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—MPGTOI—

By PaladinKaladin

Chapter Four: "I really hate school."

"W-what?" I stuttered confusedly.

Shikaku smiled. "Yes."

"Then how come no one knows about him? How come I don't even know his name? Why have I never heard of someone like this before?" I asked quickly, voicing out all of my doubts at once.

"Slow down. Well, there is some history behind that, but I really don't think it's worth talking about now. As for now, I won't disturb you any further. I got some work to do as well," Shikaku stated, before making way to the door.

That wasn't too bad for a first interaction, eh?

I found that Shikaku was a chill person in general. I mostly remember him from the anime, near Asuma's death where he was talking with Shikamaru, and he seems just as wise and humorous as ever. Then there was the information of a Nara who had power that could rival the third.

Of course, my father could just be lying to motivate me even further. But somehow, I could tell he wasn't lying from the

I stretched my hands upwards.

Back to work.

-MPGTOI-

"Wait, dad came?"

I eyed Shikamaru exasperatedly. Of course he had no idea.

I sighed. "Of course."

"Hmm. So what was his reaction?"

"Reaction to what?" I asked, clueless.

Shikamaru lazily looked at me. "You know what I'm talking about."

"No, I really don't," I replied honestly.

He groaned. "I'm talking about your rather unnatural improvement in an incredibly short amount of time. There, I said it. Are you happy? Should I also add your almost obsessive obsession with Fuinjutsu?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I bluntly asked. "I guess he was a little surprised. He was a bit shocked by my ninja wire trick, though."

Shikamaru chuckled. "Well, that's what I was shocked by as well. Where'd you get the idea from, anyways? And how come I've never seen that before? Surely someone would have tried that as well at some point."

I shrugged. "I really have no idea."

"Everything about you is odd, Shinji," Shikamaru said. "I'm not sure whether I prefer the new you or the old you. I mean, at least the old you and I had some things in common. Right now it's like we're in completely different worlds."

'I'd have to agree. If only you started to actually focus on your techniques instead of wasting time all day, you would be improving just as much," I said truthfully.

Shikamaru had a lot of talent that he wasted in canon.

I wouldn't let that happen again.

We entered the Academy classroom once again.

As I sat on my regular seat, I simply thought ahead of what would happen in the future. While it seemed my canon knowledge wasn't all knowing, it was still pretty accurate. The next major canon event to happen would surely be the assigning of teams.

And then came my presence.

I would pass the Genin test, that was for sure.

The basic academy three were easy for any average shinobi, and the only reason Naruto was struggling so much was because of this excess amount of chakra. I certainly didn't have those issues—definitely didn't have those issues. Though in some way, I actually hoped I did.

Now, which team would I be placed into?

The dead last would be placed with the Rookie Of The Year, along with the student who scored the highest in the written exams. In canon, that resulted in the iconic trio that even non-anime fans knew about. But with my presence, how would that affect things?

To be honest, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to be in Naruto's team. Sure it would result in me following the canon story tightly, but it was surely more dangerous than regular. Two, it won't let me progress as much. Kakashi would definitely be Naruto's and Sasuke's teacher regardless of what team they get into. Kakashi would focus more on the two of them compared to me, and it would easily result in less progression from me.

What I needed to do was take full advantage of my gamer system as soon as possible. If I were to face off against these monsters, that was the least I had to do.

[The System is glad you finally realize its greatness.]

No, I don't. You're still a completely average system.

Like seriously, why couldn't I get an overpowered one?

"Hey Shinji!"

I recognized the voice instantly. I looked back at Naruto, who moved to sit next to me. "What's up?"

Naruto looked nervous. "I'm going to Ichiraku's this evening, I wanted to ask whether you wanted to come. Shikamaru and Choji aren't available, apparently."

I began to voice out an excuse, saying that I also had some work to do. But seeing the look of hope on Naruto's face, I couldn't really say no. Ugh. That had to be main character energy making me say yes.

I nodded. "Sure, I'm available."

"Nice!" Naruto practically shouted. "Also, you're gonna have to bring some cash. I'm almost out of pocket money!"

Great.

What was I getting myself into?

—MPGTOI—

Two weeks later…

I sighed in relief, wiping off the multiple beads of the sweat which collected over my forehead.

I looked over my creation with a grin.

I finally did it.

"Heh, that's not too bad, brat," Shikaku said from over my shoulder.

The Minor Explosion seal was finally finished.

It wasn't a particularly tough or difficult seal to make, but it was the first stepping stone to more complex seals in the future, including the true explosion seals that would be attached to kunai.

The force produced by this seal wasn't anything big either, and had the force of a hook along with a slight burning effect. The time it took to draw wasn't worth the small damage, and neither was the chakra consumption low. For now, anyway.

[New Passive Skill: "Minor Explosion Sealing" Lvl 1]

Open Status.

Name: Shinji Nara

Title: "The Laziest Of All"

Occupation: Academy Student

Level: LV5

Chakra: 60/60

MP: 100/100

STR: 6

VIT: 6

DEX: 5

INT: 7

Taijutsu: D+

Ninjutsu: F

Genjutsu: N/A

Fuinjutsu: C-

Current Skills:

[Passive Skill: "Fuinjutsu" Lvl 10]

[Passive Skill: "Weapon Sealing" Lvl 12]

[Passive Skill: "Minor Explosion Sealing" Lvl 1]

[Passive Skill—

I quickly turned off the status window, not wanting to waste time reading all of the skills I've accumulated. There really was no point considering I've been reading them every night of the day before I slept, just to track my process. The main improvement was that my Ninjustu went from D to D+ and Fuinjutsu, with the largest improvement, went from D to C-.

The past two weeks had been stressful, incredibly so. I had many goals to accomplish, but with very less time to do so. Firstly, I needed to become Rookie Of The Year. That was practically impossible with how weak I was coming into this world. Thus, I had to grind.

The final exams would occur in a month and a half since I was transported into this world during the last quarter of the Academic year. If I had been transported here at the beginning, I would've had much more time to prepare and improve, and perfect my fundamentals as much as possible before advancing.

But I had no time for that. To beat Sasuke in the race for Rookie of The Year, I needed to improve fast.

So far, every time I faced the Uchiha in a fight, I lost. It wasn't a really close fight, to be honest. Sasuke just didn't give me time to prepare my Fuinjutsu, and his sheer speed would prevent me from using my seals to their full potential. So far, I would only lose to Sasuke, Shino at times, and very rarely Choji.

I would only lose to Shino during fights where Iruka let us go all out, and Shino's bugs were truly a pain to deal with. My seals would get eaten up in the middle of the air! Choji was surprisingly good at Taijutsu, and could sometimes catch me off guard with his sheer speed. And one hit from the Akimichi would send me crashing like a rag doll.

"Alright now, enough seals, you brat. Get down there before your mother comes and yells at me," Shikaku said, a look of fear overcoming his face for a brief moment.

I nodded.

I still had to go to school.

I slapped Shikamaru's back on the way to the door, who groaned in pain.

"You really didn't have to hit me that hard," Shikamaru stated with a deadpan look.

"And you didn't have to go hangout with Choji when you didn't finish Iruka's homework, did you?" I asked back.

"Troublesome."

It was still weird hearing his iconic line in real life.

"See ya' at school, little brother!" I smirked, opening the door.

"YOU'RE OLDER BY LIKE A MINUTE!" I heard Shikamaru's voice from outside the house.

"Always fun to piss off Shikamaru!" I murmured to myself, chuckling.

"I agree!"

I immediately recognized the bubbly voice next to me. "Naruto."

Naruto grinned widely in greeting, before his eyes widened at the sight of my face. "Woah, your eyes. Why are they so dark?"

"Practicing," I responded curtly.

Naruto nodded. "I've been practicing a lot too. I think I finally have a chance to beat Sasuke once and for all, you know? I know I said that a few times over this month, but this time I can really feel it!"

I knew it wasn't the truth at all.

There was practically no way for this version of Naruto to beat Sasuke at this point in time. That would come way later in the Chuunin Exams.

"I'm going to try and beat him today as well," I said shortly after.

"Really? I'm sure you can do it! Someone has to knock the guy down a peg or two, anyways," Naruto said with a determined look in his eyes.

I tried to keep my distance from Naruto. Keyword being tried. I have no idea why, but the Uzumaki kept on talking to me. There really wasn't any reason to do so, but he did. At this point, I couldn't stop him.

In what seemed like an endless ritual, I entered the Academy one more time. I was honestly getting tired of coming into this place every morning, but I had to wait until I could finally get out of here.

Once again, classes started like normal.

And like normally, I slept through them all.

Spending most of the nights studying Fuinjutsu completely wrecked my sleep schedule, and as a result, I was forced to use the time during Iruka's theory classes to sleep and make up for the lost time at night. Of course, I got caught a few times, but it was definitely worth it. Currently, I was using Choji's bigger figure to hide behind so I wouldn't be spotted.

"All right everyone, let's go outside for some training!" Iruka shouted.

Finally.

I looked over to my target.

Sasuke Uchiha walked to the door which led to the training fields, hands in his pockets as he ignored everything and everyone around him.

I had to beat him today. There was no other option.

[The System wants you to know it's betting against you.]

I grinned. Great. I want you to make a loss anyways.

I followed the rest of the students downwards, making sure to steer away from a certain pink hair girl and a certain blonde girl who were currently bickering with themselves. The topic wasn't outright known, but I had a distinct feeling I could make a pretty good guess about what the topic was, or in this case, who it was.

Sure, later in the show, those two get a lot more mature and a lot stronger, but right now…

They were just annoying.

"I'll beat you this time, Nara," a voice growled from behind me.

I rolled my eyes. The mutt was back. "Kiba. I wish I could say it was a pleasure to see you."

Kiba frowned. "Like I said, I'm going to defeat you this time. Last time you won out of luck, believe me. I underestimated you and paid the price. It won't happen again, Nara."

I mockingly scratched my head, putting on a face of confusion. "When did you fight my brother? I don't remember him beating you."

Kiba scowled. "Your brother? I just said—"

I leaned forward, staring at Kiba dead in the eye.

"Then say my name, Kiba. If you're going to issue a challenge, do it properly!" I whispered harshly. "What's my name?"

[New Active Skill: "Minor Bloodlust" Lvl 1]

Some sort of invisible force seemed to pour out of me, forcing all of its pressure onto Kiba. It wasn't really tangible, but I could somehow tell it was there.

"Shinji Nara," Kiba murmured back, his eyes not meeting mine.

"Good," I said, walking away. "You're going to have to

remember it. Let's make it a good fight, Kiba."

I really wasn't sure why I got so angry. Truly, there was no reason to. But looking at Kiba, something inside me just ignited. He had been pestering me ever since he lost against me, saying it was due to luck or that he was feeling tired that day, which I could ignore. But all of those times he had said those to someone else.

Saying it directly to me was a whole other matter.

Well, Kiba did something good, however indirectly. Bloodlust was an incredibly cool skill, though it's usefulness would have to be tested in the future. I never thought that the skill actually existed, though.

The area was surrounded by students who were around Iruka sensei. He made us do some basic stretches and warm-up exercises like normal, to make sure we don't get injured while fighting.

"Who do you want to fight today?" Shikamaru asked with a knowing look in his eyes.

My brother could easily tell when I was angry. Must be my facial expressions.

I snorted. "Kiba."

"Didn't you already beat him a while ago?" Naruto asked confusedly.

"It takes more than one session to train a dog," I muttered humorously. "I'll make sure he doesn't mess with me again this time."

Choji chuckled. "Shinji looks seriously angry. You would've thought Kiba learned his lesson by now."

"You could get a horse to ride to the river, but that doesn't mean it would swim," Shikamaru wisely stated.

"What does that mean exactly?" Naruto asked.

"I have the same question," Choji said, raising his hand.

I shook my head while Shikamaru laughed.

"The first fight! Naruto Uzumaki versus Sasuke Uchiha!" Iruka read out from his tab of papers.

Naruto's eyes widened. "YES!"

I chuckled at his reaction. "I've never seen someone so excited for a loss."

"I'll win this time, dattebayo!" Naruto stated before walking forwards to his inevitable loss.

Sasuke looked as indifferent as ever even when the fangirls squealed his name when he walked forward with a smirk, looking straight forward at his opponent.

"Who do you think is going to win?" Choji asked curiously.

I couldn't tell whether Choji was being serious or not. "Really?"

"I mean, who do you think is going to win? You can't pick Sasuke all the time, can you?" Choji said, his face scrunched up with concentration.

"And why can't I pick the favorite to win everytime?"

"It's boring!" Choji countered.

I snorted. "I'd rather be boring and win than be an idiot and lose."

That was completely true. If there was one thing I learned about myself in the past month, it was that I hated to lose. Despised it, in fact. There was the saying that all your losses are what makes you a stronger person. I lived by the complete opposite saying. Losses just meant you weren't prepared to win. If I never lose, that means I'm always prepared. Clearly, the latter was a much better status to have.

My nindo was simple.

If winning is possible, there's simply no other option. I'll win, regardless of the pain I have to endure to do so.

It wasn't any motivational saying or something that would bring me up in the darkest of times—no, it was just a practical statement.

After all, I was a practical shinobi.

[Your Nindo has been set!]

[Shinji Nara: "If winning is possible, there's simply no other option. I'll win, regardless of the pain I have to endure to do so."]

[As a result, completing quests now gives you 40% more EXP! However, failure in completing quests will result in temporary periods of bad luck.]

Huh.

[New Title: "Practical Shinobi"]

[Title gives 5% extra stats to each category, and reduces MP usage of active skills by a certain amount.]

[Do you want to equip this title?]

Hell yeah.

[Title: "Practical Shinobi" Equipped!]

I just stood in shock, watching my status window in silence. I was starting to think that I didn't get a horrible system after all. Who gave bonus attributes for a goddamn nindo? And the title? Yeah, this system was completely random. Some days it acted like a douchebag and others it acted like a charity box. This was a good thing, though. It proved the presence of other features in the system, which I would definitely require if I wanted to improve further. Simply relying on the leveling up system and other rewards wouldn't be enough to tackle some of the giants later on the road. My mind went to a certain masked Uchiha. It certainly wouldn't be enough.

Shaking my head, I focused back on the fight.

Naruto ran forwards to Sasuke, trying to immediately assault him with a barrage of attacks. Predictably, Sasuke managed to dodge it all, before applying one of his own jabs forward. The blond, surprisingly, flipped away before running forward once more. I was personally impressed by Naruto's change in speed to avoid the hit. He definitely got faster than before.

He's been training.

I wasn't sure whether Naruto had actually begun to seriously train before he was assigned into Team Seven, since the "Academy arc" wasn't actually covered. But if he didn't actually train back in the anime, and he was suddenly doing it now, that could only mean one thing.

I was, however slightly, changing canon.

Regardless of Naruto's apparent improvement, it wasn't enough for Sasuke. The Uchiha ripped through his defenses like a tiger on prowl, and effectively grappled the blond to the floor, where Naruto begrudgingly admitted defeat and forfeited. The fangirls applauded Sasuke, who still had the impassive look on his face.

There was something about the Uchiha that irked Shinji.

Anytime he saw Sasuke, he usually never had a type of expression on his face. It was completely blank. Either he was bored or irritated, the latter coming with his interactions with fangirls and Naruto. Other than that…it was like he was a robot. That definitely wasn't healthy for a young teen.

"Next fight: Shikamaru Nara versus Hinata Hyūga!"

Naruto came back with a defeated expression, which suddenly made me feel bad.

"You did good," I said silently.

Naruto nodded slowly, the frown on his face still present. "Thanks."

"I'm not talking about your performance. You've improved," I proclaimed with a thumbs up.

The Jinchuuriki beamed. "Thanks!"

This guy is too energetic. I thought. Though I really should have expected it with how Academy Naruto was like in the anime.

"Are you going to watch your brother's fight?" Naruto asked curiously.

I laughed. "Nah, I know my brother's gonna lose."

Naruto laughed. "You should have more confidence in Shikamaru."

"Hinata's Taijutsu is a lot more advanced than you think. Shikamaru can't compete with her without any of his clan jutsus."

True enough, that was how the fight continued.

Hinata was shy, incredibly so, and the few conversations that I had with her ended immediately after a few words or sentences. Meaning, she wasn't a very talkative person. But that didn't convert to her physical abilities. She was probably the best Taijutsu user after Sasuke himself, in terms of win rate alone. I haven't actually fought her yet, so I really didn't know how well I compared against her. I would probably lose in a Taijutsu only fight, though.

Shikamaru tried his hardest, but he couldn't cope with her superior Taijutsu.

In the end, Shikamaru, too tired to continue, called for surrender.

Some fights continued afterwards, which weren't as notable or skill-showing in my opinion. Considering the large number of civilian students in my class, that was only reasonable. I didn't get to fight anyone, which happened sometimes. Finally, Iruka made another announcement.

"We'll be starting the all-techniques fights. Meaning everything is allowed, assuming it is non-lethal. Considering this could potentially be a dangerous situation, I'm only allowing the more experienced fighters to participate," Iruka started, looking at everyone seriously.

Finally, he was being logical about this.

Tell a regular civilian to fight against Kiba's man-tearing dog was not a good idea.

"For the first fight we have…Shinji Nara versus Hinata Hyūga!"

Well, there we go.

I said I haven't fought against her once, and fate decided to delight with the exact fight. It was weird how destiny worked.

One thing about Hinata in this class was that she wasn't as nervous towards Naruto as she was in the anime. It was weird, because normally that was the first thing I would've noticed with her interactions with the blond. After a few weeks, I learnt that the nervousness wasn't there at all. Assuming it was another one of those forced canon-divergences, I ignored it.

I stood in front of the Hyūga and bowed, and she bowed in return.

I didn't really have a plan against her, to be honest. Hinata was off of my radar since the beginning of my reincarnation. Sure, she had a Byakugan, but compared to the Sharingan that was practically nothing.

I was beginning to regret that decision.

"Hajime!"

She rushed forward immediately, trying to end the fight as fast as possible.

I retreated backwards, prepping my seals from the get-go. I didn't want to start with seals made before the fight as I wanted to test what my drawing speed would be during the middle of an actual battle.

The side pockets of my vest were filled each with a bottle of ink that had a cover which prevented it from leaking, but also allowed me to easily dip my hands inside. However, for the weapons seal, I no longer needed to use ink. I always wondered how Minato was able to transfer his iconic seal without any ink ever since I started practicing Fuinjutsu, but then I realized I could do the same thing with a specific type of sealing paper which reacted to the presence of chakra.

I still wasn't sure whether that was what Minato did, and I didn't have time to find out right now.

Activate Basic Taijutsu!

[Basic Taijutsu Lvl 5 Activated!]

[MP Usage: 5.5 MP per minute.]

I ducked past the first palm, before parrying the next. Hinata was fast, but not Sasuke Uchiha fast, that guy was on another level. My shoulder was hit with lightning precision, pushing me slightly backwards. I pulled out one of my cards in each of my hands, immediately activating the seals and unleashing kunai in both of my hands.

Before I could even react, Hinata struck the wrist of my left hand, causing me to release the kunai to the floor, which she picked up while it was still spinning in the air. I fell for another kick which she had feinted, giving her the option to strike the other kunai out of my right hand. This time, the kick did land, causing me to retreat backwards in pain.

Okay, something is off.

There was no way Hinata was this skilled. This was a complete jump from her skill in the Chuunin exams to now. While she wasn't particularly stronger than her counterpart in the Exams, it was the fact that assuming she had a normal improvement rate, she shouldn't be this strong right now.

What the hell was happening?

I gritted my teeth.

It doesn't matter, I have to still win this.

Hinata kept her hands forward in a stance as she watched me move.

I threw one of my cards towards Hinata, activating it midair, and the seal transformed into a kunai in the middle and flew towards Hinata. At this point, it was practically my signature move. Hinata moved forward and caught the kunai midair, rendering the technique completely useless.

I smirked.

That was the first part.

I knew I said I wouldn't use already-made seals…but desperate times called for desperate measures. There were only so many things a Fuinjutsu beginner could accomplish.

I threw another card, hoping that Hinata wouldn't notice that it was much bigger than usual.

This time I didn't activate the seal, instead letting Hinata catch the card in her hands. In her eyes, I probably looked like I already gave up, and this was some sort of last ditch effort to try and win. But of course, it was the complete opposite.

Hinata's white eyes widened far too late.

Activate!

The card exploded in her hands, harming only the hands as she had begun to throw it away the moment she realized it wasn't a kunai sealing. Her hands looked slightly scorched, and the sudden blindness from the quick explosion gave me a huge opening.

An opening that I would certainly use to my advantage.

I plucked out a piece of paper before immediately summoning a kunai which I placed onto Hinata's neck. Our heads were almost touching from the close contact, which I ignored.

"Give up," I ordered.

A pause of five seconds ensued.

Hinata frowned. "I forfeit."

"Winner: Shinji Nara!" Iruka announced. The class applauded, some impressed by the fight and some just following the normality.

I relaxed my muscles before pulling away the kunai. I bowed once more. "Thank you for the fight. Please have your hands healed by medic-nin, Hinata-san." I began to walk away, glad to have gotten another win.

"Wait!"

I looked back.

"W-we should spar again s-sometime…" Hinata murmured quietly, her cheeks rosy.

What.

What the hell am I watching?

Why was Hinata blushing?

"Sure." I nodded before walking away, my head whizzing with a million thoughts at once. Her lack of reaction to Naruto, her weird strength, and the blush right now. Her old character just returned while she was speaking to me.

This was going towards meanings that I really wanted to avoid.

Shaking my head, I sighed. I had enough for today.

[Quest: "Defeat the Hyūga" completed!]

[Rewards: Skill Option unlocked!]

What's a skill option?

[Skill Option Unlocked!]

[Random Skill Loading…]

[Congratulations!]

[New Passive Skill: "Ambidextrous" Lvl 1]

Alright, it was official. This system was awesome.

[The System sends its thanks.]

[-end-]

Yo!

I hoped you liked the chapter! *grins evilly*—I don't know why I typed that.

Alright, the main thing about this chapter. No, this isn't a confirmation of the pairing. Hinata just has a small crush on Shinji, which will be explained further on. Again, this isn't a confirmation of pairings.

Another time skip of two weeks. I really want to get to canon fast, but I need to pace the fic to match it. I kind of thought that the two weeks was also a bit too much, but eh.

Onto the question of the day:

Question 1: Which weapon do you see Shinji using? I personally don't know.

My discord server where you can have fun, talk about fics, talk about anime, make friends, etc. : / aRD76ZEuEJ

Upload schedule of everything: I'm currently updating one fic per week, and some weeks I upload two stories a week. For now, this fic will update weekly. If you're wondering what happened to Naruto and the leveling shinobi, it took a small hiatus for planning.

Pa treon: join my Pa Treon if you want to be three-four weeks ahead of others, and if you really want to read the next chapter of this fic and my other stories. Link is Pa treon PaladinKaladin.

Other than that, wassup? Make sure to follow, favorite, and review to keep up with this story. I feed on reviews…seriously.

Next update! Next week.

Cya' next chapter!