Naruto New Divergence Points

[seitora]

Something that I and probably a lot of you have noticed is that a lot of alternate reality stories really like to use a handful of story moments within the series to change whatever as a starting point.

Off the top of my head, from PTS alone:

1. The first chapter with the battle between Iruka and Mizuki
2. Team 7's test with Kakashi
3. The battle on the bridge in Wave
4. Team 7 getting attacked by Orochimaru in the Forest of Death
5. Jiraiya throwing Naruto down the ravine to summon Gamabunta.
6. The battle between the three Sannin during the Retrieve Tsunade arc.
7. The duel between Naruto and Sasuke at the end of PTS

Now, granted, these are all pivotal moments in the storyline, but goddamn, be a bit more original.

So I was thinking of new places to try and start a divergence from. The biggest opportunity here is the preliminary and final Chunin Exam fight match-ups. Change a few things around here and there and you could easily set-up for whatever idea it is you want. One idea I had is that if Sasuke didn't go very early, he might have collapsed from the Curse Seal and force Kakashi to withdraw him to seal the Curse Seal, which could result in early resentment. Conversely, if he went early still, but right after Gaara, and was matched up against Gaara again for the finals, he could see in person what a fucking monster Gaara is instead of just hearing it second-hand. And again, you don't even have to match him and Gaara up for the finals.

One point that I really am surprised does not get done very often is the day before the Chunin Exam 'start'. The Sand siblings show up, and Sakura has her self-doubts about whether she wants to enter the exams or not. Both of these can be toyed around with for major deviations from the original storyline.

A final thought I had, not so much a 'deviation' really rather than an impetus for change, is the weather during the Chunin exam finals. In the manga, it's sunny out. This allows for Shikamaru to use his shadow manipulation jutsus. But what if it was rainy and windy? Shikamaru, possibly Temari (who might be able to use the natural wind for her jutsu), and possibly Gaara (who isn't used to fighting in water-logged conditions) could all have changes in their fighting styles, and the invasion itself could change a decent bit.

And then there are even the minor things that you can do to change things around. Maybe the Sound ninja fuck up their genjutsu to put everybody in the Stadium to sleep.

 

[mortalone]

Here are some divergence points I've thought of that I can recall right this instant:

1. What if Kakashi and Jiraiya didn't break Naruto and Sasuke up the way they did? I agree that training them together like usual would be a mistake. They both need attention given to their individual skills. But I think this mentality of "you take one, I take the other" ultimately played into Orochimaru's hands.

2. Directly after the invasion is defended... TBH, I don't like the way the promotion thing went down. IIRC it seemed like there was a small ceremony for Shikamaru, but none of the other chuunin hopefuls were even there? I would think they would bring all of them together and even if they only announce Shikamaru as chuunin, they would talk to the others about what they expect to see moving forward in order to merit promotion. That seems like a pretty obvious thing, especially since the genin didn't seem to have a clue what the judges were looking for.

This seems like a trivial change, but it can definitely affect a character's outlook (and perhaps how others see them). More of a change in the dramatic aspect than the adventure.

3. This is more of a Kyuubi thing, but if we go back to the Sannin battle, one change I've never seen done there is for Kyuubi to react differently. Specifically when we have the "my power, is it failing?" thing happen, I'd like to see Kyuubi react to that.

4. At the bridge when fighting Orochimaru, Naruto totally loses it and ends up meeting Minato a little bit early.

5. When Sasuke confronts Itachi he gets his ass kicked hard. Do with that what you will.

6. When Naruto beats off Pain he gets crowned Hokage.

 

[Leonite]

With Mortalone's 4, I think a side effect of this is Orochimaru dies and Sasuke, seeing little point in hanging aound if Orochimaru is dead, either goes back to the Leaf or fucks off to go kill Itachi.

Orochimaru had trouble against 4 tails. If Naruto goes up to 6 or 8 tailed level, then Tripe Rashomon isn't going to stop him.

 

[mortalone]

Perhaps, but Orochimaru seems really good at running away.

 

[paulo_j1983]

6. When Naruto beats off Pain he gets crowned Hokage.

Mindbleach, please. :sick3:

 

[seitora]

Unless it's Pains female Animal path :wub:

 

[mortalone]

6. When Naruto beats off Pain he gets crowned Hokage.

Mindbleach, please. :sick3:

You, sir, are one sick fuck.

 

[goldenarms]

One I've never seen even touched upon is Sasuke taking Sakura with him when he leaves the village. I've done some searching, but I hadn't discovered one that even mentions it, and you know that would be a huge event, even bigger than Sasuke leaving Konoha by himself.

Another divergence idea I had involves a one-point difference changing which team Naruto is put on -- in this case, he and Shikamaru switch places, meaning Shikamaru is the deadlast of the group (and doesn't care), Asuma gets Sakura, Shikamaru and Sasuke, while Kakashi has Naruto, Ino and Choji.

 

[Knyght]

One I've never seen even touched upon is Sasuke taking Sakura with him when he leaves the village. I've done some searching, but I hadn't discovered one that even mentions it, and you know that would be a huge event, even bigger than Sasuke leaving Konoha by himself.

You've seriously never seen it before? I considered that as an interesting divergence a year or two ago but figured it would have been clichÚ . Apparently, I was wrong. -_-

It's unlikely there'd even be a retrieval mission since Sakura isn't there to alert anyone. They probably wouldn't find out until Shizune's team arrives which would likely be too late.

Naruto being betrayed by both his teammates would have a big impact, especially when there was nothing he could do about it. Difficult to judge how he'd respond and could be a "I'll know when I see them" type thing.

Kakashi would be hit pretty hard, Ino and Hinata could get some serious motivation albeit for different reason, and the relationship between Naruto and Jiraiya could be deepened as even more similarities appear between them. His relations with the K12 could also deepen or worsen depending on how he reacts to everything.

Additionally, this could serve as a good excuse for Naruto to take a different route from his Kyuubi training if you spin it right. Especially since he'd have even more negative feelings that in canon. Learning Sage Mode during the training trip is an interesting divergence in itself which, along with Sakura's absence, could change a lot from the start of PTS.

 

[seitora]

I have seen at least one story like that, would not recall one bit of its summary to link to it right now.

 

[Leonite]

I only ever remember seeing the idea come up once, when someone drew a picture of Sakura in a CS level 2 form. Still an interesting divergence.

 

[Dunstan]

As Madara's plan at the moment(it could still change, but "at the moment") seems to be from "Dumbledore's advanced class on master plan making", there's a lot of them in it alone.

When your plan requires a kid to survive a war-zone on his own, with little if any help from you, and then for that child to grow up with ideas compatible with yours, also with little involvement from you, then there's a problem with with you logic somewhere, and you should really see someone about it.

Jiraiya could of brought the whole thing crashing down, just by not being crazy enough to train them in said war-zone, and just taking them back to the leaf where it was half way safe.

 

[Dunstan]

4. Team 7 getting attacked by Orochimaru in the Forest of Death

And one detail that isn't so much a "Divergence Point", as something that's often forgotten when the "Divergence" happens, is the fact that the Sound-Four are all there as the the other two grass-genin.


They are after all, Orochimaru bodyguards. :sisi:

 

[seitora]

Speaking of using the start of the Sasuke Retrieval Arc as a divergence point instead of an ending...

Insert Shino into the lineup.

Shino could go into a grudge-match with Kidomaru, so when Neji and Naruto reach Kimimaro, Neji takes him on immediately to let Naruto continue on. Since Naruto wasted time and lots of energy fighting Kimimaro in canon, he could catch up with Sasuke before the latter reaches the Valley of the End. And Neji vs. Kimimaro would be interesting, since they're both close-range fighters, and Neji might actually have the reflexes (as demonstrated by the Chunin exams fights against both Hinata and Naruto) to escape serious damage.

 

[Dunstan]

Speaking of using the start of the Sasuke Retrieval Arc as a divergence point instead of an ending...

Insert Shino into the lineup.

Shino could go into a grudge-match with Kidomaru, so when Neji and Naruto reach Kimimaro, Neji takes him on immediately to let Naruto continue on. Since Naruto wasted time and lots of energy fighting Kimimaro in canon, he could catch up with Sasuke before the latter reaches the Valley of the End. And Neji vs. Kimimaro would be interesting, since they're both close-range fighters, and Neji might actually have the reflexes (as demonstrated by the Chunin exams fights against both Hinata and Naruto) to escape serious damage.

Then on the off chance that Naruto doesn't take Sasuke on his own, he'd have both Lee and Gaara to help him...

So basically, while it might be interesting to use, you might as well just skip the fight, as it's outcome is predetermined. :sisi:

 

[seitora]

You're assuming Neji wouldn't need back-up himself. I see it as being probable he'd hold out for a good amount of time but would ultimately need help from at least one of Lee or Gaara still. For the other person it'd be a matter of if they could catch up with Sasuke before he runs off.

But like I said. Naruto would have far more energy since he wouldn't have had to fight Kimimaro beforehand. And it wouldn't be at the Valley, so it would be in a forest or meadows environment.

 

[Dunstan]

You're assuming Neji wouldn't need back-up himself.

Honestly I doubt he would, His fighting style would seem to be a vary good counter to Kimimaro's.


There's a reason the gentle fist is the best Taijutsu style in the leaf. :sisi:

 

[Knyght]

Really?

Given the way Kimimaro fights, I always figured he'd be a terrible opponent for Neji. His styles relies on attacking the opponent's chakra pathways which would be pretty damn difficult when bones grow from any part of his body to prevent direct contact.

 

[Dunstan]

Really??

Given the way Kimimaro fights, I always figured he'd be a terrible opponent for Neji.? His styles relies on attacking the opponent's chakra pathways which would be pretty damn difficult when bones grow from any part of his body to prevent direct contact.

1. he would have to instantly grow the bones any where Neji tries to attack, 2.I'm not sure the bones would block Neji's attacks any more then flesh does, and more importantly 3. the bones are both made with, and strengthened by chakra, and if you remember what happened with the spider web, gentle fist is the kryptonite of that kind of thing.

 

[Amberion]

Really?á

Given the way Kimimaro fights, I always figured he'd be a terrible opponent for Neji.á His styles relies on attacking the opponent's chakra pathways which would be pretty damn difficult when bones grow from any part of his body to prevent direct contact.

1. he would have to instantly grow the bones any where Neji tries to attack, 2.I'm not sure the bones would block Neji's attacks any more then flesh does, and more importantly 3. the bones are both made with, and strengthened by chakra, and if you remember what happened with the spider web, gentle fist is the kryptonite of that kind of thing.

No, the bones was only grown using charkra. He actually changed the density of the bone when growing them. And well, Gentle Fist is not good on hard targets without chakra.

 

[Knyght]

Which was my point. And instantly growing bones where his opponent's are going to attack his pretty much Kimimaro's forte. Neji wouldn't be helpless but he'd be struggling pretty badly, imo.

 

[seitora]

I don't _think_ Kimomaro could use his finger cannon technique or whatever it was to use his bones as projectiles, though. I think Kaiten could do a good job of dispelling those. Kaiten wouldn't stand up to Kimi's bone dances though.

 

[Ashaman]

Nah guys, if I had to pick one guy from the Sasuke Retrieval mission that would fuck Kimomaru up it would be Neji.

The gentle fist style attacks the internal organs; unless Kimomaru's bones block chakra (doubtful, considering they're merely bone) his defenses would be completely bypassed.

Well, if we're talking from skill wise, its'd be close, but if we are merely talking about their jutsu/styles, Neji's would have the advantage, I think.

 

[Wildfeather]

Nah guys, if I had to pick one guy from the Sasuke Retrieval mission that would fuck Kimomaru up it would be Neji.

The gentle fist style attacks the internal organs; unless Kimomaru's bones block chakra (doubtful, considering they're merely bone) his defenses would be completely bypassed.

Well, if we're talking from skill wise, its'd be close, but if we are merely talking about their jutsu/styles, Neji's would have the advantage, I think.

This.

The point of the gentle fist is that it bypasses defensive elements of the body -armor, skin, chakra- and attacks the inner organs and chakra system. Kimi is perfectly countered by this style, since he is nothing but hard defenses. Admittedly it isn't a free win because you still to eyes his attacks, but he has the best chance of all the Konoha genin given that he can beat Lee no matter how fast he is.

 

[mortalone]

Given Kimimaro's speed and agility, as well as his ability to strike at range, he'd be a tough opponent even for Neji. In a one-on-one I don't see him losing to any of the K12 or Suna trio. Canonically, he fought with Naruto and Lee and it wasn't until Gaara pushed himself to the limit that Kimimaro was brought down.

I do agree that Neji's skill set has "the best hope" of victory (with the possible exceptions of Gaara - who won, but just barely after Kimimaro was worn down - and Naruto if he juices hard with Kyuubi power), but one-on-one I'd say with 95% confidence that he would die.