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Chapter 125 - Arc 8 - Forest of Quest: Preparing for Catastrophe

This chapter kinda fought me a lot.
I had another like, 6 chapters of meandering around planned before I got to this point but I reread a lot of this arc earlier this week and realized that like, no, I need to move on.
I still have a lot in this arc even forcing things along, so I think it's for the best.

I can wrap a lot of the stuff I somewhat planned to dripfeed into a more accelerated timeframe just fine so like, whatever.
Enjoy!

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Changelog Update (1/11/2025)

I just want to start this out by saying that editing some of the public chapters has made me blatantly aware of just how terrible a job I did with some of them. I was in a very bad place for a bit there, and one of the things I treasure the most about being in a better place is that I can look back and fix what I did wrong.

It'd be easy to think of me editing the chapters again for public as some kind of lesser experience for the paying viewers, and I've been guilty of thinking of it t...

Chapter 124 - Arc 8 - Forest of Quest: Crying Out In Pain With No One To Hear It

Didn't realize it was Friday. My meds have reached a stable point where it's obvious I'm still depressed. The bad times - currently in a bit of a fugue - are clearly so much better than even my best times off the meds though so like, whatever. I can't expect drugs to fix me, I need to do that. I'm just happy to have the help.
Chapter's fun, please enjoy.

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[Meditation ++
You may now enter a meditative state at will as long ...

Chapter 123 - Arc 8 - Forest of Quest: Pervy Soul?

Things progress nicely, and we get a nice segment with the Jonin. Isn't that what's truly important?

Have fun ya'll.

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“Does Sakura possess the ability to add anyone to her party?” Asuma asks, looking up from the pamphlet in his hands to give Kakashi a stern stare. The information packet details more about Sakura than she’s freely given, a combined report from everyone in her life interviewed at different times ...

Chapter 122 - Arc 8 - Forest of Quest: Introspection, Traits, and some Surprise Bullshit

I haven't done a trait update chapter in 40 chapters. I know because I had to go through every chapter to ensure I didn't miss stuff while making this one. I tried to add flavor so it's not just a status page and a lot of cool new traits, but it is at the end of the day, a status update chapter. I wanna start doing these more often so that they don't take up the entire chapter. Back when chapters were 1600 I didn't have much of an option but now that I have more wiggle room I should be able t...

Chapter 121 - Arc 8 - Forest of Quest: Looking in the Mirror

I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas and such. I had a pretty rejuvenating break. I didn't get any planning done sadly, but I still really needed it. I think a break every few months is to be expected, it's good for the story.

Back with a 4K chapter, I'm happy.
A lot of this chapter is sorta themed around something very specific that might be heavy handed, but I like it so whatever.

Enjoy! It's good to be back! Thank you for your continued support.

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Canon Side-Story: Popping the Clones

This is awesome, you can't convince me otherwise.
I accidentally wrote 4K and now it's your problem.

Please enjoy, I'll see you all on the 30th. Happy holidays, please spread some love to your family's for me.

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If a year ago someone had told her that her brother was going to take her out for lunch, she would have laughed at them. A part of that is that she didn’t have a brother a year ago, but even if they specified Na...

Chapter 120 - Arc 8 - Forest of Quest: Riding the Kitty

As always in recent times, I had a lot of fun writing this. I am a little worried about the expansive creative roots I have setup so far being a little to much to tackle in one arc, but worst happens is I take some of it for a future one. No problems so far, just fun.

Notice: I am taking next week off for Christmas vacation. I've needed a bit of a break to get my thoughts together anyway, so it'll be helpful for that too. You should get the side story from this week to...

Chapter 119 - Arc 8 - Forest of Quest: Sakura's Enemies, Mother Said So

I just got too many plans and I'm pretty sure I can't do them all without this arc getting boring.
Woe is me, the harbinger of ideas.

Gaara plays a small part in this chapter but it's so nice, he's such a good boy.

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“Annnnnd, the clone is dead.” Naruto announces suddenly, startling her out of her fugue. It’s super easy to get lost in the moment while hugging him. It turns out the Hugging Skill, which is already leve...

Changelog for the last while

So as you may know, I edit the chapters twice. Once before posting here, and once again before posting publicly. The 7 weeks between posted chapters is a huge palate cleanser and helps me make the chapters even better. I do post the edited versions here, (though the discord maintains the old versions) but I imagine not everyone is keen on rereading the stories as the public chapters come out. So here's a changelog in celebration of me editing CH 100. Here's the changelog for like, literally 5...

Chapter 118 - Arc 8 - Forest of Quest: Hugging the Pain Away

I had fun with this one, and of course Shikamaru knows more than he should.
Damn Naras.

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“So you were involved in Sakura’s unique trait?” Shikamaru’s words make Ino’s heart race, but she was expecting this eventually so she’s prepared enough to not stumble in place. She made a promise, but she kept it too long and too hard. She should have asked Sakura if she could tell her team, she should have thought outside of h...

Canon Side-Story: Otherworlders: Fierro was killed by a little girl?

This one is a pretty huge departure from the normal content and is completely optional. A lot of the canon side-stories are optional, but you miss something that could alter your understanding of events by skipping it.

This one will not be relevant for a long time and focuses mostly on introducing 5 characters that many will have forgotten about by the time they come up. It also has some heavily adult themes, as unlike most of the content, it doesn't star a 12 year old girl.

It's...

Canon side-story: Ayame and Teuchi, what do you mean he got adopted? #Extra

Note: This is extra, the winner of the poll will be posted tomorrow, no worries, I’m excited for it and having fun.

I was just looking through the results of the polls, and someone has managed to vote for the losing option on the wheel for 8 weeks in a row. (besides the times all the $10 patrons agreed), I noticed in the polls that they voted for this twice, and I kinda want to write it anyway, so I took a little extra time out of my day and made it. This will likely be a one time thi...

Chapter 117 - Arc 8 - Forest of Quest - Sakura Country

The night sky makes the land of fire’s forests practically unworkable. ‘Don’t even try, just camp at night’ is a rule even Konoha ninja largely follow when forced to travel through the forests. She’s pretty sure civilians have a similar rule, and only around Jonin does it become easy and risk free to move at night for any real distance. It’s too hard to get around and too easy to get lost or lose your way. As a Genin or Chunin, you don’t even have to worry about the enemy predic...

Chapter 116 - Arc 8 - Forest of Quest - Uncertainty, Team 10, 3, and Karin

So few important things.
This chapter's 3rd scene is pretty dark. If you are easily triggered, it might be good to approach it with caution.

Otherwise, the PCL Equation Update that happened recently does alter Ino's Quest from the side story, that's why the number is different.
Have a good day ya'll.

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“Seventy four balls.” Ino says, finishing her count and holding up one of them under the sunlight. The dark surface...

Canon Side-Story: Ino And The System: Feelings of Inadequacy

Sweat drips down Ino’s brow, her breaths heavy, her body sluggish and her movements forced through limbs that feel like lead. A month of training, so much time put into mastering even the most basics and she finds herself staring down at a simple number with a frown on her thin lips. Party Contribution level: 16.

It’s a meaningless number, but it was fifteen when she first stumbled across Sakura’s system core. It would not be an understatement to say that the deep glowing object n...

Canon Side-Story: Necromancy 3 - Studying the Dead and Trouble in Class

This doesn't necessarily finish up the Necromancy tree, but I want to do most of what's left of it in the main story. So this'll be the finale for the Necromancy tree for a while at least. Everything else is the kind of hard hitting, important stuff you don't want in a side story, especially since the grand majority of readers don't read them.

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Necromancy is unique in a few ways, at least as far as her skills go. It’s th...

Canon Side-Story: Inoichi's Perspective, His Daughter's Crush - A Reality Warper

Like most side stories, this veers a little off course of the original prompt but still encompasses it in a way I appreciate and like. This was unanimously voted on so I put a little extra effort into making sure I did my best to meet expectations. it's not often the $10 patrons agree.

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"That's true," he agrees, "Ino's still an innocent girl, and you're a killer without remorse. That will change things." Looking at the pink...

Chapter 115 - Arc 8 - Forest of Quest - Making Plans

“Did you know she can do that?” Kakashi hears to his side, a red eyed beauty pointing towards the screen in front of them while she asks. Her raven hair is messy, but that makes sense, most ninja stop caring about how they look most of the time well before they hit Jonin. His grooming routine is like two minutes and involves a Jutsu.

Watch parties like this are pretty common among team leaders, and this one is no exception. The Chunin exams are meant to get the attention of the Joni...

Chapter 114 - Arc 8 - Forest of Quest - "Don't Do that."

I've been looking forward to this for a very long time, and I have a ton of plans. I've spent probably 20 extra hours planning and putting work into this arc over what I normally do, and there's still far more to do. If you didn't see policy changes, all chapters are around 2400 words now, and there's two a week. So of course the very first chapter in this format is 3000.

Enjoy ya'll, and thanks for supporting me!

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H...

Policy changes for the near future

Starting this Friday we enter the Forest of Death. This has been the cause of a lot of thought, I've put a lot of effort in to figuring out the best way to approach it. Dozens of plans, lots of cool ideas, some will work out some won't.

All in all though, for the type of techniques I wish to employ, and the kinds of scenes I wish to create, I do have to make a few basic changes.

1. Chapters will now be around 2400 to 2500 on average.

2. Chapters will be twice a week inste...

Canon Side-Story: Escape Rope? Meditating with Gai

Spoilers, read the piece before the Author's note:

I try to avoid doing Sakura's failure. It can feel like nothing happened if she didn't accomplish her goal, and we have so little time in most chapters, that can just compound. But sometimes it's important for a main character to not immediately succeed, and I think a perfect subject to foil her has arrived.

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In theory, working on the Escape Rope idea is a great use of he...

Chapter 113 - Arc 7 - We're Ready Kakashi, The Chunin Exams Start Now! - Quest Galore

(Be aware CH 112 came out shortly before this one, so you may have missed it. If this chapter starts weird for you, go back.)

It seems while researching this arc I screwed up the numbers and massively bloated the amount of people taking the exam. At one point Anko says like 70 passed Ibiki’s test, and I figured less passed because Naruto was less inspiring here. Turns out she meant students, as in only like 20 something teams. As so few people is stupid, I’ve elected to go with my p...

Chapter 112 - Arc 7 - We're Ready Kakashi, The Chunin Exams Start Now! - An Ominous Recording

Sakura's not super happy about this chapter.

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Anko informed them that the test was tomorrow, so they should go home and prepare for a trial like no other. She made it sound like it was going to be the hardest thing they ever faced and tried to make sure they were aware death’s grip was but a breath away, and even said only thirty of the sixty teams that made it through the first exam would be there at the finish of ...

Canon Side-Story: Making Friends Pt 3, Houseparty!

I had fun, this was fun.

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Bullying Sakura was fun, for a couple of years. Then the Sasuke Fanclub kicked off and that gave them something to bond over. She started to feel bad, she treated Sakura better, she began to even like her a little bit. There’s something charming about the way she can space out in any situation, how her single minded focus is always aimed towards something else that never seems to be in the same room...

Chapter 111 - Arc 7 - We're Ready Kakashi, The Chunin Exams Start Now! - Secret Quests?

Huge chapter, system wise. One I've been looking forward to for a while.
This chapter forced me to randomly catalog everything I've ever done with the system for like 3 hours the other day. Went through every single chapter, was nuts.

Glad I did it though.

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“I will not judge you for doing what is right by your friends and comrades.” His words ring in her ears, playing themselves on repeat. The track is sk...

Chapter 110 - Arc 7 - We're Ready Kakashi, The Chunin Exams Start Now! - Special Question?

There's a scene at the end of this that needed to be in past tense. I definitely noticed I haven't written past tense in years. Jeez.
Also emotional, so you know. Expect that.

Have fun ya'll, slightly longer chapter than normal.

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Sasuke’s on his own, the poor guy, but his Sharingan is active so she’s pretty sure he’s figured something out. She can’t see him from her position but she could see him as Ino and tho...

Chapter 109 - Arc 7 - We're Ready Kakashi, The Chunin Exams Start Now! - Is this a plot? Why wasn't she informed!?

I tried writing this chapter with a bit more of a confident tone.
I think I've fallen too hard into using Sakura's rambly headspace and while I do think it has a cool effect, I would very much like to practice a more active movement. You can expect less monologue as we get deeper into the arc, and hopefully a more vivid idea of what's going on as well. I have a lot planned and would like to improve as a writer while I do it.

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Chapter 108 - Arc 7 - We're Ready Kakashi, The Chunin Exams Start Now! - Ibiki arrives just in time, they're saved!

There are so many onlooking eyes that clearly want to test them, or maybe just beat them senseless, that she isn’t sure she’s going to manage to stop Gaara from mulching large parts of the exam. She’s sure the pure bloodlust he put forward when trying to rip Kabuto apart is a big part of why it feels like a thousand daggers are aimed directly towards them, but it’s probably also that same bloodlust which has stopped things from becoming a brawl within the first breath. No one wants to...

Canon Side-Story: Necromancy 2 - The Inuzuka Stand Behind You

“Yo, Sakura!” Sakura has just enough time to spin around and try to get a glimpse of the excitedly aerodynamic object flying towards her at top speed while possibly upside down and spinning, before it slams into her.

“What is-oh!” She finds herself sliding across the ground, something weighty and bigger than bringing her along for a ride in the dirt she neither expected nor signed up for. It takes her a few seconds to get her whirling mind and sudden vertigo to come under check,...