It's definitely already been recc'd, but if anyone is still unaware of Inert's update to Patriot's Dawn you should check that out. Apart from being decently cool it's also a great excuse to go back and read that again. Why not do yourself a favor?

 

Some of you might automatically reject this one because it's fem!Naruto and I know that bugs the hell out of half of you. Strangely, Naruto being a girl pretty much hasn't played a role yet -- it's clearly not just a cheap excuse for diving into romance, although I strongly suspect an eventual NaruSasu, which is basically canon anyway, right?

This story seems to be going for a more realistic take on ninjas, so even if fem!Naruto is a big turn off for you, I'd suggest giving what's written so far a look.

Link:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10778497/1/The-Art-of-Warfare

Details:
The Art of Warfare reviews
Teamwork is not self-sacrifice. That is the first thing Naruto learns upon becoming a ninja. Fem!Naru, AU. Naruto - Rated: T - English - Adventure/Drama - Chapters: 2 - Words: 22,086 - Reviews: 17 - Favs: 47 - Follows: 75 - Updated: 5h ago - Published: Oct 24 - Sasuke U., Kakashi H., Naruko U.
Author page: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/2072358/Kaiorven

 

What's with the Drama tag? Is it going to go all "woe is me" when Sasuke elopes from Naruto.

 

Somehow "Quality Naruto Fics" became "Almost Recommended Naruto Fics" until it reached its current status of "Things I read that I didn't close instantly."

 

It's a story about ninjas being ninjas and is suitably dark. I don't want to spoil anything needlessly, but there are a few significant shockers in there already and the author seems to be playing them for dramatic value rather than shock factor.

But if you're worried about Naruto's character? No, fem!Naruto is NOT "woe is me" at all. Here's probably the most significant quote regarding her character thus far: "I think it takes more courage to be right and fail than to be wrong and succeed."

Is this directed at me or just an observation in general. Because if it's directed at me, then I am assuming you read it and did not like it?

 

Well, when I read the title, The Art of Warfare, I expected a non-retarded Naruto. It was not to be, unfortunately.

The writing is decent, but those kinds of protagonists bore me.

 

Ain't that the whole "honor before reason" stuff that kept Naruto going after Kishimoto run out of good ideas?

 

Given the flow of the story, and the contents of chapter 2, I am optimistic that Naruto won't stay "retarded" for long.

In the scene I pulled that quote from, Naruto is basically saying "I think honor matters." And basically everyone else is saying "ROFL, you're a ninja, aren't you?"

Although I do find that entire scene to be ironic. What good is an oath to defend the village if your word means nothing? I somewhat disliked that particular scene, actually, although I really liked the scene immediately before. I also disliked the last scene of that chapter, which better have a story impact or I may find my opinion of the story rapidly changing.



It seems like a lot of people are questioning the recommendation without even giving it a shot (bar Hachi, who seems to be giving it a shrug of the shoulders). If it was not a fem!Naruto fic, I'm betting people would check it out before commenting. I'm not sure if that says more about this community -- which fully embraces fem!Sasuke -- or the FFnet community -- which pumps out a steady flow of garbage SI!fem!Naruto fics.

 

Pretty sure it's the later - since the goal of making Naruto a girl is usually to pair her with Sasuke/Kakashi, and such stories are invariably poorly written.


Read it and I'm gonna be watching it - like you said, the next couple chapters and where it goes from here will tell if it is worth following. Has the potential I think.

Also agree about the conversations about ninja honor. The one with Iruka was perfect, the one with the other rookies was...meh.

 

So...I've been searching all over, but I cannot find a link for Reload. Unless it is this fic:

Reload-Case13

Which while absolutely hilarious I could hardly classify as a legitimate FemSasuke. It's just a screwed up Sasuke using Oiroke.

 

That is the legit Reload. No, it doesn't feature Fem!Sasuke. Well, not naturally, anyway. Sasuke may not have been born a girl, but he sure thinks of himself as one. The author has made some hilariously bad excuses regarding gender fluidity, comfort, etc etc, but I don't think he's fooled anyone.

Still, it's an amazing fic. For me the gender confused Sasuke was meh(up to terrible) but others didn't think so.

 

I don't think the problem is that fem!Naruto is made to pair Naruto with Sasuke or Kakashi. As I said, the former is actually not too far off from canon and the latter actually also makes a disturbing amount of sense.

Pauses. Flash of yaoi passes through mind. Shudders. Brain bleach applied.

Where was I? Oh, right -- I think the real problem with fem!Naruto is that it's usually written by female authors who are turning Naruto into a (female) self-insert author avatar Mary Sue. I consider this the real issue, because, well, look at the reception of fem!Sasuke by this site. The comments on the new Menace fic are along the lines of how traits that make canon!Sasuke annoying make fem!Sasuke endearing. So we're collectively attracted to dark, broody, psychopathic girls with superiority/inferiority complexes (Sasuke suffers from a bit of both) stemming from a troubled childhood? I don't think that's it. I think it's that Naruto is typically the character whose prospective we see things from, so you don't have a Mary Sue fem!Sasuke following like there is for Naruto. So when it's Sasuke who is genderbent we can focus on the character without our preconceived notions getting in the way. The usual banter between Naruto and Sasuke can be rewritten as flirting and Naruto's desire to rescue Sasuke from the darkness takes on a whole new meaning -- which we know he will because he's Uzumaki Naruto and he can't be stopped. And we're also far, far more okay with a romantic interest stealing the spotlight than we are with a rival who gets bullshit power-ups.

It's a subtle distinction I'm trying and probably failing to make, but what I'm trying to say is that it's the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke we find attractive. Genderbending either one of them ends up making a disturbing amount of sense.

Well, the genderbending Naruto may also suffer from the fact that we typically identify with Naruto. We're used to identifying with Naruto.

And genderbending is itself a bit of a perversion of the source material. By itself not really any worse than writing a character to be out of character, but all too often handled as a cheap way to ship two male characters where it isn't warranted, or to hijack a character as an avatar, or to try to make a story more politically correct in the eyes of modern feminists. All of which are, in my mind, greater offenses towards the canon than simply writing a character out of character.

Okay, if I keep on fauxlosophizing I may need to get tranquilized. So let me try to stop here.

 

Best FemNarutoSasuke Story imo: (Which I think I've recced before on the site)

Chasing Yesterday


Only other readable one I've found...

Stupid Sensei


Both of these of course probably belong in the almost recced instead of Quality though. As SasuFemnaru has slowly become my guiltiest of OTPs...I'll throw out a challenge to anyone capable of writing a good one.

Edit @MortalOne: Just gonna say, if Taure can get away with writing a femHarry; someone on this site should be able to get away with a femNaruto. Knowing my luck though it would be Ryuugi Shi...

 

No, bad. Bad. SasukexAnything is never 'quality'. Except maybe SasukexGettingStabbedInTheFace.

 

HSDK crossover? Otherwise I don't recall a Miu.

 

I hope you're eaten alive by weasels, Sree.

 

Ain't those the same reactions people have, when Snape gets some for a change.

 

It's bad because the writing is mediocre, not because of the pairing