Title: Kagemane Complete
Author: Anbu-Dave
Rating: T
Genre: Adventure/Humor
Status: WIP (last update: Oct. 2011)
Fandom: Naruto
Pairings: Shikamaru Nara/Anko Mitarashi

Summary: Shikamaru makes a single, different choice at the beginning of the chunin exams. With it he makes a mortal enemy of Orochimaru and must try to outmaneuver the sanin. Adventure/humor/romance.

Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6309413/1/Kagemane_Complete

A "for want of a nail" Shikamaru-centric story where canon deviation occurs just before the second task of the Chunin examination. Shikamaru works out and manages to foil Orochimaru's plans for Sasuke and the invasion, casting him into the spotlight far earlier than he would like. It's 200k words and feels like it's nearing the end, though the author hasn't updated in several months.

The tone is dark throughout and the author's selection of the Humor category is probably misplaced. What it is is an action/adventure yarn that is possibly the best Shikamaru-centric story in the fandom. You get pretty much the whole package here--high quality writing, serious development of multiple characters (Shikamaru more than anyone, but also Chouji, Anko, Neji, and others), believable relationships, decent action, a plot that's fresh (rare in the fandom, nowadays), and Shikamaru's scheming and descent into ruthlessness at its best. There are a couple of "crowning moments of awesome" that I won't spoil. That said, he's not a Gary Stu here--he screws up, sometimes royally, and there are real consequences for his failures. The Anko romantic pairing is a muted thing, humanizing the characters, not taking center stage. This is about right for the story.

I found the story to be a refreshing break from all the "lovable idiot" Naruto-centric stories littering the fandom. Two things keep it from being a 5/5 in my book: The first is that while the story is nearly complete, it leaves off before what appears to be the climax and it has been nearly a year since the last update. The second is that a few of the plot developments seemed a bit too convenient (the amount of latitude the Godaime gives him strained credulity for me in one place in particular).

 

What is Naruto's place in all this?

 

He's there as his canon self, though not a major character.

 

I've read the first 6 chapters for now and it certainly is fresh and interesting.
I just feel that at times some of the characters feel OOC. I know its already months from the point of departure and there is a lot of character development going on, but still it seems weird that some of the characters make - to me - surprising decisions.
I feel that shouldn't really happen in a story if you developed your characters well enough.

Spoiler

Especially the Sasuke business has left a bad taste in my mouth. It just seemed like all the characters in those scenes acted strangely.
I don't know yet if there's a broader point to it in the plot, but I hope there is. Otherwise that was just character bashing.

 

Interesting concept, but the execution is mediocre. Almost recommendable, sure, but not library worthy.

 

I would sooner eat raw shit than read something that centers on Shikamaru.

 

I read five chapters too many...

I was hoping this would be a decent distraction/guilty pleasure but it was mostly Gary Stu Shikamaru. He is already a special jounin. He is way smarter then everybody else. This just sucks unless your looking for Shika too splooge on your face.

 

Read first chapter, and completely agree with Jester.

It's just Shikamaru winning at everything. The writing is pretty decent, but the story is just awful. Everyone else seems to just listen and follow Shikamaru's advice, with none of their own input - despite being decades more experienced than him.

2.5/5 - As decent as the writing was, the story was just too bad.

 

I agree that the first few chapters, like many stories in the library, were less than impressive. I think this story hits its stride several chapters in,

Spoiler

around the time Shikamaru's family is slaughtered and he's captured and tortured by Orochimaru,

but I appreciate that it would require a leap of faith to bother reading that far.

In retrospect, I shouldn't have bothered putting this up for review since I almost never do with any story, no matter how good (my tastes being sufficiently different from those of the DLP rank-and-file that my enjoyment is a poor metric). I'd considered the novelty of this one to compensate for the flaws in execution and thought it was probably, on balance, in the neighborhood of 4/5, at the lower edge of Library-worthy. (That said, I find the Naruto fandom to be exceptionally monotonous on the whole, with few real gems to speak of, and probably overrate novelty relative to other factors.)

 

Generally anything you say is worth reading is good enough for me. I have enjoyed most of the things you have recommended. I went back and read a bit more too see if it would change my opinion but I would maybe give it a 3 just for the spoiler you pointed out. It gets better but it doesn't make up for the Ultimate?Shiki

 

Yeaah.

This was on my favorites list, but if I was reading it for the first time this year, I doubt I'd even finish the fic. I vaguely remember it being borderline 3/5 back forever ago.