.
Without further delay, Itachi opened the window and leapt out onto the rooftops with Naruto in his arms. When he made it out of the small town, and into another forest Itachi concentrated the chakra rotation on his legs and feet to help him run faster than he had ever run in his life.
Itachi had to admit that he hadn't expected their pursuers to catch up to them so fast after all the diversion he and Kushina had made to stir them away from their trail.
The three of them were already inside the Fire Country's border, and yet, the enemies were persistent. Those shinobi should have backed off when he neared the frontier, but it was clear that they were determined to retrieve the child from him even if they stepped into enemy territory. It was a good thing they weren't able to see a glimpse of Kushina since he caught Naruto. They probably thought she was already dead.
He was certain that his comrades had safely made it to Konoha and reported the current situation to the Hokage. The council would surely be in uproar and would likely petition for him to be branded as a traitor but Itachi hoped that the Fourth would still grant him an opportunity to speak with him.
There were rapid footsteps from behind that were fast approaching. Itachi clicked his tongue in annoyance. He felt the child's hold on his neck tightened as their pursuer caught up to him.
His eyes narrowed. 'These aren't Iwa shinobi anymore.'
The dim thicket grew quiet as if the entire forest sensed a feeling of choking dread, a sinister premonition to him. Itachi was forced to skid to a halt as he was suddenly surrounded.
Five masks, one by one, snaked out the gloom. They moved almost like ghouls, deathly silent as they encircled Itachi and his charges.
His eyes narrowed, weighing up their pale-faced assailants.
'ROOT shinobi, Danzo's men. So he hadn't disbanded this organization all along.'
"Relinquish the Jinchuriki." The shinobi's voice grated out, short, sharp and hoarse.
The Uchiha's mouth twitched into what could almost be considered a frown as he deigned not to respond. There lay a beat of pause, a moment of stillness, before Itachi's Sharingan bled red; the three tomoe spinning hypnotically. In an instant, the stagnant air became filled with the whistling of sharp metal, fluttering paper and the resounding whine of metal on metal.
Itachi weaved through the maelstrom of weaponry, occasionally casting a genjutsu or two while redirecting multiple weapon's trajectories with a single kunai. He was, however, well aware that this fight was not one he could sustain nor force their hand.
'I have to lose them somehow.'
He mentally took inventory as he deflected a flurry of shuriken, tallying all his belongings.
He was slowly losing weaponry, and he knew that it wasn't good news for him. He grabbed a scroll from his pouch and was about to open it when five more masked shinobi arrived.
"T-Tachi-niisan…" Naruto murmured, his voice quivering a little.
"Shh...stay hidden," he whispered, tightening the blanket around the boy in preparation for the impending fight.
"There will be no escape. Hand over the Jinchuriki, and we will make your death...painless." The pale masked shinobi that stood far above in the canopy called out, robotically. Like they were reading from a script.
Itachi simply ignored this, not that he'd believe a word out of their mouths. If the ROOT agent was agitated, he hid it well.
Itachi pulled out one of his paralysis seals and a smoke bomb when he was suddenly attacked by a flurry of rocks from the back. He leapt in the air as soon as the ground beneath him turned into deadly waves of sharp spikes. Unfortunately, the Jaguar-masked shinobi was already on the final sign for a very familiar fire jutsu before Itachi realized what they were aiming for.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
Moving quickly, Itachi threw Naruto far away from him together with the scroll while his fingers rapidly moved to form the signs for the substitution jutsu. When the fire engulfed his previous position, Itachi already had Naruto back in his arms and was leaping from tree to tree.
The masked shinobi immediately leapt after him, and the one in a Spider mask quickly managed to catch up to him, trying to grab Naruto. Itachi struck at him with a kunai which Spider managed to block. A loud clanking of metals echoed as they struck and their kunai clashed together until Itachi managed to surprise his opponent with a quick execution of a fireball jutsu after kicking his opponent away from him.
Itachi threw his last explosive tag and shunshined out of the forest before the explosion engulfed the whole place.
Itachi reappeared not far from the trees and landed with one knee on the ground, panting.
"Tachi-niisan?" Itachi looked down to see a pale looking Naruto and he immediately pulled the blanket down to cover his face.
"I'm fine, Naruto-kun. We're almost there," he muttered, taking a deep breath before he was running at full speed again.
He had to concentrate on his chakra rotation to strengthen his leg muscles or he would lose his balance and trip with the amount of energy he was exuding just to run at a fast steady pace.
'Just a few kilometers more…'
Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze always knew that there was something wrong with their living arrangement. Waking up inside a small cell unable to go out unless the bald old man wanted to see him and make him undergo a few 'exercises' to strengthen his muscles at an early age. He couldn't understand the importance of until Kura-chan explained it to him. He knew one thing though, those people with weird rock symbols on their foreheads weren't their friends, and what they were planning to do to him; his mom, and aunty, were all bad stuff.
Meeting Tachi-niisan was one of Naruto's greatest accomplishments and he was really proud of that. His niisan was strong, really really strong. And now, they were on their way to his mom's beloved village that she frequently mentioned to him, AND he was going to finally meet his super awesome dad.
Ever since he found out that he had a dad, Naruto couldn't stop asking questions. He loved hearing all sorts of stories about him, and he believed that he had the coolest dad in the whole world. No matter how many times his mom insisted that he was a sissy (whatever that means) Naruto didn't care, he just wanted to know his dad.
And now that he and his mom were on their way back home, Naruto could no longer wait to finally meet his dad, Konoha's Fourth Hokage and the Legendary Yellow Flash–Minato Namikaze. He just hoped that he would like him. If he doesn't though, Naruto would make sure to impress him until he realizes that he had an awesome son, too, 'dattebayo!'
Nodding to himself, Naruto peaked underneath the blanket and saw that they were far away from the forest already. After making sure that they didn't have any more pursuers, he went back inside his mindscape (according to Kura-chan) and flopped lazily on top of his favorite furball's snout.
His Tachi-niisan made the bad guys eat dust again! 'Tachi-niisan is so cool!'
"Aren't you supposed to be out there right now?"
Naruto looked up from where he was lying face down and scrunched his nose.
"If I go back there I get anxious Kura-chan," he grumbled as he spread out his arms around his friend's big snout and buried his face in the soft fur.
"Don't squish me so much you brat, or I'll flick you off me," Kurama growled.
He shook his head in defiance, Kurama's orange fur brushing all over his face. "Hmpf! Nuh-uh, don' wanna!" came his muffled reply.
The furball groaned. "What's your damn problem, you stupid brat?"
Naruto shifted his head to peer at his friend. "What if something bad happens and I won't be able to meet my dad?" he shakily asked, tears pricking the side of his eyes.
Kurama blanched, not liking the threatening tears in his eyes. His gigantic friend seemed to really hate it when Naruto cries.
"Oi, if your tears dampen my fur I'll stomp on you!"
He buried his face back into soft, orange fur as retaliation.
"Stupid brat, I just warned you!" Kurama growled, before he scowled. "You really don't listen to me at all."
"I just wanna get there already, Kura-chaaaan!" Naruto whined, rubbing his face on Kurama's fur.
"I said, stop calling me Kura-chan! And if you wipe your snot on my fur I'll eat you!" his fluffy companion threatened, but Naruto knew that Kura-chan wouldn't do anything aside from threatening him.
"Mmmnn!" came his muffled reply.
His friend snorted. "We'll get there when we get there. Stop being impatient, tch."
"Nn, I'll stay here until our next stop," Naruto muttered, his eyes dropping already.
"Oi brat, you can't sleep while the other brat is running," Kura-chan said, shaking him a little to wake him up.
"Mnn, who's sleeping?" he grumbled, his eyes already closed.
"Who do you think I'm talking to, stupid? I'll—" Kurama suddenly stopped mid-sentence and his sudden movement shook him a bit as the furball sat up.
Naruto opened an eye when he felt his friend tensed. "Hm, what's wrong, Kura-chan?" he muttered, only half awake.
"Naruto, be alert. I sensed fifteen more chakras signatures running towards us now."
Naruto moved his head to look at Kurama's big eye when he heard his friend's warning and scratched his head. "You don't have to worry, Kura-chan! Tachi-niisan can handle them just fine!"
"Idiot! That pesky Uchiha is still nothing but another brat. He already exerted a lot of chakra from the beginning of this fiasco. He will not be able to handle all of these attackers all by himself," Kurama urged, swishing his tails.
"What!? B-But what are we going to do!" He frantically exclaimed, realizing that his friend made so much sense. His Tachi-niisan had been fighting and protecting him and his mom alone since meeting him by chance in the forest!
Kurama opened his big snout to answer him but he abruptly snapped it shut again as he stood up inside the cell.
"Too late, they're here."
Naruto's eyes snapped open in alarm and he immediately disappeared from his mindscape and snapped his eyes open in the real world.
Kurama was right, they were now surrounded by fifteen masked men.
"T-tachi-niisan?" Naruto worriedly whispered.
Itachi only tightened his hold as an answer.
"Grab the Jinchuriki," the snake mask ordered and as if on cue, all shinobi simultaneously attacked Itachi from all directions.
Naruto clutched his nii-san's ANBU armor as the teen dodged and blocked their attacks. Shuriken and kunai flew from all directions and Itachi pulled out his tanto to deflect all trajectories, but it was hard since Itachi was carrying Naruto. A few cuts graced Itachi's arms and Naruto cried out in worry.
"Tachi-niisan, you're wounded!"
"Don't mind them Naruto-kun, stay hidden," Itachi demanded and tried to blow their enemies away with a well concentrated wind jutsu making their enemies scatter in all directions trying to get away from his attack.
Just as Naruto was about to say something, a puff of smoke suddenly engulfed them and Naruto was quickly squashed by his mother's body. Surprised, Itachi wasn't able to brace for their weight and they all landed on the ground with a bleeding Kushina on top of them.
"I-I'm sorry, the paralyzing seal on my wound deactivated a-and I wasn't able to brace for the pain, I lost my concentration on the transformation seal," his mother explained as he and Itachi disentangled themselves from her.
"Your wound reopened, Kushina-sama," Itachi commented as he kneeled in front of her with his brow furrowed.
"So, the Uzumaki is still alive," the man in a goat mask commented. The fifteen masked people were immediately able to regroup after Itachi's attack and were now circling around them.
"Then we'll just have to kill her," Shark stated.
Naruto embraced his mother from the back around her neck. "M-Mommy…"
"N-Naru-Nn!" His mother whimpered, face scrunched up in agony.
Naruto watched as his Tachi-niisan stood with his legs apart and his tanto held out in front of him. His red and black eyes darted between each of the masked people. Naruto blinked, and the fight started.
It was chaos, he didn't know how, but his Tachi-niisan still managed to kill two of the mask shinobi, and since the bad guys were avoiding hurting Naruto, they were refraining from using any powerful jutsu unlike, his Tachi-niisan who was throwing all the necessary jutsu while swishing and thrusting his tanto.
"Geez, Minato-sensei is really a slave driver. We just arrived last night and he sent us on another S rank mission," Obito complained for a second time around since they headed out of Konoha to intercept Itachi.
Kakashi Hatake sighed in exasperation. "This mission is important for Minato-sensei, that's why he only sent his most trustworthy shinobi. We should be proud, Obito," he lectured as he leapt on a boulder along with his fellow shinobi assigned on this mission with Fugaku leading ahead of them.
"Ita-chan is the one who's involved here, Obito. It only means a life and death situation," Shisui quipped from beside Kakashi.
"Hm... come to think of it, it's pretty unusual for Itachi-kun to be involved in this mess. He's usually the first one who stays away from trouble," Genma added from beside Obito.
"Hmp! Still, I was looking forward to a day or two of rest. To think I even mentioned yesterday how peaceful it is nowadays," Obito grumbled.
"That's what you called, jinx O-bi-to-chan~" Shisui singsonged.
"Shut up, It's not funny." Obito pouted and Kakashi rolled his eyes.
"Remember that time you commented about how good the weather was, and the next thing we knew was a massive rain pouring down and threatening to flood the whole village," Kakashi deadpanned.
Obito groaned, "You don't need to remind me," he sighed. "Why's this keeps happening to me?"
Kakashi opened his mouth to retort when an enormous chakra exploded ahead, stopping them on their tracks.
"Man, I sure hope Ita-chan is not anywhere near that chakra," Obito commented with a hand over his forehead just above his eyes and the other rested on his hips while looking towards the gigantic orange, chakra tails lashing out in the horizon.
Kakashi, Shisui, and Genma simultaneously cursed Obito.
"T-This chakra…" Fugaku suddenly muttered, looking pale.
It was silent for a moment as they all stared at the angry orange chakra lashing out violently in the distance, their faces becoming grim.
"Fugaku-sama?" Kakashi inquired.
"I've only felt this chakra once, during the Third Shinobi War," Fugaku stated, looking grave.
"Have you encountered the owner of this chakra then, Fugaku-sama?" Shisui asked.
Fugaku clenched his hands before he nodded. "Yes, and she's supposed to be dead...four years ago."
The four of them exchanged glances, looking at Fugaku expectantly. Before the older man could respond though, Kakashi's pack returned.
"Warf! Kakashi, I found Itachi-kun!" Pakkun yelled from a few meters ahead with Bisuke and Shiba not far behind.
"Pakkun!" Kakashi intercepted him and the others followed suit. He kneeled down in front of his pack to receive their report.
"We gotta hurry, Itachi-kun is right there, warf!" Shiba said.
"Where exactly?" Fugaku urgently questioned.
"There! In the middle of the gigantic chakra!" Bisuke answered.
Two simultaneous slaps and a high pitched 'ouch' from Obito echoed around the clearing.
"I knew you'd jinx this mission again!" Genma groaned.
Kakashi and Shisui exchanged grim faces.
"How was I supposed to know that Ita-chan is right in the middle of that huge chakra?" Obito griped, forehead creased in agitation.
"Stop arguing like children! We're heading there now," Fugaku firmly ordered and they all straightened their backs. They all muttered their apologies before hurriedly running towards the chaotic chakra.
"There's no doubt about it, that's definitely the Kyuubi's chakra," Fugaku stated grimly.
Kakashi's eyes grew a centimeter as he whipped his head at Fugaku in surprise.
"Kyuubi!?" the four of them yelled in sync.
"The K-Kyuubi is supposed to be sealed inside Kushina-sama, right?" Kakashi muttered, a sudden surge of anticipation and hopefulness filling him up to the brink.
"K-Kushina-sama? T-Then…" Obito couldn't finish whatever he wanted to say. His voice was quivering and he was no doubt feeling the same thing as the rest of them.
Kakashi's hands started shaking, and before he knew it, he was running at full speed towards the Kyuubi's chakra, forgetting about finding Itachi for the moment.
Just as he and Obito landed at the clearing where the chakra exploded, the enormous chakra receded back to its previous confinement. Leaving fifteen dead masked shinobi in its wake. Right in the middle of the dead bodies however, were Itachi and…
"Kushina-sama!" Kakashi and Obito screamed out at the same time.
Frantically running towards the unconscious redheaded woman whom they both saw as their mother figure. Tears were already streaming down their cheeks as they landed beside the bleeding body of Kushina Uzumaki.
"K-Kushina-sama!" Kakashi and Obito shakenly called out.
Before they could touch her though, a small body covered her from their sight.
"D-Don't touch my mommy!"
Time seemed to stop as a young voice echoed around the clearing. Kakashi and Obito stared gobsmacked at the child wrapped in a blanket, face still hidden from view.
'D-Did this child just–'
"It's alright, Naruto-kun. They're not part of the bad guys," Itachi suddenly spoke, rubbing the back of the boy. "Now, let me inspect Kushina-sama's wound."
He and Obito remained silent.
Kakashi didn't know how to properly react. His mind was still in shock from seeing Kushina-sama (who they thought died four years ago), and the sudden appearance of a small child calling her his mom was the cherry on top of this chaotic reunion. Finally, the boy looked up and Kakashi was frozen on the spot as a familiar pair of cerulean eyes greeted him.
"R-Really?" the boy asked, sniffling.
"Yes, now let me check your mother," Itachi coaxed, patting the boy's head as he finally got off Kushina's body.
"Itachi!" Fugaku and the rest finally landed, staring in disbelief at the prone body.
"I-Is that…" Fugaku's voice faltered a little as he kneeled down beside them as if losing the strength to stand. Kushina was afterall, Fugaku and Mikoto's best friend.
"Father, we don't have any more time. We have to make it back to Konoha now," Itachi firmly said.
"R-Right. She's wounded, we need to–"
The boy suddenly interrupted Fugaku. "It's alright! Kura-chan said that he already closed the wound, and that mommy fainted from shock because of the sudden release of the pa-la-ry-zing seal!"
"Paralyzing seal, Naruto-kun. And later we're going to discuss about why you shouldn't be talking to the Kyuubi," Itachi lectured while he was busy applying another unidentified seal on Kushina's body.
The rest of them watched in a dumbstruck manner, unable to process or properly comprehend all that transpired in front of them. Their eyes darted from the child to the unconscious woman on the ground.
"You don't have to worry, Tachi-niisan! Kura-chan's my bestest friend ever!" the boy exclaimed, a few blond bangs escaping from the blanket at his wild arm gestures.
Obito gasped exaggeratedly while pointing a shaking finger at the little bundle of joy in front of them. "M-Mini Minato-sensei!"
There was a loud smack as Genma reflexively bonked the blubbering man at the back of his head.
"Ouch! What the hell—"
"Obito, quiet down. This is classified information," Shisui hissed to his cousin who mumbled a quiet 'Sorry.'
Itachi worked as if he didn't hear the commotion going on around him. "Alright Naruto-kun, now you need to secure your hold on your mother again," he patiently instructed.
There was a puff of smoke, and in the place of Kushina was now an unconscious white rabbit.
"AAHH!" Obito, Genma and Shisui screamed while Kakashi jerked and (no matter what anyone says later, he did not yelp like a frightened dog) in surprise.
"What in the world…" Fugaku muttered, blinking in bewilderment at the animal.
"We don't have much time. We have to deliver both mother and son directly to the Hokage without alerting anyone. This is the best way to hide their identities," Itachi said seriously as he stood up while rearranging the blanket around Naruto…
'K-Kushina-sama and Minato-sensei had a son. T-These two are the reason why Itachi broke the ANBU rules.' Because the child was undeniably Minato-sensei and Kushina's son…and their baby brother by default.
Kakashi felt light-headed by this realization but he had pushed aside all these confusing human emotions he was feeling and faced their current predicament with a sane mind. For his family's sake. A new surge of determination coursed through him and he was more than ready to make this mission a success.
'There's a time for this later. We will ask questions after everything settles down. For now, we have to finish our mission.'
"We have to make a lot of decoys," Fugaku stated, standing up.
"We also need a disguised…umm, kid to act as if he is successfully captured by our enemies to buy us more time," Shisui suggested.
"But…they can easily distinguish the transformation jutsu on a clone and it wouldn't even last for an hour," Genma reasoned.
There was a pause when a small voice piped up.
"Umm…I think I can help with that!"
All of their attention shifted to the little boy as he made a single hand sign and shouted, "Shadow Clone jutsu!" Before any of them could stop the boy from attempting to perform a forbidden jutsu, there was already a puff of smoke and another five perfect copies of the kid appeared carrying their own small rabbits in their arms.
"Holy—"
"Damn sh—"
"Fuck—"
"Alright, this could work," Fugaku-sama immediately cut Obito, Shisui, and Genma's exclamation with a sharp look. "We need to move now."
The three exchanged gobsmacked looks and Kakashi ignored them all as he summoned his own clones to disguise themselves as Itachi and the kid.
Without further instruction, the rest of the rescue squad mirrored his own action to create more copies to act as decoys.
"The ordinary clones will travel with us. The kid's clones have to scatter around too while Itachi and the boy escape with Obito," Fugaku instructed, his earlier shock nowhere to be found. Only a leader, ready to command his men.
"Right–O! We'll make it back to Konoha in no time. Climb on my back Ita-chan, I'll carry… ah?" Obito hesitated, looking at the boy expectantly.
"Oh… I'm Naruto, dattebayo! What's your name, Niisan?" Naruto enthusiastically asked.
Obito beamed, his eyes shining in utter adoration. "Damn, I like you already kid. Name's Obito! Call me Obito-niisan," he replied, "and this is your Shisui-niisan, Genma-niisan, Uncle Fugaku, and Bakakashi—Ouch! Why'd you hit me?" the man-child screamed while rubbing the back of his head that Kakashi slapped.
"Don't teach Minato-sensei's son your stupidity, idiot!" Kakashi hissed, before he reluctantly returned his attention back to the curious looking child.
He cleared his throat, and nervously glanced at the child. "Just call me, Kakashi...nii-san," he finished lamely, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.
Naruto beamed so wide at them they could all see his gums. Kakashi unexpectedly felt a new surge of affection towards the boy, one he only felt around his team and family.
"I'll remember all of you, dattebayo! See you later!" Naruto exclaimed as he let himself be carried while Itachi climbed on Obito's back.
"Alright! All passengers on board! We'll be going now," Obito happily announced.
"Yeah! Let's go meet my daddy!" The child happily exclaimed, throwing his small fist up in the air.
In spite of all the ranging emotions going on, they couldn't help but let out a few chuckles. Little Naruto's sunny disposition was contagious. It was as if his smiles and presence alone could give people peace in their hearts.
'He's definitely Minato-sensei's son.'
"Itachi," Fugaku suddenly called out.
Itachi looked up at his father, blinking in curiosity.
"I'm proud of you...son," Fugaku muttered while he lightly patted the top of Itachi's head. The Uchiha clan head's normally stoic face was relaxed and a small smile was visible on his lips. "I'm glad that you're safe."
Itachi's eyes momentarily widened, and then, he slowly nodded. He gave his father a small smile before the three of them disappeared inside Obito's Kamui.
Fugaku took a deep breath, "Our mission is not yet finished. We have to do our best to divert the enemy's attention and safely make it back to Konoha," he instructed stoically.
"Yes, Fugaku-sama!"
Each of them formed new sets of ordinary clones disguised as Itachi carrying Naruto and proceeded to run back to Konoha with a new found determination in their eyes.
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*END OF CHAPTER NINE*
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NOTE:
I would like to mention my awesome beta readers:
LadyHokageSama
Cubicreates
W. Athor023
Thank you thank yoouuuu for being an amazing beta reader! Your feedback was instrumental in improving my writing, and I'm truly thankful for your support. You don't know how stress I am when my previous beta readers became unreachable due to my long hiatus. One of the reason why this chapter was delayed was also due to the lack of beta readers available. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for answering to my request.
P.S: if someone is interested to become my beta reader, I am still open.
Special mention to my long lasting beta reader. Nedoko-maki who helped me with the fight scenes. Although he wouldn't be able to beta read my whole story, he will still be available to help me with other technicalities and advice I needed. He's been with me since the start of this journey, and after years of my hiatus, he's still there to give inputs and help me out with my story. I can't thank you enough for being my beta reader. Your editing and advice was incredibly helpful, and I'm so grateful to have you as a part of my writing journey.
AND to my old beta readers (I wont be able to mention all of you, but you know who you are), I miss you guys. This story wouldn't be possible without you guys. You help me to become a better writer and reader. I will be forever thankful for all of your help. I hope one day, we could still connect again even if it's not about writing. Take care out there!
AUTHOR'S MESSAGE TO MY FAITHFUL READERS:
Hello, umm… I am so ashame and sorry for my long hiatus without notice 😞 You don't know how sorry I am all these years as I fail to give you guys an update like I promise so I will stop giving promises cause I know how it hurts to wait for an update from one of your favorite stories (tho I don't know if my story is even one of your favorites). I continue to read your comments over and over again. Your reviews motivate me to continue writing. A lot of times I reread reviews from the very start just to brainstorm and get inspiration. You can't imagine how much your reviews help to finish this chapter so I encourage everyone to leave your reviews. I love reading your thoughts, what you feel about the chapter, and maybe how I could improve or do better in some aspects. I read all the reviews, even the hates, hahaha. I understand that some of you are angry, mad, livid about how slow I am with updating this. I've been having a hard time with life to be honest. I started this when I was still a teenager, and barely able to write anything in English, and now I am 25 years old, 2nd year university student. Time passes by so quickly and I am ashamed to leave you guys hanging. I am still determined to finish this story. I know I am already a failure of a writer all these years but I want to make it up to you guys. This chapter serves as my return to the fanfiction world.
To those of you who read The Future in Our Hands, I can't assure you of the next update. I am currently working on my Prince of Tennis fanfic, One Touch, while also writing chapter 10 of The Fourth Hokage's Son. To be honest, the TFHS and OT is my priority now. I just want to finish this story as soon as I can. I will update TFIOH once I published chapter 10 of TFHS.
Btw, if I still have readers out there I am inviting you guys to go to my discord channel because discussing my stories helps me brainstorm, and I need people to talk to about this to motivate myself more. If you guys are interested, please join this channel:
ht ()tps (:) / (/) invite / NEEgEauY
(just remove the spaces and the ( ) )
If you want to talk to me personally you can send me a dm on my discord account, syrinxsilenus (username) SyrinxSilenus07 (display name).
P.S:
I am still not that good with English but I am trying my best.
I miss you all guys, I hope you at least enjoy this chapter. Leave your REVIEWS!
(END NOTE)