By the time school is over, the quest log is really starting to irritate me. We learnt the clone jutsu today but even that won't soothe my anger. It's just sitting there... static to the side of my vision. If the log were completely opaque I would've gone crazy by now. There must be some way to minimise it or just hide it completely it's impractical for me to instantaneously finish quests just to get rid of it.

Determined I go to school in the evening again to rid myself of the quest log. My ritual of waking up at midnight to toss shuriken continued for several days. After six more days of reading about shurikenjutsu and seriously sore forearms, my shurikenjutsu stat was at 100% and the annoying pest of a quest log disappeared.

Quest Completed
Gained 150 exp, 200 till next level. Levelled up to 2. Obscured stat uncovered: Blacksmithing. Investing into perks now available. 200 exp till next level. +25 primary points +3 permanent bonuses +5 to dexterity

I instantly will myself to sleep on the hard earth training grounds. I awaken again in the darkened room with my status screen. Putting all points into agility like before bringing it up to 106. I move onto a new section called bonuses. This section had various power ups which I could invest into like with my stat points. A new bonus is unlocked every twenty stat points I put into a particular stat and it require a certain level before I can invest into it.

For now all I have access to is the agility power ups. I have six power ups unlocked, each with differing effects. The first agility bonus is one that gives an additional 10% experience. I wish to avoid this one as I know I'll reach a level cap someday and this bonus will be useless then. However my finger slipped and I click it anyways. As I'm lamenting my loss of a point I desperately click the skill wanting my point back. To my great surprise it actually deactivates and the point returns.

OH MY GOD! This system is so broken. I froth at the idea of me rearranging my boons to suit every occasion. Reinvesting into the first boost, I check the others. Each power up served its own purpose but I was only interested in rank 4's bonus to cut the time for my handsigns by 75% which is really fast. At my current level I can't access bonuses above rank 4 but I'm looking forward to rank 8 and 12. At rank 8 I'll be able to cast jutsus with one hand and at rank 12 I. Hmmm... This gave me a thought. Can I cast jutsus with my feet? Technically I can since everyone has tenketsu in their feet which allows people to stick to trees. Well that's food for thought for another time.

I have to wake up, take a shower and go to class. However when I wake up, I'm no longer in the training grounds. I'm in the garage of my father's carpenter shop. And oh darn it I forgot to look for how to turn off the stupid quest log.

"Hey kiddo".

I whip out my shuriken in a overtly, smooth motion. Looks like the last few days have conditioned my muscle memory pretty well.

"Relax son it's me. I've been observing you. You're really hard working it seems, that's good".

I return my shuriken to my pouch awkwardly. "Dad, I thought you were busy with the shop?"

"Nah, I'm actually quite free nowadays... Don't tell your mother though".

" Why? Are you doing anything wrong?" I ask with genuine curiousity.

"Wow you sure are rough around the edges with your words. I just don't want your mother to know I will be training you after school".

Ok that was not a normal thing to say. I choke on my spit and start coughing from surprise. How can he train me? He's just an ordinary civilian.

"Hey! For your information I used to be a shinobi as well although we'll keep this between just us. I don't want her finding out. She thinks I'm just a regular guy. In fact that's why we got married in the first place. She didn't want a guy who'd up and die on her".

Woah he's really offloading his emotional baggage on me right now. I'm at a loss as to what to say.

" Well enough of the heavy stuff, it's time to train for real. I was gauging your perseverance for the past few days to observe whether you were really serious about being a ninja and you definitely proved it. Let's have a mock battle so I can see how far you've progressed".

Oh crap it's the return of the annoying quest log.
Quest log: Impress Shadow Sable. What in the hell is that stupid name. W-wait what!? Where'd he- oooff!

Urggh... that kick was hard... It took 50 points off my health bar leaving me with 350. I don't even see him. AHHHH! HE JUST THREW A KUNAI AT MY FOOT! Minus 75 health and I'm losing more from the bleeding. I gotta hide now!

A few shuriken are headed for me- Body Replacement Technique!

Up in the trees I see the log, where my body was, get struck by several shuriken. First I have to locate my dad and survive off of that info. Tiger-Boar-Ox-Dog, now forwards and onwards you go now. The bunshin heads out into the open field and gets picked off by a kunai which came directly opposite from where I am. That tells me all I need to know.

Now for a little more advanced clone- Water Clone Jutsu. Thank goodness it rained yesterday. I may have cursed the rain yesterday for interrupting my shuriken training but now I'm grateful. It's an edge I need over a more experienced ninja.

Again I send out a regular clone to the open field as the water clone and I close in on my dad from opposing sides. As soon as the regular bunshin is dispelled by an attack, we sprang our attack on him.

Driving him out of the trees with shuriken, I follow up with taijutsu while my clone holds back. Purely on the defence now, I hang on as my clone looks for an opportunity. I'm quickly losing ground being pushed back by a myriad of attacks each precise and strong. Before I'm overwhelmed, a few shuriken flying overhead stops his advance and I get enough breathing room to cast my new jutsu.

With my rank 4 bonus, I take a mere split second to do the jutsu with two handsigns, Ram and Tiger. Water Style: Syrup Trap Jutsu! I remembered this from the anime. It's easy to use as it requires few handseals and little chakra. Dad leaps back to avoid it however I have another surprise. While he was focused on the syrup, my water clone had snuck up behind him and used the syrup trap technique on him.

Seeing as he's trapped, I cheer a bit and high five the clone who disperses himself in a watery farewell.

Sadly my victory is cut short when I feel a kunai to my neck and my dad stuck in the syrup disappears in a poof of smoke. Oh crude that was a shadow clone.

"You're not the only one who can use clones you know but good job you lasted 25 minutes, dragging on the time with those regular clones of yours and your offense was well thought out".

I'm slightly annoyed now, having my win taken away but I'm happy the quest is done and he's impressed.

A.U: Yay first fight! I hope it isn't as bland and dry as the chicken I'm eating.