Story updated today. Reading in a bit.

 

Quite good. I just finished playing The Witcher 2, and I got a really similar vibe. A mature, dark, urban chapter. Pretty enjoyable, but I would have prefered some more action and some more advances in the plot. That said, world building is very fun to read since its so rarely done right.

 

So bit of a necro, but there was an update on this fic 2 weeks ago and I thought I'd take the opportunity to give my review on the fic as well.

Really, despite being called a Naruto fanfic, it almost isn't. Probably why the author has been given an offer to rewrite it in his language, and publish it as an original.

Naruto has a completely different personality to canon - which isn't uncommon in fanfiction, and is explained quite well (since he's older, and more of a veteran). But the world is completely different (being over a century in the past) and his experiences from canon don't really make appearances much.

As for the gender bending thing. I have no real aversion to that concept really - just that most fics are cheesy and crap. In Tis Femina, it has so far barely played a part at all. You usually expect some level of Naruto coming to terms with his new body being a major part in this fic. But it really isn't. Naruto is so professional that he immediately accepts it and starts thinking of ways to use his feminity as a weapon, with no major discomfort or plot points.

Essentially, the author seems to have wanted a professional, and detached kunoichi to be his main character and wanted to use Naruto since that would probably be more popular than using Yugito (as mentioned before). That being said, Naruto seems to still consider himself male (and the narrative uses the word "He" instead of "she"), and in the latest (lengthy) author note, also pointed out it will end up with a romantic relationship between Hashirama and Naruto. So maybe the ramifications of the gender bending will play more of a part in the future. As much as most people here would probably see that as a negative point, I would actually be quite interested to see that.

Looking at the actual plot of the fic, I do find his setting quite interesting. Some sort of cross between a dark Naruto world, a feudal Japan world and a traditional fantasy world. The Senju arc was probably the most Naruto related part of this fic so far. I did like the way Naruto's presence inspired Hashirama's actions in coming to power.

I did lose a bit of interest after Naruto left the Senju. For one, it seemed to become completely unrelated to the series. And two, it just seemed to meandaring all over the place with no direction. But the last two chapters has made me interested again. I initially thought the two brats following him around was a big mistake, but in this arc it has actually been quite a good plot device.

The author has hinted to this being just the start. Setting up the characters for the real plot to start. So it'll be interesting to see whether he does get that far, or whether it just gets abandoned (or he just drops the fanfic and takes the offer to publish it). Either way, 3 years and 127k words out. If this is really just the tip of the iceberg, we may be waiting years for it to get to those points.

It's been over a year since I read the first 6 chapters, but the last 2 chapters didn't have anything majorly wrong with them writing style wise. Maybe a few small mistakes which could be removed with a good beta, but overall quite a readable, and fluid narrative (nothing amazing though).

I'd give it a tentative 4/5, though very easy for it to drop back lower. That's while ignoring the fact it's meant to be a Naruto fic. And the newer chapters just seem to diverge more and more away from the Naruto universe.

 

Updated two chapters in quite a short bit of time.

Other than the slow update rate (though maybe it's about to change?) and minor grammatical issues there is absolutely no reason for this to be in the recycle bin. The writing might need a little polish, but even without it, it's superb. Chapter 3 especially impressed me. Author has a way with description that is almost visceral... Anyways, the characterization is deep, the plotlines are progressing at a rapid pace, and the underlying tones of mystery, horror, political chicanery, and action are well-executed. The only drawback is that the overall story seems to be so massive that it will probably take several years to finish.

Tis Femina is a refreshing take on a Naruto fic, precisely because it doesn't have any of that shonen hero nonsense with endless training sequences, and it doesn't rehash canon events ad nauseam. It addresses the core philosophy of the source material without flinching away from the difficulty or complexity of war and death. For that, I give it a 5/5.


And I don't agree with Jarik's opinion that the author doesn't address Naruto's genderbender issues. Chapter 6 actually directly points out his denial. Chapters before that show that Naruto is clearly uncomfortable and unused to his female body. What more were you expecting...?

 

the word changed a lot in a 100 year. just look at our own timeline. a hundred year ago. there were no car. Plane barely worked and boat where still made of wood. In tis Femina Naruto is 100 year into his own past if it can still be called his own past right now since his mere presence changed so much of the timeline.

Mo, Hanzo, the tiny toad, even that random guy sent by Hashimara earlier they all have life, dream, motivation, fear..

I Love this fic. It explore something new its such a breath of freshness in the normally generic Naruto fandom.

I give it 5/5.

as far as the GB issue. I have none. the reason for it is purposeful. I can totally get behind it. after all if I where the parasite and I had the power I too would make everything I must to protect my host even if I must piss all over its pride to do so. everything is ok, if it keep me alive.

 

Fem!Naruto will always keep me from reading this fic. I might of been able to manage it, if there was no pairing, but Naruto/Hashirama might as well be a slash fic.

 

Thats pretty dumb man.

This fic is pretty good. One of the few Naruto stories I still read. Fascinating world building and imagination from the author, but not the most polished work. You can also tell at times that the author's first language isnt english. Still, its a solid 4/5 for me.

 

I read this a while back, hopefully I'm remembering it right. I rather liked the first part of the story, with the founder of Konoha interacting with Naruto, but I lost interest the moment he left. The story just went off the rails and I lost interest, especially since it seemed like Naruto was turning into a monster from Cthulhu Mythos, which was just... strange and unwelcome for me.

3/5