Ghah, Words: 758,764. Still rate it as a 4/5? Cause I might take it on, waste a couple days of my life.

 

I got stuck on chapter 42...I really don't like OC's and the Fire Temple ones arent making them any more likeable.

 

I do.

Some of the chapters in the early 40s drag on a bit, but before and after all are good for the most part.

 

It probably says something that at this point I read every second chapter and still don't feel I've missed anything. It's moderately enjoyable, and its not like i'm expecting something amazing out of the story in the first place so give gives me something to read every odd week it turns up in alert.

As far as rating, 3/5, it's not nearly as god mode (yet) as the other one, but you know that that's where all the author's stories are heading. The only thing that makes them stand out is he can spell properly and doesn't rely on a council gimmick to drive the plot.

I didn't mind the Mist arc or plot line now that I think about it, that stood out as a bit better than the rest. Still it's a competent Naruto who isn't running around with the magical sword Zangetsu and super black nova storm release. I'll take what I can get at this point.

 

That was better than I expected. I didn't think Kenchi618 was capable of writing anything more than guilty pleasures.

The story shows more originality than I would have credited him with too and there's a number of ideas thrown in there that I like. But it's a shame it took around 18 chapters or so before it actually got interesting. I skipped the early chapters and then skimmed through the Wave Arc until the Chuunin Exams, and the only reason I got that far is because of the positive reviews. It would have been better if he'd started from there, IMHO. That said, it's a fun read overall.

3.5/5 rounded down to 3/5 officially.

 

My favorite rendition of the Chunin Exams, hands down. There are so few fics that actually explore what might happen if the finals tournament were run to its completion, and even fewer that switch up the exam itself on top of that. 5/5 for that section. Unfortunately, the potential for the Daimyo arc was squandered in favor of a convenient replacement for the canon timeskip, and I lost interest in the fic pretty soon afterwards.

All in all, I'm giving it a 4/5. Because dem Chunin Exams, son.

 

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6557238/68/Better-Left-Unsaid

Is anyone still reading this? It's at chapter 68 now. A lot's happened since then.

Spoiler

Can't wait to see how Onoki runs damage control when Naruto and Sasuke escape during the chunin exams and everyone goes wtf?

 

I think i stopped reading around Chapter 60. Is this the story where he implants a sharingan into himself or is that the other one?

 

It's definitely not this one.

 

Nah, that one was The Sealed Kunai. This one is actually still going pretty strong for a Kenchi fic. He typically goes way off the rails by now.

 

I really like the gradual progression of the skills in this story. Naruto at this point in the story is exactly where you'd expect him to be.... an A-ranked motherfucker about to go S.... and you gotta give it to the guy he probably writes the most creative fight scenes in the Naruto fandom.

 

Do people recommend reading this? So far Kenchi's general writing (I haven't found any of his other work to merit anything close to 4/5) and the mentions of OCs have put me off. If so, how far in before it gets interesting?

 

I recommend this one. I'm not a fan of his other stuff, but this is probably my favorite Naruto fic that isn't written by someone here.

This gets interesting fairly early. The very beginning where Naruto gets shown how far behind he is isn't special, but once he is with Asuma, Ino, and Shikamaru it really picks up. And it's very much a story where Naruto gradually improves, even if it is at an accelerated rate due to his talent and clones. Soon after the time skip, Naruto is shown to be capable of playing with the big boys on the battlefield, but still out of his league with the likes of Itachi or Orrochimaru.

The only real criticism I have is that in the post time skip period, Naruto does seem to take advantage of some of his more diverse skills very much. One in particular that is shown in his mission after the skip, isn't used in battle again so far which is fairly disappointing considering how good he appeared to be at it.

 

So uh…has anyone kept up with this fic now that it’s over 1 million words? Worth reading?