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Chapter 23 - Format Change Announcement
🕑 Added 2024-04-16 03:11:45 +0000 UTCSo I've had an issue with the way I've released things for quite some time, and I think I figured out the answer.
It came to me while I was working on this arc, there's no reason to release it in such huge chunks? I find it much easier to write small bits regularly. So for this arc - which is somewhat slice of life anyway - I'm going to be testing a new method of release.
Whereas previously the minimum chapter length was 3100, it's now 1600, but I'll be releasing two times a week. Monday and Friday.
Patrons will get a third chapter every single week instead of two every two weeks. That third chapter will be on Sunday.
It's possible I'll have to return to the other method for really important chapters, or that it'll turn out we all hate this way and go back next arc.
Either way, the minimum amount has actually gone up, so at least in that regard I don't expect any issues.
Enjoy the chapter, see you all Friday.
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“So, now that we’re moderately close to the village, please fill out your reports.” Kakashi says suddenly one morning as they’re just getting up and out from their tents, making all their heads raise in surprise. It’s Sakura who’s the most surprised, as standard operations are to create your reports while waiting to be debriefed, those reports are then copied, and filed, and a version of them is sent to the Hokage if anything is found to be of top-level importance. Her special memory helps inconsistencies like that pop out a lot more than they do the boys, at least she thinks that’s the reason they start writing while she has so many questions.
“But Kakashi-sensei…” Sakura’s nose twitches, and she can’t help but give him a stern yet questioning glance. “Why now?”
“Because I need to doctor them, and I can’t do that in debriefing.” He explains without a care in the world. He says that like he’s not shattering her world, and twisting her gut with a sharp jagged knife.
“Doctor them? But… That’s definitely against the rules.” Sakura says, pointing at the man with an awkward glare she can’t quite manage as well as she’d like. She’s too good-natured, it just feels wrong. Even with Tazuna, she had to rely on the sword’s red eye effect to be intimidating, with Kakashi it feels pointless.
“Yes and no,” Kakashi says, “as long as the Hokage is notified of the modifications, and the modifications are signed off on by a Jonin, there’s no issue with the mission record being a little off.”
“Ah, so, what are you modifying?” Sakura asks, earning a subtle nod of approval from Sasuke for asking his question for him so he didn’t have to speak. She’s liking that she’s beginning to understand body language like that. A part of her is so proud of how far her charm has come, another part of her thinks it’s just that she’s getting used to the other shut-in and she’d have just as difficult a time if it was the first time she’d seen the gesture.
“First, we need to remove all mentions of Tazuna’s crime of lying about the mission. This way Wave’s coffers aren’t penalized. The Hokage will likely not find many problems with this, as most of the mission pay goes into the ninja’s hands anyway, so if we don’t accept pay for the mission he won’t lose much if anything. As a jonin, part of my job is figuring out what the Hokage would value more in any given instance, and I think he’d value Wave as an ally more than a few extra Ryo in the village. We’re not struggling financially at the moment, so global politics matters more.”
“Ah…” Sakura nods, slowly.
“Next, we need to remove any mentions of your abilities. There is no reason the office jonin handling our mission reports need to be aware that your perception, surroundings, and life are being altered by some chaotic deity masquerading itself as a gaming system.” He points out while kicking out the campfire from last night. It’s not needed anymore and only continued to burn so long in the first place because he’d had Naruto use his chakra as a fuel source for Sakura to convert to fire chakra for training.
There was just so much of it, and working with someone else’s chakra is insanely harder. It took a couple of hours, but, well, they had warmth throughout the night and Naruto was happy to help her training. The process involved holding his hand and, well, it was embarrassing. She’s glad that’s not how Kakashi had her learning back in Wave, but he said that she’d have never figured it out if it was. Working with someone else’s chakra requires you to have a bond of sorts, as chakra has a feeling center of its own and can either fight you or help you. From there, it requires a persistent flow that’s rather large, and it’s almost impossible to control. She doubts she’d ever be able to do a jutsu with it, even with his full cooperation, but it’s how they’ll be handling campfires from now on so she’ll be getting used to it.
His chakra fought her so much on turning into fire, she’s pretty sure he’s got an anti-affinity for it.
“So why make us write them at all if you’re gonna do stuff to them?” Naruto asks, looking proud of himself when he looks at the now puffed out fire. “Sounds like you should just write them.”
“Because I still need to give your original reports to the Hokage.” Kakashi says. “By the time you’re a Jonin you frequently make two reports, because the Hokage needs to know what you’re hiding and he needs to know the story you’re telling everyone else so he doesn’t blow your cover.”
“So you’re going to tell him about my um, condition?” Sakura asks.
“Surprising a Kage is probably the dumbest way to die.” Kakashi says. “You’re safer if he knows.”
“Okay.” Going out of her way to lie to the Hokage does seem like a bit much, and he has a point. It just feels odd that a few weeks ago no one knew, and now there’d be five people, and none of them are her parents. She doesn’t like hiding things from her parents in the first place, them being the sixth and seventh to know? It makes her feel guilty inside and not in that somewhat exciting way when you’re stealing a cookie from the jar.
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“Halt.” The gate guards stop them in their tracks before they’re even halfway through the massive gates to Konoha. Kakashi had warned them they would, with Haku being an unknown entity hanging onto them. Sensor ninjas are rare, but there’s always one working with the gate guards so that spies and infiltrators can be detected if they’re not good enough to completely hide their presence. In this particular case, Haku’s not trying to hide their powers at all. They’re high chunin, possibly even low jonin, and they can probably be felt for quite a ways away. Chances are these guards have been waiting to stop them for at least a few minutes, if not half an hour.
Kakashi heads up to talk to them while she looks Haku right in his pretty eyes. “So they’re going to take you into that building over there.” She points towards a small outpost built right into the wall. “They’ll take a few pictures of you, write your information down, and make an ID which’ll let you access places outside the explicit visitor pass area of the village. It’ll take a little longer, since you’re trying to be a citizen.”
“Why can’t I just get a visitor pass?” Haku asks. “It’s not like I have many intentions here.”
“Because you can’t live in my house if you can’t visit my house.” Sakura explains. “We live in the merchant area, because we have a lot of merchants in our family and it’s very convenient. Also, you’re going to be paying rent and making lots of money, so like, you need to be allowed to do that too.”
“Paying rent?” Haku asks. “You are aware I am, as some would say, broke.” His smile is patient with her, but the tick in his brow says a lot that she manages to pick up. Given she can pick it up without the chart, she’s pretty sure it’s really obvious for everyone else.
“I’m covering your first month, and possibly your second.” Sakura says. “Besides, your landlords are my parents, it’s not like we couldn’t strike a deal if we had to.” She rolls her eyes at the boy, patting him on the shoulder and pushing him onward. “Go on, Kakashi wants you.” She points out how the man is beckoning him, not a care in the world and a proud smile on her lips.
That was so managerly of her! She waits until the boy is gone to do a happy wiggle, shaking her arms and legs and allowing herself a giggle, not caring in the least that her teammates can see her girlish self. It’s not like she tries to hide it, it just doesn’t come up much.
“Go on.” She gives them a side-eye.
“It was cute.” Sasuke shrugs both shoulders, hands in his shorts and glancing sideways himself. “Finally going to switch into your clothes?”
“It’s not my fault there wasn’t a functional clothing shop in Wave.” Sakura huffs, looking down at Tsunami’s travel wear. It’s nice and efficient, but it doesn’t fit her very well. None of her clothes have for the last month or so in Wave. She went through all the effort of getting combat clothes and travel packs and tools and then her sword chopped her and them practically in half. It sucked, and then she had to do that entire mission with a bitchy woman complaining about her stealing her clothes while she had no options, and with inefficient, not even fitting wear.
To put it shortly, “it sucked,” she sighs to herself, “I am so glad to be near my wardrobe.”
“Do you think your parents will let you get to your clothes without making you tell the entire story?” Naruto asks. “What do you even plan to tell them? Are you leaving stuff out?”
“Probably a lot of things.” Sakura admits. “They don’t need to know I went blind, or that I got stabbed to death by my own sword, or that Haku was originally an enemy. I’m not sure what I’m going to say, but I’m likely leaving out more than I’m leaving in… That’s going to suck, I don’t think I’ve ever lied to them.”
Comments
Christopher Cummins
I've always tended to go over at least a little bit. Hell, I went over this chapter, though not by any significant margin.
Dopplerdee
I feel It's honestly good to keep a loose word count when keeping a schedule. Definitely a minimum but going over shouldn't cause any problems. Also Sakura plz stop acquiring children.... oh fuck Karin.
