[Naruto Recs] 3 x Epic scale slash
It's been a long time. I bring you three Naruto multi-chaps. All of which are potentially epic. All of which set in Naruto-verse. All of which slashy. And all of which are fine fine reads.
A Broken Promise by ShrimpFry [WiP. PG-13. Slash. Drama-Angst]
Summary: Sasuke wakes up from a two year coma to find that much has changed in Konoha. Nothing is as he remembered. Naruto has vanished, leaving behind only inexplicable traces and bloody memories.
Quote: Neji slowly shook his head. A kunai appeared in his hand. He began to twirl it once more. He detested idleness. In his case, idle hands would end up with a dead Uchiha and an angry Hokage. He was aware that the Hokage was simply waiting for the right moment to extract the information from the Uchiha. At the moment, he believed that he would be a poor candidate for that job, since whether or not the Uchiha spoke mattered little to him. He simply wanted the bastard to feel the pain.
“It’s all your fault.” He hissed lowly.
Because there’s just something utterly unsettling about this fic. We’re presented with a grim possibility that is horrifying in its darkness but is ultimately realistic because it is human.
In terms of style, this story is in ways quite fragmented, it seems that the author has so much to say, so much to show, that the story risks becoming a patchwork quilt that doesn’t quite sew up. But ShrimpFry has so much life to give to the characters - and that’s what redeems it at the end. There are some intense individual portraits which are told with such compassion that you can’t help but care, and that’s what makes this story so wonderfully engaging.
~
You Can Never Go Home Again by Crystal Child [WiP. R. NaruSasu. Angst-Mystery]
Summary: Naruto was going to be gone for a week, so why did it take an entire year, instead? How different are the people he left behind? How different is he? Can he ever really go back to the place he called home and the people he called family?
Quote: He spent three hours at the same bath house he’d occupied just hours before. He stood in the spray of the showers, watching warm water slide over his tan skin. Watched his tan skin turn red. It didn’t matter anyway.
Everything bleeds red.
When the water turned cold, and people started filing into the room, he figured it must have been morning, and killed the water. Naruto dried himself best he could with one of the bath house’s small rectangles they called towels, and pulled on the clothing he’d been wearing the previous day. They smelled like Sand.
They smelled like Sasuke.
He made a note to burn them the first chance he got.
So this is amazing. It's a thriller-mystery/romance fic, I've rarely come across fanfiction of this genre that made me feel this discomforted before. It's weird the physical reactions I have to this fic, my palms get sweaty, my throat somehow tangles itself up and there's this muted sense of fear that makes me forget to breathe sometimes. And then there's all that between Sasuke and Naruto - I love that the author doesn't make it easy, that it's not enough to just love somebody with all your being. I have some issues with the Sasuke characterisation in some parts of the fic, but that's possibly because I am ultimately a SasuNaru person rather than a NaruSasu person. But all in all, the author creates a wonderful Naruto storyline, that really clenches at the reader and refuses to let go.
~
Blindsided by nescione [WiP. R. NaruGar. SasuNaru. Adventure-Romance]
Summary: Three years after Sasuke leaves, Tsunade receives a strange message from the Sound the futures of Leaf, Sand, and Sound will changed by her decision.
Quote: Naruto's field of vision was filled with teeth. Big teeth. Like, teeth as long as he was tall. Sharp teeth, and lots of them.
He was rather unimpressed, all things considered.
I just realised I have a heap of Naruto AUs to rec, many of which are high school AUs, so until I get off my lazy arse and compile a rec list together - I hope (know) you'll find enjoyment out of these.
A Broken Promise by ShrimpFry [WiP. PG-13. Slash. Drama-Angst]
Summary: Sasuke wakes up from a two year coma to find that much has changed in Konoha. Nothing is as he remembered. Naruto has vanished, leaving behind only inexplicable traces and bloody memories.
Quote: Neji slowly shook his head. A kunai appeared in his hand. He began to twirl it once more. He detested idleness. In his case, idle hands would end up with a dead Uchiha and an angry Hokage. He was aware that the Hokage was simply waiting for the right moment to extract the information from the Uchiha. At the moment, he believed that he would be a poor candidate for that job, since whether or not the Uchiha spoke mattered little to him. He simply wanted the bastard to feel the pain.
“It’s all your fault.” He hissed lowly.
Because there’s just something utterly unsettling about this fic. We’re presented with a grim possibility that is horrifying in its darkness but is ultimately realistic because it is human.
In terms of style, this story is in ways quite fragmented, it seems that the author has so much to say, so much to show, that the story risks becoming a patchwork quilt that doesn’t quite sew up. But ShrimpFry has so much life to give to the characters - and that’s what redeems it at the end. There are some intense individual portraits which are told with such compassion that you can’t help but care, and that’s what makes this story so wonderfully engaging.
~
You Can Never Go Home Again by Crystal Child [WiP. R. NaruSasu. Angst-Mystery]
Summary: Naruto was going to be gone for a week, so why did it take an entire year, instead? How different are the people he left behind? How different is he? Can he ever really go back to the place he called home and the people he called family?
Quote: He spent three hours at the same bath house he’d occupied just hours before. He stood in the spray of the showers, watching warm water slide over his tan skin. Watched his tan skin turn red. It didn’t matter anyway.
Everything bleeds red.
When the water turned cold, and people started filing into the room, he figured it must have been morning, and killed the water. Naruto dried himself best he could with one of the bath house’s small rectangles they called towels, and pulled on the clothing he’d been wearing the previous day. They smelled like Sand.
They smelled like Sasuke.
He made a note to burn them the first chance he got.
So this is amazing. It's a thriller-mystery/romance fic, I've rarely come across fanfiction of this genre that made me feel this discomforted before. It's weird the physical reactions I have to this fic, my palms get sweaty, my throat somehow tangles itself up and there's this muted sense of fear that makes me forget to breathe sometimes. And then there's all that between Sasuke and Naruto - I love that the author doesn't make it easy, that it's not enough to just love somebody with all your being. I have some issues with the Sasuke characterisation in some parts of the fic, but that's possibly because I am ultimately a SasuNaru person rather than a NaruSasu person. But all in all, the author creates a wonderful Naruto storyline, that really clenches at the reader and refuses to let go.
~
Blindsided by nescione [WiP. R. NaruGar. SasuNaru. Adventure-Romance]
Summary: Three years after Sasuke leaves, Tsunade receives a strange message from the Sound the futures of Leaf, Sand, and Sound will changed by her decision.
Quote: Naruto's field of vision was filled with teeth. Big teeth. Like, teeth as long as he was tall. Sharp teeth, and lots of them.
He was rather unimpressed, all things considered.
I just realised I have a heap of Naruto AUs to rec, many of which are high school AUs, so until I get off my lazy arse and compile a rec list together - I hope (know) you'll find enjoyment out of these.