Help Needed is an in-progress series of Naruto fanfiction by Animemetalhead centering around the daughter of Sakura Haruno and Hinata Hyuuga. The series has gone through three installations so far, with a fourth in the works.
The story begins with Kiora discovering her lover in bed with Naruto Uzumaki. Attempting to dig further reveals an investigation into the former hero's recent actions, culminating in her awakening a genetic gift called the patriarch gene: a manifestation of the Hyuuga clan patriarch's power that only occurs once every seven generations.
What follows is a tale of revenge as a vampire tries to kill her for possessing the gene, and ends up killing Sakura and Hinata, which in turn results in Kiora seeking her own vengeance.
It should be noted that the story's second installment, subtitled Like Mother, Like Daughter, crosses over with another fanfic of the same name by Kyouger.
Currently, the first two "books" are under rewrite: a massive overhaul of the series that is supposed to clean up plot holes and provide more explanation for some of Kiora's powers.
- Consists of the following "books":
- Help Needed
- Help Needed 2: Like Mother Like Daughter
- Help Needed 3: Revenge of the Missing Nin
- Help Needed 4: A Change of Seasons
A side story, Please Help Me, was also started, following a member of the Aburame clan with a phobia of insects, low self-esteem, and other personal issues. It is part of the Help Needed continuity, slotting in during events in HN 2.
This fic contains examples of the following tropes, in addition to those present in the source material:
- Anticlimax Boss:
- Hakaishimaru gets taken out with one move. The final blow? He's beaten with a mirror.
- Nejimaru suffers from this as well. The fight ends after one exchange, after which he surrenders. And atones for murdering Serenity.
- Author Appeal: A series starring a large breasts, Older Than They Look protagonist, with a Really 700 Years Old antagonist, and after they team up and save the world, they play heavy metal.
- Author Avatar: Kyouger and Taku make several appearances in book 2, and Kiora is explicitly stated to be a less flawed female version of the author.
Word of God says that when faced with a decision, he chooses what he would do in a scenario, and has Kiora do that. - Back from the Dead: Several characters: Kiora, Sakura, Hinata, Kohana (3 times!), and Naruto.
- Berserk Button: Calling Orion (Naruto's reanimated corpse) Naruto is one way to really piss him off.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Melody and Serenity, twice. Lampshaded by Kiora the second time.
- Also happens with the resistance in book 3.
- Broken Masquerade: The end of book 3 has the ninja world rejoin the normal world. Part of book 4 deals with the conflicts of people with supernatural abilities let loose among mundanes.
- Brought Down to Normal: Kiora, twice. The first time, it's because of Hakaishimaru stealing her patriarch gene and Byakugan. The second time, it's due to chakra network damage preventing her from using her abilities; if she does, they could kill her.
- Crazy-Prepared: Wolfwing, in book 2, has an underground layer that could withstand nuclear warfare, and is decked out with weapons, technology, and an inter-dimensional gateway.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Several over the course of the series:
- Melody and Serenity Uchiha versus Naruto's shadow clones. Poor clones.
- Kiora's first battle with Kohana.
- Melody versus Ganryu and Udo in book 3.
- Deadpan Snarker: All of the character on occasion, but Kiora and Kohana get the most of it, with Wolfwing coming close in book 2.
- Kohana's dragon familiars also get in on this, usually because any more resistance and they could end up dead.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Orion/Naruto in book 3, by Kiora coming out of the bath.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin:
- The patriarch gene, a gene that grants the power of the Hyuuga clan patriarch.
- The Thirteen Handsigns Jutsu, a jutsu cast using, you guessed it, thirteen handsigns.
- Expy: Kohana is explicitly stated to be an expy of Evangeline A. K. McDowell.
- Face Death with Dignity: Hakaishimaru in book 3.
- Fanservice: Constantly. Usually from Kiora, though Natsuko decides to use this to their advantage in book 4
- Fictional Document: The history of Kohana in book 2.
- Filler: Several short story arcs. Kiora's guitar lessons seem like one, until book 4 revealed that they are trying to succeed as a band.
- Flechette Storm: Kiora, in the final battle in book 2.
- Forceful Kiss: Kohana to Kiora after coming Back from the Dead in book 3.
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: Pretty much the whole reason the series got started.
- Go to Your Room!: Sakura to Kiora in book 1
- Heel–Face Turn:
- Kohana, after being forced to serve Kiora by a demonic contract.
- Midori, when she decides that the Akatsuki is finished.
- Heroic BSoD: Kiora, after she accidentally kills Naruto.
- Instant Expert: Kiora with guitar. More seriously, the patriarch gene stores every technique witnessed by every Hyuuga in history into genetic memory, making each patriarch gene user stronger than the one before, and an Instant Expert in (almost) any pre-existing jutsu.
- Killed Off for Real: Serenity.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Hakaishimaru, after his signature jutsu backfires on him in book 3's climax.
- Lampshade Hanging: More frequently lately. The author is a troper, after all.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Mostly during book 2.
- Let Me Get This Straight...: Used to sum up an off-screen exposition in book 1.
- The Medic: Kiora, taken to its extreme with the powers of her patriarch gene and the training of Sakura.
- Medium Awareness: The Like Mother, Like Daughter characters in book 2.
- Modesty Towel: Kiora forgoes it in book 3. See Distracted by the Sexy above.
- Moment Killer: Sakura in book 3.
- Mundane Utility: Lots of spectacular ninjutsu get thrown around over the course of the series, but most of them are useless in normal society in book 4. Except for using shadow clones to haul music gear.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Kiora conjures a fireball in book 2 that destroys most of Konoha, making it that much easier for Kohana to conquer it.
- No Eye in Magic: Sakura theorizes that Kiora would have been unaffected by Hakaishimaru's jutsu if she hadn't made eye contact.
- Later used against him in the climax, when his jutsu is reflected back on him with a mirror.
- No Fourth Wall: A Filler Arc in book 3 has the characters journey to the 'real world' by way of Kohana's dimension jumping magic.
- Noodle Incident: The events that led to Kiora repeating a year of school before book 1.
- Older Than They Look:
- Kohana, being a vampire, is Really 700 Years Old. She looks about 10.
- Kiora gets this treatment too, at the end of book 1. Being bitten by Kohana turned her into a part vampire.
- One-Liner: Kiora, usually at the end of chapters. Lampshaded by the Author Avatars in book 2.
- Ragnarök Proofing: Wolfwing mentions that he's been doing it to his underground lair in book 2.
- Roof Hopping: Called by name in book 1, otherwise played just as straight as in the source material.
- Shout-Out: Tons, many to the Naruto Abridged Series, and several to Star Wars in book 2, one of which is also a Shout-Out to Battle Vixens.
- Supermodel Strut: Kiora, to distract Naruto/Orion in book 3.
- Took a Level in Badass: Kiora, after the patriarch gene gets activated. She takes another one during the timeskip in book 3.
- Unstoppable Rage:
- Naruto, when he finds out he's being investigated in book 1.
- Kiora in book 3, after she is raped by Naruto/Orion and releases the Kyuubi.
- Year Inside, Hour Outside: Inverted. Kiora gets stuck between universes for 60 seconds, and in that time a year passes in her world. Played straight with Hell, wherein one year passes for every day in the real world.
