The problem I had with it was that science has no place in a story. It's boring to read about and doesn't progress the plot. You could easily sum up all of Naruto's experiments in a single line without losing anything worthwhile.

 

This fic is just so bad it's not even funny. Ignoring the fact that Naruto literally has nothing in common with canon, there's so much stupid shit like the fact that Sasuke and Naruto are totally cool with Sasuke injecting himself with some weird shit because it might probably maybe give him a powerup that wasn't in any way explained how it worked or anything like that. Which is hilariously considering the rationality boner that Naruto/the author has in that he'll go and study all this random shit and do all kinds of investigations into things, but this one thing he decides to take at face value. He doesn't even say "Hey, why not take this shit back to Konoha and figure out how this works so we can make our own, like ninja's that aren't retarded."

Then there's the fact that all of a sudden Shadow Clones are now somehow more fragile than in canon (because reasons) and now apparently there's no longer an original Naruto, they all just turn into Shadow Clones (because reasons)

 

I agree there would realistically already be a system of measuring chakra, but Kishimoto didn't ever mention it, so...

Anyway, the reason no one else has been exploiting the system the way Naruto does is that no one else has enough chakra to do so. Or if they do (other jinchuuriki, Kisame, etc.), then they probably don't know Kage Bunshin. And even if they did know Kage Bunshin, they'd need to have a similar personality to Naruto, but they probably don't. So it could well be that he is the first to figure all this out, since he is the first with the tools and the inclination.

A real world correlation would be the flowering of science and knowledge from the Renaissance onward. For centuries before that, people lived in ignorance even though the truth was all around them to observe. They simply lacked the inclination to do so, due to reasons.

 

Didn't mind the science at all, if you can call it that. A well done Sasuke which impressed me. The story is fun and imaginative. Fights are cool. Pretty much everything you want if you actually read Naruto fanfic.

PS -- HPMOR hate on here is hilarious as always.

 

Yes, but the natural and reasonable assumption is that if it is in fact possible to measure such things, that it would've already been measured. Either chakra can't be measured (and thus Naruto doing so is just him being a special snowflake) or it can and Kishimoto just didn't mention it. If it's realistic that such a system exists (which it is), then the author should assume it does and provide some sort of explanation, not use it as an area where he can shove his rationalist erection into the world and show how much smarter the protagonist is than the rest of the world. The way he has it right now simply reeks of Sue.

The biggest problem with most rationalist fics (and one I see immediately in this one) is the complete disregarding of possible Watsonian interpretations or reasoning when things don't seem completely logical. They use these as ways to "improve" upon the plot or make a more "logical" decision, while logic actually dictates that its likely there's some in-universe explanation or reasoning that we aren't aware of.

EDIT: Competent but rather dry writing, good fight scenes, solid starting idea with poor execution, a terrible sense of how to write character deaths and plot as a whole, and a main character that makes the fic plain unreadable to me. 2/5

 

I'm still reading, but this is the one fic that actually made me believe the Sandaime's 'professor' title.

 

So apparently DLP ate at least half my post about why the fic is bad, but from what I remember it was me finding the whole "Hey Naruto want a free eye because reasons" thing from Hinata just made the fic impossible to continue with. It was just so stupid and pointless that the fact that everybody was totally okay with this idea, including Kakashi that I just couldn't read anymore of the wanking.

 

Yeah, not my thing.

"Rationalist" MoR knock-off stories give me the heebie-jeebies, like reading moral screeds put out by Fundie Christians, Scientologists, or Ayn Rand devotees. More often than not, the things are parables to bludgeon the reader, not stories told with subtlety or perspective.

I didn't read enough to rate.

 

I couldn't make it though the first few chapters tbh. I've probably read and liked every kind of Naruto characterisation, from him being a well intentioned retard to genius prodigy but this just didn't do it for me.

 

Not rating, but just reading the people in this thread defending the scientific method, rationalism and their place in any story was enough to make me want to headbutt a brick wall.

Actually, to be honest, I couldn't even read each apologists posts all the way through without getting bored.

Definitely not for me.

 

I stayed up till 1:30 last night because I couldn't stop reading it. But at the same time, I recognize its flaws. 4/5 from me.

 

Ninjas are basically magic.

Rationalizing magic is retarded. LessWrong, levels of retarded.

2/5, I couldn't make it past fucking GAME THEORY.

 

I haven't read this fic. I'm not going to. But...

Spoiler

...Gai (and Kakashi, I guess) decide to assassinate someone and that person survives? Reality warping roundhouse kick disagrees.

 

Since you don't intend to read it, I guess it doesn't matter, but it's more likely they never intended to assassinate anyone, and were simply framed.

 

The latest couple chapters of this really ruined it for me. I was enjoying it at least somewhat until the most recent revelations.

2.5/5, rounded down for voting because of the sheer stupidity of the current ongoing arc.

 

Story ended now. I'll stick with my previous judgment.

My biggest criticism remains that the story feels rushed at many points. I agree with CheddarTrek that it relies very heavily on previous knowledge of the characters for effect. We know those named characters from our canon and fanon knowledge, so their deaths have a certain amount of weight. If someone came into the story without that background, they wouldn't care about most of them.

The deadpan humor and originality rescue the story from mediocrity. If we ever codified a 'Naruto Law', this story would violate a bunch of them, but I'm fine with that in this instance. I think it mostly pulls it off, but your mileage may vary. (I think the cheap shots at canon should have been left out.)

Lots of cool ideas here.

Spoiler

All Hail The Dread Lord Panasoniku!

 

CheddarTrek:

Spoiler

Panasoniku was a play on Panasonic - there was a broken TV in the Hyuuga compound, or something, and people "praying" to it.