NOVEL NEXT Chapter 8: Chapter Eight
Pre-Chapter AN: Hey, thanks for reading this. It's literally my favourite thing to write these days. Enjoy the chapter, and let me know how it sticks if you enjoy it. If you're feeling a bit impatient, the next three chapters are up on pat-re-on- same username as up here and link in my profile.
Our intrusion in the battle between the Kumo and Iwa teams started with a bang. A great fireball jutsu powered up with a Great breakthrough crashed into the middle of the battlefield and both teams operated long before the jutsu landed. The shockwave did send one of the Kumo nin flying into the air, but he was caught in time by one of his fellows. The rest watched with suspicious eyes as the both of us landed between them. Uzume was to my back. I felt her glee at her position, faced by a group of Iwa shinobi. I stared at the Kumo team with a smile on my face.
I clapped my hands and the earth vibrated for a second. They were wise enough to move out of the way of the spikes that rose out of the ground where they had been standing, but that had been part of my plan. It forced them to split up. No longer a single unimpeachable front, I went for the willowy boy-he seemed the weakest of the bunch. He reacted to my approach in time, and put a hand on the blade at his waist and unsheathed it in a swift motion — laido.
It was the wrong reaction, however. Sakumo wielded a blade as well, and did it with a variety of styles. I'd been in this situation a hundred times before, and I knew just how to react. I ducked under the blade with a burst of speed and stepped into his space, removing the reach advantage the blade gave, and not giving him the time or space to bring his blade back around. My first attack was a shot on his lungs. Two fingers with chakra shaped like a dagger stabbed into his body in eight simple movements. By the time I was done, he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
I turned and flipped through two seals before breathing out a veritable wind storm. The wind chakra tore apart the lightning jutsu sent at me before I flipped through another set of seals. My two remaining adversaries were forced to dodge out of the way of my air bullets.
I heard Uzume's laughter and found myself smiling against my will. A wide smile that refused to go down, no matter how much I tried to be serious in the face of the moment. Her joy was infectious. I weaved another set of seals, spitting out two mud balls to slow down my opponent's as they ran at me.
This time, I went after the one with the bicoloured hair. Familiar or not, he'd be going down. He wielded his blade better than his teammate. His movements were sharper, and he was much smarter about it. Every step I took into his guard was matched by a similar step backwards. It was almost like a dance, until I was forced to duck to prevent his teammate from beheading me from behind. She'd finally dodged around the part of the battlefield marred with mud. Both of their blades suddenly flashed with lightning release, momentarily blinding me. In an instant, they executed the second part of the deadly combination- both blades sinking into my skin.
Skin that browned before forming a hard mud that maintained a hold on their blades. I rose from the ground a fair bit away and smiled as I slammed my hands on the ground. "Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld" I screamed. Mr. Bi-colour hair had jumped out of the way from the moment he realised he wasn't able to remove his blade from the clone. His teammate wasted precious seconds trying to free her blade. It made all the difference as she was submerged all the way up to her neck in the dark mud.
And then there was one.
XXXXXXXX
One thing he had learned from having the prodigies of both clans on his team was that the Uchiha and Senju were not as different as they liked to pretend themselves to be. They were two sides of the same coin, for sure. Shorirama generally had a more personable energy than Uzume, but that did not take anything away from the similarities that existed between them. For one, their bloodlust. From the second, his Senju student had ;looked over at the fight between the Kumo and Iwa teams, he could tell the thoughts that ran in his mind; "I want in on that". What separated Shori from Uzume was that Uzume would be much more direct with her thinking and honest with herself. She was eager to join the fight because they were strong. Shorirama would come up with a million reasons to explain why he was going to be doing what he would be doing.
The end result was still the same. They left poor Toshiro to hold down the fort in that barrier of theirs and jumped right to join the fight. They'd probably get points taken off for that when it came to the secondary objective of these exams, but if he was being honest with himself, he was perfectly fine with that. They weren't ready to fly the nest. Not until they could actually work together.
When they managed top engage their targets without getting in each other's way, he was ashamed to say he felt some pride at that. It was a sign of the progress that they'd managed to make in a year, but he could already see how their approach was flawed. Not even flawed because they failed to strategise properly. That would have been an entirely different beast to deal with, but it was flawed because they knew the right thing to do but never considered it because it would require them working together. Taking on organised teams each was stupid. A better approach would have been attacking all six at the same time as a group of two. Separating them in such a way that some Iwa nin ended up with some Kumo nin, and then taking advantage of the chaos inherent in that. And that was only if they were too impatient to just let them fight it out between themselves and take the prize when they were exhausted.
This plan of facing two composed teams at the same time was more risky. Not too risky, clearly. He internally amended his thoughts as he saw Shori begin combat with the Kumo team. It was a clear situation of him being a superior fighter to them, and also their teamwork being terrible. He'd probably have had a harder time if he had to fight them one by one. Sakumo knew how much sense it made, however. Kumo only operated in two-man teams. It was clear that they were being hampered by the introduction of a third teammate who did not fit in with the dynamic.
He decided the battle was practically over as he watched the second teammate get taken down by Shori's jutsu, but that proved to be inaccurate. With a chirping sound, the girl caught in his swamp of the underworld jutsu erupted from the ground with a hand on her blade. She and the younger teenage with dual coloured hair faced down Shori, wary looks on their faces.
On the other hand, Uzume was having a less fruitful timer against the Iwa team. She was yet to be rebuffed as she dove from Shinobi to shinobi. The one with red hair fought her off with smooth command over an interesting form of lava release. The other was one he'd been briefed on. Kitsuchi. The son of the Tsuchikage himself. He used earth release with almost as much skill as Shorirama but manifested differently. Where Shori used his talent to learn as many jutsu as possible and apply each of them in unique ways, Kitsuchi was more focused on learning a few jutsu and being able to apply them in unique ways. He could raise walls with stomps of his feet, and use those same cues to turn said walls into spikes that he sent flying at Sakumo's student.
Only Uzume's masterful use of the lightning flow with her gunbai allowed her to fight off his offensive. The third teammate kept running through seals and scowling as no effect appeared. Sakumo's guess was that she was some sort of genjutsu specialist. The Sharingan and being on the same team as both Toshiro and Shorirama made it highly unlikely that there would be a genin out there capable of ensnaring Uzume in their genjutsu. The Iwa girl would probably have an easier time going after Shori with her genjutsu. He had the Hyuga preternatural chakra control that made him highly resistant to genjutsu, but he definitely wasn't immune. Not even close.
With a swing of her gunbai, Uzume sent two stone spears flying into the distance and dove right at the genjutsu girl with the weapon raised high. She back-pedalled, trying to retreat from the smiling Uchiha. She dodged the girl's swing, was forced to duck underneath, and eat a kick to her face for her troubles. A wall rose between Uzume and her target, but she would not be denied. With a heave-ho, she sliced through the wall, and continued her approach. Her war fan arched down to deal the final blow, but the red head substituted with his teammate.
Uzume dove backwards and barely managed to dodge out of the way of the flood of lava sent her way. Back at square one, she gritted her teeth and lifted the war fan again.
Shori weaved seals at a rapid pace, only just managing to keep the duo of Kumo nin away from him with rapid ninjutsu. He'd abandoned the use of earth release after they proved more than willing to slice through whatever he sent with lightning natured chakra flow. It was almost ridiculous how chakra flow was an advanced technique reserved for the more experienced Chunin, but there were three genin on the rooftop displaying familiarity with the technique. He'd never seen Shori use it, but he was almost certain he could. Especially since Uzume had shown proficiency with the technique.
The Kumo duo dove at him, but were forced to dodge out of the way of a stream of air bullets. They were careful to prevent themselves from being separated after their first teammate had been taken down.
As both fights began anew, the buzzer sounded off. One minute more. Almost immediately, the Kumo nin lost all interest in Shori and made at the Iwa position. Uzume jumped to the side to prevent being caught between both teams.
I unsealed my bow. Uzume looked at me like she couldn't believe it. I just smiled at her. This was the moment. The time to prove everyone wrong. To show them exactly what I knew. I bent my back and aimed my arrow to the heavens. Breathe in. Breathe Out…. I loosed the arrow with my breath. It sailed in the air a few metres before sharply banking downwards. One thing I'd learned early on in life was that I did not have the wood release. Of course, I knew it. The clan checked. I had the right affinity, but I could just not grasp the formula for forming wood release. Whenever I tried, I'd just end up forming mud. Dirty mud. Useless mud. Whatever notes my Grandfather had left on the matter had been unclear and only two steps away from useless. I was sure the only reason why Tobirama had never got on his arse to make better notes was the fact that they all thought he had at least a century in him when he'd died.
The only reason the notes were just two steps from useless and not entirely so was because of what they meant for my arrows. The wood in each arrow was made from Hashirama trees. I held the largest private collection in trust for the Senju clan at this point (buying shit with clan funds did tend to have that effect—even if I was buying the land from my own Granduncle). His notes had 'taught' me how to interact with the chakra he'd left behind in each of his creations. I couldn't do anything too impressive with them, but controlling the flow of an arrow telekinetically within certain limits was easy. And so the arrow defied physics and dropped on my enemies like a meteor.
The second benefit of learning to interact with my Grandfather's chakra appeared then. With the right set of seals, and the right amount of chakra control, I could cast jutsu through the arrows at distance. I snapped my fingers and one arrow became dozens. The Kumo and Iwa nin, previously on the edge of fighting again, scattered to avoid the attack. The Tsuchikage's grandson slammed his palms on the ground and formed a dome of earth to protect both himself and the flag from my attack.
Game. Set. Match. I thought to myself as I snapped my fingers once more. The arrows, already airborne, glowed with blue chakra as I activated rudimentary wind natured chakra flow on a 'few' of them. The few set to hit his dome. Perhaps it was the shouted warning from his teammate, or maybe it was something from his own senses, but I felt Kitsuchi hurriedly use a substitution jutsu to escape the death trap he'd made for himself. My arrows tore through the dome and much of the surrounding landscape.
In the face of awestruck opponents, I substituted with one of my arrows-eating the chakra feedback with nothing but a grimace, and grabbed a hold of the flag. The Horn blared one final time at the exact same time as I lifted the flag for all to see. The flag, red as the armour I wore. The reaction was instant. If there was one thing that could get civilians fired up, It was ninja magic that happened too quickly for them to truly understand but slowly enough for them to tell themselves that they did. They chanted my name. Not my first name — that would have been a tall ask, but my last name. "Senju, Senju, Senju" Their voices screamed to the heavens. Not just the Konoha civilians, even. I could see some who had accused me of cheating after that prank at the end of the first stage joining others in screaming my name. It was a heady feeling, I could not deny. And I stood there, enjoying it.
There was someone by my side. I turned to see Uzume looking at me with a raised eyebrow. "Don't let it get to your head, silly boy. They scream your name now, but they'll scream even louder to see you lose your head later" She said. I nodded at her. We turned as one and began to make our way back to Toshiro.
Jiraiya was saying something. I couldn't pick out the words, but I could see the display on the board.
Team Shorirama- 389 points
Team Kitsuchi- 218 points
Team B- 210 points
Team Uraume- 200 points
Team Izuku- 174 points
Izuku's team only had a few points above Shikahime's. Clearly a result of her points only beginning to count after she showed herself on the hill, while Izuku's team had been there much longer. It was also interesting to note that Uraume had won the battle royale for the flag on the field. It was something I had never actually seen coming. I knew she was strong. Her entire team was respectably strong for a team of Genin, but I wouldn't have thought open combat to be a specialty of theirs.
Toshiro noticed where my attention was when he joined Uzume and I. I smiled as he handed my scroll to me and began to speak. "Uraume's team was a massive surprise in that they managed to keep hold of the flag for so long. They did lose it to Choni and Inoken for a bit. And then Kizuru and Izuku stole it from those two. Izuku had the time of his life fighting off all comers, while Kizuru kept it hidden with genjutsu. They actually looked to be about to win the whole thing, and then Uraume was able to lead her teammates through Kizuru's genjutsu while Izuku was occupied with fighting everyone else. Three-against-one, he never stood a chance. The buzzer rang immediately subsequently, and Uraume just began to twirl and created this dome of chakra barrier around herself and the flag. No one could get close until the event was over.
I nodded at his explanation. "I've never seen you use your arrows like that" He said to me. "Of course, I have a few tricks up my sleeves." I said in reply.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, an urgent statement from the Kage Box" Jiraiya's voice rang out louder than before, and sent a hush through the crowd.
I could spot my Granduncle's hat, but little else with how far away I was. He walked forward, to the edge of the box. I applauded the fact that he was bold enough to have his back to four of the strongest shinobi in the entire world. But if I was being honest with myself, I knew as surely as I knew anything that there was no way my Granduncle would have the real him in that kill box. It was probably a shadow clone. The real him would be close, but not in that kind of position.
"Genin of the Elemental Nations. You have been more than exemplary today. Phenomenal. Amazing. Spectacular. Superb. There are a million and one appellations I could bestow upon you all, and each of them would be equally fitting. Needless to say, you have all done your countries proud. Raise your shoulders high for that fact alone. You have all done me proud as well. From my Grandson and Heir to Jodi Siwa of Kusagakure- each of you has shown me that the faith my brother held in the upcoming generations was not misplaced. I underestimated you all in my planning. I expected this to be an event that could be crammed into a single day. Credit to you all for proving an old man like me wrong. I was wrong. The day already goes late, and after the passionate exhibition we've seen, I dare say most of you would be more than exhausted" He paused at that, and I would have sworn his attention was on me for that second. He was right, though. Between the barrier and the stunt with the arrows, I was mostly tapped out.
"Because of that, I proposed an idea to my fellow Kage. One they were more than willing to accept. The event will be paused for today, and resume in the morning tomorrow with the third and final stage- a tournament. To make it up to you for taking even more of your time, my fellow Kage have agreed to my other proposal. Whosoever emerges as the Victor from tomorrow's tournament will have begun the day as a genin but ended it as a Chunin. Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to the Chunin Exams. Genin, may the odds be ever in your favour" he said. The excitement was tangible. I would struggle to cut it with a kunai if I tried-it was so thick. He returned to his seat to rapturous applause, and all around me were whispers and murmured conversations.
I turned to my teammates, about to say something.
"Save it. See you tomorrow, Silly Boy" Uzume disappeared in a shunshin. I smiled fondly, and followed her lead.
Granduncle had been right. It was getting late. Already early evening, I was eager to get home and find myself something to eat.
There wasn't much training I could do with how tired I was, and how late the day was already getting. That meant I returned home plain ing to have a quick dinner and go to bed. Hopefully, waking up earlier tomorrow would give me time to strategise against my probable opponents for the tournament. I went to the Academy with eight of the other participants, and had spent some time fighting another three. The Iwa team were the ones I knew the least about, but I'd still got the chance to see them fight in their grand duel with the Kumo team during the second test. I knew red hair had lava, the big one could use Earth release almost as well as I could, and the last one was their genjutsu specialist. That was enough to make a very basic plan against each of them that would develop into something more complex as the fights went on, and I got to see more and more from them.
"Welcome back, Shorirama-sama" I waved the Hyuga orderly aside as I walked in to begin working on my Dinner. Cooking was a bobby from my old life, and I'd quickly learned that the best food I'd be getting in this house was what I made myself. My mother had an all Hyuga household as part of her marriage agreement, and for some reason, the Hyuga seemed to prefer their food being as bland as their personalities.
"Your mother wants to see you" I heard one of them say, and turned abruptly. It couldn't be me that she was talking to, but the words were clearly addressed to me.
"Who?" Surely, I'd misheard.
"Your mother, the Lady Hinori-sama. She has asked to see you" She clarified, but the words still made no sense to me. No sense at all.
"You must be mistaken," I said, turning away.
"She clearly made her intentions known to me. She asked that I have you sent up to her room the moment you returned." She said again.
"Swear it. Swear it on your life" I demanded.
"I swear"
I turned away from the kitchen, appetite fleeing as quickly as a Toshiro's composure in the face of a beautiful woman. My House was one of the largest in the Senju Compound. It was a wide duplex that spanned a massive amount of land. It was built in the traditional Senju style out of wood that resonated with me whenever I placed my fingers on it. Hashirama had built it himself. The ground floor held the servant quarters and kitchens, while the top floor was where the family was supposed to reside.
My mother had the whole East Wing to herself. An art room, a music room, a library, and massive bedrooms to ensure that everything she possibly needed was within the home for her. I stayed in the West Wing. There were seven bedrooms in the West Wing. I stayed in the same one I'd always stayed in. One of the other rooms used to belong to my nanny, but I'd outgrown having one once I joined the academy. So the rest of the Wing was empty. The truth was, beyond the staff, the House was mostly empty most of the time. The staff that I didn't know as well as I probably should have.
It wasn't entirely my fault since Mother had them switched out every year or so and I only really came here to sleep. The rest of my time was spent in either Grandma Mito's place, or the Clan Library. Not to talk of the time spent on missions or training.
On getting upstairs, I moved right to the East Wing. Left, Right, Left… I never paid such close attention to my feet before. Did I always walk so loudly? It felt like every step I took on the wooden floorboards creaked. I couldn't even apply chakra to my feet to deaden the sounds like I instinctively would. Mother was chakra sensitive to an extreme level.
"I am in here. Come on in" I heard her voice from the art room, and walked in to find her bent over staring at a painting. It was of a red sun, overlooking the village. Leaning to the side to look out the window in front of the easel showed that it was how the village presently looked in the sunset. Beyond the colour of the sun, of course.
Walking closer, I could notice a few differences. For one, some buildings were missing. Either missing, or replaced with something else. It seemed almost random. For a few seconds, at least. Before I noticed what all those buildings had in common. The Hokage tower was replaced with a playground. The academy was gone. It was just another generic flat building. The Barracks were also missing. Same with the village armoury. She'd removed everything that identified Konoha as a shinobi village.
"It is good to see you so well, Mother" I said when I noticed the silence between us had grown awkward. She hummed in reply. When I feared that this was going to turn into one of those, she spoke again.
"I saw your performance at the Exhibition" She started.
"Indeed? I wasn't aware that you left home" I replied. I hadn't seen her in the crowd either. Sure, I hadn't been paying that much attention, but something told me I would have noticed the Hyuga Princess' presence if she'd shown up. Mother would be the centre of attention in any building she walked into. There would have been too many people staring at her in the stadium for me not to notice.
She pointed behind me, and I noted a screen on the wall. It looked like a television from my past life. I walked forward and noticed it was covered in seals.
"Your Grandmother dropped this off this morning. She was very insistent that we watch your performance together. Would not take no for an answer" She said, and I swallowed a chuckle. That sounded precisely like Mito.
"I hope you enjoyed the show, then" I said.
"You have grown strong. Much stronger than either your father and I were at your age. Your Grandmother says you remind her of her husband sometimes" She replied, and I resisted the urge to preen at the praise. I wasn't a pre-teen. I was above this. But somehow, it seemed like I wasn't. Against my will, I felt warmth bloom in my chest. I detested the control this woman had over me.
"Thank you" I said with a bow. To not acknowledge the compliment would have been rude. When in doubt, lean on Hyuga etiquette training to get through things.
"Quit"
What? "Quit what?"
"Being a shinobi. I saw it with my own eyes today. You are strong, you will be one of the strongest in your prime, but that is not a good thing. Strength invites challenge. It was your father's strength that made Iwa send a kill squad after him, even when the war was basically already over. It was your Grandfather's strength that had assassin after assassin sent after him until his body could just no longer keep up…. Hold on, where are you going? Come back here, Shorirama. I am your mother. I command you to come back here..."
Her voice was drowned out as I slammed the door to the house behind me.
XXXXX
He wanted to say he had a tough night of sleeping. That his mother's words kept him up thinking about what she said and what she wanted. But that would have been a lie. He slept like a baby. The second he'd arrived at Grandmother Mito's place and gone up to his room, he'd lost consciousness from the moment his head hit the table. In fact, he had to be woken up to have dinner because no one could sleep in Grandmother's place and dare skip a meal. It was anathema to her, the very suggestion. And so, half asleep, he'd been forced to sit through dinner with his Cousin and their shared Grandmother.
He'd even been so tired that he'd been unable to tease Tsunade about the reason she'd been spending more and more time at their Grandmother's place. Those were regrets of yesterday, however. This was a new day. A new day for him to etch his name on the history books.
It made him sometimes wonder why was the way he was. His mother's words had not affected him all through the night, but they were the first thing he thought of on waking up. He'd enrolled at the Shinobi academy and trained his head off to ensure his survival in the wars to come, but was that really necessary? Did he really need to bother about things like that? His mother was right, in a way. He could retire right now and become a civilian. The Senju clan had resources aplenty that would see him live in luxury for the rest of his days. As for being sent out in war, he was sure that Tobirama would not be so cruel as to send his civilian nephew off to war. Hiruzen definitely wasn't going to do that with the head of the Senju clan.
Literally, all his problems would be solved if he quit now. And then he closed his eyes and the thought of a red moon brought him back to reality. In canon, Naruto and Sasuke had done a good job of dealing with that, but so many things had come down to luck in the end. What was the guarantee that Kakashi would exist in this universe? Or what was the guarantee that he'd be the same kind of person? There was none. There were so many things that could go wrong. So many ways that Naruto and Sasuke could fail to exist. Did my presence mean that Mito would live for a bit longer and then Kushina won't be called from Uzushiogakure in time to be teammates with Minato? Did my presence mean that Sakumo would not meet his wife? Maybe even being a sensei to my team had butterflied the man into being a better father to his son. So Kakashi would be less of an asshole, and so Obito would never die — meaning no Kakashi of the Sharingan and no Sensei for Team 7.
I realised it then as I stood up. It was too late. Much too late. Too late for second thoughts and too late for me to reconsider my path. Onwards and upwards, it had to be. And today was step 1. I made the decision then to ignore whatever words Hinori Hyuga had for me. My mother had died on the same day as my father.
I walked out of the room to go down for breakfast and shockingly found the table already set and full.
"You woke up quite late, didn't you, Cousin?" Tsunade asked as I sat down.
"And you're still here, Cousin. I wonder why. Is your mum still throwing up all through the night?" I asked with a snicker.
"Enough, Children. Shori, eat up. You have a day ahead of you," Mito cut in, and I nodded before digging into the healthy breakfast spread arrayed before me. There was so much variety that the meal was more reminiscent of a feast than just a simple breakfast for three. We all had healthy appetites, however. Grandmother said it was the Uzumaki blood that flowed through our veins, but part of me was certain she just used it as an excuse to be a glutton.
After finishing breakfast, I wasted no time heading back to my room to put on my armour. Grandmother had commissioned it for me the second she'd found out about the exams, and it was a masterpiece. Only a true master of fuinjutsu would be able to decipher all the seals on the armour. Even I had issues with them. I couldn't quite figure out the matrix that made wearing the armour feel as comfortable and light as wearing silk.
There were also seals that made the armour much sturdier than it would have otherwise been. That didn't even include the multiple, complex storage seals along the armour's frame that held surprises for anyone who wasn't vigilant enough.
---- —
"Five teams qualified, but only 14 genin will be moving on to the final round. We regret to inform you that Inasa of Kumogakure perished from his wounds at the hospital last night. Please remember him in your prayers tonight. Moving on, with 14 genin, the first round of the tournament will have seven one-on-one fights. That will create a quarterfinal round where one genin chosen at random will have to fight twice to secure their slot in the semi-final round." Jiraiya announced as the Final Round was about to begin. I blinked at his words. The only Kumo genin who was missing from the lineup was the one that I'd taken down during the Second Round. I didn't kill him. I couldn't have. I wasn't aiming to kill, only to disable. Surely, the Hospital should have been more than well-equipped enough to deal with the injuries dealt.
"The rules for this round are simple: both parties will fight until one either forfeits or is unable to continue. Death, immobilisation with no visible escape prospects, or unconsciousness all qualify as situations where the referee can declare a candidate unfit to continue," Yoroi spoke next in his simple tone before leaning backwards.
"Now, if you would turn your attention to the screen, our first fight is about to be drawn," Jiraiya said.
The screen flipped through names at high speed, very reminiscent of those casino machines. It finally began to slow down after close to a minute. The names became more visible until it stopped at two names- Takehada Toshiro vs. Cee" The female teammate of the genin I'd apparently killed in the previous round looked towards where I and my team stood with a sharp smile on her face. Oops.
"Would everyone except the chosen candidates take a step back and return to the waiting area?" The referee asked, appearing behind us suddenly. It was only at that moment that I actually realised who'd been chosen to referee this thing. My Cousin's second roommate. In all his pale-faced and yellow-eyed snaky glory.
"Be careful, Toshiro. She's out for blood," I whispered to him before I joined everyone else in moving towards the waiting area.
A/N; That's the chapter, ey? How's it vibing? The next three chapters are up on the place of pa –trons- same username as up here so feel free to check it out if you want to support my journey, but don't stress if you can't. Everything will come up here in its own time.