[FFML] [Naruto] One Hundred Days - Epilogue: The Night After

[Eimii]

>        The question of what would happen to them was still open, but
> Sakura suspected that Shizune intended to let them loose.  There was
> little damage the three could do to the Leaf, and Ren and Saburo's help
> had been invaluable.  Better to have a few Mist who bore the Leaf some
> goodwill than worthless prisoners who felt betrayed.

Midori's fate is still looking pretty grim, though. If she makes it
back, she'll either be executed as a traitor or spend the rest of her
life as a prisoner or test subject. If Ren decided to spare her friend
that, she could either kill Midori herself or let the traitor go. One
wonders what she would choose...

>        "I know," Sakura said after a moment.  Somehow, she'd barely had
> a moment to think of Sasuke since the end of the battle.  "I... I'm just
> glad we managed to get you back," she said.  "I couldn't stand losing
> both of you."

Moment - moment repetition. And yeah, Sakura's had a bad run of losing
people important to her -_-;...

>        "Oh, Rui!" Naruto replied.  "She's from the Snow Country.  I
> helped her kill her grandmother."  Sakura blinked, and before she could
> respond Naruto asked a question of his own.  "How... who... why'd you
> learn to summon snakes?"

Ah... i'm not sure why this question would disturb Naruto very much;
he didn't seem to know much about summoning before Jiraiya taught him,
and even Sakura hadn't been aware of the stigma about snake summoners
until she was subjected to it.

>        Sakura blinked.  "Who the hell could kidnap Jiraiya if he didn't
> want... a grandmother..." She shuddered.  "You're going to pay for
> making me think that."

Ick! >_<;...

>        Naruto swallowed, looking sick.  "She didn't look her age," he
> offered.  He hesitated, then added, "I see you passed the Chuunin Exam."

He doesn't seem very excited about this, but i guess they've had a
pretty draining day...

>        "It can be a long night," Naruto said, "and it seems like we'll
> have time for more than enough stories before I'll be leaving again."

I think the expression is 'more than enough time for,' and the way he
says it seems to imply that it would be fine if they talked about it
later, not that they have time to talk about it now...

> Author's Random Ramblings
>
> 1) And this is the shortest "chapter" in the story.  I always said it
> would be brief, but it's necessary to wrap up some loose ends and
> provide a little bit better closure.

I suppose it does that, though its short enough and close enough in
time to the end of the last chapter that it might have worked just as
the end of that one...

>
> 2) All in all, I'm fairly proud of this work.  It's much, much longer
> and probably better than anything I've written before, written faster on
> average than anything I've written before, even with the delays on the
> final chapter.  Not everything turned out as well on the page as I
> imagined it in my head, but I think I managed to meet my self-imposed
> goal of being more amusing than the anime fillers.

You set your goals low O_O;... but yes, you did accomplish that ^_^...

>
> 3) I've mentioned several times to several people a vaguely planned
> oneshot sequel.  What I don't think I've ever spoiled is what it would
> be about: the next time Naruto and Sakura's paths cross, about a year
> later as the Sand Village holds a Chuunin Exam.  Unfortunately, I don't
> know if it will ever get written, due to declining interest in Naruto
> and numerous other projects I'd like to work on.

So... that would imply that the war with the Mist will end before
_too_ long, i guess.

>
> 4) I think it would surprise many of you how poorly planned this story
> really was at the start.  I honestly started writing the prologue and
> first chapter with no idea of where the story would go, other than that
> Naruto and Sakura would meet again on the hundredth day.  Most of the
> broad plot arcs firmed up fairly quickly, but more times than I'd care
> to admit I had no idea what either Naruto or Sakura would be doing in a
> chapter when I sat down to outline it.

You outline things before you write them? That's far more organization
than i've got. I just start writing, strive to make sure that the
characters act true to who they are (at least in my story) and hope
for the best. Sure, sometime's i've got a vague idea of where i want
to go, but these always fall far short of an actual 'plan' ^_^;...

I think there's some peculiarity about fanfiction that makes this
possible. People read fanfiction because we like the characters or the
setting, so i think the ability to maintain the integrity of these
things is one part of 'good' fanfiction, at least as i define it, and
you do indeed write good fanfiction...

>
> 5) I'd like to give a big thank you to everyone who provided C&C over
> the course of this story.  This includes: Jed Hagen, the Eternal Lost
> Lurker, MWhaleK, Andrew Petalik, FVoeltner, Eimii, Skywise Skychan,
> William Little, Druid, Glazius Falconar, Jourdan M. Bickman, Joel N.
> Fischoff, David Johnston, Thiemo Guenther, David McMillan, Matthew
> Campbell, Luke Mason, Nuclear Death Frog, Jared Wadell, Troy Thomas,
> countless reviewers from Fanfiction.net, and - last but never least - my
> sister, Rebecca Nowack.

You're welcome!

>
> 6) And, finally thank you for reading!  Yes, you.  Yes, even if I just
> thanked you.  Without readers, there'd be little point in spending the
> effort to get these stories out of my head and into words.

It was a fun ride, though i must confess that i don't enjoy doing C&C
as much as i used to -_-;. Anyhow, thank _you_ for writing this. It's
been a long time since i last read a piece of Naruto fanfiction that
was worthwhile...

And now, i should probably get back to my own writing. Gah, it's been
a while since i last released anything >_<;...

~Eimii