But Naruto knew he could not abandon the girl. The sight of those white eyes looking at him, filled with fear, but also with a glimmer of hope, haunted him. She trusted him, he was the only hope she had
Chapter 1: The Incident
When a young Naruto saves Hinata from being kidnapped by the village of Kumogakure, the Hyūga clan takes him in as their honoured guest. Raised under their roof, he feels a pull towards the legacy of his clan and fights for his dream to become Hokage, and though he faces numerous obstacles, he has faithful friends that stand by his side.
At least that is the general idea behind Ziltoid's (who may or may not be The Magnificent) The Honoured Guest
, a comprehensive rewrite of the Naruto series. It is extraordinarily well-written with the goal of correcting several elements of the original story that left a bad taste in the author's mouth. Among these are a focus on the Hyūga and Uzumaki clans, a darker, less idealistic take on the shinobi world, and well-built romances. As of September 10th, 2019, it is completed.
This fanfic provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptational Badass:
- As is fairly typical for rewrites centered on tweaking the story, Naruto is a good deal more skilled than in the original story, having mastered fūton and katon, begun utilizing raiton, can summon toads, and he's also on his way to becoming a fūinjutsu master. His use of shadow clones is also more effective. In addition, unlike in canon, Naruto has a fire immunity and an affinity for said element thanks to Kurama. It's revealed during the search for Tsunade that he knows how to use the Hiraishin.
- Hinata is also somewhat more skilled with her mother having her sign the Hyūga clan's summoning contract with Suzaku.
- Karin learns Fuinjutsu from Naruto.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Gamaken, Danzo, Samui, Yugito, Karui, Omoi, Sasori, Karin, Mei, Chojuro, Tsurigi (the Kiri hunter-nin) and Yamato.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Not only is Naruto NOT a deadlast at the Academy, he's also smart enough to be able to learn Fūinjutsu on his own if Jiraiya is unable to teach him.
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- Sasuke is way more obnoxious here than in canon.
- Neji is somehow even worse than he was in canon, despite the fact that Hizashi wasn't killed as a result of the Hyūga Affair.
- Adaptational Villainy: It's revealed that Hizashi has been conspiring with Orochimaru and the Hidden Sound to kidnap Hinata during the Konoha Crush and likely has been in league with Danzo.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Naruto here is far more subdued and reserved than his cheerful and boastful canon self.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- In canon, Naruto and Karin hardly interact with one another. Here, they form a sibling-esque relationship when the latter is revealed to be an Uzumaki.
- Speaking of whom, Karin isn't shown to have a crush on Sasuke in this fic. Based on their first interaction in this fic, it seems like she doesn't like him much.
- Age Lift: Sort of. Hinata's kidnap attempt happens when she's six rather than three.
- Always Second Best: Tenten believes that her Fūinjutsu skills are inferior to Naruto's.
- Ascended Extra:
- In canon, Hinata's mother is a nameless woman who appears once in a flashback. Here, she's a major character and one of the reasons why Naruto was allowed to be the guest of the Hyūga.
- A couple of interesting examples come in the form of Danzo, who is shown to be a clear danger almost out of the gate; and Karin, who appeared briefly in the chūnin exams in canon and then disappeared until Part 2, but here she becomes a major character and Naruto's sister figure after it is discovered she is descended from the Uzumaki clan.
- And a more recent development is Tayuya surviving the Sasuke Retrieval Arc and being adopted as an Uzumaki.
- Badass Bookworm: An advanced knowledge of the complicated art of fūinjutsu makes Naruto this.
- Beta Couple: Kiba and Karin.
- Big Sister Instinct: While they're not siblings by blood, Yugito sees Naruto and Gaara as her younger brothers. As such, she does not take Sasori's intent on taking them well.
- Broken Pedestal: Unlike in canon, when Naruto learns that the Fourth Hokage is his father, he stops respecting the man and refuses to acknowledge him as his father due to the fact that he sealed the Kyūbi in him.
- Calling Parents by Their Name: Ino briefly does this towards her mom to show how infuriated she is at the lies she's been told about Naruto.
- Constantly Curious: Ino in regards to Naruto. She's very determined to know more about him and his antisocial behavior only fuels her interest in him.
- The Corrupter:
- Kurama more so than in canon.
- Danzō manages to make Sakura join his side after the Sand-Sound Invasion.
- Demoted to Extra: Mizuki, despite having one major role discounting filler, had a Small Role, Big Impact status due to his manipulation of Naruto resulting in the Uzumaki learning not just why he's disliked by most of Konoha but also the Shadow Clone Technique. But here, Naruto knew both reasons by the time he graduated
- Dies Differently in Adaptation
- In canon, Sasori met his end by the combined forces of Sakura and Chiyo. Here, not only does he die three years earlier, but also Yugito Nii is his killer.
- Ukon is killed by Kakashi instead of Kiba.
- Easily Forgiven: Averted. Naruto does not forgive Minato when he learns about the truth about the night he was born and their relationship.
- Fantastic Racism: The Honoured Guest treats the prejudice towards Jinchuriki, Naruto in particular, more seriously than canon. It gets to the point where it has an affect on Naruto's psyche.
- Field Promotion: Discussed. When deciding which Konoha Genin will become Chūnin, Hiruzen notes that Naruto's actions during the Sand-Sound Invasion make him qualify for one if he isn't being promoted based on his performance during the Exams.
- For Want Of A Nail:
- The story is set in motion when Naruto becomes involved in the attempted kidnapping of Hinata by Kumo. The result is him being accepted by the Hyuuga clan as the titular "honoured guest".
- A secondary nail is later revealed explaining why Naruto has more power than in canon, but also why the Nine Tails can exert a greater influence on him: When Minato performed the sealing, he was unable to complete it, with the implication that "Madara" came back for round 2.
- Foreshadowing: In chapter 5, Naruto made a comment about switching teams with Neji. In chapter 9, he and Shino would actually switch places.
- Generation Xerox: Jiraiya mused that based on how Tsunade, Kushina, and Naruto act, stubbornness is an innate trait amongst those descended from the Uzumaki Clan.
- Hero with Bad Publicity
- Hidden Depths: According to Kakashi, despite his eccentricities, Guy is very secretive about his training methods and that he allowed Naruto to take part in his training is not done out of their rivalry.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: After graduation, it becomes increasingly clear to Sasuke and Sakura that Naruto has been holding back during their Academy years.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Naruto is initially placed on Team Kakashi with Sakura and Sasuke despite not being a deadlast, though this is due to Kurama having a bigger influence on Naruto.
- Team 7 takes the Wave Mission.
- Naruto still learns the Shadow Clone jutsu and how to summon the Toads.
- Hinata and Neji fight against each other during the Chūnin Exams preliminaries, with the latter winning.
- Neji and Naruto fight against each other during the Chūnin Exams finals, with the latter winning.
- Both Jiraiya and Naruto track down and successfully bring Tsunade back to Konoha.
- The Konona Crush more or less happens, the end result being a failure.
- Hiruzen uses the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, albeit using it to fix Naruto's seal as opposed to using it to take away Orochimaru's use of arms.
- Shikamaru is promoted to Chūnin.
- Sasuke defects to Orochimaru and there was a failed attempt to retrieve him.
- Naruto leaves Konoha for two years for a training trip.
- Killed By The Adaptation:
- Choji and Shino die during the Sasuke Retrieval arc.
- Kabuto dies during the Sand-Sound invasion.
- Laser-Guided Karma: When Sasuke tried to attack Naruto, Naruto chose to fight back out of self-defence. While admitting it's lenient all things considered, Kakashi punishes Sasuke by restricting him to do D-Rank missions only and excluding him from any form of promotion for the foreseeable future since he tried to assault a fellow Konoha nin, who also happens to be his superior in terms of rank.
- Living Weapon: According to Orochinaru, the Kusanagi Tsurigi "only obeys the victor".
- Named by the Adaptation:
- Hinata's mother is given the name Hitomi in this story.
- Ino's mother is given the name Yuriko here.
- Papa Wolf: Jiraiya here takes his status as Naruto's godfather more seriously than in canon, as he's been regularly contacting the boy and has been training him whenever he's in town since he (Naruto) was 5. Not only that, but Jiraiya also puts in the effort of treating Naruto as a human being and as the Kyūbi's prisoner instead of the beast itself.
- Spared by the Adaptation:
- Haku and Zabuza don't get killed during the Wave Mission.
- Tayuya isn't killed off during the Sasuke Retrieval Arc.
- Stalker without a Crush: Ino spends a good amount of her free time during her Academy years watching Naruto and trying to understand him.
- What the Hell, Hero?: In chapter 49, Kakashi chews Sasuke out for trying to attack Naruto.
- You're Not My Father: Unlike in canon, Naruto straight up dislikes Minato for sealing the Kyubi into him, and that was before he learned of their familial connection. When Hiruzen did told Naruto that Minato is his father, the boy straight up disowned him.
