The Eternal Lost Lurker wrote:
If I'd had any idea that I'd be writing chapters this long,
I would never have started this story.
Then it's a good thing you didn't know beforehand!
Indeed.
The main reason why I wouldn't have is that, given my previous average
writing speed, you'd be getting a chapter roughly every year and a half
or so. :)
[Day Seventy-one]
*blink* Whoa...we're that close to the end now? o.o;;
Weird, isn't it?
There will be either fifteen or sixteen chapters, plus an epilogue.
And a couple of sequel ideas, but those can wait. :)
"Umm... Hokage-sama?" the chuunin, nearly forgotten, asked
carefully.
"Send her in," Tsunade commanded grimly. "Let's see what she
has to say for herself.
Missing quote mark.
Good catch.
"Mitarashi Anko." Tsunade sounded out every syllable of the
special jounin's name frostily. "Care to explain yourself?"
"Well, it all started when my father and mother loved each other
very much, and -"
*CHOKE*
:)
Naruto bared his teeth at her. "You're not happy? Good."
The kunoichi snorted. "At least try to act like a human being,
you little monster." She smiled a smile that was no less threatening
than Naruto's own expression. "If I'm too unhappy, I might just send
Sharingan Kakashi for another round with the interrogation squad."
Man, she's just ASKING for it, isn't she?
Very deliberately. From Junhime's perspective, if she can goad Naruto
into attacking her, she wins.
It would have surprised many who knew him that Naruto was able
to restrain himself. Not even a flicker of red chakra was visible in
the air around him as he glared at the young woman. "I told you before.
If you hurt Kakashi-sensei, I'll find some way to make you pay. You'd
better believe it!"
*snrk* Sorry, can't suppress a snicker here. :)
Since you're _supposed_ to snicker there, no need to apologize. :)
This morning, finally, Sakura felt like a human being again,
instead of some hollow shell. The past few days were practically blank
to her. She hadn't even had the energy to think at all, much less
consider her performance in the exams or the information about Midori
she had managed to get out of Neji after them. As she finished her
breakfast, glad that the milk, one day past its expiration date,
AAAAAAH! The apartment is infusing her with Naruto's bad habits!!
Hee.
For the first time in months, she didn't have some overriding
goal.
'Overarching' is the word you want here, I believe.
Sounds right.
"You should," Lee said seriously. Sakura just nodded, but she
still wasn't that certain. If she was going to get a new set, it could
definitely wait until she had found a replacement for those orange
warmers. What had she been thinking, wearing those in front of the
whole village during the exam? Was she insane?
And does she REALLY want an answer to that?
Hee.
"We aren't!" Sakura took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay
calm. "You know perfectly well why I'm here and that Naruto was gone
before I moved in."
"Well, yes," Anko replied, "but I think it's a crime to let
little details like that get in the way of a good tease."
*snrk*
"You know what else is a crime?" Sakura replied. "Breaking and
entering."
Good comeback!
Come to think of it, I might have unintentionally stole that exchange
from Suiren. I should probably check.
Naruto frowned. He couldn't look too much like himself either,
though. His frown deepened into a pained grimace as another solution
from Jiraiya came to mind. He dug through his wardrobe, pulling off the
one change of clothing
Pulling "out", maybe?
Right.
He quickly stripped, then created a shadow replication and had
it hop into bed, snoring loudly. Then he changed into Mako's clothing
and returned to the mirror. Grimacing at how perverted he looked in her
clothing,
Oh, like it's any worse than Oiroke no Jutsu? :P
Objectively, no. Nartuo just seems to be developing a hang-up about
cross-dressing. :)
"So we're agreed. Good." Zeshin paused. "You're certain the
Toad Hermit is gone?" That, Naruto decided, was a very disturbing
question.
"Yes," Junhime said.
"That gives us a window of opportunity to secure the Kyuubi."
Oh crap.
*evil grin*
"This is," Maya began, and then her voice faltered.
"War," Arata finished weakly for her.
Nissho nodded. "That's what it looks like," he said.
"What should we do?" Ikkei asked.
"I vote for shitting ourselves."
Heh.
He had to consider the worst case scenario. In that case, the
entire leadership of the Hidden Cloud had been coopted and was little
more than a pawn of Akatsuki. He didn't think that terribly likely,
though. Kaida would have to have known if that was the case. It was
far more possible that some rogue faction was operating in alliance with
Suggest 'plausible' instead of 'possible' here.
Good call.
The first thing he was going to have to do is to check and see
Verb tense failure.
Ouch. Will fix.
Sakura arrived early for the promotion ceremony. She just
couldn't stand to sit around Naruto's apartment worrying, so instead she
sat around at the promotion ceremony worrying. ^_^
Truth. :)
Tayuya of the Hidden Sound, not being deaf, quickly realized
that someone had hidden all the sound from her!
*snort*
"One?" Sakura asked, then she grimaced. "Oh yeah." So long as
Midori was in the fight, Neji's Bloodline Limit became a dangerous
vulnerability. "Can't you fight without your Byakugan?"
"Not well enough to do anything but weigh you down," Neji
replied, "particularly with a jounin on the other side. It would be
like you trying to fight with your eyes closed, and I couldn't use the
Gentle Fist at all besides."
Wow, I'm amazed Neji would willingly admit a glaring weakness like that.
Hmm. I'll probably rework Neji's line here a bit to soften it.
After what seemed like seconds but had to be at least, he
Had to be at least...?
Probably "a minute or two." Good catch.
"You can't possibly be serious," Sakura said.
Neji's eyes flickered open. "She isn't. She's teasing you to
let off nervous energy."
Anko was suddenly standing in front of him. "You, Neji-kun, are
reminding me of why I hate Hyuuga."
Heh.
"Make it short," Neji said dryly, "or at least entertaining. I
already had to sit through one of these this week."
*SNRK*
:)
"Well, now," a new voice intruded. "What have we here?"
Sakura paled. "Kabuto-san."
Man, this just keeps turning into a bigger and bigger clusterfuck...
So it does! :)
Kabuto backed away, reaching up to adjust his glasses, but he
showed no other sign of nervousness. "Interesting," he allowed.
Which is Kabuto for "I think I just pissed in my pants."
Indeed.
"I know that," Sakura responded without thinking, letting a
little too much irritation into her voice. "Neji-san is stronger than
me. I wasn't going to have any chance to win at all if I didn't take
risks." She paused. "Besides, I know Neji-san at least a little, and I
didn't think he'd go for that sort of strike right at the beginning
against me, particularly if he didn't think I was a threat.
Right, because he was EVER so easy on Hinata in the FIRST Chuunin exams...
True. I'll probably rework a bit.
"Yes," the Mist hunter ninja who had interrupted Sakura's fight
with Midori earlier in the night said as she appeared perched on top of
a pile of rubble. A moment later, Sakura spotted the black-clad Haruno
who had accompanied her, standing on top of the mostly undamaged
building next door.
This is going to get very ugly, VERY fast.
Indeed.
"I don't know that you'll ever believe me," the woman continued,
her voice weakening with every word, "but everything I did was for you,
in my own way." She coughed wetly. "I'm sorry. Tell Inoichi -" She
cut off in mid-sentence, stumbling backward and falling over on her
back, and then she was still.
Poor Sakura.
Yeah.
The only interesting event in her time here had been when that
Leaf team had brought a Sand missing ninja who had been captured in the
Bird Country. Temari smirked as she remembered how she had needled the
girl she'd fought in the preliminaries. Now, that had been fun. It
hadn't been fun enough to make up for the months of boredom, though.
Maybe accepting the promotion to chuunin had been a mistake. If she'd
taken the exam again, she'd be in the Leaf Village now. If she was
lucky, she might have ruined that Tenten's chances a second time. That
would have really been fun.
Gee, she's nice.
It tends to be drowned out by Gaara's murderous psychosis, but his
siblings are kind of jerks too. :)
Sudden hope flared in the woman's eyes. "Lies!" Her free hand
pulled out a Grass forehead protector. "I am Hatanaka Iru, special
jounin of the Hidden Grass! By the terms of our alliance, I request
emergency aid and entry into the Wind Country!"
"Is that so?" Temari asked skeptically, her eyes turning to the
Rain squad.
"Okay, we'll let you in...but you have to share some of your Hidden Grass."
Heh.
"Now that I know you have no part in this treachery," Iru said,
"I will request that the Hidden Sand honor our alliance and go to war
with the Rain at once."
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeesh.
The Mist were not interested in beating the Leaf only to get crushed by
the Sand, Grass, Rain, and Waterfall, and took steps to keep the Leaf's
allies out of the war before launching it.
5) Next time, in One Hundred Days Chapter 13, The Fire Burns: Jiraiya
hunts for the Akatsuki member hidden in the Cloud Village, knowing that
with every step he takes he comes closer to becoming the hunted instead.
Naruto faces what might be his most difficult challenge yet: alone,
against the strength of an entire village, he must find a way to save
Kakashi. Back at home, Sakura must struggle to come to terms with what
she has done as the Hidden Leaf readies itself for war...
And Everyone! Gets! NAKED! Woohoo!
No. This isn't Suiren. :)
Draft Started: July 13, 2006
Draft Finished: August 10, 2006
Draft Released: August 11, 2006
Musta hurt like a sumbitch, holding a fart in for that long. X)
...ew.
Thank you very much for the C&C!