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Chapter 2


Slinging shut the front door, Sora took a look around the mist-covered surroundings of the village before adjusting her bag and heading off in the direction of the Shinobi Academy.

Breakfast was a little awkward owing to her Byakugan accident, not that her father had any idea what she'd done. But thanks to that, it gave her some quiet time to work with her new eye without needing to make small talk, it meant she could investigate its abilities more herself, as well as her ability to somewhat control where she could and couldn't see. She could willingly 'avert' her eye of a certain location, or locations, and not look there. That meant she closed off her vision to certain places quickly, like the bathroom, her father's bedroom, as well as under clothing.

A discovery that Sora from before had made was that her brain would sort of filter the information she received, so because she didn't want to see under people's clothing, the Byakugan didn't do that. Imagining how awkward it would be to see people's bodies all the time would just be way too much for her. Not that she wouldn't appreciate the view of course, she had a healthy appreciation for both the male and female body, but seeing that sort of thing permanently wasn't something she could handle, which was why she could nod as she passed people on the path to the academy and not indicate that she'd seen anything out of the ordinary.

She spent the journey to the academy going through the rather confusing and annoying array of menus she had available. She had options for displaying her health and chakra levels on the side of her vision as well as her proficiency progress, current quests, quickslots for her inventory, and just so many features that she ended up deciding to worry about it after she left the academy. There was a nice spot down by the docks that Sora used to head down to in order to practice her chakra control, it was easy to skim a fish from the fishermen for a few ryo and use it to practice her Iryojutsu.

Tucking her hands into her pockets, she dipped her head slightly as a group of Kiri Chunin passed her by. She still remembered what the starting screen said, how Kiri were in the beginning throes of a bloodline purge. The Byakugan was a Konohagakure bloodline, so for all intents and purposes they should hate her, if not for the exception that her Byakugan was stolen from the corpse of a dead shinobi. That meant two things. Firstly, the Dojutsu was stolen from a dead enemy shinobi, which was a plus in her favour. Secondly, she couldn't pass it on to her offspring, so it wasn't a continuation of the bloodline, another plus.

These things together meant that nobody actually disliked her for it. Well, the other academy students did, because it gave her unfair advantages, but the world they lived in was unfair, and she got her ass beat down by the teachers just as hard as everyone else. Sure, during fights she could see each and every attack coming, but that didn't matter, her twelve-year-old body wasn't physically fast enough to fend off an adult, it was simply a fact.

Of course, now that she had access to The Game, if she could raise her agility, she would be able to outclass anyone else, as long as she could keep raising her level. But the problem then would be reaction time. She would need to steadily increase her speed and acclimatize to it. Doing her other stats would be useful, like levelling her strength and vitality. She would love to be the most agile person, able to see everything happening and place the most precise shots with her ranged weapons, but there was a saying she didn't remember perfectly about how there was always someone in the world better at something than what you do. Unless she reached an utterly ludicrous level, there would always be someone able to defeat her.

Well, a rather generic goal to aim for, but at least she had a goal in life now.


As she reached the Shinobi Academy, Sora had to admit that for all that Kiri was a fucked up hellhole, they trained their soldiers well.

That was what Shinobi were after all, at least according to their teaching. They were soldiers to be wielded by the village leader, the Mizukage, and failing that, the Jounin Commander. Thankfully, Sora could see it for what it was, indoctrination. They were trying to enforce loyalty to the village and the Mizukage first and foremost, above all else. If Sora wasn't as mentally old and cynical as she was, maybe she would have fallen for all the tripe about loyalty to the village and mercilessness to its enemies.

She would still pay lip service to the idea of course, and being merciless to her enemies made perfect sense, but she wouldn't actually believe it. If at any point it was in her best interests to abandon the village and become a missing-nin, she'd do it in a heartbeat, even if Kirigakure's Hunter-nin did scare her a bit...well, a lot actually. It'd suck being persona non grata to every village because of abandoning her own home, but if necessary, well, there wasn't much she could do to avoid it.

Entering the building, she used Sora's knowledge to amble towards the class, idly using her Byakugan to spy a clock and see she was still five minutes early. She then went a step further and looked into the classroom itself, noting the various students that had already arrived and that their teacher was also already there. Honestly, when thinking about it, the Byakugan was probably outright the best choice she could have made, at least for what she already knew about the options that had been presented to her. All the others were stupidly specific, giving increased experience gain for certain techniques.

Some choices sounded interesting like the one that gave Dust Release, being able to literally disintegrate targets at a molecular level would be incredible, but again, it was absurdly specific. Then there were the ones like the sandstorm one, which was so utterly stupid that she had to wonder why it even existed. Sure, not having any visibility penalty in a sandstorm would be an amazing boon...when there was actually a sandstorm. So if the user wasn't fighting in a very windy desert, that starting choice would be completely and utterly useless.

No, choosing the Byakugan was the best choice. Plus, there wasn't even much of a drawback. Sure, the Hyuuga family disliked her, but they were in Konoha, and since she was in Kirigakure, who had just come out of a damn war with them, they would probably dislike the fact she was a Kirigakure kunoichi anyway. She put those thoughts out of her mind as she slipped into the classroom and up to her seat at the back and in the corner.

Sora from before had chosen a lot of things well, and that went all the way down to her seating choice. At the back meant she couldn't be approached from behind, with a wall to her side to limit approaches, and in front of her, lined up with the next row of seats, was a window she could use for a quick escape. Sora from before hadn't actually noticed it, but the teacher seemed to actually value her attentiveness to not allowing someone to sneak up on her. She slung her bag off her shoulder and left it leaning against her chair, then sat down, her eyes closed even as she kept an eye on the room with her Byakugan.

So much of Sora's life weirdly mirrored her own desires. She didn't give a shit about any of the brats in the class, and if Sora from before had gotten friendships and actually been social, it would have been annoying breaking off those friendships. Fortunately, she didn't. Sora was isolated and friendless, and that was perfect for her. There were a few kids that interested her a little bit, mainly because they looked like they were genuinely a cut above the other brats who probably got forced into the academy because, like her, they had some kind of trait that Kirigakure wanted, either high chakra capacity, fast reflexes, or a simple physical advantage.

There was also clear student blocs forming, with the clan kids being one bloc, the bloodline kids being another bloc, and the civilian kids being a third bloc. Not everyone was a part of these groups, Sora herself being the perfect example, and that suited her, since the different students really didn't like each other. The clan kids looked down on the civilian kids, who sneered at the bloodline kids, who hated both parties for treating them badly because of their bloodlines. It was pretty much a powderkeg of a school just waiting for a match, and the explosion was going to be beautiful.

One event she had only noticed after sitting down was that in her vision, one of the icons she had been ignoring had started to blink at her. She would need to go through all of her menus and settings and figure out what everything did, but she didn't really have time thanks to when she woke up. After school would be the best time, she could go down to the dock and look at it all to her hearts content. She focused on the blinking icon, a menu appearing in front of her face. Her Byakugan informed her that nobody had noticed the large screen, not that her father had done so either, so she knew then that it was definitely invisible to all but her.

With that confirmed, she focused on the words, scanning them quickly.


Quest Received!

Imminent Detonation

Objective: Either incite or stop the inevitable conflict brewing as a result of segregation, classism and other social issues amounting in the classroom.

Reward: 500 experience, uncommon tanto.

Failure: Class will fail, forced to apprentice under a Jonin or retake a year.


Well, that was vague and unhelpful, plus it honestly sounded like failing was better than succeeding.

Not the repeating a year bit obviously, but apprenticing under a Jonin would be a rather powerful boon...if they didn't just ditch her on a mission, or worse. They could just kill her and claim whatever they wanted, it wasn't like she'd be around to disprove it. It'd be like fragging an annoying commander. If nobody would say anything, how would they ever know that it was a friendly grenade that blew them to pieces?

So, maybe just solving this issue and going through her education normally would be for the best? From what their teacher had just written on the board, they were covering more of the intricacies about Hunter-nin today, something she was actually interested in and tempted to make an attempt at joining. They basically hunted down deserters and either killed them or brought them back in some cases for interrogation and public execution. Kirigakure's Hunter-nin were renowned for being utterly ruthless, they would take down a target no matter what, even if they had to die. If death was the only way to take down their quarry, Kiri's Hunter-nin more often than not would do it.

But to be a hunter-nin meant you had to be an order of magnitude stronger than other normal shinobi, something that right now, she really couldn't claim. She stood pretty high in terms of combat ability amongst her classmates, with a few exceptions, but that was only because her Byakugan gave her a massive advantage in being able to see everything around her, meaning accidentally stepping on fallen objects or getting cornered without knowing it was basically impossible. It didn't help at all against the stronger kids in the class, they were simply too fast or too powerful for her to actually defeat.

Then there were the kids who actually knew a few techniques like Suiton: Teppoudama (Water Release: Gunshot) which fired a ball of water at high speeds. That one hurt like a bitch to get hit by, though not as bad as getting shot while wearing body armour, that still held a place in her memory as being far more painful. Then there was Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Release: Wild Water Wave). That one literally created a wave of water that would wash towards an opponent, namely her, and force them away. Maybe if she actually knew a technique that wasn't just a basic academy technique she'd be able to fight back, but she didn't.

Sometimes she could be tricky and use a clone to mislead them, but since she couldn't go invisible or anything like that, it was just a matter of hitting both visible versions of her, and she'd be screwed no matter which one she was. The replacement technique had potential, since she could replace herself with her clones, so if someone did a directed attack she could just replace with them and avoid the attack, but again, the area of effect from the Mizurappa Jutsu made it untenable.

And that was just with the weaker techniques that those kids knew. Against an adult shinobi, even just a Chunin, she wouldn't stand a chance, they were simply and undeniably several dozen steps above academy students. Of course, with The Game, all of that was thrown out of wack. If she could get some levels, she would be able to outclass people that by all rights should have every advantage over her.

Her basic plan so far was to level up with an emphasis on intelligence first, as every point into that would make later levels even faster. Agility would be a close second, keeping her speed high would really help her avoid attacks. Strength was tempting to have as the third option, but she had to admit that being able to use chakra-intensive techniques sounded more valuable to her, so she'd also start levelling Wisdom. At a thousand points of wisdom, if she was even able to get it that high, techniques would literally be free.

Whilst waiting for the last few academy students to filter in and for the class to start, Sora shut her eyes, using her Byakugan to keep an eye out around herself while she used her menu. She was able to see it even though her eyes were shut, and it seemed as though her right eye was also focusing on it, so it was simply that she was able to read it behind her eyes, not that her Byakugan was letting her see it.

She opened and ventured through menus, finding and adjusting things, though she didn't get very far before she saw the last student approaching the classroom and re-opened her eyes. The teacher had looked at her a few times whilst her eyes were shut, so he probably knew exactly what she was doing. Whether he approved of her diligence or not she had absolutely no idea, the man was pretty unreadable. She only barely got the notion that he liked her seat positioning, and even then that was up for debate, he might have just been amused that she thought she could protect herself.

If somehow the fucking academy came under attack, which was literally a stone throw of distance away from the Mizukage's office, then Kirigakure was probably fucked, and one academy student picking a good spot in the room wasn't going to mean shit. Their Chunin teacher was strong, sure, but an enemy Jonin would tear everyone in that room apart like they were butter.

That was one thing she really appreciated about Kirigakure's teaching methods, they didn't hold back. Early on in their training they were told, in no uncertain terms, that as a student, a Genin or a Chunin, if they ran into a hostile Jonin, they would probably be best served just slitting their own throats or running at them with lit explosive tags. Jonin were the elites for a reason...well, except for Hunter-nin, and ANBU, and the Kages of course...and anyone S-ranked in the Bingo Books.

So what if there were a lot of really scary people out there who could probably kill her as easily as flicking an ant, guns could do that just as fucking easily. All she had to do to avoid that fate was get stronger. That meant doing the quest she'd received, so she had to incite a conflict between the three groups. The easiest way to do that was probably to pick out specific targets and find their weaknesses, then target those weaknesses leaving evidence implicating the more vocal of the three groups, thus inciting hostility between them. Human aggression would naturally cause them to escalate, and a conflict would erupt, even without her directly being seen involved in it. Her hands would remain visibly clean whilst the students would be fighting each other.

Sora snapped out of her thoughts as the door opened and the final student entered, straightening and hiding her amusement as the student was chewed out for being slightly late. As they reached their seat the teacher finished writing on the board and turned to face the classroom. They glanced around the room, then snapped their fingers. "I would like two volunteers for a brief demonstration." When, rather wisely, nobody raised their hands, the teacher pointed out two random students and had them come to the front.

Already theorizing what was about to occur, Sora leaned forwards, resting her elbows on the desk as she stared down at the two students. "Now then, have either of you noticed anything odd yet?" The two were obviously confused, as was the rest of the class, Sora included. Nothing was standing out to her immediately, the room looked pretty normal, nobody else had entered or left. "No? Then perhaps this will help you. Karatachi-san, if you may." Immediately Sora could see a figure materializing on the ceiling, and examined them closely. They were female, white mask and long hair, a sword on their back and Kunai or senbon hidden pretty much in every available space, as well as liquids she had to assume were poisons.

They were a Hunter-nin. Sora honestly thought that they were quite possibly the most deadly person she'd ever laid eyes on. Sure, she'd seen the Mizukage before during speeches, and even once got quite close to him while he was visiting the academy, but he was just too...he didn't really give her the impression of hidden lethality. He was too public, too visible. He didn't go around killing people, he sat in his office all day handing out missions, handling the day-to-day running of the village and quite decidedly not showcasing that he was the strongest shinobi in the village.

Of course, in a proper battle he would likely kick the Hunter-nin's ass six ways to sunday, but they were shinobi. If he wanted a real fight, he could fuck off to the Land of Iron and the samurai that lived there. The Hunter-nin that Sora was looking at right now would probably be able to kill the Mizukage if it was framed as an assassination mission. In a straight-up fight, she would probably still find a way to kill him, but it'd likely cost her dearly.

Sora didn't let any of this cross her face though. Instead, she kept herself looking interested but not exactly blown away, maintaining a slightly aloof exterior, even if internally she was practically drooling over all the hidden weaponry that woman was carrying, enough Kunai, Senbon and even caltrops and scrolls to arm a squad of Shinobi. It cemented the already rock-hard desire to be a Hunter-nin in Sora's mind.

"This is Karatachi-san. She is a Hunter-nin, and had helpfully agreed to come here today and prove to those of you who do not believe our words and our other demonstrations that there is a rather large gap between beating your peers and beating your superiors. If any one of you wishes to try and best Karatachi-san, you are welcome to make the attempt. if you manage to defeat her somehow, you will be requested to do so again to another Hunter-nin, and if you are able to do that, you will be immediately fast-tracked for promotion to Chunin pending adoption to the Hunter-nin corps." Sora let her visible eye track from the teacher to the Hunter-nin...to Karatachi-san, then back again, before she looked away and out the window.

There was no fucking way a single snot-nosed brat in the room stood a single chance at taking down Karatachi-san, it was entirely unthinkable. Just a moment ago, they were entirely invisible, even to her Byakugan. Sure, it wasn't a Sharingan, which was supposedly able to see through Genjutsus like the one that Karatachi-san had used, but it was still proof of her power, being able to evade her Byakugan's sight.

But, while she knew this fact, the other kids in the classroom were, predictably, complete and utter idiots. They didn't think 'That's a Hunter-nin, who kills missing-nin for a living.' They just thought 'This is a chance to become a Chunin right here in front of me.' It'd be like putting poisoned chocolate in front of toddlers and then leaving them alone. Literally every student wanted to try and take her on. Some she suspected just wanted to do it because she was a strong opponent, but others were obviously thinking only of being a Chunin. "Alright, since so many of you want to attempt this challenge, I shall add a caveat. The entire class shall attempt to take down Karatachi-san, all at once, at the same time."

That sparked a wave of excited chattering. Sora didn't pay attention to any of it. So, she was being forced to partake in this farce of a teaching experience? Well, before she would have just stood on the sidelines and laughed as the brats tried one by one to take down Karatachi-san and failed miserably, but if she herself was also going to get beaten down, she was going to try her damnest to at least get a few good licks in.

No, she didn't expect to really do anything, but if she could at least scratch the flak vest that Karatachi-san was wearing, that'd be at least the smallest modicum of a victory to take away from the inevitable defeat she was about to suffer. In her mind, she went over everything she knew about everyone in the class, everything she could possibly do to affect Karatachi-san...and then it smashed her in the face like a freight train.

She could kill two birds with one stone. If she managed to get the Suigetsu kid to use a big water attack, something his clan were well known for, then get the Yuki kid to use his ice abilities to freeze it, they could create an ice zone which would hinder their opponent. If she also got a bunch of the students caught up in it, freezing their feet to the ground, they would get pissed at each other and probably start fighting each other right there and then, thus satisfying her quest.

And that was when she noticed she had a second one.


Quest Received!

A Clash of Wills

Objective: Be able to claim at least a modicum of a victory over the Hunter-nin.

Reward: 1500 experience, consideration for Hunter-nin Corps

Bonus Objective: Land a clean hit against the Hunter-nin

Bonus Reward: 2000 experience, personal interest from Karatachi-san

Failure: Nothing, aside from the depressing realisation of your own inadequacies


She reread the quest a few times then let a smile slip onto her lips.

So even The Game wasn't above deliberately pushing her into difficult situations. That was fine, it worked to her advantage. Now that she was being forced to fight a Hunter-nin, at least she was also going to get something out of it. She wasn't yet sure exactly how experience gains worked, whether she had to kill enemy shinobi, something she was definitely not ready for, or whether she was going to have to do pretty much any quest to get the experience. Maybe she could get experience through doing exceptional actions like answering difficult questions, doing tough training, that sort of thing.

As it stood, there wasn't a war going on, but there were definitely grumblings of discontent growing. Kirigakure made no secret that they coveted the Land of Wave, an island not far from the shores of the Land of Fire, who ostensibly protected the island, if only for the exact reason that Kiri wanted it. It was the absolute perfect staging point for an assault on the mainland.

It wasn't as though just Kiri were looking for a conflict though. All five of the Great Shinobi Villages had reasons for wanting a war, mainly for territory expansion. Kiri, showing an amusing lack of tact in regards to the children they were training to be killers, didn't skimp out on the brutal honesty of what they were being sent into. They had no use for weaklings who couldn't stomach the thought of butchering a village of potential enemy shinobi.

So, if she wanted experience, right now the only reliable way she could get it would be from quests. A total of 3500 experience was up for grabs here, which could potentially level her up several times. The ice zone would definitely count as a modicum of victory, but landing a clean hit against an experienced Hunter-nin who would be on guard from having 30 academy students gunning for her? That was going to be nigh impossible.

If she managed to land an actual hit on Karatachi-san, then chances were it was because she allowed it to occur. Sora, while a little prideful, was not so foolish as to believe she would ever be able to outclass a Hunter-nin, nor that thirty academy students actually stood a chance, even dogpiling her. All she would have to do would be to use Suiton: Mizurappa and blast them all away. She would definitely have larger reserves from usage and training and be able to simply blast them all out of the arena easily enough.

There was even a chance she would do exactly that. Such a fast and overwhelming defeat would quickly ingrain the fact that they were outclassed into their minds and ensure they understood and respected the gap in power between themselves and the higher class of Shinobi that Kiri had available, emphasizing that they really were at the very bottom of the totem pole in terms of strength, experience, knowledge, and everything else.

Or maybe she would deliberately drag it out, individually defeating every single student and making it undeniable that they themselves were beaten. If that was the case, then her chance of scoring even a single hit would be slightly higher while she was distracted taking down another student, if she didn't decide that the Byakugan was a threat significant enough to make targeting her a priority. If that was the case then Sora could expect to be taken down immediately and harshly.

It was what she'd do after all.


Name: Sora Metami

Level: 1

Age: 12

Experience: 247/1000

To Next Level: 753

Title: Academy Student - 50% Experience Gain within Classroom

Health Points: 210 (100 Base HP + (Vitality x Strength)

Regeneration Rate: 7/minute (Health ÷ 30) (Severe or noticed injuries can be chosen to retain scars)

Chakra Points: 220 (100 Base CP + (Wisdom x Intelligence)

Regeneration Rate: 7.3* (Chakra ÷ 30)

Strength: 11 (Each point increases melee damage by 1%, adds 1 slot to inventory)

Vitality: 10 (Each point raises poison resistance by 0.1%, reduces need for sleep by 0.1%)

Agility: 12 (Each point increases top speed by 0.1m/s, increases weapon proficiency gain by 1%)

Wisdom: 10 (Each point decreases chakra cost for techniques by 0.1%)

Intelligence: 12 (Each point increases experience gain by 1%)

Luck: 10 (Each point increases the chance of something lucky happening by 0.01%, decreases the chance of something unlucky happening by 0.01%)