A Wrinkle in Time
is a Naruto Fan Fic by rightforlife.
The Rokudaime Hokage, Namikaze Naruto (aka Uzumaki Naruto), Chief of the Joint-Shinobi Alliance, along with Captain of Tactical Operations Nara Shikamaru and Captain of the Ground Forces Rock Lee, go back in time in order to better prepare for the inevitable war.
Has no relation to the 1959 novel written by Madeleine L'Engle
Has not updated in years
Tropes:
- Antagonist in Mourning: Mostly because it was an accident and didn't happen the first time, but Naruto is heartbroken over the Third Tsuchikage's death. The person themselves finds the mourning exasperating.
- Break the Haughty: Naruto's plan to beat Neji in the finals — by crushing his pride.
- Butterfly of Doom: Due to their experiences from war, the trio have a hard time adjusting to acting like naive genin, especially Naruto. As an end result, they find that small changes in the timeline are continuously pushing them to show more of their skills, until the charade is shot to hell when they prevent Gaara from releasing Shukaku during the preliminaries and modify his seal. While for the most part their status as time travelers has been kept secret, their skill level is now known to all of their peers and superiors.
- However, things really go off the rails in Chapter 11, where it's revealed that Iwa joins in on the Invasion plan due to Naruto's status as the son of the Yondaime Hokage reaching them. Everything goes pear-shaped, and in Naruto's attempt to save the Sandaime Hokage, he ends up killing the Sandaime Tsuchikage in his place.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Hinata died in Naruto's arms during the war, again declaring her love for him. Her death nearly drove him over the Despair Event Horizon and into committing suicide.
- The Dreaded:
- Yoshino, to the main trio AND Shikaku.
- It's heavily implied that Naruto killed Onoki and has become this post-Invasion, judging by how the narrative notes that Iwa will be staying away from anything that even remotely has something to do with Konoha for a long time.
- Dying Declaration of Love: How Hinata died, something that was so painful that Naruto nearly committed suicide over it.
- Entertainingly Wrong: The reactions from pretty much anyone to Naruto, Shikamaru and Lee being so skilled. In the end, they just run with most of it.
- Generation Xerox: Discussed and played with. Initially, Kakashi thought (and was accurate in thinking) that Team 7 was one to the previous generation (his own team) but due to Naruto's change of attitude, he starts thinking Naruto is more similar to him than Obito -– since both hid themselves behind a mask. Considering the Hourglass Plot Kakashi and Obito went through in canon, it's not as surprising as one would think.
- Heroic BSoD:
- After learning of Tobi's true identity, Kakashi entered the Despair Event Horizon and went through one so severe that he didn't even bother to put up a fight when Obito started mutilating him alive.
- Naruto went through one after Hinata's death — had it not been for Shikamaru and Lee, he would've joined her in the afterlife.
- I Owe You My Life: Neji is so grateful to Naruto for removing the Caged Bird Seal that at one point he kneeled before him and called him Uzumaki-sama. Naruto, being him, told him that his friends call him "Naruto." Neji gets the message.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite two more teams passing the second round of the Chuunin Exams, the match-ups all end up being the same and the same people still end up going to the finals.
- Killed Off for Real: Unfortunately with the Butterfly of Doom in full effect, Orochimaru applies Let's You and Him Fight to Konoha and Iwa. The Sandaime Tsuchikage Onoki pays the price.
- King Incognito: Naruto is not only the son of the Yondaime Hokage, but also the "Prince of Whirlpool" (the rightful heir of what's left of the Uzumaki Clan) and the one half of the remaining Senjus through his mother Kushina. It's pointed out that the only Hokage he isn't blood-related to is the Sandaime.
- Long-Lost Relative: Naruto knows he is this to Karin, Nagato and Tsunade. What he didn't know until, was that he was also closely related to Mei and Ao through his Uzumaki bloodline.
- Mental Time Travel: Thanks to Kurama's chakra mixing with his own, Gaara has traveled back in time as well, despite having died already. Kurama speculates it's due to Shukaku that this happened.
- Moral Event Horizon: In universe-example. Sasuke crossed it in the future when he killed Sakura, who loved him; after that, Naruto finally saw that he was irredeemable. So irredeemable that he immediately concluded that Sasuke would eventually betray the village, no matter what happened.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Since the trio don't even bother trying to hide certain changes in their personality, they were secretly put under surveillance by their sensei due to Sarutobi's concern of Naruto, whom he sees as a surrogate grandson.
- Official Couples: The confirmed ones are Naruto/Hinata (though it never actually happened, it was considered inevitable up until Hinata's death), Shikamaru/Temari, Lee/Ayame, Gaara/Matsuri, Genma/Shizune, and Sai/Ino.
- Ship Tease: Some for both Neji/Tenten and Kakashi/Anko.
- Papa Wolf: Shikaku (and Yoshino, for that matter) is incredibly protective of Naruto, Lee, and Shikamaru, ever since the former two all but started to live in his house.
- Parental Substitute: By the time the Chunin Exams roll by, Naruto and Lee all but live in Shikamaru's house, to the point that Yoshino forced them to take the two conveniently empty rooms next to her son's own room.
- Red Baron: Naruto was known as "The Shinobi of the Heavens" while Shikamaru and Lee were "The Black Shadow" and "The Green Beast" respectively
- Secret-Keeper: The people who know the trio are from the future include Shikaku, Gaara, the Toads and as of chapter 11, Kakashi.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: The Bijuu have a form of premonition. While it is a little hazy, it's clear that the Joint-Shinobi Alliance wasn't supposed to lose the war, meaning that something really did go wrong and they have no choice but to go back and fix it. Kurama figured that things would right themselves eventually, but when that didn't happen, he brought up the option of time travel to Naruto.
- Stalker with a Crush: Shikamaru took to stalking Temari. Then again, they did end up married in the future.
- The Stations of the Canon: Discussed and ultimately played straight while being justified. Shikamaru brings up the idea of preventing their teams from being recommended for the exams, but both Naruto and Lee immediately shoot it down, with the latter pointing out that doing so would just prompt Orochimaru to find another and possibly more damaging way of acquiring Sasuke, taking the butterfly effect to its logical and negative extreme for such a drastic change in the timeline. In fact, considering everything that happened during that time, one could easily argue that the Chunin Exams was the catalyst that would trigger the Fourth Great Shinobi World War, something that is pointed out by the narrative.
- Tempting Fate: Oh, Shika...Shikamaru: "We've gotten too much notice, maybe a little less attention would be nice."
- Tears of Joy: Both Neji and Hinata after Naruto removes the former's Caged Bird Seal. Neji says that he [Neji] owes him a debt that can never be repaid, while Hinata can't stop crying as she says "thank you".
- Time-Travel Tense Trouble: The trio have a hard time figuring out whether to call the future they came from as the "past" or as the "future."
- Took a Level in Badass: The main trio, to the point that the three are being scouted out for possible ANBU recruitment as a specialized three-man team.
- Undying Loyalty:
- Shikamaru and Lee to Naruto, who they will always consider as their Hokage. After regaining his memories, Gaara makes it all to clear that he would follow his friend into hell once again.
- Neji, though he hasn't voiced it, pledges his to Naruto after his Caged Bird Seal was removed by him.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Unlike Lee and Shikamaru (who ended up with Ayame and Temari respectively), Naruto was never in a relationship, though he had a great amount of sexual tension with Hinata. It's explicitly stated that if Hinata had never died, something would have happened between them eventually. One of Naruto's main goals is to make sure that both of them survive the war so they can finally resolve it.
- Lee implies that Neji and Tenten would have ended up together eventually had it not been for Neji's untimely death.
- Villain Takes an Interest: Orochimaru is extremely interested in the main trio. He recognizes that while he needs Sasuke for his eyes, he wants those three for their skills, feeling that such talent would be wasted on Konoha.
- Irony: The fact that the main trio were pretty much the "dead lasts" of their respective classes is not lost on them.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 11: Naruto removes Neji's Caged Bird Seal in full view of the stadium during their fight in the Chunin exams. At some point in the near future, he kills the Tsuchikage during the Invasion.
