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blackrosesfanfic · 4 years

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Chapter 222

Cammie

Caden jumps out of his sleep staring at me what seemed to be intense like. I stare back at him for a few seconds then I lower him down to his crib. He just stares at me the whole time I'm resting him on the mattress. I pull my hand back lying him flat. He explodes. Not literally. But he explodes. Tears and all. I cross my arms staring at him as he starts kicking his feet. Is he having a baby temper tantrum? What is this?

"Why are you doing him like that?" Trey says coming up to the crib reaching in. "Come on man."

"Caden is fake." I snap.

Caden acts like his world is crumbling still. Oh my goodness. This baby is super fake. Trey bounces him around the room as he cries louder and louder. Now let's see what he does when I take him from Trey. I go over and abruptly take him from Trey. Caden takes one look at me and starts smiling instead of crying. He couldn't help revealing his spoiled ass game. I suck my teeth.

"Why didn't you pick him up then? Don't make him cry like that." Trey says upset.

"Shut up."

He was about to say something but in walks my mother. I frown then I look at the time. I look back at her.

"How did you... i am so sorry." I say. "Did you have trouble getting here? Your plane landed 2 hours ago."

"Trey happened to be in the area." My mother says.

I cut my eyes at him. "Doing what? Why did you leave?"

Trey kinda dismiss himself. "I'm allowed to leave home without you knowing. I was in the area."

"I can't stand you." I say turning back to Caden.

"How have you been?" My mother asks.

I shrug. "I've been trying to get him to sleep for the past 2 hours. He doesn't want to sleep. When he finally went to sleep he woke up cause I landed him down."

"Hey, Caden." My mother says from a distance. "Your husband is quite moody."

"Oh you think." I snap.

"I also think you trigger it." She chuckles. "He was just fine in the car. Walking into the house. Put my bag down walked in here and woah. Anyway, I'm going to shower. Get this airport air off me. Los Angeles is so... dirty."

I chuckle. "Okay."

"See you later Caden." She says bothering his foot. He gives her a little fake laugh. "Is he not feeling good?"

"I have him an appointment tomorrow. I don't think so."

"Check his temperature. He could be hiding a fever." Ma says walking away. She starts talking once she is in the hall. "Was that your plan, sweetie? Don't let your emotions win every time. The heart is never emotional. Your heart is solid in what is feels. It never changes but your mind... Focus. There's a reason we came here instead of going to see Lane."

I smile looking at the door. Mother and her pep talks. My mother is a writer and she often writes poetry. She said she used to write a lot of songs for my father that he would play for her. Trey walks into the room on his phone. He walks back out of the room.

"Yes, ma'am." He says then laughs. "I'll get some more towels sent over. Oh there's a service, yes. They clean and bring towels and fresh linen. They cook too but Chris putting together a dinner. Yes ma'am."

Trey walks into the room with his phone once again. I lie Caden on Lane's bed then step away from the bed. Next thing I know Trey is across the room to the bed. I turn around quickly looking at Caden. Trey lies him back down on the bed.

"What are you doing?" I retort.

"He was rolling off the bed." Trey snaps.

I move him. "Caden can't roll. Can you Caden? Did you do that?"

Caden just stares at me. I backwards away from the bed going back to grab his things to change his diaper. He could see me still so he just stares at me. Trey picks him up turning him how I had him the first time. He starts whining then turns his head from side to side. He sees me then he turns his upper body staring. He better stop with the badness. I throw the diaper at him hitting his stomach. He looks at Trey then turns his body more. Trey moves him over from the edge of the bed. My stank baby.

"Jayla." Trey says now lying across the twin bed with Caden. "I'm sorry."

"For what Tremaine?" I bark.

He takes Caden's clothes off. "Being so insensitive and demanding. I expect so much from you. I never want us to end but I'm scared."

I throw the wipes at him. "Who coached you on things to say?"

"Nobody." He shrugs. "Only sometimes I see myself for the jackass I am. I love you. I love us."

"Mmhh." I say pulling Caden to me. He gets excited like we playing. "Caden go to sleep."

Trey touches my side then he lies down. "Jayla, I didn't fuck anybody."

"It shouldn't be a question Tremaine. If you want me to continue to trust in you then you wouldn't allow there to be fucking situations like this. You don't know. And you blame it on being drunk? High? Tremaine, did I not tell you that..."

"Yes." He says covering his face. "What can I do? I don't know what to say, Jayla. I don't know what to do. I fucked up. I said that already."

"But you want me to forgive you? You want me to keep trusting you?"

He sits up looking at me then he looks at Caden who was staring at him. Caden smiles at Trey when Trey smiles at him. Caden looks at me then he starts kicking his feet so I couldn't put on his diaper. I stop trying and look at him. He stops kicking then looks at Trey. Trey kisses him making him laugh.

"Okay, I'm ready." April says walking into the room. Nobody says anything. "Chris has been busting his ass for the two of you. I'm not even asking if you are going. I'll be back in 10 minutes. Fucking shame."

I look at Caden and Trey playing. I walk away going into the bathroom. I had to forgive Trey for everything he did when I flew to his rescue in Vegas. All of this is just excessive talking and attitude. But I don't want to keep going through this with him. I turn around about to say something but I stop. He was standing at the bathroom door with Caden. I push him out of the door then close it. I change my mind. Let him think I hate him for a bit longer.

Trey

"I can't put him down." I laugh looking down at Caden who was staring at me eat my cake.

"Give him to Cammie." Chris says looking around.

I shrug. "She doesn't want him."

Chris sucks his teeth. "I finally get your bad ass son to go to sleep. Now I have to deal with the second one. Bring him outside then."

"Bugs." I say biting my cake.

"Sounds like you don't want to come outside to the fire." Chris says walking away.

I look at Caden. Hd is acting like a fucking brat. But it's okay because I need somebody to need me right now. When we got here Lane was too wired on exhaustion to do anything but cry. Cammie was about to spank him but Chris saved him and he went to sleep with Chris eating ice cream. I drink my water then stand up. Chris has been doing a lot of shit today. I guess I'll try a bit harder to get Caden to sleep. I take him into the bedroom and turn the air down to 65. I strip Caden down to his disper then lay him down on his stomach. He starts crying. I stay quiet in the room and not touch him.

"Do you not hear him crying? Your ears busted?" Rollie says coming into the room.

"He need to go to sleep." I say.

Caden stops crying and listens. Rollie stares at Caden for a few seconds. I tilt my head at Rollie.

"What you got against kids crying?" I snap then chuckle. "They can't cry?"

"There is no reason for them to cry while someone teaches them a lesson."

I glance at Caden who was going to sleep. "No lesson here. We good."

"So what's up?"

"Meaning?"

He shrugs. "With you and Cammie."

I shake my head a bit. "We still married. That's all I know."

"Would you sign the divorce papers if I got a lawyer to write some out?"

"No." I say not thinking about it.

Rollie chuckles. "Why not? You want her to be happy."

"Not with nobody else, nigga."

He turns to the door then he turns back around. "Nigga I would just like to say that if you didn't have millions of dollars and a reputation for being sexy, don't get that confused in anyway with me calling you sexy. I know you and Chris be on that shit. But yeah." He chuckles to himself. "Nigga you wouldn't get a 10th of the girls you get. Lame ass."

"I don't see girls lined up for you."

He laughs loudly. "I'm trying to be faithful. Let's bet after you fuck up your marriage to my sister and I fuck up everything before marriage."

"Say what?" Someone says from the hallway.

Rollie steps into the hall. "Leah, you fucking nosey. I wasn't talking to you."

"I don't care if you were talking to me."

"Go ahead about your night now." Rollie says coming back in the room. "Trey your shit contagious. Stay the hell away from me, bitch."

"Sounds... I definitely hear aggression." I nod.

I stand up from the bed slowly. Caden moves his head some. I didn't realize he had his feet on me until I got up. He takes a deep breath then goes back to sleep. I back up away from the bed scared to make any noise.

"Tremaine, you..."

"Shhh." I spin around grabbing Jayla and pushing her out the room. "You the last person he needs to hear."

She looks around me then she pushes me off her. I grab her hugging her tight to me. She doesn't do anything. I stare at her. I don't know what to say or do. She looks around me again into the room then she moves away from me.

"Jayla..."

"Don't wake him up." She whispers walking into the room. I walk in behind her. "Don't."

I ignore her following her to her clothes. She looks back at me. Cammie I am so sorry. Just forgive me and we move on. You being stubborn and mean. I didn't fuck nobody. In the perfect scenario I could say that and it be over. But my wife not gonna take that. I fucked up and that's that. Nothing I can do but beg her. I look her up and down. Or I could try to get out of it with sex which she always think I'm doing when I'm not. But right now I would be. I sit down and watch her take off her clothes. She unconsciously forgets about me. It felt a bit dirty. She so damn sexy.

"Okay, Bae. So I talked to Debra." Sevyn says coming into the room.

"Excuse you." Cammie says cutting her eyes at Sevyn.

Seven shows Cammie her phone. "You know you need to stop. I done seen every inch of that body."

"Shut up." Cammie laughs turning her back to Sevyn. "Do this thing. I think it's broke."

"Just go in the water with your mommy titties. It's gonna be dark."

"You can see these shits like beckons. No."

Cammie looks up at me like she forgot I was there. She stares at me while covering her titles with the bathing suit top. It covered her stomach but had her back out. She should have just wore a top without the cover. Modest Cammie. Sevyn turns her around.

"Did you see it?"

"Yeah. I like blue."

Sevyn nods leaving out. "Okay. I like the white and the gold ones. I'll get you blue."

Cammie goes back to getting ready. She turns around throwing something at me. I look down at my lap. Swimming trunks. I guess Jayla. I take my shirt off. By this point Cammie was fully dressed in her not so revealing two piece. Maybe I will be as selfless as possible. I stand up walking over to her. She holds up a different pair of trunks as if I told her I didn't want the first pair. I grab her hips. She doesn't move or anything. I run my hands up her cover to her titties. Gotdamn. I kneel down while running my hands down to her thighs tangling my fingers up in her bottoms. She exhales. My freaky Jayla. I pull her shorts down a bit.

"Tremaine." She whispers but moans.

"Hope that's not a stop." I say then kiss her mound.

She inhale. I slide my hand into her shorts feeling her heat. I pull her shorts to the floor with the other hand as I slide my fingers towards her pussy. She moans. A horny Jayla. I chuckle to myself then spread her legs and start sucking on her clit. She stumbles a bit. I slide a third finger into her leaking hot insides. She moans once again almost losing her balance. I lift her leg resting her thigh on my shoulder. She cums. I speed up finger fucking her harder. I bite around her clit barely brushing against it with my lips. She touches my face warning me that I was doing too much for her to be quiet. I look up at her. She has her hand over her mouth.

"Something wrong?" I ask digging into her pussy.

She switches hands and leans onto my free shoulder. I had cum all over my arm and hand. I lick the cum as it leaks out of her pussy. She fucking moans as if she were weeping and holding in her scream. Mhhm. I wrap my free arm around her back and lift her a bit. I lower her to the floor. Damn I wanted to fuck her so bad. But I won't get shit from this. As hard as it is, I have decided. It's final. I open her legs and slide my fingers out of her pussy slowly. She moves her hips moaning. I kiss her wet sticky lips then slide my tongue into her throbbed pussy. She moans. I press my hand down on her clit. She starts moving her hips against my hand and face. I digg my tongue deep in her pussy flicking her spot. She screams then covers her mouth. I wipe my face with my clean hand and get in her face. She had her eyes closed breathing hard. I kiss her lips then stand up off the floor. She opens her eyes staring at me. I grab the swimming trunks and go over to the bed. Caden was still sleep. I go to his baby bag and put the sleeping monitor and camera on him. It tells if he wakes up or rows over.

"Tremaine?" Cammie says.

"Yeah." I turn around looking at her as she comes out the bathroom.

"Like..." she steps into her shorts. "I mean I liked that and all but..."

I pull the trunks up on me. She doesn't say anything. "Uh huh?"

"Nevermind." She says walking towards the door.

"Jay." I say going up and grabbing her. "What?"

She kinda shakes her head. "Nothing."

I stare at her then I smirk. "You wanted some dick?"

"I..."

"Aye?" Chris snaps walking in. "No dick. Let's go."

Cammie sucks her teeth. "Chris is the fire gonna blow out?"

"It's not about the fire." Chris says pointing towards the door. "Baby sleep let's go."

"Jay." I say grabbing her close to me. I whisper. "I just wanted it to be about you."

Chris puts his hand between us. "Move this way."

I slap his arm. "You bugging."

"This way." Chris says again.

"You so dramatic." Cammie spazzes on Chris pushing him. "About to have a fit cause you can't hold your excitement in. Calm down."

Chris didn't care. He was satisfied that she was moving towards the door. Cammie walks away then Chris follows her. I glance back at Caden again then smile. My little man. I hate to leave to go outside. Seems far away.

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recentanimenews · 5 years

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THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL REWATCH Goes On An Escort Mission with Episodes 204 - 210

Welcome back to THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH. I'm Daniel Dockery, your host for this week's batch of episodes, and I gotta say, I'm gonna miss reading these writers' responses to whatever Naruto and His Amazing Friends happen to doing that week. It's got me feeling all sentimental, especially now that we only have two more weeks left. And it's because I was feeling so sentimental that I decided to approach my questions a little more...personally.

Sure, I wanted their opinions on the latest round of filler, which included an overload of escort-style missions and some fun genjutsu use, but I mostly wanted to dive into their lives and see what makes them tick. What drives a person to watch Naruto and then answer questions about it each week? What lurks in the heart of a Sasuke fan? What are the hidden depths in a being that has committed a chunk of their lives to counting how many bowls of ramen a Shonen Jump character eats? And since I doubt we'll ever get a hard-hitting documentary about the hidden feelings of a Naruto fan, that means it's up to me to do the digging. Consider me your Anime Werner Herzog.

So let's dive in!

Naruto sure does love its escort missions. There's two back-to-back in this set of episodes. What's your take on them? I know that, whenever a video game is like "Ya gotta get the professor to the control room and if he gets blasted, it's lights out!", I want to throw a PS4 out a window. And in anime, it's usually "Ya gotta protect this guy (that has a valuable secret that you won't learn about until it's waaaay too late." But I want to know your feelings.

Joseph: They're not as downright immediately awful in anime as they are in games, but they have to be handled interestingly. Naruto filler does not do that. This week's episodes were, through and through, interminable.

Paul: I don't mind escort missions in general, although as noted above, they all do tend to fall into the same "vital secret withheld" pattern. The living national treasure episode didn't work for me, because the secret artist, Shinemon, was so thoroughly detestable that -- despite attempts to humanize him that came far too late -- I would have been perfectly happy to see him dashed to bits on the rocks.

Kevin: I think I dislike the escort missions more on paper than I do in practice. At least by introducing someone to escort, the show goes to a new location and has a new character or two for Naruto and whoever else he's with to interact with. It's not handled particularly well most of the time, but at least it's an easy way to get something new-ish out of the filler.

Carolyn: Fetch quests < escort missions except in Resident Evil 4. As far as Naruto goes, I don't think it's the escort missions themselves that are the issue, so much as it's the repetitiveness of just about every storyline. But that's a whole other issue.

David: On one hand, escort missions make a lot of sense as something ninjas-for-hire would do frequently, especially the younger ones like our main characters who need the experience. On the other, we've talked enough here about all the more interesting ways "being a ninja" could be portrayed as a concept, so it does feel pretty lazy that they keep returning to this well.

Jared: We've certainly seen our fair share of these types of missions, so they're not terrible when watching compared to when you have to do them in a game, but the execution in the ones we saw this week is the problem. They really didn't bring anything new to the table that we hadn't already seen done better.

Danni: I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who made it through that one mission at the end of Metal Gear Solid 3 without failing on the first try, so as far as Naruto's escort missions go, I guess I didn't hate them. Gantetsu seems cool at least.

Noelle: Escort missions in general are alright (in anime, not in games), but this one didn't really do it for for me. Lazy execution will bring anything down, really.

Kara: I played City of Heroes and World of Warcraft so I tired of escort missions pretty quickly from a game standpoint. From a show standpoint, they can be interesting if they're done creatively. To their credit, neither of these even approached the annoyingness that was the rich kid ninja-for-a-day, but I would absolutely have murdered the sculptor and used the rest of the trip home to figure out a noble-sounding death for him.

Gosh, we're in the home stretch, huh? So I want to know: How does it feel to have made Naruto a part of your weekly routine for so long? Is it something you look forward to? Did you ever have a problem fitting it into your week? Did you ever have to tell someone "No, I can't hang out. I've gotta see what these ninjas are up to"?

Joseph: I looked forward to it for about 70% of the rewatch, so not bad! I never had to go too out of my way to keep it as part of my routine, but there was a time I had to make sure to download episodes on N*****x so I could watch while in England. Crunchy-hime, gomennasai.

Paul: Just this evening, I had to pass up walking the dog with my sister in order to catch the weekly ninja shenanigans. When we first started, I'd set aside a block of two specific dates and times each week to watch Naruto, but now I just shotgun all seven episodes as soon as the questions are available. It'll take adjustment to fill that Naruto-shaped hole in my schedule. Maybe I'll catch up on the 300+ episodes of One Piece I need to watch...

Kevin: A surprising amount of my life has started revolving around this Rewatch, to the point that I actively plan things like D&D sessions around knowing that questions normally come in on Wednesdays or Thursdays, so I need to either watch the week's episodes early or keep those days clear. At the same time, I'm legitimately looking forward to continuing the Rewatch into other shows and then to Shippuden, since watching these long form shounen series so quickly gives a different viewing experience than watching week to week.

Carolyn: There were definitely a few times I had to pass on things for Naruto but for the most part I was able to watch it while doing other work so it wasn't too inconvenient. I can't say it was the highlight, though the first few arcs definitely reminded me of why I was such a fan so many years ago and I was pleasantly surprised to find Naruto -- a former least favorite character -- is now one of my top favorite characters.

David: Back before this filler started, I would have said Naruto was one of the most highly anticipated parts of my week anime-wise. Now, uh, not so much. I'm looking forward to getting to Shippuden though.

Jared: It certainly feels weird that we're going to be done with OG Naruto in two weeks. As someone who hadn't watched a lick of Naruto before this, it's been fun. Although the filler at times has tested my patience with that. I've definitely had to maneuver some stuff around or make sure I don't record a podcast too late in order to watch episodes which has made for some interesting ways to make sure everything works out.

Danni: It's weird to think how I've ostensibly watched one episode of Naruto a day for nearly the entirety of 2019. To be fair though, I averaged nearly two episodes a day in the 10 months it took me to watch the entirety of the Dragon Ball series, so this just feels like a light continuation of that. I haven't given up on any social obligations to watch Naruto, but it has cut down on my available tea time with my students in Fire Emblem.

Noelle: I never thought I'd be watching Naruto in 2019, but it's August and I sure did just that! It's been more a trip down memory lane for me, and I think I have a more updated perspective on some of the things I recall that were shaky. It's been pretty interesting comparing what I thought as a teenager to my impressions now, and it's been pretty amusing to see how some things haven't changed. The Rewatch is definitely something I have to specifically make time for in my schedule though.

Kara: My friends now joke that I'm "watching Naruto for a living." I honestly thought this was going to be like pulling teeth. Really, only the filler has been like that. I was pleasantly surprised to find it's enjoyable at its best. Also couldn't help but do a bit of a double take this week when the words "It's Naruto, he'll be fine" were spoken unironically. How times have changed.

Are there any points in your life that you regard as filler arcs? I remember taking golf lessons for a week when I was 23, which seemed super out of character for me, since I find golf amazingly dull. So I look back on that as "non-canon Daniel." Is there anything like that from your own life that anime fans would argue isn't part of the official timeline of You?

Joseph: Off the top of my head, I've been pretty damn canon for my entire run. There were a couple months where I lived in LA to help my friend direct his graduation short, but that was more of a NaruJoe Gaiden. Surely some of the six (6!) years I spent farting around in college were filler, though.

Paul: My filler moments would be when I've struggled with bouts of serious depression. Those portions of my life feel hazy and unreal, and if it turned out that I were merely a character in someone else's comic book, I suspect those would be the awkward bits where they fired the previous writers and artists, and the editors had to fake it until a new batch came along.

Kevin: I lived with my parents for about 18 months after graduating college, just looking for some kind of employment. Day in and day out, basically just lounging around home, occasionally having bursts of productivity by applying to a bunch of jobs all at once. This is also the time when I was seriously studying Japanese and picking up mobile gaming. Near the end, I got a seasonal job working for Target and then started writing features for Crunchyroll. I think that's about as filler as it gets, even down to changing up the formula to stave off boredom.

Carolyn: I had to think about this for quite a long time. I'm not certain I can say there was much that I could call filler except possibly my education, which is kind of depressing. I first started going to college for an elementary education degree before realizing I don't actually have the patience to be a teacher. Later I got a certificate in medical transcription/billing and coding ... and did nothing with it. It's all worked out, but those would have to be the filler arcs, I guess.

David: I spent my first semester of college working on a music degree only for my interest in that to peter out halfway through and basically wasting my time for the rest of the year until I found an interest in computer science, so that's probably the closest.

Jared: For me, I'd probably go with all the choices I went through before settling on what I eventually graduated college with. So, there was the long filler arc where I thought I was going to be an automotive mechanic. That transitioned into the very brief web designer arc. After that was the dark time where I had to work at Walmart for two years after dropping out. Finally, there would've been the journalism arc that would eventually transition me onto the English path that would take me out of college.

Danni: My life is a filler arc.

Noelle: This is a tough question... I do think a lot of things in my life have lead up to where I am now, even if I did feel they were useless at the time. Maybe all the summers I spent at summer camp; I don't think I retained anything particularly useful from those experiences, except for maybe a Pokemon card or two.

Kara: I think my almost ten years working for a mainstream news website would constitute that. It started out okay, but then it was just a lot of time-killing with very little new scenery. Turning in my notice and becoming a freelancer was scary, but it really did feel like moving on to a new chapter. Which isn't to say every day is super-exciting plot progression, but at least I'm not seeing the same things over and over with slightly different character designs.

Okay, in our Naruto slack chat channel, there's a debate going on about genjutsu and how useful it is. So, to give us a little more #content, I wanna know your feelings about it here:

Joseph: It seems pretty useful, but only at an absurdly high level. I'm a huge sucker for illusions so I don't mind the fact that it's just that most of the time. In these particular filler eps, there's an instance where if you fall in imaginary Genjutsu lava, your body actually thinks it's burning and you could die as a result. I'm not going to put much stock in Filler Power Logic, though, so I dunno. I guess it's just a cool concept rather than one I think is super useful all the time. Freddy Krueger uses Genjutsu, so there's that.

Paul: I actively enjoyed the Yakumo arc, although I feel like having so many Kurama clan members with String-Bean Genjutsu was wasted potential. One of my favorite science fiction films is Forbidden Planet, which also features a super-powered id beast running amok. I know some others were arguing that genjutsu is weak as heck, but applied properly, I think it can be one of the deadliest and most inventive tricks in the ninja arsenal, especially when it fools the brain into damaging the body.

Kevin: I'm the one who started the discussion, so my thoughts are already well known in the channel. For the audience though: I feel like Genjutsu is almost objectively the worst possible thing to specialize in for a Naruto character. Taijutsu basically lets you bench press mountains and ninjutsu seems to let you do pretty much anything magical, and they both allow you to outright kill your opponent. Meanwhile, outside of the insanely powerful genjutsu shown in this week's episodes and the one that Itachi likes using, genjutsu only ever seems to immobilize the opponent.

On its own, that might be fine, since you could stop them and then kill them easily, but even schoolchildren know how to dispel low level genjutsu, and Kuranai showed that when that doesn't work, you can just stab yourself once to get out of a genjutsu. Not ideal obviously, but much easier to defeat than a man moving faster than the eye can see, or a kid trying to stab you with a ball of lightning.

For some of the others:

Ninja tools (Tenten): Not seen often and also a contender for worst option because of how rarely Tenten gets to win at anything. But being able to summon pretty much any number of any weapon has a lot of versatility.

Ninja animals (Kiba, Shino, etc.): They always seem to end up being more useful than I would expect them to be, while genjutsu always ends up being more boring than I would expect.

Kekkei Genkai: Because they don't need to follow the same rules as standard jutsu, the creators have more freedom to be imaginative with what the abilities can do.

Medical ninjutsu: Always useful in keeping people alive (brought back everyone's favorite bowlcut, after all), and Kabuto showed how it can be used offensively. Tsunade also hasn't showed how powerful medical jutsus can get, yet.

Sealing: We haven't seen much of it yet, but what we know is that if you can't kill something, you can seal it away. Maybe not the most practical specialization on a day-to-day basic, but exceptionally useful when needed.

A different group chat I'm in actually came up with a great way to make genjutsu more engaging, and it's basically what Shikamaru does with his Shadow Possession jutsu. Instead of the ninja casting a genjutsu and then basically nothing happening until either the person under the jutsu breaks out or someone comes along to help them get out, the genjutsu creates an opening for someone else to attack, creating combos and interesting combat scenarios.

Carolyn: Yeah, I have to agree with Joseph. Even if the logic doesn't exactly make sense, anything that deals with mind-bending and reality manipulation is a plus in my book.

David: It makes sense to me that genjutsu could be seen as the least useful ninja art to practice if you're a normal person in this world, but in the context of the show where the focus tends to be on the most powerful characters, everything except genjutsu feels completely underpowered. So it depends on your lot in life I suppose.

Jared: We've certainly seen instances of lower level Genjutsu where it seems easy to get out of and know you're under the influence of it. In that instance, it would probably be less beneficial than other forms of jutsu, but if you have a knack for being a high level practitioner of it, then I'd say it's pretty beneficial. Especially as seen here where you can basically trick the brain into believing everything is real and have it cause legitimate damage. The amount of people who are going to be able to operate on that high of a level is going to be slim though, which makes it seem weaker than what it can actually be.

Danni: Evo was this past weekend, so I've been thinking of genjutsu like a high-skill ceiling fighting game character. For low level shinobi, genjutsu is so easily countered that it's never a viable option. You're better off polishing your skills taijutsu + ninjutsu combos. However, when a real master sits down and devotes themselves to genjutsu, their ability is almost godlike.

Noelle: I think I agree most with the sentiment that low-level genjutsu is pretty harmless, but high-level genjutsu is deadly. After all, it does rely on tricking the senses, and if you've lost control of your primary senses, then what is there to trust? They may seem like fun and games, but hallucinations in the real world are bewildering enough as is. Sensory adjustment being weaponized can be downright deadly in the right circumstances.

Kara: Like Paul, I really enjoyed the Yakumo arc. This was a very "made for me" story, between the genjutsu and the taming of the Id monster - that's all stuff I love. Personally I enjoyed how much time was spent developing the idea of genjutsu: that a lot of it is our mind working against us, and in many cases the more intelligent you are, the harder it gets you. Plus our brains are our own worst enemy, so of course it would be terrifying to have them turn against us. I'd honestly rather be kicked in the face a hundred times than live out some sort of eldritch nightmare I couldn't escape, "real" or not.

Do y'all like ramen? What's your favorite kind? I know that this isn't very relevant to the episodes, but we've been keeping a ramen count for about eight months and I haven't seen much discussion about how y'all actually feel about ramen. I personally really dig it.

Joseph: Going back to LA, there's a spot my friend and I were hooked on in Little Tokyo called Orochon Ramen. We were training ourselves to stand up to the spiciest number, but never quite made it there. I would sweat INTO my ramen bowl, It was deliciously excruciating, or excruciatingly delicious; whichever sounds better. I think it did level up my spiciness in general!

Paul: I've had proper ramen from a proper Japanese ramen restaurant in New York City, but, hypocrite that I am, I actually prefer the store-bought stuff from Nissin and Maruchan. I enjoy the pork flavor, which they label as "Oriental flavor" for some unknown reason.

Kevin: I'll be perfectly honest, Naruto is the reason I started eating ramen more than a decade ago, and I still probably have a bowl or two per week. It's just so simple to make! Boil some chicken broth, add the noodles, add anything frozen (like peas), wait a few minutes until you can break up the block of noodles, add any other vegetables/eggs/whatever, simmer for a few minutes to cook things through, top with green onion if you feel fancy, serve. I also add soy sauce and ginger for a bit more flavorful broth. Maybe 10 or 15 minutes or so to get a bowl full of tastiness. Great for any time that you don't have a better idea for what to eat.

Carolyn: I've never had real ramen and I really, really want to. The pork flavor labeled "Pork flavor" is the actual best of the store-bought stuff. Sorry, Paul. Oh, and also the mushroom flavor that doesn't even exist anymore. We can cancel shrimp and chili.

David: Some friends of mine live next to a good ramen place so I like going there when I get the chance, but otherwise I can't say I eat it often. My diet is pretty terrible actually, being mostly frozen meals and the occasional actual food on days where I feel like I have more free time.

Jared: I've also never had legitimate ramen, so all I have to go off of is the store bought kind and even then I can't remember the last time I had that.

Danni: When I was in Japan I went to a grocery store and bought some random cups of instant ramen, which turned out to be curry-flavored, and I love me some curry. I ended up bringing a bunch home with me when I left. I currently have one left in my reserves, but I just can't bring myself to eat it and say goodbye to my curry-flavored ramen yet.

Noelle: Ramen is my go-to food when I don't feel like putting a lot of effort into cooking. I love it! I usually end up eating tonkotsu or shoyu. In restaurants, I like mine with a good helping of char-siu.

Kara: I started eating ramen when I was very little because my uncle, who was between college and grad school and living with my grandparents and me at the time, had it for lunch every day. (I thought he was cool, which he is, and I wanted to be like him.) He had beef with a slice of Swiss cheese melted on it. I had vegetable with white American cheese on it and eventually "graduated" to beef (though still with cheese). I've had proper ramen and I really enjoy it when it's possible to get it, but sometimes I just crave college food.

And highs and lows, I guess:

Joseph: These'll be quick. My high for the week was the concept of Dropout Ninja. I love the idea of unaffiliated bad dudes who decided to quit school and, presumably, set up a Foot Clan-esque underground network. The low is the Yakumo arc. So much drawn-out explanation for what should have otherwise been a pretty neat bit of intrigue and backstory.

Paul: My high point is the id beast from the Yakumo Arc, because the idea of being betrayed by one's own subconscious is a conflict that I groove on. Honorable mention goes to Kurenai being a quintessential shinobi by being willing to endure misplaced vengeance rather than allowing her student to come to harm. My low point is the sheer number of waterfalls that Naruto got tossed over. Two waterfalls in as many episodes is a Wile E. Coyote thing.

Kevin: High - Cat-in-the-Craddle ninja. I honestly thought about putting him as my low point, or at least as a head scratching choice for how strange an ability it is, but he's one of the few things that really sticks out to me in this batch of episodes, and I actually do like seeing versatile skillsets, even if they've stopped even pretending to be ninja-inspired.

Low - The guy who made the national treasure. I'm so annoyed by basically everything he ever did that I'm not even bothering to look up his name. He started as a jerk and ended as a jerk. Congratulations, now get out and never come back.

Carolyn: High point, like I mentioned earlier, would have to be the illusions. That stuff is just always fun for me. Low point, yeah, smugness is a no go.

David: My high point is the concept behind the Yakumo Rescue arc, especially Yakumo herself, practically jumping into the show as a viewer with being inspired by Rock Lee and all. Low point is just how long that arc is - five episodes is about two too many, so it lost a lot of luster along the way.

Jared: High point this week was some of the different and spookier styles the show tried to implement in the Yakumo arc, albeit briefly. Outside of that though, the low points would probably be everything else with that arc going too long and the other episodes just being basic concepts we've seen executed better elsewhere.

Danni: My high point is the Yakumo arc, just because of the parallels her situation had with Naruto's. The weakest part of Naruto in my opinion is how little it bothers delving into the fact that Naruto has a giant, murderous demon sealed inside of him that almost definitely killed his parents. Seeing him recognize the similarities between them and make a silent vow to master his own terrifying power was great, and hopefully will become more significant in Shippuden.

My low point is...also the Yakumo arc. It's just so unfortunately incongruous with the actual mainline plot. If Kurenai had been tasked with this mission for some time, why did she only just now decide that she's unfit to command her team? Also, I imagine that despite Yakumo's incredible power one day being very much needed in the Hidden Leaf Village, no one will ever say a word about or mention her ever again. Yakumo deserves to be canon, dang it!

Noelle: High point, illusions definitely! I like the idea of using horror when it works, and I think they did a decent enough job in doing so. Low point, the general sense of repetition and overall, I think some points stretched far too long. This could've used some trimming and compression.

Kara: High point is the Yakumo arc in general, with special focus on the horror imagery and Id monster. There were some genuine "NOPE" visuals in there (Yakumo's portrait grabbing her and talking to her), not to mention Sakura opening a door and looking out into the void of space and just screaming.

Low point was the freakin' "national treasure" sculptor who spent the whole episode mocking our lads for not dying on the job. I hope Akamaru got an extra spray on him before they kicked him out of the village.

And for the weekly numbers:

Counters Week- Ramen: 0 bowls + 3 cups Hokage: 0 Clones: 94 + 2 uncountable scenes Total- Ramen: 201 bowls, 17 cups Hokage: 62 Clones: 912

And that’s it for this week! Remember that you’re always welcome to watch along with the Rewatch, especially if you’ve never seen the original Naruto! Watch Naruto today!

Here’s our upcoming schedule:

-On August 16th, NICOLE MEJIAS finishes up a mission!

-And finally, on August 23rd, CAYLA COATES wraps up the Rewatch in its entirety!

CATCH UP ON THE REWATCH!

Episodes 197-203: Solving a Mystery

Episodes 190-196: Matchmaking Gone Wrong

Episodes 183-189: No Laughter Allowed!

Episodes 176-182: Reach for the Stars!

Episodes 169-175: Anko’s Backstory At Sea

Episodes 162-168: The Tale of the Phantom Samurai

Episodes 155-161: Quickfire Curry

Episodes 148-154: The Forest is Abuzz With Ninjas

Episodes 141-147: Mizuki Strikes Back!

Episodes 134-140: The Climactic Clash

Episodes 127-133: Naruto vs Sasuke

Episodes 120-126: The Sand Siblings Return

Episodes 113-119: Operation Rescue Sasuke

Episodes 106-112: Sasuke Goes Rogue

Episodes 99-105: Trouble in the Land of Tea

Episodes 92-98: Clash of the Sannin

Episodes 85-91: A Life-Changing Decision

Episodes 78-84: The Fall of a Legend

Episodes 71-77: Sands of Sorrow

Episodes 64-70: Crashing the Chunin Exam

Episodes 57-63: Family Feud

Episodes 50-56: Rock Lee Rally

Episodes 43-49: The Gate

Episodes 36-42: Through the Woods

Episodes 29-35: Sakura Unleashed

Episodes 22-28: Chunin Exams Kickoff

Episodes 15-21: Leaving the Land of Waves

Episodes 8-14: Beginners' Battle

Episodes 1-7: I'm Gonna Be the Hokage!

Thank you for joining us for the GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH! See you next time!

Have anything to say about this batch of episodes? Let us know in the comments! We're accepting questions and comments for next week, so ask away!

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Anime Werner Herzog is a writer and editor for Crunchyroll. You should follow him on Twitter!

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