#san storage solutions

[sillimancer]

I got so caught up in the euphoria of finally packing all my dishes up that I failed to notice I never packed my air fryer or my roomba

[thedbahub]

Navigating Azure Storage Solutions: Azure NetApp Files and Silk Cloud ISCSI SAN for Azure SQL VM Data Files

In the ever-evolving landscape of cloud computing, Azure stands out as a beacon of innovation, offering a plethora of services and solutions to meet the diverse needs of businesses worldwide. Among these, Azure NetApp Files and Silk Cloud ISCSI SAN have emerged as powerful options for hosting Azure SQL VM data files. This blog article aims to shed light on these two solutions, providing practical…

[callsigns-haze]

Short love: Chp 18

Summary: The is about widowed father Bradley Bradshaw who enlists his brother-in-law Jake Seresin and childhood best friend Robert Floyd to help raise his three daughters, eldest Donna Jo Margaret (D.J for short), middle child Stephanie and youngest Michelle in his San Diego home. 

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Reader

Warning: Fluff, flirting

With a shared vision in mind, Jake and Y/n roll up their sleeves and dive into the renovation project with gusto. The attic, once a neglected space filled with dusty boxes and forgotten treasures, is soon transformed into a bright and spacious bedroom, complete with multiple functional areas.

Together, they brainstorm layout ideas and design concepts, drawing inspiration from magazines, online resources, and their own creativity. They envision a space that is not only stylish and modern but also practical and versatile, catering to their various needs and preferences.

The first step is to declutter and clear out the attic, sorting through years of accumulated belongings and deciding what to keep, donate, or discard. With determination and teamwork, they tackle this daunting task, motivated by the prospect of creating their dream bedroom.

Once the space is cleared, they begin the renovation process, starting with structural improvements such as insulation, flooring, and walls. Jake's handyman skills come in handy as he handles the more technical aspects of the project, while Y/n lends her creative touch to the design and decor.

They install large windows to let in plenty of natural light, creating a bright and airy atmosphere. They also add built-in storage solutions to maximize space and organization, ensuring that every corner of the room is utilized efficiently.

As Jake focuses intently on drilling the wooden plates into the walls, Y/n watches with a mixture of amusement and admiration. She can't help but chuckle as she sees him maneuvering the drill, occasionally getting stuck or encountering a stubborn spot.

"Need a hand there, handyman?" Y/n teases, her laughter filling the room.

Jake looks up with a playful grin, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow. "I've got this under control," he insists, determined to conquer the task at hand.

But as he continues to drill, a particularly stubborn spot causes the drill to jam, and Jake lets out a frustrated sigh. Y/n can't help but laugh at his predicament, finding his determination endearing.

"Maybe I spoke too soon," she quips, moving closer to offer her assistance.

With a grin, Jake accepts her help, and together they work to free the jammed drill and continue with the task. As they work side by side, their laughter fills the room, turning the mundane task of renovation into a fun and memorable bonding experience.

As they continue renovating the attic, Jake and Y/n find themselves knee-deep in paint cans, power tools, and endless to-do lists. Despite the occasional mishaps and setbacks, they tackle each challenge with determination and a sense of adventure.

One afternoon, while attempting to install a new light fixture, Jake finds himself tangled in a mess of wires, his brow furrowed in concentration as he tries to decipher the instructions. Y/n watches from a safe distance, stifling a giggle as she sees him struggle.

"Need any help there?" she offers, trying to suppress her amusement.

Jake grumbles in frustration but eventually accepts her offer, grateful for her assistance. Together, they work to untangle the wires and install the light fixture, laughing at their shared clumsiness and enjoying the camaraderie of working together.

Another day, they decide to tackle the task of painting the walls, armed with brushes, rollers, and plenty of drop cloths. But their ambitious plans quickly take a comedic turn when Jake accidentally spills a can of paint, sending a cascade of white paint splattering across the floor.

Y/n's eyes widen in disbelief as she surveys the mess, but before she can scold him, Jake bursts into laughter, realizing the absurdity of the situation. They spend the next few hours cleaning up the mess, turning the ordeal into a lighthearted paint fight and making memories in the process.

Despite the inevitable hiccups and mishaps, Jake and Y/n press on with their renovation project, fueled by their shared determination and love for each other. With each coat of paint applied and each piece of furniture assembled, they inch closer to transforming the attic into their dream space, creating a home that reflects their love, laughter, and unique bond.

Jake looks up from his work as Y/n enters the room, her eyes sparkling mischievously as she approaches him, a small item hidden behind her back. He furrows his brow, curiosity piqued by her secretive demeanor.

"Hey, Mr. Handyman," she says smiling and kicking her feet.

"What do you have there?" he asks, unable to contain his curiosity.

Y/n smiles mysteriously, holding the item out of his reach as she teases him with a playful gleam in her eyes. "You'll have to wait and see," she says, her tone teasing and coy.

Jake chuckles, leaning in closer to try and catch a glimpse of what she's hiding. "Come on, don't leave me hanging," he pleads, reaching out to try and snatch the item from her grasp.

But Y/n deftly sidesteps his attempts, dancing out of reach with a playful laugh. "Not yet," she says, her smile widening as she revels in his curiosity.

With a grin, Jake sets down his tools, determined to uncover the mystery behind Y/n's secretive behavior. He follows her playfully around the room, determined to discover the surprise she's hiding. And as they laugh and tease each other, their bond grows even stronger, fueled by the joy of their shared antics and the love that binds them together.

Jake's eyes widen in astonishment as Y/n reveals the positive pregnancy test hidden behind her back. For a moment, he's speechless, the weight of the moment sinking in as he realizes the significance of what she's showing him.

"Is this...?" he begins, his voice barely above a whisper, unable to fully comprehend the news.

Y/n nods, her eyes shining with unshed tears of joy as she confirms his silent question. "We're going to be parents," she says, her voice trembling with emotion.

A surge of overwhelming happiness washes over Jake as he wraps his arms around Y/n, pulling her close in a tight embrace. He presses a kiss to her forehead, his heart bursting with love and excitement for the new chapter they're about to embark on together.

"We're going to have a baby," he murmurs, his voice filled with wonder and awe.

As they stand together in the newly renovated attic, surrounded by the promise of their growing family, Jake and Y/n share a moment of pure happiness and anticipation for the journey ahead. With their love as their guide, they're ready to embrace the joys and challenges of parenthood, knowing that they'll face them together, hand in hand.

tagging:

@callsign-magnolia

@shanimallina87

@callsign-dexter

@horseslovers2016

@rosiahills22

@djs8891

@hookslove1592

@emma8895eb

@hardballoonlove

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@86laura11

[helloitstsyu]

❁ MASTERLIST ❁

Lowkey, the word "masterlist" seems so huge and somehow it spook me lol, Let's just consider this "a storage room", so here it is... nat's storage room.

All of my fics are dedicated to Tom Cruise and his characters.

Tom Cruise

Focus On Me | smut 18+

Tom makes you wait all day long while he does his endless meeting. Can you wait till he's done, or will you act up in the end to gain his attention back to you?

you get to wear a mask | fluff

As a celebrity, it's nearly impossible to go and to do normal life activities in public. So, as his girlfriend, you offer Tom a solution.

it's the tie | smut 18+

Post oscar luncheon sex. Basically the tie got you feral

Better than ice cream | smut 18+

Tom had a bad day, so he came home to have a little dessert

I got you | fluff & angst

As a young actress, you're about to film your first big stunt. You worry a little too much about it, causing you to have a panic attack. Tom's there to ease you out.

TikTok Tease | smut 18+

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Top Gun)

You do tiktok video in front of Tom, tease him with it. Tom is flustered and turned on by your little tease.

Fantasize | smut 18+

Inspired by ariana grande's song. You're mentally and physically weak after meeting him for the first time.

Heated Look | smut 18+

It was a hot day in San Diego, you can't focus on training day. Seems like your focus went elsewhere. Maverick noticed you've been giving him that heated look, and after, he called you to meet him in his office.

Confession | fluff

You have a crush on your instructor, he eventually notices and push you to confess. (Alluded smut)

Stacee Jaxx (Rock of Ages)

Dangerous Woman | smut 18+

Enemies to... lover kind of trope? Something about the rockstar makes you wanna do things you shouldn't

╚⏤⏤⏤╗❀╔⏤⏤⏤╝

If you like my work, please send me love hehe, let me know what you think of it, I'd appreciate it very much❤️ if u also want to be tagged in my future post, just lmk. leggo keep this fandom alive babes! -nat♡

[ask-codeearasure]

Othertale Thoughts

I've been seeing a lot of posts about Othertale recently and I am so fucking hyped over it, cause I've loved that project for several years and felt like I was the only one who gave a damn about it until now.

I need to refresh my knowledge on Othertale again but from what I remember about the story that I seldom see many talk about are how the disappearances of Sans, the six human souls, and Chara's body, would affect the timeline.

And to be fair we already know there was some effect, we know Undyne took the "role" of Sans as Papyrus's older sibling, and she didn't end up joining the Royal Guard, becoming a pianist instead and writing her own music. Instead, it's Gerson that remained the Head of the Royal Guard.

So while we know what bandaid solutions the game utilized to patch the absence of Sans, what about Chara? What about the six human souls? How would their absences affect the timeline?

Technically Chara isn't actually gone from the timeline, not completely. It's just her (Chara is referred to with she/her in Othertale) body that's been met with oblivion thanks to Color's fuckery. Her mind and her "soul" in a sense is still present, and from what I recall of Othertale's animations, she possesses monsters in a vulerable state, whether they be dealing with isolation or social drama, they are in an unstable state of mind, and she uses them as hosts to target other monsters. Chara is supposed to be an antagonistic, sadistic force here, just like how the fanon perception of this character is.

But since Chara doesn't have a body and has more in common with... perhaps a poltergeist as far as characters like Undyne can speculate, what does her physical absence mean for the backstory of the Underground? What does this mean for characters who were previously supposed to be her family? What about Flowey?

Did the first fallen human just never show up? Would this mean Asriel is still alive and Toriel never left Asgore? Did Chara still find a way to interfere with that somehow? What would this mean for the state of morale in the Underground as is, minus the fear and apprehension spawned from Chara's current activity?

What about the Amalgamates, since Othertale doesn't have the six human souls either? Would their incident just never have occurred? I think so. But in the absence of any storage of human DETERMINATION, what's Alphys's role as the Royal Scientist supposed to bring now? What's she working on?

I HAVE SO MANY FUCKING QUESTIONS, I AM BEGGING. I AM ON MY FUCKING KNEES. -- Sarco

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this press release from the Department of the Interior:

The Department of the Interior today announced a $125 million investment for five projects in California and Utah that will help create new sources of water and improve drought resiliency.  

These investments support the Department’s new Large-Scale Water Recycling Program, launched in 2023 with new funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The new program incentivizes conservation projects at a larger scale, with no cap on project size, and will play an important role in helping communities develop local, drought-resistant water supplies by turning unusable water sources into clean, reliable ones.

President Biden’s Investing in America agenda represents the largest investment in climate resilience in the nation’s history and is providing much-needed resources to enhance Western communities’ resilience to drought and climate change. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Reclamation is investing a total of $8.3 billion over five years for water infrastructure projects, including rural water, water storage, conservation and conveyance, nature-based solutions, dam safety, water purification and reuse, and desalination. Since the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was signed in November 2021, Reclamation has announced more than $3.5 billion for more than 530 projects.   

The projects selected are: 

$60.4 million for the City of San Buenaventura’s Ventura Water Program. It is estimated to produce 3,600 acre-feet of recycled water annually. 

$30 million for the Los Angeles Groundwater Replenishment Project. The project is estimated to produced 26,000 acre-feet annually.  

$26.2 million for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Pure Water Southern California. The project is estimated to produce 118,590 acre-feet annually. 

$10.8 million for the Inland Empire Utilities Agency of California Advanced Treatment of Recycled Water to Enhance Chino Basin Resiliency Project. The project is estimated to produce 15,000 acre-feet annually. 

$641,222 for the Washington County Water Conservancy District, Utah’s Regional Reuse system, which is estimated to produce 28,373 acre-feet annually.  

[sims4t2bb]

weekly update

Hello everyone! The weekly update can be found under the cut — onwards and upwards!

— Base Game

Items included in TS4 Base Game update patches have been added.

The BG Update Index has been removed from our pinned post.

Green Privacy Hedge, High Floral Hedgerow, High Hedgerow, and Privacy Hedge With Flowers conversions by AdonisPluto have been added.

— Expansion Packs

High School Years

Frank the Flying Womp-Womp, Frank the Mini Womp-Womp, and Pearl the ThrifTea Monkey conversions by @nonsensical-pixels have been added.

— Game Packs

Dream Home Decorator

Awestruck Erik by Be Modular, Closed Storage Space, Employee’s Choice Cabinet By Be Modular, "Everything Must Go!" Area Rug, Leyland Home Travel, No-Nonsense Butt-Hugger Chair, Partly Open Storage Space, Patterns and Shapes Modern Rug, Rags to Riches Chair, Slabs On Sticks Modern Desk Solution, Studious Retro Desk by L.U.M.B.E.R., Such a Mood Moodboard, The Acute Coffee Table By Be Modular, The Acute Desk, The Acute Floating Wall Bookcase, The Acute Floor-Placed Bookcase, The Acute Large Glass Floating Shelf, The Itty Bitty Plant Committee, The Rounded Coffee Table by Be Modular, The Rounded Desk...brought to you by Be Modular, The Rounded Floating Wall Bookcase by Be Modular, The Rounded Floor-Placed Bookcase by Be Modular, The Simply Squared End Table By Be Modular, The Tall Rounded Floor Shelf with Single Hatch by Be Modular, Thrice Knobs Tall Rounded Wall Shelf by Be Modular conversions by Ladysimplayer8 have been added.

— Kits

Pastel Pop

Double Puddle Wall Mirror, Luv Heart Wall Mirror, and The Aesthetically Portable Tablet conversions by @neosimi have been added.

Everyday Clutter

Sealine Memories, Shine On Shine Off, The Adoringly Adorned Jewelry Stand, Antique Spare Watch, Beacon of Intention Active Set, Boom Blocks, Coinoctagon, Gym In A Box, Invincible Frame Tray, Mega Magazine Stack, Once a Pawn a Time Chess Kit, Procrastinator’s Box of Stuff, The Pro-Tector, A Slightly Creative Collection, Snack Pack 2 Go, Spare Specs, Subtle Serve Makeup Kit, The Thirsty Thermos, and Trinketville conversions by @neosimi have been added.

Conversions of all items, sans the Shine On Shine Off mirror, by @tony-veis have been added.

Beacon of Intention Active Set, Invincible Frame Tray, and Subtle Serve Makeup Kit conversions by @melekbens1 have been added.

This pack is now fully converted!

[electrasev5nwrites]

Ninja Daily: Clarity 8

This section is anachronistic: it should have been in the last chapter. Everything else is chronologically correct.

"Are you aware that you're doing this the hard way?" Obito asked delicately, frowning at Aiko as she meticulously lined the hidden seam in her skirt with tiny flat packets of herbs.

"Hmm?" She looked up. "Yeah, this bit is a little irritating. But we're crossing the border on this trip. Normally I'd just put the haul in my bag, but they'll check that at the post."

Obito sighed. "And you didn't think to use a storage scroll?"

She rolled her eyes at him, finishing her task and making for the door. He walked behind her, a little sullen but willing to indulge her. "You're bad at traveling like a civilian, 'Obi-kun. Civilians can't use those. That would be a pretty big giveaway, don't you think?"

He had to stop and think that over. "Why don't you just sneak past the border?"

"Great idea," Aiko huffed sarcastically, a smile tugging up one side of her mouth. "Me and the two civilians that Ando-san hires to do the heavy lifting will all just be very quiet and get past the border patrolled by shinobi."

Obito frowned. "That's… very strange. Working with civilians. Why don't you just-"

"If storage scrolls are your solution again, I should probably remind you that Ando-san sponsors a lot of trips that I'm not involved in." Aiko raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I could go alone and get the job done faster if I sealed the merchandise. Putting aside how sketchy it is to put comestibles in an intermediary dimension, wouldn't it be just a tiny bit suspicious if there was no trail from people and the wagon on only the trips I go on? Part of what I get paid for is making her rivals leery that there might be shinobi enforcement on any given trip."

Well, and also that Kakuzu had made the poor woman sign a contract on threat of death. But whatever, that was beside the point.

He sighed exaggeratedly. "Alright, alright. I bow to your expertise."

Aiko had to suppress a giggle. She knew he was humoring her, of course. But it was sort of fun that he'd been willing to indulge her by tagging along. Two nights prior, he had finally asked what exactly it was that she did when she went out on trips. The answer "shifty business" hadn't explained much, but it did make him laugh.

"Like, ninety percent of what I do is totally legitimate," Aiko had eventually explained. "I use a lot of the field skills that you pounded into my skull to make sure that no one gets lost, starves, or dies of dysentery on the road. At the start there were a fair few bandits to smack around, but now they're a bit warier." She shrugged. "Hence why I don't have to go on every trip now. Just the long ones, and enough of the day trips that no one can be certain there won't be a shinobi enforcer."

"And they can't figure out when you'll be there based on the trips where drugs are smuggled?" Obito asked dryly.

Aiko had given him a spectacularly unimpressed expression for that one. "Is there some part of the word 'smuggled' that you struggle with? Obviously, that service is not advertised, and no one is confessing to it. It's all word of mouth. I ditch any leftover merchandise that doesn't go to a specific client at a hotspot bar, and they sell the rest."

"I have now learned more than I ever wanted to know about selling petty drugs."

'He doesn't have to be such a downer. I don't sass him about his hobbies.'

Aiko was willing to sass in general, of course. She gave him a toothy grin, eyes creased shut.

"You're welcome, sweet cheeks."

The flinch had been spectacular.

The sound of crates being loaded and packed brought Aiko back to the present, blinking. Obito was slumped at her side against the wall of Ando-san's warehouse. His state of consciousness appeared to be a little closer to 'standing coma' than she'd like optimally.

"You don't have to look so excited," she murmured, elbowing his ribs gently. He pried open one eye—henged brown again—to look at her with tired amusement. "You're going to make me hyper and throw off my game."

"So far, this is not the adventure that I was promised," he sing-songed under his breath.

Aiko snickered. "Sorry, did I say adventure? I'm pretty sure I said something else. If I have to sleep out in the woods, so do you." She raised her eyebrows. "When was the last time you did that, sir?"

"A very long time ago," Obito said dryly. "I've evolved beyond that point."

Sometimes, she thought that Obito might be her spirit animal. The resemblance would be perfect, if only she had a magical ability to travel instantaneously instead of trudging around in the dirt like an animal.

'Not that I'm bitter at all or anything,' Aiko thought with amusement. 'One day, I too will possess such magic. And then there will be no fucking camping, ever again.' Of course, Obito was still waiting for a response.

"I tried telling Kakuzu that I had too, but he didn't buy it." Against her will, she pouted. "Sometimes I think he takes the long routes just to annoy me."

"No, he's just like that," Obito rebutted absently. "He figures that if he has to leave, he may as well get every single errand done at once for maximum efficiency."

"Going twenty miles out of your way to threaten a chump whose loan isn't up yet doesn't seem that efficient to me," Aiko muttered rebelliously.

It was sort of funny, in a really petty way. But it wasn't efficient.

"Hey, do you know how often people try to weasel out of loans?" Obito asked mildly.

Aiko scoffed. Of course she didn't.

"Me either," he confided. "But it's close to zero when Kakuzu is the one involved, so I'm going to have to trust his methodology."

She pursed her lips, but had to nod and concede the point. Their earlier conversation was still on her mind. "Hey, about the storage scroll thing?"

She could all but feel Obito rolling his eyes. "Yes, Aiko. You've already explained why they're not a practical solution. Unless of course our plan is to start hiding storage scrolls, which both is and isn't practical. The chakra signature is very low, so unless you're dealing with a sensor, it's a viable solution."

"Well, that too," Aiko said practically. She cozied up to him, schmoozing. He recoiled when she batted her eyes. "But I was actually thinking that you should teach me to make them. You can do that, right?"

Obito blinked. "Well. I'm not very good, but my sensei was a seal master. So I can manage."

"Really?" She grinned. "That's cool! I want to learn that."

Aiko had no idea why, but she had the distinct feeling that she'd said something very wrong. He swiveled to stare directly down at her, something hard and considering in his eyes. The moment passed quickly. The more elastic side of Obito's mouth curved into a slight smile. "We can go through the basics tonight at camp, then."

"Shall we go, then?" an uncomfortable male voice interjected.

Aiko blinked, having nearly forgotten about Ando-san's actual staff.

"Um, of course. Chūsei and Fukujū, this is my friend, Tobi," Aiko introduced easily. "Tobi, these are Ando-san's employees."

The civilians managed sickly smiles.

'It's almost like Ando-san warned them about my friends,' Aiko thought, turning away to hide a smile. No worries. Obito was much less likely to snap at one of them than Kakuzu was. Even if he was shifty enough to want to use a fake name, what was up with that? Obito wasn't that uncommon of a name.

Well, whatever.

Walking in four hour shifts to accommodate the much slower pace of the civilian escort was mind-numbingly dull. The two nights sleeping under the stars were about as scintillating as Aiko could have predicted, but she did at least have the satisfaction of seeing Obito make faces and fidget in the dirt in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to find a comfortable way to sleep on the ground.

The real highlight was when he kept his word and scribbled out very basic sealing matrices. He made her destroy all of it every night before they went to sleep, since it wouldn't do to be caught with proof of shinobi training at the border, but she didn't need it.

Seeing the symbology was enough. Aiko couldn't remember the names of each stroke and symbol, but she knew what they did and why they were arranged as they were.

And that Obito wasn't a very good fuinjutsu user.

"I'll try to get you scrolls," he eventually gave up, snatching the papers away from her in disgust and throwing them directly on the fire so that she couldn't continue to mock his sloppy workmanship. "They're generally kept under close wraps and passed from master to apprentice."

Fukujū edged a little further away when Aiko nodded and concluded, "So we're going to go beat up some fuinjutsu master for his notes?"

Obito eyed her wearily. "You don't have to be so gung-ho about it."

She lurched over and grabbed his hands without bothering to entangle her legs from her bedroll. "Obito," Aiko said very seriously. "This is for education. Crimes committed in pursuit of self-edification don't even count."

She tried very hard to keep the evidence of her thoughts off her face when two Iwagakure Chuunin shunshined into view, aggressively postured.

Obito flinched, a good second too late for the reaction to do any good. That was harder than it sounded, considering that both of them had fought down the impulse to cut the arriving Chuunin down before the civilians would even have known they were there. Fighting hard-won instincts wasn't easy. To be able to do that and then immediately slip into a less threatening persona was impressive.

'Obito is a surprisingly good actor,' she noted. The trick was to convince the border security that you were nervous (as any civilian would be when frisked by members of a foreign military) but not so nervous that they actually suspected anything. She did have official papers and had made this trip before, so there was no need to feign too many jitters.

She plastered on a smile that was slightly too stiff to be realistic and stepped forward to draw attention to herself, unfolding their travel documentation and holding it out before it was asked for. She had already been holding it, as if she'd been nervously contemplating this barrier for a while. "Shinobi-san? Masashi, with Ando-san's delivery to Saisekiba."

Of course, Aiko was a half-decent actress herself.

The two Chuunin exchanged amused looks, before the slight man with a blue ponytail reached out for her hand. Obito made an aborted movement as if to step between them, but mastered himself.

'Now is really not the time for the mama bear act,' Aiko scowled, grabbing at his wrist.

The other Chuunin, a hawk-eyed woman, gave Obito a hard look, but did nothing. That was probably in her best interest, honestly. If this went south, Obito was probably going to kill the Iwagakure shinobi and the civilian witnesses, which would put a wrench in her little home business.

'If he messes this up for me, I am going to mock him forever. Seriously, it's not that hard to pretend to be harmless and insignificant. Why does he have to be so dramatic?'

Luckily for everyone else, Obito didn't arouse too much suspicion, even when he pitched his voice a full range higher for no apparent reason.

(He was a weird guy, but he was pretty funny in a way).

"Alright," Chuunin #1 acknowledged, handing back their papers. His partner had finished surveying the stock – and ha, that was a point for Aiko, because she was a sensor—and given him a perfunctory nod. "You folks go on ahead. You know the way?"

At the chorus of stiff nods, the woman seemed to take a breath for patience. "Lovely," she replied sourly. "You'll be in town before noon. Enjoy your stay in the Land of Rock, but please remember that your traveler's pass expires tomorrow at six pm."

"Of course, shinobi-san," Obito shrilled, bobbing into a half bow.

Aiko tried not to wince. God, what was his deal? Was he just messing with her head? Or did he just not know how to act around normal people?

She didn't say anything until they were a good mile away from any other shinobi. At that point, Aiko reached over and elbowed him in the gut. He gave a theatrical 'oof!' and cringe, despite the fact that she'd probably done more damage to her elbow than his rock-hard abdominals. "You're not going to be that weird tonight," Aiko ordered, puffing up confrontationally. "I don't want to have to make another friend in this town."

Obito nodded indulgently. Then he frowned. "You have a friend here? In Iwa?"

"Of course I do," Aiko scoffed. "What, do you think I'm going to sleep outside when I don't have to? Hotels are expensive. Much better to make a friend with a nice house."

He blinked at her languidly. "You're a terrible person."

"Eh."

Despite whatever flippant accusations he had thrown about in regards to her relative morality, Obito was reasonably well-behaved when he met Fuji. Perhaps he was too well-behaved, actually. He'd poured on the charm. Aiko could see the moment that Fuji took in his strong shoulders, confident stance, low voice, and made a decision. She hid a smile while Obito politely followed Fuji's nephew upstairs while Aiko measured out Fuji's order and Fuji counted out Aiko's money.

"Is he yours?" Fuji whispered, nudging Aiko slightly as Obito trudged upstairs to the room he'd be using that night.

She shrugged, re-counting her take. "Seduce away."

The other woman—a tall, willowy woman with beautiful brown eyes and impeccably near nails, wiggled her eyebrows. "Is that a challenge?"

"No," Aiko said, bemused. "Go ahead. I don't care. I'm not with him."

"That sounds like a challenge."

"It really wasn't."

Fuji tossed her hair – a glorious, shining dark cascade completely unlike Aiko's messy mop—over her shoulder and gave Aiko a sultry look, hand trailing along the wall as she stepped away in the direction Obito had gone. "Wish me luck, then."

She came back downstairs five minutes later in a decidedly grumpy mood. Aiko, who was seated at the table and scribbling out seal matrices, gave her an amused look as the other woman stomped back in.

"I take it he's all yours? Madly, truly, deeply in love? He'll probably stay here with you instead of leaving in the morning?"

"Oh, shut up."

Aiko wasn't even surprised that Obito didn't have the patience to make the full trip back. They crossed the border back into Grass without incident, at which point he ordered her to bid a fond farewell to Ando-san's real employees, and then grabbed her arm and Kamui'd them the hell out of there before she could so much as open her mouth.

She shook him off, taking in the sight of their front room.

"You really aren't that into nature, are you?"

"No," Obito said sourly. He stalked off like an offended cat, en route for a shower ("one where I won't be ambushed by your touchy friend", he snapped). Aiko may have laughed slightly too loud to be strictly polite.

Two nights later, he did bring her a lovely hand-written book with only one bloody thumbprint on the cover from its former owner. Aiko hugged it to her chest, thanked him, and purposefully did not ruminate on where exactly he had acquired such a thing.

He was a pretty awesome friend to have.

"I didn't even know these were down here," Tenzou remarked glumly. Kakashi didn't bother to reply. Using his Sharingan for such a mundane matter as scanning dirt walls for genjutsu was a drain on his reserves, and he had been doing this for hours now.

"I mean," Tenzou continued, "I was practically raised in ROOT, and I had no idea. Was I not trusted? Is this structure just really recent? Or was this just reserved for Danzo's elite?"

"We'll probably never know," Kakashi said tersely, wishing that his kohai would just stop talking.

He'd just gotten back in from another disappointing mission two days prior, following up on one of Jiraiya's increasingly unlikely leads. As it turned out, there were more redheaded girls around than he'd noticed. Still, as frustrating as failing was, it gave more of a sense of accomplishment than walking around in the dark to check a map's accuracy.

This project was a pain in his ass, and had been even before they'd discovered that the walls were reinforced with fuinjutsu that had to be Danzo's personal make. The blunt, ugly symbols were certainly familiar.

That explained why the tunnels hadn't collapsed or been noticed.

"This is pointless," Kakashi grunted, rubbing at the back of his neck. "We can't collapse any of this until the seals have been removed. I can counter these if I have materials and preparation, but the other teams won't be able to. We need to go back to Tsunade and re-group so that she knows to add fuinjutsu users to the other teams."

"Alright," Tenzou agreed docilely.

The office was already moderately full when they made their way back—not only was Sai there along with Yuuhi Kerenai, but Uchiha Itachi awkwardly existed in close proximity to a talented genin corps kunoichi named Ami who was apparently a deft hand with earth ninjutsu. And of course Sasuke was there lording over them all, coiled on a chair and lurking like some sort of small, grumpy dragon.

"Tsunade isn't here," Sasuke snapped out before Kakashi could open his mouth. "Take a seat and wait."

Obediently, Kakashi sat.

'He used to be so much cuter,' he thought mournfully. 'What happened to the kids I got assigned?'

That led to the unsettling realization that Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had been assigned to his care five years ago. Sasuke was already seventeen, Sakura would be too. Naruto wasn't shy of his birthday by much, either.

'I suppose it makes sense that they've changed.' Kakashi swallowed, not looking directly at his former student. 'It doesn't seem that long to me, but five years is a long time for a teenager. And- and- seven years for Aiko, that's even worse. They're really not kids anymore.'

The ones that were still alive, anyhow. Sakura would always be a little girl.

"Sasuke, you were meant to keep the rabble out," Tsunade grumped, throwing the door open with a bang. Her apprentice sneered at her, unfazed. "Can't you do anything right?"

"And you swore that you'd arranged missions so that there was unlikely to be any problems while you were gone, so we both messed up." He tilted his chin up, sloe eyes heavy-lidded and uncaring.

The room winced in unison, waiting for Tsunade to unleash righteous fury on her smart-mouthed pupil. Itachi in particular looked horrified, frozen in place.

The Hokage just shrugged. "It's not failing when it's me who did it."

"I must have missed that memorandum." Sasuke tossed the folder he'd been nursing on Tsunade's desk with a slap as she muscled past the crowd to take her seat. "I'm going back to work now. I see you've got a lot to do."

"No, wait," Tsunade commanded absently. "I'll need to talk to you after this." She shook her head slightly, before lifting her voice to address the crowd. "Now, what's going on? Just one person, please." She paused for a moment, and decided, "Kakashi."

"The tunnels are supported by fuinjutsu," he said bluntly, scratching at his head. "I copied the matrixes and can get rid of them, but I'll need a day or two to come up with a counter-seal."

"And a fuinjutsu user will have to be added to each team, yes," Tsunade completed, sounding utterly resigned. "I don't know why I thought this one little thing would go smoothly."

"The underground tunnels, you mean?" Sasuke asked curiously, cocking his head slightly. "The ones that go under the walls to the forest?"

There was an appalled silence while every other person in the office turned to stare at him.

Sasuke blinked, a thin line forming between his eyebrows. "What?"

"You know about the underground tunnels." Tsunade buried her face in her hands. "Dear god, why do you know about those? How? I thought- I didn't know about those!"

The teen rolled his eyes. "I didn't know it was such a big deal," Sasuke droned. "I suppose that explains why she said to-" He cut himself off, clearly noticing the odd expressions that his audience was wearing. "You know, never mind. Why don't you finish your debriefing and I'll regale Tsunade with tales of our youthful exploits later," Sasuke drawled, with a distinct lack of anticipation.

As expected, Tsunade rearranged team assignments so that there was a qualified seal user on each team. Tenzou and Kakashi were separated, and Anko would be pulled in to join Itachi and Ami tomorrow. That was an encounter that Itachi might not actually survive, but Kakashi didn't care enough to summon any sympathy.

When everyone else filed out, Kakashi remained stubbornly slumped against the wall. Tsunade didn't blink twice at his lingering, addressing her apprentice as if they were alone.

"Sasuke, what were you talking about?"

He paused for a moment. "Remember that ridiculous mission in Rouran?"

Tsunade and Kakashi groaned in unison.

"I will take that as a yes," Sasuke noted. "That's how Aiko smuggled us into the village."

The Hokage made a pained 'erp' sound. "I think that was left out of the debriefing," she said, sounding oddly stiff. "I believe the report indicated that Aiko made contact with the Sandaime."

Sasuke snorted. "That's accurate, if we understand 'made contact' to mean that she broke into his office and asked for his help, insinuated that his security needed work, and then threatened to break out and do things her own way-"

"I think I've heard enough," Tsunade choked out. Her face contorted in a way that Kakashi couldn't entirely understand, but could sympathize with. He wasn't sure if he wanted to smile or put a palm to his face. "That sounds… more familiar than I would like. Aiko does prefer the most efficient way of doing things."

"And not the diplomatic way?" Sasuke half-asked, half-stated. "I am aware, yes."

'Sounds like an Uzumaki.'

Had the situation been less serious, Kakashi rather suspected that Tsunade might have asked herself why exactly she had been trying so hard to get Aiko back. The expression on her face certainly indicated she was thinking along those lines.

He actually felt a little defensive. "Out of curiosity, what's your go-to plan to convince a former Hokage who won't recognize you that you come from the future?"

It probably wasn't wise to let the little edge of aggression slip into his tone, but Kakashi couldn't help it.

Tsunade just stared at him for a moment, baffled that he'd spoken to her that way. After a moment, she sighed and swiped her hand at him, making a quiet sound of disgust. "Fair point."

"Right, well, there you go," Sasuke said blandly, clearly bored with their tiff. "That's the riveting story of why Naruto and I have been down there. She told us not to mention it, and we haven't been back since."

'Well, that answers one question,' Kakashi thought, remembering Tenzou's attempts to guess how old the tunnel system was. It did make him wonder why Aiko would have known if Tenzou hadn't- perhaps Danzo had more difficultly moving his people under Tsunade's rule than he had under the Sandaime's.

Going back down there the next day was a dank and altogether unpleasant experience. Kakashi hated tunnels and being underground in any way other than under his own power. He had since he was twelve, and that Iwa nin had brought a cave down on Obito.

Something twinged in his chest. Kakashi swallowed silently, smoothing a piece of paper over one of the seals. With careful focus he began to trace the counterseal lightning-fast, trying not to dwell on thoughts that being trapped in the oppressive stillness stirred up.

'We never got Obito's body back,' his treacherous mind whispered at him. 'What if that's the body Madara is using?'

But no. It was impossible. He'd left Obito off the admittedly short list of potentially stolen bodies (the Uchiha had been careful about things like that) because his teammate had been brutalized beyond fixing. They'd had an incredibly talented medic-nin on their team who had taken one look and started to cry. Tsunade-sama in her prime couldn't have fixed Obito. His body would have been no use to a skin-stealing fossil like Uchiha Madara.

'Just because I can't see how it's possible doesn't mean I can justify excluding his name from the list,' Kakashi scolded himself dully. 'I'll qualify the addition with what I know so Tsunade doesn't waste too many resources on that possibility.'

God, remembering that they'd left Obito there to die alone in the cold and dark made him feel like the worst kind of scum. Kakashi hated himself so much he might choke on it.

He and Rin had been too weak to save their teammate, and too unseasoned and emotionally unprepared to give Obito a mercy killing.

And Obito had been so calm- so forgiving of their weakness. He'd managed to smile, even with half his face crushed and the visible eye gouged out and acclimating to Kakashi's skull. He hadn't even asked for that one kindness.

'Why didn't he ask us to kill him?' Kakashi wondered miserably. 'He was so much better than me. It should have been me. If he hadn't saved me, Rin would probably be alive. And Obito would have been a better sensei. I got one girl killed in an exam she wasn't ready for, couldn't keep one from being kidnapped, and the boys found better sensei. If Obito had been the one left, everything wouldn't have gone so badly.'

He didn't notice the way his breathing was becoming shallower, but Sai did. The teen gave the older man a wary glance, but remained silent.

It was a long period of days that Kakashi spent in darkness and doubt, gradually collapsing tunnels. But at the end, he added a name to his report for Tsunade that he would rather have left off.

If Madara really had found Obito's body and desecrated it, there would be hell to pay.

It wasn't true. It couldn't be true.

Still, he had to know for himself. Kakashi had a lifetime of dodging people attempting to unmask him as material to compose plans for removing someone else's mask.

Obito lingered in the training field long after Aiko had gone back to the safehouse for a shower. He didn't bother to turn around at the long, drawn out sound of a squelch from behind him, followed by a sound like chewing as flesh and plant matter separated.

'They're so yucky,' Tobi shrilled.

Madara quietly agreed.

White Zetsu lurched up to Obito's left side, Black Zetsu stalking to stand silently by his right. The robes and clothing they'd been wearing was left in shreds on the ground, abandoned when Zetsu split into two beings and spawned enough limbs to function from White Zetsu's wood release.

Darkdankcrowdedsmellslikedirtandfear

"She's coming along," White Zetsu observed. Obito still didn't look. The Zetsu had no genitals or much in the way of features at all, but he had no desire to look at another man's naked ass.

"The idiot is incrementally less pathetic."

A muscle twitched in Obito's jaw. Madara laughed inappropriately loudly.

'The idiot,' he humed, savoring the moniker. 'There are worse descriptors.'

'You just don't like Aiko-chan,' Tobi pouted. 'She's not an idiot.'

"No," White Zetsu disagreed. "That is unfair. The child was Konoha's. Obito has only had five or six months to repair the weakness left by their slack."

"He takes too long," Black Zetsu countered darkly.

Another flash—the world went dark in one eye for a moment, a monotonous hell of packed earth.

"I could perform the surgery today if we would like," White Zetsu suggested helpfully. "I'm good with pieces."

Black Zetsu scoffed. "I don't care who does it. It just needs to be done."

His better half made a noncommittal hum.

'They do realize that I am right here?' Obito wondered.

"We need a Rinnegan user to revive my master." He could hear Black Zetsu shift on his feet, impatient. "There is no point in attempting to educate this simpleton in genjutsu. White Zetsu should implant Madara-sama's Rinnegan in the brat and Obito should teach it to use its powers. That is why we have the thing, is it not?" He scoffed. "If it is not useful, we should eat it and find another host."

His teeth were pressed together just a little too tightly.

It was stupid to forget, even for a moment, that Black Zetsu was neither Obito's friend or comrade. White Zetsu and Spiral Zetsu had genuinely been his friends, but those days were gone. Spiral Zetsu was gone and White Zetsu inextricably tied to Black Zetsu, except when he wasn't.

Black Zetsu only served Madara. If Obito didn't move fast enough for his tastes, Black Zetsu would go behind Obito's back. Obito could beat Black Zetsu. Probably. If Black Zetsu wasn't prepared for that eventuality, and didn't have clones or spores sitting around.

In other words, it would be a frustrating, uphill battle and impossible to be certain that he'd stamped Zetsu out. Besides, it would mean killing his friend White Zetsu as well. In a way, that would be worth it to get rid of the dark twin.

'He really would eat Aiko.' Obito crossed his arms across his chest. 'He'd probably enjoy it, the freak.'

White Zetsu breathed in deeply. "It does smell nice," he admitted, sounding a little guiltily. "Fresh and a little sweet. It washes a lot more than the Kakuzu."

"No, I wouldn't want to eat the Kakuzu," Black Zetsu agreed quickly. "Rotten meat. Not fresh. Not sweet."

'Alright, that's enough of that.'

"She'll be ready soon," Obito said tightly.

She'd never be ready. He'd changed his mind, he regretted ever thinking he would revive Madara. The old man could stay dead. Obito didn't need him to fulfill his plan and fix the world. Of course, he did need to keep Black Zetsu off his case. Black Zetsu would be a terrible enemy to have, even if Obito had been in a position of power. With his organization depleted and weakened, it was a stupid fight to pick. Zetsu might well win, if only by playing Akatsuki against foreign and domestic enemies.

And he would kill Aiko, without reviving her later. That would be entirely Obito's fault: she'd never even have come to Zetsu's attention if Obito hadn't selfishly dragged her out as a scapegoat to put off the inevitable fallout for a while longer.

'Why did I get her involved in this? I should have worked alone.'

"How soon?" Black Zetsu pried, standing far too close and looming. Obito was a tall man himself, but the wood release construct stretched to a more impressive height in order to intimidate. "You've been saying soon since you brought it back."

Obito turned away without responding, back tight with repressed fury. He didn't appreciate the attempt to undermine his authority.

"I must resume my surveillance," White Zetsu inserted uncomfortably, backing away.

"Good idea. Don't you have work to do?" Obito prompted Black Zetsu. The friendly Zetsu made a break for it.

Black Zetsu grew teeth for the explicit purpose of favoring Obito with an unfriendly grin. "I'm already observing a target," he rasped. "I put spores on your pet."

'He didn't have orders to do that.' He wasn't certain if he was more angry or unsettled by the implication that Black Zetsu wasn't even going through the pretense of obedience.

Fury was tempting, but it wouldn't help anything. The information Black Zetsu had just taunted him with needed to be acted upon. It was a definite threat: Black Zetsu's spores could be activated at any time and used to immobilize or kill a target.

"Make sure Suigetsu hasn't gotten himself killed," Obito ordered stiffly. "I will take care of Aiko."

Fine. It wasn't ideal, and there was no point to it other than putting Zetsu off. But she was healthy enough that the transplant was unlikely to kill her, and seemed loyal enough so far. He would have liked to wait longer to ensure that she was committed, or take the Rinnegan himself… but if he did that, Zetsu would know he had no intention of sacrificing himself to reanimate Madara. The gesture would be pointless.

And… Well, if he asked Aiko for permission to conduct surgery, she was going to wonder why. She wasn't dim enough to fail to notice waking up with a sore head and new eyes, so he would have to tell her something. That conversation would certainly give away an agenda, but he could also follow Madara's lead more directly.

It wasn't as if Madara had asked permission to implant his eyes in Nagato's skull.

No, Madara had put the boy's parents under a truly stupefying genjutsu, had Zetsu perform the surgery, and let the little idiot think that they were an Uzumaki bloodline technique.

'Technically they are,' Obito had to admit in the interest of fairness. 'They're just not an Uzumaki bloodline trait that can be activated without Uchiha dna.'

So it was barely even a lie. Not bad.

"Three weeks," Obito decided. "I'll have it done in three weeks." Black Zetsu paused in his steps, but nodded and sank into the ground.

Naked bastard.

As if he didn't have enough to worry about.

Thestenchofearth,moistandfoulandinescapable

God, was that going to stop? There was just long enough between the visions for him to calm. That meant that every vision was jarring.

'I might be going mad.' Obito laughed once, mirthless and quiet. 'Or maybe I feel guiltier about this than I realized. I can't think of another reason that this eye keeps dwelling on darkness and doubt.'

Against his will, one hand reached slowly up to his face, towards the Sharingan that was originally his.

'I'm not underground,' he told himself. His tongue slipped out to lick dry lips. 'What is this, my subconscious telling me that I'm about to undergo a drastic change in ideological position? Or have I become the Madara in the scenario?'

He huffed. What a terrible thought. It'd be nice if he could stop dwelling on such morbid memories.

Of course, he was going to be channeling Madara very soon, so the thoughts of those days underground were probably appropriate. Pein had been an idiot. Hopefully, that was a coincidence and not an effect of having Madara's eyes implanted in his head. It would be most distressing if Aiko atrophied into a similar state of mental acuity.

He was actually a little leery about that part of the plan. Those eyes… Well. They were completely unprecedented. Not only had Madara activated the Mangekyou Sharingan, he had finagled himself the Rinnegan. Neither dojutsu had ever been studied. There was every chance that there was some sort of side-effect that Madara had been unaware of or simply not bothered to share.

'After all, Uchiha eyes weren't mean to be used by other people.'

His hand twitched toward the socket that should be empty before he stopped it. Bakashi was famous for that damn eye in large part because he couldn't turn it off. Judging by Nagato's use of the Rinnegan, that dojutsu did not consume a similarly prohibitive amount of chakra—or perhaps it did, and he had only survived because of the impressive chakra reserves inherited from his Uzumaki ancestors. If that was the case, Aiko may well be completely useless for a long time while she acclimated and the constant strain stretched her reserves.

And the entire procedure may well be pointless, except as a feint to keep Zetsu happy for as long as possible. Obito severely doubted that Aiko would ever be able to use the seven paths that the Rinnegan enabled: which mattered because the technique was required to build up the chakra necessary for revive someone long-dead like Madara. That inability was mental, not physical.

It wasn't funny, but he had to chuckle.

'It's a problem that I can't fix, no matter how much chakra and power I throw at it. How frustrating. I trained until my hands bled, but I'm certainly not a therapist. That's what she needs. She's cracked. Functional, but too damaged for my purposes.'

Zetsu couldn't find out—if he did, he'd kill the girl. But it was perfectly plain to Obito that she had not dealt with the trauma of her death at all. She was nearly crippled whenever she seemed to remember that it had happened.

'It was a mistake to tell her.' He began to walk back to the house, taking the long route. 'I should have thought of a better way. Why did I ever think that she would cope well with that information?'

That had been his fault, and he would own up to it.

Of course, he absolutely could not have predicted that she would possess a bizarre and completely inexplicable phobia of puppets. It really was perplexing.

(What the hell was so intimidating about glorified dolls? They were just another tool.)

Regardless of the lack of logic behind that particular fear, it did seem to cement the likelihood that she would be paralyzed at the prospect of being asked to turn corpses into puppets and enact her will through them. Inconvenient, to say the least.

'Life works in mysterious ways,' Obito mused philosophically.

Ah, well. He didn't need Madara to cast the Tsukyomi. What he needed was the nine bijuu. That could be accomplished, though not easily. If he didn't manage to acquire them all in a brief window of time, it would become exponentially more difficult. That window was rapidly approaching, now that the great nations had forgotten Akatsuki in their struggle for power and land. He just had to play them off each other for long enough that when the first two jinchuuriki disappeared, their home countries blamed their enemies instead of Akatsuki. After that, it would be a rush to snatch the rest before communication resumed between the shinobi nations and they realized what was happening.

And that? That, he could do without a single Rinnegan Path.

'Chakra chains would be helpful, though,' he had to think ruefully. 'How simple would it be to capture a jinchuuriki if their demonic energy could be contained?'

Wasn't that bloodline activated by stress?

That brought up interesting possibilities. Of course, he'd have to prepare Aiko for the Rinnegan before he tried to shock her into re-discovering her chakra chains.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and his dark thoughts away, and kicked the door open to step out of the sun's gaze and into the cool house.

'There's no time like the present.'

"Aiko?"

She jumped, just a little, when knuckles rapped gently on her door.

"What's up?" Aiko called in response, sitting up but not getting off the bed.

After a moment, Obito pushed the door open and leaned against the doorframe. Huh. He didn't often come to her room. She eyed him up, letting her book slump down to rest on her lap.

'He looks tired and stressed.'

She bit her lower lip thoughtfully. She'd never have known from his body posture, of course. But the dark circles under his eyes sort of gave it away. It was sort of sad that he was so used to feigning alertness and full strength that he was putting on an act in his own house.

"What's with the face?" He drummed his fingers against the door, nearly blocking out the view of the hallway. Aiko was reminded that he was a pretty big guy, for someone with not a pound of fat.

"Nothing. Why don't you come in?" Aiko patted the bed and scooted over, creating an inviting space as she put the novel she'd been reading on the bedside table. She raised an eyebrow in expectation.

"That's a little inappropriate," he said distantly. Actually, he looked distant in general—his eyes were directed into her room, but she really wasn't sure he was seeing her. The effect was unnerving.

'Is he even okay? Something has to be stressing him out. Not that he'll tell me if I ask, but he doesn't seem well…'

She made a cute pout to keep the mood light. "Please? It's gotta be better than lurking. I promise I'll keep my hands to myself. Your virtue is safe."

Obito gave in with a reluctant smile and sat gingerly—on the floor, using her bed as a backrest. Fine, she could work with that. Aiko flopped down onto her belly and tangled her fingers in his hair, scratching absently at his scalp. She had to tug the mask settled on his head off entirely and settle it on her bed to free up space, but Obito didn't protest other than with a sleepy grunt.

He rebuffed her sometimes, but she could tell that he really was a tactile person. Obito liked contact as much as she did.

'He just gets really weird as soon as it passes some invisible boundary of what he considers indecent,' Aiko mused. 'In a weird way, he's sort of an old-fashioned gentleman. He'll beat the tar out of me in training, but he won't hold my hand.'

"This isn't how you're supposed to have a serious discussion," Obito tried unconvincingly.

She gave a low hum and switched from scratching to rubbing circles behind and above his ears. He went nearly limp, putty in her hands. He only reacted when she ducked her face and rubbed the tip of her nose against his hair, sniffing slightly. He smelled comforting and nice—like man and something crackly.

"What, are you a dog or something?" He swatted over his head gently, skimming her hair.

She grinned. "Woof," Aiko said solemnly. "Anyway, I don't see why we can't have a conversation like this. I think you're tense. So I'm fixing you." He couldn't see her scrunch up her nose cutely, but the gesture was more for her sake than his anyways.

He sighed, but didn't pull his head away.

"Do you still want to come along on one of my missions?"

Her fingers stilled for just a moment. "What, really?" She pulled his head back enough to blink down into tolerantly amused black eyes. "Yes, that sounds peachy keen. I'm ready for an adventure. Where are we going? When are we going? Are we going to meet new people?"

"So hasty." He reached back and knocked gently on her hand with his knuckles. She playfully threw the hand away. "How's that jutsu coming along?"

Oh. She wilted, just a bit.

"Fine," Aiko muttered, rubbing the edge where his hairline bled into his neck. "I'm really good at it. The best."

He snorted. That was response enough, really. As it turned out, she had no talent for ninjutsu. Just none at all. Obito couldn't tell her if that was how she had always been or if it was a new problem, but she just didn't have the instinctive knack that a ninjutsu specialist needed.

Someone with innate talent could learn a new jutsu in hours and manipulate the techniques for effects that others would never be able to achieve with years of practice.

Unfortunately, she wasn't that type of person (though sometimes, she felt such frustration that she thought she must have known one of those unfair geniuses).

'At least I'm good at hitting things,' Aiko consoled herself. It seemed strange and unfair that she'd get genetic coding that gave her a short reach when hand-to-hand was her most natural skillset, but she'd cope. Somehow.

"Well, you're going to need it soon," Obito sighed, pushing his head slightly into her questing fingers. She could all but feel him melt. "You have the hand signs down, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Aiko assured him. "The memorization and speed aren't an issue. I struggle with the regularity of chakra output a bit, though." She scrunched up her nose. "For some reason, I really want to mess with the proportions much more than I need to. Like I think that I need to overcompensate with my physical chakras."

She could feel his head move ever so slightly as he shrugged. "That'll have to do."

"Does that mean we're going to go get a jinchuuriki?" Aiko had to frown. What would a human sacrifice look like, anyway? She knew that Obito had said they were just demons put into a human's body, but did that mean they just looked like regular people?

She shuddered.

'That thought was unexpectedly creepy. Let's not go there.'

"That's the plan. You're going to be with me, since I haven't taught you the projection technique yet." She could all but hear him frown—it was in the way that his voice got a little lower and his consonants became carefully pronounced. "I doubt that I'll have a lot of trouble with this one, but you never know." He huffed a quiet laugh, shaking his head slightly. "It would be easier if…"

"If what?" she prodded, leaning over him and tilting her head.

Obito looked chagrinned. "I shouldn't have said anything. It's no big deal."

A sinking feeling told her that it was, in fact, a big deal.

"Something else that I forgot?" Aiko asked mournfully. She bit her lip, pulling back into herself a bit and curling her back. Great. Just great.

He took a quick inhalation- and then hesitated.

She already knew that whatever he was about to say would be a very unconvincing lie, so she used her grip on his head to push his face down, pretending to be absorbed in giving him a massage. "Don't lie to me."

His shoulders, so much broader than her own, deflated slightly in her peripheral vision. "Sorry." He cleared his throat and talked a little louder. "Your bloodline."

Aiko blinked. "What, the eye thing you mentioned a relative of mine having?" she asked, unsure. "That would be a good thing?"

"Well, yes," Obito admitted. "Although not necessarily the eye part, in that scenario. That'd just be a side effect. Uzumaki also have a genetic possibility of developing something called chakra chains, which are very good to fighting jinchuuriki and restraining bijuu. Demonic energy is very corrosive, after all. It can melt the flesh right off your bones."

(He politely pretended not to notice the shaking of her hands at that point.)

"It doesn't matter, though." He leaned forward and twisted to smile at her. "We can handle it. I just worry. Actually…" He took a breath. "Maybe I won't take you on that mission. I just don't want to risk it."

'I can handle it! I can. Give me a chance.'

Her jaw dropped open at how unfair that was, but he kept going.

"I just don't want you to get hurt," Obito said sincerely, giving a gentle smile that creased his eyes nearly shut. "Maybe a different mission, yeah?"

It was hard to maintain an indignant attitude in the face of his genuine goodwill. "Yeah," Aiko agreed quietly.

He left not long after that—left her room and then left the safehouse the next morning. But Aiko didn't let the conversation fade from her mind. She couldn't be mad at him. She could be a little mad at herself, though. If this Nagato chump could activate that bloodline, why couldn't she?

If she had a bloodline ability that came with funny eyes and magic chains, it seemed like a thing worth pursuing.

"They're going to get that Ame woman released," Michiru warned, setting down a tray with a stack of papers on one side and a plate of cookies on the other. "There's precedent for a kage being let on bail so that the country don't suffer, honey."

A shrugged good-naturedly, stuffing a sweet in his mouth whole while his secretary bustled behind him and opened the window. C and Darui made longing eye contact from across the room, but remained professionally silent. They probably weren't going to get any cookies.

"I can put that back as far as possible to give Ame time to worsen. Nothing can be finalized without our participation." He frowned. "Though I can't actually be seen as constructive."

(Obstructive, C corrected silently. The word was 'obstructive.')

His elderly secretary clucked her tongue and shuffled back over to his desk to pat his cheek. "That's nice, dear. The third letter from the top is actually about that."

"Oh?" A shuffled the first two envelopes off to the side onto his desk and pulled out the specified paper. "Let's see…" He squinted, tilting his head.

Darui repressed a sigh. It was a good thing that the general populace was unaware that their Raikage let his great-aunt all but run the office. Michiru-sama was a very nice lady, except for all the poisoning, but she hadn't been selected as Raikage.

"That deteriorated quickly," A noted in a mildly impressed tone. "Riots, starvation, and - the slave trade? Ame has a slave trade?" He huffed, shaking his head. "I thought Ame had enough problems."

His great-aunt let out a polite titter, shuffling off to the kitchen around the corner. "Well, what do you expect? That would be the definition of anarchy. A country falls apart in a surprisingly short time without a leader. And their shinobi village has always been weak."

"Yes, Oba-san," he agreed easily.

(The ruling family in Kumo, C ruminated, was really rather terrifying, in a way that tended to get underestimated).

"Is there precedent for how long it'll take for a request to have the Ame woman released?" A asked, leaning back and stuffing another cookie into his face. "That Hokage woman is going to fight this, so she'll be trying to get Konan-san out. I don't know how competent she is, but any kage will do a better job than the local lords pussy-footing about now."

"I know," Michiru hummed. "I know, love. She'll want Konan-san to put Ame to rights before the trial. It'd be months before Konan-san is released under ordinary circumstances, but I'm afraid that the situation might get a rush order." She shook her wobbling head sternly. "I'd suggest stalling communications to buy time. She can't be released until the trial details have been confirmed so that she can sign agreement to return in time. They'll be doing their best to get a non-shinobi mediator, possibly from the Land of Iron or an uninvolved Daimyo." Michiru frowned. "You could attempt to compromise the partiality of potential mediators to narrow down the list of candidates, and then interfere with the internal operations of the most likely leaders."

A grunted, spewing crumbs. "I like it," he agreed genially, smacking a fist down on the coffee table. "That sounds fun! A trade embargo might do it, or we could more directly go in and intercept messengers." He slammed his meaty fist into his right palm.

C cringed. He was very glad that he served the most powerful country in the world, and not their enemies.

"You have such good ideas, honey," Michiru crooned fondly. The Raikage grinned, puffing his chest out and rapping his fingers against his knees.

It made sense to sabotage Ame's ability to function as part of their plan to argue that Ame couldn't function as a nation and should be dissolved. But the execution of that plan was brutal. A lot of people were going to die in Ame.

"Can I have a sandwich?" A asked hopefully.

Michiru brushed off the front of her dress and smiled, smearing a bit of red lipstick on her teeth. "Of course, dear."

C was very glad he served Kumogakure.

Two days after their disappointing conversation about chakra chains, Obito was waiting with a cup of coffee when she came downstairs with her hair still wet from her shower.

"You're back sooner than I expected," she observed.

He shrugged without looking up.

So helpfully chatty. That was… a little unusual actually. He could generally hold up a conversation on the times that he hung around without starting a training session. Aiko tried again.

"I didn't know you'd be staying at this safehouse," she commented, wringing a little bit of damp out of her hair before she sat at the table. "Usually you're gone for a while. Are we having practice again? I think I might be getting somewhere with that light refracting genjutsu."

"I'm not," Obito said absently. "I'm just stopping by. There was something I wanted…" he trailed off, but never finished his statement.

Aiko stopped and really took a look at him, now that they weren't throwing things at each other and trying pathetically to slip underneath the other's notice. (Okay, that was all her. He could genjutsu like a pro. She was apparently completely without talent in every shinobi art but fuinjutsu and taijutsu. Depressing).

'He looks like he hasn't slept in days. And he didn't bother to clean up after he came in from wherever. Ew. Also, not like him.'

She swallowed carefully. "How are you?"

He glanced over with sunken, tired eyes. She couldn't help but note that he looked paler than usual, and just a little too thin. A muscle twitched in his jaw. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," Aiko half-accused, not pleased that he was so obviously lying to her. "You look tired. Maybe you should lay do-"

"I said I'm fine!"

She jumped, eyes wide as his palm slapped down on the table with enough force to send it shuddering. The coffee cup clinked and shattered against the wood, sending scalding liquid flying. Aiko jerked her hand back reflexively, but not in time to keep her left arm dry.

Obito looked about as surprised as she did. Maybe he was surprised to see the spilt liquid—the voice that had shouted had been pitched lower than his usual speaking voice. She was starting to see a pattern.

'That is not normal,' Aiko thought, hating the chill that ran up her spine. 'Not normal. I know he's always had mood switches, but never like that. Not- not yelling and hitting things.'

Shamefully, at that moment, she couldn't help but remember just how physically imposing he was, and how strong he was. That wasn't fair, that was stupid. Obito would never hurt her.

'But he doesn't always seem like Obito. He's someone else when he's mad.'

And that was why he needed someone to take care of him. He didn't even seem to know.

'Something is very wrong with him. He's sick. He needs help.'

Of course, she had no room to talk. She was a walking corpse and she dreamed about killing people and occasionally about searing heat ripping her skull open. Aiko wasn't quite positioned to cast judgment about someone else's mental health. They needed each other, that was fine. It meant she wasn't alone and he wasn't alone.

"I'm sorry," Obito said gently,

Somehow, she forced a wooden smile onto her face. "It's alright. I didn't mean to upset you."

Impossibly, that seemed to make things worse. He shook his head and grabbed her hand when she reached out to gather the broken glass. "No- leave it. And please don't say that. I'm sorry. It's not your job to avoid upsetting me. I have no excuse for losing control like that." With one last regretful glance, he pushed his chair back and crossed the room to grab a hand towel. "I'll clean up. Is your hand alright?"

The skin on her wrist and forearm was red and swelling. Aiko pulled it off the table and put it on her lap, out of sight. "It's fine. Are you alright?"

He paused, letting coffee soak into the grey rag. One hand slowly drifted up towards his face, but he didn't actually touch his eye. Good thing too, she noted with concern. It certainly wasn't safe to go from cleaning up glass putting your hands on your eye. Feeling a little nervous about just how close his fingers were hovering, Aiko stood and took the two steps necessary to use her right hand to gently pull his arm down.

"Obito?" she asked quietly, covering his hand with both of hers.

For the first time, he looked in her direction and really seemed to see her. Obito gave a barking little laugh but didn't pull away. "It's childish, I'm afraid," he admitted with a rasp. "I keep seeing things. I'd say they're nightmares, but they're more like quick flashes of vision. I think I'm dwelling on bad times. I had a terrible time finishing a mission that should have been completely mundane. It was all very pathetic."

She stayed silent.

"I keep thinking that I'm seeing- that I'm underground again," Obito admitted. "and feeling so miserable. Thinking that I'm a failure and claustrophobic and I just can't stop thinking about that day." His hand shook a little. Concerned, Aiko pressed her fingers against it a little more firmly.

'I don't know what to do,' she realized, shivering unpleasantly. 'I want to help him but I don't know how.'

"Aren't you going to tell me to let it go because it's not real?" Obito asked, sounding oddly defensive. "Focus on the now and all that?"

Aiko didn't know what he was looking for- condemnation or judgment perhaps. She shrugged, uncomfortable but unwilling to let go. "It's real. If you feel it and remember it, it's real. I wish you were happy, but telling you not to be sad doesn't help."

He choked, shaking his head. "You don't even know what I'm talking about."

She wasn't sure if he sounded amused or derisive, so she kept her face clear.

"I suppose it's the day my life changed," Obito decided, with a dark sort of humor. "The day Konoha thought that I died."

Aiko became very, very still, because if that didn't sound like a trigger, she didn't know what would. Unconsciously, she tugged the hand she was holding closer and held it to her chest like a comfort blanket.

"I had two teammates," he said quietly. But he wasn't really talking to her. Obito's eyes were distant. Maybe underground again, remembering things he'd rather not. Aiko shivered.

"Rin and Kakashi." The emotion with which he pronounced each name was not remotely the same. 'Rin' was delicate and quiet, like something holy. The emotion attached to 'Kakashi' was different. There was something angry shuddering beneath the surface of that word.

"He didn't want to get her when she was kidnapped," Obito recounted distantly. "We fought, and I left. I ran into trouble- and he came back for me."

Kakashi sounded like he needed to make his mind up.

"He took a blow for me that ruined one of his eyes." Aiko winced. "And then when we found Rin, and the cave tumbled down, I pushed him out of the way of the rock that would have killed him." Obito laughed, short and bitter. "I don't know if I regret that or not. At the time, I begged Rin to give him my eye, so that I could still see the world. I didn't say it, but I was so scared. So scared to die." He cleared his throat and said so quietly that she had to strain to hear. "They just left me there in the dark. They should have killed me, if they didn't care. They never came back. Not even looking for a body."

The pain and confusion- a child's voice asking why- almost physically hurt her.

Eyes hot, Aiko took a step in and nudged her forehead against his chest, like a cat asking to be pet. She couldn't speak. Every word he said was quiet and terrible, inexorably drawn out of his chest. She didn't want to hear any more, but she couldn't stop him either.

"and then Madara found me. Less than a year later, Kakashi killed Rin."

'What.'

That shocked her into a flinch, drawing her chin down nearly to her chest. It sounded like there was a story there. She definitely was not about to ask.

"At least in my head, it all started when the rocks came down in that cave. That's what I've been thinking I'm seeing for the past two days," Obito finished, his voice clearing up. He gave a little huff of a laugh. "So, what do you think?"

"I think your teammate sounds scary," Aiko said into his chest. His hand, still caught between hers and pressed between them, twitched comfortingly. "They should have come back for you. I would."

He gave a shocked laugh, shoulders shaking a little. "He's not that scary. But thanks." Obito took a step back, tugging his hand out of her grip as he turned away and collected himself. Aiko let it go. He clearly didn't want her to linger on his little fit, so she turned to the window and put her hands on her hips, staring out into the sunshine. It'd be harder to wallow in misery and bad memories about being trapped in the dark when you were out and about, wouldn't it?

"I don't feel much like training today," Aiko said contemplatively. "Let's go out and do something fun. Outside."

Obito looked wryly at her, clearly knowing what she was doing.

"Really."

"Yepp." She rolled her neck, breathing in deeply. "I think it's time for an adventure."

"I have places to be."

"They're really not that important."

"Oh, yes they are."

"As important as going out to do something fun? You could take us to Iron and we'd see a movie."

Obito opened his mouth, considering. "…You're not suggesting this because that awful Icha Icha movie just came out, are you?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Aiko scoffed. "That's not out yet. But you are totally taking me to that. No, we're going to see a Princess Fuin movie."

The Icha Icha movie wasn't going to be out for weeks. Although she had heard about a special screening up in Iron country where filming had been done that was rather intriguing.

[it-consultant-san-diego]

IT Consultant in San Diego

Sysvoot, provide expert IT consulting services to businesses of all sizes in the San Diego area. Our goal is to help our clients achieve their business objectives by providing customized and scalable IT solutions.

Whether you are looking for network and infrastructure services, cybersecurity and data protection, cloud computing and storage, or business process automation, Sysvoot is here to help.

[accruetek]

Accruetek Consulting Limited

Accruetek Consulting Limited provides a wide range of information technology-enabled services ranging from IT Consulting, Implementation, Support, and Managed Services in various technology domains like Cloud Adoption, Physical and Virtual infrastructure optimization, Virtualisation, Data Storage & Solutions, SAN & Telephony for different businesses in SME and Micro SME sectors. Our Organisation Philosophy is to help SMEs and Micro SMEs globally by engaging with them as a “Strategic IT Partner” for all their IT & ITEs needs, enabling them to concentrate on their “Core Competency”. https://www.accruetek.com/index.html

[ivmtechnollp]

Empower Your Business with IVM Techno's IT Equipment Rentals

IVM Techno is a premier IT equipment rental company offering a comprehensive range of cutting-edge technology solutions. Our state-of-the-art equipment is ideal for businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises.

Our IT Equipment Rental Services:

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Network Equipment Rentals: Routers, switches, and firewalls to secure and optimize your network.

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Audio-Visual Equipment Rentals: Projectors, screens, speakers, and microphones for presentations and events.

[data-bridge]

Storage Area Network (SAN) Solutions Market Industry Share, Size, Growth, Demands, Revenue, Top Leaders and Forecast to 2028

Industry Analysis

The storage area network (SAN) solutions market will reach at an estimated value of 26.64 billion and grow at a CAGR of 4.25% in the forecast period of 2021 to 2028. Rising collaboration between hardware vendors and educational content providers is an essential factor driving the storage area network (SAN) solutions market

Additionally, the credible Storage Area Network (SAN) Solutions Market report helps the manufacturer in finding out the effectiveness of the existing channels of distribution, advertising programs, or media, selling methods and the best way of distributing the goods to the eventual consumers. Taking up such market research report is all the time beneficial for any company whether it is a small scale or large scale, for marketing of products or services. It makes effortless for ICT industry to visualize what is already available in the market, what market anticipates, the competitive environment, and what should be done to surpass the competitor.

Get a Free Sample of The Report: https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-storage-area-network-san-solutions-market

Market Insights and Scope    

Storage area network (SAN) or storage network is defined as a computer network which gives access to integrated, block-level data storage. It is a speedy, efficient, data transfer network that is liable to connect storage devices such as disk arrays or tape libraries, which would allow users to access an integrated, block level storage. It removes the need to maintain separate storage. It aids in very quick and speedy data transfers. It allows for centralized backup of stored data, and enables to view the stored data on local disks.

The Storage Area Network (SAN) Solutions Market report encompasses various segments linked to ICT industry and market with comprehensive research and analysis. These comprise industry outlook with respect to critical success factors (CSFs), industry dynamics that mainly covers drivers and restraints, market segmentation & value chain analysis, key opportunities, application and technology outlook, regional or geographical insight, country-level analysis, key company profiles, competitive landscape, and company market share analysis. All the data, figures and information are backed up by well recognized analysis tools which include SWOT analysis and Porter’s Five Forces analysis. So, take business to the peak level of growth with the all-inclusive Data Bridge Market research report.

Get full access to the report: https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-storage-area-network-san-solutions-market

Industry Segmentation and Size

The storage area network (SAN) solutions market is segmented on the basis of component, technology and end-use industries. The growth among segments helps you analyse niche pockets of growth and strategies to approach the market and determine your core application areas and the difference in your target markets.

On the basis of component, the storage area network (SAN) solutions market is segmented into hardware, software and services.

Based on technology, the storage area network (SAN) solutions market is segmented into fiber channel (FC), fiber channel over Ethernet (FCoE), InfiniBand and iSCSI protocol.

The storage area network (SAN) solutions market is also segmented on the basis of end-user into BFSI, E-commerce, IT and telecommunication, energy and utility, government offices and education, aerospace and defense and others.

Market Country Level Analysis

The countries covered in the storage area network (SAN) solutions market report are

U.S., Canada and Mexico in North America, Brazil, Argentina and Rest of South America as part of South America, Germany, Italy, U.K., France, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, Rest of Europe in Europe, Japan, China, India, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Rest of Asia-Pacific (APAC) in the Asia-Pacific (APAC), Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, South Africa, Egypt, Israel, Rest of Middle East and Africa (MEA) as a part of Middle East and Africa (MEA).

A reliable Storage Area Network (SAN) Solutions Market marketing report proves to be the finest and excellent market research report as it is formulated with the following critical factors. These consist of primary research, benchmarking studies, secondary research, company profiles, competitive intelligence & reporting, syndicated research, data collection, data processing and analysis, survey design, and survey programming. The report performs market study and analysis to provide market data by considering new product development from beginning to launch. The ICT business report also provides evaluations based on the market type, organization size, availability on-premises, end-users’ organization type, and the availability in areas such as North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa.

Industry Share Analysis

The major players covered in storage area network (SAN) solutions market report are

IBM Corporation, FUJITSU, Oracle, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP, Hitachi, Ltd., Cisco, DataDirect Networks, NEC Corporation, NetApp, Pure Storage, Inc., Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., IDG Communications, Inc., Dell Inc., Citrix Systems, Inc., Nutanix, DataCore Software, Scale Computing, StorMagic. and Nexenta by DDN, Inc. among other domestic and global players. Market share data is available for global, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South America separately.

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About Us: Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with an unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market                                                                                                                                                                     

Contact: Data Bridge Market Research Tel: +1-888-387-2818   Email: Sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com

[news37]

Indonesia’s bottle drinking water products producer and distributor PT Sariguna Primatirta Tbk (Tanobel) has modernised applications to improve business processes.  The company replaced its virtualised environment, windows servers, and storage area network (SAN) appliances with a modern, hyperconverged compute and storage solution to support its distributed architecture. This helped the firm to improve performance, scalability and resilience. The new environment has also substantially reduced downtime, benefiting end users, developers, and operations.  Tanobel’s IT Director, Tanaka Murinata said the on-demand horizontal scalability enabled by Red Hat technology played a crucial part in performance improvement. He shared the example of the Dremio data lake Tanobel uses for analytics. “Our Dremio deployment is one master pod and three executor pods in OpenShift. It allows us to spread the workload horizontally if we need to scale,” In contrast, spreading the workload horizontally was impossible in Tanobel’s legacy environment. It would mean creating a new VM, installing the latest operating system, installing the application, configuring environments, and testing before it can be commissioned for production. Founded in 2003, Tanobel has rapidly expanded its drinking water product line, including brands like Cleo, Anda, Vio, and SuperO2, across Indonesia. It needed to ensure its IT systems were resilient and performing optimally. Engineers need to be able to run critical reports and analytics at speed. For that, they need critical Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to run and commit data on time and for computing resources to scale when needed. Murinata noted that their attempt to implement a data lake for reporting and analytics faced performance issues when the required object storage was added to their traditional storage solution, causing the systems to slow significantly. The team decided to implement Red Hat OpenShift Virtualisation that could help to take advantage of cloud-native application development while preserving existing VM workload investments -  all within the same unified platform.  Adopting modern application environment  The company migrated existing Windows and database workloads to the virtualised environment provided by OpenShift Virtualisation before branching out to focus on containerisation.  Murinata said currently the virtualised environment supports a handful of applications that don’t support containerisation and some database instances.  OpenShift Container Platform has also helped Tanobel advance with containers, with 90 percent of workloads now running on OpenShift Container Platform. The container environment supports a Dremio data lake and almost 300 newly developed microservices, including web services and application programming interfaces (APIs), he added. Tanaka said containerised applications can self-repair without user impact, which quickly spawns new instances if an application goes down. The infrastructure is highly available, ensuring that the loss of nodes or entire clusters doesn’t affect users.  For example, during recent hardware failures with two disk drives, Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation has prevented data loss and performance issues, allowing for a quick recovery with minimal effort, he added. Red Hat technology has enhanced code quality and resilience in Tanobel's systems by allowing developers to test applications in the same environment as their development.  This has simplified deployment to a single-click process, unlike the legacy system that required manual synchronisation of test VMs. Additionally, the CI/CD workflow could provide better transparency in code versions, as developers must deploy code to a Git repository before it goes to the server. This prevents unauthorised changes directly on the server, improving both code and deployment quality. Tanaka said Tanobel plans to further modernise its applications using Red Hat by developing new microservices and containerised applications on OpenShift Virtualisation.  Their roadmap includes creating a disaster recovery facility and preparing for cloud integration. It aims to create a hybrid environment where cloud and on-premise instances are identical, ensuring a consistent OpenShift experience.

[odyseydesignhosting]

San Antonio Website Hosting: Finding the Right Solution for Your Business

In today’s digital landscape, having a reliable web hosting provider is as crucial as a compelling website design. Whether you’re launching a personal blog, running a small business, or managing a large-scale enterprise in San Antonio, the choice of a hosting provider can make or break your online presence. For businesses in San Antonio, website hosting tailored to the needs of the local market can offer unique advantages. Here’s a comprehensive guide to understanding and selecting the best website hosting solutions in San Antonio.

What Is Website Hosting and Why Does It Matter?

Website hosting is the service that allows your website to be accessible on the internet. It involves storing your website’s files, databases, and other essential resources on a server that delivers them to users when they type your domain name into their browser.

Key factors such as uptime, speed, and security depend heavily on the hosting provider. Without reliable hosting, even the most well-designed website can fail to perform, leading to lost traffic, reduced credibility, and lower search engine rankings.

San Antonio’s Unique Needs for Website Hosting

San Antonio is a growing hub for businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs. The city’s vibrant economy and diverse industries demand hosting solutions that cater to various needs:

Local SEO Benefits: Hosting your website on servers based in or near San Antonio can improve website load times for local users, boosting your local search rankings.

Customer Support: Local hosting providers often offer faster and more personalized support, making it easier to resolve technical issues quickly.

Community-Centric Services: San Antonio businesses often benefit from hosting providers that understand the local market and tailor their offerings to the unique challenges faced by businesses in the area.

Types of Website Hosting Available in San Antonio

Shared Hosting

For small businesses or personal websites with limited traffic, shared hosting is a cost-effective option. Multiple websites share the same server resources, making it affordable but potentially slower during high-traffic periods.

VPS Hosting

Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting offers a middle ground between shared and dedicated hosting. Your website gets its own partition on a shared server, providing better performance and more customization options.

Dedicated Hosting

This option gives you an entire server dedicated to your website. It’s ideal for high-traffic sites or those needing advanced security and performance features.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting uses a network of servers to ensure high availability and scalability. It’s a flexible option for businesses expecting fluctuating traffic.

Managed Hosting

For those without technical expertise, managed hosting takes care of server management, updates, and backups, allowing you to focus on your business instead of technical maintenance.

Factors to Consider When Choosing Website Hosting in San Antonio

Performance and Uptime

Ensure your hosting provider offers at least 99.9% uptime to keep your website accessible around the clock. Fast loading times are critical for user experience and SEO rankings.

Security Features

Look for hosting providers that offer robust security measures, including SSL certificates, firewalls, DDoS protection, and regular backups.

Scalability

Your hosting solution should be able to grow with your business. Choose a provider that offers flexible plans to accommodate increased traffic and resources as needed.

Customer Support

24/7 customer support with knowledgeable staff is invaluable for resolving technical issues promptly. Many San Antonio-based hosting companies offer localized support to cater to their clients better.

Cost and Value

While affordability is important, don’t compromise on essential features. Compare the cost with the value offered, including storage, bandwidth, and additional tools like website builders or marketing integrations.

How Local Hosting Supports San Antonio Businesses

Local hosting providers understand the pulse of the San Antonio market. They can offer tailored solutions for restaurants, retail stores, service providers, and tech startups. By prioritizing local needs, such providers enable businesses to thrive in a competitive digital landscape.

Tips for Maintaining Your Hosted Website

Regular Backups: Protect your data by ensuring automatic and manual backups are part of your hosting plan.

Monitor Performance: Use tools to analyze website speed and resolve bottlenecks.

Stay Updated: Keep your website software, plugins, and security features up to date to prevent vulnerabilities.

Conclusion

Choosing the right website hosting provider in San Antonio is a critical step toward building a successful online presence. From understanding the local market to evaluating hosting types and features, there are numerous factors to consider. By selecting a reliable provider and maintaining your hosted website effectively, you can ensure your business stands out in San Antonio’s competitive digital landscape.

Whether you’re launching a new venture or upgrading your current hosting solution, San Antonio offers a wealth of hosting options to meet your unique needs. Make the smart choice today to power your online success!

[cert007]

HCIA-Storage V5.0 H13-611_V5.0 Questions and Answers

Preparing for the HCIA-Storage V5.0 H13-611_V5.0 certification exam? The journey to becoming a certified Huawei Storage engineer can be challenging, but with the right resources, you can achieve success smoothly. Cert007 offers a comprehensive set of HCIA-Storage V5.0 H13-611_V5.0 Questions and Answers carefully collected from real exam scenarios. These questions provide candidates with practical insights into the types of questions asked, enabling them to grasp the exam's structure and complexity more effectively. By studying these targeted questions and answers, you can familiarize yourself with exam material and significantly increase your chances of passing the exam.

Now, let’s dive into a detailed overview of the HCIA-Storage V5.0 certification exam, the essential knowledge points, and effective preparation tips to help you succeed.

HCIA-Storage V5.0 Certification Exam Overview

The HCIA-Storage V5.0 certification is a credential designed by Huawei to validate expertise in the field of storage technology. Earning this certification proves that you, as an engineer, possess both theoretical and practical knowledge of storage technology trends, Huawei intelligent storage products, and the operation and management of storage systems. This qualification is essential for various IT roles, such as enterprise storage engineer and technical support specialist, as it verifies your ability to deploy, operate, and manage basic storage systems effectively.

Huawei’s HCIA-Storage certification specifically equips candidates with a deep understanding of the latest storage technologies. In addition, certified professionals demonstrate skills in areas like RAID technologies, storage system architecture, data protection technologies, and Huawei’s intelligent data storage solutions. Let’s examine the exam’s structure and core knowledge points to help you prepare thoroughly.

Exam Content of HCIA-Storage V5.0

The HCIA-Storage V5.0 exam covers a broad range of topics critical for storage system engineering. These include essential foundational knowledge of the data storage field, intelligent data storage components, and the capabilities of Huawei’s storage products. Below are some of the core areas the exam assesses:

Storage Technology Trends – Understanding the evolution and future directions of storage technology.

Basic Storage Technologies – A focus on RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) technologies, which are crucial for data reliability and redundancy.

Common Storage Protocols – Knowledge of standard protocols, like NFS and CIFS, that ensure effective communication in storage networks.

Storage System Architecture – Design principles of robust storage systems that handle high-volume data efficiently.

Storage Network Architecture – Components and layout of storage networks, including SAN (Storage Area Networks) and NAS (Network Attached Storage).

Storage Resource Tuning and Data Protection – Optimizing resources and implementing data protection mechanisms to ensure the integrity and availability of stored data.

Each of these areas is essential for mastering the exam, as well as for achieving success in real-world storage system deployment and management.

Key Knowledge Points for HCIA-Storage V5.0

To better prepare, candidates should dive deeply into each of the following knowledge points. Here is a closer look at what each area entails:

1. Storage Technology Trends

Gain a strong understanding of current trends in the storage industry, such as the shift toward flash storage, cloud-based storage solutions, and artificial intelligence (AI) integration in storage management.

Explore the role of big data and analytics in storage technology, as organizations increasingly rely on these technologies for business intelligence.

2. Basic Storage Technologies

Familiarize yourself with RAID technologies which provide redundancy and increase data availability.

Learn about the various RAID levels (e.g., RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10) and their application in different storage scenarios.

Understand how basic storage technology contributes to data protection, integrity, and system performance.

3. Intelligent Data Storage System

Study the components of Huawei’s intelligent storage systems and their unique features that differentiate them from traditional storage solutions.

Understand how AI and machine learning are applied in intelligent storage to automate data management tasks and improve system efficiency.

4. Common Storage Protocols

Master common storage protocols, such as iSCSI, Fibre Channel, NFS (Network File System), and CIFS (Common Internet File System), which facilitate data sharing and retrieval in storage networks.

Learn the use cases and benefits of each protocol, and understand which protocols are optimal in specific storage configurations.

5. Storage Network Architecture

Delve into Storage Area Network (SAN) and Network Attached Storage (NAS) architectures, which serve as foundations for organizing and managing large-scale storage systems.

Learn about the differences between SAN and NAS, and how each supports different types of data access and storage needs.

6. Huawei Intelligent Storage Products and Features

Huawei’s intelligent storage products, such as OceanStor, are known for their reliability and scalability.

Study the key features of Huawei’s storage products, including data deduplication, compression, and high availability, to understand how these products meet modern storage requirements.

7. Storage System Operation Management

Operation management covers the day-to-day running of storage systems, including monitoring, troubleshooting, and maintaining system health.

Candidates should be familiar with O&M (Operation and Maintenance) processes, which help sustain data availability and system performance over time.

8. Storage Resource Tuning Technologies and Applications

Understand tuning methodologies that improve storage performance, such as adjusting cache settings, load balancing, and optimizing I/O operations.

Learn how storage tuning can be applied in high-demand environments to maximize efficiency and minimize latency.

9. Storage Data Protection Technologies and Applications

Focus on the technologies used to protect data from loss, such as snapshot technology, replication, and backup strategies.

Explore how Huawei’s storage systems incorporate data protection features that guard against data corruption, unauthorized access, and system failures.

Preparation Tips for HCIA-Storage V5.0 Exam

Preparing effectively for the HCIA-Storage V5.0 exam requires a strategic approach. Here are some tips to ensure you’re ready:

Utilize Exam-Specific Resources

Begin with reliable exam preparation materials, such as Cert007’s question bank, which includes real exam questions and answers. Practicing with these questions will familiarize you with the exam format and increase your confidence.

Understand Core Concepts Thoroughly

Focus on understanding rather than memorization. For example, don’t just learn about RAID levels; understand the scenarios in which each level is best applied.

Leverage Huawei’s Training Resources

Huawei offers various training resources that delve deeply into each aspect of their intelligent storage solutions. These resources provide real-world case studies and technical documentation to deepen your understanding.

Hands-on Practice

Gain hands-on experience with storage systems, if possible. Working with Huawei’s OceanStor or similar storage solutions allows you to understand practical challenges and how to address them.

Regularly Review and Test Knowledge

Consistent review of material is essential. Quiz yourself on each topic, and use flashcards or mind maps to reinforce knowledge of protocols, RAID types, and architecture elements.

Conclusion

Achieving the HCIA-Storage V5.0 certification is a significant step for anyone looking to excel in the field of data storage technology and enterprise storage solutions. By mastering the essential concepts—like RAID technologies, storage protocols, and Huawei’s intelligent storage products—and familiarizing yourself with storage system architecture, you’ll be well-prepared to manage modern storage environments confidently. Utilize resources like Cert007’s Q&A collection, Huawei’s training programs, and practical experience to optimize your study process and increase your chances of success.