*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*

Blonding - A Time Travel Fic

Chapter 22

Six months later, the dust settled.

Six months later, after all the paperwork and all the rebuilding and all the patient speeches to impatient crowds, Minato Namikaze celebrated the end of his first year in office. The village threw a festival, and Minato watched from the top of the Hokage Office as the fourth face on the Monument was unveiled in a frenzy of applause and cheer.

Six months later, Kakashi and Obito left with Jiraiya on an excursion around the world. Minato and Kushina watched from the village gates as they disappeared into the haze of a muggy fall afternoon, three silhouettes casting dark shadows down the beaten path. Even from a distance Minato could see Kakashi swiping at Obito out of Jiraiya's view, and the other swiping right back. He smiled. Obito was troubled, for certain, but all things change with time.

Six months later, Minato explained his bizarre, sudden appearance in the Tsuchikage's office over a bottle of sake, and after enough drinks the tiny man was eager to forgive him.

Six months later, the Hidden Sea Village and the Hidden Leaf Village formally ratified a peace treaty between their two nations. Minato remembered Three; remembered her strength and courage and tenacity despite the odds. He wrote as much in his journal that evening before bed – then, after realizing his mistake, crossed out the word "Three" and replaced it with "One".

Six months later, after two mysterious shinobi appeared in his office and threw his life into disarray, Kushina gave birth to a boy with blond hair, whiskers on his cheeks, and a fire in his eyes.

They named him Naruto.

BLONDING

MMXVII

J.K.M. / ENDOPLASMICPANDA

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Author's Note(s): Alright! Time to square away a few things. Apologies for the long-ass author's note, but it's necessary.

First and foremost, I want to say thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart, for reading this far and for finishing. It means a lot to me - more than you can ever possible know.

There will not be a sequel.

There will, however, be an epilogue.

I will not be posting the epilogue until after I have finished editing the first 12 chapters. My writing changed so drastically as I wrote Blonding that you can almost mark where I made significant leaps in skill level. Because of that, I want to bring this fic - my first completed fic - up to a bit of level standing. I still consider this to be a first draft of a novel - and as such, it needs to be edited more. Once I've posted the epilogue, which may be a few weeks, you'll know that I've finished it properly.

I understand, however, that there are folks that will want to reread this draft of Blonding, which is the original draft. As such, I will be providing an epub download link to this draft over on my Tumblr, at endoplasmicpanda dot tumblr dot com slash blonding. If you don't see a site up yet when you first go there, don't worry; I'm still in the process of putting it together. I'll also include some fun stats - like time spent in-doc on Word, for example.

A few people have expressed interest in writing fics/drawing fan art based in this world. I am more than okay with that. All I ask is that you let me know so I can read it! (I'll also put up a link to all derivative works on the dedicated tumblr page).

A special thank you, thank you, thank you to my fabulous betas. LisayaTomago and Infamous Storm deserve just as much credit as I do for all the hard work they've put in to making this fic presentable.

If you haven't left a review before, I ask you from the bottom of my heart for to do so. I want to know your thoughts on so many things - did you like my OCs/original world? Did you like the characterization? Any one character you liked over the rest? Would you be interested in reading original fiction from me should I ever decide to start writing it? things like that - and since this is the end, there's no better time. Please; sometimes readers don't realize how important reviews are to authors. Sometimes they're all that keeps us going. It doesn't have to be anything massive; just one simple line will do.

Again, thank you for reading. Eyes Wide Shut, my formerly-secondary-now-primary focus, will be continuing shortly.

See you around. I love you all.
-Endo

Uploaded on: 24 June 2017
Official betas for this chapter: Infamous Storm
Final word count: 816 words