"Good morning, Naruto-kun," Tsunami-nee-chan called out as I entered the kitchen.

"Morning, Tsunami-nee-chan," I replied, stifling a yawn. The bastard and Sakura-chan were already up, the former brooding and the latter looking slightly tired as they ate breakfast. She'd been so exhausted after all the training she'd done on the bridge that I ended up having to carry her back. When we finally got back to Tazuna-jiji's house she'd even thanked me!

Best. Day. Ever.

I shook off my thoughts and focused back on the kitchen. "Where's Kakashi-sensei?" I asked, noting that our teacher wasn't around.

"Yo!" I heard him say from behind me.

I most definitely did not shriek in fright as I jumped into the air and whirled around. "Don't do that!" I cried, pointing at him indignantly.

His mask hid it, but I just knew that he was laughing at me. The bastard just grunted, but Sakura-chan and Tsunami-nee-chan were both laughing too, although they didn't sound mean about it.

"So, we're going to mix things up a little," Kakashi-sensei announced abruptly. "Sasuke is going to guard Tazuna while working on his tree-climbing today."

The bastard just grunted.

"Sakura-chan pushed herself a little too hard yesterday and her reserves are still recovering, so she'll join him and work on refining her new chopstick technique!"

Sakura-chan's entire body twitched and I instinctively ducked. Kakashi-sensei was doing that eye-smile thing again while Tsunami-nee-chan just looked on, confused.

"And Naruto will be working with me today."

"Alright!" I cheered, jumping out of my chair. "Awesome jutsu, here I come!"


Once everyone had split up to begin their respective tasks for the day, Kakashi-sensei led me outside and started hobbling into the woods.

"So, Naruto, I just want to say again that I'm very happy that you've been training on your own time. All serious ninja do that, and even the Hokage still has to find time to train to maintain his skill."

I grinned, rubbing my nose to hide my embarrassment. "Yeah, I'm just awesome like that."

"That said, I would like you to give me a rundown of what you've been doing so that I can give you some pointers, possibly clear up any questions you might have. You've got the tree-climbing down and are well on your way with water-walking. How far did you get with your chopstick exercise yesterday?"

"Uh... not very," I admitted. "I could move the kunai a little, but then the chopsticks sort of... blew up."

His pace faltered for a moment. "Really," he said flatly.

"Is that bad?"

"No, not bad," he said as his pace evened out again. "Just... a little surprising." He broke off a small branch from a nearby tree and handed me a piece of it. "I'd like you to demonstrate that, if you don't mind."

"Sure," I shrugged. I pulled out a kunai and dropped it on the ground. Kakashi-sensei watched silently as the kunai moved slightly before the stick shattered in my hand.

"Interesting," he said musingly. "The only thing that I can tell you at the moment is that you need to use less chakra... a lot less chakra."

"That's what I thought, too," I said, pleased that I had already figured out the problem. Not that I was any closer to fixing it, yet, but that's what training is for.

"Did you have any problems getting the chopstick to stick to the kunai?" he asked next.

"I did the first couple of times, yeah. I figured that part out quickly, though!"

"Well done," he said, but he sounded distracted. After a moment, he asked, "What other skills have you been practicing?"

"Um..., my Kage Bunshin?"

"Besides that."

I frowned and scratched my head. "That's it."

Everything was quiet for a long moment, and I started to feel a little uncomfortable with the way Kakashi-sensei was staring at me. He shook his head after a moment, and the tension passed.

"Normally I would tell you to keep working on your chakra control," he began, "but I think you are doing that very well on your own. Instead we'll focus on your physical skills."

"Aww... can't I learn a super-awesome jutsu instead?"

Kakashi-sensei sighed and rubbed his face. "Tell you what, Naruto. We'll spend the first part of the day working on your physical skills, and if you do a good job I'll teach you one new jutsu at the end."

"Yes!" I cried, jumping into the air. "What do I need to do?"

What followed was a long, grueling session where Kakashi-sensei made me drop into a stance and start running through various attacks and blocks. He kept making me change how I was standing and how I was moving, and he'd make me start over every time I "overextended" or "lost balance". It was really annoying, but after two hours of that I did feel more comfortable with how I was moving.

"Alright, now let's see you actually put that into action. Make a few clones."

"You mean we're not done yet?"

Kakashi-sensei just gave me a look, and I sighed and made the clones.

"Alright, now face off one at a time, you against a clone, using what you just practiced."

We spent another two hours doing that and I must have gone through a hundred clones. Even I could tell that something was different by the end of that, though.

"Very good, Naruto," Kakashi-sensei said, eye-smiling again. "For a single day that was some remarkable improvement."

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei!"

"Now, as I promised, I will teach you a new jutsu."

"Yes!" I shouted, leaping into the air. "What is it? Is it gonna be the Chidori? Oh, what about the Eight Gates thing, that would be awesome!"

"No, nothing quite that level," he responded. "Today you are going to learn... the Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

"That's... isn't that just like the normal Kage Bunshin?" I asked. I couldn't help but be a little disappointed; the Kage Bunshin was awesome, yeah, but I did already know it.

"Not at all," Kakashi-sensei corrected. "Allow me to demonstrate." With that, his hand whipped out and threw a kunai. Ten more kunai appeared out of thin air and all of them struck a nearby tree. A second later, the extra kunai vanished, leaving holes behind where they had been.

I stared at the tree, my brain slowly absorbing what I had just seen and connecting it with how I used the normal Kage Bunshin.

"Yes! I knew you'd teach me an awesome jutsu!"

"I'm glad that you like it," he said, "but before I teach it to you there's something you need to understand."

"Sure thing, Kakashi-sensei," I agreed. Anything to learn something that awesome.

"Let's imagine a scenario where you, Sasuke, and Sakura are all fighting a group of enemies. You have managed to defeat your opponent, and you have the chance to throw kunai at the other opponents from afar in order to support Sasuke and Sakura. With me so far?"

"Yep!"

"Now, suppose that the one you aim at is... let's say as far from Sakura as that tree is from me. You could easily hit the enemy with that kunai, right?"

"Absolutely!"

"Alright, now suppose that there's ten opponents, just as far away as the one was, all of them about to attack Sakura. If you only have time to throw one kunai, would you use the technique I just showed you to take them out?"

I opened my mouth to say yes, but paused as the scene played out in my head. If creating kunai was as easy as it was to create full on shadow clones, then I could make a lot of them. And if I did that...

"I'm glad to see you understand," Kakashi-sensei said, noting my suddenly pale face. "This technique, like all potentially lethal jutsu, is not to be used lightly. Never forget that."

I nodded solemnly at my teacher. I'd never be able to forgive myself if I hurt Sakura-chan because I was careless.

"Now then, the handseals are actually quite simple...,"

An hour later, Kakashi-sensei felt I was ready to try out the technique for the first time. He had me create a clone to do the test, though, while both of us watched from nearly a hundred meters away and behind the clone. He also made me give the clone my real kunai - something about it making everything a lot easier.

"Remember!" Kakashi-sensei shouted. "Use as little chakra as possible!"

I saw the clone wave, and then make a throwing motion. Nothing happened the first time, or the second, but on the third try a wave of black swept through the clearing. My jaw dropped when I realized that those were all kunai, then I let out a loud whoop, mirrored by my clone who ran back towards us.

"I said as little chakra as possible," Kakashi-sensei reminded the clone.

"I did!" the clone protested.

Kakashi-sensei rubbed his forehead for a moment, then just nodded. "Alright, let's go see the clearing, maybe get a rough count of the number of kunai you made."

The clearing looked like a herd of wildcats had passed through it – the ground was torn up and all of the trees were shredded. One kunai was sticking out of one of the trees, and two more were sitting at the bottom of the tree, thoroughly nicked and scratched.

"Aw, man," I whined as I picked them up. "Those were some of my best kunai." They weren't completely ruined, but they were close.

I turned to look at Kakashi-sensei, only to find him surveying the clearing with his sharingan eye exposed. He covered it up quickly but didn't say anything, looking thoughtful.

"How many did I make?" I asked curiously.

He didn't answer my question, instead turning to look at me with a serious expression. "Until your chakra control greatly improves, only use that technique when all of your allies are behind you."

I nodded just as seriously, horrible flashes of Sakura-chan getting hit by those kunai running through my mind. "I promise," I said firmly.

Kakashi-sensei relaxed. "Well, I think that'll be enough for today. You should spend the rest of your time working on your chopstick exercise. I daresay Sakura-chan will have a whole stockpile for you to run through."

We turned and started heading back towards Tazuna-jiji's house.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei... how many did I make?"

I twitched when he pulled out his perverted book and started reading, somehow managing to use his crutches at the same time.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei! Seriously, how many did I make?"

"Hmm?" he said, turning to look at me. "Did you say something?"


The next day Kakashi-sensei took Sakura-chan off to train while I was stuck guarding the bridge with the bastard. I tried to start a conversation with him – though I'm struggling to remember why I bothered – but he just grunted and brushed me off. Fine with me.

Once we reached the bridge, the bastard just started running up and down the side of the bridge, still not actually saying anything to me. I stuck to the top of the bridge with Tazuna-jiji and practiced the exercise Kakashi-sensei had assigned me. I ran through the rest of Sakura-chan's awesome chopsticks before noon, though, and started looking for something to do.

"Hey, Tazuna-jiji," I called out.

"What is it, kid? You see something?" he asked, distracted.

"Nah, nothin' like that." I knew nothing was going to happen for another... four days now. "You got anything you need help with? I'm out of chopsticks."

"Not unless you got a dozen workers hiding somewhere; one scrawny runt like you isn't going to help much," he said, smirking. I'd gotten rather mad the first time he'd said that, but I knew that was just how he talked and that deep down he thought I was awesome. Besides, if it was numbers he wanted that was definitely something I could provide.

"Is that all?" I asked, smirking widely. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" I called out, summoning up over twenty clones.

All of the other workers stopped, their attention drawn to the small horde of me that had appeared. Tazuna-jiji just stared at me for a moment before he grinned.

"You know what, kid? You're alright!" he said, giving me a thumbs up. "Now, how many more of those can you make?"


I wandered into the kitchen, yawning widely as I shook off my sleep. Kakashi-sensei had spent most of our second one-on-one session focusing on my taijutsu again, but I couldn't complain too much. The changes were small, but I was definitely improving a lot under his guidance – I just wish he'd done this sort of thing before.

Sakura-chan was already at the table, having once again gotten up before the rest of the team. She shot me a smile and a wave as I entered the room, and I waved back.

"Mornin', Sakura-chan!" I called out happily.

"Thanks again, Tsunami-nee-chan!" I said as she placed a plate in front of me. There wasn't a whole lot of food, but whatever she made tasted almost as good as ramen!

"You're welcome, Naruto-kun," she replied. "Like I keep saying, this is the least I can do for the ninja who are protecting my father."

I began to eat, my gaze wandering over the neatly organized and clean kitchen. Tsunami-nee-chan had returned to the stove, humming some nameless tune and smiling softly as she continued cooking, her movements deft and sure. Watching her reminded me of Ayame-nee-chan and Teuchi-jiji, in more ways than one.

I looked out the window next, noting the sunlight playing off the water of the small lake situated near the house. The weather was going to be pleasant today, it looked like – but then the weather didn't really change whenever we ended up going to Wave, did it?

I then turned my attention back to Sakura-chan, who was currently finishing off her breakfast. Her motions were neat as she divided the meal into small bites and ate each bite slowly, almost daintily. My mind wandered a bit, imagining that this scene was happening back in Konoha and that it was just the two of us. I would make breakfast – no, my one attempt hadn't turned out so well. Sakura-chan would make breakfast – yeah, she was certain to be awesome like that – and then we'd both sit down and eat, just talking and enjoying spending time with each other.

"Hmm..., it's been almost a week now," Sakura-chan said suddenly, pulling me out of my daydream. "When do you think Zabuza is going to try again?"

"I bet it would take him the full week to recover from his wounds," I replied, knowing that what I was saying was less a guess and more an absolute certainty. "So... maybe tomorrow?"

Yeah, it would happen tomorrow. Despite the repetition I still remembered the details of the first time vividly. Zabuza had killed a lot of the workers before the rest of my team got to the bridge, and by the time I arrived Haku had-

Shit.

Shitshitshitshitshiiiiiit.

"Naruto?" I heard Sakura-chan's concerned voice call out from behind me, but I was already bolting out of the house and running into the woods at full speed.

I can't believe I forgot about Haku! Stupid Kakashi-sensei changing everything up and throwing off my sense of time!

I scrambled through the woods, grateful that I at least remembered the clearing where Haku and I met every repetition. He would be out gathering herbs and stuff to help Zabuza, and we would have our conversation about precious people and true strength. I hadn't yet found a way to convince Haku not to go through with the attack on the bridge, but I just knew I was getting closer.

After several minutes, I burst into the clearing, panting lightly with exertion. Haku was there! I wasn't too late!

"Are you ok?" Haku asked. One of his hands was holding the basket while the other was concealed inside of it. His body was tense and even I could tell he was ready to bolt at any moment.

"Fine!" I said, smiling widely. "I was just, uh... running! Yeah, I make sure I exercise in the morning!" I laughed nervously, rubbing the back of my head.

"I see," Haku said, giggling softly. Kami, but that messed with my head. Haku was a guy, but he was cuter th- almost as cute as Sakura-chan!

"So anyway, what are you doing out this early? Gathering flowers?" I asked, steering the conversation back onto its normal course.

We went back and forth, covering my dreams of becoming a ninja and how it was important to protect precious people. I'd had this conversation several times, but it never failed to renew my determination as well as my respect for Haku. Even if he got stuck with a teacher like Zabuza, he was still one of the most awesome ninja I knew, and not just because of that ice stuff either.

"So, uh, what do you think about Gato?" I asked smoothly. The direct approach hadn't worked out so well before – Haku just pretended to not know what I was talking about, or fled – so I was going to be sneaky about it this time around.

"He's... rich and powerful," Haku responded slowly. "He doesn't seem to care about what happens to this country, but I'm sure we'll manage to get by somehow."

"Yeah! Naruto Uzumaki is here, so Wave is as good as saved!" I said confidently. I – well, we – had already saved it four times now, after all. "But, uh, yeah, Gato is totally evil and stuff," I added. "I hear he even betrays his own people, tossing them aside like garbage just to save himself a few ryo." My tone was harsh as I finished, my mind remembering the image of Zabuza and Haku laid out side by side, dead because of Gato.

"Yes, he is quite greedy," Haku agreed. He stood, smoothing out his kimono and picking up his basket once again. "I need to be getting back, but it was good to meet someone like you. I'm sure that you'll become strong in the future."

"You know it! And it was good to meet you too!"

"Let's meet again somewhere," Haku said as he left the clearing.

I watched him leave, then sat in silence in the clearing as I wondered if Haku had really believed what I told him about Gato. He hadn't acted all that differently from the prior times, but I refused to believe he was going to end up dying again!

"Naruto!" Sakura-chan panted out as she burst into the clearing. "What's wrong? Why'd you run off like that?"

I jumped to my feet, smiling broadly. "Sakura-chan! Nothing's wrong, I just remembered something I had to do!"

"All the way out here in the woods?" she asked slowly, looking around the clearing.

"Yep! But it's taken care of, so we can head back now!"

Sakura-chan's fist was clenched and trembling, but she just turned on her heel and stalked out of the clearing. "Don't make me worry like that, idiot!" she shouted over her shoulder.


I left a few clones behind to guard Tsunami-nee-chan and Inari and joined my team as we all traveled to the bridge the next morning. Kakashi-sensei felt that the odds were very high that Zabuza would show up soon and wanted all of us there to help out.

It had only taken one question from me to convince Tazuna-jiji to have his workers start showing up later in the morning – "What would happen if Zabuza showed up before we did?" Since I was helping out with clones more often, he was actually a little ahead of schedule now and could afford to lose an hour here and there. Sure, I could only handle the bits that didn't require actual training or experience, but there was actually quite a lot of that to go around, and my presence let all the other workers focus on the complicated bits.

We arrived to find the bridge shrouded in mist – like always – but more importantly there were no dead bodies this time around.

Normally we started fighting immediately, spurred on by Tazuna-jiji running ahead to check on his friends. He didn't have to do that this time, though, which opened an entirely new path for me to follow: stalling.

"Hey, No-Brows!" I yelled into the mist. Everyone was silent for a second, and I could feel my team staring at me, but I soldiered on. "Has Gato actually paid you any money yet?"

I heard Zabuza chuckling darkly in the mist, and he eventually replied. "Is that how they train ninja in Konoha these days?" he asked. "Even for a genin, his skill at mind games is pathetic."

Pathetic? Pathetic? Oh, no way was I letting that slide.

"Pathetic, huh? More pathetic than one of Kiri's Seven Swordmen getting hired by a midget to assassinate an old drunk and then failing?"

"Hey!" I heard Tazuna-jiji protest from behind me. "Who are you calling an old drunk, runt?"

"Naruto...," Kakashi-sensei said, his voice pitched to carry. "You shouldn't provoke someone like Zabuza, especially on sensitive subjects like that. It probably took him a long time to work up the courage to face us again after getting humiliated the last time."

Gah! Kakashi-sensei was trying to steal my thunder! Before I could come up with something to top that, though, Zabuza replied.

"You sound awfully confident, Copy Ninja Kakashi, but your precious sharingan isn't going to help you this time. You should have made sure I was dead when you had the chance, because I won't be making the same mistake."

No! If this kept up the fighting would start!

"You never did answer my question, No-Brows!" I shouted. "Do you really think a greedy little midget like Gato is going to pay you? I bet he's on his way here right now with a ton of thugs to try to take us all out, just so he can save some money!"

"Nice try, kid, but even a little shit like Gato isn't that stupid."

No, he was. He really, really was. Still, Zabuza wasn't taking me seriously and I could feel the tension rising. Think! I needed something to throw him off for a little while longer. Gato always showed up pretty quickly after the fighting started, so he should be pretty close by now; I just needed a little more time. I didn't have any good ideas though, so I just went with the first thing that came to mind.

"Haku!" I suddenly shouted. "Your fake hunter-nin partner is Haku, he has an ice bloodline, he's got this funky ice dome thing where he can move between the mirrors, and he uses senbon all the time!"

My team and Tazuna-jiji were staring at me like I was crazy, but I was more concerned with Zabuza's reaction. So far, there wasn't one, which could be a good thing.

"If I'm right about that, then I could be right about Gato too, couldn't I?" I called out.

More silence.

"Naruto," Kakashi-sensei whispered as he crouched next to me, "are you actually being serious? Is all of that true?"

"Of course it is, Kakashi-sensei," I whispered back. "I wouldn't lie in a situation like this!"

He wiped his hand over his face and let out a sigh, then said, "Alright, I believe you. We will be talking about this later, but, for now... just let me take it from here. Don't say anything else, alright?"

"But!"

"Alright?" he stressed, his voice stern.

I didn't like it, but I knew better than to go against Kakashi-sensei when he was being all serious like this.

"I wouldn't pay too much attention to my genin, Zabuza-kun," Kakashi-sensei called out. "He's just a little nervous about his first mission. I'm sure his completely random guess as to the abilities of your group has nothing to do with the fact that we knew you would be here in Wave and that our real mission has nothing to do with the bridge. I'm sure that any large groups of mercenaries entering the battlefield are a complete coincidence, and aren't meant to serve as a distraction so that we could capture a missing-nin operating too close to the Land of Fire. I'm sure that Konoha isn't interested at all in securing another bloodline and possibly acquiring one of Kiri's Seven Swords, with or without its wielder... right?"

More silence.

I guess it was because everything was so quiet that we heard to the shuffling of feet and the clank of metal on metal coming from the far end of the bridge. It sounded like Gato and his group had shown up, finally!

"Well, well...," Zabuza's came echoing out of the mist. "It looks like the little brat wasn't so full of hot air after all. I'm quite curious why you know so much about us, but I have more pressing matters to attend to. Since my employer has breached the contract, I'll be collecting my severance fee." He let out a dark chuckle, and I felt a chill go down my spine. "I'll be seeing you around, Copy Ninja Kakashi."

"Zabuza!" Gato's voice came echoing out of the mist. "Why haven't you killed the bridge builder yet! I'm not paying you to slack off!"

There was no answer.

"Hmm...," Kakashi-sensei said, rubbing his chin. "How many mercenaries would you say he brought, Naruto?"

"Uh...," I muttered, trying to recall. There had been a lot of them, I'm sure, but I honestly never paid attention to the exact number. "A few dozen?" I answered finally.

He nodded then turned to Tazuna-jiji. "Anything important at the end of the bridge that we can't afford to damage?"

Tazuna-jiji shook his head rapidly, looking pale. "No, nothing. Are we going to be ok? I mean, that's a lot of people to fight..."

Kakashi-sensei nodded again. "We've got two options," he mused, talking to the team in general. "One, we can engage in close combat. One-on-one any of us could take out a common thug without a problem, but there are a lot of them and in the confusion you guys will almost certainly end up taking a few hits."

"What's the other option?" Sakura-chan whispered.

"We use jutsu to take them out at long-range."

"I don't have any jutsu like that," she admitted. "But I bet Sasuke-kun does! He's got his fireball!"

"I was actually thinking of something with a longer range than that," Kakashi-sensei said, turning to me. "Are you up for this, Naruto?"

My face hardened as I thought about what those thugs would do, what they had probably already done elsewhere. I looked Kakashi-sensei in the eye and nodded firmly.

"Yes."

He held my gaze for several seconds before he nodded in return. "Three volleys should do it."

"Zabuza!" Gato called out again. "Answer me, you worthless ninja!"

"Kakashi-sensei, what-" Sakura-chan started to ask, but he quieted her as I walked forward to stand between my team and Gato's thugs.

"Enough of this," I heard Gato say. "I should have known better than to rely on someone like that. Alright guys, you know the drill. Just make sure you leave some of the townspeople alive."

I pulled out three kunai even as cheering and shouting erupted at the end of the bridge. Through the thinning mist I could make out swords waving through the air and the group of men standing at the end of the bridge beginning to press forward.

I tossed the first kunai, my hands flashing through the seals with practiced ease. "Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," I said firmly. My eyes watched as the single kunai suddenly turned into a nearly solid wall of black. I threw the second kunai and repeated the technique.

This wouldn't be the first time I killed someone – or even the first time I killed some of these thugs, as strange as it sounded – but always before we were actually fighting. This was different; we weren't fighting, and they really didn't even have a chance.

The screaming started as the first wave hit.

My hands shook slightly as I threw the third kunai as hard as I could and called out the name of the technique one last time.

The screaming dropped off sharply as the second wave hit, and nearly stopped entirely once the third wave arrived.

I was still holding the last handseal when Kakashi-sensei's hand settled onto my shoulder. "I'll take it from here," he said softly. His grip tightened for a moment. "You did the right thing."

Then he was walking forward into the too-thin mist. I could see movement here and there among the mercenaries, but nearly everything was still.

I turned around abruptly, walking back to my team. My eyes scanned their faces, from Tazuna-jiji's sad and resigned expression to the surprise and... respect? on Sasuke's. It was Sakura-chan's expression that I focused on the most, though, and also the one that hurt the most. Her hands were covering her mouth and her eyes were wide as she stared at me. She flinched when we made eye contact, and I gave her a wan smile before looking away.

Then I ran to the edge of the bridge and threw up.


Things progressed quickly after that. Tazuna-jiji completed his bridge in a matter of days once all the workers came back, and I even helped out some more. Inari, once he'd heard that I had killed Gato myself, looked even more awed and amazed than he usually did. Kakashi-sensei kept disappearing for hours at a time, and I still didn't know what he was doing even after going through this so many times.

Some things were different now, though – really different.

The bast- Sasuke was acting weird, as he didn't take every opportunity to make me look bad or show off anymore... not that there were many chances for that at the moment. He didn't glare like he used to, and even though it was odd I found that I didn't feel like pointing out every mistake he made either.

Sakura-chan was still avoiding me. Well, sort of. She didn't run away when I approached, but she kept starting to say something then interrupting himself, or looking at me funny. She didn't talk to me like she had been recently, and even the constant corrections and talk about "Sasuke-kun" this and "Sasuke-kun" from the old days would have been better than these awkward and uncomfortable silences.

So went our triumphant return to Konoha.


I returned to my apartment, not even the thrill of completing (again) my first A-rank mission (this time) making me feel any better. I'd even managed to save Haku and Zabuza, which was awesome, but they'd really just run off. In my head I had imagined that they would join forces with us against Gato, and then Zabuza would realize that becoming a Konoha-nin would be much better than running around as a missing-nin and we'd all go back to Konoha together.

The moment I closed the door to my apartment the world turned gray and I found myself looking at myself again – only this time I hadn't done anything to cause this.

An update is ready to install. Do you wish to continue?

"Huh?"

An update is ready to install. Do you wish to continue?

"No! I'm tired of not knowing what the hell is going on, so no and hell no!"

An update is ready to install. Do you wish to continue?

"Fuck. You." Maybe it was my imagination, but I would swear for just a moment I heard deep, rumbling laughter.

An update is ready to install. Do you wish to continue?

I let out a scream of frustration before finally giving in and saying, "Yes," I said tiredly, slumping in defeat.

The gray abruptly shifted to black, and for a brief moment I worried that I had gone blind. Then a speck of blue appeared in the distance, gradually growing larger in fits and starts. After a minute the blue completely filled my vision before everything abruptly shifted into gray once more.

Update complete. You may review the change log from within the Help Menu.

The world faded back to normal once again.

"Help menu? There's a help menu? Where the hell is it? And what the hell is 'change log' supposed to mean?"

I charged into the kitchen, determined to see if the word "Help" was now listed. It wasn't, but I did see "Level Up".

"Well... that's something, I guess. Level Up."

Congratulations! Naruto Uzumaki has achieved Level Six!

Naruto Uzumaki has five (5) skill points to assign.

Naruto Uzumaki may select one (1) new ability.

"Abilities."

Choose one of the following abilities:

Dodge (0/5)

Link (0/5)

Overpower (0/5)

Restore (0/5)

Unique: Army of One (0/5)

Unique: One Man Army (0/5)

Well obviously I was going to pick one of the Kage Bunshin abilities. But, uh... which one was which again? What was it Hinata had said? Oh yeah, Army of One was a person as strong as an army and the other one was a bunch of clones.

My recent experiences with Kage Bunshin Barrage crapping out on me meant I wasn't all that eager for a repeat of that. The eye-opening session with Kakashi-sensei about my taijutsu skills also showed me that I could really use a personal boost rather than more clones. I mean, the clones were just me anyway so-

Oh.

Wouldn't that mean that if I got stronger my clones would be that much stronger too? What was it I had heard... someone say? "Zero times a hundred is still zero. Just because you can make clones doesn't mean you are stronger."

Guess... uh, whoever that was knew what they were talking about after all.

In that case, the choice was obvious.

"Army of One!" I declared firmly. Once that was taken care of, I put the rest of my points in ninj- wait. Maybe I should put them in taijutsu instead? Kakashi-sensei seemed to think I needed the most work there... but my new jutsu was awesome! And I could make it more awesome!

Hmm... in times like this, there was only one thing to do. I closed my eyes and reached into my pantry, pulling out a random cup of ramen. When I opened them again, I was holding a pork ramen. Pork was meat, and meat was more a taijutsu thing. Taijutsu it was.

Level Up Complete! You need 6,998 experience points to achieve Level Seven.

Saving Progress...

Once I had those points taken care of, I opened up my character profile thing again.

Naruto Uzumaki – Genin

Level: 6

Threat Rank: C

Experience Points: 2/7,000

Teacher: Kakashi Hatake

Statistics:

Power: 7

Precision: 3

Toughness: 5

Vitality: 10 (15)

Skills:

Fuinjutsu: 0/1

Genjutsu: 0/6

Kenjutsu: 0/1

Ninjutsu: 27/31

Taijutsu: 6/11

Abilities:

Army of One (1)

Kage Bunshin Barrage (*)

Traits:

Kami's Luck

Jinchuuriki

Will of Fire

Will of Fire

"... What? What happened to the skills? Why are they different now? And since when do I know kenjutsu?" I don't know why I even bothered asking anymore; I knew no one would answer. Still, if this changed, what else might have changed? I opened up the log next, to see what it had to say.

Active Mission: None

Active Mission Details: N/A

Arc: Chuunin Exams

You have completed:

D-ranks: 15

C-ranks: 0

B-ranks: 0

A-ranks: 1

S-ranks: 0

Special Events: 4

You have unlocked:

Achievements: 4

Special Characters: 0

Special Missions: 1

There was new stuff here too... although I still had no clue what it meant.

"Achievements?" I asked curiously.

You have earned the following achievements:

Diligent Student

Fake Fake Out

Now That's Dedication... Or Something

This One's A Gimme

"Diligent Student?"

During the t*(^&%&cv^R3(d-)d45sdfF)(^5V^H

I doubled over, clutching my head in pain as the words dissolved into something different and strange and just wrong.

"What the fuck was that?" I asked, my head pounding.

I really wanted to know what that achievement stuff meant, not to mention the rest of it, but I don't think my head could take another bout of... whatever that was right now. Sighing, I left the kitchen and decided to just call it a day.

I paused, looking around suspiciously; for a moment, I could have sworn I heard that laughter again.


The next day I was called in to meet with Hokage-jiji. At first I thought my whole team would be there, but when I arrived it was just me, Kakashi-sensei, and the Hokage. Looks like I got to take another shot at convincing them I wasn't just making stuff up.

Yay.

"What's up, jiji?" I asked politely, smiling.

He smiled back at me, motioning for me to sit in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"I wanted to ask about your mission, Naruto-kun. I heard from Kakashi here that things got somewhat out of hand."

"Nothin' I- I mean we couldn't handle!" I replied.

"Kakashi also pointed out that you played a vital role in the mission at several points. He is very proud of you, and I am as well."

I was grinning so hard my cheeks hurt, and my eyes stung a little as something got in them, but I'd never felt happier than at this moment... except for maybe when I got to carry Sakura-chan back from the bridge that one day.

This was a close second, though.

"He also mentioned that you had acquired some information about your opponents... Zabuza Momochi and his accomplice Haku, I believe it was. I'm quite curious how you managed to do that, and if you might have any other information that could help the village."

Crap. I had been hoping this wouldn't come up again after Kakashi-sensei didn't follow up on his promise that we would "talk" later, but it looks like it just got delayed instead.

"Uh...," I said, trying to buy myself some time. My mind didn't come up with anything, though, and I really didn't want to lie to Hokage-jiji anyway. "You won't believe me," I said finally, slumping in my chair slightly.

He just smiled warmly at me, his eyes crinkling as he chuckled. "My boy, I've been around for a very long time and I've seen and heard some very unbelievable things that were nonetheless true. Whatever it is you have to say, I don't think it will be that strange to me."

I drew in a deep breath, glancing over at Kakashi-sensei who was staring at me curiously. "I've lived through it before," I said.

The Hokage blinked at me, once. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I didn't quite catch that."

"I've lived through that mission before... four times, actually. The first time around we ended up fighting with Zabuza and I saw what Haku could do."

I saw the Hokage glance at Kakashi-sensei, who just shrugged.

"That... well, I suppose I haven't heard something like that before," the Hokage admitted. "Not that I doubt you, Naruto-kun, or think that you would lie to me about something like this...," he trailed off, staring at me sternly.

I chuckled nervously, recalling my few early attempts to prank the Hokage himself before I realized just how awesome he was, old or not.

"But do you perhaps have some way of proving this?"

"Nothing I haven't already tried," I admitted. "Every time this topic comes up, even when I have evidence like the stuff with Zabuza, you guys act like nothing happened the next day."

The Hokage and Kakashi-sensei exchanged another glance, much longer this time, and I saw a clear frown on Hokage-jiji's face. "Why the next day?" he asked gently.

"I don't know. Well, there is the fact that my new jutsu only works five times per day, so maybe something happens between today and tomorrow?"

"Your new jutsu?"

"I assume you mean the Kage Bunshin Barrage, right Naruto?" Kakashi-sensei asked.

"Yeah, that one. Sakura-chan figured out that I could only use it five times a day. I think it's because I put five points in it."

"I'm afraid you've lost me, Naruto-kun," the Hokage said. "Points?"

"Yeah, there's these weird floating words in my apartment, and sometimes 'Level Up' will be there. Every time that happens I can put one point in an ability." I saw the expression on the Hokage's face and just sighed. "You guys can't see them, you've been there before, so that won't work as proof either."

"Could you demonstrate this ability for me?"

"Well, I could, but I have to actually use it on somebody."

"I'm sure Kakashi won't mind, will you?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama," Kakashi-sensei replied as he raised his headband to expose his sharingan eye.

I shrugged and pointed at him. "Kage Bunshin Barrage."

Clones popped out of nowhere and jumped onto Kakashi, pummeling him into the ground. Despite the small hope that I had actually hit him this time, when the dust settled he was just sitting on the couch looking completely unruffled.

"That is skillful use of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Naruto-kun," the Hokage said, "but I didn't see anything unusual about the technique itself."

"Actually, Hokage-sama," Kakashi-sensei interrupted, "I did notice something strange; that technique didn't use any chakra."

The Hokage's eyes narrowed. "Really?"

Kakashi-sensei nodded firmly. "Absolutely none at all. To my sharingan, it looked like he just pointed at me and said the words."

The Hokage turned his attention back to me. "And you say you gained this ability from... floating words in your apartment?"

"I think the words are just a part of whatever is going on, but yeah," I nodded. I would have felt hopeful, as this was the farthest I'd ever gotten in convincing them that this was actually happening, but they'd still just forget by tomorrow anyway.

Hokage-jiji was silent for a few minutes, a thoughtful look on his face. Kakashi-sensei and I just waited. Eventually he opened his mouth to reply, then his eyes glazed over. I sighed, looking over at Kakashi-sensei and noticing that he looked much the same.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Naruto-kun," he said. "I'll be sure to look into it, but for now you are dismissed."

I nodded, trudging out of the office. The first time I thought it was kinda weird, but other than confirming for me that something was going on – as if the fact that I kept reliving the same time period wasn't enough – it didn't really help my situation at all. At least that would be the end of the "How did you know that?" questions.


After my meeting with the Hokage, I wandered around the village for a bit before deciding to test out my new ability. I wound up back at Training Ground Seven, in a tense standoff with the training logs.

"Army of One!" I announced. If it worked like the Barrage and one point meant one use, I'd have to make this count. I felt that cold-water sensation and eagerly awaited whatever change was about to happen. Would it summon a single bad-ass clone? Would I suddenly get awesome muscles like Lee and Gai? Maybe get as fast as Kakashi-sensei? Maybe it would turn me into a not-old Hokage-jiji!

I kept waiting for several seconds before I frowned. I didn't feel any different, I didn't see any clones popping up, and I certainly wasn't growing awesome muscles or anything.

Maybe it wasn't a physical change, though. I pulled out a kunai and threw it at the log as hard as I could. It landed with a solid thunk, but it didn't sink any deeper into the log than I would have expected.

Maybe it was a ninjutsu thing? I threw another kunai, using my kunai clone technique, but while the wall of black showed up it didn't seem larger or thicker than before.

"What the hell?" I cried out, frustrated.

I punched and kicked and sliced and jutsu'd as hard as I could, but I couldn't tell any difference at all from before I used the new ability.

This sucked.


The few weeks before the Chuunin Exams passed in a blur. I was starting to get really wound up for the coming confrontation in the Forest of Death – and that name was a little too appropriate now – and didn't pay much attention to what was going on.

I managed to run into Gaara and his team again – another of those things that always happened the same way no matter what – and once again thwarted that weird kidnapping attempt on Konohamaru. Through all of that I kept getting the weird feeling that I was missing something, but it wasn't until we got to the Academy to take the first exam that I realized what it was.

Lee had once again challenged Sasuke to a match – he never challenged me, even though I was sure I could put up a better fight – and they had moved to a more open area. I kept waiting for the bastard to turn on his stupid eyes, but he never did. I mean, every time he got them fighting Haku he-

Um.

This... might be a problem. Even I realized that Sasuke's funky eyes were a major factor in allowing us to survive as long as we did against Orochimaru. I really, really didn't want to see what would happen if things went even worse this time around.

Heck, even his stupid Lion Combo thing came from this fight against Lee – which he was losing badly, much to my enjoyment – and now he wouldn't have it.

I barely noticed moving into one of the classrooms and sitting down to take the test for the first part of the Exams. While everyone else was writing answers down frantically, I was focused on trying to figure out how we would manage to make it through the fight with Orochimaru without dying. I was rudely pulled out of my planning when Scarface yelled something about everyone having to make a decision.

"Give it a rest, old man!" I snapped, annoyed. I felt all eyes in the room focus on me, but I just stood up and slammed my hand on the desk.

"Like hell I'm going to back down over something like this! I'm going to get through this test no matter what! Believe it!"


A few hours later we were deep in the forest and I was starting to jump at every gust of wind and creaking branch. The snake bastard was in here somewhere and he was coming for us.

"Naruto...," Sakura-chan asked hesitantly. She still wasn't really talking to me, but she hadn't been fawning over Sasuke-teme as much as she used to either. I'd tried to cheer her up, but that just seemed to make things worse for some reason. As much as it hurt, though, I couldn't really afford to worry about it until after we got past Orochimaru.

If we got past Orochimaru.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan?"

"Are you... feeling alright? You seem, um, really nervous."

Normally I would have bragged about how tough I was, but not this time. "I am nervous," I admitted. "There's someone really, really dangerous in here, and I just know we're gonna have to fight him."

"Like you knew all that stuff about Zabuza and Haku?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah."

She looked pale and her hands were shaking a little bit. Even if my heart wasn't really in it, I couldn't just leave her scared like that.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan," I said firmly. "No matter what, I won't let you get hurt. That's a-"

A howling gale tore through the clearing and slammed into me, flinging me through the trees. Stupid snake bastard just had to interrupt my conversation with Sakura-chan. Yet another reason to beat the shit out of him.

I took care of the giant snake - something that got easier and easier every time - and rushed back to my team as fast as I could.

"-haps there's hope for you after all," I heard as I approached. I saw Orochimaru holding Sasuke up by his throat, a sadistic grin on his face. I couldn't see Sakura-chan anywhere.

"Get away from him, you bastard!" I snarled as I charged forward. I'd barely made it three steps before something slammed into my side and tossed me against a tree. I shook my head to clear the ringing and turned to face my attacker, which turned out to be a clone of Orochimaru.

"I have no use for you, brat," the bastard hissed. "Stay out of my way."

"Like hell I will!" I growled. "I'm going to take your ass down!"

"Run," I heard Sasuke gasp, and I turned to look into his spinning red eyes. Huh, I guess he managed to turn them on even without his fight against Haku.

"No fucking way am I running, so just shut the hell up."

"You should learn to listen to your teammates; you might live longer."

"Kage Bunshin Barrage!" I yelled, pointing at the Orochimaru holding Sasuke up. The clones jumped at him, but were almost instantly dispelled with absurd ease. I couldn't even see him moving, just clouds of smoke appearing all around him as the clones were destroyed.

Then his clone was attacking me again, and I took several strong hits before getting slammed into another tree. I was having a harder time clearing my head now; my vision was getting blurry and I could barely hear anything over the ringing in my ears. This fight wasn't going any better than the previous ones, even with my usage of Kage Bunshin Barrage.

I felt despair washing over me again as I realized that even with all of my effort and all my new abilities I still hadn't managed to do any better against Orochimaru. I was going to die, again, and everything I'd accomplished this time around would be gone: the new respect Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan had for me (even if Sakura-chan was acting a little odd right now); the fact that Zabuza and Haku had managed to survive; even Sasuke-teme acting a little less like a bastard than he normally did.

"Naruto Uzumaki is not a coward," I muttered. Orochimaru was staring at me with that smug smirk on his face, but I didn't care. "Naruto Uzumaki does not give up."

I had another move now, though, didn't I? Barrage wasn't working at all, but maybe that would help. I had no clue what it did, but I was sure it did something.

"Naruto Uzumaki is an Army of One!" I shouted, climbing to my feet. I felt that cold water sensation again, so I knew it had worked. There were still things I hadn't tried, plans I hadn't even thought up yet. No way was I going down without a fight!

I turned my head to look at the real Orochimaru again, my hands coming up to form the handseal for the Kage Bunshin, but I froze when my gaze landed on something else: Sakura-chan, lying in a crumpled heap at the base of a tree.

She wasn't moving.

My world turned red.


I found myself outside of my body again, just like when I was in my apartment and using the floating words. This time, though, the world wasn't gray, and my body was still moving around. It was also changing: my teeth were getting longer, the marks on my cheeks were turning much darker and thicker, and my eyes were now blood red with black slits in the middle.

"Hey! What the hell is going on?" I asked.

No answer.

I watched as my body launched itself forward, hands extended in claws – actually, my hands had claws now, my fingernails changing into something that wouldn't look out of place on a wolf... or a fox – and aiming for the clone. The clone backhanded me away; or rather, it tried to.

The blow passed through my body as if it wasn't even there, and then my claws were ripping through the clone and it collapsed into a pile of dirt.

My body landed in a crouch, head swinging from side to side for a moment, then threw its head back and let out a feral roar. I shuddered; that sound was far too bestial to have come out of a human mouth, and the fact that it was me just made it worse.

"Oh? So you can use that power a little. Interesting...," Orochimaru said. Then his eyes narrowed. "But what was that you just did?"

Sasuke had managed to turn his head slightly, and was staring at me with wide, frightened eyes, his sharingan spinning madly.

When my body heard Orochimaru's voice, it abruptly cut off the roar and then launched itself forward, all its attention focused on the bastard. Even as terrible and disturbing as this was to watch, I found myself hoping that I would manage to actually hurt him, at least a little.

Orochimaru jumped to the side, dodging my attack easily while maintaining his grip on Sasuke. He flung a kunai at my back, but the blade just passed through me as if I wasn't even there, hitting the tree branch with a solid thunk.

"Fascinating," Orochimaru said to himself. "I wonder, is this another power from your prisoner?"

He tilted his head back, reaching down his throat and pulling out his sword. I shuddered, remembering my last encounter with that sword and rubbing my neck at the phantom sensation of pain.

As my body leapt towards Orochimaru again, he dodged once more and sliced at me with the blade. It passed through me yet again, but rather than looking put out or annoyed he just looked delighted.

"There is no sensation of resistance at all! You are not impeded in the least by any attack. I wonder what the limits are...," he muttered to himself. He suddenly tossed Sasuke to the side, and I thought for a moment he was letting Sasuke go before another clone bled out of a tree and caught him.

The original Orochimaru suddenly went on the offensive, jabbing and slashing at my body while it tried its hardest to sink its claws into him. I thought this would continue for a while, but a sudden spray of blood spewed into the air and my body jerked backwards as the sword ripped a bloody gash across its torso.

"Ah, it ended so soon. A pity," Orochimaru said. He thrust the sword forward, sliding it through my gut and pinning me to a tree. I watched, horrified, as my body growled and threw itself forward along the sword, swiping at the snake bastard's face.

"Kukuku... a feisty one, aren't you? Still, as amusing as this is, you aren't what I'm here for." He paused, a thoughtful expression on his face. "But you may be useful yet."

He pulled the sword out with a sharp jerk, then slammed his other hand into my gut.


Pain roared through my body and I let out a scream. I felt unconsciousness creeping up on me, but I managed to raise my head up long enough to stare Orochimaru in the face.

"Fuck. You," I choked out.

He didn't even spare me a glance as he turned and walked back towards Sasuke.

My world turned black.


A/N: Special double update this time, mostly because this chapter came pretty easily and I want to move things along a little faster.

I have updated the Manual as well; you can find a "Change Log" section near the top that will point out what was changed and added. Thanks to my reviewers, especially Burn Note, who have asked questions and offered suggestions that really helped me refine the rules.

My first instinct was to just retcon the earlier chapters, but then I thought about how updates can sometimes change the rules out from under the players, and it occurred to me that I could do that just as easily here, and that it could become an additional piece of the story rather than more work to maintain. And, given some of the other things about how the game is run... well, it's hardly the worst thing I will do to Naruto (or have done, for that matter).

Reincarnation and Gene Splicing (originally Transmigration) were inspired by Disgaea and Etrian Odyssey. Both excellent games, if in rather different genres.

"I wouldn't lie in a situation like this!' - That gets funnier every time I read it. It's just so... Naruto.

I can easily see Naruto making all difficult decisions with ramen-divination.

Decided to add achievements after all. Most of them will be there to record some of the crazier things Naruto will pull off, but I'll be using some of them later on as hints for alternative paths or hidden parts of the "game".

Fic Recommendation: Naruto vs Zombies, by Crisis - It's just getting off the ground, but has already been quite amusing and rather creative in how it merged the two settings. I'm looking forward to reading more.

If anyone has any other video game fic recommendations, feel free to PM me.

Edit: 03/24/2012 - tweaked the Kunai Kage Bunshin scene, tweaked the "Army of One" scene, and added an earlier scene where he tries to test it out.