Plausible Deniability
Chapter 2:
The Beginning.
The first year or so of his new life, he was barely aware. His tiny baby brain simply couldn't handle his adult mind. Naturally, he spent a lot of time doing pretty much nothing. He didn't really care of course, when he was awake, time seemed to go by in a blur.
He was also, unfortunately, in an orphanage. He probably should have expected that, considering his choice of a random kekkei genkai. Currently, he was standing in front of a mirror, examining his newish appearance. He, or perhaps she would be more accurate, had the soft features of a baby girl. She'd known for a while of course, but that didn't really make it any better. Oh well, he/she would deal with it. She'd always been a pragmatic sort of person.
Her hair was an odd combination of black and orange. Primarily a dark greenish-black, with tufts of orange here and there. I can't say it is my first choice of hair colors, but it'll do. Doesn't really work on 1-and-a-halfish me, though.
Her eyes were also unusual, striking golden amber orbs that would have been beyond rare in her previous world. In this world, however, with eyes that could break reality… Well, they were pretty neat to look at. Speaking of said world-breaking eyes… should she try to get some? ...Hmm… But how to do so, there's only so many that are truly game-changing, and they're all in the hands of some dangerous players… Except for mayb-
Her head snapped to the left. Does that little shithead have my toy? She ran off to chase the fucker down, her wonderful baby level attention span hard at work.
She was three before her mind came back together enough to remember she could maybe open a menu of some sort. Somewhere in that time frame, she'd also learned her name, the caretakers had named her Geiru for whatever reason. With that in mind, she began thinking random words, clearly the way to solve this problem. Go toddler brain capacity go. Menu. Items. Skills. Inventory.
A menu popped up in front of her eyes and she jumped a bit, the menu moving with her. Oddly, it seemed to be linked to her eyes, like some sort of HUD or something. It was partially transparent and she could see through it fairly easily. It was also, unsurprisingly, empty. Close?
The menu vanished, good to know she has one of those, though. She resumed her random word guessing. Pause. Status.
Another menu popped up before her, a list including general information about her as well as various incredibly low stats.
Name: Geiru
Gender: F
Age: 3
Height: 2'10"
Title: N/A
Ryo: 0
Level: 1
Experience: 0/1000
HP: 130/130
CP: 130/130
STR: 4
DEX: 5
VIT: 3
END: 3
PER: 4
LUK: 4
SKILLS
Non-Elemental Ninjutsu: 0
Fire Jutsu: 0
Water Jutsu: 0
Earth Jutsu: 0
Lightning Jutsu: 0
Wind Jutsu: 0
Genjutsu: 0
Taijutsu: 0
Kenjutsu: 0
Stealth: 0
Weapon Throwing: 0
Chakra Control: 0
Fuinjutsu: 0
Kekkei Genkai: Scorch Release: 0
Abilities: None
Perks:
(Perk Points: 0)
[Gamer's Body]: You experience the world almost as if it were a video game. You regain HP and CP by sleeping. The amount varies depending on where you sleep.
[Speed Demon]: You are naturally faster than your peers. [+1 DEX per level]
[High Roller]: You are very lucky. [+1 LUK per level]
[Shakuton]: You can wield the incredibly deadly Scorch Release due to whoever your parents were. [+75% to fire and wind jutsu skill gains, Fire and Wind are considered Primary Elements, access to Scorch Release]
Scorch Release, huh? Guess I'm going all in with the ninjutsu then. Too bad I didn't save any perk points, could have got something to help that… Oh well, maybe later.
She was around five when she came to a sudden realization as she stared at one of the newer caretaker's hair. Geiru didn't really know much about her beyond that, she'd never really bothered to get close to any of the caretakers, but she did have nice hair. Brown to be specific, and long, but that didn't really matter. Can I… Observe.
Through careful observation, you have unlocked a new ability!
[Observe](Level 1: 20%): A skill created through careful observation. Use to gain more information on someone.
Name: Anika
Gender: F
Age: 23
Anika is currently acting as a caretaker in an Orphanage in Konoha. The reasons for this are unknown, but she does seem to enjoy her work with the kids.
Huh. Well that is certainly interesting. Gonna have to look into that… And so Geiru went back to her boring daily routine, which included many childish activities that didn't really interest her, and daydreaming and staring at various things, like people's hair, for whatever reason.
Six years after she was born, in early April, a chunin came to the orphanage with the yearly offer, as they always did. He seemed like a fairly average ninja, not that she could really tell considering the chunin was well out of the range of the only skill she'd developed, Observe. "Who here would like to go to the ninja academy this year?" Many of the orphans around Geiru rose their hands. She had tried to go last year and the year before, but they hadn't accepted her. Perhaps this year things would be different. She prepared to raise her hand, and…
New Quest!
Pass the Academy!: Go to class and pass your courses, don't you just love school?
Bonus: Graduate 1 year early
Bonus: Graduate 2 years early
Bonus: Graduate 3 years early
Bonus: Graduate as Kunoichi of the Year
Bonus: Graduate as Rookie of the Year
Rewards:
10,000 exp
2,000 exp
3,000 exp
5,000 exp + ?
5,000 exp
7,500 exp
Accept? [Y/N]
Whoa. That's… A lot of exp. She hadn't gained any or seen any opportunity to before this. She'd gained in some stats here and there of course, but that was it. Then again, I suppose that makes sense. Not like I'm going out on crazy adventures and doing quests, am I? I should probably accept it before everyone starts looking at me like I'm a weirdo, though. Actually… Did they… Stop moving?
She took a look around him through the transparent menu. They did stop moving… Awesome! I can abuse the shit out of this! She tried to move, maybe to go do some pushups or something like she'd been doing sometimes when people weren't watching her, but... Her feet were stuck where they were. Of course… Well, no point dragging it out then. Yes.
The menu disappeared, and she raised her hand.
Her first indication that something wasn't right came just a few days later, on her way to the academy for the first time. As she walked to the academy, she happened to look up at the Hokage Monument. It was actually the first time she'd seen it in her short life, and she stopped in her tracks at the sight of it. There were, of course, the usual faces. The first, second, third, and fourth Hokages were all up there. The problem was that there was a fifth face.
And it wasn't Tsunade's.
For the first month or so of her time in the academy, Geiru focussed heavily on the bookwork, trying to cram all she needed from the four years of class work into that time. Most importantly of this bookwork, however, was the history.
Now, this wasn't of any particular love of history, she did enjoy it, but she wanted to know what was going on before anything else. What she learned was… Disheartening, to say the least. The books did their absolute best to make it seem as if Konoha was still the legendary figure it had been in the past, but the truth was abundantly clear.
In the Third Shinobi War, Konoha had lost her Third Hokage, as well as all three of the Legendary Sannin.
Tsunade had died fighting Kumo, to the famed A-B combo that the place was so proud of. She had managed to take out Killer Bee in the process, however, which likely meant a new Ichibi container.
Orochimaru had fallen to the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, ambushed on his way back to Konoha. He had killed two of them, as well as destroying three of their legendary swords with his own. Whether he was really dead or not, Geiru had no idea, but he hadn't been seen since. Hopefully he was, if the man was still evil in this world, he would be a handful later on.
Jiraiya's end was more mysterious than his teammates. He disappeared on a long term mission in Rain country. He was believed to have been killed by Hanzo, but the man has not confirmed that he did so.
The Third died in a battle against over a thousand Iwa ninja, including one of their S Class ninja. From what she could tell it was likely the battle the Fourth had won in the original timeline, earning him the title "Yellow Flash". Hiruzen had, of course, managed to cripple Iwa's forces in the process, however, which led to them drawing back out of the war.
Shortly after the loss of the Third Hokage, Minato Namikaze had been elected as the Fourth Hokage of Konoha. With Iwa more or less crippled from the Third's sacrifice, the Fourth Hokage had changed his focus to dealing with Kumo and Kiri. He drew both of the nations into a trap on Fire Country soil, and slaughtered thousands of their ninja in one decisive battle, finally earning his title as the "Yellow Flash" and putting an end to the war.
If that had been the end of Konoha's misfortune, Konoha would likely still be the strongest of the five nations. Unfortunately, the Fourth Hokage was murdered a little over seven years ago by an unknown shinobi while his wife was giving birth to their child, a girl named Naruko.
Shortly after the Fourth Hokage's death, Kushina Uzumaki was elected as Hokage, seeing as she was the village's last S-ranked ninja and the wife of the most recent Hokage. Or at least, she assumed that was why. She certainly couldn't think of any other S-Ranked ninja that were left. Unless you included Danzo, but he was hella aged and didn't have the benefits of Orochimaru's research in this world. Eh, she was probably missing someone or another.
There were newer shinobi that could be S-Rank, of course. Itachi and Shisui, maybe Kakashi. That wasn't for sure though, too much had changed to be sure. It didn't matter anyways. Either way it boiled down to one big problem.
She wasn't in an unchanged timeline. She was of course born into the one with the crippled Konoha and most likely, enemies looking down on them from every direction, just waiting…
Well, at least this generation has plenty of potential to work with. Hopefully.
Over half a year later, in early January, the time had finally come. The Genin Exams. The academy instructors had been somewhat leery of giving Geiru this chance, she was an orphan without a clan after all, she had no one to lean on. That didn't change the rules, however. If an academy student shows exceptional enough skills, they could skip a year. Naturally, she had excelled too much for them to hold her back. The first year she skipped was back in May. Then, in September, she showed her newest sensei that she had the skills to skip the second year. And finally, just a couple months ago, in November, she had skipped into the fourth and final year of the academy.
If she had actually been a kid, that might have been considerably more challenging. As a child, she had been praised quite a bit for her brilliant mind, which had ended in a lazy attitude because she felt like she already knew everything she needed to get by. Perhaps she would have prospered here somewhat, but it doesn't really matter. She'd made it to the Genin Exams.
Currently, Geiru was standing in a ready stance across from her chunin sensei, a man by the name of Dosuke. He was fairly skilled, of course, certainly more than she could handle in a real fight, but this was just a spar. A chunin between the two of them swiped his hand downwards. "Begin!"
Geiru launched herself across the sparring ring at almost twice the speed an average academy student could move. As planned, she had focussed heavily on her speed in his training. It seemed to have paid off, as her sensei seemed slightly shocked as he deflected Geiru's right jab.
Geiru immediately shifted her weight with the deflection, jumping into the air and spinning her body down into a wide kick, hoping the surprise would be enough to grant him her success. Her foot slammed into the side of the chunin's head, and he stepped back a few steps.
Geiru landed and took a few steps back, examining her sensei's now more cautious stance. After a few more seconds, she launched herself forwards again, swinging a right and then a left fist, both of which were caught. With her hands caught, she swung her leg up to try to kick the man, but he released her fists and nimbly stepped back out of the way.
Without missing a beat, Geiru shifted her weight onto the foot she'd kicked with and moved forwards, her other leg moving into a sweeping kick towards her instructor's legs. He proceeded to jump over them up into the air, and Geiru threw herself up into the air after him, swinging a fist and connecting with his undefended thigh solidly.
Dosuke landed with a slight wince, before standing back into a defensive position. "One more, Geiru."
Geiru nodded even as she rushed in once more. She immediately swooped in with a sweeping kick, her hand dragging across the dirt as her instructor chose to jump backwards this time, before she pushed up and launched her fist at him into a solid block. Immediately afterwards, she swung her other fist forwards as she did before.
Just before it impacted her sensei's block, she opened her fist, a cloud of dust flying into the man's face. As the man was distracted trying to block out the unexpected trick, Geiru planted her fist into his gut and stepped back.
After very quickly recovering from her trick, the man faced Geiru. "Well, that was… Impressive. Can't say it was expected, but there's no rules against it. That's the fastest time a while actually. Good job, Geiru." He gave her a slight smile, rather amused despite the dirt covering his form.
Geiru gave a nod and rejoined her class. The test was fairly simple, all you had to do was either land three solid blows or last three minutes without getting forced out of the ring. Usually the second would occur, as the instructors tended to be far more skilled and fast than their students. Being fast enough to challenge them was rather unusual, even if they were lower tier chunin they were far above the level of n academy student. Honestly, if Geiru hadn't surprised him she wouldn't have landed those hits half as easily, but being a shinobi wasn't about being fair.
She tapped her foot slightly impatiently as she waited for the next test. Geiru wasn't really familiar with anyone in the class, she'd only been with them for a couple months after all, so she didn't really interact much.
When the next test came, the shruikan and kunai throwing test, Geiru passed it with a slightly below average score. She really didn't care about throwing weapons, since her plans revolved around tossing around ninjutsu as her projectiles. After that was the written test, which Geiru could only assume she got a decent score on. She didn't, couldn't focus much time beyond what she had in the first month or so on learning history and what not, after all, and hadn't had all the lessons on the subject.
Finally, Geiru was standing in a room with a desk covered in Konoha headbands. Her sensei, as well as the other chunin that had proctored their spar, were sitting at the desk. "Well, Geiru. Show us your clone jutsu."
Geiru went through the three hand seals required, smirking slightly as she decided to show off a bit. "Bunshin no Jutsu."
The room was filled with 15 perfect clones. And Geiru, of course. "Impressive, Geiru. Now, the Kawarimi?"
With a poof of smoke, Geiru replaced herself with the prepared dummy. It was a good bit heavier than her, meant for the older students most likely, but it was still within her range so no mishaps occurred. "Excellent. Now, the transformation jutsu?"
"Henge no Jutsu." With another puff of smoke, Geiru shifted into a new form. It wasn't one that was at all familiar to the instructors, but to her it was quite familiar.
In her place was a blue eyed man with short brown hair, standing around 5'8" or so with rather casual clothes on. It was, all in all, a rather good disguise. It wasn't perfect, however… She couldn't remember the details well enough, so while he certainly looked right to an outside observer… It was frustrating to her. She couldn't even remember what she once looked like entirely right.
Hell, to be honest she was forgetting more and more of that life as time went on. It just didn't matter enough to stick in her head anymore, all she could remember were… people. A few people were important enough, and the details of this world she'd learned in her past life. Either way, it wasn't a good feeling to forget so much of her life. She frowned before she heard her instructor speak up.
"Congratulations Geiru, that's good. You graduate." Dosuke smiled at her, beckoning the young ninja over to the desk. "Come grab your headband and you can head out."
Geiru walked over to the desk and picked up her headband.
Quest Completed: Pass the Academy
Gained 20,000 exp + Prodigy Title
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
New Title Gained: Genin
New Title Gained: Prodigy
Ah, so it was a title then. Geiru shrugged it off, she'd finally gained her first bit of experience. She'd noticed as she lived in this world that the average civilian was only level one, they likely had some increased stat points, but still level one. The highest level she'd been able to see so far was Level 21, and that had been a genin. Certainly shows how far she has left to go.
Anyways, Geiru dismissed the message and headed out of the academy, going to the orphanage to show off her brand new hitai-ate.
After her time showing off to the other orphans, who she'd likely be leaving soon, Geiru was up in the room she shared with the other girls. With a quick grin, she thought Status.
Name: Geiru
Gender: F
Age: 7
Height: 3'9"
Title: Prodigy (+15% to all skill gains)
Ryo: 0
Level: 6
Experience:3500/6000
HP: 460/460
CP: 1180/1180
STR: 10
DEX: 27
VIT: 6
END: 18
PER: 15
LUK: 9
Stat Points: 15
Ah, stat points. That would be useful, get her up to snuff in her other stats… or she could just pump up her speed…
Probably best to just go for an in-between on that one. With that in mind, she pumped six points into her DEX before distributing the rest between her other stats.
Level: 6
Experience: 3500/6000
HP: 820/820
CP: 1180/1180
STR: 12
DEX: 33
VIT: 12
END: 18
PER: 15
LUK: 10
Stat Points: 0
SKILLS
Non-Elemental Ninjutsu: 22
Fire Jutsu: 0
Water Jutsu: 0
Earth Jutsu: 0
Lightning Jutsu: 0
Wind Jutsu: 0
Genjutsu: 18
Taijutsu: 21
Kenjutsu: 0
Stealth: 17
Weapon Throwing: 16
Chakra Control: 0
Fuinjutsu: 0
Kekkei Genkai: Scorch Release: 0
Abilities:
[Bunshin No Jutsu](Level 11: 84%): Create an illusory clone. Requires 18 CP per clone.
[Henge No Jutsu](Level 15: 26%): Create an Illusory disguise. Requires 44 CP per minute.
[Kawarimi No Jutsu](Level 14: 60%): Replace yourself with an object within 28% plus or minus of your current weight. Requires 88 CP.
[Leaf Spinning Exercise](Level 12: 45%): A chakra control exercise taught in the academy. Reduces chakra costs by 12%.
[Observe](Level 9: 65%): A skill created through careful observation. Use to gain more information on someone.
Perks:
(Perk Points: 1)
[Gamer's Body]: You experience the world almost as if it were a video game. You regain HP and CP by sleeping. The amount varies depending on where you sleep..
[Speed Demon]: You are naturally faster than your peers. [+1 DEX per level]
[High Roller]: You are very lucky. [+1 LUK per level]
[Shakuton]: You can wield the incredibly deadly Scorch Release due to whoever your parents were. (+50% to fire and wind jutsu skill gains, Fire and Wind are considered Primary Elements, access to Scorch Release)
Oooh, a perk point you say? Sounds good to me.
With the mental press of a 'button', a new set of perks appeared before her, some old and some new.
[Chakra Monster]: You have monstrous chakra reserves, however your chakra control is stunted as a result. [+100% CP, -50% chakra control skill gains] (Points required: 1)
[Chakra Bender]: You have smaller chakra reserves than normal, and subsequently have better chakra control. [-50% CP, +100% chakra control skill gains] (Points Required: 1)
[Genjutsu Prodigy]: You are exceptionally skilled in the art of genjutsu. [+50% to genjutsu skill gains] (Points Required: 1)
[Taijutsu Prodigy]: You are exceptionally skilled at taijutsu. [+50% to taijutsu skill gains] (Points Required: 1)
[Kenjutsu Prodigy]: You are exceptionally skilled at kenjutsu. [+50% to kenjutsu skill gains] (Points Required: 1)
[Ninjutsu Prodigy]: You are exceptionally skilled at ninjutsu. [+50% to non-elemental ninjutsu skill gains, +50% to primary elemental ninjutsu skill gains] (Points Required: 1)
[Fuinjutsu Prodigy]: You are exceptionally skilled at fuinjutsu. [+50% to fuinjutsu skill gains] (Points Required: 1)
[Strong Man]: You are naturally stronger than your peers. [+1 STR per level] (Points Required: 1)
[Durable Body]: You can take more damage than your peers. [+1 VIT per level] (Points Required: 1)
[Stamina Freak]: You can keep going well after most of your peers. [+1 END per level] (Points Required: 1)
[Perceptive]: Your senses are more fine tuned than your peers. [+1 PER per level] (Points Required: 1)
[A Growing Girl]: You're growing at quite the fast rate, aren't you? [+10% EXP gained] (Points Required: 1)
[Friend of the Night]: The night will never lie to you again… probably. [Nightvision] (Points Required: 1)
[Heave, Ho!]: As they say in the modern age: Yeet. [Throw things 50% further] (Points Required: 1)
[Hunter]: Who wants some venison? [+50% DMG against animals] (Points Required: 1)
[Animal Friend]: Is this Disney? [Animals won't attack you unless provoked] (Points Required: 1)
[Bloody Mess]: And then, and then, he went KASPLOOSH! All over that wall! [+5% DMG, Enemies occasionally explode when killed] (Points Required: 1)
[Fortune Finder]: Okay Scrooge. [+100% luck in monetary situations] (Points Required: 1)
[Demolition Expert]: Try not to destroy anything important. [+100% damage to your environment] (Points Required: 1)
Are… Are those Fallout perks? Well, can't fault them for good taste. With that in mind, she dropped a point into Chakra Monster. Her way of thinking was: With the extra chakra, the slower learning in chakra control probably wouldn't matter: She had double the chakra to learn with.
A few days later, Geiru had returned to the classroom. Today was team assignment day. At the front of the classroom, her sensei was preparing to call out the teams and their senseis. "All right, listen up." The class of new genin turned their attention to their sensei. "I will now announce the teams, as well as their senseis. I hope you're happy with them, cause you're stuck with them till you become chunin." A few of the members of the class seemed shocked, poor fools. Anyone who paid attention in class should know by now that they'd be sorted into teams. This train of thought was ended as Geiru heard her name. "-ill be Geiru, Inuzuka Hana, and Sarutobi Hotaru, under Jounin Sensei…"
A/N: I decided a good portion of what happened in this chapter from a roll of the dice. Well, figurative dice, anyways. A number generator. Both when Geiru would begin her wonderful adventure and what kekkei genkai she would start with were random. She could have started as early as the second ninja war and as late as four years after Naruto was born. That was my time range. I'm also going to roll the dice for a few other things I don't think I should decide, but that's for later. Oh, and the average stat amount for a newly graduated genin at this point in history is between 13-16 for each stat.
Oh, and this chapter was mostly already written when I posted the first one. I just did editing and updating to fix mistakes and what not. Let me know if I missed anything, I'll fix it once I know. Anywho, the next chapter could be up next friday, three fridays from now, who knows? I'll work on it, see y'all later.
Name: Geiru
Gender: F
Age: 7
Height: 3'9"
Title: Prodigy (+15% to all skill gains)
Ryo: 0
Level: 6
Experience: 2500/6000
HP: 820/820
CP: 2360/2360
STR: 12
DEX: 33
VIT: 12
END: 18
PER: 15
LUK: 10
Stat Points: 0
SKILLS
Non-Elemental Ninjutsu: 22
Fire Jutsu: 0
Water Jutsu: 0
Earth Jutsu: 0
Lightning Jutsu: 0
Wind Jutsu: 0
Genjutsu: 18
Taijutsu: 21
Kenjutsu: 0
Stealth: 17
Weapon Throwing: 16
Chakra Control: 0
Fuinjutsu: 0
Kekkei Genkai: Scorch Release: 0
Abilities:
[Bunshin No Jutsu](Level 11: 84%): Create an illusory clone. Requires 18 CP per clone.
[Henge No Jutsu](Level 15: 26%): Create an Illusory disguise. Requires 44 CP per minute.
[Kawarimi No Jutsu](Level 14: 60%): Replace yourself with an object within 28% plus or minus of your current weight. Requires 88 CP.
[Leaf Spinning Exercise](Level 12: 45%): A chakra control exercise taught in the academy. Reduces chakra costs by 12%.
[Observe](Level 9: 65%): A skill created through careful observation. Use to gain more information on someone.
Perks:
(Perk Points: 1)
[Gamer's Body]: You experience the world almost as if it were a video game. You regain HP and CP by sleeping. The amount varies depending on where you sleep..
[Speed Demon]: You are naturally faster than your peers. [+1 DEX per level]
[High Roller]: You are very lucky. [+1 LUK per level]
[Shakuton]: You can wield the incredibly deadly Scorch Release due to whoever your parents were. (+50% to fire and wind jutsu skill gains, Fire and Wind are considered Primary Elements, access to Scorch Release)
[Chakra Monster]: You have monstrous chakra reserves, however your chakra control is stunted as a result. [+100% CP, -50% chakra control skill gains]