Hugplx has an irrational level of hatred for Sasuke. I blame too many bash Fics/misunderstanding the character. But we've done this argument before.

Back on topic, has anyone recced Tale of the Setting Sun by Pk Frost? I'd link it but on phone.

 

Have fun ／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

 

I didn't like the way he brought on the Wave arc. I really didn't.

Spoiler

The way they show Mayu making Rai and Naruto stay, the kind of argument she gave, actually, was a bit grating to me. Mayu gets an attack of conscience? Also, it seems like a canon rehash with a different character (the decision to stay in Wave, that is.)

 

On Tale of The Setting Sun:

Honestly, I'm just not fond of the OCs in the slightest. They bore me to tears. Naruto himself is interesting as a character, but even his execution is somewhat bland. The Author isn't great at injecting life or emotion into their writing.

 

There's this old story that's driving me crazy...it takes place during Naruto's training trip with Jiraiya. He's taught how to use the sword by one of Jiraiya's toads, and unless I'm mistaken, has some sort of weird rivalry with a swordsman missing nin. And he ends up stealing some guy's sword. I know it's not the best description, but it's what I got.

Also, are there any decent stories that cover his training with Jiraiya? I don't think there's any way you can't shift from canon there.

 

Off the top of my head, I remember One Hundred Days by Aaron Nowack being pretty good. Though there's a strong possibility you've already read it, considering it's in the library.

 

The Melody of the Fox covers Jiraiya training Naruto. Your mileage may vary, however, as it is Naruto/Tayuya and gets very, very fluffy with what I like to call "highschool drama". They don't actually go to highschool, though.

 

begin{rant}

Naruto is somewhere between retarded and brain-dead in this fic. I'm on chapter 11, and one, there's too much attention being paid to other people, and two, Naruto is, I repeat, so utterly stupid in this fic that it's a wonder he can recognize ramen when he sees it. I know that it's pretty old (was written between 2005 and 2008), but it's irritating. He's

Spoiler

in the middle of Kumo, he's been warned by Jiraiya that his presence is not really tolerated there and the only reason he's not dead is because the priestess and Jiraiya are friends, and he manifests the Kyuubi upon hearing about Kakashi's plight in front of the one person he really shouldn't have? In addition, in the parts of this story before this bit, he's not comically stupid. He's plain stupid. He doesn't think at all. He doesn't understand anything Jiraiya tries to teach him. He doesn't even freakin' try to. In canon, Naruto isn't dumb for the sake of being dumb. He's not dumb because he just doesn't wanna try. He's dumb because of the way he was treated in the academy. In fact, when taught, canon Naruto works hard to get around his handicap. It's his defining characteristic. He hard-noses his way through everything.

In this story, Jiraiya asks him a question. Why did you lose to Sasuke? What mistake did you make? His answer (after a lot of petulant drumbling, sulking and griping): I didn't make any mistake. He came at me with the intent to kill, I didn't. That's not a mistake. I mean, seriously? Are we playing ninja with Konohamaru here? And when Jiraiya says that ninja need more than just techniques to be good and strong, Naruto goes yeah right and shrugs him off.

In addition, Naruto doesn't really start becoming awesome. No. It's always Jiraiya helping him out of something, or circumstances causing something to happen. He's learned one wind technique, about which he keeps griping about all the time because he thinks it's awesome, and Jiraiya tells him that he hasn't understood it at all, and an Earth technique manifesting two hands which can grab people. The only time he's really able to defeat anyone is when the Kyuubi manifests, and he doesn't remember that at all once it happens.

I can't imagine how anyone can recommend this story. Most of it isn't focussed on Naruto, and the bits of it which are are just... ugh!

end{rant}

 

Reminds me of that one fic, Shadow and Wind, that basically had Naruto and Shikamaru become best buds, two-manning stuff around the land of fire or some shit. Don't right remember the plot.

The premise was interesting. It would have been a good fic, if the author hadn't felt that he needed to balance Shikamaru and Naruto's power levels. He achieved this by creating the most ridiculous genius!Super!Shikamaru I have ever read, and making Naruto clinically retarded, to the point of being a danger to others and to himself.

It wasn't obvious from the beginning that it would end up like this, either, and I found myself some 30 chapters in wondering when the fuck this had happened.

 

I mean to be honest, most good ninja ARE one trick ponies. As long as you're okay with a pretty loose definition of "one trick". Maybe two for the people who were pretty well developed.

Hiruzen: Multiple jutsu at the same time
Jiraiya: Toad shenanigans
Tsunade: Super strength/regeneration or body manipulation for short
Naruto: Rasengan, clone spam, kurama/sage mode shenanigans
Sasuke: Sharigan
Itachi: Sharigan
Madara: Sharigan (i'm sensing a pattern)
Minato: Seals
Gaara+His Dad: Sand stuff (or gold)
Tsuchikage: Dust release
Mei: Mah bloodlinez
etc.

 

This is the literal opposite of a one trick pony. Unless by "loose definition of 'one trick'" you mean "anything that you can label with a general theme" then Sarutobi is the furthest character in the manga from being a one trick pony. His entire thing is that he knows all the ninjutsu. All of them.

 

Yeah, there's only really Hiruzen and Kakashi who are known for using lots of different jutsu.

 

I suppose a slightly better word would be "Gimmick". Hiruzen may have mastered all of the jutsu (wat? how in the hell) but his main schtick is that he combines many techniques into one (or many) lethal attack. But even accounting for him as the exception, the rule applies to almost everyone else.

 

All of the jutsu in Konoha, that is.

 

There just has to be a fic in which he wins a fight with Oiroke no jutsu.

 

That's practically canon.

 

Never forget:

 

I would throw in that prior to gaining the Mangekyou, Sasuke had a decent variety of jutsu. Nowhere near Hiruzen/Kakashi levels, but he was well rounded in taijutsu/genjutsu/ninjutsu. Mastery of two elements. Capable of breaking free from Itachi's tsukiyomi and controlling Manda...

I'll mention Orochimaru as well. The guy obviously had his snake motif...but all his jutsu had differing varieties.

Lower in power levels...I'll throw in Asuma. He seemed pretty well rounded, just nowhere near strong enough.

 

Which he did with the Sharingan.

 

Sasuke did not break tsukuyomi, Itachi fumbled it on purpose so Sasuke would believe he was able to. Remember Itachi's battle with Sasuke was on his terms so that he could seal Orochimaru and give Sasuke necessary power to protect himself.