Team 8

Thank god you didn't do the shitheaded cliché and explain the fox's rampage before the cannon explination thank you

I do absolutely love that you covered your bases with the Kyuubi i have read FAR too many fanfics where the authors say it attacked konoha in a fit of rage after it's family was killed now we all know that it was in fact madera uchiha using the beast as a kind of puppet to destroy konoha and that can just fit right in now

just curious about your authors notes at the end of the chapter..

The nine-tailed demon is, however, a pragmatist. It knows its remaining existence will end when Naruto dies, and even if he could survive the Cursed Seal, Orochimaru’s lackeys have an abysmal life expectancy. So… it will cooperate when the choice is between that and dying.

How does Kyuubi know about Orochimaru? There isn't any mention about Orochi from Kyuubi from the Naruto manga either..

Orochi in canon knew enough about Naruto's seal to know the overlay seal would block access to the Kyuubi's chakra, so that's pretty telling.

And even if the Kyuubi had no knowledge of the Snake Sannin, he could tell that seal was bad news. Having your container manipulated like a pawn is not conducive to prolonging your existence...

This is a fairly interesting plot line you have forming here. I hope you continue with writing it, soon! Please, because I've re-read this about ten times and I really want to know happens!

gah. Now that is how you write a ninja battle scene :)

I am really looking forward to more of this. Your one of the few authors that actually takes a chance of making a major change in canon and then doing it well. The preliminary tournament seems like its going to be very interesting with the changes especially Shino's fight.

When I read this chapter I was somewhat relieved about something, very often in the chuunin exams done in most fanfiction, all the fights in the preliminery round are the same people fighting against each other and that can get kind of boring. But since you killed off Dosu that means the Sound Team can't participate, therefore I would expect that quite a few of the fights are going to be against different people than in canon. To get to the point, I am just commending you on something that isn't done often enough in fanfics and I look forward to the new prelimenary fights in future chapters.

You have to make a video.Video,video,video!PLEASE!!!!!!!

i love this fanfic so much because you keep things going the same way as the anime/mangaa but you didn't change any big major events too much, other then the fact naruto and kiba switched teams of course, but the things that people take for granted. Like just naruto's eating at a different restaurant then ichiraku's will probably effect how he performs in battle. But now im getting off topic so anyway i think this is the best reading i've had since well ever, nightmares of futures past excluded.

Reading through your fic again (damn you for getting me addicted! :) good though) and I noticed that in "Geniuses of Hard Work" that Hinata uses the Divine 64 Strikes, but I think that that technique just sounds so much better (more impressive anyway) when you label it by the Japanese description, Hakke Rokujuyon Shou. Does Hinata know how to do the Kaiten, because I think that she would have been taught the theory behind them at least, even if she hadn't been able to fight against her sister much.

Looking forward to all your work, keep it up!

Now _this_ chapter is a wonderful surprise. I so rarely find good naruto fics, and this one is a gem of a find :)

Good work, I have you bookmarked now :)

More thoughts: I loved Naruto "handing over" the scroll, but did he actually expect to have to use that trick and thus prepared it? I wouldn't think he would have had time to wrap it all up in the short while he was rummaging around to find the thing.

I also hope that the two groups work together to get a fourth scroll. If the two groups have different scrolls, at least it'll be obvious who gets this scroll. If they have the same one, however, it may take some quick talking to keep them all from fighting between themselves.

I loved how Naruto pranked his Sensei! It's great how he actually has enough attention and things to do he doesn't need to prank anymore, but it would be fun to see some more non-harmful pranks along that line.

Again, really, really great story! I love it!

This is so cool! Before reading this I knew nothing about Naruto save that it was about ninjas and Naruto had some sort of fox demon/spirit/thing inside of him. Now I'm starting to get obsessed with the series! Of course, I think your portrayal of Naruto may have spoiled me for the real thing! The characterization of Naruto, Sano, and Hinata, as well as their Sensei, are just great! I love the teamwork and bonding you've put in. It's so cool what they can do when they work together!

Now, I've never read the manga, so perhaps this is an irrelevant question, but given how the previous test they were given wasn't testing what the examiners said they were testing, I have to wonder about this Forest. On the face of it, this task seems pretty straightforward - get the other scroll and get out of the forest alive. But given how much attention was put on not opening up the scroll, I wonder if that's actually necessary.

This is a really, really great story, and I can't wait for the next update!

I would like to start by saying I love this pairing and his story more than words allow so I'm not going to try. However because of this I must say damn you! I found this early morning on Saturday and have literally stayed up all night to try and digest all I could of this awesome story before getting yelled at, and I did. I'm really enjoying how the character development is going and I'm often finding myself at awe at how much more I likeShino and Naruto than normal canon. Naruto because while I like him for the same reasons as Hinata he gets annoying if you listen to him talk for too long, Shino because...its inevitable with the time focused on his character. Kiba also seems more likable than normal likely because he has undergone the things Naruto would have had he been assigned to Team 7 like in canon.
Onto the actual chapter: at first I was confused as to what was happening but you did a good job explaining it quick enough to keep me from losing my train of thought so kudos to you! I particularly enjoyed the fight with Orochimaru as it demonstrated everyone's abilities well especially the fighting prowess of the much ignored Shino. I like Sakura's change of heart and how she actually had to realize and come to terms with her own retched nature more than just "always looking at their backs" as a solid and believable reason for her change, though the lack of Lee makes me wonder how Sauske will hold his own in the matches becuase as Shino observed Sasuke is lacking in the stamina he would have gained sparring with Naruto and he no longer as the Shishi Rendean to fall back on meaning he'll have to rely more on his ninjutsu and personally learned taijutsu rather than another's techniques. Neither of which he doesn't seem good at; whenever he has a choice between gaining power on his own or having it given to him he'll choose to take the power rather than work for it(read curse seal). The short reprisal between the fights was also well done and brought me to the very edge of my seat wondering how Naruto would deal with the third chakra and how, if at all, he would use the curse seal. During the actual second fight I loved the emphasis on Hinata's battle, speaking of which *parties due to Hinata fanboyism*, sorry but still I'd enjoy seeing Kabuto try and fix Zaku's hand hehe. I can't wait to see how Naruto meeting Kyuubi earlier due to circumstances affects the story and how the lack of burning scroll will result, if at all. Now comes the hard part, waiting for the next installment, because I love this story.

I wonder a bit if you would follow Naruto timeline and events in your A.U. not that I've read / watched Naruto... well, except watched a few episodes, and read a few alternate universe / time-travel stories.

What is interesting is the fact if Team 8 (which is mainly about information gathering) would find I guess suspicious that the Sound team who tried to kill them knew so much about mere genins. Here Kabuto cards come to mind... Hmmm... would Hinata recognize "freaky grass genin" even in disguise?

I didn't want to read this! I want you to finish Nightmares of Futures Past! But Now I'm hooked on this. Naruto Kicks some serious butt and I truly appreciate your extraordinary talent!

This fanfiction was actually the first one I ever read. Since then I've literally read hundreds and this one remains, without a doubt the best and my absolute favorite. Please don't keep me waiting too long for the next chapter!

wow i cant wait for chapter 14

I really like they way you are "carving" out the characters. They are believable, Naruto is a little more deep (I always thought his constant boisterous, semi-dumb manner in canon somewhat overused) and placing him with a "devoted" instructor instead of Kakashi was a great twist - and necessary to develop the Naruto/Hinata pairing as it would be very difficult otherwise.

I am a big fan of both your Potter and now Naruto fanfics and can't wait for a new chapter (to either of them)!

i hope the chpter is good