When compared to other typical time travel stories, it definitely stands out both in terms of general writing and plot. However I have a personal issue with how the story is progressing. I dislike the characterization of Naruto as weak and constantly confused and indecisive. I could understand it to some degree, but I think that the author just goes overboard with it. Still a nice story though.

 

Updated. I didn't particularly enjoy the characterisation of the Sound Five in this chapter and while I may forgive Kakashi's team for rookie mistakes in the field, Kakashi is way too smart to fall for any of Kidomaru's shenanigans.

 

Pretty sure that the canon Kidomaru fight was specifically to show off Neji being a genius more so than Kidomaru not being a very good ninja (I'd actually say he was the best of the Sound Four). The fact that Kakashi put him away without with a bit of difficulty is just pointing that out.

Jinrobu was put down easily enough afterall.

 

I think that the author did a very good job here. Apart from Naruto, everybody seems to IC and the case of Naruto is easily explained and understood. The integration between them appears very natural yet somehow he/she still manages to write an entertaining story.

4/5

 

New chapter's out and it's confirmed a few things I've suspected for a while.

Spoiler

Orochimaru came back with Naruto, though the confrontation between them was a bit more lacklustre than I imagined it would be. Him thinking that Naruto created a jutsu to go back in time does seem to be something he would come up with though, so I suppose that fits well.

It was a pretty good chapter nonetheless, but I kind of expected more from him. The way Sasuke's battle was ended was pretty cool though, and the aftermath seems more realistic... even if a bit frustrating.

 

=/

Spoiler

How do you figure that meeting was lackluster? What was Naruto going to do, somehow break out of the Sannin's lair after Orochimaru had had months to prepare for him? Not to mention the whole being unconscious bit.

The "confrontation" between Naruto and Orochimaru wasn't supposed to be one. It was supposed to be a "Hi, you're fucked. Gratz"

If I wasn't already ranking the fic at 5/5, this chapter would have done it.

 

I dunno, it's just a feeling I had when I read it. Seemed very... anticlimactic from the way the fic has been building up to this point. It was just a little frustrating to see it end like that.

 

I can understand that, but it is this reason which is exactly why I love this story. KyLewin make this story as realistic as a story about time-traveling shinobi can get. He doesn't go down the regular time-traveling stories at all and deviates from canon timeline in a clear, logical manner. He also brings up a lot of excellent points and ideas that many other time traveling fics never even address (such as the possiblity of an AU or fitting into a smaller body).

I already consider this my favorite Naruto fic with a 5/5. However, I feel the need to nitpick and point out some of the fallacies. The storyline and characterization is up to the author, so even if I had problems with it, I wouldn't bother to point them out, as it is the author's story and therefore up to his discretion. I feel there are two problems that reside within the writing itself that may be a problem to most readers.

First, the pacing is extremely slow. Although the author updates regularly with long chapters (use to be once a week, but right now it looks like he's going to take a short respite since Time and Time Again is finished), events can take many chapters to finish. I had no problem with this, but I have no doubt many would have been annoyed that it took sixteen chapters for Naruto to get into a "serious" fight.

Second, if you're going to read this story, you better know Canon Naruto. Although KyLewin does a good job describing a lot of events and characters with the assumption that the reader is not versed in canon, many of the changes in the timeline requires the reader to utilize their knowledge of the current Naruto's actions and canon Naruto's events to understand how the change occurred. This was another one of my favorite parts of the story; after all, Naruto is no God, and the narration is generally confined to Naruto's limited knowledge and view. However, I have no doubt that many are annoyed that KyLewin can take ten chapters to explain a certain change in the timeline. Still, this mostly adheres to the storyline (especially for the seemingly random massive changes) and patience is required to see the train of thought of this author.

So all and all, this is an amazing story. 5/5 and recommended to anyone who wants a good Naruto fanfiction to read.

 

Time and Again updated and completed with a chapter from Orochimaru's POV. Pretty sparse in detail like the author said and not really interesting but probably needed to be in there somewhere.

Sequel will be Here and Now for anyone interested in following this fanfic series.

 

I'm having serious trouble getting through the first few chapters of this story.

Not only is it mostly a canon rehash (though I shouldn't really be complaining), the fact that it's right at the outset of the story makes it a struggle to keep going.

Also, I find it hard to believe that a thirty-something Naruto can't realize what is and what isn't a genjutsu - regardless of how it was cast on him.

He even states he's had Tsukuyomi used on him multiple times by multiple opponents, so I just don't get where he thinks it's all a big illusion.

Despite how strange time travel may be, it just seems incredibly odd that he has such little confidence in his own skills.

Also, the falling down thing that keeps happening because he's not used to his old body.

I don't think this is believable, and I get tired of seeing paragraph after paragraph of him running into stuff.

Like he says - simple movements are instinctive. His body still should be proportional, after all. It's not like only his arms and legs shrank.

It would be like saying that a guy who sprained his ankle took two days to figure out how not to put weight on it improperly. The sort of basic mistakes that Naruto keeps making over, and over, and over again shouldn't take more than a few minutes to get at least somewhat used to. I mean, seriously, he can't walk down stairs or around a garbage can without falling over?


Basically, what I'd like to know is when does the author move past this filler rehashing and actually get on with the story?

 

Yes. The last few chapters have been original.

And for the record: that 'not used to his body' thing was indeed a massive Fail. Luckily he gets over it pretty quickly.

 

Uh, which chapters?

 

I tried arguing the point with the author once, quite a ways back. After all, you'd expect ninja on par with Kakashi and Jiraiya to adjust pretty quickly to missing an arm or a leg. The same should have been true for Naruto.

Unfortunately, the author didn't agree. Sigh.

But it's readable, I suppose. It's hard to get past the first few chapters though.

 

It was a tad annoying but I thought it was interesting for it to happen. I don't think I've seen that happen before in a Time Travel fic. It's sorta realistic, I suppose, but it did take a while for Naruto to get over it.

 

I'm now on chapter 10 of this story and find that it is very well written.

Only problem is that, aside from falling down for forty-thousand words, I haven't seen a single original idea in this story.

Not a one.

Also, the whole Hinata scene and Naruto's reaction to it make no sense to me. It's one thing if, as the author tries to explain in one of his author's notes, Naruto has no idea why Hinata is angry with him. It's a bit stupid to try to show a 30-something character that's that oblivious, but whatever.

I'm of the persuasion that Naruto isn't stupid - just socially inept. He didn't have many interactions as a child and it causes him to have problems when picking up on social queues, though he's a bit better in part 2.

But the author doesn't decide that Naruto has no idea why Hinata is upset. Instead, he has Naruto decide that he did something during the conversation he had with her when he discovered he had come back in time.

Now how the hell does he narrow the cause for her anger down that much - remembering enough detail to recall that she was upset that he dislocated his finger - just to completely forget that he laughed histerically when she told him about her mother dying.

I mean, that's just some kind of retarded selective memory or something.

Then, on top of it all he has Hinata of all people realize that Naruto wasn't trying to be mean by laughing at the story of her dead mother from the simple fact that Naruto tried to talk to her once before Naruto realizes what he did wrong.

Makes no sense. None whatsoever.

You cannot get me to believe that Naruto had the capacity to be a somewhat successful village leader - being able to deal with all sorts of logistical issues like famine and milk shortages or what have you - and yet try to tell me that he can't recall an important conversation he had with someone a week or two beforehand.

So on top of selectively-stupid!Naruto, we have final-villain!Orochimaru (ugh), time travel, and NaruHina (she wanted Naruto to marry her in the future, right?).

I can't do it anymore. Maybe I'm missing out on something great, but that's it for me.

 

Heres a question to pose. How many of YOU have time-traveled into their younger body?

Show of hands please.

...

I thought so. So no one knows how it would work. Its all author's perspective. Granted there could have been less of it...

As for his selective memory, even Naruto admits that while he is probably the most powerful ninja in Konoha, he's not all that bright.

His laughter when Hinata told him about her dead mother? I can actually understand that. Ive been in a similar situation where I was so relieved about something that I broke into hysterics and completely spaced out what the person had told me. Its completely plausible.

 

The author hasn't either. The thing is that there is canon evidence backing up a powerful ninja's ability to adapt to body changes, (Kabuto) so him disregarding that and making his difficulty to adapt to his younger body a semi-major plot point is stupid.

It seems kind of stupid for a 30 year old to think and act like a teenager at best. It's fine for him to be somewhat socially inept, it's another thing completely to make him stupid and immature when the premise is that he's a 30 year old gone back in time. It's why I stopped reading NoFP, 30 year old Harry Potter comes back and he suddenly starts to act like a blushing virgin who has fallen in love for the first time. . . with a 12 year old. It would be fine if Naruto pretended to be stupid at times, but he's not and it's irritating and takes away from an otherwise well written story but cliched story.