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Act One: Tutorial Part One
(The Day of Naruto's Death)
Naruto Uzumaki stared at the world around him, blinking in confusion. He was surrounded by shadowy darkness, facing the floating words, You Are Dead, written in eerie crimson ink. Grayed out below that were the words:
You Are Dead
Reload Last Checkpoint
Return to Title Screen
He couldn't believe what he was reading, or what it meant for him either.
He had just died at the hands of Sasuke, his best friend, in the Valley of the End. Sasuke had actually killed him, and that really hurt. Naruto looked down at his hands, which were trembling. Then they formed fists and stabilized, reflecting his newfound resolution. If there was a way for him to go back and change things so that their fight never happened, he would.
He cried for a few minutes, allowing his emotions to run their course while he continued thinking about what it was that he needed to do next. His hand wavered over Go to Title Screen, which glowed an even brighter red. It was nearly blinding in its radiance, yet he refused to look away from it. Then all the floating, luminescent ink swirled about before forming several more lines of words:
New Game
Load Save
Settings
Only the first and third choices were colored-in, meaning that he could actually select them. He clicked on the Options menu, to see what aspects of his life could be changed with the press of a button.
Settings
Gameplay
Audio/Video
Cheats
He stared at these words with narrowed eyes, his anger at the unfairness of his previous existence growing by the moment. Naruto clicked on the first option and was greeted with this sub-menu:
Game Settings
Difficulty (Normal)
Hints and Tutorials (Off)
HUD Opacity (Transparent)
Perspective (First Person)
Navigation (Off)
His lips twitched in amusement after he changed them all to this:
Game Settings
Difficulty (Very Easy)
Hints and Tutorials (On)
HUD Opacity (Opaque)
Perspective (First Person)
Navigation (On)
Something told him that this was going to be a much easier and more interesting life than the one he'd just left behind. With all of this help, he might even be able to beat it without dying. That thought did at least a little to keep him from exploding with anger.
The second set of options was straightforward, and Naruto saw no need to fiddle with the setup that he already had, other than increasing his Field of View by ninety degrees. It was a bit disconcerting to be capable of seeing more than he could before. It would probably help him out of a sticky situation at some point in the future.
Next he looked over the Cheats tab:
Cheats (Unlocked By Gathering Collectibles and Completing Achievements)
Enhanced Technique Training: Unlocked By Protecting the Scroll of Sealing. Techniques Are Now Learned 20% Faster!
He grinned and selected the only available Cheat. That would certainly make his job a hell of a lot easier. Shrugging, he returned to Title Screen and selected New Game. A small box appeared soon after with this prompt:
Edit Attributes (Up To 20 Points Can Be Distributed)
STR (Strength)... Affects Carry Capacity and Melee Damage... 3
PER (Perception)... Affects Navigation and Sensory Abilities... 2
END (Endurance)... Affects Vitality and Energy... 4
CHA (Charisma)... Affects Party Capacity and Social Status... 2
INT (Intellect)... Affects Learning Rate and Experience Requirements... 1
AGI (Agility)... Affects Movement and Attack Speed... 3
WIS (Wisdom)... Affects Chakra and Decision Making... 2
LUK (Luck)... Affects Success Rates With Everything... 3
He decided that INT would probably benefit him more than some of the other Attributes that were at noticeably higher levels. He simply removed one from STR, two from END one from AGI, and one from LUK. This raised his INT from one to six, which he was happy with. Moving on to the next box...
Edit Traits (Up To 8 Traits Can Be Selected)
Absent Minded: Randomly Forget Things
Brave: Effects of Killing Intent Halved
Charismatic: CHA With the Weak Minded Doubled
Excitable: Mood Is Easily Changed
Inappropriate: Able to Say Anything
Rebellious: Rarely Gets Caught Wrongdoing
Slob: Can Hide Things In Clutter
Workaholic: END Effectively Doubled
Selecting the first Trait opened up an entire list of other possible Traits he could choose. The entire list was far too long to actually try describing it on here. And what's more, quite a few of those traits were incompatible with one or another, so he had to experiment a bit to find a combination that would adequately do him justice.
With that settled, he finally got around to starting the Game. After ignoring a single prompt that asked him if he wanted to overwrite his last Checkpoint, he began at the very beginning of his adventure...
(Team Assignment Day)
Having just woken up, Naruto realized that he remembered everything. He remembered his death at the hands of Sasuke Uchiha and the weird rendition of the afterlife that he was subjected to, and he was starting to wonder if all of that had been an elaborate dream until he saw it.
A holographic menu sprang into existence in front of him.
Start the Tutorial?
Yes
No
He, more out of curiosity than anything else, clicked yes. The phantasmagorical screen minimized into a leaf icon that was spinning, just above the word Loading. Then the icon, which had stayed in the exact center of his vision no matter where he looked, faded away. It didn't appear to be a physically present thing, because it had no reflection in his mirror, which didn't make him feel any better about the fact that he could see it.
Quest Unlocked: Tutorial
Objective 1: Do Your Morning Ritual
Objective 2: ?
Completion Reward: 100 EXP
Blinking, the blond academy student looked around his bedroom for signs of anything out of the normal. That's when a deep voice, originating from nowhere and everywhere simultaneously, said to him, "This is certainly an odd change of pace."
A cold sweat broke out on his forehead, because he had a good idea about the identity of the speaker, and was hoping that he was wrong. "Ah, who just said that?" he asked aloud, hoping that the disembodied voice wasn't coming from inside his own head (although he'd even prefer schizophrenia to the Nine-Tails trying to communicate with him).
However, the voice never responded. Hoping that it was just his imagination, because the implications of it being anything but that were quite terrifying, he decided to ignore that for the time being and focus on what was in front of him. He quickly got to work preparing himself for the day. And as he did so, he noticed that several horizontal bars were highlighted into existence in the bottom left-hand corner of his vision.
Needs
Hunger/Thirst
Bladder/Bowels
Energy/Rest
Hygiene
Each bar showed up when he was doing something pertaining to them; Hunger/Thirst when he was consuming breakfast, Bladder/Bowels when he was using the restroom, Energy/Rest when he eyed his bed, and Hygiene when he started taking his shower. He blinked in confusion at that, wondering if that was a part of himself or the game.
At those thoughts, a hint box appeared: 'Your HUD works by taking the data that you subconsciously gather about yourself and the environment, and organizing it into graphic displays, all of which is pertinent to whatever situation you find yourself in.'
When he was finished, a tingly sensation covered his whole body, as the notification appeared:
Objective Completed: Do Your Morning Ritual
Objective Unlocked: Go to the Ninja Academy
"The Ninja Academy? What..." he began, but trailed off as something important just now caught his attention.
He couldn't help but notice that the calendar on his wall marked today as Graduation Test Day; he'd have to go through all of that bullshit again! The young boy groaned and began the arduous task of mentally preparing himself for the shit-show that he was about to face back at ninja academy...
Then another horrifying thought occurred to him. Without even thinking about it, he tried to perform the Shadow Clone Technique. But all he did was expend an enormous amount of chakra, simultaneously causing two things to happen. The more noticeable was that a message flashed across the center of his vision, reading:
You Have Not Learned This Technique Yet
The other new development was the reveal of a horizontal blue bar in the upper left-hand corner of his vision. Then, a hint box appeared: 'Your MP represents your chakra reserves, what fuels all ninjutsu and genjutsu techniques. Fully depleting this resource can lead to chakra exhaustion, a debilitating but temporary condition. Use your chakra wisely...'
So it seemed that he would have to relearn his prized Technique, somehow. He pondered that for a few moments, before remembering that he was on a Quest. Within moments he was out the door. But as soon as his foot crossed the threshold, he was beset with another round of notifications.
You Have Discovered the Location: Konoha
Reward: 75 EXP
Current EXP: 75/100
You Have Discovered the Landmark: Apartment Complex
Reward: 5 EXP
Current EXP: 80/100
So apparently discovering new Locations and Landmarks gave him EXP. That was a useful. But beyond allowing him to Level-Up faster (because what else could EXP be used for?), he wondered if that mechanic provided any other benefits to him. Beyond adding some order to his rather chaotic life, he so far hadn't had any unique bonuses afforded to him by the Game beyond cheating death.
As if in response, a hint box appeared: 'You can Fast-Travel to discovered Locations from the World Map. Actually making the trip can lead to unique experiences, however...'
Keeping that in mind, he began his journey to the Ninja Academy. On the way there, he noticed that in the bottom right-hand corner of his vision was a small circular map, a Mini-Map. He couldn't help the maniacal grin that practically split his face; this was going to be an incredibly useful tool, especially for the line of work that he was going into.
On said Mini-Map, a white arrow, which he assumed to be himself, resided in the center. And a golden waypoint resided where he knew the school to be. The vast majority of the map was blacked out, though the places that he was passing through weren't any more. So it seemed like he'd have to go exploring if he wanted to get rid of the Black Map.
A hint box showed up: 'Alternatively you could buy a Map, but these are often lacking in details you could find through exploration...'
Noting that, he continued perusing his Mini-Map. In the few sections that weren't Black Map, he could see all sorts of useful information. It showed the outlines of buildings, as well as the streets and roads that cut paths through the village. He noticed, oddly enough, that everything was tinged blue, and wondered about the significance of that. Although, he more wondered why it couldn't be orange.
The ubiquitous hint box: 'The color of Territory is based on how it will respond to you. Blue is for allied, grey is for neutral, and red is for hostile. These colors apply to individuals too...'
And on top of all that, there were blue dots marking where people were in his immediate vicinity. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the lighter ones were civilians and the darker were shinobi. However a white dot turned out to be a baby, and a navy blue one ended up being a jounin. So it was obvious that the color itself showed the hostility of the individual in question, while its darkness denoted their potential threat level.
Another hint box opened: 'Your Mini-Map acts as a radar, in that it can detect objects and people that you can interact with. It can, however, be fooled...'
He also noticed, as he continued moving through the crowd, that whenever they went inside the dots would become faded. And, as he took all this in, several of the shinobi, those that he saw hopping about the rooftops, were upwards-pointing triangles instead of regular dots, which meant that it also showed him what their elevation was in relation to his own.
Then, as he moved toward his destination, he noticed that the areas he'd discovered dimmed a little after he left the immediate area. And then he could no longer see any of the dots that were there, though the shinobi most noticeably disappeared first.
Upon having this realization, a hint popped up: 'Fog of War covers areas that you've explored but can't sense anything in or you haven't yet discovered the Checkpoint.' And then, as if sensing what he wanted to know more about, another one read: 'A Checkpoint is where you can Save your Game. They can only be activated in allied Territory, and raise Fog of War around allied characters' Line of Sight.'
It didn't take him long to arrive at his old classroom, which was largely empty because he was so early.
Landmark Discovered: Ninja Academy
Reward: 5 EXP
Current EXP: 85/100
Objective Completed: Go to the Ninja Academy
Objective Unlocked: Take the Genin Exam
Shrugging, he sat in his usual spot, thinking about the oddity of his existence now that he knew he could survive death via being the avatar of a videogame player. He began pondering whether this self-awareness was what allowed him to be aware of the Game at all, and whether the people around him were players or characters.
Only time would tell.
As he was sitting there, he realized that his musings were very unlike the way he used to think, and wondered why for only a brief moment. But then he remembered how he changed his Attributesand Traits. Deciding that he was curious about any other effects that this might cause, he found himself wanting to open up the Main Menu.
And just as the thought entered his mind, a holographic screen appeared before him.
Main Menu
Inventory
Party
Data
Settings
Shrugging, he decided to go through each of the submenus just to figure out what all was going on. Luckily for him, the layout was quite intuitive and he quickly learned how to navigate through it all. He did notice, however, that time slowed down substantially when that menu was open. So it wasn't quite like pausing the Game, but it was awfully close.
Inventory (Carry Weight 20lbs)
Weapons: 10 Kunai Knives, 10 Blunt Shuriken
Apparel: Konoha Headband, Orange Jumpsuit (-1 CHA)
Aid: N/A
Scrolls: N/A
Keys: Apartment Keys, ID Card
Miscellaneous: N/A
There was a small hint box that said, 'As your Inventory grows, separate tabs will be created for each Item category.'
Keeping that in mind, Naruto grinned and was about to move on to the next submenu, but was interrupted by the arrival of pretty much all the graduates simultaneously. He tuned them out for the most part, only responding with pleasantries whenever anybody specifically talked to him. There was a way that he could pass the test the first time through, he just knew it.
But then he stopped himself. If he graduated now, he wouldn't be able to learn the Shadow Clone Technique, because he wouldn't have a good reason for taking the Scroll of Sealing without Mizuki's interference. So, even though he was much smarter now, he would have to bomb the test. Although, he didn't exactly have enough time to adequately prepare for the test. And he briefly wondered if his failure was scripted into the game. Like, he wasn't sure if it was altogether even possible to pass. That was a thought for another day, because he wasn't sure if it really mattered at this point.
Before long the written portion started, with Naruto exerting the bare minimum amount of effort to skirt by. After that finished, the taijutsu section started, and this is where a new development emerged.
His opponent was Mizuki, the traitorous chuunin. The goal was to land at least one hit on the instructor, who would be passively defending himself, within the time allotted. As soon as he stood facing that man, some of the anger started to boil up. But he held it at bay, refused to alloy it to come to the surface. Because really, how would he be able to justify that yet?
As soon as Mizuki technically became his enemy, and therefore hostile, his dot on the map turned red. Additionally, his name floated above his head, along with a bright red bar.
Naruto grit his teeth and ran forward, starting things off with a right roundhouse. His technique was abysmal, likened more often to a drunken brawler than a trained shinobi. And that much was readily apparent to him when the white-haired chuunin effortlessly sidestepped him; he failed to land his first strike altogether.
A horizontal green bar appeared right above the blue one that represented his chakra. A tiny, negligible chunk fell away as he threw the powerful but sloppy punch. A hint box appeared, 'Your SP is an indicator of your overall energy, which is expended during strenuous physical activity. Once your SP is depleted, you begin to become fatigued, which means that all physical activity comes with a delay and a price...'
He continued with a flurry of sloppy punches and kicks, but they were all blocked, dodged, or were good enough that they'd be able to take out the average civilian, but that put him roughly in the middle of the class in terms of taijutsu ability. To the trained eye, he telegraphed all of his attacks, which made it easy for a chuunin to keep up with what he was doing.
But they weren't meant to land, not really. Because Naruto didn't actually expect to break through Mizuki's defenses head-on. No, he threw those attacks out there to distract his instructor, so that his maneuvering wouldn't be immediately picked up on. Besides, who would suspect that Naruto would even try to use a strategy?
And so the blond student jumped on Mizuki's back, grappling in the hopes of being able to pummel the man. But even this move would have easily been avoided by the more experienced combatant had he willed it. However, he didn't. The moment Naruto landed, the man promptly body-slammed him so hard that a small dust cloud kicked up.
During the moment of impact, a final bar appeared in the upper right-hand corner of his vision. This one was red, and on top, and something told him that it was going to be the last bar added to his vision for quite some time.
The accompanying hint said: 'Your HP is an indicator of your overall vitality. When it is depleted, you will be incapacitated and a timer (affected by your END) will begin counting down. During this time, allied forces can resuscitate you, or enemy forces can commit a fatality, wherein you die and must start over from the last Checkpoint.'
"I gotcha, Mizuki-sensei," he wheezed out. The entire class had witnessed him land a punch to the instructor's ribs too, so he definitely wasn't lying. And that concluded the taijutsu portion of the test, even though Iruka was frowning pretty hard at his teaching assistant.
A new hint box appeared: 'On your current Difficulty of Very Easy, your HP, SP, and MP can be replenished instantly by performing healing techniques, consuming foods and drugs, utilizing meditation and sleep, or your natural healing factor. Higher Difficulty levels reduce the efficiency and effectiveness of every healing method...'
They finally went back inside to complete the final portion of the Genin Exams, ninjutsu. Naruto promptly failed when asked to use the Clone Technique. And oddly enough, upon attempting the technique, he was rewarded with another notification that he hadn't yet learned a technique. Which was a curious development, see how he learned the theory at the Academy...
"Oh wait," Naruto murmured aloud. He just now realized that it'd been Mizuki who taught it to him, which meant that he was probably sabotaged from the very start. That traitorous piece of shit probably planned it out more than a few months beforehand, copying Ao Rokushi who got Idate to steal the Thunder Sword in much the same way.
So he'd failed the Genin Exam, and therefore was told that he couldn't graduate.
Objective Completed: Take the Genin Exam
Objective Unlocked: Talk to Mizuki
He promptly left the Ninja Academy and sat on the swing outside, much like he did the time before. The only difference was that he wasn't sulking and pouting about the unfairness of his life. No, this time he was planning his vengeance. And to do that, he needed to get the lay of the land, so to speak.
It was time to begin looking through the submenus that he'd neglected a bit earlier. Since he'd already gone through Settings before he even started, and he looked through Inventory before any of the others, he decided to go through Data. After all, it wasn't like there was going to be anything interesting in his Party submenu yet, right?
Data
Player
World
Without really putting too much thought into it, he decided to click on the first option. What he didn't realize, was that this was going to open up a whole slew of possible choices too.
Player Data
Information & Status
Attributes & Traits
Powers & Perks
Skills & Techniques
Information
Name: Naruto Uzumaki
Age: 12; Level: 0
Experience: 85/100
Title: Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's Host
Class: N/A
Morality: Neutral
Purity: Neutral
Status
Depressed: 10% Penalty to MP Usage
Malnourished: 10% Penalty to SP Usage
Attributes
STR 2
PER 2
END 2
CHA 2
INT 6
AGI 2
WIS 2
LUK 2
Traits
Adventurous: PER Effectively Doubled
Brave: Effects of Killing Intent Halved
Charismatic: CHA With the Weak Minded Doubled
Disciplined: Martial Arts Skill Training Doubled
Genius: INT Based Skills Training Doubled
Irresistible: CHA With Females Doubled
Lucky: LUK Effectively Doubled
Workaholic: END Effectively Doubled
Powers
Fiction Adaption (+1): Allows the User to Adapt Fictional Skills and Knowledge, and Use Them As 'Truths'; Activation Enabled Once Every Level.
Fiction Integration (+1): Allows the User to Integrate Fictional Abilities and Powers and Use Them As 'Truths'; Activation Enabled Once Every Five Levels.
Perks
Current Perks
Enhanced Technique Training: Techniques Are Now Learned 20% Faster!
Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's Host: Chakra Reserves Increased Tenfold
Uzumaki Heritage: Natural Healing Rate Increased Tenfold; Training Rate Doubled For STR, END, and AGI
Available Perks
N/A
His two Powers greatly interested him, and he felt that he should use them as soon as possible to get the most use out of them. He ruminated on what skill he would like to gain the most, and whatPowers caught his interest the most. And as he sat on the swing, pondering, a hint box appeared: 'Fiction Integration should be used to obtain abilities and powers from characters that are human; to do otherwise can have some nasty side-effects...'
This gave him pause, but he already knew what he wanted to use his Powers on. "[Fiction Adaption]: Activate," he commanded, and felt the tingly power of the Gamer coursing through him. He willed the knowledge and skills to course through him, to become a part of him.
Skill Category Unlocked: Nasu-Verse Skills
And then he used his other Power. Assuming that mutants from the X-Men comics were still in the homo genus and therefore technically still humans, he enthused, "[Fiction Integration]: Activate."
He felt something click into place within him, and his whole body began to tingle with power. Sparks ran up and down his arms as he felt his control over the fundamental force of electromagnetism take hold.
Power Unlocked: Magneto's Power
Current Powers:
Fiction Adaption
Fiction Integration
Magneto's Power (0/100): Allows the user to control electricity and magnetism in all forms.
A hint box appeared: 'Your Power will gain effectiveness, efficiency, and versatility the more it is used...' He knew for a fact that Magneto was one of the more powerful mutants in existence, and could use his powers in a wide variety of ways. And that's why he chose it for his first integrated Power.
With a grin, he decided to move on to the last tab in the Player Data submenu:
Skills
Kishi-Verse Skills
Shurikenjutsu (0/100)
Ninjutsu (0/100)
Genjutsu (0/100)
Taijutsu (0/100)
Mundane Skills
Cleaning (0/100)
Cooking (0/100)
Fishing (0/100)
Gardening (0/100)
Hunting (0/100)
Observation (1/100)
Riding (0/100)
Speechcraft (0/100)
Stealth Arts (0/100)
Nasu-Verse Skills
N/A
Techniques
Ninjutsu Techniques
Substitution (0/100)
Transformation (0/100)
Sexy Transformation (0/100)
And just as soon as he finished looking through that menu, somebody standing right in front of him cleared their throat to get his attention. So he looked up and saw Mizuki, the man smiling down at him kindly "Naruto, would you like to go on a walk with me? I want to talk to you about something..." the white-haired chuunin said softly...
A/N: I won't be giving any in-world explanations as to why Naruto is aware of the fictional skills and knowledge that he adapts, or abilities and powers that he integrates. Just suspend your disbelief and go along for the ride, or don't read this if you can't get passed the lack of so-called realism here. Its fanfiction, people; not really meant to be taken to seriously, is it?