What about alchemy? Or runic magic? Can't Shirou use them? they are not reliant on the engraved thrumagical formulas after all and it is well know that only those with poor parantiage uses alchemy. Shirou fits for that.

 

Alchemy is it's own Egnraved Thaumaturgical System. I think you meant Formalcraft, which uses lots of mana and little od.

As far as Shirou's Personality goes...the point isn't to change everything. Just enough to make it matter. Hell, with the very basic concept of a Berserker Shirou, you could keep his normal personality most of the time, but the moment he gets into a fight, he just flips out.

 

So this is an interesting one that popped into my head after reading the Fem!Sasuke essay by Meinos Kaen again.

Fem!Naruto, e.g. Naruko.

It's an interesting plotbunny that won't leave me alone, now.

Basically: Seal Shenanigans on her part ends up transporting her to Naruto's version of their world.

Well, due to some differences in their past, she doesn't have the same incredible luck that he does. This leaves her world and history a darker past than his. Which leaves her not wanting to go back to her own version of her world.

You'd think having two Naruto level Talented ninjas would make the big battles easier, but really.. she just complicates shit. That whole 'bad luck' thing.

She's a bit smarter than he is, which is what leads to her interest in fuinjutsu, but she doesn't quite have the same omgwtfbbq level reserves he has, nor the raw physical strength/taijutsu talent he does.

The differences between them end up being small, but important.

Main Problem: Two Kyuubi Hosts means two ways for Pein to get a hold of the Kyuubi. Throw in her bad luck and shit gets bad in previously-canon!verse Naruto's world, fast.

On the upside, she has just as much natural potential as Naruto does. That matters an assload.

I figure it'd turn a darker than Canon does pretty quick. Especially considering I don't buy into that whole few hundred year old crying-chakra-contrstuct!kyuubi bullshit. In every fic I write, Kyuubi is an ancient Demon of mischief and malice, like he was before shippuden bullshit.

I'm still working on the over-arching conflict, but I've got a few ideas that I think could make it suitably epic.

I intend on having her show up around age 14-15, while Naruto is still on his Training Trip with Jiraiya.

 

Fandom: Enderverse

Trailers for the Ender's Game movie reminded me of the book, and that got me thinking a bit about the ending. What about a story where, for whatever reason, Ender wasn't forced into exile after the end of the war with the Buggers? Say Bean sends Ender's brother an email threatening to expose who "Locke" actually is if he makes Ender's exile a condition for the end of the League War.

So we have Ender back on Earth dealing with his guilt from the war while also living with a family who are essentially strangers (he's only seen his sister, Val, twice, and other than that no contact with them since he was five) and a resentful genius older brother. Lots of room for conflict there.

And then, instead of his entire jeesh being kidnapped but the Russian at Achilles' behest, just Ender is. In this world, having battle schoolers from the jeesh was seen as the equivalent of having the bomb during the Cold War; having Ender himself would be seen as the equivalent of putting your nation into God-mode. The fallout and world reaction to world's savior being kidnapped would also be even bigger than the jeesh. Ender himself is really burned out from the war with the buggers, but the rest of the world doesn't know that and Achilles might be able to find ways to 'motivate' him. It also brings America, which was always pretty isolationist (but it a peace-through-strenghth kinda way) in the Shadow series into the geopolitical mess already present, because Ender is from North Carolina. So Achilles has Ender, and maybe more of his jeesh, Bean and Val are trying to find him, and Peter is still trying to make the jump from pundit to political leader and is up in the air as to whether or not it's a bad thing.

I see a lot of potential in this.

 

I'd love to see a good Enderverse fic where Ender himself returns to the earth to confront the issues from the Shadow series. But something I think we need to keep in mind is that his very presence should upset quite a bit of the pace for events, not to mention the setting.

I don't see America remaining wholly passive when the single greatest war hero the world has ever known - and an American citizen by birth - comes back into their territory. If they aren't worried about someone trying to kill him outright, then surely Valentine or Peter would realize that is a possibility and get the ball rolling for extra protection to defend such a 'precious national resource'.

I'd expect Russia to make one ploy at kidnapping Ender, and this is only if the American government tried moving him to a more secure location. If they can't get to him then, they would surely turn to assassination thereafter regardless of what Achilles wants. And let's say the Russians did manage to nab Ender - why not go after Val and Peter as well, ensuring America doesn't look to the older Wiggin siblings for military brilliance?

And here's another issue - just how far Ender will be pushed before he strikes back. None of the other Battle Schoolers' Achilles had under his thumb were willing to attack, but aside from maybe Bean, none of them had been put into the situation where it was do-or-die. Peter be damned, but touch Valentine? Torture her? Yeah, I see Ender coming out of his shell-shocked fatigue and demolishing Achilles. He'd underestimate Ender at one point and Ender would steamroll him. Where the series goes from there is unknown.

 

Yes, you make good points and I had considered that. I think I'm going to start writing this and put it in the Misc WbA. Not that there's much in the way of Ender's Game ff.

 

That would be because Card is really against it, like 'sue your pants off' against it.

 

So keep it in the WbA

I have a couple bunnies for FMA:B but I'm curious, is there anything decent in the fandom so I could get a feel for how writing it looks?

 

FMA:B huh. The anime had so little I actually disliked I never really considered fanfics for it.

 

I'm personally a fan of Fem!Naruto, but I think it brings additional considerations to the table. Specifically with regards to your story, what aspects warrant or benefit from a Fem!Naruto?

The critical aspect of a Rule 63 character is how the gender swap affects character relationships. For example, how is Sakura affected by not having Naruto there constantly asking her out? Will Kiba, Shikamaru and Chouji be more or less likely to play hookie with Fem!Naru? And that's before we even get to characters like Sasuke, Gaara and Neji.

By bringing Naruko to Naruto's world and leaving her there you risk losing this critical element. There are potential gains too: Naruto may suddenly find himself compared to his female counterpart by his friends. But no matter how you go about it, you have to keep this idea in the back of your mind.

There's a second consideration a part from being a Rule 63 character that is central to gender bending Naruto in particular and one of my main reasons for preferring Fem!Naru over Fem!Sasuke: Naruko's jinchuuriki status. Everything we've seen about the shinobi world suggests that it is highly patriarchal. We've seen many female jounin in housewife roles rather than kunoichi roles: Kurenai (after pregnancy), Yoshino, Mikoto, and even Kushina. A jinchuuriki is the ultimate weapon of his/her village. How does this affect the expectations placed on Naruko? Is she chained to the village? Is she expected to settle down with a man? Or is she not allowed to ever get pregnant OR ELSE?

 

wat

Two of the five most powerful shinobi in the Five Great Hidden Villages are women. We've never seen anyone questioning whether Tsunade or Mei are worthy Kage because they're women, just like we've never seen anywoman's merit as a ninja questioned because of her gender.

Yoshino and Mikoto took on housewife roles because both of their husbands were clan heads and likely had too many responsibilities to devote their time to taking care of a child. I don't know where you got Kushina being a housewife from. The only time we saw her in a remotely non-kunoichi role was when she was ten months pregnant, because yeah. Not much ninja stuff you can do at ten months pregnant. Oh, and Kurenai focused on her child more than her career because Asuma fucking died.

I mean, I guess you can make an argument that some of the shinobi clans are patriarchal in nature, like the Uchiha and the Nara, but even then you have to take into account clans like the Inuzuka and the Hyuuga. Tsume is the head of her clan, and we never saw anyone pressure Hiashi to try and get a son because it was just accepted that Hinata would take over as his eldest.

 

Are you really going be so rude as to give me a "wat" when you have not refuted my point?

When have we ever seen a female ninja who had kids and was still on active duty? For that matter, can you even name any female jounin who was married and still on active duty? Tsume is the only example I can think of and her husband left her. Ouch.

Kishimoto's stance on gender issues is perfectly clear.

Since we're bringing up Kages, let's please talk about how much gender roles have defined Terumi Mei's life. Have you forgotten her introduction?
http://www.tenmangas.com/chapter/Naruto454/173726-6.html
Even later on in the manga she talks about how the only she'll do late in life is marry. Now why on earth would she think that?

 

Have we ever seen a female jonin (Yoshino was only a chunin, btw) that became a housewife just because? The reason I don't agree with you is because we haven't seen hardly any examples of female jonin and their lives after marriage, since that's not a big issue in the manga. What we have seen makes sense to me.

In regards to the Mei link, all I'll say is that having one gender biased expression ("Be a man") does not a highly patriarchal world make. There might be some undertones due to Kishi's personal beliefs, but the fact of the matter is there haven't been any indications of it being extreme enough for a theoretical fem!Naruto to be chained to Konoha and/or forced to get a husband and become a housewife.

 

Hey Sakura got a deus ex machina power up too!

 

How many jounin level confirmed mothers do we know? I can name at least 7 off the top of my head.

I'm not going to comb through all of Mei's dialogue -- gender issues are a HUGE part of her character aside from just the two instances I highlighted (including the one I linked to). If you don't believe me then I suggest you re-read her scenes.

You can try to justify her and other individual examples as much as you want, but the reality is that the only one of seven on active duty just happens to be the only one divorced with her own son explicitly saying that she chased away her husband. I cannot be the only one who finds that trend suspicious. The only two examples aside from Tsume I am aware of getting out of the kitchen and charging off into battle were both in situations where they had nothing to lose and something important to gain.

I do NOT find it coincidental that women with successful careers in the Naruverse are single, even into their 30's or even 50's.

 

You think Naruto gives a fuck about precedent? Have we been reading the same mofo'ing manga?

 

Plot Bunny:

After Wolverine kills Jean Grey at the end of the 3rd X-Men movie, some plot magic happens (maybe her abilities are involved) and Wolverine ends up in Westeros exactly when Ned is executed.

 

Is Tsume even a jounin? Wiki says she's a special jounin. Also is it ever said she's the clan head or is that fanon?

Chiyo had a family and she was one of the most respected ninja in Suna.

I think it would also be awesome to see Guts from Berserk in Westeros.

 

You could easily fuse Berserk's world with Westeros. Only I'm not sure if anyone would want to read something as depressing as this could potentially be.

 

Iron Blood or “Clash in the Land of Iron”: Naruto, Sasuke, Neji and Lee are assigned to a bodyguard mission where they need to escort a famous actress and her filming company to Iron Country. But after entering the country, all of its borders are cut off. There’s an uprising as one faction of samurai aim to take over the country, believing that they shouldn’t remain neutral in the world’s affair and should aim to become a major power. They focus heavily on technology development instead of jutsu development to give them an edge in warfare and to make their country more advanced.

Unholy Scriptures: The Land of Grass was once known as the Land of Demons. It was ruled by a shinobi who came to be feared and worshipped as Jashin, the Evil God, by taking the lives of hundreds to fuel his immortality. Now, the Cult of Jashin have invaded the Land of Grass and are spreading their beliefs among the populace, drawing new followers with the promise of immortality. This all serves to prepare for their invasion of Kusgaakure where they would spill enough blood and take enough lives to perform a ritual to recreate their ‘god’. Karin escaped prior to their arrival thanks to her sensing skills and found herself escaping to Konoha.

Natural Infection: After Orochimaru’s defeat and supposed death at the hands of Sasuke, revolts occurred throughout all his bases spread across the continent. One of the bases was kept secret even among the sound ninja. It contained experiments on the curse seal beyond the norm; these individuals possessed the same berserker rage as Juugo and they’re able to infect regular people with the same symptoms. The experiments escaped from their facility and began infecting the local populace. Naruto’s team is sent to investigate the series of attacks occurring in the area and apparent spread of the new ‘disease’.

Raging Seas: Mei’s ascension to Mizukage didn’t go uncontested as there was a significant faction of Kiri who believed in the brutal regime of the Fourth. A rebellion began and Water Country was caught in another civil war. Naruto’s team receives a mission to protect a number of merchant ships as they travel from Wave Country to Water Country, defending them against a group of pirates that had been haunting the waters. These pirates belong to the rebel faction and their intervention forced the Konoha team to become personally involved with the war.