Shikamaru Nara loved taking naps, sometimes he would watch the clouds and dream about a calm peaceful land he could lay on top. His dreams were calm and peaceful, but what was in front of him right now was the furthest from either 'calm' or 'peaceful'
YOU HAVE ACHIEVED THE TITLE: [GENIN OF THE HIDDEN LEAF]
"This has to be a sick joke" He cursed in his thoughts as he tried to make sense of the glowing blue text that was in front of him. It wasn't the text that surprised him, it was the fact that no one else, even his mother, didn't seem to notice it.
Was it a sick joke his dad was playing on him….he quickly shook the thought off…He would find it too troublesome to bother his own son. He did know that it could have been a Genjutsu, his Kai didn't even seem to faze said Genjutsu let alone break it.
Which led the Nara to naturally come to a conclusion of "Who would cast such a genjutsu on a freshly graduated Academy student" He couldn't particularly name someone or anyone who could have an interest in a lazy Nara. Were they after his clan heritage? That could explain the almost non-violent nature of this genjutsu? But then what was the purpose of making it so obvious that it was a genjutsu to the target itself? Which in its entirety cancels out that theory.
As if his day couldn't get worse, Shikamaru heard a loud roar from across the room as his mother stomped "SHIKAMARU! How many times do I tell you, don't waste your entire day lazing around like a useless fish out in the land"
He grumbled as his sat up muttering to himself "fish can't live on land"
"That was the point brat" She glared at me "Since you seem to be doing no work whatsoever since the graduation of the academy. How about you help your mother out before you head into the ninja world as a fresh Genin" She asked him with a grin on her face.
Shikamaru probably would have grunted or grumbled at what she said but a new text box made its way to him as it caught his eye.
A quest has been created
Quest Alert : Be a helpful son!
Your mother requires help with her chores
- Tend to the deers
- Help Kou cut the grass
- Was the Dishes(0/10)
Reward : 100 exp, Increased REP with the Nara clan
Failure : Disappointment from your mother
Y/N
Instantly Shikamaru's eyes widened at the text that appeared in front of him. Analyzing the information it was giving him.
He all but surrendered, standing up on his toes and dusting himself. He reluctantly agreed to do it, which led to a grin pop up on his mother's face.
"...Troublesome…"
"What chores did you have for me?"
"Let's see….for starters go tend to the deers" she ordered him as he went back to the kitchen.
Shikamaru just nodded in surprise, "How did this thing guess the task before mom even said it?"
Once again, he just shook his head again heading towards the forest behind their household.
Tending the deers isn't as annoying as Shikamaru liked to admit it was, the deers were calm and patient. They never rushed at you like a dog or cat, they were all very laid back so Shikamaru didn't really mind tending to them if he was told to do so.
As he finished tending to the deers he looked at his quest which had the COMPLETED text marked beside his first objective.
Quest : Be a helpful son!
Your mother requires help with her chores
- Tend to the deers(COMPLETED)
- Help Kou cut the grass
- Was the Dishes(0/10)
Reward : 100 exp, Increased REP with the Nara clan
Failure : Disappointment from your mother
Which puzzled him about the next objective. Kou was an older ninja at his clan who was fairly well known since he was one of the rare offensive ninja at the nara clan.
The Nara clan was known for their special bloodline ability that allowed them to manipulate shadows and their high intelligence, which led to multiple major strategists coming from their clan along with medical shinobis. Along with acting as strategists they supplied the hidden village of Konoha with medicine, the shinobi from this clan usually acted as support, healers or strategists.
This is what made Kou Nara unique among even the Nara, he was a very offensive focused ninja who acted the role of the damage dealer.
"But Kou is probably out there somewhere on a mission, does this mean that the quest isn't always right? this is definitely some kind of mind trick….In the end this might be one elaborate prank on me...troublesome.."
As Shikamaru pondered these thoughts he heard a crashing noise coming from the garden where the medical herbs were grown, startled by the noise Shikamaru immediately made his way to the source of it.
"-itta, that hurts. This arm will be the death of me" Shikamaru was agape at what he was seeing, it was Kou who was on the ground clutching his left arm.
Kou noticed him and extended his right hand "Hey Shikamaru, care to give me a hand" he said as he continued to keep his hand extended at him. Shikamaru slowly extended his own, giving the older ninja a hand at getting up.
"Thank god you were around, I was honestly thinking that would be the end of me" he laughed it off cheerfully, but shikamaru noticed the uneasiness Kou was displaying with his left arm which brought a frown on his face.
"Are you alright?" Shikamaru asked Kou, who was covered in dirt and still laughing.
"Hahaha, well you see I injured myself in a recent mission so I was given some break from shinobi duties until my left hand recovered from it's damages. But I felt really bored being suddenly left with nothing to do so I thought I'd go cut the overgrown grass in the garden. I might not know much about medical herbs but I sure can cut the overgrown grass in the garden" He explained and then his face turned into a sad smile, from annoyance at his own inability to not do such a simple task "Today really isn't my day" Kou thought as he sighed.
Shikamaru didn't know what to think of this development, one he felt bad for Kou who looked sad at the fact he couldn't do such an easy task and two the fact that this stupid thing that's haunting him knew about it "How did it know that Kou would be home" Shikamaru was frustrated trying to understand this stupid "game" thing. But he let the thoughts aside as a single look at the man in front of him told him what he needed to do.
"By doing this, I'm playing into the hands of whoever cast this on me, but screw it….troublesome" Shikamaru made a lazy attempt of looking annoyed and squatted down pulling the grass one by one slowly. Kou looked surprised at this sudden gesture that Shikamaru showed but didn't say much as he also tried to cut the grass while Shikamaru pulled the bad weeds out.
They both continued to work in silence for the following hour.
-Sometime later-
"Phew...that was a lot more work than I originally expected it to be!" Kou said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead, Shikamaru was sitting in front of the pile of grass they cut.
"It...was...exhausting...need...sleep" Shikamaru on the other hand was already converted into a zombie as his cheeks went pale blue with how long and tiresome it was "I was told that the Nara garden was very rich…..and enhanced due to different types of herbs grown here….but this weed could very well be as strong as a ninja wire"
"Didn't you know kid? These weeds are used in ninja wires" Kou said coolly catching his breath and sitting beside the younger Nara who mumbled something along the lines of "...thought so...:"
They both sat in silence for a few seconds, Kou thought it would be too awkward for him if he didn't say anything so he decided to bring up the latest news he heard related to Shikamaru.
"I heard you graduated from the academy right? Already becoming a ninja huh, feeling excited?" Kou cheerfully asked Shikamaru.
"...it was...not really.." Shikamaru said lightly as he frowned, Kou who saw this and merely just smiled at the younger boy. Kou knew how smart the younger Nara was, smarter than him when he started out at least. Graduating the academy basically meant the end of the happy-lucky lifestyle a ninja has.
It was a well known fact, kids who graduate from academy expect themselves to be invincible, they think they finally get to learn all kinds of ninjutsus, breathe fire, save princesses but later on they learn the burden it means to be a shinobi. The boy in front of Kou knew that very well, it was expected, he was a Nara after all.
"How did you injure your arm?" the younger boy asked the older man, who flinched at the question before relaxing his expression and thinking back to the events.
"In Konoha there is an ideology passed down. It's called the will of fire" Kou said to the younger boy, turning his head to face the eyes of the younger boy.
"I think I heard about it?" Shikamaru said, thinking back to memories of when and where.
"It is the desire that shines brightly in every shinobi in the hidden leaf, the will to protect all who you cherish and the village" Kou smiled "Sometimes...to protect those who you cherish you need to take certain risks and sometimes they lead to injuries and potential loss of life" Kou opened his eyes as a sense of sadness could be seen in there but his smile stood "Cherish those around you, value them and most of all don't fall for ideals that aren't your own Shikmaru, don't lose yourself to the madness that will come someday. You are just starting on a journey, one that only gets harder from now. Don't look back cause it will give you doubts" Kou stood up on his two feet while shikamaru just looked at him with utmost interest and respect "Lebe, wie du, wenn du stirbst, wünschen wirst, gelebt zu haben"
"What?" Shikamaru mumbled out not catching the last part.
"It's something I heard a long time ago, don't worry too much about it. Anyhow, it is getting pretty late. You should head back or your mother might get worried" Kou said as he left a dazed, confused, determined Shikamaru behind, disappearing in the next few steps he took.
"Cherish those around me...huh...I think I can see why he got injured during the mission" Shikamaru was lost in thought with the information and words Kou just told him as they echoed multiple times in his head.
As Shikamaru sat there contemplating these thoughts a notification snapped him out of it.
Quest : Be a helpful son!
Your mother requires help with her chores
- Tend to the deers(COMPLETED)
- Help Kou cut the grass(COMPLETED)
- Was the Dishes(0/10)
Reward : 100 exp, Increased REP with the Nara clan
Failure : Disappointment from your mother
Shikamaru just noticed how late it was getting and decided to head back home.
"So, how do I get to the final objective…" Shikamaru thought to himself as he made his way into the living room of his house only to be interrupted by his mother's voice.
"Oh dear, where were you shika, you stayed out until dinner time" his mother came out from the kitchen with dishes in her hand placing them on the table "was it too troublesome to return home so you just slept with the deers"
"No…." I groaned remembering the amount of weeds I had to pull "I was helping Kou-san with the garden" she turned to Shikamaru, surprised at what he just said
"Oh..did you? Hmmm That Kou, even with his injuries he still won't stay still. Need to have a talk with him later" his mother thought as she continued doing her work "That's good that you aren't completely a lazy bum who loafs around all day. Now come here and have dinner your father won't be attending today as he has work to do as usual" she sighed at the thought of her husband.
"Father has been quite busy the last few days...I guess then he isn't the one who is causing this mess" Shikamaru thought to himself as he ate his dinner in silence with his mother. Which seems to be a recurring thing among Naras, they loved being in the company of each other in silence no matter how different they are they always enjoyed each other's company in silence. Something that Shikamaru knew would never change ever.
Once dinner was done, his mother took away the dishes and Shikamaru instantly thought "So, nothing happened now to force me to do the dishes?.." The nara thought "It seems the game had nothing to do with Kou getting hurt, it just predicted it" that made Shikamaru sigh in relief. As he glanced at the sink which had dishes "...eh, why not?" he mumbled as he started doing the dishes.
"HUH!" Shikamaru's mother dropped her utensils at the sight of seeing her son actually work on his own accord, she was pleasantly surprised "Maybe, I've been too hard on him..." she thought to herself before picking up the dropped utensil and going back to her work of tidying up the house for the day.
Shikamaru looked at the number of plates there were and just as he guessed. The game knew how many dishes he had to do.
So he started doing the dishes.
A new skill has been acquired through continuous actions
[Dish washing(Passive) - LV 1 EXP : 36.86%]
Allows you to wash dishes cleaner and faster
With more mastery over the skill you are able to get better results
5% Increase to speed when dishwashing
Shikamaru's eyes widened as his body instantly picked up speed.
And that's a wrap guys, this story is heavily inspired by "Strange Gameplay for a Ninja" and I still suck at writing so help me out if you guys have any pointers. I really don't want to make Shikamaru overpowered so for this story everyone in the ninja world will be getting a buff. I always felt Shikamaru would be a perfect match for the gamer ability in the Naruto verse without getting too overpowered and so here we are.
I really plan to go for a long run with this one
I hope you liked it, Signing out!