Fan fiction is typically written by those who like the source material, and who think it could be expanded upon with their own special touch. But what happens if this isn't the case? Destiny Is A Hazy Thing is a Naruto fanfic that is a cautionary tale against writing fanfic with nothing but contempt for the source material.
The fic, among other things, is based around the idea that Minato put a seal on Naruto to turn him into the person we know in canon. Once it comes off, Naruto turns from an idealistic if impetuous ninja to one who despises his parents and his village.
In order to even make this concept anywhere close to plausible, several characters had their personalities twisted, with them performing ethically dubious and non-canon actions, while their benevolent actions from canon are "reinterpreted" (for example, the third Hokage cares for Naruto to make him a pawn). Baseless bits of fanon, such as the idea that Naruto's teachers deliberately trained Naruto improperly are added in. As such, the resulting story is mainly composed of the author's twisting the setting and various fan theories, with canon coming in a distant third.
The fact that this is little more than an thinly-veiled attack on canon, and the characters the author dislikes becomes very clear after a while. This is especially true when Naruto gets a vision of what is canon, realizes that the way he would have gone if the seal hadn't been messed with would have most likely gotten him killed (which misses the point that most Shonen series- and many stories in general- have the heroes overcoming long odds to succeed), while making gratuitous Take That references to canon, and a few shots against Minato and Kushina for good measure.
As a result, this stops reading like a real story before long, and the characters no longer seem like real people (or real Eldritch Abomination, for Youko and Daiki). Even Naruto himself comes off as too whiny and bitter against the village to be heroic or sympathetic. As such, it becomes practically impossible to care what happens, leaving little reason to keep reading
Overall, this work, written with nothing but the utmost contempt for canon, does not read well as a work of fan fiction. Perhaps this might have worked in an original setting, but the author's approach to the concept and treatment of canon makes this a terrible Naruto fanfic.
Fanfic I hate it as much as the author seems to hate canon
Fan fiction is typically written by those who like the source material, and who think it could be expanded upon with their own special touch. But what happens if this isn't the case? Destiny Is A Hazy Thing is a Naruto fanfic that is a cautionary tale against writing fanfic with nothing but contempt for the source material.
The fic, among other things, is based around the idea that Minato put a seal on Naruto to turn him into the person we know in canon. Once it comes off, Naruto turns from an idealistic if impetuous ninja to one who despises his parents and his village.
In order to even make this concept anywhere close to plausible, several characters had their personalities twisted, with them performing ethically dubious and non-canon actions, while their benevolent actions from canon are "reinterpreted" (for example, the third Hokage cares for Naruto to make him a pawn). Baseless bits of fanon, such as the idea that Naruto's teachers deliberately trained Naruto improperly are added in. As such, the resulting story is mainly composed of the author's twisting the setting and various fan theories, with canon coming in a distant third.
The fact that this is little more than an thinly-veiled attack on canon, and the characters the author dislikes becomes very clear after a while. This is especially true when Naruto gets a vision of what is canon, realizes that the way he would have gone if the seal hadn't been messed with would have most likely gotten him killed (which misses the point that most Shonen series- and many stories in general- have the heroes overcoming long odds to succeed), while making gratuitous Take That references to canon, and a few shots against Minato and Kushina for good measure.
As a result, this stops reading like a real story before long, and the characters no longer seem like real people (or real Eldritch Abomination, for Youko and Daiki). Even Naruto himself comes off as too whiny and bitter against the village to be heroic or sympathetic. As such, it becomes practically impossible to care what happens, leaving little reason to keep reading
Overall, this work, written with nothing but the utmost contempt for canon, does not read well as a work of fan fiction. Perhaps this might have worked in an original setting, but the author's approach to the concept and treatment of canon makes this a terrible Naruto fanfic.