Well shit, you're not wrong about that. The first chapter was interesting if jarring and judging from how the second chapter is going I doubt it'll be much different from the rest of the story. But it's new (for me) and something to sink my claws into for a few hours so it'll do just fine.

Honestly, other than what I've been seeing here on DLP and a few outliers here and there on FFN (that are actively updating at the least), are there any new stories that are decently written being added to the fandom or did they all just jump ship when the manga ended?

 

Any good ANBU!Naruto stories around? If anyone knows, I'd request that you link it in your post and provide a summary with how you felt about it.

(Oh and Shezza, if you're reading this, fuck you. You ruined Naruto fics for me)

 

No Genin Left Behind

A hilarious and awesome post-canon Hokage!Naruto fic. Unfortunately, it's unfinished and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon, but there's enough written to still have a good time.

 

I'll convince Menace when he stops thinking I'm a terrible person.

 

A sure impossibility.

 

"thinking"

 

I'm simply the best there is.

 

So seriously, what are the fics you consider the epitome of Naruto fanfiction.

 

Life in Konoha's ANBU by Shezza.

 

Klackerz. I'm pretty sure you've already read Life in Konoha's ANBU, but if you haven't, you've been living under a rock.

That story is legit a 100 % amazing, and even though I'm fan-boying right now, I don't possess the knowledge to describe how utterly flabbergasting it is.

But I digress, and to not make this post utterly worthless,

I'll link you to this story. Now this isn't the best story out there, but I found it enjoyable for the simple fact that it was relatively unique.

 

I'm honestly sick of most Dark!Naruto stories. Most of the time it involves an exaggerated view of the villagers and how shitty a life Naruto had in his childhood. Nine-tailed Serpent however, on FF.net was one of the only ones I feel portrayed it well.

 

CriticalCantalope. Link to the story?

 

Life in Konoha's ANBU by Shezza. Masterful storytelling and compelling fight scenes. More than a little humor too.

The Howling Wind by Menace. Great take on a canon divergence, phenomenally written characters.

Written in Reverse by Menace. Fantastical AU featuring a fem!Sasuke that doesn't make you want to bleach your eyes. Extremely amusing and even more awesome between the fights and the implications that are hinted at.

Team 7's Ascension by Eilyfe. Basically what Best Laid Plans could've been with cleaner writing. It and its sequel are the best "Team 7" fic in the fandom.

The Girl from Whirlpool by Silver Shine. Backstory on Minato and Kushina, theoretically conforms to most of canon. Great characterizations, cool fights, and good perspective on what the world might've been like before Naruto was born.

Tuebor by Hugplx. AU take on an older Naruto. Humorous, well-written, and a badass Naruto.

Houses of the Holy by Howdy. AU take on Akatsuki Naruto.

Most things by Case13, though some of them haven't aged as well as I'd like.

A Meeting Between Heaven and Earth by BukkakeNoJutsu. One-shot AU about the aftermath of Naruto vs. Pain.

20 Times Uzumaki Naruto Didn't Die by Kraken's Ghost. Probably the best one-shot in the fandom. Somehow amazing, badass, profound, and sad all at the same time.

That's off the top of my head.

 

Full length stories I wholly recommend

Your stories Patriot's Dawn and Hurricane Suite deserve mention.

Also, The Girl From Whirlpool (fantastic Minato/Kushina fic that unfortunately is dead, but just read it anyway because it's awesome):
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5645686/1/The-Girl-From-Whirlpool

[General complaint: we've seen a bunch of fics where Minato and Kushina survived the Kyuubi (which typically suck because the author doesn't know what to do to maintain conflict), we've seen a bunch of Minato and Kushina fics where Naruto travelled back in time to meet them, but why is it that every fic that has Minato and Kushina in their proper time without bullshit time travel have to try to be a prequel to canon? I'd love to see someone just go wild with the characters in their own time.]


Also, one-shots:

Death of a Kage Bunshin: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3118898/1/Death-of-a-Kage-Bunshin

The Great Landscaping Crisis: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3629398/1/The-Great-Landscaping-Crisis

The Night the House of Cards Was Built: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3480341/1/The-Night-The-House-of-Cards-Was-Built


Completed fics that I considered really good in their time, but might not hold up and I'm not going to go for a re-read to find out:

Naruto: Altered History by Geor-Sama https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3149411/1/Naruto-Altered-History

Never Cut Twice: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2292009/1/Never-Cut-Twice

One Small Kindness and Daybreak from DigitalTart: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/479762/DigitalTart

Spying-no-Jutsu: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2859078/1/Spying-no-Jutsu

The Boy in the Team: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9659792/1/The-Boy-in-the-Team
(Warning, this author tends to get super angsty, but I remember this as actually being good and not overly angsty.)

A Very Naruto Christmas: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7658632/1/A-Very-Naruto-Christmas
(Generally updates once a year. Completed or on-going still?)



There are others I generally remember as good, but I'm less confident about.

By the way, this may or may not agree with your sense of humor. The writing is awful but I liked the punchlines in the first and third chapters:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3568540/1/Sickness

 

A couple of other great fics:

Naruto's Compensation by DisobedienceWriter
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4611673/1/Naruto-s-Compensation
Probably the best Naruto Puppeteer fic

Chance for a Prophecy by Dorcyy
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8611318/1/Chance-for-a-Prophecy
Hands down best time travel fic in Naruto fandom


Shinobi: Team 7 by Gallyrat
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9250029/1/Shinobi-Team-7
A very good AU with a great Team 7

 

Douter im givivng your fics a shot now, ill come back and review if I get some time.

Also, you're a fucking ledge mate, an aussie and you have an ugly americans display pic. If you're in NSW lets have a beer.

 

I'll second that rec on Shinobi: Team 7.

It's a slow burn Pre-Shippuden Naruto that focuses primarily on Naruto and Team 7 as a whole while also establishing and expanding the lore of the shinobi world in a way that definitely sets it apart from most AU (this is probably because like Menace or Shezza, the author has an actual idea about what the fuck is going on) that's serves as an interesting take on well everything. Such as:

Spoiler

Konoha has had a grand spanking total of Eight Hokage instead of the canon Four known at the start. Provides an interesting history of Konohagakure's rise and dominance in shinobi politics. It's also pretty cool because each of the Hokage are so different from each other that you can't just lump them all together in a "Well they're just perfect" kind of category. Some were very imperfect.

Also, the Senju are alive and kicking and still rock!

The author has made it a mission of their's to, in their opinion, portray the shinobi world in a realistic fashion and I believe that they've done so in a way that makes the reading experience unique. However, because the story itself is a slow burner, things tend to drag in places especially in the beginning. But once Team 7 leave on their mission, things rev up quickly and thankfully in a different manner than the standard Wave rehash we all know of.

Characterization as far as I've read is spot and the author has done a magnificent job in making each characters voice unique and compelling. I especially loved

Spoiler

Chapter 14, where about halfway through the POV switches from Team 7 to Shikamaru. At first it threw me off, but since the author's done it before with other characters throughout the story, I stuck through it and was blown away. Shikamaru's character in this story is five times more badass than he was in canon by simple means of him being an active character.

Also, there's some funky conspiracy thing going on with the Uzumaki that I don't understand but boy do I want to find out.

Anyways, I think I've gone on long enough.

TL;DR: I really have enjoyed the fic so far and it's still updating, just sporadically. It's well written and the author clearly knows what they're doing and where they're going. If you're looking for something of decent to above average quality to sink your teeth in, this is it.

I'd give it a 3.5/5 (and round it up to 4 on account of the story actually engaging me to a point where I had a more than my fair share of outbursts at the sheer awesomeness of what I was reading. So I'm biased.)

 

Naruto's Compensation is the only fic I tried from douter's list, and only because I was curious for Puppeteer Naruto. It was impressively shitty.

 

As far as I know all puppeteer naruto fics are shitty.

 

Nah, Plucking Strings by Digitize27 is somewhat bearable.