"Guardian" ch. 17 is at 2,075 words in rough draft. I finished scene 2 on an extremely evil note (mwahahaha!!!) and then kind of blanked on how to transition into scene 3, whoops. But I took a stab at it and now I just need to refine rough logistics into concrete actions. And preferably find a way to show Kurenai being awesome in the background, and some character stuff for Naruto.
"Guardian" doesn't really hinge on character arcs as such (with the obvious exception of Sasuke, who will, I hope, manage some of a classic 'recovery from trauma' pattern), but there is a sort of collective arc which could be summarized as 'recognizing the damage the ninja system does to individuals, to families, to economies, and to the Elemental Countries' culture as a whole... and then finding a way they can live with to react to that damage and its source'. Not everyone will pick the same reaction, incidentally.
So Naruto gets to have his own moments of recognition, and true to his catalyst role, his responses will make various other people reconsider some things they've been successfully ignoring and/or rationalizing up until this story.
"Guardian" doesn't really hinge on character arcs as such (with the obvious exception of Sasuke, who will, I hope, manage some of a classic 'recovery from trauma' pattern), but there is a sort of collective arc which could be summarized as 'recognizing the damage the ninja system does to individuals, to families, to economies, and to the Elemental Countries' culture as a whole... and then finding a way they can live with to react to that damage and its source'. Not everyone will pick the same reaction, incidentally.
So Naruto gets to have his own moments of recognition, and true to his catalyst role, his responses will make various other people reconsider some things they've been successfully ignoring and/or rationalizing up until this story.