Retrospective after-thoughts, Part 9:
Akashi, Makito, Sakito, Sonia, Ryu and Nobunaga... Going into this reread I could honestly only remember Akashi and the previously revealed Akatsuki members Keiji and Kazuki. I knew there were a lot of new ones in here obviously but I just had no idea what their names were. Even the names I remembered were a bit blurry but I had a general idea of what their names sounded like at least, but the rest of the names introduced here was mind bending to read again, like remembering an old lost friend I had completely forgotten about.
As I'm reading this I distinctively recall feeling that it was hard to have all these characters on the screen at the same time and making them do something useful, like a lot of them just became stand-byers, which is probably why it felt like the closer I got to the Kage meeting and got to focus on 1-on-1 battles, or even 1-on-2+, the better it would be. I can see that in the author's note I actually reflected upon this and said the same thing. With all that in mind though, it wasn't bad at all. There's obviously lacking narration that would make it flow better, but still, only so much you can do with narration in a script style.
Also this 'Akashi mystery' I set up at the time with him knowing Rasengan and Shadow possession was really cool, maybe even ahead of its time. Looking back now the shock value of Naruto's Rasengan being countered with Akashi's Rasengan reminds me a bit of the same shock value when Konohamaru clashes with kashin koji in Boruto and realizes he knows Rasengan.
Also, also, the way I incorporated Naruto's Thunder God to not needing to rely on seals as long as he saw where he was going here reminds me a lot of Sasuke's Rinnegan teleportation, which is cool. Maybe Kishi did read some of this after all .
Knowing how Naruto gets nerfed in Boruto when he loses Kurama makes his power level now seem more similar to what it was when I wrote this story. Granted I give him crazy power-ups as I go, but this makes me think about the potential he still has even without Kurama in Boruto if he just learns some new jutsus and perfect the ones he has. Going into instant Sage mode like he does here is a bit OP though ngl xD
The fact that I pressed 'post' on this chapter literally as I was heading out the door to the airport is a funny note to recall xD I remember wondering for a week what people had had to say about the chapter back then... How different things were without the smartphone society we live in today where you always have easy access wherever you go
Regarding my past self's opinion in the last part of the author's note, I disagree a bit. I think this one is better than any of the Sasuke chronicles so far, but it's probably not as good as chapter 6. The chapters without any fighting seems to have been the best so far ironically, considering there will only be battling in the future almost xD
7/10
