A/N: Sorry about the lack of poll… I kinda didn't think about how to post that on my profile, and found out I had to manually embed it on my profile. That's not something I'm good with, so I've got a different way of doing this. I'll tell you more at the end of this chapter.

Chapter 2: Special Cases

Have I mentioned how much I freaking hate Tobi? He sticks me in a death game with no way out other than helping beat the damn game, and gives me a set of abilities that I have no clue how to use correctly without fear of hurting something other than my intended target. Oh and then there's the fact that I have to keep the fact I'm not really in this game a secret. Yeah, I wasn't the happiest person in the game at the moment. It was only made worse because I had tried to catch up, but couldn't find Kirito anywhere in or around the small town I went to spend the night at.

I decided that I'd start doing some quests in order to raise my level some more before I tried to find the boss meeting. They were fairly simple ones, as would be expected from an RPG, but for my current stats, they did pretty well for me. I was actually able to get up to Level 5 before I decided to check my stats again.

Profile Name: Hiruzen
Level: 5
Str.: 15
Def.: 18
Mana: 30

Sword Skills:
Horizontal: 47/100
Vertical: 38/100

Chakra Skills:
Academy Chakra Control: 0/100

Original Skills
?: 0/100

Not bad at all, I thought. Although I'm probably going to need to be about level 10 for this boss fight. Not only that, but I actually need to start working on the Chakra techniques. This is going to take a while… I sighed as I went into my inventory and pulled out my chakra scroll. I figured I might as well study up on how to actually utilize it and practice with it.

The techniques in this scroll are only for your eyes and will only be just that. Newer abilities you find yourself able to do will be automatically recorded in here for future reference and training purposes. -Tobi

Well isn't that convenient, I thought before continuing reading.

The basic jutsu taught in this scroll will activate if signs are done in the correct order, similar to the sword skills of this game. The only difference is that if done correctly and with proper chakra control, they, along with any other jutsu you learn, will be more powerful than the sword skills.

Now there's something good. The first thing I got to learn from the scroll was how to find and direct my chakra around my body. Boy was that difficult because I noticed I had a very miniscule amount compared to most academy students, and that's saying a lot. Eventually I found it and got it to move where in my body I wanted it to. Once I mastered that, I moved on to the first academy jutsu, transformation. Following the hand signs, I transformed myself into the shippuden version of Naruto. And it was very poor. Comparing my transformation to an image of the real deal would've been like comparing Naruto's transformation into the third hokage when he was in the academy to the real thing. In other words, it had big lips, a screwed up headband, and one eye that was too big.

I used the mirror from my inventory to check my image. It didn't surprise me that my transformation sucked. What surprised me was that I was actually able to pull it off. Using Chakra for the first time was actually kind of fun. That feeling of happiness was short lived when I noticed my health bar get reduced by about 2%. I sighed and figured I needed to do chakra control exercises from the anime in order to keep my health from going down, and the first one I could remember; tree climbing.


It was another two hours and about 2 more levels before I decided to go back to the city and stock up for the meeting. I was in the town square when I saw the sign that told everyone where the meeting would be held. I looked at the clock in the corner of my vision and opened my map to find where the amphitheater holding the meeting was. It didn't take too long and I decided to head right over there to wait for Kirito and the idiots who would talk smack about the beta testers. I did wonder if it would play out like the actual series or the abridged series, and smiled.

When I got to the stadium, I found a seat and prepared for the crap storm that was about to ensue. I didn't need to wait long as a man with blue hair and brown armor came up to the front of the stage area. I knew him by his name, Diabel.

"Hey, everyone," he greeted, immediately letting me know how this would play out. "Thank you for coming to our little pow-wow. Now I know many of you are discouraged by the fact that two thousand people have died so far…" he was cut off by startled yells from the crowd.

"What?"

"Two thousand people are dead?!"

"It hasn't even been a month yet!"

"Oh my god, we really are screwed!"

Diabel continued, "And I know even more of you are down because we haven't even cleared the first floor yet."

"We haven't?!"

"I thought we were almost done!"

"You guys do know there are a hundred floors, right?" Diabel hesitantly asked.

"WHAT?!"

I chose this moment to speak up. "Dude, just get to the point, these idiots didn't listen clearly enough so you're just making things worse."

He nodded at me. "Thank you. The point is we've found the boss room." The crowd collectively gasped. "Now we've formulated a few strategies with some help from the beta testers-"

"Beta testers?" an arrogant voice sounded from the back of the crowd. I knew who it was from the sound of his voice. It was the jerk wad I was ready to beat the crap out of the moment I first saw him in the anime, Kibaou.

"Oh dammit," Diabel cursed as Kiabaou jumped down from the top of the stands to the center of the amphitheater. "Kibaou, what do you want?"

"Beta testers. They're the reason we're stuck in this game!" Kibaou accused. He had brown hair that spiked in all directions and a small bit of hair on his chin. He wore a white shirt with beige pants and iron looking armor covering his entire torso with a sword slung across his back.

"What? Do you have any evidence to back that up?"

Kibaou scoffed. "Evidence, I don't need no stinking evidence. Isn't that right, Jesus?" he directed his question to a member of the audience who had his name showing.

"It's pronounced Hezus, and I don't know you," the audience member replied.

"Well they still should've helped us newbies."

"If I might interject," another member of the audience stood up. He was a bald, African American man with armor over a grey and white vertically striped tank top and a battle axe on his back.

"And who the hell are you?" Kibaou demanded.

"I'm known by many names. Mountain Slayer, Thunder Lion, the Chocolate Axe. But you…you may call me…" a small glitch in my vision told me something was changed before he continued. "Agil." Another glitch reverted things back to the way they were.

"Well," Kibaou started. "That's a pretty masculine name."

"Shouldn't be. It's a girl's name." Agil replied.

"Okay, I don't know how to talk to you."

"Good then maybe you'll shut up and listen." Agil pulled out a small leather book from his inventory. "Does everyone here have this book in their inventory?" a few confirmations permitted the man to continue. "This book is full of tips and strategies to survive, put together by the beta testers. Everyone read it, yet some people still died. The beta testers did everything they could."

"I didn't read it," someone in the crowd mentioned.

"Yeah, I didn't either," another added.

"I skimmed it," someone else put in.

"What," Agil asked, surprised. "Didn't any of you read it? This is literally a matter of life and death."

"Well dude, it's like 80 pages."

"Two thousand people are dead!"

"THEY ARE?!"

I decided this would be a good time for me to interject. "You idiots need to learn to listen up. Regardless of whether or not they read it, the point is, they died when they had the same access to this knowledge as everyone else, and some of those deaths were probably other beta testers." All eyes were on me in astonishment as I walked down to the front and continued. "Kibaou, you think it's the beta testers' faults that we're stuck here. You couldn't be any further from the truth. The Beta testers were just as surprised as the other 9000 of us that we were stuck here, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of them committed suicide because of it. Yes they knew where to hunt and where they could get some good quests, but that doesn't mean they left the rest of us completely stranded. Now as Agil was saying, the book has the tips we need to survive. If people died because they didn't look through it, that's their own dang fault." I looked over at Diabel. "Sorry to interrupt you. Go ahead and continue." With that said I walked back to my seat.

"So, as Mr. Thunder Chocolate said, this book has some great strategies, including how to beat the first boss, Illfang." He cleared his throat before opening the book and continuing. "So after you enter the boss room, he's going to throw wave after wave of disposable minions at you…and you must answer in kind?" his face contorted to one of confusion.

"Eh…what?" someone in the crowd asked.

"Send the weaker players first. Good rule of thumb, if a player asked you for Col two seconds after meeting you, frontlines."

"Hah, serves 'em right." Kibaou laughed.

"If they hijack conversations to rant about their political views, frontlines."

"Aw, crap."

"If they ask female players for pics of their boobs, frontlines." This was met with many protests from the crowd.

"Oh, bull crap!"

"That's discrimination!"

"Boooooo!"

"Now, now, people," Diabel quelled the crowd. "I think there are some valid points being made here. Now, it goes on to say that when his heath is in the red, Illfang is going to switch from his axe and buckler to something called a Talwar. At which point, we should initiate a strategy called the Final Solution, and I'm just gonna stop reading! Geez, who wrote this thing?"

Kirito chuckled to himself a few seats away.

"Okay, so the guide's a bust. But it'll be fine; I'll come up with a great plan for us."

"Like what?" someone up front asked.

"Well…we could…erm…I'm open to suggestions."

"Well," another one started, "you know, we could like, group up, and…"

"And hit it till it DIES!" another one pitched in, earning a high five from the first player.

"That's…a good start," Diabel hesitantly said. "But let's hear some other suggestions."

"I'd like to hear more about this Final Solution." Another player perked up.

"Screw it. Everybody group up." I moved over near Kirito who scooted toward a girl in a dark red hooded cloak with a rapier at her left hip.

"So…Why aren't you with anyone?" he asked.

"I have my reasons," she answered plainly.

"Is it because you're a girl?" he deadpanned.

"No, it's because…I don't know how to play."

"Because you're a girl?"

"NO! It's just…I don't know how to open the menu…"

"What? But you can't do anything in this game without the menu. How've you survived all month?"

A scene flashed into my head of this character staring at a pastry for a few seconds before saying, "How do I eat you?!" Her voice brought me back to the current situation.

"It's…been a challenge…what about you two? Why haven't you joined the others?"

I spoke this time. "I prefer to stick with people I'm familiar with, and right now that list is composed of a crap load of NPCs and Kirito."

"Oh, lots of reasons," Kirito replied. "Mostly because everyone else is a bunch of mouth breathing neck beards that think LMAO is how French people laugh." As if to prove his point, someone in the crowd laughed.

"Haha, that's so lmao." Kirito groaned and shuddered in anger.

"Well, you certainly…speak from the heart." The girl stated.

"Funny I thought I was speaking from my mouth, but that shows what I know about biology."

"No one else wanted you in their group did they?" she deadpanned.

"Shut up! It was mutual!"

Diabel's voice got our attention again. "Alright looks like everyone's grouped up. Get plenty of rest people. We leave at noon."

"Ugh, Noon? That's so early" the audience groaned while I shook my head.

Diabel sighed. "Okay what about 1:00?"

"Dude, really? One? Come on man!"

"Ugh, fine, we leave at the crack of…2:30, I guess…lazy butts."

"Man, I'm gonna have to set my alarm…" someone grumbled.

"Oh, get over it, you lazy idiots. At least he's not making us go at 7:00 am!" I yelled to the crowd before turning to my new temporary party. "I'll catch up with you guys later. I need to talk to our fearless leader over there." They nodded and left for the city while I made my way to Diabel. I figured I needed to warn him of his demise in the boss fight, and if he chose not to believe me, it was his funeral. "Can I talk to you for a minute, Diabel?"

"Oh? Sure, what's up?"

I looked around to make sure we were alone before continuing. "This is going to sound very nuts, but I need you to bear with me and let me explain when I tell you. Can I trust you to keep a secret?" He nodded, looking a little confused. "Alright. The thing is, I had a vision of something last night." I was lying when I said this, but who would honestly believe the whole 'I'm from another universe that watches what you're doing half the time for entertainment' spiel? "That vision was of your death in the boss fight."

Diabel looked at me with a serious expression. "What are you talking about?"

"Something is going to happen that will cause you to get a mortal wound across your chest and die. I don't know why I saw it, but I know that it had to have been a vision from the future. I recognized most of the people here, including Kibaou and Agil. I had never met them before today though. So I'm telling you now; be cautious, and make sure you know your safe ranges." With that I walked out of the amphitheater and out into the field to go train some more.


Later that night, I went into a bar in the city and got myself a drink. The one thing I was thankful for was alcohol wasn't bad for you in the game and just served as a way to celebrate. That's what most of the players were doing, as they were in high hopes that they were going to win. One guy was on the mini stage, trying to sing karaoke, and failing epically, while everyone else was sitting around the tables and bar, ordering and drinking their drinks. I eventually finished my glass and went up to the stage with a small note to the NPC host telling what song I was going to do.

As I was about to go on stage, Kirito, along with our new party member, Asuna, walked into the bar. I got an idea and went to go get him to put it in motion. He noticed me coming his direction and waved at me.

"Hey, Hiruzen, what's going on?"

"I need you on stage with me for a minute." I replied, grabbing his wrist.

"Why? What's going on?"

"We're doing a song on here that's best done sober."

"Wait what? I can't sing!"

"Don't worry about it. Your part won't need to be sung. Plus, the lyrics will be on the screen." We made it up to the stage and I grabbed the mics, handing one to Kirito. The Host giggled and began the song, while a small screen appeared in front of us.

Another Irish Drinking Song

In the style of Da Vinci's Notebook

Kirito looked at me deadpanning before the song started up and I began my part.

Gather round ye lads and lasses sit ye for a while
And hearken to me mournful tale about the emerald isle
Let's all raise our glasses high to friends and family gone
And lift our voices in another Irish drinking song

Consumption took me mother and me father got the pox
Me brother drank the whiskey till he wound up in a box
Me other brother, in the troubles met with his demise
Me sister has forever closed her smiling Irish eyes.

Everyone in the bar began to tap their feet on the ground to the beat of the song for the chorus.

Now everybody's died so until our tears our dried
We'll drink and drink and drink and drink and then we'll drink some more
We'll dance and sing and fight until the early morning light then we'll
Throw up, pass out, wake up, and then go drinking once again.

I pulled down a map that was hanging behind the stage and pointed out the locations I sang in my next verse.

Kenny was killed in Kilkenny and Clair she died in Clair
Tip from Tipperary died out in the Derry Aire
Shannon jumped into the river Shannon back in June
Ernie fell into the Urn and Tom is in the tomb

I put the map away and continued my verse facing the audience.

"Cleanliness is godliness" me Uncle Pat would sing
He broke his neck a slippin' on a bar of Irish Spring
O'Grady he was eighty, though his bride was just a pup
He died upon the honeymoon when she got his Irish up.

As the crowd sang the chorus with me, I gave Kirito the signal to get ready for his verse. He looked at me with a look that said 'I will find a way to pay you back ten-fold for this' before turning back to the screen and beginning his verse. He tried to sound Irish, but came out more like he was from India.

Joe Murphy fought with Reilly near the cliffs of Alderney,
he took out his shillelagh and he stabbed him in the spleen.
Crazy Uncle Mike thought he was a leprechaun,
but in fact he's just a leper and his arms and legs are gone.

When Timmy Johnson broke his neck it was a cryin' shame,
he wasn't really Irish, but he went to Notre Dame.
MacNamara crossed the street and by a bus was hit,
but he was just a Scotsman so nobody gave a sh-ACH!

I applauded him as we continued the chorus, everybody having a good time and ordering more drinks. This made me think that the NPC in charge of the bar would be very happy in the morning when he counted his money. I realized it was time for me to continue the song and got the mic up to my mouth just in time.

Me drunken Uncle Brendan tried to drive home from the bar
The road rose up to meet him when he fell out of his car
Irony was what befell me great grand Uncle Sam
He choked upon the very last potato in the land

Connor lived in Ulster Town he used to smuggle arms
Until the British killed him and cut off his lucky charms
And dear old Father Flanagan who left the Lord's employ
Drunk on sacramental wine beneath the altar boy.

The crowd got excited again and sang the chorus while Kirito pulled me closer and whispered something in my ear, making me smile and nod as it was time to begin the final verse, only a lot slower than the other verses as everyone else began to shush each other to quiet down. I began the first line.

Someday soon I'll leave this world of pain and toil and sin

Kirito came next with the next two lines, with a surprisingly better Irish accent than his last verse.

The Lord will take me by the hand to join all of me kin
Me only wish is when the savior comes for me and you

I smirked before Kirito and I finished the verse together.

He kills the cast of Jersey Shore, and Justin Bieber too.

We sang through the chorus one more time before repeating the final two lines and ending the song. The audience was in an uproar of applause as Kirito and I bowed and exited the tavern with Asuna, who looked at us like we were idiots. I looked at Kirito with a smile.

"Now that is how you have fun before a boss fight, my friend," I told him.

"Did it need to be a song like that?" he deadpanned.

"Would you have preferred to try your hand at rapping to an Eminem song?" Kirito didn't answer and I took that as my answer. "I thought so."

"Well, since we're going to the boss fight tomorrow, I'm going to go find an inn."

"I might as well do that too. I'll see you guys tomorrow." With that, I left for my inn which, surprisingly enough, was in the opposite direction Kirito was going. I entered my room and flopped onto my bed. Sighing I reflected on the events of today and planned ahead for tomorrow.

If I want to get to a high enough level to ensure victory in the boss fight, I thought, I'm going to need to be up and in the fields by about 8:00 tomorrow morning. I can also try to get the hang of that transformation jutsu while I'm at it. I didn't want to be a burden with my unique skills that I couldn't control, so I figured I'd better get to at least level ten before it was time to leave tomorrow.

"I take it you've read through a bit of the scroll?" a deep voice said to me. I looked up and saw Tobi standing in a corner near the door.

"Yeah," I replied tiredly. "I also found out my transformation jutsu sucks big time. Oh, and I can't climb a tree very high without slipping and falling on my butt."

"Of course they do. You've only just started. You haven't even gotten through the basics yet, because you still have the clone and substitution jutsus to master before you make Genin."

"What do you mean? I'm not in the ninja academy! I'm in a freaking death game!"

Tobi just glared through his mask, sharingan blazing through the hole. "Your chakra abilities will be hindered until you get to a certain ninja rank. As you advance, you'll unlock better abilities and even better chakra control." I looked at Tobi curiously while he continued. "And I'm sure you've known about the boss fight coming up?" I nodded with a serious expression on my face. "I should warn you now, if you attempt to change the course of events too much, the consequences will come back to bite you."

"You mean like trying to save those who are supposed to die? I know… That doesn't mean I can't warn them of their imminent demise, like I did with Diabel. The way I worded it, I doubt he actually believed me."

"Remind me how you worded it."

"I said I had a vision of the future about something going wrong in the boss fight and to double check his safe ranges."

Tobi flinched slightly. "If you had said anything more, I'd have had to kill him myself if he survived, along with you for telling him."

It was my turn to flinch as I remembered I can't screw around with events in here too much. It's like going back in time; stay on the path and don't step on any butterflies…or something like that. And I only just realized that I almost stepped on a big one that would've screwed up the events here. I guess it was a good thing I was so ambiguous on my foresight.

"I see you've realized your error. Then you get why you need to let certain events play out." I nodded grimly as I remembered how much death there really was in this game.

"I'll keep my warnings ambiguous, yet informative."

Tobi sighed and adjusted his mask. "I'll trust you not to screw this up. Remember what you're supposed to do."

"I got it don't worry… though I can't promise I won't try beating the crap out of Kibaou if he gives me crap."

"If you impress me with your progress or abilities, you may find something for your efforts. Until then, my guinea pig." With that, the air around his eye hole distorted and swirled, sucking him up into it.


The next morning, I was out in the field working on my chakra control and transformation jutsu. I was getting better, but the lips were surprisingly the hardest part to fix. I had maxed out my pig slaying skill and moved on to wolf hunting. And lemme tell you, it wasn't easy getting there. I found out wolves are a little harder than boars, both the easy way AND the hard way. It was about 1:30 when I finally got up to my desired level of experience. I took one last look at my profile while waiting at the appointed location for the rest of the group.

Profile Name: Hiruzen
Level: 10
Str: 20 (+5)
Def: 20 (+3)
Mana: 35

Sword Skills
Horizontal: 68/100
Vertical: 59/100

Chakra Skills
Academy Chakra Control: 36/100
Transformation Jutsu: 100/100
Substitution Jutsu: 0/100

Original Skills
?: 0/100

Before I went to the appointed meeting place, which happened to be outside the dungeon, I got myself a better sword. The sword I bought was known as the Trainee's Katana, and I loved it. Why? Because it raised the main stat I was concerned with, strength. If I found my speed attribute, it'd probably get a bonus as well. I also upgraded my armor with one of the material drops I got from my pig and wolf hunting. It didn't do much in terms of actual stat increasing, but it did its job with what was available.

My Chakra control also improved quite a bit and I finally mastered the Transformation Jutsu. The next one on the list was the Substitution Jutsu, but I figured I'd work on that later. Then I'd begin working on the Clone Jutsu, but that was for later.

I was brought out of my thoughts when I saw the fearless leader himself, Diabel, and a few other players coming towards the dungeon. Among those people were the other two members of my party, Kirito and Asuna.

"I didn't expect anyone to be here this early," Diabel said, happy, and surprised.

"I'm an early riser, according to teenager standards," I replied, shrugging, "and I figured I might as well work on leveling up a few and honing my skills for the big fight. I also marked the dungeon on my map before I went to bed last night."

"At least someone here has the right idea," Kirito yawned.

Lazy idiot, I thought, snickering to myself. Asuna kept quiet throughout the whole ordeal. Her mouth was pulled into a small, thin line while her hood covered the top half of her face. I figured I'd better move over to them to make the party complete. All there was left to do was wait for the others.

We didn't need to wait long for the rest of the raid group to show up, yawning and dragging their feet. I sighed and shook my head at their attitude. Diabel's voice caught our attention once again, making everyone quiet down.

"Now is everybody ready to go?" he called out. Everyone raised their weapons in the air, yelling a war cry. "Then let's go!" The doors opened as we charged in.

Oh, the surprise we were in for…that came in the form of stairs.


A/N: Now, my method for choosing the chakra attacks for my character is simple. Just leave it in the reviews. Your choices will be Fire Style, Lightning Style, Medical Ninjutsu, or an Original Style. The winner will be revealed in the next chapter.

Also, Updates are going to be kind of scattered due to mass travelling with my mom due to her job, and school. But they will happen. Until then, my awesome people.