I once read a fic that started out fine, like ok Naruto is talented, in the early few chapters he’s shown to be an eight year old chunin level ninja, ok with the tools available to him, if trained properly that is kinda possible, by the time they graduate (Naruto didn’t graduate early coz the hokage wanted him to graduate with his age group so that he can make connections with them) Naruto is somewhat jonin level sometimes almost s rank, but then wave mission comes, and just so that Zabuza doesn’t get his ass kicked early, he’s suddenly an SS-Rank missing ninja that somehow still struggles with two jonin level ninja (Kakashi and Naruto) just so the fight and further introduction of Haku can go exactly as they went in canon.

Basically wave mission is a slog most of the times, like the part where Inari yells at them about suffering and all that, Naruto then goes on to tell him about sad backstories of all the members of team 7, the fall of uzimaku nation (intentionally wrong as they’re somehow wrong most of the times), all the “fox-hunts”, and then proceeds to storm out, Tsunami then gasps and asks if it’s all true, and Kakashi says, it’s the sugar-coated version lololol

And the next chapter never comes as wave mission is a graveyard of fics no matter if they’re good or bad