Over the Hills was indeed a very good cross over, oddly enough. I think I read a very plagerized version of Insanities End because the other sucked ass, this one seems to be a vast improvment. Though I'm only on about Chpt. 3 at the moment.

 

I dislike HP/Naruto xovers. I can't imagine Harry doing handseals nor Naruto casting spells left and right.

 

They don't work. You just can't mix Japanese/Eastern and European/Western cultures and expect them to mesh. And I tried this in a fic and know from experience. HP/Naruto crossovers are awkward and ridiculous in general.

 

HP/Naruto crossovers in my mind also suffer from a timeline idk if they are on the same timeline but imo there ceintures apart

 

strangers in a strange land seems to be the best Naruto/HP crossover I've seen yet. However, it won't ever get updated because giga doesn't like sticking w/one story. Its just too difficult to make the two different systems of magic realistic.

 

Yeah, Team 8 is a good one. I feel as though I should post my own, though i've been WAY too busy this semester to even THINK about working on it--i do, however, plan on starting it up again in...11-12 days, as soon as i'm done with finals and home for break.

The Lives We Leave Behind

 

About 'Insanity's Ending':
I got up to the point where Naruto had his fight with Gaara. Heh...in retrospect, I actually wonder how I even got this far since I couldn't take a liking to the story at all. The beginning was promising with Naruto's 'other side' being the evil psycho and his pill-induced 'good side' being some kind of mental case himself. So it started nicely with a detached and silent Naruto as his 'good persona' and the homicidal psycho-killer as his 'bad persona'. From there on, it went totally downhill for me with one strange and confusing event after the other.
First, Naruto suddenly turns from being the quiet, reclusive guy into a slightly smarter version of his canon self. He's all of sudden cheery and talkative and somehow knows and has a friendly relationship with all the ninja in Konoha. That's quite a change for someone who was locked up in a cell for most of his childhood and who had problems with proper speech due to the fact that he talked to next to no one in all his years at the academy.
Secondly, Naruto now knows all kinds of crazy shit to throw at his enemies. While it's said that Naruto likes to read a lot, he's still horrible at chakra control in this fic. There's no way that he can do all this shit now just because he has tremenduous amounts of chakra. The least logical about all of this is Naruto's casual use of the 'Hiraishin'. That's the signature jutsu of the Yondaime that apparently only he knew and performed. No way that one would find such things in books and even then it should be a terribly hard technique to learn, especially for someone like Naruto.
Another thing that greatly bothered me was Kakashi 'calming' Naruto when he lapses into his crazy state. 'Calming' in this story means piercing somebody through the chest with a 'Raikiri'. That's a bit too gross, especially when you consider that the first time it happened was at the bell test...this Kakashi seems very eager to inflict fatal wounds on young genins he just met.
Well, there are still lots of other minor points that annoyed me but...
Nah, I actually have to point them out -.-
a) it's practically a Naruto/Sakura pairing...
b) his summoning is completely ridiculous (the boss summoning was actually the reason that made me stop)
c) the writing, while not bad, is mostly mediocre and weird at some points
d) Naruto knowing too much shit...I don't mean the jutsu's here but he simply has knowledge about every person and place...yeah, yeah I know that he reads a lot but still no way!
e) it's another fic that completely follows the canon plot line...the wave arc practically makes me vomit by now
There are probably still some things that I can't think of at the moment but I think the message came across...
The rare moments when psycho!Naruto shows his face were the only things I really liked about that fic. They were just far too seldom to make up for its many flaws. All in all, I'd give it only 1/5 but it's your choice to read it or not.

 

Wow...well, its nice to see such a well-thought out criticism of a story. I personally like the story--although, that may well be due more in part to the frequency of updates than anything else, as i too agree with a lot of those points.

 

Naru/Saku...well...all I can say is, at least it's not Hinata. But yes, I tried to read that fic last night and tired of it when it turned out to be a virtual rehash of canon except with a stronger/Kyuubi induced Naruto like so many others. Mine has hugged somewhat close to canon as well, but that ends with the next chapter. It's been a pain slogging through all the mess up to now, where I get a real free hand to practice my madness.

 

Spoiler

He was I belive only locked up for 2 years. He's insane. So what if his personality shifts? as for the sudden curring of his imparred speach.....umm.... plothole?

Spoiler

He explains it latter. In reality Naruto's lack of chakra control is merely a mental block that for some reason appeared when Naruto met the Kyuubi. Since he believed all Hiraishin took was extreme 'will power' tada he subverts teh mental block. Poorly devised and sounds lame on the part of the author. but at least he tried to come up with a reasonable back story.

Spoiler

Meh. Psycho/Id!Naruto is Jounin (latter jumping to S-Rank/Sannin) level, its to be expected that if somone of that level attacks you with intent to kill (especialy if they have regenerative capabilites) that you don't hold back. On that note I found it vaugley amuseing.

Naruto has another personality shift. Suprise bitches! It's not Naruto/Sakura anymore. Why the hell am I defending this fic?

Spoiler

He was the Hokage's personal aid. its to be expected that he would know more than the average person, perhaps even having accesss to ristriced/confidential infromation. Man, this is leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

With that addresed...all the stuff that I've edited out of your post....I agree with, or can't argue with. That summon was rediculous.

The only thing that really anoyed me was in the begining of the fic when he popped pills every 5th line. it was anyonying to read, and I'm glad the author swithched to a for the most part "offscreen" controlment with the longer acting drug.

With all its faults, and faults it has applenty, its still one of the best Naruto fics I've read recently.

Rating:4/5

edit: Holy fuck, I should pay attention and use spoiler tags the first time i post, eh?

 

It'd be fine if he were really insane...and with 'really' I mean a full-time insanity. But as it stands we have 2 different Narutos. The, most of the time present, normal personality and the insane, homicidal side. As I said, I'd have liked to see his normal part being a bit mental too, allowing such sudden personality shifts. The only problem is that this normal persona is just that, normal. Only the other part of him is crazy. So why would he, in his normal mindset, make a total change of personality in such a short time and all of that for no reason? Who knows? It could of course just be that the author wrote some shit here...

Well...no use to hold of important and much needed info if it only serves annoy people. I normally don't read confusing shit in the hope that all will become clear 10 chapters later. And, you already said it, the explanation on the 'Hiraishin' was extremely lame. If it were just a matter of will power then the Yondaime wouldn't have been the only one able to perform it.

Ehem...I'd normally agree to the not holding back part but when I think about it, Kakashi always caught him unaware with the Raikiri. So why the fuck pierce him in the chest if he could just ram this syringe in his neck unnoticed?! Or he could just paralyze him like he did in their first encounter and then sedate him...so either this doesn't make sense at all or Kakashi is extremely stupid or he simply enjoys stabbing people with his arm.

Heh...sure. So he's the Hokage's aid, meets dozens of ninja, becomes friends with all of them...and at the same time he's unable to speak properly when asked by Iruka. The reason given was that he almost never used his voice in these 3 years while he was at the academy and the Hokage's aid at the same time. Sounds like a contradiction to me. On one side the merry, talkative Hokage's aid that gets in touch with people and on the other side the creepy, detached guy who never talks. And why would Naruto even become the Hokage's aid in the first place. Hanging around the old man and helping to carry around a stack of papers is fine, but letting a 7 year old boy become the trusted personal aid of the village's most important man? And even if he were, why would the Hokage give him access to said restricted and confidential documents. It's not that Naruto needed any of those info really badly for some higher purpose. He just seems to read them in his free time. Also, that puts him at a advantage over all other genins and being unfair and biased is a bit OC for the good guy Sandaime.

Yeah, I have to agree with you on that. While I actually liked the idea with the pills or medication in general to supress his evil persona, it was just plainly annoying to read how Naruto has to swallow them every minute.

Yeah...why are you???
Hmm...actually I don't really know either why I'm so bent on cutting this story down...it just feels right =/

 

The glory of plot holes bitches, from what I understood the years before the academy were when he was the Hokages' assistent.

But yeah he wouldn't make freindly with everyone, just not realistic given the feeelings of everyone after the attack.

Also the 'normal' personality is as he described it, created from drugs and what they fed him. Supposedly the id and him are keeping the 'real' Naruto surpressed.

 

Ok...so an even younger Naruto is the Hokage's trusted aid? 7 would already have been way too young...Also I got to understand it that Naruto's been locked away for a longer period of time since the cell seemed to be specifically built for him and his evil side seemed so 'enthusiastic' to finally get out of it. Well, this whole 'being Hokage's assistant and becoming friends with everybody' sucks anyway, no matter when it happened.

Yeah, I know that. But since his 'real' self is dormant somewhere within, the only personality he has at the moment are his bad bad 'ID' and his pill-induced 'normal' side, the 'super-ego'. So I still see no reason why the 'super-ego' should undergo a drastic and sudden personality change for no apparent reason.

Bah...I'm really putting too much thought into a story I didn't even like.

BTW: You just stole my soul -.-'

 

Kekeke, Soul stealing ftw

If you really want to know ask the author, I don't want to waste my time debating this, even if it is fun.

That and the 'bad' 'id' is hinting that Narutos 'real' self is getting stronger, and its goes without saying that all changes to his 'normal' self would effect the super-ego or whatever the hell he is.

Btw: Going to steal some souls of your own?

 

I thought over the hills and far away and But hes just a ramen chef were already here...