There was a glitch in the banners a while back. Apparently a lot of people became EvilTaxi for some reason.

 

Save for what the demon fox does while the land lords out . . .

 

Malcolm X had the same problem in his Spike Lee film.

I'm still voting for Naruto/"surprise me." And, knowing Howdy, he'll probably deliver nicely.

 

You know, for all these outlandish theories I don't think I've ever seen a Naruto/Shizune in fanfiction. Couple of doujin works sure, but never an actual fic.

 

Dammit Janus, ruining our fun with your 'sensible' theories. That said I'd enjoy the pairing, she makes a nice contrast with Naruto.

 

The strangest pairing I've ever seen was Naruto vs his shadow clone under Sexy tech. The unusual part was that Naruto made a mistake and put too much chackra in it. So the clone appeared 5 times bigger then the original.

Now try and picture a small original "digging" his way through a giant sexy babe...

 

I think I've read some really bad smut. I believe it's like Naruto/Sakura/Shizune or Naruto/Tsunade/Shizune. Kinda sad when I think about it. It's like she's not enough of a character on her own that she gets lumped with the other medic-nin pairing. =D

 

You know, Naruto itself is bad enough as a manga (though I still religiously follow it >_>), but to see a physicist reading Naruto fanfiction is something I never thought I'd actually see.

It's like seeing hamsters roaming around on the Moon or a pic of Oz that is not fat... It's just not something I'd ever consciously thought about.

Otherwise I'm just going to give a generic Update Soon! message.

 

Busted. Guilty pleasures are guilty.

I don't read smut. Instead, I read a bit of Naruto ff, but only the good stuff (which, admittedly, is somewhat harder to find than in the HP fandom).

I picked it up after someone gifted my son with one of the Naruto games for his Wii. A week later, an early reader of MILL said, "You gave Harry Naruto powers!" I took this as a sign from the Fates that I should read a bit of the stuff. I read the wiki, speed-read the first hundred or so manga, then dove into LT's and S'TarKan's fics and hit up a bunch of others that I saw rec'd here. (Then I lost a bet and actually tried to write one of my own; being new to the fandom, I'm sure it's cliché-ridden tripe--I won't even bother linking to it).

For me, reading manga or anime is a lot like reading fantasy or bad sci-fi: you turn off the critical brain and try to read for fun. I actually have a harder time with anything but the hardest of science fiction or ultra-futuristic dystopia, since the shit-filter runs full bore throughout. Fantasy--and Naruto is basically ninja fantasy--doesn't even try to be realistic, so it's easier to suspend disbelief than in, say, Heinlein's space operas.

My apologies to Howdy for the thread hijack.

 

I've been able to find exactly one where Shizune was the only love interest.

 

Actual Shizune or self-insert OC 'Shizune'?

EDIT: Wow. What an extreme waste of my 600th post. Anywho a couple of questions for Howdy. Spiritual energy shows intent to the eyes of the Rin'negan, would a strong enough intent linger for lack of a better word? I would think there would be a lot more intent in say the Fourth's demon seal then Naruto using the Grand Fireball.

Also Genjutsu, it requires active manipulation, a Real-Time jutsu if you will. Would Naruto be able to see the constant intent? And if he could would that help him break the Genjutsu or merely serve to reinforce the 'reality' of what he's seeing?

Finally, props to you for correct usage of the Uchiha's Grand Fireball technique. Most writers either think of it as a basic fire technique or forget the special meaning it had within the Uchiha clan.

 

Alright, this is about enough threadjack. Get the discussion back onto the story and off of pairings. Someone can make an alternate thread for said debate if desired.

 

Hey Howdy, awesome fic so far and I'm eagerly awaiting an update. To be honest I think he should have just kept the orange jumpsuit. I hate it, you hate it, everyone hates it, but no-one expects a ninja wearing orange to be as hardcore as Naruto could be. It's like poisonous tree-frogs being bright blue or the Bush Viper being bright green; a symbol of danger. Meh, not that bothered either way though, I've just read too many fics with Naruto doing the old 'shopping-trip' cliche that got tired in Harry Potter fics.

Anyway, I guess you've read the new chapter of the manga and in http://www.onemanga.com/Naruto/432/12/ it is almost as if Pain can see Sage-Chakra as he comments on how much power Naruto lost with that technique... does that ruin your plans, have you interpreted it in another way or have you planned to incorporate this in some way? Just a few questions...

 

First off, we know that he can't see natural energy, since he wasn't able to determine how Naruto was able to attack Hungry Ghost.

This chapter simply shows us that Pain can see chakra or some other measure of power, which is something that we already really knew since he observed the Konoha barrier.

If anything, I think this helps my description of the Rinnegan since I have Naruto seeing the energy within others as well.

 

At what speed to you think naruto be able to advance his shinobi skills since he more focus now and how much a improvement should be show during chunnin exams?

 

If he can learn/improve upon a jutsu just by seeing it performed once that would mean he would become exponentially stronger after every successful battle, or at least have an exponentially larger jutsu library. That would make a world of difference in the Chuunin Exams, and if Howdy goes that route, would make identifying Orochimaru as the odd one out child's play given his ability to see spiritual energy that may not belong to the body Oro is using.

 

Ehh... I doubt that he would learn so much from battles as you think. Naruto was only able to use the Grand Fireball because Sasuke demonstrated the Jutsu right in front of him when Naruto was able to put all his concentration on Sasuke. Remembering the proper handseal sequence on a Jutsu someone else is using in the middle of a battle, especially if it's being used on Naruto, is probably something that is beyond him right now, and would likely get him seriously injured/killed if he tried.

Exceptions exist of course, like Zabuza when he first uses his concealing mist thingy.

As for the Orochimaru thing, if things work that way it may tip Naruto off that there's something different about Oro, but I there's not much that he could, or would do with that info. There's no suspicion of Orochimaru till everyone is already into the Forest, and if/when he attacks Team 7, the only thing that Naruto could do is warn the team that Oro is possibly more dangerous than he looks, but Oro demonstrates that quite easily on his own.

 

After going back and rereading it, I have another question, although one considerably less elaborate. Did Naruto really not see the Demon Brothers in the puddle? Or did he receive signs that he just ignored? Since if that's the case, there seem to be some fairly serious limitations to the Rin'negan; such as the case with Orochimaru being discussed at the moment, for instance.

Can be discussed, or does this spoil too much?

<standard update soon clause>. The anticipation is killing me. :/.

 

For expanding his justu how come the third hokage can not give him any extra help or does he not want to draw any attention to him?

 

First off, I don't want to answer any questions that might spoil the story for everyone, which is why I haven't replied to many of your queries.

Mizuki died in the same way that the Iwa chuunin died against Nagato. It was a strong reaction to the awakening of the Rinnegan bloodline.