Dear Readers,

Hey guys, I just wanted to give a quick update. I apologize that this isn't another chapter for the story, but I promise that it's in the works and will be out soon. If you want an explanation for why I upload so infrequently and how my update schedule works, keep on reading. If not, feel free to drop it.

So here's the deal with how my update schedule kinda works. I don't have a set one like some other authors do on the site (i.e. uploading a new chapter every other week or every Monday of the month or something like that). I'd like to be able to do that for you guys, and lord knows that for all the support you give me you deserve it, but ideals and reality often don't mix how we want them to.

I know I joke a lot in my bio and author's notes and stuff, but I'll just be straight up with y'all for the moment.

I'm at a really stressful point in my life and have been for the past few years of writing this story and many of the ones that I've posted. For background, I'm a premed biology student studying at a university that has very heavy class requirements. The courses are hard – generally because it's a very good university for what I'm studying – and I often find myself completely swamped with work unable to do anything else. Still, even when I do get those breaks on weekends and such, I moreso try and relax and turn off my brain rather than try to write. I don't want to let the stress of trying to get into medschool get to me, and it really helps that in my free time I can just relax and do absolutely nothing.

I don't know if you've noticed a pattern in how my uploads work, but my chapters are mainly written during large breaks from school (i.e. Spring Break, Summer, Winter break, or the whole pandemic and such). It gives me time to gather motivation, read through reviews, reread my old chapters to see where I was taking things (as I usually write chapters improvising the whole thing and let my imagination just take me where it wants), and plan and write what I want.

So, I don't have the time or self-discipline to be writing a ton, especially with all of the extracurriculars I'm a part of to make me look good on med school applications. I'm not trying to make any excuses, I just wanted to provide an explanation to those who assume my stories are abandoned after I don't upload for a while.

So, with all of that said, updates with me come slowly and very infrequently, honestly maybe a few chapters a year – which is sad and unreasonable, and definitely unfair to all of you, but just how it has to be at the moment.

Honestly, Fanfiction is a huge guilty pleasure of mine. I love reading what all of you guys can come up with and how you feel that these different stories could take place. I've really enjoyed reading stories like Return of the Flash, The Last Prayer, From Academy to ANBU, and all of the others that different authors very obviously put a lot of time and effort into. I've loved Naruto since I was a kid, and when the main series ended and I learned all I had, I turned to this site to see what other fans could add.

I've taken many stabs at writing fanfic, some very cringey when I was in my early teens (which have been thoroughly deleted and the hard drive having already been drilled through), but right now is the first time that I feel like I'm actually writing something that both I and the Fanfic community can enjoy. It's finally fun and I feel like my writing is finally at a passable quality and I absolutely love reading all of your reviews.

So, I mean, thanks?

As I said, I'm underway with writing the next chapter to Woes of an Immortal, so I will get that to you in the near future. Additionally, as I've said previously, I've been working on another project tentatively titled 'Mercy, Mercy, Mercy' with a premise that I love a lot and am very passionate about writing, and the only reason that it isn't out yet is that I can't pull myself away from writing the overall summary of the chapters and stories to finally finish the details on the first few chapters. But I think it'll be my best story yet and I hope you guys agree as well.

Additionally, for anybody who was a fan of 'Return', that story is on an indefinite Hiatus. The whole premise to me seemed cool, but it was written far too roughly and without enough real general direction to it for me to consider continuing it in the face of the other projects I'm working on. I'll eventually rewrite the first few chapters and continue it in the future, but that sadly won't be any time soon.

Also, this chapter will be deleted later on, because I always hate it when authors leave authors notes in the middle of stories, so this will get cut after a while.

Anyway, this is already way too long, and I'm writing this during a 30 minute break between moving apartments, so I gotta go.

Thanks for reading my stories. I genuinely do really appreciate you guys. I hope you all continue reading the things I have planned.

Thanks.