Title: Koudoukou: Fool's Gold
Author: Akraa
Chapters: 11
Words: 96,287
Updated: Mar 25, 2009
Published: Feb 14, 2009
Status: Abandoned
Rating: M
Link
Summary: There is a fine line between idiocy and genius. Uzumaki Naruto has no clue where that line is. A teacher, a soldier and a madman are determined not to let the Golden Fool of Konoha dwindle. Be advised that this story may contain mature content.

One of the best fanfictions I've run across is a while, but it has one major, major drawback:

Now, he doesn't ever repeat the translations, and the excerpt is from the first chapter, but it's annoying as fuck in disrupting the flow. It's really bad the first two chapters or so, but most of the terms by then are out, and it's no worries.

The major draw to this plot is that he isn't getting secret training from kyuubi, he's not from the wartorn future, he doesn't act like a bloody queer or make googly eyes at Hinata, and the author doesn't give him free powerups for the sake of it. The only arguable point is a key part of what makes his story stand out:

Spoiler

He fronts the premise that the Fourth used Naruto's sealing as a sort of sealing project, where the seal is actually consuming Kyuubi to attempt to force out bloodline limits into manifestation, eg faster than normal healing. It almost seems like he was designing the seals individually, but couldn't power them; Kyuubi comes along, and he makes the best of a bad situation by slapping them together and using the bijuu as the sealed power source. It's only been done at its utmost preliminary so far, but it looks promising in not having a wimpy naruto, but not making him godly either. He doesn't have the Haxingan mkII, no worries.

Now, the plot itself is pretty different, based on the fact that Naruto isn't some sort of prodigy, nor is he using every single loophole in the book to become uber in 3 chapters. He's an idiot, but a bastard. It really reminds me of 'Only Bastards Rise', I think it was, where he works his ass off and cheats. The politics are amazing, especially Danzo and Sarutobi, and the underneath the underneath that Kakashi and Gai go through really makes you think. Naruto seems strangely human in this, and the author actually manages to portray emotion without going emo, which is a rarity in this day and age.

Honestly, I like the crack that is 'Reload' or the wonderful works of Howdy, but this is pretty damn close to them on their list. Push through the first few chapters until you get to the wave arc; that is anything but a rehash of canon, and has some fucking amazing scenes in it.

Oh, and major plus: it's a more recent and updated story, not a oneshot, or a once a month deal.

Very solid 5/5, the only negative being the damned translations in the beginning. Push through those: it's well, well worth it.



Checked by Minion, February 15, 2015

 

I like this story well enough, but for some reason it's not one of my favorites. I think this is partly because of the bloodline he suddenly gets, which, while not overpowered, just bothers me a bit. However since it doesn't play a huge part in the story up to this point, it doesn't scream HAX.

One strong point is the logical progression of the storyline without sudden jumps in power. It is also one of the first stories I've seen where Haku tries to actively hate Naruto instead of simply forgiving him; I love her character development through the chapters. Many of the fighting concepts exposed are also fairly original and serve to capture my interest.

In summary, as long as I overlook the beginning, it's a excellent story. It is one of the few well-written tales that are still frequently updated. 4.5/5

 

This is fucking painful to read. 0/5

 

I stopped reading after the part where Naruto declared Sakura was physically stronger than him.

 

Ditto. Naruto stopped a hundred foot long, twenty foot wide snake by the Chunin Exam with his bare hands. What in the hell has Sakura done at that point to surpass Naruto in any fucking thing in regards to strength?

 

Aye. Pre-Timeskip, Sakura IS the useless weak link of Team Seven. This is canon. Remember her standing around like a doe in the headlights gripping a kunai while Naruto and Sasuke fight during the Wave Arc? Remember her likewise doing nothing of worth in the Gaara confrontation? Remember her being the only one of the team to fail to advance past the Chuunin Exam Preliminaries, this despite having a far weaker opponent than the two shinobi that Naruto and Sasuke beat? Remember her not even being picked to go along to retrieve Sasuke?

...Yeah. Portraying Naruto as the weak link in canon Team Seven is just beyond retarded, sorry.

 

I'm enjoying this story greatly. 5/5.

 

Actually the story is pretty good after chapter 8.

I love the FemHaku in this one! 5/5

 

My main problem with this story? Naruto sucks. Seriously. I'm in Wave Arc, and all he does is get his ass beat and look lame. It's not cool. The author took the opposite route of Super!Naruto: Shitty!Naruto. It's frankly painful to read, at times. I'm still going, in hopes it gets better, but I'm not very optimistic.

3/5. Well written, but personally I can't score it higher, considering I'm reading about the protagonist being a shitpile.

 

actually the authors portrays a very nice naruto. Basically he shows him as someone who is an idiot. Not a weakling, but an idiot. If you dislike that premise well, it's obviously not for you. But if you can accept that, it is one of the best Naruto fanfics i've ever read.

 

Canon Naruto pretty much is an idiot. Any canon portrayal of him is going to play on this to some extent - it's one of his defining characteristics. One thing that Naruto is not, however, is weak. This story fails simply because it shows us a weak and stupid Naruto. Frankly the protagonist has no admirable characteristics that I can see whatsoever.

I don't get the draw of this story at all. One one hand you have Naruto who is receiving more intense and specialized training than canon Naruto did. He also gets a bloodline, fine. On the other hand this Naruto is somehow weaker than canon Naruto.

So you give him more shit and it makes him worse? I don't see it.

 

He's not really weaker. It's more of that this Naruto is sort of acting like a real ninja, or at least the common idea of a real ninja. Thats the draw. It's basically Naruto learning to use all advantages and not caring that much about honor in a fight.

 

I read the first seven or so chapters. I found this story more readable than some, less than others; the bracket overuse isn't much of an issue for me, but then I read a lot of academic papers and instinctively skip over them.

Mostly good stuff and a fresh look at some things, but some flaws too. I would not list it among the greats: my ranking is somewhere between 3/5 and 4/5--3/5 if I had to choose. Had Sakura and Sasuke been written as organic characters (and Naruto not quite as much a weakling), I'd have given it 4/5 or maybe even a 5/5.

[Edit: tl;dr deleted. It does get better after chapter 8 or so; perhaps 4/5 now.]

 

Story sucks balls.

I read to chapter 7 I think, but the Sakura thing grated on my nerves. The author seems to think that just because Naruto was a deadlast, it means that he had to be weakest thing ever. It just doesn't work that way. Naruto always has been physically stronger than Sakura. Even today, if we are just going to talk about physically without the aid chakra.

 

If you factor in Sage Mode, it's very possible that Naruto now outclasses Sakura in strength even when she's doing her Mini-Tsunade stuff.

 

i disagree, canon naruto is thick and uneducated, but he isn't stupid. on the other hand he is also completly worthless as a ninja. He is brash and doesn't plan, and he listens to his feelings too much. Of course that is why he is a good protagonist for a manga, but there are many ways you can portray him differently in fanfiction.

This fic basically does 3 things:
1) Naruto is a fool instead of being thick and uneducated. Meaning he just doesn't get some things if you try to explain them the conventional way, explaining why he was the worst academy student but still has potential to be a good ninja if he is given the correct training.
2) Kakashi, Iruka and Gai intend to give him the correct training and correct some of his obvious faults (and one of those corrections is that Kakashi beats the shit out of him to show him how weak and unprepared for Jonin class ninjas he truly is [and frankly that is something any military organization does during their training, they break you down and show you how far you have to go to become worthwhile as a soldier, i don't see why that should be any different for a ninja])
3) Naruto starts to develop into a worthwhile shinobi, who doesn't try to slug it out but instead strikes from an ambush.


One of my most obvious problems with Naruto and Naruto fanfiction is that far too many people ignore the obvious. Who is the better ninja in canon shika or naruto? Most people would say either "Naruto is stronger" or "Shika because he is smarter" neither answer answers the question. Shika is shown to be the better Ninja during the Chunin exams because he doesn't try to slug it out and win the fight on strength, or incredibly awesome jutsus. Instead he feints, analyses and ambushes excactly how ninja are supposed to work.

If you dislike THAT so much, then go back to the stories where all the ninja behave like Samurai and have fun, but i enjoy reading a story for once where they actually try to behave like ninja should.

Ps: While the first part of this post was aimed at howdy most of the rant in the end is not aimed at anyone in specific so don't take offense, if you think i am shooting at you specifically. instead i am ranting my obvious frustration at far too many fanboy samurai fics i've found lately instead of the ninja stories i want to read

 

This. 1/5.

 

Stopped reading here.

Naruto easily falls into the "genius" category of ninja. That's not disputable.

 

Naruto a genius?

Not likely, he has bursts of briliance, but he is more of the lovable idiot, who just does things a normal shinobi would do from time to time.

 

^This
He might not be the brightest bulb in the pack but anyone who can analyze/copy/recreate and improve upon one of a Kages signature jutsus in a handful of weeks can't be anything but a genius.

Ive seriously got to ask, where do you get this idea hes completely worthless as a ninja Slasheh? He may not be the smartest but he is easily one of the best genins. Being sneaky is great if you actually pull it off but if all it gets you is a little bit harder pimp slap because you annoyed whoever you were trying to jump then its just fail.