Shikaneji remind me of the song Iris

I don't think I'll ever be able to find a fanfiction written as well as this one. I am going to be chasing this high for a LONG time. Honestly this series is better than a lot of actual books I've read. My absolute favorite is the way you write character interactions so flawlessly! My favorite moments ended up being Ino/Shika/Cho just hanging out or Kakashi/Genma/Asuma shooting the shit at the bar. The witty lines like "holy shit on a dango stick" make my day. The way you make them interact so in character amazes me. Did Ino and Kiba even talk in cannon? bc I think this ship makes more sense than her and Sai. Crack pairings come FLAWLESSLY to you and I absolutely love it. Then you make OC characters and they fit in so perfectly you can't even remember if they were cannon or not. Making me sad that Genma is leaving his drug dealer LOL. Don't even get me started on the lemons, 10/10 hottest smut I've ever read. You don't even make it feel raunchy! All in all, I don't know how you gave us such a perfectly rounded story and gave it to us for FREE. Genuinely thank you.

"A moment, that's all it ever takes." AHHHHH goose bumps immediately after reading that

Shikamaru reminds me of the vampire diaries when they turn off their humanity. Is it bad of me to enjoy him calling everyone out on their shit so bluntly? lol Also the line where Ino says of course he doesnt want a weed. MY HEART.

Did I ever think I'd be reading Genma Kakashi smut? No. Did I love it? Yes. You continue to amaze me with how well you write lemons. It isn't raunchy but full of passion and primal need.

Love seeing Ino and Kiba tension right out the gate

Sorry! Just realized my review got posted as a guest review
OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S OVER!
This has been such an intense, crazy, heart breaking, funny and moving ride! Holy gods what the hell am I going to read now (this again obviously lol. Or book 5…)
Standing ovation to you, the authorYour writing is an ABSOLUTE joy to read (even if the content itself wasn’t always so happy lol). The intensity, the character depth, the characterizations, your writing style, your humor (LOVED your humor!), your range of emotions, your character interactions, your PLOT, your folding in of canon and non-canon, your storytelling….I could go on and expound on these, but the Cliff Notes version is; I loved this series and your writing This may now be my favorite fan fiction series ever. And I wasn’t even sure I was a ShikaNegi fan when I started lol. (Rest assured, I am now.)
Oh man, so many things to say and ask you now! And I know that stories don’t always end in neat bows, but there are a few questions scattered throughout the next few paragraphs that hopefully you can answer
First; I really liked that you made Sarutobi Hiruzen not a perfect person. The more I read the manga or watched the show, the more I realized he made a LOT of questionable decisions in his time. I mean seriously, in what universe was what he did to Naruto(just one example) ever a good idea? Where was the harm in telling the kid who his parents were or at least telling the villagers so they didn’t hate him? That was a HUGE risk he took in alienating such a powerful ninja. Or how he left orphan children to live alone without any adult assistance? Just a lot of things I wondered about, but still he was viewed in a positive light by many of the older shinobi and I liked that you showed both those views of him.
Second; PTSD. This has got to be a huge problem in a ninja village and I liked that you didn’t hide from this issue. You truly delved into the grit and gore and suffering of these amazing people who sacrifice so much but are then told to wrestle their resulting demons somewhere out of sight.
Third; Ino. Omgods I loved how you portrayed her here I was not a fan of her manga/anime version, but I loved her here! You gave her so much more depth! Made her an actual person, with relatable problems and feelings and issues, rather then just the designated pretty girl on Team 10. (Same with Tenten! Thank you!) I saw a lot of myself in your characterization of Ino and I just want to say thank you for writing her with such dedication and care. I didn’t think I’d end up liking her scenes but I did, and that’s all thanks to your writing. Because through your writing I was able to put myself in her shoes and connect with her in a way I was not expecting. Thank you
Fourth; what is Mizugomo’s story!? Holy crow I loved her character! And her interactions, Insights and humor with Genma and Kakashi were amazing
Fifth; very much a fan of how you tried to end and start a lot of your line breaks/changes in POV with the same words or concepts It was a neat trick that I got a fun kick out of every time I read it
Sixth; your understanding and use of the Japanese language in this story was lovely Are you fluent?
Seventh; I do not remember if this gets answered in the manga/anime, but how did Karibi die? I’m assuming she died before Naoki “died” at 19, since he knew she had died. Did they both die on the same mission? And if so, WTF NAOKI! You left your lover and teammate to deal with both your deaths on his own!? Knowing the type of person he was!? And even if they died on separate missions they couldn’t have been that far apart judging by their ages in Genma and Naoki’s memories! Like seriously, WTF NAOKI!? How bad of a fucking friend can you be pulling shit like that on your best friend/lover/ comrade/subordinate/partner! I’m surprised that with their deaths so close together, that Genma even made it to the Tanzaku incident.
Sorry I don’t mean to flame Naoki, I actually found him a very compelling character and liked how he seemed to impact and impart different things to different characters. This just really bugged me because he knew Genma- cared for and about him!- and that is not the kind of stab-in-the-back or flat-out- abandonment-in-a-time-of-need that any good friend, partner, commander, comrade or lover should do. Sorry, had to get that off my chest
Lastly; I LOVED how you had everything come full circle at the end It always impresses me when authors are able to reintegrate events or thoughts or points from the beginning of a story, into the end. And you did it masterfully️
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR WRITING THIS AMAZING SERIES! Your hard work, time and dedication are EXTREMELY appreciated!️️
I hope things are going well for you and that you and yours are staying healthy I’m keeping an eye out for any books by T.A Rayne Hope your Original Works are going well!
And of course, I’m keeping an eye out for anymore of your fan fiction work (here and ao3)
All the best, and thank you again for giving us this fantastic story.

OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S OVER!
This has been such an intense, crazy, heart breaking, funny and moving ride! Holy gods what the hell am I going to read now (this again obviously lol. Or book 5…)
Standing ovation to you, the authorYour writing is an ABSOLUTE joy to read (even if the content itself wasn’t always so happy lol). The intensity, the character depth, the characterizations, your writing style, your humor (LOVED your humor!), your range of emotions, your character interactions, your PLOT, your folding in of canon and non-canon, your storytelling….I could go on and expound on these, but the Cliff Notes version is; I loved this series and your writing This may now be my favorite fan fiction series ever. And I wasn’t even sure I was a ShikaNegi fan when I started lol. (Rest assured, I am now.)
Oh man, so many things to say and ask you now! And I know that stories don’t always end in neat bows, but there are a few questions scattered throughout the next few paragraphs that hopefully you can answer
First; I really liked that you made Sarutobi Hiruzen not a perfect person. The more I read the manga or watched the show, the more I realized he made a LOT of questionable decisions in his time. I mean seriously, in what universe was what he did to Naruto(just one example) ever a good idea? Where was the harm in telling the kid who his parents were or at least telling the villagers so they didn’t hate him? That was a HUGE risk he took in alienating such a powerful ninja. Or how he left orphan children to live alone without any adult assistance? Just a lot of things I wondered about, but still he was viewed in a positive light by many of the older shinobi and I liked that you showed both those views of him.
Second; PTSD. This has got to be a huge problem in a ninja village and I liked that you didn’t hide from this issue. You truly delved into the grit and gore and suffering of these amazing people who sacrifice so much but are then told to wrestle their resulting demons somewhere out of sight.
Third; Ino. Omgods I loved how you portrayed her here I was not a fan of her manga/anime version, but I loved her here! You gave her so much more depth! Made her an actual person, with relatable problems and feelings and issues, rather then just the designated pretty girl on Team 10. (Same with Tenten! Thank you!) I saw a lot of myself in your characterization of Ino and I just want to say thank you for writing her with such dedication and care. I didn’t think I’d end up liking her scenes but I did, and that’s all thanks to your writing. Because through your writing I was able to put myself in her shoes and connect with her in a way I was not expecting. Thank you
Fourth; what is Mizugomo’s story!? Holy crow I loved her character! And her interactions, Insights and humor with Genma and Kakashi were amazing
Fifth; very much a fan of how you tried to end and start a lot of your line breaks/changes in POV with the same words or concepts It was a neat trick that I got a fun kick out of every time I read it
Sixth; your understanding and use of the Japanese language in this story was lovely Are you fluent?
Seventh; I do not remember if this gets answered in the manga/anime, but how did Karibi die? I’m assuming she died before Naoki “died” at 19, since he knew she had died. Did they both die on the same mission? And if so, WTF NAOKI! You left your lover and teammate to deal with both your deaths on his own!? Knowing the type of person he was!? And even if they died on separate missions they couldn’t have been that far apart judging by their ages in Genma and Naoki’s memories! Like seriously, WTF NAOKI!? How bad of a fucking friend can you be pulling shit like that on your best friend/lover/ comrade/subordinate/partner! I’m surprised that with their deaths so close together, that Genma even made it to the Tanzaku incident.
Sorry I don’t mean to flame Naoki, I actually found him a very compelling character and liked how he seemed to impact and impart different things to different characters. This just really bugged me because he knew Genma- cared for and about him!- and that is not the kind of stab-in-the-back or flat-out- abandonment-in-a-time-of-need that any good friend, partner, commander, comrade or lover should do. Sorry, had to get that off my chest
Lastly; I LOVED how you had everything come full circle at the end It always impresses me when authors are able to reintegrate events or thoughts or points from the beginning of a story, into the end. And you did it masterfully️
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR WRITING THIS AMAZING SERIES! Your hard work, time and dedication are EXTREMELY appreciated!️️
I hope things are going well for you and that you and yours are staying healthy I’m keeping an eye out for any books by T.A Rayne Hope your Original Works are going well!
And of course, I’m keeping an eye out for anymore of your fan fiction work (here and ao3)
All the best, and thank you again for giving us this fantastic story.

I love you

por fin estoy en la ultima entrega de esta maravillosa saga y solo digo que estoy un poco mas que fascinada en verdad e disfrutado tanto cada entrega tus parrafos tus narraciones decir que elevas la imagincion y ecxitas mi fascinacion queda corto . como describir el huracan de sensaciones y reacciones que e tenido desde que empece esta odisea . llevo meses leyendo lo que imagino debio costarte años escribir soy pesima con las palabra que quisiera mas que describirte de manera filosofica y lirica lo mucho que me a provocado tu escrito . pero no lo consiguiria solo te puedo agradecer por escribirlo . porque es fascinante , intrigante , ecxitante y entretienes una vaga que ama la lectura . que no habla ingles pero a aprendido muchas cosas gracias a esto . mis mejores deseos eres increible te as convertido en mi aut r favorito .

i've been suspecting SA was apart of what Shuken did to Shikamaru and it seems that might be ringing true... oddly the anxiety that this prospect gave me is starting to ease. I guess it's true we fear the unknown more than anything lol

You really do have an amazing talent for writing! The detail you write with paints such vivid imagery it's impossible not to get lost in the world. I know I mentioned this before but the character development is simply fantastic as well! I'm just as in love watching the characters grow both internally and externally as much as I am in the wonderful twists and turns of your well conceived story line. You obviously put in so much time and effort and you ended up with two beautiful pieces of artBrilliantly done!

This is the second time I read this series, and I still love it as much as the first time !
I will go and check out your original fictions now :)

I have no words, my love for this fic is endless, my heart hurts

I like to think that in the future, Hiashi makes good on his admission that there are three things/people he would die for, and gives his life protecting Hinata & Neji in the war bc jeeeeeesus the way Kishi handled Neji's death... so pointless, just to push naruhina closer

I can't even put into words how much i loved this chapter and how much on the whole that this fic means the absolute world to me