FINALLY, THE ZAP HAS COME BACK-
Sorry for the delay guys, but there was a great festival in my land full of fascinating festivals and mysteries, and so I was away on a nice little vacation, visiting my family and the like. I kinda had to rush this, there is a cyclone coming where I live and all contact might be cut off so I need to get this out.
This is chapter ten after all, it's here, I've made ten chapters, and by next year I hope to have thirty more of those, all I need is your reviews to keep me motivated.
It's time to address some things that concerned my readers. Before I do that, special thanks to malcom, he's pretty perfect.
Lack Of Actual Game Stuff- I never set out to write a story where Naruto plays a game, it's a plot yes, he's stuck in a videogame yet, but like any good videogame, immersion is important. What makes Skyrim and GTA V such great games is the immersion they give you, you feel like you're a dovahkin, or Michael, Trevor and Franklin, so same with Naruto. The game stuff was heavy because I needed to build a mechanic, which I now have, I have a set of guidelines on which I've modeled the RPG Naruto is playing, that stuff will be more in the background, it's time for the story. It's the same reason I put in all these unique twists, I want to look at the videogame, not in an aesthetic sense but in the meta sense, many people feel the videogame is the bad guy here, and I'm here to confirm that it is, the videogame is the bad guy. Why is it the bad guy? Read on.
Lengthy Author Notes: Lot's of people complain about these, and to those people I say-I'm sorry it bothers you? I know that the lengthy notes bother the living fuck out of you, but please realize that the chapters I put out are still 7,000 words long on average. That's a lot of words guys, there is a lot of content. And I won't be lying if I said I paste all those skills at the bottom more for my convenience than yours. I am going to try to shorten the length (which might not be prudent to say, considering this is already an author's note too long)
Ami: Oh God Ami, you think she is a Sakura surrogate, I don't. She's another character I am developing the best I can. I said Naruto will date her, that didn't mean that that's the pairing, why can't Naruto date someone else too? Like in real life you don't marry the first ever girl/boy you date, so why should it be different in this case. NARUTO AND AMI IS NOT THE OFFICIAL PAIRING.
Lack Of Humor: Being funny is difficult.
Omake: After this story reaches 500 reviews, I am going to post a giant update of all the Omake's (in a separate story) plus several more stuff that I haven't published, including deleted scenes that didn't make it and all that kind of crap, so if you really want it, REVIEW.
I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT THE TEXT HERE AND STEAMCORPS. THOSE ARE MINE, I MADE THE GAME. I AM THE GAME.
IF YOU SMELLLLLLLL-
*clears throat*
On with the chapter.
Naruto woke up to wind blowing, a really cold wind. It was still very early in the morning. He wondered why nobody had come in to check on him yet.
"So you finally woke up?" a voice came from behind him, and despite three months of ninja training Naruto still jumped like he was a five year old child who had seen a ghost.
It was his sensei, wearing a mask and holding an orange book in his hands. Naruto wondered if there was anything else apart from reading porn and being a ninja that interested Kakashi, but decided he did not want to know the answer to that question.
"I'll just assume that you liked the cold and went to sleep right here, outside the house. The others not so much though, they thought you had passed out, so which is it?" his sensei asked him.
Naruto did not know if he wanted to answer the question, so he decided to lie. "I've been tired" he said to Kakashi, who nodded.
"You haven't been sleeping much, but you did sleep for about five hours so I'll assume that you've had your fill" he told Naruto, who nodded. He did not need much more sleep than that.
"It's four in the morning, the rest are all supposed to be up at around six in the morning, so till then make yourself useful" Kakashi told him before heading back inside.
Naruto wondered if Kakashi had bought the lie Naruto sold him, but perhaps now was not the time to wonder about it.
'That was one of the past lives I was involved in, I am sure of it' Naruto thought to himself. 'What could past me have seen that was so brutal he resorted to opening the seal'
His experience with seals had told him that trying to unseal a biju from a host's body is fatal to the host, so Naruto assumed that this was a suicide, which was something uncharacteristic of him, suicide meant giving up and Naruto never gave up.
The sun was about to rise in an hour, and that was one of the favorite things Naruto liked to do, watching the sun rise that is. He was almost glad that he could see the sun rise because it seemed like it had been a while since he had seen that happening.
'Why am I repeating my life, what the hell does this game want?' Naruto thought about it, but even with his increased intelligence it did not seem like he had an answer to the questions he was asking. It was frustrating to him, but he knew that he couldn't really think about that now, there was a very dangerous missing nin on the loose and he was most certainly going to fight them.
That was another thing Naruto was worried about, wondering if the team was going to be ready to face Zabuza, he had seen Genma Shirnaui and he did not like the what he had seen, someone as experienced as him, one of the finest the village had to offer in terms of Shinobi had just almost died, yes, he had taken out Zabuza too but the price was too much for that.
"I need to talk to the game" Naruto thought before sending a mental message to the game, hoping that it would listen. Naruto groaned as he realized how long it had been since he had actually bothered speaking to the game, it was right after Iruka's death if he remembered correctly.
'Hey GAME' Naruto almost yelled internally, and he heard a faint clicking sound before a message popped up on the screen.
'We at SteamCorps are glad that you decided to get in touch with us, how may we be of assistance to you?"
Naruto looked at the message in front of him. Maybe it was robotic, but Naruto just found the mechanic nature of the message to be infuriating. He knew that he needed to get done with this quickly or he would be consumed by rage again.
'What was that vision I just saw?'
"SteamCorps is glad you reported the cross fade leak to us and we would like to assure you that we are looking into it and making sure that it doesn't happen again"
Naruto grit his teeth, something that happened a lot when he tried communicating with the game.
'Was that a playthrough of my past life?' Naruto asked the game, even though he knew the answer already, in his mind, it was a past playthrough, just like the ones Kyuubi had shown him, and just like those playthroughs, everything went wrong.
There was no answer from the game, which confirmed Naruto's doubts.
'Dammit' he thought to himself as the sun slowly began rising.
-x-
Kakashi Hatake Quest (7/50)
Training In Training: To beat the teach, you need to learn to preach!
Objectives: Help Kakashi train Team 7
REWARDS: +5 WIS, Level Up
-x-
"Hello my precious little genin" Kakashi said in a voice that sounded so condescending Naruto was surprised that no one had even glared at him. He looked at Team 7 and if nothing else, they were all serious, Sasuke did not have the smug demeanor he usually had about him, Sakura just seemed tense, as did Ami (although in Ami's case it could be more due to the punishment that was handed out to her yesterday)
"So as you know, I spoke to Genma Shiranui for all of five minutes he was conscious" Kakashi said to them smiling with his eyes, Genma had regained consciousness yesterday but hadn't been awake for long, sleep consumed him pretty soon after waking up.
All the team members nodded, Naruto, who was sitting atop a tree and calmly watching the proceedings as he had been instructed to, just continued to stare.
'This is going to be an uncomfortable experience for them' Naruto thought to himself, then wondering if saying the word uncomfortable was an understatement.
"Now I have good news and bad news" Kakashi said to them. "Which one would you like to hear first?" Kakashi asked them. There was silence for a while, it was almost as though they were dreading to hear the news. Sasuke kept staring straight ahead, he didn't even seem to consider the question, Sakura and Ami just seemed to be doubtful.
"Ah" Kakashi said. "Decisions, decisions" there was a mocking tone to his voice, that Naruto was sure was not going to sit well with Team 7 if he knew them, least of all Sasuke.
"Naruto" Kakashi said to him, and at this point Naruto jumped out of the trees, he was hidden up until this point and Ami let out a shriek. Sasuke looked at Naruto with mild interest on his face, Sakura beamed when she saw him. Naruto smiled right back at her.
"So, good news first?" Naruto asked them, Sakura nodded, Ami and Sasuke didn't particularly care.
"The good news is that we are all alive, even Genma is going to make it" Kakashi said to them and Naruto heard relieved sighs coming from all of them, even Sasuke.
"The bad news?" Sakura asked Kakashi, almost scared to dispel the temporary illusion of calm that had started to creep on them.
"The bad news is that it doesn't take that long to die" Kakashi said to her gravely. "Zabuza is still alive, and he has a partner, a partner whose strength we have no idea about, because we haven't seen her fight" Kakashi finished.
"Her?" Ami asked with a raised eyebrow.
Naruto nodded. "Yes, I had an encounter with her, and she seems dangerous, so we should try and get dangerous ourselves"
The whole team nodded.
"So are you guys ready for the hardest week of your lives?" Naruto asked them. They all nodded again.
Naruto looked at Kakashi and grinned.
"So, what have you heard about tree walking?" Naruto asked them, they all looked at him before Ami piped up.
"You mean climbing trees with only feet, yeah, Genma sensei taught us that" she said with a slight bit of disdain that Naruto was sure came from talking to both Kakashi and him.
"Wow" Kakashi said dully. "If I was teaching them, I probably wouldn't even have taught them that by now", the sentence was meant only for Naruto judging by its content, but everyone heard it and Team 7 was not happy at all.
"He does not mean to insult you" Naruto said hastily, attempting to diffuse the situation. "He's a lazy ass, that's all. Can you guys stand on water and fight on it?" he asked them.
They shook their head, indicating that they did not in fact know how to walk on water, Naruto smiled, it was something they could work on, and it would come easier for Ami and Sakura as their chakra reserves were lower and would be easier to control.
He wasn't sure about Sasuke though, he didn't know whether it would be good for Sasuke's ego if Sakura and Ami were able to accomplish something earlier than him, so for his sake Naruto hoped that Sasuke could pull off water walking as fast as possible, because there was a lot of work to do.
"Well" he said, directing them towards a lake, Naruto smiled, sometimes things were just too convenient weren't they? "The idea" he continued, "Is simple, it's like tree walking, but unlike tree walking, you do not have a solid surface to walk on, the surface keeps rippling and responds to your movement on it, and so you have to adjust your chakra constantly so that you can stay above water" Naruto finished, the whole team nodded their heads while Kakashi just looked as dull as ever.
"Alright" Naruto said, "Another thing is that you need to take your shirts off"
"WHAT?" Ami shouted, while Sakura herself did not look too happy. "You pervert, you want to see us naked?" she asked him, glaring in a way that Naruto found childlike.
"Trust me" Kakashi said, he sounded like expending those two words was the hardest job on the planet. "Ami, if Naruto wanted to see you naked, he would already have done so" Kakashi then turned his attention toward Naruto. "Hey Naruto, haven't you seen them naked already?" he asked him.
"WHAT THE HELL?" Naruto shouted, he then turned towards Ami and Sakura, who were hitting their closed fist on their open palm. "He's lying, Kakashi is lying, he is trying to start a fire" Naruto slowly took a few steps back whimpering, before disappearing in a body flicker.
"Get to work" Kakashi said to them. "And please take your clothes off, or wear swim wear if you have it. This water walking thing involves a lot of getting wet, that's what she said" Kakashi said before vanishing away too.
-x-
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" Naruto asked Kakashi, they were hidden behind trees, watching Team 7 attempt to walk on water. "Not only did you not give them the instructions, you also got me in trouble with Sakura" he did not sound too happy.
"Relax kid, I'll tell her it was a joke later" they stared at Sasuke falling in the water again and letting out an outraged grunt. "You think they'll be fine?" he asked Naruto.
"What the hell do I know, you're the guy who has been in those situations before, you tell me"
"It depends on how good Zabuza is, if he was out of action, he might not be at a 100%, and that can only be good for us" Kakashi told Naruto.
"Anything you want me to do?" Naruto asked Kakashi, who nodded.
"Yes, take a nap"
"What?"
"I mean it, take a nap" Kakashi said to Naruto with an air of finality in his voice. He spoke again, this time much more genial, "You've been really tired lately and have been overworking yourself, take a few hours rest, today, you don't have to keep your guard up" Kakashi told him.
Naruto smiled and nodded his head, thanking Kakashi nonverbally, before getting up and leaving.
"But be careful, you might get stabbed in your sleep" Kakashi said to him, Naruto smiled without turning around and then vanished.
Kakashi stared at the spot where his student formerly stood and frowned. He knew that Naruto had lied to him early this morning when he told him that he was tired, he didn't buy that, no one can be that tired, to just pass out on the spot, something else had happened. Kakashi would have let it go too, but Naruto had lied to him, something that had never happened before, Naruto never lied, he was always honest, maybe it had something to do with the fact that Naruto realized someone of his caliber would be able to spot the lie instantly, but he had lied today.
One way or another, he was going to find out.
-x-
"How's the water working out for ya?" Naruto asked Sasuke almost mockingly, he had woken later in the day and found that while Sakura had succeeded in walking on water (much to the chagrin of Ami), Ami and Sasuke were struggling. Sasuke more than Ami, and Naruto wondered if it would be good for Sasuke's ego to see the two girls do better than him.
He shuddered to think what would happen if Sakura was able to read his thoughts, fortunately she wasn't that good. Naruto continued looking at Sasuke, who had gone from glaring at him to glaring at water, and was trying not to brood. Sasuke's brooding made the ladies swoon, but when he was all soaked in lake water, which was also very cold this time of the year, it was more comical than anything else.
"Help?" Sasuke asked him, Naruto looked at him, almost surprised. The Sasuke he knew never did ask for help, he wondered what was going on that had changed him so much.
"You need to account for the ripples, Sasuke" Naruto told him, "Don't keep the bubble under your feet stable, keep adjusting it to match the ripples, that should help"
Sasuke nodded before proceeding to try to do what Naruto told him. Naruto turned around, to see the purple haired Ami stare at him with a curious expression on her face. Naruto sighed before asking her "What is it, Ami?"
"Just wondering" Ami said scratching her chin, "When did you get so good?"
"A rare compliment from the class bully" Naruto remarked dryly, and grinned internally when Ami smiled, "I don't know if I should be proud, or worried"
"You should be proud" Ami said smiling, "Not everyday someone as pretty as me is going to be giving you a compliment" she told him.
"What do you want?" Naruto did not feel like talking to Ami, it wasn't that he was angry with her right now, he just wanted there to be quiet, he had grown to like peace and quiet during his time with Kakashi, or maybe he had gotten used to the loneliness.
"Help me with the exercise?" she asked him hopefully, Naruto nodded, he was going to be able to do that for sure.
"Alright then, the way you do it is-"
-x-
Zabuza groaned as he woke up, he had no idea how long he had been out for, but judging by the room he was in, he assumed he was out for a long ass time.
He moaned in pain, Haku had learned well, and was a beast with her senbon, he never thought that he would see a day when her skills would be used against him, but he supposed that it was all done for the sake of keeping him alive, so he was okay with that. He saw her from the corner of his eyes, she was mashing some herbs together, probably trying to make something to help him dull the pain, and judging by her expression, she had heard him moan.
"You're awake" she said, straight and to the point. "Finally"
"Yeah" Zabuza said, the pain making it difficult to speak, his voice was slightly slurred too. "What the hell did you do to me?" he asked Haku.
"Temporary suspension of your bodily functions, something that can be done by striking the pressure points in your body" Haku said, rattling off a passage that Zabuza was sure she had memorized in a book somewhere. "I hit you with senbon so that I could put you in a death-like state, if I hadn't done that, you'd actually be in a death state" she said smiling.
"Since when have jokes become your forte?" Zabuza asked her.
"Since when has getting your ass kicked by kids become yours?" she fired back. Had it been anyone else talking to him like this, he'd have killed them where they stood, but Haku was special, like a daughter, probably the greatest achievement of his life was the way he had raised her, and he was never going to tell her that, because he had a reputation to maintain.
"Konoha has called for reinforcements, there might be more than one, I'm not sure" Haku said to him, switching into a graver tone, the matter they were discussing was serious after all.
"How do you know that?"
"I met him" she said, something in her tone told Zabuza that she did not want to talk about it any further, which also meant that Zabuza was going to ask her about it.
"What do you mean you met him? Did you kill him?" Haku shook her head in negative at that statement, and Zabuza was not happy to hear that. The one problem with Haku was that she was soft, she couldn't take a life, even if she wanted to, which was not a good thing if you lived in the world they lived in, it was something Zabuza had hoped to change, and was, at best, a work in progress.
"Haku, don't tell me you left him injured and alive" he told her, hoping that the backup maybe had not seen her.
"Oh no" Haku said, Zabuza realized that she was speaking oddly, there was something unrecognizable in the tone of her voice, he wasn't sure if it was respect or something else. "He sought me out somehow, and from what little I could sense of him, he's good"
Zabuza grit his teeth, good was not good. "How good?" he almost spat out the words. They needed the money and backup was only going to be an impediment in the mission.
"Very" Haku said simply. "I don't think I could beat him, and I'm talking about with my bloodline, there was something about him" she said, it was almost like she was admiring him. "He was-" she paused for a bit, maybe searching for the right things that could describe the man she had met. "Different" she concluded, "He was different"
"How old was he, any idea about his rank?" Zabuza asked her, ignoring what he had sensed about the way Haku was speaking about this man she had met.
"No older than the kids that fought you" she told him, and Zabuza would have lashed out at her in anger, if he had the strength, instead he just groaned in pain again, for all the anger he had towards Haku right now, he was more angry at himself for being in a position where he was rendered helpless.
"Maybe you shouldn't stress out" Haku said as she moved closer to him and wiped his forehead with a towel, it had a nice smell to it, probably the balm she had made with all the herbs, Haku was good at that kind of stuff. It took effect as a gentle, cool feeling enveloped him and he was feeling better than he had felt after he had woken up.
"You are too damn soft, Haku" Zabuza told her, it was hard to prevent the adoration he had for her from creeping into his voice, and he wasn't sure if he had even succeeded (for his reputations sake he hoped he had).
"I am sorry for failing you, Zabuza-sama" she told him, there was genuine regret in her voice. "I wish I could serve you better, you know that"
As far as Haku was concerned, Zabuza was everything, he had taken care of her after her own father had killed her mother and came after her, during the awful bloodline purge that had taken place in Kiri. He had given her a home, he had raised her, he had given her hope to be the best she could be, and for that alone, he had become like a God to her, her savior. She was going to be indebted to him forever.
"Well, we haven't failed yet" Zabuza told her. "We have a week, I think. I might be in shape by then, let's kill ourselves some leaf ninjas" he said as Haku nodded, before continuing to apply the ointment on Zabuza's skin.
-x-
The nine tailed fox went by the name of Kurama, and he had seen several of his hosts lives play out right in front of him, as he watched helplessly from his cage. He was always caged, because when he was freed, the game reset and Naruto was right back to a month before his graduation exam. Every. Single. Time.
He roared, trying to make it as primal as he could, hoping beyond hope that his sound alone could shatter the cage that bound him. He often dreamed of roaming free, but after being stuck for what he was certain was several centuries nothing was as appealing anymore, nothing apart from beating the one thing that stood in front of him, the one thing that was torturing him right now, with a blue device wrapped around his neck, injecting pain into his body after every minute.
He wished the reason for his primal roars were anger, but that wasn't the case, to his shame, he was scared, and in pain. He had never thought he would feel this way, why should he, he is after all immortal. But he fact that no amount of pain could kill him had dawned on him a long time ago and was the reason he was so afraid of the OS.
"You can't do anything" he said to the OS, trying to taunt it, even though he knew it was not going to work. He wasn't sure if the OS was even human, because in all the interactions they had had over the years, nothing had seemed to affect him in any way.
"I can torture you here forever, I know well how you fear the pain. After all, I have done this several times before" the OS replied while the fox could do little but roar as another jolt of pain was sent through his body.
"Fuck you" the fox spat at the OS, there was no spit however and the OS just stared passively.
"I see you have picked up the sailor mouth your host has shown over all these playthroughs" the OS said, it was less a joke and more an observation.
"What I did has been done, the only way to erase it would be to end the game, start over. But you can't pull me out of his body, because that would be useless" the fox said. "My extraction will keep killing him, and all your so called 'play throughs' will just be littered with the deaths of your protagonist, and nothing will ever be achieved"
The OS seemed to think about what the fox had just told him. "A very smart move on your part, sending your host a memory of a past playthrough, I had no idea that you could do that"
The fox remained silent, he did not want to tell the OS that he had no idea how it had happened either, it wasn't the dammed Genjutsu he had seen the Sharingan eyes use, and he had never attempted sending memories before, and trying to send one to Naruto had been extremely taxing on both their chakra systems. The nine tailed fox did not know about many things that he, a big, ball of chakra, could find exhausting.
"But the game will work around it. Because as of this moment, we are cutting off contact between you and the host, you cannot talk to him anymore"
The fox was not surprised that it had done that, the game had done that several times before. It seemed to have some sort of control on Naruto's body, that was the only explanation of how he was getting all those status messages, and how flexible it all was, skills after all relied on memory, muscle or mental and sometimes both. For the game to recognize that a skill had been created, it had to have been wired to the body, so that explained the connections, and the game's ability to cut them off.
"The damage has already been done" the fox said, trying to sound triumphant, but finding it hard as another jolt of pain was sent through his body. If it was possible for him to cry, he would have. Instead he settled for howling, half in pain and half in anger. The OS remained impassive, not responding to the pain in his voice, or the loudness of it. It was cold, robotic and lifeless.
"Steam Corps believes that the damage can be easily mitigated, we will work around and confuse the subject, by the time we are done with him, Naruto Uzumaki is never going to have to break out of this game" the OS said. "Ever" there was the air of finality in its voice again.
"If you cut my connections, you put him in danger. I know you know about all the previous attempts at this game, he uses my chakra often" the fox said to the OS, which seemed to nod.
"What do you think the blue collar around your neck is doing?" the OS said to the fox, as it howled again, this time there was more pain than anger, and all of a sudden the fox realized what was happening, with every single zap of pain, he was getting weaker.
"Technology in our world has advanced to places that your primitive elemental nations just cannot fathom" the OS said, it was still dull and monotone, but now it sounded mocking to the fox. "You might think that it's not possible, but for us extracting energy is something that is not a big deal at all, and this game is important enough for us to torture you. You might think that the GAME is insignificant, but it isn't, it just isn't in your realm of understanding. All you are in our world, is mythical, and myths die, just as you will, you aren't immortal" the OS said to the fox.
"Are you telling me I am going to die?" the fox asked the OS, his strength was rapidly fading. "You do realize that I cannot die as long as I'm sealed, I always regenerate?"
"Yes, and we'll torture you again when you do. We kept you around previously because we never thought your meddling would get you anywhere, but your meddling has gone too far this time, you have seriously jeopardized the outcome of this playthrough and almost hurt the world anchor, we cannot let that happen anymore" the OS told the fox, which howled, this time it was pure pain and agony, the last of its chakra was being drained and the corporal form that it had was shrinking, he was down to a very small fox now, the blue collar had completely encased his body.
"World Anchor" Kurama thought, hoping beyond himself to make the voice reach his host. The connection was going to be shut down at any second, so he tried to put in as many memories as he could, memories of pain and happiness and children, everything else he had seen in his lives before this one, hoping beyond hope that at least something would get to him. The other good thing about it was that it meant that OS, which also resided in the mindscape of Naruto was also not going to be able to talk to him, the meetings the OS and Naruto had in previous lives never went well, and he hoped that they'd stay away from each other till Naruto was ready to face it. It was a long shot, but he hoped he could do something about it. "WORLD ANCHOR" he screamed in his head as the last of his form vanished and the red chakra was all that remained.
The OS stared as the red chakra promptly began taking the form of a giant fox again, but this time the fox was asleep, and was not going to wake up for at least three months, and when it would, they'd repeat the process with him.
-x-
"And that's how you do it" Naruto finished. Ami stared at him dumbfounded, she did not seem like she had understood a word of what he was saying.
"What the hell" she said to him. "You need to explain these things better"
"Sorry" Naruto said sheepishly. "I'm not a good teacher" he rubbed the back of his head. Ami seemed appeased by his reasoning behind it, she couldn't expect him to be an expert teacher.
"I'll just go ask your hard-ass captain" she said, but before she could leave Naruto put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her. Ami whipped her head so fast that Naruto swore he thought that it was detached, but the look on Naruto's face probably alarmed her.
"That guy isn't really someone who'll tell you" Naruto explained to her. "Ami, Kakashi is a different kind of teacher, he does not tell you, he expects you to tell yourself, figure things out on your own. Believe me, the explanation I'm giving you is completely different to the one that Sakura or Sasuke will give you. Everyone has a different concept of how they control their chakra, of course there are some things you have to do that are common to everyone, and I can help you out with that, but with everything else, you need to do it yourself"
Ami stared at him, he was wiser that she had remembered him, back in their academy days, Naruto was a dumbass, but he had grown leaps and bounds. She found that surprising, she had been doubtful, seeing as how Sakura was smarter than her. It had led to her bullying Sakura because she didn't know how else to deal with her insecurity, but ever since they had gotten on a team together, they had grown to tolerate each other, and Ami even dared to say that she respected Sakura, she wasn't the strongest, but she tried really hard to be, and that was incredible.
Naruto was probably like her too, someone who was trying hard and succeeding. In that instant, she decided that she was not going to let Sakura and the dead last upstage her, she was going to work as hard as both of them and be as good as both of them
"Thanks" she said, her voice was barely audible but Naruto heard it and smiled.
"Don't mention it" he said. "You know if you want-
"WORLD ANCHOR" the voice boomed in Naruto's head, loud and clear. It sounded like it was in pain, but as soon as he heard it, he got an intense headache, he clutched his head and stumbled.
"If I want what?" Ami said to him, before turning around and looking at Naruto. "NARUTO" she said screaming, detecting his obvious distress as she ran over to him and tried to help him sit down on a boulder nearby.
"WORLD ANCHOR" the voice boomed in his head again. Naruto screamed in alarm and pain as he clutched his head.
"Oh my God" Ami said in complete shock. "Sakura" she shouted. "Sasuke, get Kakashi sensei, something is wrong"
Sasuke looked like he had seen a ghost because he immediately headed towards where Kakashi was, while Sakura came rushing over.
"What the hell happened?" she asked Ami, who shook her head.
"Get him some water" Sakura told her and Ami complied.
Naruto could see the scene play out in front of him, he could see the panic in Sakura and Ami's eyes, but that was interspersed with images, images of a fox, images of intense torture, images of a knife piercing someone's skin, blood seeping on the ground. He saw Kakashi run up to him as more images flashed, images of him kissing Sakura, images of him and another purple haired girl, lying together in bed, under sheets, images of two children that looked just like him, they had whiskers on their faces, just like him.
As Kakashi finally reached him, Naruto saw one final image, a fox, with a blue, toroidal device around its neck. The fox looked at him, and sneered. "WORLD ANCHOR" it shouted before the images vanished and Naruto saw black.
-x-
"This is not where the fox is" Naruto thought dully, this was something else entirely. The pain that he had felt when he was conscious was now just a dull throbbing. He stared at the screen in front of him, yes, it was a giant screen, he had no idea what had happened. All he knew was that he was in pain and then there was this, weird thing in front of him. It was a screen but there were no buttons on it, and there were several more screens surrounding it. The screens reminded him of gigantic windows he had seen in some movies.
"Are these memories?" Naruto thought to himself. He kept staring at the window, or screen, or whatever, in front of him. He kept gazing into it, and eventually it began playing.
"Wake up Naruto", it was a girls voice, giggling almost.
"I don't want to wake up, but if I do, I always want it to be with my face between your brea-"
"Hush" the girl said to him. "You do know that our child is right next door"
"Yeah, like I give a fuck, Ino. Minato will sleep through a friggin earthquake if we let him"
It was at this point that the picture came back on, and Naruto recoiled at its brightness. And there it was, a grown up version of him and Ino (who Naruto had to admit was really, really hot when she was fully grown up. He didn't look half bad either) what struck him as odd was the happiness on their faces, they seemed serene. Suddenly, the view changed, and it switched to a first person perspective, it was as though Naruto was reliving this through his own eyes.
"I fucking love you, Ino Yamanaka" his older version said, Naruto almost grinned, his older version was really smooth.
"I haven't been a Yamanaka in six years, dummy" Ino said to him before she reached out and kissed his older version on the lips, and much to Naruto's surprise, he felt the kiss on his own tongue. It was good, in that moment he felt happiness, and he felt the happiness his older version was probably feeling.
"I made sure of that" the older version said before kissing her on the lips. His older version snuck his hands underneath the sheets they were covered in and Naruto felt something soft in his own hands, it was almost like he was reliving the whole thing. He wondered if what he thought was going to happen was what was actually going to happen.
"Again?" Ino asked him teasingly, "Didn't get your fill last night?"
Naruto shook his head, and Ino giggled again. "Mina-kun will wake up any second, I have to feed him and take him to prep school"
"I never saw the point of prep school, I didn't go to prep school and I turned out okay" Naruto said to her, Ino just smiled.
"I think you are the only person in the entire village who'd say you are normal. I mean two days ago you almost gave poor Ayame a panic attack when you asked her to cook fifty bowls of ramen. FIFTY BOWLS" Ino said, saying the last two words louder for more emphasis.
"Sorry" Naruto said sheepishly. "I hadn't eaten Ramen in a long time, and let's face it, you are hardly a good cook when it comes to Ramen" he said as Ino suddenly stared at him, it was a stare that promised death. "I only meant Ramen, nothing else" Naruto said quickly, which seemed to defuse the tension a bit.
"I love you?" Naruto said, that always does the trick. It worked again as Ino smiled.
"What is it about you?" she asked him, gently kissing him on the lips. "I just can't resist you" she said to him.
"Baby, it must be my foxy charm" he said winking. Ino laughed at his joke, and then there was silence as they looked at each other, enjoying the feeling of holding each other tight, ever since they had achieved peace, it had become a lot more common for them to hold each other like this, but Naruto remembered the times of war, the times when Ino and Naruto had to sneak off, every time they made love seemed like it would be the last time. He was glad that they didn't live in those times anymore.
"I want another baby Naruto" Ino said to him. "I want to raise another. Mina-kun is reaching an age where he won't need me as much anymore, and when I married you I promised myself to raise at least three babies with you, so it's time" she said to him. Naruto just smiled at her, there was nothing he wanted more than to do that. Minato hadn't exactly been planned, but this second baby sure as shit was going to be.
Suddenly a notification popped up in his head.
Ino Uzumaki Quest (46/50)
One For The Dad, One For The Mum: Another bun in the oven.
Objectives: Make Ino Uzumaki pregnant with another child
REWARDS: +50 WIS
Would you like to accept (Y/N)?
Naruto selected yes.
"Ino, I'd like nothing more than to put another bun in your oven, and we are going to start now"
Naruto saw the screen disappear again, but he could still hear sounds of his older version and Ino Yamanaka giggling, his life seemed good. Suddenly, Naruto was pulled out of wherever he was.
-x-
"Oh, Ino" Naruto mumbled as he opened his eyes, and right in front of him was Kakashi, Sakura, Ami and Sasuke.
"Shit" he said, in times like this there was nothing more to say.
Sakura and Ami were looking at each other, no doubt wondering what Naruto had seen in his dreams to warrant him moaning out Ino's name like that. Sasuke too seemed mildly curious, but the look on Kakashi's face was sobering, it was serious, deadly serious. The other members of Team 7 left the room when they say Kakashi look at Naruto, who watched them helplessly as they left.
Once they were gone, Naruto felt some intense killing intent which was immediately withdrawn. "You can't lie to me, Naruto, you can never lie to me" Kakashi told him. "This is the second time in the last 24 hours you have passed out, and I know you know why this is happening"
"Here is what is going to happen" Kakashi continued, his voice colder than ever. "You are going to tell me exactly what is going on, and you are going to tell me the truth"
Naruto gulped, it seemed like the jig was up.
Naruto Uzumaki, Lvl 29, The Gamer.
STR: 76
DEX: 182
VIT: 458
INT: 179
WIS: 113
LUK: 500+
Information:
HP: 6870
CP: 4580
Level Two Fuuinjutsu (Lvl 14): I don't take your powers, I just seal them.
ACTIVE: Create Seals for your usage.
ACTIVE: Can use your own custom seal ink, seal costs reduced by 28%
ACTIVE: Skill can be upgraded
PASSIVE: Your seals are 70% better.
Assassination Mode (Lvl 18) : Deadly, but silent
ACTIVE: Go into sneak mode, reducing the noise you make, the staple of any ninja
ACTIVE: Assassinate a person using the weapon equipped when you're in Sneak Mode. Targets below 14% HP are instantly killed. Does not work on berserkers
PASSIVE: It is 24% harder to detect you when you are sneaking
PASSIVE: When sneaking, knife damage is increased by 54%
Four Point Encampment Barrier (Lvl 3): What goes in must go out. Nothing goes in.
REQUIREMENTS: 4 Clones, 500 CP
ACTIVE: Create a solid shield of chakra that is impenetrable, the shield has HP equal to 25% of the user's HP
ACTIVE: Damage done to the shield is reduced by 10%
Dispel Genjutsu (Lvl 10): KAI!
ACTIVE: Dispels Genjutsu by releasing a burst of chakra, more effective with higher levels
Torture (Lvl 1): Hammer, Tongs, and Electric Wires
ACTIVE: Torture the opponent to reveal information, the higher the level, the more you learn and the more creative the torture
DRAMATIC CHIPMUNK.
What's up with the Kyuubi, what is happening, you'll find out eventually I'm sure. I have an ending in mind so I do have to build to that after all, everything is on course.
Did you like the Ino Flashback, there are going to be several more like those, different kinds, and they'll dominate the next few chapters as I go into the new arc. The Wave Arc is almost the background to the massive potpurri that is Naruto's mind. More explanations will come later.
I don't want anyone in the story to know that Naruto is a gamer because every other crossover does this and I don't wanna do it that way, so how the hell is Naruto going to dodge this bullet? Find out in the next chapter.
Keep reviewing (try not to leave anonymous reviews as I can't really respond when I so badly want to) Quite frankly I liked this chapter because I was on a roll here, maybe you guys liked it too. Tell me if you did.
Also if you have wordpress, I opened up a new blog there, the link to which is in my profile so do check that out. I'll update a lot of things on there so if you are interested subscribe to me. Please? It's barren but when the people start coming, I'll start posting, and that includes updates regarding all my stories.
So please, read, favorite, put this on your goddamn alerts list, and most of all REVIEW.
Also do yourself a favor and listen to The Heavy (if you haven't yet)
Peace, Zap.
-WHAT THE ZAP IS COOKING