Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. Every funny quip, World, and Characters belong to their respective owners. My own OC/SI doesn't belong to me as my wife has a prior claim but she said it was ok for me to use him.

A/N: This is my first story. So any advice, input or critiques please let me know and please add how you would fix it.

"Normal Speech"

'Thinking'

Game Text

Chapter 1: How Gamers would have acted.

I wake up laying on my back and as soon as I open my eyes, I was positive of one of two things was true. The first being someone slipped me some of the best drugs I've ever had. Or I was so deep in a FUBAR situation that it's reached the level of Tom and Jerry ridiculousness. Sitting up and looking around I see that I'm in a small clearing in a lush and green forest.

Ok. Lay back down and think, I think to myself. Laying back down and closing my eyes, I whisper to myself, "Don't freak out yet. Think what's the last thing you remember. Work your way back till you see the problem."

Thinking quickly the memories come to me with a surprising amount of clarity. I fell asleep in my seat on the plane. I was going home for two weeks of leave from the army. I was going to talk to my family and friends about my future; if I should reenlist in two months when my contract was up. I got to the airport early - my Sergeant was nice enough to drive me there. I remember waking up in my bunk this morning and grabbing my gear for my trip. Ok, that did absolute shit on figuring out the who, what, where, when and most importantly how. I would really like to know these answers, so I know who to shoot.

Standing quickly and taking a better look around, I notice one very important detail. Rather than calmly analyzing as if a rational human being, I began yelling, "WHO'S FUCKING BODY AM I IN!" Yep now is the perfect time to have a full and complete mental breakdown. A blue translucent box with a bubbled white border pops open in front of me - rudely interrupting a most deserved breakdown. WELCOME CHOSEN TO THE FIRST LEVEL OF THE GREAT GAME, the box chimes. "HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK, "I yell and jump back fast enough to trip and fall flat on my back and knocking the air out of me.

Taking a few minutes regaining my breath, with this seemly impossible message in front of me, lets some part of my training kick in. I stop reacting and start to let my brain do what it was designed to do, instead of acting as an improvised battering ram.

This is not drug-induced, no one would waste something that could do this. So, I am truly and completely screwed.' Inspecting the message closer, a strange thought comes to me, Why in Hell do the font and the message box look like the text boxes from the Final Fantasy?

Would you like to see the tutorial? The new message reads. God, I hope I just smack my head, and this is a dream, I think as I try to get my bearings. Stop soldier. Facts. What do you see and hear? List them. Draw up a rough idea of what's going on. Plan and follow through. Reevaluate the plan as new info is obtained. Once I am in a secure and safe area, I'll allow myself a proper breakdown. If such an area doesn't exist, kill everything moving until the area is deemed safe and, then have a breakdown. I can do path A or B. I get my breakdown and that's what matters.

Looking down at myself, I inspect the first problem I notice. I'm not in my body. I look to be a little over 5'0" and trim, maybe weighing around 110lbs. I'm wearing a dark green t-shirt with black cargo pants with medical tape wrapped around my ankles. I'm wearing two black sandals and have a dark green pouch strapped to my right thigh. Hells Bells. They could have at least given me my own younger body. I've never looked like this!

Continue looking. Think man. What was that first message? Chosen and Great Game? Why in Hell does that seem familiar? I take a long minute, trying to glean more than the screen is giving me. This is not helping. "Yes, I would like to see the tutorial," I say aloud to the screen. The screen clears and a long line of text starts scrolling down. The Great Game Tutorial: Please select from the options below to learn more.

Status Page

Inventory

Skills

Perks

GG Store

For any questions please select the "Help" option.

Help

When this opens, I suddenly feel like someone has hit me in the chest with a sledgehammer. It finally clicks into place what this is. The only excuse I can give myself for not recognizing this the second I see it is that I haven't been able to enjoy my normal geek hobbies for the last 6 months. "Gamer" I breathe out quietly.

WHAT IN THE GORRAM NAME OF ALL THAT IS SHINY HAPPEN! Ok. This is a dream. This must be a dream. I completely refuse to accept this. Glaring at the screen "I know you are not telling me I died and became a "Gamer" like all those fanfictions that I read. I WILL BURN THIS WORLD TO FUCKING BEDROCK IF YOU TELL ME I DIED AND I COULDN'T BE NORMAL ENOUGH TO SIMPLY GO TO HELL LIKE ANY PERSON WOULD!" I can tell the screen is trolling me because it hasn't changed at all. 'k. Deep breaths, slow down, facts. What can you remember from the manga and fanfiction? What matches up. I can do this. Think DAMN IT. My breath hitches for a second. That's a difference right there. I'm in the middle of an anxiety attack and the only reason I have started to blindly fire large quantities of ammo into the wood line is that I don't have my rifle!'

Looking at the options I say "Help" in what I hope is a calm tone but know that lying to myself doesn't help me. Welcome to the Help page. Please insert your question clearly in the Text Box and press Submit. If able the answer will be given. Yes! Now we're getting somewhere. I begin thinking of my words going on the text page. What Happen? Submit. My question appears in the text box and blinks out when I think "Submit". That works like I hoped it would. Things are looking up finally. The text starts to scroll down the screen Sorry. Your question is too vague to give an accurate answer. Please try again being as specific as you can so that an accurate answer may be provided. Ex: What time is it? What color is my hair? Would you like to ask another question at this time? My right eye starts to twitch a little. I know you did not just troll me you chunk of canine feces. Breathing deeply, I think Yes. Why am I in the middle of a mental breakdown? Isn't Gamer's Mind supposed to keep me calm and collected so that I may approach this in a rational way? Why is it not working? Submit.' The screen blinks away my text and new text starts scrolling down. You are in a high-stress situation, mental fatigue and strain are to be expected. Gamer's Mind does indeed keep the player in a focus state of calm to approach the game. Gamer's Mind does work. You have not earned, found, or purchased this Perk. Reading this I think I did what any rational thinking geek would do in my place. I throw back my head and yell at the top of my lungs "FUCK!" Getting ahold of myself and once again trying and failing to control my breathing. Ooook. Not helping. I look at the help screen Did I die? Submit. I hold my breath as I read the reply, You are currently at full health. I catch hold myself before I go on another cursing spree. I'm wasting enough time as it is and I'm nowhere closer to a real game plan. Did I die before I was brought here? How did I get here? Submit. Error: Unable to answer any question about events occurring before the game began. Error: Unable to answer any question about events occurring before the game began. For Crist sakes. When did the game begin? Submit. The game began the moment you arrived' My right eye is now definitely twitching. I know this thing is trolling me.

This isn't going to work till I can think more clearly and come up with the right questions. Looking at the other options, I start working my way down them, reading very detailed descriptions of what each tab provides. Status page allows me to view my stats as well and Health and Energy bars. Much of my Bio is here too which helps save time from asking the help page numerous stupid questions. My name here seems to be Hibiki (which means Echo. Fitting I suppose) and I and twelve years old. My guess for height and weight were pretty on target. I also have a Rank, "Academy Student," and oddly enough it seems rank impacts stats.

Level 3 (Does that even count)

Rank Academy Student (Only civilians and Bunnies are impressed. The small ones at least)

HP: 1,560 (Don't be a fool gaki a - kunai to the heart or head will kill you)

Energy: 96 (Good news! You're not a civilian. Barely)

Str. 9 (Run of the mill gaki)

Dex. 13 (A Faster gaki)

Vit. 7 (Watch out for stiff winds)

Int. 10 (So, you read the textbook…)

Wis. 8 (Was that a root or a trap)

Cha. 7 (Who are you? … No one cares)

Luck 9 (Can you say coin toss?)

Going to have to spend a lot of time number crunching and asking questions to figure out how to get this thing beat. I want to start beating my head against a tree when I get to my inventory. I could have dealt with just about everything else being hard mode but, if only the inventory was anything like what I read about. But, no, what I get is square of four-by-four units with this description:

Inventory: A highly useful tool that allows the Gamer to carry items that can only be retrieved by the gamer. Squares can be arranged to carry larger objects. Items of various volume and mass can share space with adjacent squares, as long as a single square does not surpass one cubic foot of volume and/or 35kg of mass. No items can be stored in other items and placed in the Inventory.

If I ever find out who set this game to Doom: HELL difficulty mode I am going to keep them alive for a long time just so I can make a career out of hurting them. What next? Does the air have a natural poison that only affects me? Because at this point, I won't be surprised. Skills worries me because nothing is listed. I know for a fact that even if this kid was nothing more than a dress-up doll, he should have something from this Academy. And I know for a fact with I should have brought a few dozen skills, if my memory of various manga's and are to be believed.

Perks only has two listed but they were better than the nothing I got in skills.

Body is a Temple: Due to Gamer's Mechanics, you heal faster than normal people. Buffs, Conditions, and other perks help with health regen. You seem to have a healing factor even if it is only minor as of now

Mind is a Fortress: You can remember everything in perfect clarity and detail from before the game started. You can remember your time in-game and experiences with better recall. Mind Walkers/Readers are unable to see anything related to the Great Game, Your time before the game or other Levels. You can not be made to forget any of your experiences or life by external forces.

So. No Gamer's Mind or Body but really nerf versions of those instead. Well, at least if the shit hits the fan no one can pry or rip my memories from me. Ok, that's something at least. I can work with this. And the Body perk can be useful just have to get the training and skills in place. The GG store made my eye start to twitch again. Only 3 items are visible with a description of the store itself.

GG Store: A mechanic where you can spend GG coins to acquire a wide variety of help in different forms early to assist you in your game. Everything in the store can be acquired in the game through various means. More merchandise will become available for purchase as certain Quests, Milestones, Events and other character points are met during the game. Check back often!

Gamers Mind: 10,000GG

Gamers Body: 10,000GG

One Inventory slot: 1,500GG

With how everything is going I don't even want to know how long the grind it will take to get these. I can abuse Gamer's Body to an extent to become a titan. But that looks like an impossibly now. Need to figure out these GG coins but for now, let's move on to my plan. I promised myself a complete mental breakdown and by all that is shiny I am having one!

Step one "What's going on" is complete. I'm screw-in ways I didn't even know was possible. But I've made do with less and succeeded before. So, I can do so again. Step two: "Where the hell am I". I start to look around when something else clicks in place as the poor gerbil finally climbs back on its wheel, allowing my mind to start running.

The heavy pouch on my right thigh. My "Rank" being "Academy Student." My "Stat" page has given me clear and in-plain-sight hints. I can't believe that I couldn't figure this out earlier. How I could have missed this! I look over my shoulder and up to the cliff face, viewing four faces, each looking different but still recognizable to my geek heart.

My mind quickly goes over everything I can remember about a much love series - who is out there, what I am likely to face (considering someone seems to set this game on the equivalent of the hardest setting of Dark Souls). I am on the outskirts of Konoha of all places! I do what any rational person would do in my situation. I croak out "I'm fucked" before my eyes rolled in the back of my head and the sweet embrace of darkness engulfs me.