Fanfic / Vulpine

Wait a sec… the Old Guy summoned a toad. That must mean he was one of the awesome ninja that Iruka talked about a few months ago, the ones that could summon animals. And if Old Guy could summon toads, then he was…

Like the Fourth. All the pictures of the Fourth's final battle were of him on the back of a huge toad.

Naruto grinned. Now he knew the secret to summoning toads too! He was another step closer to being awesome like the Fourth.

No time like the present. Naruto focused his chakra as hard as he could, bringing an aura of blue light up around his body. He was going to get this right!

Bite thumb. Five handseals, and…

Naruto Uzumaki vanished in a puff of smoke.

Vulpine is a Naruto fanfic from the author of Ashes of the Past.

Author's Summary: Not entirely serious story. So, performing a summoning technique without a contract lands you with your most appropriate summon? Naruto sees someone summoning while still in the academy, and gives it a go.

As with Third Fang's Yet again, with a little extra help, that ability to not take itself entirely seriously is what helps this fic rock as hard as it does. In it, Naruto witnesses Jiraiya summoning a toad at a young age, and copies the hand signs hoping to summon toads like his hero the Fourth.

Instead, he ends up in the summons land of the foxes, and slightly cracky awesomeness ensues.

As with Ashes Of The Past, Saphroneth takes bit of Fanon and Canon and weaves together a fun romp with a powerful Team 7 and a world that suits them.

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Vulpine provides examples of the following tropes:

• The Ace: All of Team Seven have shades of this at the beginning, and as the story goes on they all progress to full Ace status.
  • Even in the world of 'Vulpine', Minato and Itachi are still considered leagues above everyone else. Minato achieved Nirvana as a teenager using Seals, and even half dead and blind Itachi is considered a Paragon of ninja skill.
• Alliterative Name: The Kyūbi's name: Millicent Mehabitel Mudd.
• All Psychology Is Freudian: Naruto's summon fox Niyi has Tsunade lay down on a couch and asks her about her mother.
• Anticlimax: Most of the climatic fights in the manga end up this way in the fic, mainly due to Team Seven being so overpowered. The earliest example would be the Chūnin exam preliminaries, with each match ending due to a ridiculous Curb-Stomp Battle or the opponent forfeiting.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: How Mille uses the Biju Ball
  • Naruto at age 11.
• Beyond the Impossible: Team 8 walks into Team 7's usual training grounds during the Wave Mission. It is so full of traps that Hinata's Byakugan cannot find a safe exit - not even the way they entered.
• Bullet Time: Or in this case, Shuriken Time. Both Naruto and Sasuke agree that the concept is pretty cool.
• I Call It "Vera": Sasuke's Raijin.
  Sasuke: Yeeesss… you will be my sword and that is a good thing, because Raijin is a good sword…
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Lee gets drunk off of the fumes from what amounts to everclear sake. Though, to be fair, everclear is so potent that it comes with a warning not to hold it near a flame.
  • Tazuna, who is described in his opening scene as two-and-a-half out of three sheets to the wind.
• Crazy-Prepared: see Properly Paranoid below
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Pretty much any fight involving Team 7. By the end of the story, Just pretty much any fight against Konoha's forces Period.
• Cuteness Proximity / Cuteness Overload: Made possible so far by one of Naruto's summons, a tiny fox named Moe, which is described as a small ball of fluff with Puppy-Dog Eyes. So far, no woman that has seen its eyes has not lost her head from the cute.
• Death from Above: The power of one of Naruto's fox summons, which he uses against Mizuki. He even uses 'death from above' as its summoning invocation.
  • Sasuke can do this by riding one of his hawks and raining down jutsus on the enemy.
  • Gaara gets in on the action too. His special take on it is summoning Shukaku to land on the hapless enemy.
• Death Is Cheap: Gaara has a unique stance on the concept of dying due to losing his bijuu. Namely, every time it happens, he just undoes the removal in seconds, since Shukaku is his boss summon.
• Demonic Possession: The Uchiha Curse of Hatred is implied to be the mind of the Jubi inherited by every descendant of the Sage's elder son.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Jubi.
  • The Zero-Tailed Leech counts as well, especially when it is revealed that it is the Jubi's brain.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Deidara was under the impression that the Akatsuki were making up their plan to use the Bijuu to Take Over the World as they went along, which he could have respected. Upon finding out that there actually was a plan, and that it involved moon-generated worldwide-hypnosis, of all things, he decided to defect to Konoha. That's right, The Moon's Eye Plan was too crazy for Deidara.
• Female Monster Surprise: Naruto is surprised to learn that the Kyūbi is, in fact, female. Though he gets over it pretty quickly.
• Flat "What": Sasuke, after Kakashi explains the Land of Snow mission to the team.
• Foreshadowing: In chapter one, Lani comments on the fact that the kanji for Naruto's name means 'Maelstrom'. Much later on, it's revealed that Maelstrom is actually Naruto's True Name.
• Handwave: Happens to a lot when the story encounters some of the more crazy/implausible things that happen in canon. One of the best examples happens during Sakura's showdown with Sasori.
  Sakura: "How the hell does that even work? Controlling hidden mechanisms is one thing, but I know from Gaara that sand manipulation like that is an entirely mental art!"
  Sasori: (Shrugging) "It works, so I don't question it."
• Having a Blast: In addition to Deidara this is appearently the second rule of the Crow summons.
  • Aya, at least when he combos with Sasuke.
  "Ye-ep! Great big boom!"
• Heal It With Fire: Shiranui, the second power of Kakashi's Mangekyo Sharingan. It's incredibly chakra-intensive, but it restores the user or the target to the epitome of perfect health with a wave of white fire, even fixing things that weren't even strictly injuries.
• Heel–Face Turn: During the Exam Invasion, the Sand ninja are very quick to provide support to Konoha after getting a taste of the power Team Seven has at their disposal. Oh, and finding out their Kazekage was replaced by Orochimaru.
  • Gaara does a mini-one earlier, going from his usual homicidal self to... well, less so, once he gets his Tanuki summons. It's implied that he has friends/pets now, making him less violent... which interestingly is part of what helped prompt him to become that way in canon as well.
  • An odd example, but Danzo has done it, of all people in Chapter 2. It was quite likely that since the third didn't die like canon and there wasn't much casualties, he has come to accept that Konoha needs the "Will of fire" that many has believed ever since Tobirama's reign.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Elder Chiyo. While the many ways which she could have avoided this are lampshaded, she still insists on doing so anyway.
  Chiyo: "Shut up shut up shut up! I want a noble sacrifice, and I am getting one!"
• Hurricane of Puns: In the Land of Snow.
  Naruto: "Hey, that was really cold, Sakura…"
  Sakura: "Oh, cool off. Besides, if I hadn't I'd have been adrift and on ice, all at sea."
  Sasuke: "Those puns might have broken the ice, but they're not much good otherwise..."
  Kakashi: *Groans*
• I Know Your True Name: The most powerful individuals get the ability to discover theirs, which appear at the end of their soul aria, a verse about the truth of their soul. The list of people who have true names are:
  • Mandias - Ozymandias
  • Sakura - Sakura
  • Naruto - Maelstrom
  • Minato - Arashi (Storm)
• Initiation Ceremony: Keeping track of the hyperactive blond child with no inside voice and dressed in bright colors for a large fraction of the day is an unofficial one for the ANBU.
  He still gets away.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: Gaara, at least going by his *ahem* treatment of Temari's (former) boyfriend.
• Layman's Terms: Done by Kuda when he answers Naruto's question of whether he can conceal himself. At first he launches into a long spiel explaining that he can due to being a Kudagitsune, but then realizes that this is Naruto he's talking to, and just answers with a 'yes.'
  • There's also Tenten's oxygen pills.
  Naruto: How do these (the pills) work anyway?
  Sakura: They're dehydrated air.
  Naruto: Oh, okay.

• Literal Split Personality: Sakura, though in her case her different personalities represent the different powers she has at her disposal. Eventually she gets the ability to switch between them on the fly and even clone them. Orochimaru doesn't appreciate that last one...
• Making a Splash: Sakura's otter summons, as well as Okhi, a fox summon.
• Master of Illusion: Kori, one of Naruto's fox summons.
• Messianic Archetype: Naruto might, might, might be able to achieve this. Notably, both him and the rest of Team Seven are very annoyed by this idea.
  Sasuke: Naruto, if you turn out to be the messiah… I will be very annoyed.
  Naruto: So will I! Part of the job description is generally martyrdom.
  • Actually Lampshaded twice:
    Itachi: We actually have that concept? I recognize it but it thought it was foreign.
  • Sakura's aspecting and Soul Aria show she's at least Semi-Divine herself.
• Mind Rape: Naruto accidentally inflicts this on Neji during the Chūnin exams, after having one of his summons swallow him whole and pull him underground while he had the byakugan active.
  • Later, Gaara does this to him too after he gets caught in the range of one of Shukaku's attacks. Poor guy...
• Mundane Utility:
  Random farmer: The demon is escaping! Run for your lives!
  Kakashi: Actually, it looks rather more like the Jinchuuriki is using a slightly ludicrous amount of power to plow your field.
• Mythology Gag: Kisame is tricked using Tsukuyomi into thinking that the events in the battle of the Inn that happened in canon (Sasuke's arm getting broken, Jiraiya coming to the rescue) is what actually happened.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: In addition to Canon each member of Team Seven gets one.
  • The Konoha Jonin told their teams to stay away from them during the Chūnin Exams.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: With Team 7 being the most obvious example. This is even lampshaded with Naruto.
  "...You're a sensor now?"
• Oh, Crap!: The reactions of everyone when Sakura reveals that Tobi is another way of saying Jubi.
• Properly Paranoid: Members of the Hyūga clan routinely activates their Byakugan every morning in case they've been caught in a genjutsu while sleeping, and Kurenai's routine includes two different exercises to verify the same thing: a box full of things only she know what they are in case of standard genjutsus (as a normal genjutsu cannot reproduce them) and making senbon stand on their tips for genjutsus that infiltrate the mind (an old wish of hers that is impossible in real life: if she succeeds, then it's a genjutsu). When the Moon Eye is set off, the Byakugan fails as it's not enough, but her senbon tricks allows Kurenai to realize the situation and escape.
• Red Baron: After the Timeskip, excluding Kakashi (who already has his as the Copy Nin), all of Team 7, collectively and individually, have one:
  • Sakura: Sakura
  • Naruto: Fūma (Demon Wind)
  • Sasuke: Thunderhawk
  • Sai: Blackbird
  • Collectively, the four are known as Konoha's Four Seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, in the above order).
• Rule of Cool: Naruto is a firm believer of this.
  Sasuke: [Regarding one of Naruto's techniques] You could have done that a lot quicker.
  Naruto: Yeah, but this way looks better.
• Running Gag: Kakashi getting knocked out by his Sharingan Powers.
  • Related to the above, a second running gag: Sasuke being the cause for Kakashi knocking himself out.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Zabuza and Haku get out of Wave pretty quickly after sensing all the Youkai chakra emitted by Naruto.
• Shout-Out: Many.
  • Almost all the various summons are some kind of shout out:
    • Foxes include characters from or based on Ozy and Millie, Digimon Data Squad and Bleach, as well as one named Kajiura
    • The Hawks include Tobias from Animorphs
    • Otters include representatives from Ring of Bright Water, Redwall, The Penguins of Madagascar, Jak and Daxter and Tarka The Otter.
    • The only named Tanuki is Totoro
    • The Mongoose are entirely from the Belisarius Series.
    • And the Crows are based on the Saica Faction, both the historical one and the Sengoku Basara one.
  • In the grand finale of chapter 6, Sakura and her "Soul Aria" completely rip off Unlimited Blade Works. And then she kills Orochimaru by siccing her ''multiple'' aspects on him...
  • At one point, Naruto asks the team if they've got it memorized.
  • Shuriken Time
  • Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan powers (his own, not the ones gotten from Itachi) are three towards Sengoku Basara:
    • Tadakatsu - Dimensional-phase Invulnerability
    • Masamune - Pure lightning; a similar relationship to lightning as Amaterasu/Fire
    • Mitsunari - Accelerates his personal space-time to the same rate as the Sharingan does to his thought processes
  • During the battle against the Akatsuki after they activated the Eternal Mangekyou, Killer B starts rapping Libera Me From Hell, the "Row, Row, Fight The Power" song from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Team Seven do this with alarming frequency, both in battle and during training. You know it's bad when blowing up the village is a viable training hazard.
• Stupid Sacrifice: Elder Chiyo is so set on pulling a Heroic Sacrifice that every excuse she gives on why she must is refuted and a better alternative is given. She does it anyway needlessly.
• Summon Magic: The entire fic revolves around Team Seven getting access to Summons ridiculously early and using them to kick ass. For the record, Naruto summons foxes, Sakura summons otters and Sasuke summons hawks.
  • Later on, Anko gets to summon mongooses, while Gaara summons tanuki.
  • Heck, even Sai gets in on the fun when he inheirits Itachi's Crow Summons.
• Super-Speed: Ichimaru's ability. Though he bemoans the fact that it often gets him saddled with courier missions.
• Teleportation: Reverse summons. Due to being so useful, they're abused mercilessly throughout the story.
• There Are No Therapists: Averted with a vengeance thanks to Niyi the Ninja Therapist. Shizune even lampshades that her abilities might be a bigger breakthrough in medicine than the mechanics of Naruto's healing factor.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Team Seven are the patron saints of this trope.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Naruto
• World of Badass: Everyone above Genin displays varying amounts of awesome, the Jounin all pull off quasi-impossible feats like it's going out of style, and the S-Class and Kage ninja are all able to utterly destroy anything that gets in their way, save other S-Class/Kage's but including whole villages.
  • This story could be summed up as: All of the characters in the Naruto world at their best, all the time, with all of their already impressive abilities taken to their logical extreme.

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