Hey! If you're here from google and are looking for a collection of the best Naruto fics, check out our library, where we catalogue the best of the best in Naruto fanfiction.

Each story has a star rating, and only those rated 4/5 or above by our picky standards get in. Anything we'd rate 3/5 or less is generally discussed in this thread - stories that aren't usually put up for review for a chance to be included in the library. You can find 3/5 quality stories in our Almost Recommended collection here (yes, it now works).

-Palindrome

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Original Post:

Seems odd to post a thread here looking for fics, but I've reached a point where I feel like I haven't read a good new-ish Naruto fic in forever. I've exhausted the likes of LT200, Riddler, Howdy, Taliath, Geor-sama, and the like ten times over. And I recently came to the realization that most of the time I spend staring at my alert/favorites list on FFN is waiting for one of these old fics to update. Past March of last year, there isn't a single, really good Naruto fic on my favorite's list that's updated. And I haven't been able to actually find anything relatively new, that is of good quality, for months, outside of anything in the WBA. Ever since The Girl From Whirlpool stopped updating really.

So I'll ask anyone on this site who is a Naruto fan: can you give me some recommendations for good, quality Naruto fics outside of the realm of the authors listed above?

 

I have to second this. Apart from some of the fics in the Work by Author section here, I haven't found a good Naruto fic in many months. It seems these days that the Naruto fandom is full to overflowing with yaoi, terrible AUs, self-inserts, and hurt/comfort fics. My eyes hurt every time I do a scan of new stories on FF.net. It's almost as bad as HP's fandom.

Why is there such a mountain of crap and so few gems? Bah.

 

The last couple of newish Naruto fics that I found were these, ordered from really good to readable:

Shadows of Konoha - Naruto's induction into ANBU, includes a very gritty and dark world and focuses on flaws with the whole Shinobi concept.
The Lives Worth Saving - So far a pretty good timetravel story, a very calm and collected Naruto, focused on interaction with the other jounin.
Infinite Supply - Taking the concept of 'a lot of chakra' to its maximum, takes place after the battle at the Tenchi bridge, has a couple of interesting ideas concerning Naruto's seal, demons, and chakra in general.
More Time On The Clock - A readable timetravel story, nothing exceptional but a decent way to spend an hour or two.

The Mouse of Konoha - A personal guilty pleasure of mine, various flaws concerning the writing itself but hits otherwise all the right spots, fleshed out minor characters, a detailed Konoha, Naruto who didn't spend his whole childhood in isolation and so on.

These are just the last Naruto stories that I considered to be good enough to make it onto my story-alert list, so YMMV.

 

I saw this and thought that it'd be easy finding a quality Naruto fic, after all the largest section on my alert list is Naruto. Then I'm looking at my list and realizing that all my Naruto stories are either guilty pleasures, crossovers, or older stories that everyone and their mother's read already. Or some combination of those.

That's actually kind of sad, really.

 

So very true. A while back my interest drifted away from Naruto fanfics to HP fanfiction for the first which kept my full attention for several months. After that, and a brief stint in the Bleach fandom, I went back to Naruto wondering what potentially awesome new fics I'd be exposing myself too.

I was disappoint.

Hopefully, when the manga ends there'll be a fanfiction boom. The latest arc given a lot of material to work with but it's probably screwed up a lot of existing ideas plot-wise.

 

The only thing the recent arc in the manga introduced is idiocy.

If there is an influx of stories, prepare for them to be almost entirely the incredibly horrid ideas that were almost purged, only for the Manga to introduce them as canon.

Edit:
I can already see the influence in a few of the stories posted above. Painful. But the others were decent enough, I suppose.

 

Couldn't get past the first chapter of Shadows. The shifting tenses were a real turn off and killed it for me, even though the idea is interesting. Also, the consistent reference to Tsunade as Grandma in the narration was annoying.

I didn't even get past the first three paragraphs of Infinite Supply. The writing is choppy, the descriptions are generic, and there's no flow to it. Not terrible, but not fun to read. The author's way of setting the scene turned me off immediately, and the author's note about the whole story being based on Bleedndreamz's Consequences of An Honest Enemy had me wary to begin with.

Almost didn't bother with the time travel ones, but caved. I got as far as a couple of paragraphs in The Lives Worth Saving before the Kyuubi calling Naruto "Kit" forced me to click the X button.

I'm honestly getting a little sad...

 

@ Trig
Thanks for making an attempt at posting some stories but seriously

Shadows of Konoha- I can't deal with anbu naruto

The Lives worth Saving- I can appreciate that the author is trying to differentiate his story from usual time-travel stories, but I can't help but think what exactly is this Naruto's drive, if his future is so hunky-dory.

Infinite Supply-oh wow. Its only three chapters and I still couldn't get through it.

The Mouse of Konoha- I read about the Sandaime allowing a 10? year old Naruto to read and classify village missons (yes including S-Rank) simply because he asked to. I immediately closed the tab


But it is easy to pick apart other peoples suggestions so I will stick my head out and make one myself

Teach Your Children Well- A readable time-travel fic with Rokudaime Hokage Kakashi heading back.
The author makes sensible plot decisions and the writing is acceptable. I would say it shows some promise.

 

Yeah. Well Inert, I have been thinking of searching for new stories myself.

If I find any, I'll post them. They'd be of better quality than... That, posted above. Any other qualifications? Published in the last 6 months? Updated in the last 6?

 

Hmm, I've been on a Naruto kick for the last couple of weeks and I have read lots of them. Most were crap and some were actually good. I'll post the list I think are good in a couple of hours

 

Anything published since late 2010 I guess.

 

The only things I can think of off the top of my head are Better Left Unsaid and The Sealed Kunai by Kenchi618. But those are more guilty pleasures than actual QUALITY.

Still, they're readable, and have some fairly epic moments. Though both start off rough, get pretty damn good in the middle, then seem to peter off in the later chapters.

 

Damn, Inert, I took another look at Shadows of Konoha, and we both probably judged it too soon. I despise ANBU Naruto as much as anyone, but this isn't half bad.

 

Unfortunately it ain't half good either.

Skimmed through Chapter 4. I just can't do it. There's nothing there that makes me want to keep reading. There's no hook, no real action - nothing worth reading anyway - and the narration is mediocre at best. Typos are everywhere. The author apparently doesn't know how to fully write in the past tense, as they keep switching back and forth without any semblance of knowing what they're doing.

For a story that has no draw - I'm just as wary of ANBU fics as any experienced reader, and there's no real "Oh wow, this is interesting" moment - I just can't overlook the fact that the author can't properly tell a story. Poor grammar is the first thing that makes an otherwise decent fic unreadable to me, and this story is chock full of it.

Beyond that? He lives in the Red Lights District, is friends with a hooker, and is tangling with neighborhood "thugs" - a concept I've never understood in a ninja village - over some random soon-to-be orphan kid. Do not want.

 

What's New Naruto Probably the only fic that made me laugh since... Damn. Anyway, while lacking descriptions, writing is very solid and the author knows how to keep his readers entertained.

 

True enough, but I found it tolerable, at least.

Though I did begin reading it immediately after closing the travesty that was The Lives Worth Saving. Naruto being called "Kit" every fucking sentence was beginning to make my eyes bleed.

 

Ok The last two to three weeks has thought me an important lessons. Quality Naruto fics are very rare. The best you can hope for is an average story with some cliches.

This were the better stories which I read over the last couple of weeks.

Naruto: Shattered Eyes -This story is a guilty pleasure fic of mine. It contains Naruto with a Doujutsu which allows him to copy other bloodlines. Don't hate the story just because of the summary. It has awesome battle, good writing and a nice plot.Also even if he gets such a bloodline,it doesn't involve Super Naruto capable of defeating S-Class ninja. The worst part of this story is Super Iruka.

Naruto the Black Blade - This story is an average story good for wasting a couple of hours. It basically involves finding a sentient blade in the scroll and it goes from there.

Divergence - This story contains a Kazekage who informs Konoha about the invasion plan. This is also an average story and a guilty pleasure.

The Good Left Undone - It's an Naruto/SW crossover recommended to me by Kens. It was a good enough story.

Naruto: Ouroboros -> A Naruto trained by Orochimaru in a world where the Yondiame lived and the jinchuuruki is Naruto's younger sister. It was a average fic at first but it got much better as time went on.

Better Left Unsaid -> Basically the only good story by Kenchi618.

Naruto: Rogue Fox -> This story was a story I read long ago. It has many cringe worthy elements but the story and the writing gets much better as time goes on.

Out of the Unknown -> Another Naruto/SW cross. This one involves Naruto trained by Darth Plagius.

Uchiha Fukurou -> Harry Potter being reborned as an Uchiha. The writing is very dry but it's still a good read.

Oh god,as I look through this list , none of the stories are what you call as Quality fics. They just touch average at most.

The only good stories which are still being updated regularly are the ones by Inert and the Best Laid Plans.

I am still hoping for Howdy's and LT2000 to update their stories.

 

Read all but a few of them unfortunately. None stand out as being anything particularly good, though I always thought Shattered Eyes talked about gain and loss in regards to strength. I straight up avoid anything by Kenchi618.

Personally, I"m a fan of Rogue Fox, despite it's many cringe worthy elements, if only because it has so many interesting ideas and techniques that I enjoy reading.

Aren't we all?

 

lol yeah, Most of them are just average.

When you gonna update Hurricane Suite, Inert?

I reread it recently and it was still awesome.

 

Been doing some editing of what's all posted to FFN. My writing has gotten significantly better since I first started writing it, and I thought I'd bring it up to speed. I've re-posted a few chapters on FFN, and am working on getting the rest done. I'm a bit stuck on a few scenes I want to write before Naruto runs off to war, but once they're done I'll hopefully get myself into a good writing groove.

Glad it's still an enjoyable read.