The Girl from Whirlpool is a Naruto prequel fanfic by SilverShine. It follows the adventures of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto's future parents. It starts as Minato and some of his classmates watch as the refugees from Whirlpool Country arrive in the Leaf Village. Among them is a redheaded tomboy named Kushina Uzimaki who winds up as the new village idiot and one of Minato's eventual friends.The story was started as an attempt to create a backstory for the characters before it was originally provided in canon. However what is really amazing about this fanfic is that even after the canon backstory was finally revealed a few months ago, it didn't contradict things too much because the author did a wonderful job incorporating the new information into the plot. What's really notable about this story is that despite its rather overdone story of Naruto's parents falling in love, it avoids making either of them into Mary Sues, which happens often. It also makes great use of Continuity Nods to events that are mentioned to have happened in the canon's backstory.
This fanfic provides examples of:
Abusive Parents: Minato's father is constantly drunk and verbally abusive.
The Ace: Most villagers view Minato as one, but he clearly isn't, at least not yet.
And I Must Scream: What Orochimaru does to Minato by controlling his body and forcing him to fight and attempt to kill Kushina. What makes it worse was that it was written from his perspective as he helplessly attacks Kushina.
Bishōnen: Minato has been described as having a girl's face by a few people.
Boobs of Steel: Unlike canon, in which Kushina has a slender build and modest bust, Minato's thoughts imply that Kushina's breasts are actually bigger than they appear, which would make her impressive strength much more in line with this trope.
Book Dumb: Kushina during her academy days was like this.
Call Forward: When Minato and Han discover that the resurrection jutsu scroll has been stolen from the Fire Temple, Han remarks about its potential for destruction:
"It's evil even in the most well-intentioned hands; in the wrong hands you could resurrect armies."
The Charmer: Minato can apparently charm soda out of vending machines just by gazing at them forlornly. A lot of his interactions are pretty suave, though possibly unintentionally so.
Dirty Old Man: Kusanagi is implied to be one in chapter 20.
Disappeared Dad: Minato doesn't know who his real father is.
Dogged Nice Guy: Ren Sarutobi is initially this when Minato first meets him. It actually results in Minato helping Ren and Kushina wind up as a couple.
Fighting From The Inside: Minato experiences this when Orochimaru takes control of him with a jutsu.
Foe Tossing Charge: Kushina is capable of this unfortunately, Minato got in the way.
Foregone Conclusion: Since this is a prequel, the fans all know how it will ultimately end, making it that much more tragic to read and see the love develop between two people who will soon be dead.
Soon and soon. Kakashi should be 15 by the time they bite it, so there's still over half a decade left.
Generation Xerox: You guess, two dudes that really wouldn't be out of place 100% fit in canon Shikaku Nara and Fugaku 'Fugu-face' Uchiha, Shikamaru's and Sasuke's DADS
Kushina's behaviour, quirks and development throughout her teens also resembles Naruto's.
Green-Eyed Monster: Every other girl hates Minato's eventual girlfriends, and Minato's eventual girlfriends hate every other girl he's friendly with. It's that simple.
Heroic Bastard: Minato. His mother cheated on her husband with an unknown shinobi. Apparently, Sakumo knows who it is but won't tell. Although as of Chapter 24, that may have just been a Red Herring caused by Minato's own desires for a cool dad and his father's drunken delusions, but its still ambiguous.
Heroic BSOD: Minato has had a few minor ones, but Sakumo has an epic one in chapter 22 after his failed mission.
Important Haircut: Inverted. Young Minato's statement of thinking her hair looked nice long caused Kushina to secretly vow to never get her hair cut again.
Informed Awesomeness: Minato. For all the talk of how much of an Ace he is and how strong the Fourth became in canon, in here he is... well, lacking a lot. In fact, he only seems like a competent Jounin instead of the Hokage material that everyone keeps praising on and on. Probably from the shock of unitying Romance with a heavy action series but still, his fights with A, Orochimaru and one of the Swordmen of the Mist were between sad and just plain pathetic.
Justified in the case of A and the Mist Swordsman in that one seemed to be an intentional loss, while the other happened when Minato was only about 16.
Keeping Secrets Sucks: Kushina suffers a lot for holding back the truth from Minato that she’s a jinchuuriki. She's too scared of rejection to volunteer the truth, but lying to him creates an emotional drift that just leaves Minato bemused. He finds out the truth the hard way..
Like Father, Like Son: In this case, like mother like son. More than one person has commented how Minato resembles his mother (hence the girl's face) and an old friend of his mother's remarked that he also behaved like her.
Love Epiphany: Minato has one about his feelings for Kushina after it is pointed out to him by almost everyone in the Leaf Village.
Lovable Sex Maniac: Inoichi Yamanaka, Ino's future dad definitely counts.
Megaton Punch: Kushina seems to pull off a more realistic one on occasion.
Missing Mom: Minato's mother was a skilled ninja who was killed when he was less than two years old. Probably by Madara.
Male Gaze: The narration makes it clear that post-puberty, Minato has several moments of this towards Kushina, which makes him feel rather awkward at first.
A Man Is Not a Virgin: Averted in Minato's case. It was because of this mindset that some of his teammates in the Second Great Ninja War tried to bring him to a brothel for his birthday. It didn't go as planned because the consort turned out to be an assassin from the Hidden Mist Village.
Moment Killer: Several happen throughout the story to prevent Minato and Kushina from taking their relationship to the next level.
Monster Roommate: Kushina, the 9-tailed jinchuuriki, living with Minato.
Nosebleed: Minato has this during his fight with Kushina in the chunin exam.
Obviously Evil: Orochimaru, is just viewed as rather creepy and odd by the rest of the village, but is still one of the most respected people in the village despite being freaking Orochimaru!
Romantic False Lead: Ren Sarutobi, the Third Hokage's nephew, who is Kushina's boyfriend for several chapters is actually a rather sympathetic example.
She Is All Grown Up: Minato after being apart for a bit over three years, barely even recognizes Kushina at first and is flustered by this.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: Amazingly, Minato seems to be a partial example once the war with the Hidden Mist village ends. Once he gets back to the Leaf Village, he wanders around aimlessly without purpose and has an even harder time connecting with others. The story makes it pretty clear that without Kushina, Minato would be even worse off.
Amusingly (or tragically), Minato's emotional distance only serves to increase his reputation among his peers as an ideal ninja.
Shrouded in Myth: Minato is constantly amazed at how often his deeds get exaggerated.
Single-Target Sexuality: Minato has shown no real attraction towards anyone other than Kushina.
Unable To Cry: Kakashi seems to be the one person not affected by his father’s tragic death. Minato himself only ever cries for Kushina's sake when she grieves for her teacher.
Understanding Boyfriend: After discovering Kushina's big secret and a few smaller ones, Minato gets frustrated by how many things he is expected to accept about her. At the end, he realises that he really is one of a few people, who can understand her and give her emotional support.
is a Naruto prequel fanfic by SilverShine
0 reviews