[You'll do]
I woke up with a gasp, sweat making my clothes cling to my body and my heart thundering in my chest, what happened? Where am I? What's going on?
I looked around to see a tiny bedroom, the bed I was sleeping on is messy and I can see a small wardrobe near it, to the side there is a window, sunlight coming through the curtains.
I see two more doors, one that clearly leads to the bathroom going by the toilet I can see and another going to what looks like a kitchen where I see a fridge and a stove.
Quest Alert!
[First Day of School]
Today is your first day at the academy, you better not be late!
-Go to the Ninja Academy
Reward: Opportunity to become a ninja
Failure: Decrease in Reputation with Sunagakure
What?
A floating box just appeared in front of me, black letters on a silver background.
My hand goes to my head as a spike of pain slams into me, I fall to my knees, and memories not my own come to me, the orphanage, the Matron telling me I was to become a ninja, being given an apartment and enrolled into the academy.
Akari, that's my name.
The pain vanishes and I breathe hard, the memories settling into my mind yet not having an emotional imprint of their own, like reading a book.
I stagger up and sit on my bed, trying to figure out what is going on, I can't remember anything about me, I remember Akari just fine, the quiet redheaded girl that had no friends and jumped at the chance to help her village, but not me.
It is strange, I can feel a void in my memories, I know I was someone else, but not who, I think of family and feel like I have one but when I reach for the memory I find nothing, yet I do have memories, and one of them, a strangely clear memory, recognizes that name.
Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand, located in the Land of Wind, one of the Elemental Nations of the world of Naruto.
I'm in Naruto, I'm not sure if I should be excited or terrified but I don't feel much, or rather I do feel both emotions quite a bit but I guess the lack of memories, or maybe it is Akari's memories, is preventing me from feeling much about it.
I am in the world of Naruto, and if the floating box is anything to go by I have the Gamer, I read about it before and daydreamed about waking up with a system more than once so I recognize it and I have some idea of what to do.
Status.
Name: Akari Koge
Title: None
CP: 100/100[20/H]
SP: 100/100[20/H]
STR: 10
DEX: 10
CON: 10
CKP: 10
CKC: 10%
No HP? I guess being able to shrug mortal blows off was too good to be true, other than that it is pretty standard if what I read is accurate, CKP must be my total chakra and CKC should be control.
Is 100 chakra a lot? I have no idea, probably not, 10% chakra control sucks if what I remember is right, especially if I don't have monster reserves, I'll need to work on that.
Skills.
Skills
Empty, not that I'm surprised, I guess I'll just have to get some, the confirmation that I don't have Gamer's Mind or Body is nice, though if I did have them it would be nicer.
Not sure which I would prefer, the ability to just shrug off fatal blows because you still have HP would be invaluable but it would also be pretty noticeable and that's an easy way to either get brainwashed or killed around here, the ability to keep my cool and my sanity would be more discreet but I like feeling emotions.
What's the point of life if you are an emotionless zombie?
Anyway, Inventory.
Nothing, I expected to at least have something but I guess not, I suppose I'll have to look into fuinjutsu to at least learn storage scrolls, it is not as good as an inventory but it is better than nothing, especially if it is the fanon coding with reality instead of the canon just sealing.
Menu? No such luck.
I go to the window and open the curtains, Suna is beautiful, with golden buildings and clear blue skies, I wouldn't die for this place but I can see why so many shinobi give their lives for it, then again if your village is the only nice place you know and you only leave to kill people it makes sense that you would fight to keep it safe.
I glance at the clock on the wall and Akari's memories tell me I'm going to be late to the academy, I remember seeing Rasa once so this is his rein as Kazekage, I'm either the same age as the canon cast or slightly older given that Suna isn't currently at war, and while I don't remember much about him from the anime I do remember that under him things are strict from my memories.
Better get going.
-[DS]-
You know, I expected magic ninja child soldier school to be more interesting.
Walking through the streets of Suna was incredible, it hadn't properly settled in that I was in Naruto until I saw a few chunin hoping over the streets, I can't wait to learn how to use chakra, I mean is there a single Naruto fan that never thought about using chakra?
If there is, I'm certainly not them.
Once I made it to the academy I didn't get an entrance ceremony or anything like it, I guess Rasa isn't even trying to pretend to be a benevolent leader like Hiruzen is, I was sent to a classroom full of other 6-year-olds and told to sit down.
The teacher, one Taiji-sensei, sternly ordered everyone to sit down and told us how the academy worked, there were 6 years, from year 1 through 3 we would learn theory, from history to basic politics to international law to math to even chakra theory, to me it seems like not the sort of thing kids would understand but they don't seem to care, you either are good enough or you aren't worth the resources is the mentality they seem to be following.
From years 4 to 6 we would learn practical ninja skills, we would start with basic physical conditioning and taijutsu on year 4 and from 5 onwards we would start with chakra training, I was annoyed that I wouldn't get ninja superpowers yet but he also said that Suna didn't coddle, we were expected to excel and if we did good enough we could skip years, though if we were bad enough we would be dropped out.
Given how many orphans there were in class and that those who didn't make the cut would become beggars, the orphanage didn't have enough resources to keep anyone older than academy starting age, it was a very effective threat.
Once that was done the first class started, math of all things, and despite the clear shinobi context it wasn't that hard, orphans were taught how to do basic math and write in elemental common, it looks like kanji to me but I don't think I was japanese so I wouldn't know, and the handful of clan kids had even better education.
My memory issues came up again, I knew the math but couldn't remember how I learned it, Akari learned from the Matron but I could feel my knowledge didn't come from her memories.
Anyway, after that there was geography and then lunch, in the afternoon we got started on basic shinobi knowledge, hand seal names and ranks and the like, after that we had a quick explanation of what chakra actually was and a firm order not to experiment without supervision.
Death by screwing up with chakra was a disturbingly common way for naive ninja to die.
Then we were let off and I immediately went home, call me reckless but there was no way I was waiting 3 years to use my chakra, plus I didn't know what the average reserves for a ninja were but I knew that if your name wasn't Gai or Tsunade you were borderline useless unless you were a ninjutsu expert.
Okay, I admit, even if I was hailed as a taijutsu god I still would go for ninjutsu, it is ninjutsu for fuck's sake, magical superpowers in all but name, I had to get myself some of that.
Anyway, my low reserves aside I needed to improve my control asap, 10% was garbage, and having the best control I could have would be crucial, so as soon as I got home I sat on my bed and tried to feel my chakra.
There was something inside me, I felt it all day but only now did I look for it, I grasped at it and it felt hot, ignoring the feeling I tried to move it inside my body to familiarise myself with it.
Skill Gained!
[Meditation][Lvl: 1(0.00%)]
Meditation is the art of feeling the energies of the world, both internal and external.
10% Increase in CKPR
10% Increase in SPR
+1 to CKP for molding your chakra for the first time
Cool, how much do I get for one point, I wonder?
CP: 110/110[22/H]
So it is 10 points, and given that my CKPR also increased I assume it is related to how much chakra I have? Seems so, now with meditation.
CP: 110/110[24/H]
So it is 10% of my regen, not my chakra, shame but I guess it is okay, anyway, time to improve my control.
I rip a piece of paper from my notebook, leaves are hard to find in the desert, who knew, I place it on my forehead, I try to direct my chakra towards it and after a bit of struggling due to how slippery it is I manage to cover the paper in it, then I try to suck it back.
Skill Gained!
['Leaf' Concentration Exercise][Lvl: 1(0.00%)]
A basic chakra control exercise developed by the Hidden Leaf Village, contrary to what the name might imply it doesn't actually require a leaf.
Increases CKC by 1% per level
Cost: 10 CKP per leaf per minute
I manage to get a hold of the paper but almost immediately I start feeling weaker, I stop and after a moment to catch my breath I check my chakra again.
CP: 42/110[22/H]
What? But it costs 10 CKP, how did I use this much? It hasn't even been a minute yet.
Oh, the chakra control, to get 10 useable chakra I must be pumping almost 100 actual chakra there, I really need to improve my control or no amount of reserves will matter, this is a basic exercise, imagine what the S-rank jutsu cost.
I start meditating but it still takes me nearly 3 hours to get back to full, I'm glad I went home straight after the academy or I wouldn't have enough time for even a few more attempts.
[Meditation][Lvl: 1(9.60%)]
['Leaf' Concentration Exercise][Lvl: 1(3.10%)]
And of course, I barely made any progress, I get the feeling this is punishment for all those times I complained that Minato was a bad character because he had a jutsu that made him nigh-invincible, what I wouldn't give for a broken overpowered S-rank in a month system right now.
Well, I still have at least 2 attempts before making dinner, guess it is back to grinding.
-[DS]-
[Meditation][Lvl: 1(19.80%)]
['Leaf' Concentration Exercise][Lvl: 1(12.15%)]
After dinner and another attempt last night I went to sleep, while playing around with my chakra while meditating is fun sitting in the same spot exhausting myself got boring fast, not to mention how hot I felt after every attempt.
I think I might have a fire affinity because I burned the paper by accident on my third attempt and had to get another one, I thought only chakra paper could be used to measure your affinity but I guess I was wrong.
The good news is, I got myself another point in chakra, I'm going to need all the chakra I can get and I want to become a chakra monster if I can so I'm cherishing every point, not to mention the more chakra I get the more effective my training becomes because I can hold the exercise for longer and since my chakra seems to regenerate at 2 times my CKP an hour while my total chakra is 10 times my CKP the time for it to refill will not increase.
And when I level up meditation it should actually decrease, so while now it is a pain I can see things snowballing eventually.
Anyway, something about yesterday had me wondering, I completed that quest when I got to the academy but the reward was only the opportunity to be a ninja, will I get quests that actually give me useful stuff?
Not that being a ninja isn't useful, but I don't think they would kick me out of the academy for being late.
Will I get weapons? Cash? Attribute points? Skills? Did the quest even do anything or was it just a system way to show that I had to go to the academy? I have no idea.
I went through classes again and I made sure to ask about chakra control exercises when I had chakra theory, as expected Taiji-sensei said we wouldn't learn any until much later but he at least explained the theory behind the leaf concentration exercise.
He even mentioned a harder sand concentration exercise, so at least I have something to do when I master the leaf one, I really don't want to try the tree, or rather wall, walking exercise at home, both because I'm poor and can't afford to replace anything I break and because the concentration exercise, especially now that I asked about it, can be explained as a reckless kid with no supervision if anyone questions me about it.
Wall walking can't be explained away that easily.
Anyway if it wasn't so obvious that I was doing it, I still can't do it with my eyes open and I'm always breathing hard when I'm done, I would try to sneak in some practice during class, but for now I'll have to make do with what I have.
One odd thing I noticed was that orphans here don't have surnames, they are either 'of the Sand' like the Sand siblings and Rasa himself or they don't have anything, only their first names, the only people who have surnames are clan kids and people with parents.
Yet I have a surname, and Akari's memories tell me she didn't know it, as far as she knew her parents were civilians that died a while ago, her father killed by bandits and her mother died giving birth to her.
So either that is the truth and the system just doesn't care about Suna societal customs, or that's bullshit and my family name means something.
For now, I'll have to settle on not knowing, any attempt to look into it will likely be seen as suspicious if there is a secret there and unless I'm secretly an Uchiha stolen from Konoha, I'm not, I have reddish-orange hair and brown eyes, I don't see what being from a clan could offer me.
Most hiden techniques that I can think of are okay against regular ninja but not all that useful against the real top dogs and if I have some secret bloodline it should appear on the system and gain experience so I don't really need training on that front.
Once classes were done I went home and started practicing chakra control again, maybe I should try to increase my physical stats too but come on, it is chakra, how can I convince myself to spend the afternoon doing pushups when I could be learning how to control it.
Whenever I use my chakra I feel so full of life, even the heat is somewhat comforting, doing the actual exercises may be boring but the knowledge that this will help me spit fireballs and travel at the speed of sound later on is enough to convince me.
That became my routine for little over a month, I might have gotten a reputation as the quiet antisocial girl on the back but I'm far more concerned with getting stronger and learning than socializing with kids, and Taiji-sensei isn't exactly friendly, he teaches well enough but there is no way to mistake him as our friend, he is the teacher and nothing more.
I managed to get a point in dexterity by trying out the hand seals that were taught, turns out forming them is surprisingly hard, and doing so in combat is even harder, and got my CKP to 20.
I also made 2 unfortunate discoveries, first is that my chakra is incredibly low, a sensor went to the academy and while my chakra, 16 at the time, was bigger than that of a regular civilian it was still not even clan kid level, much less genin, I guessed that civilians had around my initial 10 and clan kids had my current 20.
The second was that to level up my CKP I needed to use progressively more chakra, so while it took me 1 day to get my first point it took me 2 days to get my second point and so on, to get from 19 to 20 it took me the last 8 days.
Sure it is incredibly fast on normal standards, I did just double my chakra in a month, but you have to take into account that I had more chakra to use with each point, by my final point I had 190 chakra to spend, and while with my control that barely got me 20 usable chakra it is still twice as much chakra over 5 times as many sessions to get a 1 point increase.
I wonder if it is just my control that sucks or if I'll have to be spending tailed beast levels of chakra to level it up when I get to S-rank.
At least it was amazing practice for my skills, Meditation got to level 2 a few days ago, part of me is worried that if from level 1 to level 2 took a month the latter levels will take years in between skill increases, another part is just glad for the extra 20% regen.
My Leaf Concentration Exercise also grew, if only at the cost of 2 pages' worth of slips of paper that keep burning, I got 4 levels in it, boosting my control to 14%, sure it is still awful but every little bit counts, my theory is that since it is a low-level skill and there are much better chakra control exercises it levels faster.
I'm not sure what the cap is but I already know about the sand version and there's wall and water walking so I'm not too worried, as long as it keeps increasing and gives me more CKC it can cap whenever it wants and I'll just move on to the next one.
Does the Rasengan count as a chakra control exercise? I think so, but I don't think trying to recreate an A-rank jutsu is a good idea, not just yet anyway.
Then something unexpected happened, I got to the academy one day and Taiji-sensei gave me a test, it was odd because not everyone was doing it, only me and a handful of others were given it, I wasn't sure what it was about but I shrugged and just did it.
The unexpected came an hour after I was done, an older teacher came to the classroom and called me and 4 other kids, he said we were doing much better than the rest of the class and that we would be moved to a more advanced class with older students.
I was divided by it, on one hand, more advanced material would be nice, I was incredibly bored with the current curriculum, and more chances to get stronger would be even better, on another drawing attention as a budding prodigy could have negative consequences and it would mean less free time for me to train at home.
Was training at the academy worth training less at home? Finally increasing my physical stats would be nice but so was increasing my chakra reserves and control.
In the end, I decided to just go with it, if I got pushed ahead fine, I would get more chances to train my physical stats and the academy would stop mostly being a waste of time, if not then I would still keep improving my chakra at home and when I felt I had enough I would train my other stats by myself, and it was not like I would stop training my chakra just because I was ahead in the academy, I would just have less time to do it.
I was honestly more worried about becoming a genin too early than the actual academy, month-long C-rank missions don't tend to leave a lot of time to train.
Anyway, I just did the same thing I had already been doing, I sat on the back and did my own thing, thankfully Suna isn't as big on teamwork as Konoha so they didn't make you socialize with anyone, I'm not actually sure if Konoha forces you to do it but I imagine there is at least a stigma against loners.
I was actually surprised when I saw my first canon characters in person, the thing about canon characters in Suna was that besides the Sand siblings there were only a handful of others and most of those had no reason to be interacting with an academy student so I didn't expect to meet any of them any time soon.
I was wrong, I'm not sure what they did to Garaa as he is far too unstable to be in the academy but I saw Kankuro and Temari pass me by on the hallway and I almost didn't recognize them, Kankuro wasn't wearing his war paint, either because he still hadn't gotten it or because he chose not to wear it in the academy I'm not sure, so it was hard to figure out that it was him,
Temari was the one who gave it away, I hadn't found too many people that wore their hair as she did and as the Kazekage's daughter, she was famous enough that it wasn't hard to recognize her.
From what I gathered they were both older than me, Kankuro was on the year ahead and Temari was one year after him, I might be wrong but I think I'm the same age as the canon cast if what I remember about how old everyone was during the chunin exams is correct.
I didn't speak to them, I'm just an orphan girl so it was not like I had a reason to approach either of them.
After that, another month passed before something noteworthy happened, and how noteworthy it was.
I was in history class, just nodding along while I daydreamed about getting back home and practicing more chakra control when Haruka-sensei brought up someone I remembered.
"Pakura Koge, known as the hero of the sand, was an S-rank kunoichi and user of an extremely rare bloodline, the scorch release, she died on a mission when she was ambushed by Kiri nin"
Haruka-sensei went on to explain more of what Pakura did, most of it stuff that wasn't covered in the anime, but I was too busy widening my eyes in realization and grinning at the screen that appeared before me.
Koge, the same surname I have, the one I'm not supposed to know about, that I only know because of the system, if that only hinted at a possible connection between me and Pakura, the notification confirmed it entirely.
Skill Gained!
[Scorch Release][Lvl: 1(0.00%)]
A combination of wind and fire, scorch release manipulates flames hotter than any other and even heat itself, be careful though, the user isn't immune to its effects.
Grants the ability to use scorch release chakra.
Scorch release jutsu are 1% more effective.
Scorch release jutsu cost 1% less chakra.
The user is 1% more resistant to scorch release.
+1 CKP for discovering your heritage.
Okay, if that wasn't awesome, I don't know what is.
It makes sense that my heritage was kept from me, didn't Rasa kill Pakura for an alliance with Kiri and paranoia? I imagine they want to keep that little tidbit from me and reveal my heritage only to manipulate me with some sense of this what your mother would have wanted you to do.
Regardless, I not only have a bloodline but one of the most powerful ones, now that I think about it no wonder my papers kept burning, no wonder my chakra feels so hot, I have scorch release!
I need to figure out what can I do with it, Pakura only showed 2 jutsu with it but both were devastating and there must be more, I can't wait!
I'll have to be careful, though, not only to not burn down my apartment but also to keep this a secret, at least until I make genin, plus my chakra already feels hot in base so I imagine when I start making actual scorch release chakra it will be much worse.
Thankfully the skill gives me some resistance to it, it wouldn't be very useful if I had a heat stroke every time I used a scorch release jutsu.
There's also the issue of Orochimaru, if Rasa knows of my heritage when Orochimaru takes over he will learn it if he doesn't know already, and even if I hide it I wouldn't put it past him to dissect me in an attempt to figure out how to unlock it since I'm the one most likely to hold its secrets now that Pakura is dead.
Revealing it before Rasa tells me about it, if he tells me about it, is risky but limiting my training of what is easily my strongest skill and will likely remain my strongest skill for a long time is bound to end me either strapped to an operating table or used as a flesh suit for Orochimaru.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, huh, Rasa's paranoia or Orochimaru's curiosity, which is more dangerous?
Fuck it, I won't reveal it just yet but my best bet is playing into Rasa's hands, if I'm right and he plans to manipulate me into being loyal I can get stronger without having to hide and when Orochimaru kills him he will either come directly for my body or try to keep me around so he can get me after he gets Sasuke's body, either way I'll need to be strong enough to at least escape.
Making myself weaker just to have a chance to fly under Orochimaru's radar isn't a good idea, not to mention I'd feel pretty stupid if I died on a low-rank mission to some jonin just because I was too worried about the future.
I went back to paying attention to class, actually interested for the first time in a while, I'm not sure how I feel about Pakura herself but her exploits are another thing entirely, maybe I'll even pick up a few ideas from her.
I can't wait to get home and try this!
-[DS]-
In the center of Sunagakure the Kazekage tower stood, standing above it was Rasa himself, gazing at his village with a slight frown.
Suddenly, the air was displaced as an ANBU appeared before him, with an eagle mask and a tanto strapped to the back of his clearly male silhouette, he bowed and spoke.
"Kazekage-sama" He said.
"Report" Rasa answered.
"The girl is showing signs of prodigious talent" He said. "Her academic scores are near perfect and the man we had observing her said she already started chakra control training"
"Who taught her?" He asked, displeased.
"Nobody" The ANBU said. "She asked about it in class and figured the rest of the process by herself"
"I see" Rasa said. "And her chakra levels?"
"Low academy level, not much higher than the clan students" He said. "Kazekage-sama, the sensors reported something"
"Speak"
"Her chakra feels hot, similar to a fire affinity but much more potent" He said. "One of the older ninja mentioned it reminded him of how Pakura-sama's chakra felt"
"So she has the bloodline"
"It seems so, we initially figured that her papers always burning was the result of bad chakra control and a particularly potent fire affinity, but it seems we were wrong"
"I want to know if she shows any signs of knowing about it or her mother"
"Yes, Kazekage-sama!"
Rasa nodded.
"What about her behavior?" He asked.
"She's quiet, always has been, she barely interacts with her classmates but speaks to the instructors just fine" The ANBU said. "She always looks bored, it is clear that her current academy level is too easy"
"For now keep her where she is" Rasa said. "I want her watched for a while longer before I'm willing to push her forward again"
The ANBU nodded, once no more orders came he vanished.
Rasa continued gazing at his village, particularly his eyes stopped on the private Kazekage training ground, his youngest launching barrages of sand against his instructor, he saw the boy's raw power despite his age and his frown shifted into a smirk.
Suna would stay strong, Pakura might have been a threat but if the girl showed the same promise she would become a valuable asset, and if proper loyalty could be instilled in her even more so.
-[DS]-
I'm back with a new fic, I really didn't expect this to be the fic I decided to write but I kept jumping from idea to idea the past few weeks and in the end, I settled on this, a Naruto Gamer fic that had one of the most underutilized bloodlines of them all, that also happens to be one of my favorites.
I have a few things to mention so let us go over them.
First, this isn't a Survivor clone, despite what that little bit about Orochimaru would lead you to believe, I came up with the concept of Akari and decided that she would have scorch release, then I remembered Pakura was from Suna and that Orochimaru killing Rasa was a thing so the first milestone for Akari just came together.
Yes, her main initial motivation for training will be to survive Orochimaru but that is as far as similarities with Survivor go, Akari has nothing to do with Shin and this fic will be very different from Survivor.
Second, I based this system on the one from Adrian King1's Game of Shadows, albeit with some changes, if you read Game of Shadows you will see the similarities and I believe I pointed out most of the differences in this chapter so it should be fine.
If you haven't read Game of Shadow, well first go read Game of Shadows, it is an amazing fic and I believe you'll like it, second this system is heavily nerfed, Akari doesn't have Gamer's Mind or Body, no HP, no inventory(GoS still has it but I decided to scrap it altogether), basically it only has skills and quests, and quest rewards are also limited.
Third, I'll be moving through the academy days quickly, I'm not good enough of an author to make them interesting and it doesn't help that we don't know more than a handful of Suna's characters and that most wouldn't be in the academy.
The meat of this fic will happen in Shippuden but I couldn't exactly drop Akari at the start and just tell you guys what powers she has, half the fun of Gamer fics is seeing the MC grow, so instead I'll quickly go through the academy, have a few chapters detailing what she did during pre-part 1, and the first arc will close during the chunin exams.
After that, I might write something during the time skip, and then it is Shippuden with the major plot.
I think that is it, I don't remember anything else I have to say so if I missed anything let me know.
Anyway, reviews are appreciated and see you next time.