Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or the game(s) Fallout 3/New Vegas. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto, and Bethesda Softworks respectively… I am just having some fun!

Editor's note: Who in their right mind think that disclaimers work? And why even use them to begin with? .

-Naruto: Fractured Fate-

-0-

Last Time on Naruto: Fractured Fate

Getting to my feet, I took stock of my situation. A dozen or more shadowy forms were clambering towards me, particularly from above. Cascading down on strands of silk, I saw my freakish, eight-eyed enemies.

The giant spiders of the Forest of Death.

-0-

Present

"MOTHERFUCKER!" I shouted, shoving 3 inches of steel into the body of a spider that was about to devour my face like me devouring ramen. Dancing around two more, I felt another spider drop onto my back. Screaming, I ran to a tree, turning quickly so my back faced the trunk. A wet crunch and a dampness on my back let me know that my manoeuvre was successful.

+50 XP

Looking again, I realized exactly how terrifying my opponents were. Their nimble, hairy legs belying their massive size – well, massive for a spider. Honestly they were only about the size of my chest. Not overly large, but a lot larger than any arachnid has any reason to be – fangs dripping with venom, and eight eyes shining with what looked like a light of their own. 'Honestly, these things are straight out of a fucking nightmare. And to make matter's worse, I DON'T HAVE ANY WEAPONS!'

Ignoring my impending doom I tried noting surroundings and adversaries to come up with a plan. I was on a fifteen foot wide branch, in between two tree's connected by the branch that I was on – kind of like a giant 'H' – and in a part of the Forest of Death where the trees were very close together, on both sides of the river, and where the foliage was so thick you couldn't see the sky. I counted four shadows on the branch in front of me, three more crawling down the tree towards me, and another dozen now coming down on silken strands.

'All of them have been coming from above me, so they probably have some nest up in the branches or leaves above me or something.'

Trying to stay mobile, I tried to leap onto the first spider in line on the branch, but it jumped out of the way, forcing me to throw a kunai at it, before it could take advantage of my vulnerability. The kunai dug into its chassis and sent it hurtling off the branch.

+25 XP

'Dammit!' I thought, rolling past the second spider. 'I only have three more of those left!'

Taking another kunai out of my pocket, I stabbed it down into the head piece of the third spider, before doing another roll to get me out of range of the second spider, and then performing a back heel leg sweep to kick the fourth off the branch

+25 XP

+25 XP

Turning around once I reached the end of the branch again, I took another count of my enemies. Two more had touched down on my branch, one from its string, one from the tree opposite me, leaving about ten coming down on strings. 'Oh, and two in the tree above me,' I thought to myself when I glanced up.

'Dammit! I need a crazy idea before I run out of weapons!'

Opening my Inventory, I saw that I had three kunai left, two spools of ninja wire, and four explosive notes remaining. 'Okay, crazy idea, GO!'

Waiting a moment in my inventory, my gaze eventually fell back on the ninja wire. Thinking about how most of the spiders were hanging in the air, I realized I had my crazy plan. Equipping the ninja wire before I left my inventory, I quickly made a rudimentary lasso with it. Giving an experimenting twirl at my side, I lashed out with it, capturing the nearest spider dangling from its thread. Pulling it roughly towards me, I started to twirl my crude meteor hammer, a wicked smile on my face.

'Oh, NOW it's on!'

I started walking forward, spider-on-a-rope slanted to knock the spiders in front of me off the branch. Hitting all three, one after the other, I turned my attention to knocking out the ones coming down at me.

+25 XP

+25 XP

'Must not have killed one,' I thought, targeting the next arachnid for the slaughter. I picked off three more before the rest of the spiders got the message not to come near me.

+25 XP

+25 XP

+25 XP

Except for the one that snuck up behind me.

"Grah!" I cried out, kicking backwards and catching the little bastard right in its eyes. I couldn't help but think that it did soothe my pain a little as it gave out a piercing cry as it fell towards its death.

+25 XP

Looking around, so as not to be snuck up on again, I noticed that the spiders were starting to crawl back up their trees and strings.

'Oh no you don't!' I thought, reeling in my wriggling spider-on-a-string. Avoiding its teeth and limbs, I planted an explosive tag on it, and set it to explode. Twirling the wire around, to build up the spiders momentum, I gave the wire a yank, reeling it back into my sleeve, and releasing the spider to go on a sailing arc into two of its comrades before exploding in a fashion most gory.

+25 XP

+25 XP

+25 XP

I grinned and was about to shout something out about how naturally awesome I was, before it froze in my throat.

When that fireball went off, it did two very important things. The first thing it did was illuminating everything around it, being in the ball park of a hundred more spiders dropping down from the canopy, including one that was practically overhead already. The second thing it did was it took that giant spider – and that's gigantic, considering the size of the rest of these gross standards. This thing was the size of a fucking hay cart! – and tossed it like a softball, rebounding that downright brobdignagian spider off the far tree and straight toward me.

Isn't life just swell?

Quickly scampering out of its way, I ran to the underside of the branch, giving myself a moment to think of a plan of attack, or more likely, escape.

'Fuck!' I thought, as I heard the skittering of the humongous spider as it rounded the branch, looking for me. Looking directly at me with its absurdly proportioned eyes, it began to scuttle towards me.

'Time for another crazy idea,' I thought before realizing that it was scuttling directly at me.

Skipping back to grant myself some space, I stuck another explosive note down where I was 'standing'. Or hanging. Whatever.

'Only two left,' I thought to myself, before skipping back again to get out of my explosives range.

I waited for only a second to see if the enormous arachnid was dumb enough to activate my trap.

It was.

Activating the seal, I had a brief flash of pride and the feeling of impending victory as my enemy was cast down from my tree.

Of course, when my branch creaked, snapped, and started to fall itself, it was a lot less fun.

It was even less fun when the spider that was somehow still alive whipped out a cord of web which caught onto my falling branch, and used it to swing itself back on.

'It's as if some god somewhere is taking pleasure at my pain,' I thought before whipping out my wire lasso again, throwing it at the freaks mandibles.

Thankfully it missed. I only had a second to roll away as the spider's bite tore through the wood where I had been standing.

I took a look at the ground, and calculated we had about another 60 feet, just a few seconds left at our acceleration.

Then I realized something. 'I don't need to kill this thing, the fall and the branch will do that for me!'

Performing a sequence of three hand seals, I left a perfect clone to distract the spider. Utilizing the diversion, I leaped off my branch for the closest tree. I was able to avoid taking any harm by sticking to the tree.

The same couldn't be said for the spider.

Whomp!

+100 XP

A smile came to my face.

Then I got bit in the calf again.

"SON OF A-" I screamed out, whipping around and bringing a kunai through the head of another fucking SPIDER.

+25 XP

'This is just getting ridiculous.'

I corrected myself when I glanced up at the ceiling of descending death. 'VERY ridiculous and about time I made my getaway.'

DOOM De-De Doom DOOOM

LEVEL UP

Ignoring my level up, I gathered my pack off the blanket of dead spiders, and I started moving towards the river.

'Spiders may tree walk, but I bet they can't water walk,' I thought with a smirk.

-Naruto: Fractured Fate-

-0-

I paused at the edge of the river as I gasped for breath.

'I think I lost them,' I thought before bringing up my map.

Before I could, however, the world faded away, and I was looking at an increasingly familiar screen.

LEVEL UP

'Oh, yeah. I forgot about that in all the excitement of my near death experiences.'

SKILL POINTS REMAINING 21

BARTER – -17+

BUKIJUTSU, MELEE- -25+

BUKIJUTSU, RANGED- -20+

CHAKRA CONTROL- -56+

FUUINJUTSU- -32+

GENJUTSU- -12+

LOCKPICKING – -12+

MEDICINE- -22+

NINJUTSU- -47+

SMITHING- -25+

STEALTH- -24+

SPEECH – -27+

TAIJUTSU- -50+

'All right, what to improve this time around.' Taking a hard look at my stats, I tried to ascertain what skills I would need to succeed.

'Well I can't lie to save my life, which I think would be labelled under either speech or stealth. If I had better stealth I might not have ever been discovered by the spiders in the first place. I think that my weapon using skills are a little low too. The other skills I either don't use, don't need, or are pretty high in already. I should probably raise Genjutsu sometime soon though, if only just to not suck at it. For now though, I think I will increase Speech – I am supposed to be good at it after all – Stealth, and Ranged Bukijutsu.'

Applying the points quickly, I put five skill points in Speech, bringing it up to a meagre 32, six points in Stealth, bringing it up to 30, and a whopping ten points on Bukijutsu, Ranged, to bring it up to 30 as well.

'I guess this level is not so much about getting stronger as it is about curbing weakness,' I thought as I hit the finish button, and moved on to the Perks page.

Name: Black Widow/Lady Killer
Required Level: 2
Available Ranks: 1
Effect: +10% damage to the opposite sex, and unique dialogue options with certain characters unlocked.

Name: Book Smart
Required Level: 2
Required Stats: Intelligence 4
Available Ranks: 3
Effect: +5 Fuuinjutsu, +5 Medicine

Name: Swift Learner
Required Level: 2
Required Stats: Intelligence 4
Available Ranks: 3
Effect: +10% Experience whenever experience is earned.

Name: Intense Training
Required Level: 2
Available Ranks: 10
Effect: +1 to any S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stat.

Name: Comprehension
Required Level: 4
Required Stats: Intelligence 4
Available Ranks: 1
Effect: +1 additional skill point whenever a skill book is read.

Name: Genin Ninjutsu Specialization
Required Level: 4
Required Stats: Ninjutsu 20
Available Ranks: 1
Effect: D rank ninjutsu cost 50% less chakra to cast.

Name: Genin Combat Specialization
Required Level: 4
Required Stats: Bukijutsu, Melee 20 / Bukijutsu, Ranged 20 / Taijutsu 20
Available Ranks: 3
Effect: 25% more damage with a chosen weapon type and/or type. (must apply to different weapon with each upgrade)

Name: Escape Artist
Required Level: 4
Required Stats: Agility 4 / Ninjutsu 35
Available Ranks: 4
Effect: Level 1, Substitution and other techniques can now be used at double the distance from an object that the switch is being performed with. Level 2, you can now substitute with other people. Level 3, your substitution distance has doubled again. Level 4, you can now substitute with air.

'So now for another question. I already decided the last time I levelled up to get one of two things this go about. Either I choose Intense Training to get a better Perception score, and have people stop sneaking up on me, or I get Combat Specialization and improve my damage.'

As I thought back over my recent experience at the hands of those eight legged bastards, however, I realized what I had to do.

'I became more injured during that fight not because I wasn't doing enough damage to my opponents but because I couldn't keep track of all of them. I am upgrading my Perception.' And with that thought, I chose Intense Training, +1 Perception.

As the orange haze faded, I began to notice my surroundings with a clarity that I had never before possessed. I saw the pigments of the leaves around me, I saw the wind moving the grass, the ripples in the river, the coarse hair on the spiders thorax, the creak-

'Wait a minute, what?' Scanning back to the way whence I came, I found that the spiders had arrived.

"Dammit!" I shouted before mentally reprimanding my loudness. 'If they didn't know where I was before, they do now.'

Turning back to the river, I began to pray silently to the gods of luck and ramen that my chakra control was high enough for this next task. Satisfied, I placed my foot on the current.

SKILL CHEK (CHAKRA CONTROL 56/50): PASS: 200 XP AWARDED

PERK GAINED: GALILEE THIS!

'Booyah!' I thought victoriously, before rushing down the river. Sparing a glance over my shoulder as I ran, I saw as the spiders arrived, frustrated, at my point of departure.

"HAHA! TAKE THAT YOU BASTARDS! YOU WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS AS THE DAY THAT YOU ALMOST ATE N…" I shouted before hearing a splash behind me. Not bothering to look, I rolled to the side, just in time to dodge a large fleshy grey… thing as it leapt out of the water. Looking around, I could see more hunks of grey jumping out of the water and leaping towards me from down river. It took me a few seconds before placing these next monstrosities in the big 'Shit to Avoid' list. They were named for their size, method of transportation, alliteration, and their tendency to lock onto the veins of any passerby and suck them dry.

'Large Leaping Leeches. As if my day couldn't get any better,' I grumbled mentally before turning to tactics.

'Okay, game-plan time. These things like to stick to the water, so the logical thing to do would be to go on land, but I would rather not face the entire nest of spiders that are currently after my presumably tasty ass. So it's the water route.' Taking a quick count of the leaches down river, I thought to myself, 'Yeah, I can take six worms, no problem. In fact,' I began grinning. 'This might even be fun!'

Then, once again, I felt something bite my calf.

"SON OF A BITCH!" I screamed in a most assuredly manly fashion, plunging a kunai down into the pussy eyeball of the leech attached to my leg.

Letting go with a shriek, the leech tried to escape by swimming towards the shore.

'Oh no you don't!' I thought, grabbing the worm by its tail. Spinning the arm long leech in a circle to gain momentum, I threw it into the closest cluster of spiders on the shore.

"And suck it!" I shouted after the downed parasite, turning back to the group barrelling at me.

'The spools of ninja wire I have are no good as long as they are coated with that slimy coat of mucus, my explosive tags are no good when they are underwater, which they are half the bloody time, and I am running low anyway. The ninjutsu I have will be of virtually no use here, since substitution will put me back on shore, transformation probably won't fool them and… wait,' I thought before slapping myself in the head.

Going through a few hand signs, I gave a shout of, "Clone technique!" Instantly, four clones of the most attractive man in Fire country poofed into existence. Giving a mighty shout, the five of us charged down the river towards our enemy. 'If nothing else, they'll be good for a very temporary distraction,' I thought shrewdly before engaging my first opponent.

The first leech leapt straight for my chest. One sidestep swing later, and it was missing its face.

+15 XP

'Only 15 experience? God these things must suck!' I thought before giving out a chuckle as I turned into my next victim, in mid-leap through a clone. 'Ha ha, the leeches suck. God I'm awesome.'

Grabbing the leech before it could completely submerge, I pulled hard on its… 'tail', I suppose, and impaled it with a handy kunai.

+15 XP

At this point I could tell, with my super-awesome recently enhanced Perception that the rest of the leeches were beginning to catch on to my ploy.

Not wasting any time, I stabbed at the next one as it sailed through the air, cursing as I missed. At this point all of my clones had dispersed, and I was on my own, against the four remaining leeches. Placing my kunai between my teeth, I ran through the hand seals for another "Clone technique!"

Catching my kunai before it plunged into the river, I ducked underneath a leech as it went soaring overhead, taking out one of the four clones I summoned. Rolling away, I turned back to face that same leech as it attempted to latch onto my face. Punching with my kunai wielding hand, I managed to slice down its top before it scraped past me as I attempted to dodge. Its extended teeth cut into my chest, ripping my favourite shirt in the process.

"BASTARD!" I yelled at the wannabe slug, using its slowed velocity to stab it once again, this time putting it down for good.

+15 XP

'Three left,' I thought, trying to stay abreast of the situation. 'Two of my clones are still up and distracting the opposition. At least these ones are good for something. Damn do I miss the shadow clone technique,' I thought mournfully before refocusing as a leech gave a screech and launched in my direction. Sidestepping again, I brought my kunai down to kill.

+15 XP

Jumping towards one of the remaining two leeches, I jabbed my knife forward through my last surviving clone to catch one of the leeches unaware. Giving a gurgle as it impaled itself upon my blade, I couldn't help but smirk in my apparent victory before hearing a splash from my left.

+15 XP

I ducked down and tossed my kunai to my left hand, which gave a swipe as fast as I could manage. It wasn't fast enough. With a sickening squelch the final leech latched onto my shoulder, its teeth burrowing into my skin. Funny enough, even with a set of teeth nearly as long as my index finger, I couldn't feel anything.

'That's because leech saliva is a powerful anticoagulant and anaesthetic,' I though as I stabbed at the parasite latched onto me, my medical knowledge making itself known. I stabbed it a few more times, and it finally fell, leaving me to resume my course – 'Ha ha, river joke' – towards the tower in the middle of the forest.

-Naruto: Fractured Fate-

-0-

It was afternoon on the third day when I finally spied the multi-level tower, made as if it was part of some ancient castle. A couple of minutes later and I made it to the tower's doors. The same doors that completely surrounded the base of the building.

'Troublesome,' I grunted mentally. 'Now I have to go and check each and every door to see where they went in.'

I started to jog around the base of the buildings, trying to spy any notes or signs of passage on any of the doors. A few minutes later I realized I didn't mark my starting point. I cursed myself, took out a kunai, and carved 'ramen' into the door I was closest to. I nodded with satisfaction and continued my run around the building.

I pulled up next to the 'ramen' door a bit later, having found no sign of passage or my teammates. Making my way to the temporarily awesome door, I pulled on the handle.

It wasn't budging.

I punched the door.

It didn't move, or break.

My hand hurt.

I started circling around the building again, this time trying all the doors.

'Just my luck,' I thought. 'They are all locked, every single one of them.'

I started cursing at the time I wasted before I raised my fist, to shake it angrily at the building, and spied a window.

'Well, time to see if ninja are as paranoid as they have every right to be,' I thought before running up the wall, onto the red tiled roof of the first 'platform'. Checking the window I first saw for any sign of passage, I was disappointed and frustrated to find nothing of the sort. Jiggling the window a bit, I found that it was locked as well. Giving the window my strongest punch proved that it was just as immovable as the doors below. Checking the rest of the windows on that level, I found them to be in a similar state. As well as the windows on the next level. And the next. And the one after that, and pretty soon, I had checked all seven layers of that tower of invincible windows.

'What the fuck? How is this thing indestructible?' I thought before what I think might have been fuuinjutsu skill spoke up. 'Well, seeing as how this tower is in the middle of the Forest of Death, and also used for the Chuunin Exam, it is plausible that seals were placed over otherwise 'strategically weak' areas, such as windows and the like in order to increase their durability in the face of the brutality that they would otherwise be subject to.'

Having finished that thought, I had a moment where I truly hated my brain's ability to derail my rants on stupid things in life before it had even gotten started. When that moment of what I think shouldn't really be called self-loathing or pity, I resumed trying to make a plan for contacting my teammate, and/or possibly my lost team.

'Okay, if Hibachi had been here, I am sure that a man of even his intelligence would have left a note, or some sign that he had been here,' I thought desperately hoping I wasn't vastly overestimating my teammate's intelligence. 'So the best thing to do is to settle in and wait.'

Taking a quick look at the suns position, I amended. 'And I better get my camp set up soon, or else I'll be doing it in the dark.'

Taking a position on the fifth level of the tower, still above the treetops and, hopefully the wildlife, I settled down for the night.

-Naruto: Fractured Fate-

-0-

It was now the fourth day of my team's trial, and I was still the only one at the damn tower. Having spent the night before sleeping without having a giant spider attempting to devour my face was doing wonders for my morale, especially when I also had time to munch down a couple of ration bars, but it still wasn't enough to stave off the worry I felt when I thought of Ami or Hibachi. 'Sure, we're all ninja now, but these two are still fresh out of the Academy,' I thought to myself. 'Technically so am I, but I also have the memories of a shinobi with about a year's experience under my belt.'

"Dammit!" I swore after glancing at the suns position, indicating it was just about noon. 'They should have been here by now, at least Hibachi anyway.'

Pacing back and forth I decided to try the windows again. Giving the one closest to me another check, rattle, or punch, I also noticed a little keyhole in the bottom right corner of the window frame. Reaching for it, I was stopped by a pop-up message.

THROUGHOUT THE WORLD OF NARUTO, YOU WILL ENCOUNTER MANY LOCKED CONTAINERS, BUILDINGS, AND OBJECTIVES ON INFILTRATION MISSIONS. TO PICK A CERTAIN LOCK, YOU, THE CHARACTER, NEED A LOCKPICK, A SKILL HIGH ENOUGH TO PICK THE LOCK. DIFFERENT GRADES OR CLASSES OF LOCK HAVE DIFFERENT SKILL LEVELS REQUIRED TO PICK THEM. THE EASIEST OF THESE IS THE E-RANK LOCK, WITH A REQUIRED SKILL LEVEL OF ZERO. AFTER THE CHARACTER HAS THE PICK(S) AND THE KNOW-HOW, THEN IT IS SIMPLY A MATTER OF MANEUVERING THE PICK INTO THE CORRECT POSITION TO HIT ALL THE TUMBLERS, AND ULTIMATELY UNLOCK THE LOCK.

'And I don't have that many skill points in Lockpi-' I though before cancelling out the tutorial pop-up.

YOUR LOCKPICK SKILL IS NOT HIGH ENOUGH. NEEDS TO BE AT LEAST 40 TO PICK THIS LOCK

'Fantastic' I thought, before cancelling that message out. 'Oh well, I don't think I have any lock picks any-' only to see another message.

YOU ARE OUT OF LOCK PICKS

"Great," I spat, growing angry at my apparent inadequacy in this one area. 'So even if they were currently inside, I wouldn't be able to find them anyway,' I thought before shaking my head. 'No, if anyone was inside, they would have come outside yesterday when I was making the racket testing the 'status' of all of the doors. The only explanation is that Hibachi must have met up with Ami, but then couldn't convince her to come back to the tower, either because it was my plan and she wants to leave, or because either of them didn't believe in the tower in the first place, as it sounded too good to be true. At this point it's irrelevant why, because both mean that my teammates are still out there.'

Taking a moment to make a final decision, I gave a precise nod. 'And I am going to find them!'

Packing up all of my stuff was the matter of a few minutes, and then the rest of day four was spent searching for my team along the rivers.

-Naruto: Fractured Fate-

-0-

After spending the night in an abandoned burrow, I spent the majority of day five searching along the river I had sent Hibachi down. When night was beginning to fall, I was starting to lose hope of finding them that day either, when I sighted a glow in the distance. Moving quickly through the trees, I found that I had finally caught up with my companions. Having set up camp on a outcropping of rock outside of a massive cave, they had set up a fire and by the smell, were apparently well on their way to having dinner cooked. And there were Hibachi and Ami, with the former stoking the fire and cooking a brace of rabbit, and the latter bitching about something inane.

Moving towards them, I felt some of the tension of the last few days beginning to seep out of my limbs.

"What the fuck are YOU doing here?"

And with that shriek of alarm, all that tension came racing back with a vengeance.

"Finally catching up with you after you stupidly marched off into the forest, sitting down with the team I am supposed to be with during this god forsaken test, hopefully getting some hare, or rabbit. Take your pick," I supplied back to Ami.

With a huff, she just sat down across the fire from me. Shaking my head at her antics, I turned to my less emotive comrade.

"So how was your day?"

He gave a huffing laugh before turning to me.

"Well," he started saying, "I had to run away from some stuff in the night before making it to the tower, didn't see anything, and all the doors were locked, so I just kept running. Eventually I ran into her," a jab with a blackened stick towards the female member of our group at this point. "Then we wound up here an hour or so before you showed up. Pretty tired too so we just set up a fire, and whatnot. Didn't even check the cave."

At this point, Hibachi indicated the massive cave behind him.

"That cave?" I confirmed, incredulous that these two, rookies though they may be, would make such a rookie mistake.

Hibachi grunted in the affirmative.

"The big ominous one? That cave?"

"Yep."

"The big, ominous, more than likely hiding a large and dangerous creature, and in front of which you're cooking a meaty dinner one? That one right there?"

Rolling his eyes, Hibachi turned to me. "I'm sure nothings in there. Besides, if it was anything we could take it."

It was at this point that I'm sure some god sitting atop the world was pointing down and laughing. Especially when something in the cave gave off an earth shaking roar.

Still looking at me, Hibachi gave a sigh. "Just had to fucking jinx it, didn't you?"

Getting up and facing the cave, I bit off a sarcastic response. "Oh yeah, this is all my fault. Totally. No way that this is the result of not actually scouting your camp ground. Not at all."

"Would you two shut up and focus?" Ami ground out. "What are we even facing anyway?"

"Something big. But I don't want to go in there and find out what." Hibachi supplied, a quaver barely noticeable in his voice.

"No," I said. "I have a better idea."

Taking a moderately sized log from Hibachi's fire, I threw it into the cave, having it illuminate anything in its immediate vicinity. It was a good idea on the surface, and it worked.

Right up until it ran into what might as well have been a wall, and fell at the feet of a three storey tall, 20 ton, Forest of Death, giant-ass bear.

"Naruto," Hibachi whispered. "I hate you so much."

With a whimper from Ami, and a roar from a pissed off bear. The fight began.

-Naruto: Fractured Fate-

The first few moments of the fight was indescribable chaos. Ami was running from the bear, Hibachi was, in a typical boneheaded manner, running towards the behemoth, and I stood, analysing my surroundings, wondering what the hell I could hit this thing with to make it die. Or at least hurt or fall unconscious.

'Maybe it's better to run and live than to stay and die,' I thought to myself as Hibachi tried to hurt the bear by stabbing it in the paw. Dashing forward, I tackled my retarded teammate to the ground before the bear could kill him with a retaliatory swipe.

"Don't fight! Run!" I shouted at him before running in the same direction as Ami had. Thankfully even Hibachi had the sense to run from the giant monster. Unfortunately, the beast must have decided that it was in the mood for a chase. Giving another roar, it started to shamble after us in a loping run, breaking low branches and shouldering small trees out of the way as it went.

"KEEP RUNNING!" I shouted at Hibachi, who had almost fell over a log. Of course, in the instant that I had cared about my teammate, a branch had come sailing free of its previous prison, thanks to the hell-bear, and hit both Hibachi and me in our backs.

The air rushed out of my lungs as I plunged towards the ground. In the time it took me to reorient myself, however, the bear had closed the distance between us.

Going after me, it took a wide swipe at my prone body.

Running my hands through a set of seals I managed to let off a substitution technique before its blow could land. If anything it only seemed to be amused by this. Coming after me, again with those wide swipes, I continued to duck, roll, and substitute myself with the carnage of branches that were left in the wake of its charge. I couldn't get any real distance between us, though, as I could only substitute myself with something a maximum of ten to fifteen yards away, and every time I did the bear would immediately close in on me.

Dodging and weaving and substituting were my entire world for the next five minutes, as I desperately waited for my team to do something. After that time, though, and way too many close calls, I began to have doubts about their courage. 'I mean, they have never faced anything like this before they came here with Anko-san and me, and they maybe even haven't faced or killed anything until hopefully today. They might have just ran away and left me here- PAIN!' I thought, as my world dissolved to white hot agony and I felt myself spinning to the ground.

It seems as I became mired in these dark thoughts of my comrades, my reactions slowed down as well, and when it came time to jump back to avoid a set of razor sharp claws, I only missed the brunt of them, with the tips digging long, deep furrows into my belly.

Holding my stomach in a weak attempt to staunch the bleeding my hazy, possibly delirious mind perceived the bear stalking over to me, every inch the confident predator, oozing blood lust of a thousand years of evolution, eyes gleaming with the memory of the kill that was to come. It raised its paw to strike the blow that would end my life and then…

Then it started to freak the fuck out.

It began twitching, whimpering, rolling around as to put out an imaginary fire and… imaginary fire?

'Genjutsu,' I concluded before searching my immediate area for the source, finding it in the tree above me, I let out a pent up breath. 'Ami.'

Climbing up to the branch she was on, I found that she wasn't alone either.

"Thought you could use some help, you were getting your ass kicked," Hibachi supplied oh so tactfully.

"Thanks, but I had him on the ropes." I retorted, not wanting to show weakness.

"Now that you're done with the cock sucking, could we maybe do something about the rampaging behemoth? This is harder than it looks you know!" Ami ground out, ever the pleasant spirit.

"All right," I said aloud. "Game plan. Do you guys have any weapons? I know I saw you with a kunai earlier, Bachi."

Rolling his eyes at the nickname Hibachi responded "No, sensei took all of ours away, remember?"

"Then how did you get one?"

Scratching the back of his head in a nervous gesture, Hibachi shyly said, "I maybe kinda stole it from your pocket when you were sitting beside me at the fire earlier."

A pause.

"Huh," I grunted surprised, torn between congratulating his skill at stealth and reprimanding him for his forwardness.

"ANY TIME NOW!" Ami shouted, dragging me back down to the elemental nations.

"Right, so the only weapons we have are mine. Do you two have any other techniques aside from the academy three?"

A shake of the head was all the answer I needed from Hibachi, from Ami, however. "I'M FUCKING DOING IT!" she screamed, sweat beading on her brow as her technique continued taking it's toll on her.

'Crazy idea… GO!' And with that thought came a truly terrible idea. Unfortunately it was also the only idea that came, so I didn't really have much of a selection.

"All right, here's my plan. Ami, you hold that technique for another fifteen seconds. Hibachi, you said you were good with ranged weaponry, so I want you to take this ninja wire, make a lasso out of it and loop it around the bottom half of its jaw. Then I want you to run between its legs and try to tangle it up as much as possible. Ami, I am also giving you a roll of wire, and I want you to make that same lasso, except I want it around the top of his mouth and stick to the trees, and wrap that wire around its trunk. I'll stay in front of it and try to keep it occupied with my clones. Everybody got it?" I laid out, looking for confirming nods from my companions. Once I got them, I gave the signal. "Go!"

Jumping down in front of the menace I quickly started spamming out clones like there was no tomorrow. 'Which there might not be if I fuck this up,' I thought morbidly as Hibachi lasso met with success, looping around its bottom jaw, before he started dashing through its legs.

I saw Ami's loop rocketing through the air, snagging the beasts' upper jaw, and for a few bright seconds, as I prepared an explosive tag wrapped around a kunai, I thought that this might actually work.

Then everything went to hell.

The bear clamped its jaw down and jerked against Ami's wire, sending her flying through the air towards the beast. Rending the wires constricting its mouth, the bear gave a off another roar, celebrating in its minor victory, and I saw my opportunity to put this animal down. I began shouting at the bear in an attempt to keep its attention while throwing the kunai with an explosive tag, and thus his head, turned towards me. At the last second however, as its roar ended, it put its head down and gave it a shake. I found out later that Ami had been trying to capture it in a genjutsu again, so that it was more docile and thus easier to kill, but she collided with a tree, breaking her concentration over her craft. When my second to last explosive tag went off, all the bear received was a knock to the head and some singed fur.

Turning its attention away from me, it focused on the girl at the roots of a tree right in front of it. Giving a smaller roar, it began leaning its head down in preparation of a small meal.

'So much for smarts,' I thought racing forward with another explosively dressed kunai. 'Now for near-suicidal.'

"BEAR!" I screamed, trying to desperately garner its attention away from Ami. I succeeded as the bear turned its head to regard me with an animalistic leer. I didn't pay any attention to it, and focused instead on getting myself to its face. One wild leap later, I was on a collision course with an eye the size of my head.

"FUCK YOU!" And with that battle cry for the ages, I plunged my blade deep past his eye, which gave off a squishy pop. Activating the explosive tag, I could feel my arm burn as I destroyed my opponents brain.

Flung away from the dying bear by the explosion, I missed seeing Hibachi carry the Ami to safety, out of the way of the crashing bear. I also almost completely missed the screen informing me that I was crippled, and that I needed to seek medical help. Cancelling out of that screen, the world resumed to painful reality.

+150 XP

'Damn, thas a lud uh uxperiense,' I slurred mentally, my medical expertise noting that my dulled senses might be either a result of the landing on my heavily burned arm in such a way as to break it and thus send me into shock, or a result of a concussion due to either the explosive tag or my landing, once again. I didn't really care about that at the current moment though.

Pushing myself up with my uninjured arm I staggered my way back towards the camp outside of the menacing cave that started this whole shit storm, I lay down on a sleeping roll, and I put my head on an honest to god pillow, determined to milk the shock for all it was worth before actually feeling the pain I was most assuredly in.

My eyes drifted closed as I began to hear the worried voices of my company.

-Naruto: Fractured Fate-

I awakened to the sounds of birds chirping overhead and the crackling of a fire. My eyes squinted open to see a concern frown on Hibachi's face as he blotted out the trees above.

"Hey," I said. Master of wit, that's me.

"Hey," he responded with equal eloquence.

"What's up?" I grunted, sitting up.

Eyeing me up and down in interest, Hibachi eventually shrugged his shoulders and grunted, before going to tend the fire in our little camp.

Shaking my head, I wondered where Ami had gone off to. I didn't have to wonder long, as before I knew it I heard a loud gasp from behind me.

Turning around, I saw Ami dropping several logs, moving her hands to her mouth and eyes going wide. She stayed that way for a good ten seconds before screaming out, "How are you walking?"

Confused at her words, I took a quick glance at all of my limbs to make sure nothing had exploded while I wasn't paying attention. 'How AM I better? I remember very clearly having a mauled arm and some pretty serious injuries before I went to sleep.'

I managed to quirk a brow at my female companion, acting like this kinda thing happened all the time, and said blithely, "One foot in front of the other, I suppose."

Staring at me incredulously, she started walking a few steps closer to me. "I saw a bear cut up your stomach, and your arm was burnt and broken… I thought you were going to die!"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "I got better."

Her jaw worked up and down a few times as she processed that jewel of wisdom. After shaking her head and putting on an angry face, she shouted at me again. "You can't just 'get better' like that! Wounds like that take months of recovery time, not to mention the risk of infection or the scarring, or…or…" she babbled on, unable to come to grips with reality.

"But I am better," I said, lifting up my shirt with my very unbroken arm to show a lack of visible intestines. Or blood. Or even scars, believe it or not. "See? Better."

She continued to stare at me, tearing up a little bit as I think what remained of her sanity broke apart and stole her childhood memories. Then, giving an upset huff, she picked up the logs she had dropped, and moved them to a pile of firewood.

Turning my thoughts from my rather expressive companion for a moment, I gave the present situation its due thought.

'I have been asleep about eight hours, and in that time, I have gone from a severe condition, worthy to put me in the hospital, to being absolutely a-okay. I know that I have always healed fast but this kind of pace is ridiculous. Maybe the sleeping in a prepared bed has something to do with it?' Shaking my head in confusion and mild bemusement I thought to myself 'Now I am going to have to mutilate myself in order to test that theory. As if I didn't have enough on my plate.'

Making my way over to the fight site from yesterday night – 'Ha ha, rhymes!' – I moved to the giant bear, which was exactly as giant today as it was last night. Hearing a tearing sound, I turned to find Hibachi cutting into it with MY kunai.

"What are you doing?" I asked, wondering if maybe he got hit on his head to do whatever it was he was doing, or maybe I did and this was all a delusion. 'It would explain the lack of pain.'

"Dinner," Hibachi said simply, not looking up from his gruesome task. I regarded the bear once more, and was surprised to find a free floating box above its corpse.

LOOT?

Y/N

Raising an eyebrow, I hit the Y.

LOOTING

THROUGHOUT THE GAME OF NARUTO: FRACTURED FATE, YOUR CHARACTER WILL FACE, AND HOPEFULLY DEFEAT AND/OR KILL, A BEDAZZLING ARRAY OF OPPONENTS. ALL OF THESE OPPONENTS WILL LEAVE BEHIND THE POSSIBLY USEFUL GEAR AND WEAPONS THAT THEY WIELD, MATERIAL THAT MAY BE SOLD AT SHOPS FOR RYO OR STORE CREDIT, AND NOT TO MENTION ANY RYO THAT MAY BE IN THEIR WALLETS (FOR NINJA), GULLETS (FOR ANIMALS/BEASTS) OR CIRCUITS (ROBOTS) AT THE TIME.

"I could have been looting these things the WHOLE TIME?!" I shouted while the world remained at a standstill, before sighing and cancelling out the message. The next box jumped up promptly, on the left, showing my inventory, and on the right displaying another inventory which I assumed to be the bears. In it, there were only 'Bear Claws' apparently worth only 2 ryo, and 'Bear Skin', apparently worth 50 ryo, despite weighing only three pounds. Looting both, I felt my pack weigh little bit more. Cancelling out of the menu I decided to be the first one to actually go and explore the bear's cave.

Taking a makeshift torch from our small fire, I stepped boldly down the steps whence the demon named a bear had come. The cave actually turned out to be pretty shallow, only going for a fifty yards or so before there was a hollow where the bear must have dwelled. Inside of that hollow were a great many bones strewn about, including one or three complete skeletons, and what looked like a treasure chest in the back. Making my way over to the first skeleton, I began the process of looting. Looting the two skeletons, I came up with a rusty katana, five rusty kunai, and 29 ryo. Moving towards the chest, I opened it and almost cried tears of joy. Inside was a bundle of Ryo – 53 according to the screen – an opal, a rough ruby, and a ninjutsu scroll.

Opening my inventory as fast as the game would allow I activated the scroll not reading its contents first.

LEARNED FUUTON: REPPUSHOU

'Awesome! I finally have an offensive technique! Next up is trying to convince sensei to teach me the shadow clone technique and I am all set!' I thought, punching the air in excitement. Running in circles around the cave I decided to try out my newest technique. Targeting one of the skeletons, I clapped my hands together, sending out a wave of chakra enhanced wind that sent the skeleton tumbling along the cave floor.

"I'M THE GREATEST NINJA IN THE WORLD!"

"Yeah, I'm sure," said a voice from behind me, turning around, I saw a thoroughly unimpressed Hibachi standing back near the beginning of the cavern. "Thought I would let you know that your steak is done."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," I said, before following him out of the cavern, imagining crushing my opponents with my new technique, and the flavour of bear steak.

The rest of that day went pretty smoothly, Ami only being a bitch in a cursory sense, Hibachi just grilling the steaks, and me relaxing, not thinking of the impossibilities and implausibilities that the game that is my life seems to make and then take no notice of. We were just deciding on the watch schedule when we received a surprise guest.

"How are all of my kiddies doing today?" the barely clad snake mistress shouted as she smiled down at all of us.

"Pretty well, sensei," I said without turning to look at my somewhat negligent teacher. "We have bear steak."

"So long as you remember that food isn't love. Now I am here to tell you all that the Hokage himself has personally passed you!" She said, scratching the back of her neck. "It's really a great honour!"

"Is it?" I responded blithely. "Or is it that the Hokage caught you knee deep in sake and dumplings and ordered you to get back here and pass us after spending so long in the Forest of Death and you only got back here now after figuring out that we spent last night fighting for our lives?"

She took a moment to glare down at me. "I don't like your tone, Genin!" she growled.

"Doesn't mean I'm not right," I shot back.

"No, I was here watching all of your little candy asses at first. Poser stupidly running off alone, dumb one following your instructions blindly, avoiding any and all fights due to some pretty slick stealth skills," Hibachi looked proud for a moment before realizing that she called him the dumb one. "And you, Naruto-kun, were by far the most entertaining, using that one spider caught in a lasso to kill all the others, using your environment to kill the last one, and then hopping on to the river to escape, only to fight your way through a pack of leaping leeches. Oh it gave me shivers."

She shivered to emphasize her point, and it did… interesting things to her anatomy. I'm a growing boy, I notice these things, sue me. "But then you spent the next couple of days just hopping around looking for each other, and that was so. Fucking. Boring. So yeah, I went into town because you weren't being entertaining enough. And then I missed the prize fight!"

Pouting cutely, she hopped down off of her perch to be amongst us mortals. "Anyway, now I'm here to lead you out."

Hopping up to a tree, she shouted at us. "Come on, first one there gets dango from the losers."

There was much grumbling as we packed up our camp, but it was mostly good natured. After all, tonight we could sleep in our own beds. Thinking back to my own bed though, maybe that isn't such a good thing.

-Naruto: Fractured Fate-

Approaching midnight, the three of us finally met up with Anko in the clearing where our nightmare had begun.

"All right troops, that's it for today, and tomorrow too. Go home, get some rest, brag to your friends about how you're better than them, and in two days, we are going to meet here at 0800. You got that? Good, now get lost," she shouted cheerfully before disappearing into a shunshin.

QUEST COMPLETED: MAKING THE GRADE

+300 XP AWARDED

QUEST ADDED: THE DAILY GRIND

-MEET WITH ANKO IN TWO DAYS TIME AT 0800

"Fuck this, I'm going home," I said, hoping that being her student got easier from here.

I really should learn to stop hoping for things.

-Naruto: Fractured Fate-

-Hayou Clanb: Having been greatly rushed an utilizing a barely used and hardly understood seal, Minato Namikaze makes a mistake. Such a thing is ordinarily understandable, even for a genius of his caliber, but when the stakes are the life of his son and the fate of the Kyuubi, the results are too terrible to imagine. Never realizing that a mistake ever occured Naruto, life continued around Naruto even as the chakra of the nine tailed demon-fox continued to leak from him, enticing and encouraging the rage and loathing of his peers and elders.

-Play-through of Naruto: Fractured Fate #134-

I trembled as I stared down at my cold beaten body. Even now I could see the bruises beginning to form that would make even walking tomorrow hell.

Slowly reaching into my backpack, I gathered up some of the cloth and tape that I now always have on hand for emergencies. 'Emergencies,' I thought, sniffling wetly 'Does it still count if it happens so often?' I cautiously started to bind up the worst of my injuries, starting with a long cut running down my stomach, but I couldn't help the tears that ran down my face as I braced against the ever-constant pain.

Stopping for a moment, I gazed up at the stars, as if hoping that salvation lay there. If not salvation though, maybe I could find an answer.

'Why do they keep hurting me?'

Today I am 4 years old.

-Naruto: Fractured Fate-

I trembled as I stared down at my bloodied hands, disbelieving of the act I just performed.

'I-I didn't mean to-' I thought, glancing down at the unmoving merchant on the street. 'He gave me no choice!'

I had all the chance I could ever possibly need to plead my innocence as the ANBU picked me up and put me in holding, but my captors never spoke a word back.

Eventually I was taken before the Hokage and his three advisors to plead my case. I kept telling him how much 'I didn't mean it' and how 'I didn't think it would kill him', but he just kept looking back at me with this sad, disappointed smile. The two really old people just kept shouting about how I should be put down, how 'it' should be transferred to someone more suitable. There was that one creepy guy with one arm and one eye , who was saying that he had a suitable candidate available. The old man just held up his hand though, telling them that 'the sacrifice shall be honoured'. I don't know what he meant by that, though. He got up and came over to me, forestalling any protest from his advisors, and he invited me to get some food with him. I gladly accepted, despite my own confidence about holding down food at this point being shaky. I could only hope that I never felt like this again.

Today I am 6 years old.

-Naruto: Fractured Fate-

Seeing blood on my hands was quickly becoming a sight all too familiar. The three bodies that littered the area around me stared back with blank looks, unknowing of the crimes of violence that were about to be committed. I had killed them first this time, though. God, I killed them all.

I just didn't want them to hurt me. Is that too much to ask? To live in peace?

I snorted as I realized what I was thinking. It was that thinking that led to me signing myself up for the Ninja Academy. I did it so that I could learn how to fight from the best hidden village in the world, so that I could defend myself against assholes like this.

So that I wouldn't hurt anymore.

I didn't worry about the bodies. Old man Hokage always helped with that part. Besides, who should care about asshole child beaters like them anyway?

Today I am 9 years old.

-Naruto: Fractured Fate-

The night was cold, and dark and raining. That, in and of itself is unusual in a nation consumed by forest and jungle. Not the rain so much as the dark and cold. 'It's a tropical climate, after all,' I thought. On the ground were the remains of the weather of the previous day, large puddles taking up most streets. Some so large that any respectable man would call them a pond, and ninja had to come and transport the water elsewhere.

I'm sure you're wondering why it is that I am prattling on about sunny periods and patches of rain spreading in from the west. I'll tell you; those are just the things you notice after coming out of a fight.

Looking around at the scattered pieces of the men who attempted to, and I'm quoting here, "Shend the demon back to hell wher it belongs," I shook my head.

'Why is it that drunk people always think they're invincible?' I thought, thinking back to the many occasions where I would have to deal with one or more of the bastards stumbling home from the bar who decided to take a few whacks at the 'demon-child'

I gave a rueful chuckle. 'They can get away with it because who would make sure I'm alright? Who would worry about me?'

When it came to everyone else, it was always 'Don't worry, your parents and the ninja are here to protect you', and when the focus turns my way, the message is reversed. 'I should worry, because those parents and the ninja are out to get me.'

I idly wondered as I stepped through the drunken sod's large intestine, on my way back to my apartment, if anybody would actually miss this bastard, now that he's gone before quickly scoffing at the idea. Nobody missed these assholes, and that's why I created the 'bloody' principle.

I created the 'bloody' principle shortly after I my tenth birthday, when I stumbled upon a drug deal in an alleyway. Naturally things went south. What really caught my attention was how I wasn't pulled aside by the ANBU. I came to the conclusion that nobody missed scum. The bloody principle states that I may only kill if two criteria are met. one, that the man I am about to kill is a threat to me, or I learned something new about human anatomy and I need a live subject to test on, or I simply need the money the man is carrying. And two, the man is in a position where he is at least equally despised as me. Open game on drunks, degenerates, lowlifes, and criminals. Always people that no one will miss, and always sinners.

'Just like me!' I thought, a bloody grin teasing my face.

Today I am 11 years old.

Tomorrow I take my Genin Exam.

-0-

Authors Note

Well that took a while.

Really sorry about that slow update, everybody, no excuse for that… aside from writers block and about five pages I had to cut because of excessive suckage.

Aside from that though, I managed to fit in the first of many flash forwards, to Naruto's of different skill sets, genders, clans, and teams. That way we can see the breadth of this world that I am creating. The one above is, as is listed, from the Hanyou clan, the first of twenty or so that are 'Playable' in Naruto's game world. These aren't really important...yet. Presently they just illustrate different missions and the breadth of the world that I am creating.

Also, seguing that bit about the breadth of the world I am creating, I will also have the guidebook up soon, glossing over everything that is and can happen in the game.

Also, ALSO, there is someone that pointed this out, and yes, that was indeed an 'O brother where art thou?' quote/ ripoff in the last chapter. Internet cookies for Delmar, whomever you are...

Whelp, that's all I have to say, aside from, as usual, thanking our resident beta and godsend, HTM. HTM everybody.

If you haven't checked out his stories, you should, they are fantastic.

Now I'll turn it over. HTM?

HTM: Well, that escalated quickly.