Team 8/WMG
The person who ordered Kurenai's genin team dead is...
- Hiashi. He is notably much crueler, and the mentions of Mattai never add in a Cursed Seal. He may have tried to off her team so he could lead the clan. Also, the clan has something planned about Naruto...
- Danzou. He's been mentioned a lot when he wasn't in canon. There must be a reason for this.
- That reason would be that Danzou didn't even exist in canon until after the timeskip.
Asuma is a little in love with Kurenai.
Because...he threatened to kick the ass of the head of Konoha's most important clan because he would've disrupted her funeral. Considering that he loved her in canon...
- The death of her team caused Kurenai to become more introverted and stymied any chances of a relationship developing, sadly
Hinata will receive training from Tsunade.
Hinata is already going to be Tsunade's servant for six months. I'm sure in that time Tsunade will get to know the girl, and will offer to train her so that "You're not some failure, and I'll prove it by shoving it in your Jerkass father's face!"
- Bonus: she'll show Hinata how to smash through walls with her little finger.
Team 8 is not a fanfic of Naruto...
...Naruto's a fan-comic of Team 8.
- Good one.
- If only.
Yamato will be Team 8's new jonin-sensei
Because why not?
- A better reason would be "because someone has to be and there aren't many suitable canon characters left".
Iruka will be Team 8's new jonin-sensei
He's just as close and understanding as Kurenai was; perhaps his promotion to jonin will be expedited by the Hokage, in an effort to keep their team's dynamic going the way it was.
What will the team's summons be?
Naruto's will be...
- Nothing. He'll continue to hone his own skills.
- Bear. As a close-in combat specialist, it's ideal. Plus, the idea of Naruto riding a bear into battle is cool.
- Squirrels. Forest-capable, hyperactive... it worked for Squirrel Girl.
- Tiger.
- Fennec fox. Because cute.
- Aaaaand, the latest chapter has revealed Naruto's summons -- Turtle!
Hinata's will be...
- Crows. Specifically, Mobster crows.
- Otter.
- Tanuki.
- Fennec fox. Look, they're cute, okay? And it'd remind her of Naruto.
Shino's already The Beast Master, so a summon would be pretty redundant. If he had to have one, giant stag beetles would be great. Flying!
Hinata creates "Protection of the Eight Trigrams, Sixty-Four Palms" while training with Tsunade.
For one, that technique's amazing and should really see more use. Two, precise chakra control is necessary for using it, along with flexibility and Tsunade has the former in spades. Third, one of Hinata's goals is to try and create a Hyuuga technique of her own, like one of her ancestors, who was really good at reading people.
Naruto is already on his way to learning the Rasengan.
In chapter 17, when Naruto uses his Chakra Pulse, the author takes time to note that under Jiraiya's tutelage, Naruto had been performing "elaborate chakra control exercises." When I think about chakra control exercises and Jiraiya in the same sentence, I think Balloon Training, the precursor to the Rasengan. Plus, Naruto's already learned water walking and tree climbing, so what else is there to do?
Guessing on how Part II will play out as a result of the For Want of a Nail event:
- The Hidan and Kakuzu arc will play out completely differently because of Kurenai's death
- More likely Part II won't happen the way it did in canon at all because the series is about to go completely Off the Rails.
Hiashi's systematic abuse of Hinata is spurred by more than him just being an asshole.
Whatever else can be said about Hiashi, he's not stupid. If he is indeed involved in this conspiracy among the Konoha elite, he probably has some plan for her that requires her to be emotionally and psychologically broken.
Hinata convincing Naruto to spare Neji's life is a Shout-Out to canon!Naruto's friendship with Sasuke.
Hinata cares about Neji, even if any sane person would wonder why beyond blood relation. Naruto even mentions to the jerkass that she never stopped making excuses for his behavior the entire time she spoke with him even when, really, it was inexcusable. Admittedly there's reasonable doubt about this but it seems suspect to me.
Shino has a Precocious Crush on Kurenai.
I don't doubt that he'd react violently to Naruto or Hinata being killed as well but the way he behaves in the morgue is a thing of beauty.
In this timeline, Hiashi is a member of ROOT.
Remember what Jiraiya says about the members of 'Danzo's little cult'? "[Danzo] says that the perfect ninja has no emotions, but people that practice that nindo never seem to last. They either completely lose their personality, or they crack like Itachi did." Doesn't that description almost exactly match what the hell is wrong with Hiashi? His idea of 'proper behavior' is total emotionlessness, and buried underneath that seems to be nothing but roiling hatred and spite.