Title: Obito-Sensei
Author: Ser Serendipity
Rating: M
Genre: Adventure/Family
Status: In-Progress
Library Category:
Pairings:
Summary: During the fateful mission to the Kannabi Bridge, Obito is too slow, and Kakashi ends up paying the price with his life. Years later, Elite Jonin Mangekyou no Obito is placed in charge of a very familiar genin team, determined to keep them safe in a world at peace. Or: Obito surviving wrecks everything, in twenty steps or less.
Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10151225/1/ObitoSensei

This is an AU in which Kakashi dies instead of Obito at Kannabi bridge (activating Kamui). I've been on a Naruto kick and a Minato survives kick, so this was right up my alley. Ser Serendipity (author of Not Sick/Sword of Stone + Myrmidon) started this a while back and picked it back up again. Now that the first arc is complete and it's hit 50k words, I thought it was a good time to put it up for review.

The story follows Obito as he picks up a Team 7 of Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. Of course not all the characters and their backgrounds are the same given that's it's an AU, but Serendipity does a good job of making thoughtful and logical changes based on the turning point. Each of the characters is a delight to read and the fic has an ensemble feel to it, following each one of them for different chapters.

The first arc not following the Wave mission and taking in a completely different direction was very refreshing. The action scenes were solid, the fluffy scenes touching, and the characterizations were done well.

Some of the stuff I don't like is Obito's characterization specifically. For someone who's considered a bad-ass ninja, there are times he comes across as a little unnecessarily dramatic. But that could just be me reading too much into it.

For right now I'm going to give it a 4/5 which can potentially become a 5 based on how story looks going into the longer/deeper arcs.

 

I might do a more full review later but for now I'll say that the author has a good grasp of the characters and that the nail in this For Want of a Nail is actually consequential with well-considered implications for the world.

 

Quite good, the pacing is tight, the combat is brief and snappy and the characters are interesting, special mention to Sakura who is really well developed and believable.

The author took Sakura from canon and fleshed her out, I'd go a step further and say she gets more development here than the entirety of Shippuden.
Minato is a little ooc per time but I respect the direction they took with him.

The latest chapters are considerably better than the earlier ones which I thought got bogged down by some boring dialogue, probably something to do with the sporadic rate of updates.
You can tell the author improved along the years.

Overall a strong 4/5, easily a 5 if the earlier chapters are retouched.

 

This is quite good. It just passed 100k words and the story is in the middle of the Chunin Exams.

Good things:
Sakura depiction is pretty strong and feels different from a lot of other fics.
Really empathize with Sakura's feeling as a third wheel on this team, which is an interesting interaction.
Slow drip of butterfly changes from Kakashi's death/Obito staying on the side of good is satisfying and makes sense.
Pacing is quite brisk-- three arcs/mini arcs covered essentially.

Bad/Mediocre things:
On the other hand, I don't really like Naruto/Sasuke's depiction here. They just don't feel as strong with their defining characteristics being written out due to the nail. It could just be because it's relatively early though. I think this might improve.
Obito's struggle with his self-confidence makes sense, but also feels overemphasized. It's repeated a lot and can be a bit annoying.

4.5 rounded up to 5.

 

Chunin Exam arc is done, I enjoyed it. A thing I like about this fic is that like Dreaming of Sunshine the unique missions they go on are pretty well done. Also, I agree with mangaguy, the characterizations aren't unrealistic but Naruto, Sasuke, an Obito having milder personalities is a bit jarring.

4/5, might round it up a bit if it continues into a steadier plot

Spoiler

depends on how the author handles the potential Orochimaru+ maybe Akatsuki plot with a dash of maybe Orochimaru also working with Danzo. I got hints thats what the author is trying to obviously foreshadow

 

I thought it was good, although Naruto’s personality was a little jarring. I thought it captured some of the lesser bits of his personality while losing a little of his indomitable will.

4/5

 

It's a good fic. Updated just recently (10th of October).

Obito has an interesting personality, but I never really enjoyed his persona in this fic. He has OP Sharingan hax but seems to be underwhelming regardless.
Despite the title, the fic is fortunately more focused on Sakura and her life as a member of Team 7.

She's fleshed out well, she's relatively badass without it seeming like an asspull.
The missions are unique and it ties in nicely with the AU-canon. It doesn't feel like Canon Naruto with a few changes here and there. The characters are different, the world is different, and everything has changed in a realistic manner.

It's a bit too fluffy in some scenes (but not overwhelmingly so) for my taste, but it's worth a read.

4/5

 

I thought it was weird too, and I realized that this Naruto is mostly directionless. Naruto in canon is powered by this overwhelming dream and passion of becoming Hokage. Here, he's still the same cheerful person without any real goals. He has very little idea of the person he wants to be. In story, Obito remarks on it early when he talks about Naruto not knowing what he's good at yet.

Spoiler

Naruto was fascinated by Kabuto in the forest and it kind of seems like he's interested in being a healer/medic-nin. That would certainly be an interesting direction to take it in.

 

Caught up on this the other day and it took an interesting turn. It's still at the beginning of a new arc but I'd still recommend catching up since it was a novel plot point.
This story doesn't update often enough for me to read every chap that updates, I usually check it once a year.

 

Some recent chapters have come out, FYI. Plot continues to be interesting, character development, particularly Sakura and Obito, are great. 5/5 so far.

I do hope the story gets a little darker-- feels a bit too hopeful at the moment...

 

A bunch of exciting updates recently, a ton of lot progress, and great character progression for Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and other secondary characters.

Top 10 best Naruto fics ever at this point.

Lots of nice hanging plot threads that will probably be tied together nicely at the end (Orochimaru and his...ancient guest, for one).

 

So this fic has kept updating and it’s now at 91 chapters. It had strong early reviews ^. For anyone who’s kept up with it, has it held up - still worth a read?

 

Yes, definitely worth reading. Has continued to be excellent quality, lots of twists, character development, thematic development. 5/5 fic

 

4/5 Really glad I read it.

Pros:
- Character development
- Characterization shines through in the writing in these little touches: "[named redacted for spoilers] bowed her head, but [name redacted for spoilers] stepped forward and stuck out his hand. He moved with much more deliberateness than [name redacted] did, as though he were afraid of breaking something with even a small action."
- The characters themselves are generally great
- Some great prose, ex. the first descriptions of Waterfall
- Some great action scenes and all the other pro's that Garden mentioned


Cons
- Biggest: Pacing - some stuff drags on so long. I found myself scrolling past tracts of it. In that respect, the writing could be tightened up.
- Medium: One of the MC's ends up with a somewhat broken psyche and is super angsty and irritating to follow at times, kind of reminds me of Electrase7en's Vapors. You could argue this is just good characterization and a big part of the story though.
- Minor: I don't care for the world history parallels, more interested in a good story

I wish I could see what this story would have looked like with its blended with that of Life in Konoha's ANBU in certain places. They are different stories. Life in Konoha's ANBU is less emotionally reflective and introspective and I wouldn't want to take that out of this fic. But parts could be shorter.

 

Can't edit my damn post so read this as an addendum to the Medium con on the characters. The other piece is that while Obito and Naruto get solid character development arcs - obviously, Obito's the titular character - they fell flat for me at times. It might be they aren't as much driving the story at points vs. reacting, in predictable ways.