The Girl from Whirlpool

The Girl from Whirlpool is a Naruto prequel fanfic by SilverShine. It follows the adventures of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto's future parents. It starts as Minato and some of his classmates watch as the refugees from Whirlpool Country arrive in the Leaf Village. Among them is a redheaded tomboy named Kushina Uzimaki who winds up as the new village idiot and one of Minato's eventual friends.

The story was started as an attempt to create a backstory for the characters before it was originally provided in canon. However what is really amazing about this fanfic is that even after the canon backstory was finally revealed a few months ago, it didn't contradict things too much because the author did a wonderful job incorporating the new information into the plot. What's really notable about this story is that despite its rather overdone story of Naruto's parents falling in love, it avoids making either of them into Mary Sues, which happens often. It also makes great use of Continuity Nods to events that are mentioned to have happened in the canon's backstory.

Tropes used in The Girl from Whirlpool include:

Abusive Parents: Minato's father is constantly drunk and verbally abusive.
The Ace: Most villagers view Minato as one, but he clearly isn't, at least not yet.
- Broken Ace: Amazingly, Minato seems to be a mild example. Sakumo even calls him out on his seeming inability to connect to others on any meaningful level as well as his inability to be angered by injustice.
  - Sakumo clearly invokes this trope as well.
Action Girl: Kushina
And I Must Scream: What Orochimaru does to Minato by controlling his body and forcing him to fight and attempt to kill Kushina. What makes it worse was that it was written from his perspective as he helplessly attacks Kushina.
Badass: Minato, Sakumo, and Kushina
Bishonen: Minato has been described as having a girl's face by a few people.
Boobs of Steel: Unlike canon, in which Kushina has a slender build and modest bust, Minato's thoughts imply that Kushina's breasts are actually bigger than they appear, which would make her impressive strength much more in line with this trope.
Book Dumb: Kushina during her academy days was like this.
Break the Cutie: Kakashi when Sakumo commits suicide.
Bunny Ears Lawyer: Kushina
Call Forward: When Minato and Han discover that the resurrection jutsu scroll has been stolen from the Fire Temple, Han remarks about its potential for destruction:
- "It's evil even in the most well-intentioned hands; in the wrong hands you could resurrect armies."
The Charmer: Minato can apparently charm soda out of vending machines just by gazing at them forlornly. A lot of his interactions are pretty suave, though possibly unintentionally so.
Chaste Hero: Minato to a certain extent.
Child Prodigy: Minato and Kakashi. Also Kushina, but only Minato notices at first.
Cool Old Guy: Han Senju who turns out to be the sole surviving squad-mate of Minato's Missing Mom.
Continuity Nod: Several to many different events in the canon backstory that we get to see play out as they happen.
- Due to his strong presence in the canon, Kakashi is a frequent victim of these.
Deadpan Snarker: Shikaku tends to do this in nearly any scene he's in.
- Minato also has his moments, especially in chapter 20.
Determinator: Minato and Kushina
Dirty Old Man: Kusanagi is implied to be one in chapter 20.
Disappeared Dad: Minato doesn't know who his real father is.
Dogged Nice Guy: Ren Sarutobi is initially this when Minato first meets him. It actually results in Minato helping Ren and Kushina wind up as a couple.
Driven to Suicide: Sakumo.
Everyone Can See It: The Sanin and many other Leaf Villagers in relation to Kushina and Minato's friendship.
A Father to His Men: Sakumo Hatake, the Jounin sensei of Kushina's squad is the closest thing she has to a father.
Fantastic Racism: Demon hosts are considered dangerous freaks. Minato thinks along these lines, until it turns out Kushina is one herself.
Fate Worse Than Death: Minato believes it is a case with all demon hosts. True for the jinchuriki of one-tail, who can't sleep.
Fiery Redhead: Kushina
Fighting From the Inside: Minato experiences this when Orochimaru takes control of him with a jutsu.
Foe-Tossing Charge: Kushina is capable of this unfortunately, Minato got in the way.
Foregone Conclusion: Since this is a prequel, the fans all know how it will ultimately end, making it that much more tragic to read and see the love develop between two people who will soon be dead.
- Soon and soon. Kakashi should be 15 by the time they bite it, so there's still over half a decade left.
Friend to All Children: Kushina.
Generation Xerox: You guess, two dudes that ~~really wouldn't be out of place~~ 100% fit in canon Shikaku Nara and Fugaku 'Fugu-face' Uchiha, Shikamaru's and Sasuke's DADS
- Kushina's behaviour, quirks and development throughout her teens also resembles Naruto's.
Genius Ditz: Kushina, just like in canon.
Green-Eyed Monster: Every other girl hates Minato's eventual girlfriends, and Minato's eventual girlfriends hate every other girl he's friendly with. It's that simple.
Healing Factor: Kushina
Heroic Bastard: Minato. His mother cheated on her husband with an unknown shinobi. Apparently, Sakumo knows who it is but won't tell. Although as of Chapter 24, that may have just been a Red Herring caused by Minato's own desires for a cool dad and his father's drunken delusions, but its still ambiguous.
Heroic BSOD: Minato has had a few minor ones, but Sakumo has an epic one in chapter 22 after his failed mission.
Heroes Want Redheads: Minato
How Do I Shot Web?: Minato, after creating the Hirashin, keeps trying to figure out ways to improve it.
Horrifying the Horror: Orochimaru may be Humanoid Abomination, but he is terrified, when Kushina almost transforms into nine-tailed beast.
If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Sakumo give the standard one to Minato when he catches on to his secret relationship with Kushina.
Important Haircut: Inverted. Young Minato's statement of thinking her hair looked nice long caused Kushina to secretly vow to never get her hair cut again.
Informed Awesomeness: Minato. For all the talk of how much of an Ace he is and how strong the Fourth became in canon, in here he is... well, lacking a lot. In fact, he only seems like a competent Jounin instead of the Hokage material that everyone keeps praising on and on. Probably from the shock of unitying Romance with a heavy action series but still, his fights with A, Orochimaru and one of the Swordmen of the Mist were between sad and just plain pathetic.
- Justified in the case of A and the Mist Swordsman in that one seemed to be an intentional loss, while the other happened when Minato was only about 16.
Innocent Cohabitation: Minato and Kushina when they're teenagers.
It's Personal: Sarutobi's reaction when Orochimaru steals technique Second Hokage, his teacher, invented and sealed away.
Jerkass: Minato's female teammate Ai.
Keeping Secrets Sucks: Kushina suffers a lot for holding back the truth from Minato that she’s a jinchuuriki. She's too scared of rejection to volunteer the truth, but lying to him creates an emotional drift that just leaves Minato bemused. He finds out the truth the hard way..
Like Father, Like Son: In this case, like mother like son. More than one person has commented how Minato resembles his mother (hence the girl's face) and an old friend of his mother's remarked that he also behaved like her.
Love Epiphany: Minato has one about his feelings for Kushina after it is pointed out to him by almost everyone in the Leaf Village.
Lovable Sex Maniac: Inoichi Yamanaka, Ino's future dad definitely counts.
Megaton Punch: Kushina seems to pull off a more realistic one on occasion.
Missing Mom: Minato's mother was a skilled ninja who was killed when he was less than two years old. Probably by Madara.
Male Gaze: The narration makes it clear that post-puberty, Minato has several moments of this towards Kushina, which makes him feel rather awkward at first.
A Man Is Not a Virgin: Averted in Minato's case. It was because of this mindset that some of his teammates in the Second Great Ninja War tried to bring him to a brothel for his birthday. It didn't go as planned because the consort turned out to be an assassin from the Hidden Mist Village.
Moment Killer: Several happen throughout the story to prevent Minato and Kushina from taking their relationship to the next level.
Monster Roommate: Kushina, the 9-tailed jinchuuriki, living with Minato.
No Periods, Period: Hilariously Averted.
Nosebleed: Minato has this during his fight with Kushina in the chunin exam.
Obviously Evil: Orochimaru, is just viewed as rather creepy and odd by the rest of the village, but is still one of the most respected people in the village despite being freaking Orochimaru!
Original Flavor
Papa Wolf: Sakumo when it come to Kushina, and Kakashi of course. Mainly towards Minato. Also Jiraiya for Minato.
Parental Substitute: Jiriaya for Minato and Sakumo for Kushina.
People Puppets: Orochimaru has a few techniques that can do this. The most extreme he uses on Minato.
Person of Mass Destruction: Kushina
The Pig Pen: Young Kushina
Rapunzel Hair: Kushina has been growing her hair to this for most of the fanfic.
Real Men Wear Pink: While not the most favored, but Minato REALLY like pink on everything (his most favorite would be red and yellow).
- At one point, he even opts to wear a purple robe because "it brings out his eyes."
Relationship Upgrade: Kushina and Minato as of chapter 19, not that its a surprise.
Red Baron: Yellow Flash.
Romantic False Lead: Ren Sarutobi, the Third Hokage's nephew, who is Kushina's boyfriend for several chapters is actually a rather sympathetic example.
She's All Grown Up: Minato after being apart for a bit over three years, barely even recognizes Kushina at first and is flustered by this.
She's Not My Girlfriend: As they grow up people tend to assume that Minato and Kushina are a thing, forcing him to deny it time and again, even while his own feelings on the matter change over time from disgust to exasperation, to indifference and finally regret when he realizes that he actually is in love with her, and have been all along.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: Amazingly, Minato seems to be a partial example once the war with the Hidden Mist village ends. Once he gets back to the Leaf Village, he wanders around aimlessly without purpose and has an even harder time connecting with others. The story makes it pretty clear that without Kushina, Minato would be even worse off.
- Amusingly (or tragically), Minato's emotional distance only serves to increase his reputation among his peers as an ideal ninja.
Shrouded in Myth: Minato is constantly amazed at how often his deeds get exaggerated.
Single-Target Sexuality: Minato has shown no real attraction towards anyone other than Kushina.
Smug Snake: Kusanagi, a ninja captain from Kumo.
Suppressed Mammaries and/or Hidden Buxom: The story implies that Kushina is a partial example.
Technical Pacifist: Kushina. She refuses to kill, but has no problem beating people into a pulp.
Tell Me About My Father: Minato to Han after learning he was on the same team as his mother.
Terms of Endangerment: Kusanagi calls Kushina a "gleaming gem" and "royal jewel".
Tomboy and Girly Girl: Kushina and Mikoto Uchiha. Definitely when they were younger, but less so in their late teens.
Tsundere: Kushina, but she is slowly growing out of it.
- Yoshino.
Troubled Child: Kakashi seems to have become this.
Ubermensch: Between his miserable upbringing, massive talent and strength, war experiences and impressive bodycount, Minato drifts slightly out of touch with the rest of humanity, at times to almost sociopathic levels, but remains a heroic, likeable and relatively sane protagonist throughout his adult life, likely due to the stabilizing influences of Ku shi na and Ji rai ya.
Unable to Cry: Kakashi seems to be the one person not affected by his father’s tragic death. Minato himself only ever cries for Kushina's sake when she grieves for her teacher.
Understanding Boyfriend: After discovering Kushina's big secret and a few smaller ones, Minato gets frustrated by how many things he is expected to accept about her. At the end, he realises that he really is one of a few people, who can understand her and give her emotional support.
Violently Protective Girlfriend: If you threaten to kidnap Kushina's boyfriend, she will end you.
The Voiceless: Minato's third teammate Saburou has never said a word in the entire story.
Wall Glower: Kushina, during Uchiha Mikoto's wedding to Uchiha Fugaku. She disapproved.
Warrior Monk: Hanerutokoroni Senju, grandson of the Second Hokage, and a former Ninja who now works as a Fire Temple monk.
The Worf Effect: Minato seems to purposely have it invoked on himself by A, the future Fourth Raikage, in order to be captured.
Yamato Nadeshiko: Mikoto Uchiha
You Need to Get Laid: The Ino-Shika-Cho Trio has this view of Minato, especially Shikaku and Inochi.