Story Facts

1. These books were inspired by my Gaara Series, Hurricane, due to how successful that one became. Instead of trying to cram everything into one I spaced it out based on the different stages in one's life. Birth. Life. Death.

2. Another inspiration for this story came from sections of my one-shot, I Remember.

3. The song Let It Burn by RED inspired the theme and overall emotion of this story from start to finish. Literally, when imagining it in my head while it was playing the story played out as a movie trailer/music video.

4. When I first started writing the series Mai's death was one of the first scenes I wrote. Basically I always knew I wanted her to die in the end [I'm sorry!!].

5. I started writing this series back in 2012 and it took me a year before I started publishing the OG version. Reposting here, the story went through some edits since my writing style has changed over the years.

6. Kakashi's 'attraction' towards Mai – I am so sorry for all those who freaked out about that. It was never my intention for them to be romantic, and when I originally posted this story elsewhere, readers didn't have such a strong reaction. I definitely got a laugh from the comments, haha. Their interactions were added in to create a more interesting story line when Sasuke could not be present in Life. Otherwise, the chapters would've fallen flat without some kind of 'relationship' surfacing. Same goes for Shikamaru, Naruto, and Hinata's growing friendship with her.

7. Chakra Strings. I can't honestly remember where I came up with the idea, but it was not because of Kankuro's abilities as a puppet master and wanting someone else to share his talent. While listening to the songs on my playlists it came into being and made for an interesting fighting style.

8. The Phantom Division was a spur of the moment decision when I realized that Mai had easily surpassed all of those around her and the normal, better known organizations in Life.

9. I wanted something dramatic to happen to Mai during the Shinobi War in Death and the idea of her arm being cut off and then reattached was brought on from a doctor's visit I had at the time of the idea. They had to remove a patch of skin under my hair on my head for fear of skin cancer [luckily there was nothing] and the only way to seal up the wound to stop the bleeding was to cauterize it. It reeked, and something that I will always remember personally because it hurt so much. So my experience of smell and touch was expressed in this way [only my memory wasn't as dramatic as loosing a limb].

10. Originally I wasn't planning on having members of the Be Fong Clan ever being introduced. But then I realized that I would be missing a great opportunity with all these bloodline ninjas showing up in the Fourth Shinobi War. It only made sense to include them in the storyline and to add more conflict.

Thanks again everyone! <3