Echoes

Echoes, by Kagaseo is a Naruto fanfiction where... well...

Plot Summary: "AU. A modification of the seal holding back the Kyuubi has surprising consequences. When each choice brings about a new world, what will happen when different possibilities collide? Multiple Naruto. Not Naruto x Naruko, rather brother/sister relationship."

The story begins with a slightly different version of the canon Naruto's fight with Orochimaru in the Land of Grass. After messing up big time, the blonde ninja, renamed Kazama to avoid confusion, got his seal twisted, accidentally gaining the power to travel across the multiverse, meeting alternate versions of himself, like: Naruko, a female Naruto with the canon one's personality. Chibaku, a Naruto adopted by Sasori. Kitsune, a Naruto with a severe case of Demonic Possession...

And many more.

Problem is, the group ends up followed by Madara and chased like a bunch of animals...

Basically, a deconstruction of the whole 'Hero traverses the multiverse and teams up with his alternate counterparts to save the day' plot, and the whole Naruto universe in general. You can't go two chapters without a Wham! Line and the characterization is done beautifully. Kagaseo knew what he was doing when he made this gem.

Tropes used in Echoes include:

• Action Girl: Naruko, Haku, Gaara, Yugito... the list goes on.
• And I Must Scream: What happened to Orochimaru after the Cloud-verse, before ending Deader Than Dead.
• Anyone Can Die: oh yes. So far, the body count includes Kabuto, Kisame, a whole Land of Wave, Orochimaru, Amaterasu, and Zabuza.
• Anti-Hero: Sasori and Zabuza.
• Anti-Villain: N. If his story doesn't make you cry, you have no soul. Shisui and Alpha also count, if you think they didn't cross the Moral Event Horizon already.
• The Atoner: Kakashi.
• Ax Crazy: Orochimaru after a Body Horror situation. Kitsune's Kyuubi is far, FAR worse. All three of them. Five too.
• Beyond the Impossible: Naruto's ability to break space and travel dimensions once became so great that he broke out of the continuity of 'Echoes' and ended up in SOMEBODY ELSE'S FANFICTION. No. This isn't crack. On another note, for allowing this to happen, thank you Third Fang!
• Big Bad Duumvirate: the three Madara, Tsukiyomi, Amaterasu and Susanoo, form a stable one. The Raikage and Orochimaru during the Kumo arc.
• Big Bad Ensemble: And HOW! The Madara Trio, the Raikage and Orochimaru, Shisui, Alpha... The list goes on. The three Madara are however clearly The Heavy out of them all, most of the others being Arc Villain.
• Bigger Bad: Amatsu Mikaboshi is the most powerful evil in the setting, but apart from backing the Madara Trio and corrupting Kazama, doesn't take a direct role in the story yet. The Shinigami also counts.
• Blessed with Suck: You cannot honestly say that you've never thought of how awesome it would be to travel dimensions, pick up friends, fight evil, and find out if Haku is a girl or not. In this, Naruto does all these awesome things... and he keeps getting awesome powers... but it's sort of offset by the fact that in almost every dimension he's ended up in, he's faced a threat to his life and the lives of those he cared about. Not to mention the fact that he's forced to use this dimensional power to escape from the Madara trio...
• Blood Knight: Amaterasu embodies the concept. Kisame and Zabuza too.
• Body Horror: Orochimaru, after surviving his teleportation in another world.
• The Brute: Susanoo is a Big Bad version, as his answer to all problems is murder and pure destruction.
• Co-Dragons: Five and Three to Alpha.
• Covert Pervert: Chibaku THINKS he's this. Nobody is fooled.
• The Corrupter: Tsukiyomi, toward Kazama. Orochimaru also counts.
• The Corruption: Amatsu Mikaboshi is a sentient, godlike one.
• Creepy Child: Kitsune, Gaara, the Omnicidal Maniac Naruto...
• Dark Chick: Alpha... but her intentions are good, so, it's okay right? Right?!
• Darker and Edgier: the story is far darker than canon and deconstructs it ruthlessly. Then again, the author stated it is a Earn Your Happy Ending kind of story...
• Dark Messiah: all the Madara are different variants of Dark Messiah.
• Deader Than Dead: Orochimaru... again.
• Death by Adaptation: It seems like every time the Naruto group goes to another world, at least SOMEBODY died who otherwise would have survived in canon. The opposite also happens, as a result.
• Determinator: Zabuza
• Defiant to the End: This tends to be the general approach of both the good guys... and the bad guys... and everyone in between.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu??: Amaterasu kills KYUBI to death. Yes, you read that right. Zabuza killing Amaterasu himself also counts.
  • Wait, so does that mean that if Zabuza killed Amaterasu, could he beat the Kyubi?
    • No.
    • Never.
    • Absolutely not.
• Dirty Old Man: Jiraiya... Are you so surprised?
• Evil Mentor: Tsukiyomi plans to be this to Kazama. Kenta was one to Kakashi.
• Evil Counterpart: a major theme. Multiple times, the heroes face alternate versions of themselves or other characters that turned out badly. For example:
  • Tsukiyomi to Kazama.
  • N to Kitsune.
  • Alpha to Hashirama Senju.
  • The three Naruto shown by Mikaboshi to canon Naruto. One of them, an Omnicidal Maniac, managed to disturb Madara himself.
• Explain, Explain, Oh Crap: Try explaining that three versions of the mightiest Big Bad in existence are after you and your friends to the people around you and see how long it takes for you all to realize just how fucked you are! Go on. Try it.
• Five-Man Band: the gang:

The Hero	Kazama
The Lancer	Kakashi and Sasori
The Big Guy	Kitsune, Zabuza
The Smart Guy	Chibaku
The Chick	Naruko, Haku
Sixth Ranger	Yugito, Gaara and Kuebiko

• Gender Flip: Naruko, Haku, and later Gaara.
• God of Evil: Amatsu Mikaboshi.
• Hero-Killer: the three Madara, BIG TIME. Especially Amaterasu, who has the story's highest body count for the moment.
• Hot Mom: The gang enters a world where Naruto's mother is Tsunade.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Kuebiko is the closest thing the story as to a Lawful Good hero.
• Knight Templar: one alternate version of Naruto, the Raikage.
• The Man Behind the Man: Shisui turns out to be behind a lot of problem in Kitsune's backstory. Subverted in that he never planned to make anyone suffer, and that most events were beyond his control.
• Man-Eating Plant: The heroes end up in a world filled with nothing but plants that can use the Sharingan... there are no humans and the plants try to EAT the heroes. The rest sort of falls under the category of Fridge Horror when you try and consider (A) what happened to all the people and (B) what happened to MAKE those plants, anyway?!
• Multiversal Conqueror: Each different Madara aims at ruling the multiverse. Amatsu Mikaboshi too.
• Nietzsche Wannabe: many, but Kitsune's Kyuubi and Five are the most obvious examples.
• Noble Demon: Amaterasu is a deconstruction of the trope. He has a strict code of honor, but he's NOT an Anti-Villain.
• No One Could Survive That: Orochimaru just won't stay down... at least, until ending Deader Than Dead.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Kitsune's three Kyuubi. An alternate version of Naruto shown to Madara by Mikaboshi declared his intention to become one, and an alternate version of the Sage of the Six Paths actually pulled it off. Mikaboshi used to be one, but now its plans are mysterious.
• Serial Killer: Kitsune, under the Kyuubi's influence.
• Shout-Out: Amaterasu is one, giant call-back to a certain King of Heroes.
• The Cynic: Sasori, so very much. Kazama is slowly growing into one.
• The Hero: both Kazama and Naruko share the role.
• The Social Darwinist: Tsukiyomi and Amaterasu are different faces of the concept. Tsukiyomi believes that the gifted should rule over the masses by virtue of being better, whereas Amaterasu believes on Might Makes Right. Another alternate version of Naruto shown by Amatsu Mikaboshi also believes in this.
• This Cannot Be!: Yes. Just... Just yes. Most of the villains say this. ESPECIALLY Orochimaru!
• Undead Child: Guess what Tsukuyomi does with the remains of Team Seven. Go on. Guess.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Alpha's world. According to Word of God it is based partly off of 1984 so this kind of thing is sort of expected.
  • Despotism Justifies the Means: Five, The Dragon, however, is just in it for the power.
• Visionary Villain: the three Madara. Alpha too.
• Worthy Opponent: Amaterasu views most of his enemies this way. Special mention to Kisame and Zabuza.