Eternal Yujin

TCoH—Chapter 2.12 (22)

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Chapter 2.12 [22]

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Life was full of revelations this week. Most had come solely from and around one of his best friends. Most of the time, Choji was a fan of surprises. The ones he was used to usually had something to do with good food, which was always welcome. Unfortunately, none of the week’s news had anything to do with food.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the latest one had completely altered his worldv...

TCoH—Chapter 2.11 (21)

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Chapter 2.11 [21]

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Now that I was cooling down and the adrenaline was fading, I shuddered at how easily the wind slipped past my t-shirt, chilling me to the bone. I rose slowly, feeling every muscle strain at the most basic movements. It was a slow process, but the soreness was invigorating; thanks to that pain, I could feel just how much I was progressing with each training session.

“Let’s...

4th Vote Option

Right, this is a day late, but I need a 4th fic option for this Sunday's vote on what story I should work on in my spare time. I'll give it until Friday and then I'll look through these comments for common themes, ideas, characters, and whatnot before cooking up a premise.

There's no fandom limit since I don't know what you guys have seen, and you don't know what I've seen.

Go wild! ^^

TCoH—Chapter 2.10 (20)

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Chapter 2.10 [20]

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Hinata stared at the building across from her, looking down at the street below every so often. The air was cold and her hoodie wasn’t enough to keep her skin from prickling at the wind’s touch. She was crouched before the rooftop ledge, peering over it at the apartment complex across the empty street. A slow yawn tore her mouth open and she blinked away tears to clear her vision, resuming h...

TCoH—Chapter 2.9 (19)

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Chapter 2.9 [19]

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Deep orange light beamed through the classroom’s tall windows, bathing the room in the setting sun’s brilliance as it dipped below the horizon. I carried a water-filled bucket with me up each row, silently dragging the mop across the classroom’s hardwood floors, and used a blade scraper to dislodge hardened pieces of gum from under the long tables. I had no doubt my classmates would stick m...

TCoH—Chapter 2.8 (18)

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Chapter 2.8 [18]

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I still couldn’t believe it. After so long, I finally had it—I had the resource I’d been chomping at the bits for. It was obvious that Asuma Sarutobi wasn’t helping me out for the most altruistic reasons, and why would he? I was the village’s Jinchuriki, a living weapon to be pointed at their enemies, so training me was as much in the village’s interests as it was mine.

Even if ...

TCoH—Chapter 2.7 (17)

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Chapter 2.7 [17]

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A week of nothing sounded like heaven on paper.

No homework to do, no jutsu to learn; just him and the massive clouds rolling overhead, but no matter how long he lazed about, Shikamaru didn’t feel better. Nothing he did dislodged the weight in his chest. It was still heaven on paper, though. Every day after school, he came home and immediately switched out of his outdoor clothes. The hous...

TCoH—Chapter 2.6 (16)

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Chapter 2.6 [16]

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Tea with Danzo had become many things over the last few months: regular conversation, strange politicking, hypothetical do-or-die scenarios—all of which occurred over a game of shogi. There was no need for invites anymore; they had a time and a place. Asuma wasn’t ever quite sure what to expect. He couldn’t figure Danzo out to save his life; not his motives—he was very clear about what he...

TCoH—Chapter 2.5 [15]

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Chapter 2.5 [15]

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My day started before most people even woke up; it had to if I wanted to get strong enough to live a long life—but that didn’t mean I enjoyed it—and sometimes, just getting out of bed was tough. Even though winter had started to give way to spring, we were still in duvet weather, making my early start that much more difficult.

The covers would get caught between my toes or I’d be a ...

TCoH—Chapter 2.4 (14)

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Chapter 2.4 [14]

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More students had been sent to the infirmary in the last four months of the Academy than in the previous two years combined. That particular realisation was immediately followed by another: metal, despite being blunted, was very much still metal. We only sparred three times a week, but I had to fight multiple people per session rather than just one—and that was ignoring the addition of the “e...

TCoH—Chapter 2.3 (13)

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Chapter 2.3 [13]

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Just like that, the month-long break from the Academy passed faster than I’d expected. Granted, I’d kept myself busy throughout, but the six weeks passed in what felt like the blink of an eye. Between meeting up with my friends, training, and work, I faced the end of the final week of my vacation and the last weekend before I had to return to the Academy for the third year in no time at all.<...

TCoH—Chapter 2.2 (12)

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Chapter 2.2 [12]

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Ant-like figures scuttled about in the distance, vanishing under the tiled roofs splayed across the horizon. There was a cold edge to the air and people were slowly beginning to roll out of bed and get ready for the day ahead. It being summer, the sun rose a full three hours ago, so there wasn’t any gloom to keep people in bed.

The Academy had wrapped up its second year a month ago, leavi...

Mon 22/04/24 — ARC-02 Update

Yes—it's another update. The irony that it's been a full three months hasn't gone over my head—believe me, it wasn't intentional. 💀

Despite that, I come bearing good news!

ARC-02 is fully written and has been for a few days now. I've been proofreading and am currently a third of the way through it all. I won't be sharing spoilers but there are a few things that I will say.

First, it is a lot longer than ARC-01. Not humungously so, but enough that it's noticeable. It i...

Mon 22/01/24 — ARC-02 Update

Goodnight, all!

At first glance, this might seem immediately familiar to all you Spacebattles readers but bear with me for just a moment since there a Patrons who don't use Spacebattles here. The third paragraph holds some important info for you lot.

I thought it'd be nice to write an update to you all. My essays are done, no work looming dreadfully over my shoulders, and I'll endeavour to keep it as such for as long as possible. Unfortunately, that means I'll have to kick procr...

🎆 NEW YEAR’S GIFT!!!🎆

Author's Note: This is both an apology for the brief hiatus as well as a gift for the New Year. I've made it a point to post this on the Patreon and nowhere else because those of you here go above and beyond supporting me – and I feel compelled to respond in kind.

Here's a work in progress martial arts novel!

Warning: I enjoy the Korean Murim Manhwa genre very much but I am not Korean – please keep this in mind lol.

P.S. BEFO...

Update

I've made this announcement on Spacebattles but I'll paste it here and then explain what that means for you Patrons.

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A lot has happened in the last few days. It's something I'm going to henceforth call the Asuma Riot of 2023. In my mind, it's certainly a memorable way to end the year and not an all-round negative thing. The criticism was more than valid, even if it got way out of hand with people going in circles, posting pages of argument -- so much that ev...

The Asuma Riot Chapters [3]

Looking at the world around me, it was clear that things were different and it was (mostly) my fault. I wasn’t supposed to exist, not the way I did anyway, but because I did, nothing was the same as I remembered. Mizuki wasn’t supposed to vanish after my first year and I wasn’t supposed to be Rookie of the Year consecutively for all six years of the Academy. Those were negligible changes. The sort that I could shrug off and go, “It’s all mostly the same.”

I couldn’t do tha...

Happy Holidays + Question

First off, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, or anything else anybody celebrates -- or if you're like me and don't celebrate anything on this particular day, I hope it's going great for you.

So, I lied in the heading. This isn't a question. It's more like a... topic? 

I've got an idea of exactly how I want this second arc to end but would like to hear what you lot are most looking forward to for this arc. It could be a fresh angle that I hadn't considered and, since you guys a...

The Asuma Riot Chapters [2]

These days, Asuma woke up with a stiff neck and a pounding headache. Having a single shadow clone read information-dense material for two, two-hour sessions a day wasn't good for him but it was necessary. He’d neglected his calligraphy – a favourite hobby of the old man – and it showed.

Before getting on to even the Sealing basics, he had to work on his calligraphy from the ground up.

Slowly, he began to stretch his neck out, ignoring the strain as he rotated his head. Calli...

The Asuma Riot Chapters [1]

When he looked back on the decades that had passed him by before he noticed it – and the years away from his children and late wife – Hiruzen felt a strange bitterness. Sour on his tongue, absorbing the moisture from his throat, it left him wrinkled and tired. Almost seventy years old and all he had left was a hat he thought he’d passed on, a broken home, and the unwanted weight of guilt and failure.

Minato’s untimely passing left no one else to take the mantle of Hokage. No one...

TCoH — Chapter 10

Author’s Note: This arc is now complete. I think, given the pacing and strangely abrupt ending, it’s clear I’m a novice at this whole storytelling gig. I really hate how this arc ended and think that it could have been done better and that some of the other PoVs were unnecessary.

But I’m happy that I wrote it. I think that I’ve learned several things throughout writing this arc and I will take them with me to the next one, which will be much m...