Déjà vu no Jutsu by Vixen_Tail (NC-17)
Title: Déjà vu no Jutsu
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: OC/? (het), canon pairings
Categories: SI, Realism, Pre-Series, Action/Drama, Friendship, Spy
Length: Super-Epic (525 000 words)
Warnings: character death, depression, suicidal inclinations, graphic violence
Author Website: Vixen_Tail on AO3; Vixen_Tail on fanfiction.net
Author’s Summary:
Take one dead, thirty year old career soldier, stick in the body of a child during the Second Great Shinobi War. Add a mini-Namikaze Minato, ninjas, chakra, tailed beasts, and shake well. Is it any wonder she thought she was insane?
Review:
Déjà vu no Jutsu is a lot less tumultuous than the author's summary suggests. It is a slow-burning drama where the main character deals with having lost everything and learns to adapt to the alien world she finds herself in. Being set in Naruto, there is also a lot of action and immediate issues, which are also well written, but it is the care taken to present a consistent character and world that makes the fic a really enjoyable read. I was surprised several times because a minor character had more depth than I had realised or the main character, Mesuji Natsumi, had chosen a path that sidestepped staples of Naruto insert fics, such as worrying over which genin team she would be assigned to.
Natsumi palpably fails to fit right into the Naruto world in some ways, making a cruel, stand-offish child and barely being able to keep up with her naturally talented friends as a ninja despite her mental advantages and determined training. I like that this is realistic and more dramatic, but also because it subtly conflicts with the themes of Naruto. I also enjoy that Natsumi was a soldier in her past life, because it allows a contrast between the ninja lifestyle and that of the modern American army, as well as with modern life in general. She spends a lot of time working out how ninja institutions work, which allows for some very interesting world-building.
Déjà vu no Jutsu is readable without knowing Naruto canon, if you keep careful track of the characters. It is set before canon and tracks how Naruto's setting might have come to be as it is in canon. Despite not being a romance, the main character does have a (het) romantic relationship which is very central to the story.
Déjà vu no Jutsu (ff.net)
Déjà vu no Jutsu (AO3)
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: OC/? (het), canon pairings
Categories: SI, Realism, Pre-Series, Action/Drama, Friendship, Spy
Length: Super-Epic (525 000 words)
Warnings: character death, depression, suicidal inclinations, graphic violence
Author Website: Vixen_Tail on AO3; Vixen_Tail on fanfiction.net
Author’s Summary:
Take one dead, thirty year old career soldier, stick in the body of a child during the Second Great Shinobi War. Add a mini-Namikaze Minato, ninjas, chakra, tailed beasts, and shake well. Is it any wonder she thought she was insane?
Review:
Déjà vu no Jutsu is a lot less tumultuous than the author's summary suggests. It is a slow-burning drama where the main character deals with having lost everything and learns to adapt to the alien world she finds herself in. Being set in Naruto, there is also a lot of action and immediate issues, which are also well written, but it is the care taken to present a consistent character and world that makes the fic a really enjoyable read. I was surprised several times because a minor character had more depth than I had realised or the main character, Mesuji Natsumi, had chosen a path that sidestepped staples of Naruto insert fics, such as worrying over which genin team she would be assigned to.
Natsumi palpably fails to fit right into the Naruto world in some ways, making a cruel, stand-offish child and barely being able to keep up with her naturally talented friends as a ninja despite her mental advantages and determined training. I like that this is realistic and more dramatic, but also because it subtly conflicts with the themes of Naruto. I also enjoy that Natsumi was a soldier in her past life, because it allows a contrast between the ninja lifestyle and that of the modern American army, as well as with modern life in general. She spends a lot of time working out how ninja institutions work, which allows for some very interesting world-building.
Déjà vu no Jutsu is readable without knowing Naruto canon, if you keep careful track of the characters. It is set before canon and tracks how Naruto's setting might have come to be as it is in canon. Despite not being a romance, the main character does have a (het) romantic relationship which is very central to the story.
Déjà vu no Jutsu (ff.net)
Déjà vu no Jutsu (AO3)