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"Ten-year-old Hinata works up the courage to talk to Naruto, and ends up teaching him the Clone Jutsu. He passes the Genin Exam properly and never learns the Shadow Clone Jutsu. From there, their entire lives change forever. Naru/Hina. Rinnegan!Naruto."-Fanfiction.net summary

A Different Scroll is a Naruto For Want of a Nail fic by BlueWolf1923. According to Word of God, the author has wanted a page here for a while now.

As the summary says, the "nail" of the story is Naruto and Hinata befriending each other two years before the proper start of the series, which leads to them being placed together on a team with Kiba. The Wave Arc goes very differently because of this, and eventually leads to Naruto awakening his Rinnegan to save Hinata's life. Cue the Chuunin Exams, and Orochimaru comes after Naruto's eyes as well as Sasuke's...

From there, we start getting new plotlines woven into the ones adapted from canon.

The story is ongoing with frequent updates, varying from two days to two weeks apart. The story began on August 15, 2013, and the pre-timeskip events ended 280,000 words later, on February 26, 2014. The series is divided into arcs as follows:

  • Introduction-Wave Arc: Chapters 1-7
  • Chuunin Exam Arc 1 - Initiation: Chapters 8-17
  • Chuunin Exam Arc 2 - Interim: Chapters 18-21
  • Chuunin Exam Arc 3 - Invasion: Chapters 22-27
  • Post-Invasion and Tsunade Arcs: Chapters 28-35
  • Sasuke Retrieval Arc: Chapters 36-40
  • Hyuuga Coup Arc: Chapters 41-47
  • Sasuke Gaiden Arc: Chapters 48-52
  • Three-Tails Arc: Chapters 53-63
  • Five Kage Summit Arc: Chapters 64-72
  • Invasion of Pain Arc: Chapters 73-79
  • Fourth Shinobi World War Arc: Chapters 80-Current

A Different Scroll provides examples of:

  • Action Girl: Hinata, Tenten, Sakura, Karin.
  • All There in the Manual: The author's profile is dedicated to listing every original jutsu and ninja tool in the story, among other things. Normally most of this has already been made clear in the story proper, but one example stands out. The ANBU kunai Gaara gives to Tenten in Chapter 15 is stated in the 'Additional Content' to have originally belonged to the first ANBU that Gaara ever killed. The first ANBU Gaara ever killed was Yashamaru.
  • Aloof Big Brother: In Chapter 49, invoked and lampshaded by Itachi.
  • Alternate Universe: Although the premise makes the story seem more like For Want Of A Nail, it's actually more of this due to multiple changes in the backstory, all of which have NOTHING to do the "Nail".
    • The earliest chronological difference between ADS and Canon is the Sage of the Six Paths. Just like Canon, Hagoromo is still a messianic Badass who fights and seals away his mother-turned-evil along with the Ten Tails; however, Word of God for ADS has stated that his brother, Hamura(who was also born with Chakra, and helped Hagoromo defeat their mother), was never born alongside him, making Hagoromo an only child.
  • Back from the Dead: Chronologically, Madara, Nawaki, Dan.
  • Badass Boast: Frequently. As an example, here's Tenten's greeting to Kisame:
    Hi. My name is Tenten. If you survive long enough to fall asleep ever again, you'll have nightmares about me.
  • Battle Couple: Naruto and Hinata, Gaara and Tenten.
  • Beehive Barrier: The form taken by Tenten's second and Hinata's only barrier ninjutsu armor.
  • Berserk Button: Gaara loses his shit on anyone who lands a hit on Tenten in battle. Funnily enough, this is actually her Berserk Button, as she can't stand how overprotective he is and wants to win her own battles without him stepping in.
  • BFS: Tenten's latest weapon Umiyou is a six-foot-long falchion. Naruto lampshades it, but Tenten justifies it with special fuinjutsu that make it as light as a normal sword.
  • Blow You Away: Naruto uses wind jutsu over the other four elements the Rinnegan gives him access to.
  • Chekhov's Skill: Hinata's Drunken Fist. She mentions it in Chapter 3, then finally uses it against Naruto in the Chuunin Exams.
  • Demoted to Extra: Sasuke and Sakura don't get nearly as much screentime here, since Naruto never ended up on Team Seven.
  • Eye Scream: as befits the source material; eye transplants rarely have willing donors. Nagato is particularly unlucky. In his first on-screen appearance, he has an eye torn out for Madara (although he does get a replacement). Later, he has his other eye stolen by Zetsu; and then he goes blind in his remaining eye.
  • Fangirl: Tenten, for Jiraiya and the Icha Icha series.
  • Flash Step: The trend started with Mizuki, but Naruto himself later developed a jutsu to do this, and more recently the Sound Four and Kimimaro have learned to use Mizuki's version.
  • Form-Fitting Wardrobe: Tenten modifies the design of Gai's outfit into a black suit that she wears, combining it with a seal that lets her protect her entire body with a barrier. Hinata eventually ends up with one of her own, in a brown camo pattern. The catch in the design is that it has to be skintight, otherwise the barrier ninjutsu destabilizes when it tries to keep changing shape with the wrinkles in looser clothing.

  • For Want Of A Nail: The Uzumaki Clan. They still have gigantic Chakra Reserves like in Canon, but as stated under Retcon, the Rinnegan exists as a Kekkei Genkai for them. They also have a SECOND Kekkei Genkai, although it's something that was already witnessed being used by an Uzumaki in Canon(the Chakra Chains). To be fair, Word of God stated that an Uzumaki can only have one Kekkei Genkai or the other, not both(which is witnessed with Naruto and his ancestor Mito, who both have the Rinnegan, while Kushina had Chakra Chains, and by all rights should've awakened the Rinnegan under the circumstances prior to her death, but she never did); further, the canon's idea of Sharingan+Senju DNA=Rinnegan instead creates a stronger/better Rinnegan in ADS, as Madara states upon his resurrection(as Nagato's Rinnegan are not natural; just like with Canon, they're Madara's implanted eyes).

  • Katanas Are Just Better: Averted. Several characters have taken up swords or similar weapons, but Gaara is the only one who actually ends up using a katana.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Of all people, Kimimaro has this motif, wielding a shield and Jousting Lance along with heavy plate armor made of his bones. Really, the only thing he's missing is a Lady and Knight dynamic with Karin.
  • Locked into Strangeness: When Naruto unlocks his Rinnegan, he uses Rinne Tensei on Hinata, who had been killed moments before by Haku. While it would outright kill most people, this only turns a spike of Naruto's hair white. It's been like that ever since.
  • Loophole Abuse: When Orochimaru is branded with a Cursed Seal that forces him to follow Kabuto's orders, he notes that it will kill him if he acts directly against Kabuto. So of course, this being Orochimaru, he decides to act indirectly against him.
  • Making a Splash: Hinata, big time. Most of her fighting style has developed around it as well as being An Ice Person.
  • Mundane Utility: Less Mundane and more Brilliant, though; At least twice so far, Tsukuyomi was used by Sasuke and Itachi ON THEIR OWN ALLY, but they did so to formulate Battle Strategies with said ally. In the span of an instant.
  • Not the Intended Use: Sort of example; the Rasengan in Canon has only ever been used as a Melee attack by EVERYONE who knew it, and Naruto only ever used it as a ranged attack once he developed and mastered the Rasenshuriken. In ADS, Hinata(who learns it before Naruto, since he was trying to learn/master his Rinnegan at the time) inadvertently performs a successful Rasengan toss while training with Jiraiya, which completely blows his mind. Following that, thrown Rasengans became much more common among everyone who learned it.
  • Power Perversion Potential: Although never actually shown to be used in this manner, the Byakugan's ability to see through clothes is mentioned twice.
  • Red Baron: Each of the main cast gets one. Naruto is the Grinning Fox or Half-Demon, Hinata is the Water Goddess and Light of the Sage, Gaara is the Black Death, and Tenten, after previously grumbling about her lack of such a name, gets one at the end of the Hyuuga Coup Arc: Fractured Flame.
  • Retcon: The Rinnegan is the Uzumaki Clan's kekkei genkai here, and Mito Uzumaki had it. Kurama's backstory was also changed, expanded on, and shown; one example of these changes is how he ended up sealed inside Mito.
  • Sherlock Scan: Shikamaru has done this at least once in all of his appearances thus far in the story.
  • Ship Tease: Shikamaru and Temari, occasionally.
  • Shout-Out: Numerous real-world manga exist in this version of the Narutoverse, for instance Naruto and Tenten are Bleach fans, and it even shows in their fighting styles. Since Tenten is also The Blacksmith, we also get this little gem:
  • Spared by the Adaptation: Zabuza and Haku, Kimimaro.
  • Sword Beam: One of Naruto's wind jutsu lets him throw blades of wind with his sword. When this along with his other wind attacks prove useless against Kisame, he creates a new jutsu that lets him create and throw giant blades of metal the same way.
  • Teleport Spam: Flash Step-style jutsu are much more common in this story than canon, and one in particular, the Empty Wind, is Naruto's Signature Move.
  • The Blacksmith: Tenten has created most of the characters' weapons, and in the case of herself and Hinata, their armor as well. Naruto has also made weapons for the protagonists, most notably Hinata's spear.
  • Took a Level in Badass: The author claims he's intentionally giving everyone this treatment, including villains. An early notable example is Mizuki, who actually got his hands on the Scroll of Seals without Naruto's help and became a secondary antagonist under Orochimaru.
  • Troll: Kiba's main strategy seems to be switching between trolling his opponents and scaring the ever-loving shit out of them. Orochimaru has also been trolling the entire cast since his debut, including the protagonists, his own subordinates, and even Kabuto after the latter subjugates him with a Cursed Seal.
  • Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Lampshaded and comically deconstructed by Haku himself.
  • Weapon Specialization: Each of the heroes wield a unique weapon. Naruto uses a saber/cutlass, Hinata wields a short staff with a long double-edged blade that extends out of each end, Tenten has Soujihonou and Umiyou, Gaara has a katana named Kuroshi, Sasuke gets a shashka, Kimimaro has his Jousting Lance.
  • Wham Line: When Team 8 and the Sand Siblings get through the Forest of Death, they're greeted by two Konoha Chuunin. One, of course, is Iruka. The other...
    Naruto: Mizuki-sensei!Explanation 
  • World of Ham
  • World of Snark: Even Gaara has his moments, for instance in Chapter 30.

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