If there was one thing I had to say about Anko's apartment, it was that I fucking loved it.
It wasn't all that big and there actually wasn't much around to do, per say, but it was perfect for what it was.
Because of the abrupt nature of our transfer to a new location, Anko hadn't had much time to make accommodations for us, so I decided it to just crash on her couch while Yoko had taken a futon so she could sleep on the floor.
Two words.
Fucking.
Comfy.
Holy shit that couch was comfy as hell. I don't think I ever want to leave that couch just because of how comfortable it was. It was like sleeping on a cloud that had been slightly solidified through the power of science and then molded to your body shape so that you could never get uncomfortable on it.
And that wasn't even the best part. Apparently, Anko seemed to like the idea of crashing on the couch too, so she kept a mini-fridge next to the couch. A fucking mini-fridge.
Add in the close proximity from the couch to the bathroom, and if I had a choice, I would never leave a three meter radius from the center of said couch.
But life tends to say 'hi!' and smack the mallet of work upon poor unsuspecting Mikus when they least expected it. Or perhaps it would be better to say most expected it.
Other than the couch that could only be described as some marvel of science, the apartment itself wasn't too shabby. It was surprisingly clean, with only little pockets of dust here and there that showed that the owner of the apartment cleaned it often. The layout of the room made it so that there were no areas where walking around would cause one to accidentally bump into something, like a coffee table, and the entire room was a deep earthy tone, so I didn't have to be blinded each morning when the light from the sun bounced off the floor and straight into my retinas.
Not that that could actually happen, given that her apartment faced away from the sunrise, but hey, if the apartment suddenly decided to do a 180 because some ninja using an earth jutsu wanted to get Tetris by lining up the buildings, then at least I would be out of the sun's grasp while half the building disappeared.
And then there was the music. Holy shit the music. I hadn't really seen Anko recently, so I had not had a chance to actually catalog what her theme was, but holy shit it brought back memories.
The piano opening followed by that guitar and synth… Yeah, I could just listen to that song for hours upon hours.
Persona did always have really comfy listening music.
Her theme constantly played in her apartment even when she wasn't here, so I found myself just melting into the couch, bobbing my head while reading manga most days. Plus, it overpowered Yoko's theme. Not that I didn't like it. It was just that the constant ticking and repeating four measures tended to get on one's nerves after a while.
I heard a the rustling of cloth coming from next to me and I flipped my entire body around to see Yoko blearily getting up from her spot on the floor, her blanket clinging to her small frame.
She rubbed her eyes and slowly turned to look at me. "…?"
I cracked a smile. "Hora. Morning Yoko." I gave her a half-hearted two fingered salute and returned to reading the manga that I had been glancing through.
"… up?"
I took a quick glance at the clock up on the wall above the television. Six O'clock. Had I really been up all night?
"Didn't go to sleep. Wasn't all that tired, really." I stuck my thumb between the pages and closed the book. "You feeling okay today? You didn't look too good yesterday."
She shrugged her shoulders and got up. "…Fine…"
"You sure? You had a small fever yesterday." She glared at me. "Hora, Yoko, I'm just looking out for you. You know how easy it is for anything you catch to get worse."
"… Fine…" She repeated. Looks like I'll have to follow her to the academy today. "... You...?"
I shrugged nonchalantly. "Bored, mostly." I sat up on the couch and stretched, feeling the quick but small bursts of relief that came with popping the bones along my lower back. "We have some time before you have to leave. Want to do something?"
She tilted her head just a tad in thought, before slowly getting up and sitting on the couch next to me, letting herself fall onto my lap. "…no."
I hadn't been expecting her to do that, so I had unconsciously tightened my muscles in response to the sudden action. "Hora hora, Yoko, what're you doing?"
She shifted her frame, trying to become more comfortable by digging her head into my lap. "…Sleep."
"…Fine, whatever. Go out of your way to take my sleeping spot and make me uncomfortable, why don't you?" I opened the book again and placed my free hand on her head, stroking her hair softly. "At least I wasn't planning on going to sleep, so you lucked out there."
She stared at me through the gap between the book and my face. She then made a fist, stuck out her index finger, and poked me on my right cheek.
I retaliated by flicking her in the forehead.
She frowned and turned her face so that her head now buried itself in my stomach. "… Baka…"
I blew some air out of my nose in a half-hearted laugh. "Yoko, go back to sleep."
She turned the rest of her body so that it wouldn't strain her head and curled up on herself to conserve some body heat, closing her eyes as she did so.
I sighed and performed some one-handed finger gymnastics, switching the finger clamped between the pages with my ring finger. Then I reached into my pocket with the now free thumb and index finger and pulled out a bad apple, munching on it while reading.
My sleeping troubles had gotten worse, as of late. The mask, which used to be my go to for attempting to sleep, had started to fail more and more often. I usually prided myself on being a carefree person, but even I could tell when I was being stressed out.
I did not like it one bit.
I set the bad apple down and reached into my pocket once more, this time pulling out a small bottle with a printed label on it.
The bottle contained sleeping pills that Anko had given me.
When I had first moved in with Yoko, she had noticed that I had trouble going to sleep, so she handed me some pills that T&I used to knock out some of their guests when they needed them to be asleep for something. You could either give it orally or dissolve it in liquid and it would have the same effect, although according to Anko the dissolved version works slower. Needless to say both ways still worked extremely fast.
I had only taken them twice so far.
It was kind of funny honestly. I wanted to sleep so badly all the freaking time, and here was a solution right in front of me, yet I wasn't taking any of it.
I had spent so much time sleeping the days away… Yet with the sudden realization that I might not live through the next few months, I found myself wanting to spend them wide awake, even feeling scared to go to sleep, as if I happen to go to sleep, I won't wake up again.
It was completely irrational of me, but I simply couldn't help it.
I pushed the bottle back into my pocket and continued eating the apple, flipping back a few pages of the manga after realizing I had just read the pages without actually comprehending what I had been reading.
I had learned quite a while ago that edible objects that I touch change in nature. A cup of ramen that I had microwaved will give back a little bit of predefined health, but decrease the rate at which health is recovered for a day, medicine will work instantly instead of taking time, and occasionally if I happen to cook something a small pop-up will show up giving me something along the lines of 'You have created a [blank] quality dish!' with a set of stats.
On the other hand, if Yoko happened to cook something and then have someone else feed me, I found that it would give back a randomly generated value of health between two certain integers with none of the drawbacks. Same went with if I happened to be wearing gloves and eating something. Medicine would still work on me, but it would take time instead of working instantly, although if I happened to be cooking, it didn't matter if I was wearing gloves or not, it only mattered if I happened to be involved in a majority of the cooking process.
So, any sleeping medication I took would instantly knock me out, unless I happened to cover my hand with my sleeve, and would do so for a very specific amount of time.
Even better, if I happened to touch something and someone else takes the medicine, it will also work instantly with them, despite not having my ability.
I had been using that particular part of my power of Yoko's own medicine for the longest time, so while I couldn't eradicate her sickness, I could make her instantly feel better.
I finished eating the bad apple and finished reading the manga, putting it into one of the many pockets that dotted the coat I had been using as a blanket and pulled out the guidebook, planning what I was going to do today.
A couple of days ago, while I had been exploring the northern half of Konoha, I had noticed a rather peculiar sign show up on my map.
Said sign was a small little store icon, which had previously been hidden in the fog of war around a centimeter away from my previously discovered areas.
The shop was one I had seen Naruto go into a couple of times when I had decided to follow him a while ago. I apparently had kept just far enough from him that my map didn't pick it up, and because of that I had deemed it to be just like any other store in Konoha.
This however, proved it wasn't.
It was, after all, the only store in Konoha that actually had a marker that showed that it was a store.
I had been planning on going, but I was worried about the slim chance I might run into Naruto there. So, being me, I spent around ten seconds thinking about how to get around that, and then procrastinate actually putting into action the idea I had come up with.
The plan was pretty simple, really. Just wear the anbu mask and the thin overcoat with the hood up along with a change in pants and hopefully he wouldn't notice that it was me because of the mask, both because of the voice modulator within and its use in covering my face.
Of course, I planned on padding the inside with some of Yoko's paper because of a little trick I had discovered while I had been experimenting with the mask when I first received it. Apparently, if the mask part of the mask isn't touching one's face, then I can use it as just a plain old mask instead of just something which is entirely useless currently as I do not have the chakra supply to use its passive ability for too long.
I had actually found that Naruto didn't seem to notice me while I was wearing the mask despite not having the passive apply, so I assumed that despite not getting the bonus to stealth, it might do something to affect the radius of the music I emit.
But even then that doesn't completely make sense either. Theories were theories after all, so all I had to go on was that the mask did something that hid me from Naruto's sensing capabilities, and that was good enough for me.
I hoped to just pass myself off as some kid that was playing Anbu in the streets.
I really hoped that was a common enough thing. I had seen a couple of kids during some festivals doing it, but because of my stay inside no matter what policy, I wasn't too sure if it was a game kids played often. Ninja, sure, but Anbu?
Meh, I guess I'll just roll with it.
I craned my neck upward and gazed at the clock that hung high on the wall.
45 minutes…
I looked down at Yoko again, her chest slowly rising and falling, the sound of her breathing practically echoing alongside the ticking of the clock and the softly playing music in the background.
I ran a hand through her hair again and relaxed a bit more into the couch.
It was going to be long couple of weeks.
I glanced out of the side of the alleyway I was in in time to see Yoko and Shino disappear around a corner.
I smiled. Finally, they fucking left. They had been standing there for ten minutes just talking and I had been about to leave anyway before they finally started walking toward the academy.
I took a cursory glance around the alleyway in order to ensure there was nobody around before I ducked behind a large stack of boxes and started to change clothes.
I didn't really have to change much. I just had to switch coats and put on some pants over the shorts I had been wearing before, even though the later was uncomfortable due to the heat and the slight amount of tightness due to wearing two layers.
Once that was done, I secured the mask in place and pulled up the hood.
"Testing, testing…" A modulated version of my voice came out of the mask. Great, it worked. Not that I doubted it wouldn't… "Good to go."
I strolled leisurely out of the alleyway and pulled out the book form its hammerspace, opening it up to the map. The shop I had wanted to go to wasn't too far away from where I currently was, at most a ten minute walk, so it wouldn't require me to do too much walking.
I kept my head buried in the guidebook to provide an extra layer of coverage as I walked, making sure to keep away from anyone that happened to be walking down the street.
Since it was pretty early, I really didn't have to worry about accidentally bumping into someone. Plus, I had the music playing at a slightly louder volume than normal, so I would know if anyone relevant to the plot was anywhere in the nearby vicinity.
Currently, only Konoha's theme was playing, so no one was near enough to be in visual range.
I soon came upon the store in question. It wasn't all that big on the outside, only being as large as a gas station, really, but appearances could be deceiving. There wasn't anything that separated it from any other shop. In fact, it looked strangely generic, with the title of the shop just being 'General Store' which was written on the side in faded letters.
I entered, hearing the classic convenience store jingle as I entered.
Dun~~Dun~~Dun~~Dun~~Dun~~Dun~~Dun~~Dun~~DunDunDun~~~
Holy.
Shit.
Words. Everywhere.
Everywhere I looked, there were little blurbs of white writing lazily floating above various items that lined the shelves. Every single shelf was cram packed with various scrolls of different sizes, and a couple of people were milling about the isle, occasionally glancing at one thing or another before moving on.
Dun~~Dun~~Dun~~Dun~~Dun~~Dun~~Dun~~Dun~~DunDunDun~~~
"Hello! Welcome to the shop! How may I help you?"
I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sudden voice that came from right next to me. I jumped to the left and placed my arms in front of me as a reflexive response. Then I realized what I had heard and lowered my guard.
The man in front of me looked to be in his late thirties and was wearing some loose fitting clothing. He had a strange smile that reminded me of Kyo more than anything else, although I couldn't see his eyes because of the hat shadowing them. I could see a few strands of white hair poking out from under it, with one particular strand crossing over his face.
"Uh... Hora… What do you sell here?" He was a shopkeeper and this was his shop, so why not ask him what he sold. "I don't really know what to buy…"
The shopkeeper tilted his head and grinned even wider. "Ah, this is your first time in the shop, correct? Would you like a tutorial?"
Wait, tutorial? Hold on here, take a step back… "Tutorial? What are you talking about?"
"Would you like a tutorial?" He repeated in the exact same tone of voice.
"…You're part of the system, aren't you? An NPC, right?"
"Would you like a tutorial?"
I sighed. Yeah, this guy was useless. A freaking automaton. Meant solely to man this store. And for half a second, I thought that I might have found someone that knew what the hell was going on.
"Yeah, sure. Give me the tutorial."
The shopkeeper bowed and teleported to behind his counter in a poof of smoke. "Hello! Welcome to the General Store! I am the shopkeeper! Since you have selected the tutorial, we shall begin the tour immediately. Since you are 'The Gamer', content from this tutorial has been edited to suit your system."
So Naruto and I did have different systems. Not that I didn't believe that already, but… "Hora hora, just hurry up, already. I'm not planning on staying here for too long."
The shopkeeper continued to smile, unaffected by my words. "This is the General Store, where you can buy various equipment, clothing, skills, abilities, and upgrades if you happen to have the money to buy them! Each aisle of this store is sorted in this order. Aisle one is equipment, aisle two is clothing, so on and so on."
I can get skills and abilities? Holy shit, fuck yes. Wonder what the hell upgrades are, though…
"Once you have found a scroll with the item or upgrade you want, bring it to the front and I will give it to you for the price listed. Also, if you wish to sell something, you may also bring it here and sell it, although prices will vary depending on the quality of the item." The shopkeeper bowed and tilted his head. "That is it for the tutorial. Please remember that there is a shop in every village, so remember to stop by!"
Well that was the most useless tutorial in the history of tutorials. It was nothing I couldn't have figured out myself. Literally the only interesting things in it were that there were multiple shops and that there were these upgrades I could get, which I probably could have figured out if I had just stared at them long enough.
Deciding it was probably better to actually see what the store had to offer, I went down the nearest aisle, which was the fifth one, meaning it held the upgrades.
The closest one was actually pretty empty, despite the appearance of stacks and stacks of scrolls being stuffed onto the shelves. Most of them had a series of three question marks above them, but I could make out some at the end of the aisle that had words to it.
I quickened my pace and turned to face the closest one that would give me a description.
-UI Upgrade: Currency counter
-500,000 Ryo
…You know what? I'm not even angry. Nope. Not angry at all. Not even slightly pissed. Not a mite bit irritated.
I'm not fucking angry. I'm not.
Yet, why the fuck do I feel the need to punch the shit out of a wall?!
I took several deep breaths to calm myself down and looked at the offending words again. Yeah, 'upgrades' my ass. More like 'On disk DLC.'
And it was fucking expensive as shit.
Mother fucking shitake, what the hell?!
Nope. I'm getting angry. I don't get angry. I don't. Stop. Just stop. Let it go… let it go… there is no entity you can possibly take out your anger on. None.
I turned heel and briskly walked out of the aisle, not even bothering to look back to see the other supposed 'upgrades.'
I didn't need my hue going all cloudy, after all. I needed to clear my head of those thoughts.
I decided it was probably best to ignore all the others for the time being and go straight to equipment. Skills and abilities were probably only going to have a shit ton of abilities that were too expensive for me to use or just plain locked, while clothing I felt I was good on. Equipment was a pretty broad category anyway, so I wanted to get the biggest pile of crap out of the way first.
The equipment aisle was about what I expected, with an assortment of weapons ranging from the basic kunai to triple question marks, indicating that I could probably buy some high level shit here in the future. I took a quick look over at the kunai to see how much a bundle of them cost and was surprised to see they only cost about 1,000 ryo for a pack of fifty.
That wasn't the only reason I bought them though. Apparently, all the items in the shop gave some kind of bonus when in use. The kunai gave a plus 1 to dexterity when you're using it, so it seemed like a good fit for me.
I also found some coils of different strength ninja wire, but those were currently way out of my price range, going from 10,000 to 200,000 Ryo for the average wires. The higher quality ones, which I knew were right next to them despite being titled as '?', had obscene prices to them, going over the amount I had accumulated in the past five years.
I decided to move on from weapons into the rest of the aisle, considering that weapons only seemed to take up a little less than half the lane.
The second half consisted of consumables, with varying degrees of effects and bonuses.
-Bad Apple
-+50 health
-+10% chakra regeneration for 10 seconds
-+10% Speed for 3 minutes
-3,000 Ryo
What.
I knew for a fact that bad apples did not give chakra regen and speed boosts. I think I would pick up on that if I did.
Also, what the fuck? This store sold bad apples? And they're super expensive? Just… huh?
…Well, I do have the money… And I probably won't get any for a while…
I picked up five scrolls and carried on, whistling the tune that was playing in the shop as though I had not just wasted money on something I could have probably made myself.
Soon enough, I was at the end of the hall, where most everything was highlighted by a series of question marks floating above them.
I was about to turn around and go search the other aisles, but then I noticed some words floating near the bottom of one of the shelves and shuffled forward, kneeling so I could get a better look at what was there.
-teleportation scroll (Konoha)
-teleports the user and anyone touching the user to a predetermined location.
-1,000,000 Ryo
My mind shut down.
No thoughts were processed for a solid 10 seconds as I read over and over what I had just read.
I took a quick glance to the left and saw a similar scroll, reading that one carefully as well.
-teleportation scroll (Kumo)
-teleports the user and anyone touching the user to a predetermined location.
-1,000,000 Ryo
"… huh." I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't just seeing things. "Well… Heh. Hehe. Hehehe."
I devolved into a fit of giggles upon realizing what this meant. Seven years. Seven years of planning, stressing, and worrying, all for it to become absolutely worthless because of a single scroll. Worthless.
"I won't have to do it… I won't have to do it…" I repeated. "I won't have to. I won't…."
A feeling of happiness rose up from my chest, as though a fire had lit and was now working to fill a hot air balloon, lifting my troubles away.
I hadn't even noticed how numb to myself was.
I let myself fall on the floor, still laughing to myself, the bursts sounding alien to me because of the mask. I raised a hand to my face, noting how shaky it was.
This was it. I had found my way out. No one had to die. There was no way anyone could track us if we just teleported far enough away.
I felt a tear stream down my cheek, gaining speed as my body moved up and down from the force of my own laughter.
I pulled the mask from my face and wiped my watery eyes with the crook of my free arm before taking a few calming breathes and placing the mask back on my face. I had just enough money saved up over all the years I had been saving to buy it, so even though it would take everything I had, I knew it would be worth it to by the one item that sat in front of me.
I took a shaky hand and slowly reached out, gripping the object slowly and carefully squeezing it, just to double check that the object was there.
Once I was positive that I had a firm grip, I pulled.
My fingers remained locked around the scroll.
"…huh?"
I attempted to take the scroll from its location again.
Once again, I found that the scroll was impossible to take from the shelf.
I let go of it and took a step back, glaring at the tanned tube sitting on the wood before me. My heart had started to beat harder as various conclusions started to fill my head.
I slowly tilted my head upward to see a small line of innocent looking text floating above me.
-Available only to The Gamer: Protagonist.
Of course. Of fucking course. It's never that easy is it. Never that fucking easy.
Why? Why do that?
Why put something like that in front of me? Why dangle hope in front of a person without any?
Why?
Why…?
Why why why why why?
… What does that word even mean anymore? Why? I don't understand anymore. I don't understand anything anymore.
What's the point?
Oh, right. There never was one. It never existed.
It doesn't exist.
…Aren't I supposed to feel… Angry? Depressed? Denial?
Something? Anything? Anything at all?
Yet why don't I feel a thing?
"Huh…" I repeated.
Yeah, that's my voice. I still exist. I can feel, breath, think. I'm thinking right now.
Thinking thinking thinking… Yet no thoughts are coming.
Nothing at all…
I picked myself up off the ground.
It was too much effort to just sit there and wonder. Yeah, it was much easier to forget it ever happened.
I staggered down the hall and slowly made my way to the counter.
"Hello! How may I help you?" He spoke in the exact same tone that he spoke in the first time I met him. "Are you ready to complete your purchase?"
I carefully took out the scrolls I had taken and laid them out on the counter in front of him.
"That will be sixteen thousand Ryo. Are you sure you would like to make this purchase?"
The words 'yes' and 'no' popped up before me.
"Yes." I said softly, although it came out as more of a warbled sigh. Another pop-up replaced it immediately after.
-Achievement(s) Unlocked!
-Goodnight, sweet Ryo… (5gs): Buy something from the shop!
-New item(s)!
-(Random Shop Item)
Continue?
Yes
No
I gave another yes and quickly caught the scroll that appeared above me, sticking it in the hammerspace so I could deal with it later.
The items before me had disappeared in the time it took for me to put away the bonus item I had received, the shopkeeper nodding as I looked towards him again.
"I have taken the liberty of depositing the items in your inventory. The money has already been taken from your inventory, so you need not pay. All future transactions will be conducted like this unless specified otherwise." He tilted his head and raised a hand in a wave. "Would you like to buy anything else? If not, then thank you for purchasing from the store and have a nice day!"
I didn't bother giving a response, instead just meandering at my usual pace toward the entrance of the shop.
The doorway was blocked however, and I found myself staring blankly at who was blocking the door, the music changing from the theme of the store to his theme as he came into my vision.
Naruto Uzumaki.
He was here.
So, he decided to skip class today… Just. Fucking. Perfect.
He looked at me with a confused expression on his face, his eyes squinted with his head resting slightly crooked upon his shoulders.
We stared at each other for a bit before I decided it was probably time to leave.
I quickly and carefully moved past him, grazing his shoulder and I passed him through the opening.
"… Hey! Masked guy! Stop for a second! I need to talk to you!"
I ignored him and continued walking down the street, picking up the rate at which I was walking. The crowd for the morning had started to pile in on the street, so I tried to make myself scarce within them.
There was a single thought that ran through my mind though as I walked forward, however.
I could turn back.
I could.
After all, the scroll was available to Naruto, wasn't it? He was there… It probably wouldn't be hard to convince him I needed the scroll for something. I could just give him the money and all would be well.
But I wasn't.
Of course, counter arguments were already running through my head to support my idea of simply walking away. Oh, sure, you'll be able to make it out with your family, but how long until Naruto manages to find you and ruins everything you worked so hard for? Or mentions to Sasuke you exist? Or to Danzo?
Hell, how the fuck do you know that he'll even do it? And if he says no, then you've basically blown everything you've worked so hard for…
In the end, it's just you versus plot armor, and you have about as much as Neji did. It just isn't worth it.
… I'm such a horrible, selfish person...
It's a choice between saving them and saving me, and I choose myself.
Ha.
I kept walking, no particular destination in mind.
Naruto had been thinking quite hard recently.
Contrary to popular belief, despite being rather thick headed, he did have a good head on his shoulders, it just worked in… obtuse… ways.
He solved practical problems. Like the 'throw kunai and kill the thing' kind of problems. Or the 'launch paint bucket at target X when target X is at location Y' kind of problems.
Girls did not fall under the umbrella of what Naruto deemed practical problems.
Yoko Uchiha was one such problem he has tasked himself to solve, and so far, he was nowhere close to finding a solution.
He had taken Shino's advice and kept quiet while he ate lunch with them while also keeping an eye on her throughout the day, but he was nowhere close to figuring out how to become her friend.
Watching Yoko was more like watching a robot more than anything else. She did the same thing every single day, starting with meeting up with Shino in the morning. Then, she would go to class with around five minutes to spare. Following that, she would take out that notebook of hers from a scroll and take notes until lunch. She would eat and have a chat (if speaking ten words total could be called a chat) and then spend the afternoon training sessions inside. On the occasions where they had training before lunch, she would come outside listen to what the sensei had to say before going back inside.
It felt more like watching paint dry than watching a person. Actually, it was even more boring, because he had actually sat around and watched paint dry once, and that had definitely been more interesting than watching her.
At least paint tended to dry differently and he could talk to himself if he really felt bored. She did the same thing every single day and didn't ever seem to change how she went about it and he couldn't entertain himself or else she might set his apartment on fire again.
He still hadn't found a way to get the burn marks out of the floorboards yet.
He winced as he felt another headache building up. He slammed his head into the desk in hopes that maybe he could block out the pain with more pain, but it wasn't all that effective.
A couple of heads turned toward him, but after a few seconds of staring they all went back to their lunches. Naruto had already eaten his lunch, so he was left sitting in his chair waiting until class resumed.
Soon` enough it passed and he was left with an ache on his forehead due to his actions.
He really wished the headaches would stop, but they just kept coming, happening even more often than usual. If only there was something he could do about them…
He rubbed his head and looked over to where Shino, Hinata, and Yoko were sitting. He had decided to leave the group after he had finished and try to take a nap since he had been up all last night trying to work on a project of his, but he found himself unable to rest peacefully with the problem of trying to raise his relationship above -10 constantly on his mind.
He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, going over the information he had so far.
What did he know about Yoko?
He knew she liked to read because the three of them liked to talk about books they read. He found himself mostly tuning those conversations out because he didn't like reading, but he knew they did, so he would occasionally say his opinion on what they were talking about after he figured he had picked up enough of the book from their conversations.
What else…? She was really good at being a ninja, he knew that. He had seen her stats and they were really high. She was really smart and had about as much chakra as Sasuke did, plus she had already figured out how to do the jutsus they had been taught yesterday.
He had also performed them the first time, but that was because he kind of cheated with his ability. For some reason though, he still couldn't manage to make a clone, despite having it under his jutsu list. Apparently he didn't have enough chakra control or something.
Aside from being a genius she was also a psycho, which he learned from personal experience.
And that was all he could really think of at the moment.
… He really didn't have all that much on her, did he?
He leaned forward, the legs of the chair clacking against the ground as he did so. He placed his head in his hands and growled in frustration.
There had to be something completely obvious that he was missing! Both Shino and Hinata got on her good side, so that meant he also had a chance, but why did it have to be so hard?!
He looked back over to where they were sitting. He had already asked Shino for help, and so far he hadn't had any luck there. Maybe he could ask Hinata…?
Yeah! She was pretty smart, too, if what her stats say are correct.
Plus she's also a girl, so maybe she could help were Shino proved useless!
With a plan set, he got up from his chair and jumped over the table, taking the most direct route to where Hinata was. He made his way over to the section of the table where Hinata was sitting and kneeled on it, making eye contact with her.
"Hey, Hinata! I need to talk to you about something in private!" He held his hand out. "Think you can come with me?"
Hinata's face turned red and she looked away from him. He never understood why she never looked at him in the eye for more than a few seconds, but he was sure there was some sort of reason. She looked at Shino and Yoko in the eye all the time, but never him.
He knew she didn't hate him, after all their relationship stat was his second highest. Shino had told him she was just shy, but he wasn't entirely convinced on that. He had seen her spar before, and it was almost like she was a completely different person when she was fighting.
He had always made sure to cheer for her since he had met her, so he had seen every match she had been placed in and she hadn't lost yet.
Hinata slowly nodded and got up from her chair, rushing out of the room as soon as she had freed herself from the desk.
Naruto got off the table himself and turned around to face Shino and Yoko. "Sorry guys, I had to borrow Hinata for a bit. This won't take too long, hopefully!"
He flashed them a smile and raced out the door after Hinata.
He found her leaning against the wall at the end of the hall, her bangs shadowing her eyes.
Naruto walked over and placed both his hands on her shoulders, feeling them tense up under his grip. "Hinata, you know you're my best friend, right?"
He swore her face got even redder. "I-I'm your b-best friend?"
"Of course you are! You are the one person who I trust the most in the entire academy!" He tilted his head and scratched his cheek in thought. "Well, maybe you and Iruka-sansei, but I think I still trust you a bit more."
Naruto contorted his face back into a more serious look and once again made eye-contact with Hinata. "Listen, uh… Can I ask you something? I'm kind of embarrassed about it, so please don't laugh at me once I say it…"
Naruto hated asking for help. He despised it. But right now he felt he really needed the help so he would tear down his pride for just a moment so he could actually get somewhere.
"Y-you w-want to ask me something?" Naruto nodded again. "O-okay…"
Naruto took a deep breath. "Alright… Here goes…" He took a step back and bowed. "Please help me make friends with Yoko!"
Hinata responded immediately after he finished his sentence. "OfcourseI'llgoonadatewithyou!"
Naruto straightened and gave her a perplexed look. "What did you say Hinata? You said it kind of fast and I didn't quite hear what you said."
Hinata, however, looked dazed. "Hey! Hinata! Are you alright! You look kind of pale!"
She shook her head and the red tinge returned to her face, stronger than before. "A-ano… Wh-what did you say, Naruto-kun?"
He let himself relax, once he was sure that Hinata was alright. "Oh, good, you're okay! It kind of sucks having to take you to the nurse because of that weird condition you have, so I'm glad you're alright!" He gave her a thumbs up. "Yeah, anyway, I was hoping you could help me make friends with Yoko. I asked Shino for some help, but I still haven't actually gotten any closer to getting her to be my friend."
Hinata sighed and straightened herself out. "I-I suppose I can help… But Shino-san is closer to her than I am, so I'm not sure how much help I can be…"
Naruto took a step closer and pulled her into a hug to show his gratitude. "Thanks Hinata! You're the best!"
He heard an eep come from the blue haired girl before feeling a sudden weight shift onto his body.
He quickly pulled her off and shook her a few times upon seeing her closed eyes. "Hinata? Hey, Hinata!" Naruto sighed. "Guess she fainted again…"
He carefully positioned her body against the wall and pulled both her arms over his shoulders. He wasn't sure if Hinata was just light or all the strength points he had were paying off, but he found he was able to pick her up no problem.
"Guess it's off to the infirmary…"
"I-I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun! I didn't mean to…"
Naruto held up a hand. "It's fine! You're really light, so I had no problem carrying you!" He flashed her a smile. "Plus, you're kind of pretty, and I would do anything for a girl as pretty as you!"
She pulled up the blanket that had been covering her up to her face and attempted to bury herself deeper into the bed beneath her.
Naruto leaned forward against the back of the chair he was sitting on. "So, about that favor…"
Hinata put the blanket down and made herself comfortable against the back wall using the pillow that had been provided for her. "R-right. You said you asked Shino-san? What did he say to do?"
Naruto started to swing his legs under the chair as he spoke. "He told me to just be quiet and watch, and then I'd figure it out, but so far I can't seem to find anything that would let me get on her good side!" He moved his arms off the top of the hair and let them flop helplessly to the side. "I've been trying for weeks now, weeks! And I still haven't made any progress…"
Hinata looked mildly puzzled before she widened her eyes and nodded to herself. "I see… I can help you Naruto."
"Really? Yeah! Alright! Score one for Naruto Uzumaki!" He pumped his fists in celebration. "Come on, Hinata! Tell me, tell me!"
"I-It's really simple. Just apologize and give her something she likes." Hinata looked down at her hands and started to play with her fingers. "If you give her something she likes, then she'll know you have been paying attention to her and maybe forgive you."
"What? That's it?" He scratched his head. "All I have to do is give her something she likes? Well that's easy!" Naruto folded his arms and thought for a second. "… Hey, Hinata, what does she like?"
She shook her head. "I-I'm sorry Naruto-kun. I can't help you there. If I told you, then I wouldn't be a very good friend to Yoko-san, would I?"
He harrumphed. Yeah, he supposed that if he used Hinata to get closer to her it would undermine the point of having watched her in the first place. "But, you can still help right? Like, can you give me a hint or something?"
Hinata thought for a moment. "Well, s-since you have been watching her… Why don't you tell me her likes and dislikes? O-or her hobbies, or m-maybe even things you know from her life at home…"
Naruto scrunched up his eyebrows. Likes and dislikes, huh? "Well, I know she likes to read, but I don't know any books to give her… She likes… sweet things? I think? Oh, and lighting things on fire. And she doesn't like talking or loud noises." He shifted his position so his other arm would carry the eight of his head. "And I don't know anything about her hobbies. Oh! She likes playing that game she plays with Shino sometimes…" He leaned back and stretched his arms out. "I guess I could buy her something from the store, but I'm not sure if what I'll get will work…"
"N-naruto-kun, there is something else you missed…"
He had missed something…? "Oh! Yeah! There's that!" he mashed a fist into an open palm. "Hinata, I think I know what I can do! Can you help me with it? I don't really know how to do what I'm planning, so…"
"I'll always help you, Naruto-kun."
Naruto grinned. He knew he could count on her!"
"So, here's what I'm planning…"
Naruto had decided to use the day after his talk with Hinata to skip class and get the necessary materials to pull off what he had devised.
Today was a review day anyway, so he wasn't missing much by playing hooky. Who cared if the first hokage could make a forest? He's dead! It was Naruto Uzumaki's time to shine!
His grin grew wider as he thought of all the things he could do when he finally became hokage. Infinite ramen, forever! No boring academy lectures! Everyone would have to acknowledge his greatness!
His name would be heralded far and wide! Tales would be told about his epicness! Yeah, he could see it! The great and magnificent tales of Naruto Uzumaki, 7th hokage of Konoha!
7th? Where did that come from? He was going to be the 5th! No way was he waiting that long to be hokage!
Soon enough, he arrived at the front of the shop and peered in, double checking to see if this was indeed the correct shop.
Once he saw the floating words, he let his body catch up with his head and walk in the doorway, but stopped upon seeing a peculiar sight.
A strange, hooded kid, only a little higher than he was, came out from one of the aisle and shuffled over to where the shopkeeper was standing.
As the person walked right up to the counter, the theme of konoha faded into another theme, this one being one he had never heard before. It started out with something like jangling keys before going into lyrics in a language he couldn't figure heads or tails of.
This was the second guy he had seen with someone singing in their theme. Did that mean this person also knew something?
He observed as the being purchased a couple of scrolls, which disappeared like anything he bought did. Then, he saw a scroll suddenly pop into existence above the person, who also took it and place it into nothing at all. The guy simply took the scroll and moved it in the air, and it slowly disappeared along an invisible line, just like his own powers did when he wanted to put something in his inventory.
He turned, exposing the strange mask that covered his face.
It was unsettling to look at. He had seen anbu masks before, having seen some in some mask shops, but this one looked nothing like those masks. The mouth, usually thin, was instead spread all the way across the face in a smile, the teeth being diamond shaped. Three jagged red lines spread out from under the nose, as though lightning bolts had replaced the whiskers on it. The holes for the eyes were thin, and he could barely see the pitch black eyes from behind the mask that gazed thoughtlessly at him.
The person walked toward him, the coat he was wearing catching the wind from the open door and waving about uselessly behind him.
The guy bumped into him, forcefully making a gap in the door and quickly leaving Naruto behind.
"… Hey! Masked guy! Stop for a second! I need to talk to you!"
His eyes had finally caught up to his brain and his mouth moved to voice his thoughts.
Naruto took a few quick steps toward the figure in hopes that he could catch up to him again, but not five meters away from the shop he felt another headache coming on, causing his eyes to water and forcing him to stop to clutch his head from the pain.
By the time the headache passed, he could no longer hear the song that had been playing, and there were no signs of him around either.
Naruto groaned out of frustration. He had met someone else who knew something, and he had just let them slip by because he had been too distracted by the fact that there was someone else out there with his powers and those stupid headaches he had been getting.
He hadn't even been able to get a name because all the words in the store had made it nearly impossible to read the name!
He tried to recall if he had seen the name, but found himself coming up blank.
He sighed. If the person in question came to the shop, then he would come again, and the next time he came Naruto Uzumaki would be ready for it!
Speaking of being ready, he had some things to buy…
Yoko had pulled out her notebook once again, writing down some more observations as she carefully pulled apart all the little eccentricities and quirks of the other students who were practicing the basic three jutsus down below.
She had already managed to at least perform them, so she was allowed to sit out for the exercise. She had wanted to practice some more, but she had already felt the drain from the practice earlier put a strain on her own reserve. Since she needed her chakra to keep the Will of the Mountain running, she had decided to sit practice out.
She jotted down a word or two here and there on the progress the rest of the students were making, but the closest that anyone had gotten besides her had surprisingly been Naruto, who had managed an okay henge and a very short kawamiri, but had absolutely failed the clone technique. Everyone else's progress had been close to non-existent.
Well, technically she had taught her sister the three jutsus and she had some marginal success in the ten or so minutes she spent had practicing before going to sleep, but she still failed performing any of the three jutsu around half the time.
She flipped through her book, going over the various pages she had on different individuals, occasionally stopping on some to read over the entries to double check their correctness.
She glanced over Shino's a few times, a happy feeling rising in the pit of her stomach every time she looked at it.
Her sister had called her relationship with Shino a strange one, and from a certain point of view, she supposed her sister was right.
She had basically gone up to him and declared him the love of her life after only the tiniest amount of time knowing him, but she of all people knew that not all details could be expressed in words.
Shino was a person that, above all else, prided himself on logic. He saw the world as a puzzle, and everything could fit just right if you moved a piece here or turned a corner there. Events proceeded in logical steps and had logical conclusions. Life was a series of choices that were presented to you, and by viewing every choice in the past and analyzing the present, the choices to make in the future would be obvious.
She admired that.
Shino had once told her that the bugs that were living in his body were part of a cycle. That cycle could be easily predicted and manipulated to suit one's needs by micromanaging the choices one has made. This could also be applied to life, where if one viewed the general populace as an ecosystem and viewed one's self as but one small part of that ecosystem, one could judge the life one wanted to live.
That conversation had been what he had told the class on what he viewed himself to be in the future, and ever since then, she had found herself to be enamored with him.
He lived by his ideal, and she, with no particular ideal other than to live in the present and to enjoy it, had found him to have an ideal worth following.
She smiled as she flipped through the pages once more, finally landing on another page that interested her.
This one belonged to Naruto Uzumaki.
She wouldn't say she hated him per say, but he was certainly annoying to be around. He did have a certain… charisma to him that made you want to believe in him, but she found that aura to be more of a bother than anything.
It felt like her judgment was affected whenever he was around, and she hated it when she couldn't think clearly. Especially since she remembered how hard it was to think in her early years when she got sick or collapsed.
She absolutely despised the idea of her mind not being fully in her control.
She knew that he was trying to get on her good side again, although she absolutely refused until he started to take into consideration others rather than solely blathering on about himself. Sure hearing about his pranks were fun, but after the seventh time hearing about how he had deceived a shopkeeper he had pranked by pretending to be an old lady, it tended to get… boring.
She also knew there was something… strange… about Naruto Uzumaki. She couldn't quite place it, but it was there. It wasn't the glares he received from most of the village or why he seemed to have so much chakra, but something… else.
Like how he managed to carry around so many things for his pranks. He never carried around any sealing scrolls, so how did he carry around so much? Or why he seemed to get stronger so quickly over the course of a few days. Simple things one would normally glance over, but all together it painted a picture that spoke a thousand unintelligible words.
She loved puzzles.
She hated ones that couldn't be solved.
Deciding it would probably be better to not think about the headache that was Naruto, she flipped through her book again, this time landing on her new caretaker's, Anko's, page.
Anko was a lot like her mother, really. Both were pretty laid back, both had absolutely no shame, and both liked to drink. Anko was a bit more boisterous than her mother and definitely had more of a temper, creating an altogether more aggressive character than what she was used to dealing with.
In fact, it felt a lot like someone had taken some parts of her mother and combined them with some parts from Naruto…
In an attempt to get the image as far away from her mind as possible, she moved onto the next page to catch her interest, which turned out to be her sister's page.
Her sister had started to worry her more and more. Her sister had started to lock herself up in the bathroom, and her skin had started to pale because she refused to eat, only eating when she forced her to. She had also started to become unfocused, nearly losing a game of Go because she had seemed so distracted as of late.
But there was one thing that stuck out among the rest.
Miku hadn't slept in a week.
Oh, she tried to hide it, but Yoko could tell when she was sleeping or not by listening to her breathing.
Despite not having slept for a week, however, Miku showed no signs of actually needing to go to sleep.
The fact that she wasn't being affected by not sleeping was not completely surprising to her. She knew her sister did not even need to sleep for a very long time, with any signs of sleep deprivation usually disappearing after eating simply waiting long problem was, Miku made a habit of sleeping as much as possible despite not needing it, so now it was worrying her.
Yoko didn't understand why she slept all the time, which made it all the harder to guess why she had decided to forgo performing her favorite activity. She knew her sister didn't sleep because she was tired or because she needed the rest, so other than force of habit, what was it?
She had only really a single clue about why she slept all the time, and that had come from a conversation with her mother that she had had so long ago.
"Listen, Yoko, I think it is time we have a talk."
Yoko had been sitting in her room, making various origami figures as she did in the evenings when her mother had walked in, taking a seat next to her bed on the ground.
Yoko simply tilted her head. A talk?
Her mother nodded, reading her body language and accurately guessing what she had been thinking. "Yes, a talk. I don't really have much time, considering I have to go on a mission and your onee-san will be home any moment now, so I want to at least give you this before I go."
Yoko straightened her back and waited. She could tell when her mother was serious and this was one of the few times where she was.
"Good, you're listening." She bent over and crossed her hands in front of her face. "I know I'll probably come back from this mission in one piece, but something about the information seems off to me, so just in case, I want to tell you something that you probably won't fully comprehend until later."
Yoko blinked once and nodded.
Her mother sighed. "Alright… Yoko, I need you to understand that while your nee-san may take care of you, you also need to take care of her."
"…?" She shifted her body language to give off a questioning tone.
"I'm sure you've picked up on the fact that Miku is one gigantic liar, right?" Yoko nodded, knowing that Miku did indeed have a tendency to spout white lies even when not necessary to tell one. "I'm not even sure if she notices it yet, but Miku lies all the time, even to herself. What I need you to do is to make sure that she keeps lying to herself."
Now Yoko was really confused. Wasn't lying to yourself a bad thing?
"Yes, I know, why am I asking you to make sure she lies to herself?" Mother sighed. "… It's kind of a complicated answer. The closest I can get to shortening it down to just a single sentence is that Miku, your nee-san, cannot grasp consequence and needs someone there to make sure she believes she can grasp it by mirroring your own grasp on it."
Yoko tried to break down that sentence to try and understand what was being said, but couldn't get what her mother was trying to convey.
"I did say it was hard to explain, didn't I?" Her mother laughed solemnly under her breath. "Have you ever wondered why your sister sleeps so much? Why she does what she does? Why nothing ever seems to interest her? Miku, at a fundamental level, can never receive anything from a cause she has performed. Oh, she can pretend. She is very good at pretending, but she simply cannot understand."
Yoko was still confused, but nodded anyway.
She felt her mother pat her head. "Don't worry, you don't actually have to do anything, you just have to be there for her, okay? Be her sun, anchor her to the world, and nothing will change."
Her mother got up and walked out the door. "Don't think to hard on it, Yoko." Her mother's voice echoed down the hall. "I promise I'll be back!"
And she had come back. The mission had gone awry, as her mother had expected, but she had figured out the issue and had called for backup and had made it out of the village she had infiltrated alive and with nary a scratch.
What she had said, however, had stuck with her since she had said it so long ago.
She still did not understand what her mother had meant by 'doesn't comprehend consequence', but she believed she had an idea.
And if she was anywhere close to what her mother had meant with her explanation, her sister needed her more than ever, as the reason she had started to sleep less became more evident to her.
At least she hoped she wouldn't literally worry herself sick again, since that had been a horrible experience for her to go through.
Yoko closed her book and looked out the window, the locks of her hair reflecting off the panes because of how close she was.
She could see the other students starting to pile in, which meant that she had been write in assuming that practice was over.
And since practice was over, that meant that all that was left was for everyone to pile in and for Iruka-sensei to dismiss them.
Yoko turned toward the board and waited.
"Hey! Yoko! Wait up! I need to show you something!"
Yoko paused along with Shino to see Naruto with a large bundle over his shoulder, Hinata flanking his other side.
She had wondered where Hinata had been today. Naruto had decided to skip today for one reason or another that she did not care for, but Hinata had disappeared at around ten today and hadn't shown up for the rest of the day. She, along with most of the teachers, had simply assumed that she had fainted again, but those episodes usually lasted at the very most an hour.
Now she knew that she had apparently decided to skip class in favor of helping Naruto.
Naruto eventually caught up to the two of them and took a second to catch his breath. "Ha… Ha… Alright… ha…. Listen up! I spent all day trying to do this, so here! Take it!"
Naruto twisted his arm and held the bundle in front of him.
Now Yoko was curious. Apparently Naruto had spent the day trying to make a gift for her along with Hinata. Well, her birthday was coming up, so maybe this was some sort of early birthday present?
She shot a look at her only female friend and raised an eyebrow questioningly. Hinata shook her head and pointed a finger at Naruto, a small smile making itself known on her face.
So, this was Naruto's idea. Interesting…
She took the bundle and moved over to the tree line near the academy so she could open the blanket in the shade. The bundle itself was extremely light and made a noise that was tickled her memory intensely, so she had more than an inkling as to what it was, but she still wanted to open it to see exactly what Naruto had given her.
She laid down the ballooned blanket, the blanket itself being only supported on the grass below, and carefully opened the double knot on top.
A small smile graced her lips as the contents spilled out.
At least one hundred paper cranes were scattered across the blanket's surface.
"Hinata and I spent the entire day making that for you, you know!" Naruto said. "So, will you be my friend now?"
Yoko kneeled down and picked up one of the cranes. The folds had been roughly mad, causing large inconsistencies across the design, and she spotted a tear here and there along with several ruffle patterns, which told of someone using a blunt object like the hilt of a kunai to make the creases.
She pulled the tale and the crane flapped it's clearly incongruent wings weakly, showing that the crane itself had been used quite thoroughly before being placed in the pile.
Overall, it had to have been the worst piece of origami she had ever seen.
She took a glance over at Naruto, who was smiling weakly as she looked at his shody attempt to make a crane.
She placed the crane back in the pile.
"Baka…"
She absolutely loved it.
She picked up the bundle and retied it.
"Hey! What do you mean by that?!" Naruto exclaimed. "I worked really hard on that and all you have to say is baka?!"
Yoko made sure to face him and give him what she considered a wide smile. "Baka."
Naruto fumed silently for half a second and looked like he was about to shhot his mouth off once more, but Hinata quickly whispered something in his ear and he seemed to deflate.
Yoko turned around, bundle in tow, and headed in the direction of her house.
"Hey! Yoko! This means we're friends now right?!"
Yoko didn't bother giving a reply. She was in too good of a mood to give one.
Yeah. Everything was going to be alright.
So, this chapter is brought to you by BLU-BIRD (remix), the complete nier soundtrack, Money by the mystery skulls, the battle for everyone's souls, SBOSS9, and other songs I can't remember at the moment.
So, I cut out some stuff this chapter. Yeah.
I did say I would try to get this out by my birthday, and it is currently two weeks till, so yeaaaaah.
End of Next chapter should be the start of it, so Hooray there.
DESPAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIRRRRRR.
I would have actually had this out earlier (yes, you heard me, EARLIER), if I hadn't decided to try my hand at making mashups. Yes, I have made mashups. I go by the name Lisain and have so far mashed up rainbow factory and gods bound by rules, the battle for everyones souls and I'll face myself, and space jam and Space jam and Super Hey Ya. Oh, and wretched automotons and until the sun. They're not great, but I think I'm getting better the more I make...
AND FINALLY ITS RAINING IN CALIFORNIA. PRAISE THE SUN. or not, cause you know, rain and sun don't really mix. Well, if you want to get into convection and all that science shit, yes they do, but I'm talking spiritually.
Lots of cursing in this one, I noticed. Probably because I was rather sleep deprived for most of it because every single time I got one song in my head I would want to mash it up with something and AAAARRRRRG.
Word of warning, I'm the kind of guy that wanted what rebellion did to madoka magika to be the original ending. I wa shighly put off by the all's well it ends well ending because I didn't want to feel fufilled. I WANTED DESPAAAAAAAIR.
So, just some thoughts on story ideas for naruto in case you want to do something slightly original (I don't really go into the archive much so I don't really know if it's original or not)
You know that trope were kyuubi is a girl and a hot chick and just want to love naruto or some shit that doesn't make sense? Yeah, How about the kyuubi decides to play that to his advantage and goes full shukaku on him. Like, 'i'm your mother, I love you, you should trust me, i'd do anything for you... NOW DESTROY THEM'. But, like, do it smart. Manipulative.
Hinata overhears a rumor that the dead last, the top graduate and the smartest kuniochi all get put on the same team, so she cheats on the written portion by copying sakura and gets on Naruto's team.
How about an OC story where you are put in Naruto's body... with naruto STILL THERE?! DUN DUN DUUUUUN
How about a time travel fic where instead of naruto going back in time, you use someone like... THE COOLEST GUY. Except put him in Sakura's body or something. Or neji's. Heh.
(not naruto related but...) Why are there no stories where shirou summons himself? Like, seriously, if, let's' just say, Kiri decides to tell him about the sheath and suppose he takes it out that day, since Archer IS him, wouldn't the most likely candidate for Shirou to summon be himself? Or Am i missing something here?
Alright, forgot to put this here when I uploaded it, but it's here now: An explanation on my currency:
So, in the elemental nations, if you happen to go to any ordinary village, then yes, 100 ryo would probably be more than enough for a bowl of ramen if you happened to want one. So, as an average, 100 Ryo is 10 dollars. HOWEVER, konoha is a ninja village, and ninja villages are more of a self contained economic system that takes in a crazy amount of money. So much so that prices inflate, and now that 100 ryo won't buy you crap because in konoha 100 ryo is devalued. So, everyone increases the price. It's the same with every other ninja village because of how much money they make.
TLDR: INFLATION HERE, NO INFLATION THERE.
Cardinal sins #100:
SWEATDROPPED
IS
NOT
A
WOOOOOOORD
Cardinal Gripes #61: So, here's the deal. You want to get good at writing? Here's a little exercise. Get up off the couch, or wherever you are, and take a walk to the nearest door. Now, describe everything you are doing while you are walking to the door, from start to finish. What you're thinking, smelling, hearing, feeling, seeing, tasting, doing, all that shit. That way, when I read a fanfic, it won't suddenly go from point A to point B with no in between.
On an unrelated Note, It is onehundred percent OKAY to go off plot. No one wants to read for the millionth time how the hell you save Haku and Zabuza so go ahead and deviate a little. You know, different missions, different trials, DIFFERENT. He who fights monsters is a perfect example of this. SO FUCKING GOOOOOOOOD.