Team 8 (fanfiction)

Fanfiction
Title:	Team 8
Author(s):	S'TarKan
Date(s):	Jan 1, 2006–Apr 23, 2015 (Incomplete)
Length:	276,868 words
Genre:	canon divergence
Fandom:	Naruto
External Links:	On fanfiction.net
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Team 8 by S'TarKan is an early, popular Naruto fanfiction published on fanfiction.net at the beginning of 2006. The fic's premise is that Uzumaki Naruto switches team assignments with Inuzuka Kiba: Naruto is put on Team 8 with Yuuhi Kurenai as his teacher and Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino as his teammates, and Kiba is put on Team 7.

Fanfiction.net summary:

What if Naruto had been selected for a different team? What if he'd had a different mentor? Who would guess the consequences would be so large?

The first 20 chapters or so involve Kurenai taking on a fairly motherly role to Naruto and start to set up NaruHina as the main ship.

Context

In 2006, the English-speaking Naruto fandom was very young. Viz only brought the manga over in 2003, publishing it monthly in Shonen Jump. Although the anime had begun airing in Japan in 2002, it was much harder at that time for anime fans in English-speaking countries to access subtitled anime or find scanlations, so English fandom didn't really begin growing in earnest until September 2005, when the dubbed anime was aired in the United States and Canada.

Still, for passionate fans, scanlations of the manga (and subs of the anime, probably) wouldn't have been impossible to find. At the beginning of 2006, the manga was probably more than 9 months into Part II in Weekly Shonen Jump, the Japanese publication that released new Naruto chapters. This was still, however, not very far into the events of Part II at all, and later plot twists jossed Team 8's plot.

In Chapter 20, S'TarKan noted:

[S'TarKan's author's note at the end of chapter 20]

This story was outlined well before the whole "Itachi was actually a good guy working for Konoha" shark jump. At some point you have to just draw the line and say "based on canon up to this point in the series" and not change everything when the source material reveals that "everything you thought you knew about _____ was wrong!"

Chapter 20: Deadly Consequences

In Chapter 20, Kurenai is killed by Uchiha Itachi.

[S'TarKan's author's note at the end of chapter 20]

Killing Kurenai off wasn't easy, and it wasn't done on a whim. I've actually had this plot point in the outline since day one. But I am going to miss her and her exasperated sarcasm. Using her internal monologue to point out things I found amusing or ridiculous was surprisingly addictive.

[...]

A couple of final reminders:

This story was outlined well before the whole "Itachi was actually a good guy working for Konoha" shark jump. At some point you have to just draw the line and say "based on canon up to this point in the series" and not change everything when the source material reveals that "everything you thought you knew about _____ was wrong!" Besides, I think Itachi, embodying some of the more classic attributes of what we normally consider a ninja to be, makes a great villain. Especially when contrasted with everyone else in the series who are about as 'ninja' as Elmer Fudd. ("Be vewwy qwiet. We're hunting Bijuu!")

This story is an AU. If you notice someone acting out-of-character when compared to canon, then rest assured there is a reason. An event occurred before Naruto was even born that had wide-ranging consequences. What that event was will eventually be revealed in a future chapter.

Given that I just whacked my primary mouthpiece, I hope it's clear to everyone that no character in this story has 'plot armor'. Some things may go better than canon, some may go worse. Sometime bad things happed [sic] to good people. All I can do is promise to make it as interesting a ride as I can.

External Links

• Dark Lord Potter thread: Team 8 by S'TarKan - T - Naruto