The next day, I was back out roaming the streets of Konohagakure.
There was a slight breeze that occasionally swept through the village, which felt cool against my skin, and it was a nice contrast to the warm rays of sunlight beaming down on everything that it could possibly touch.
With a destination already in mind, I walked at a leisurely pace towards a store that seemed to have quite a diverse selection of clothing. At least, that's what I had noticed during my brief time exploring certain places within the village.
I really needed to upgrade my wardrobe. It was something that I realized after peering into my apparel at home, which mostly consisted of old and worn-out clothes that barely fit me anymore. That simply wouldn't do.
Eventually, I reached my destination.
It was a fairly large building, which had decently-sized windows near the entrance that allowed you to peer inside, and I thought it was a pretty nice touch considering it didn't really have the outward appearance of a clothing store. However, perhaps that's why they decided to use uniquely bright colors for the building's exterior design to attract people. The concept made sense, oddly enough.
Entering the premises, my arrival caused a melodious ringing sound to travel throughout the inside of the building, which alerted a bearded man standing at a reception desk off to the side. He looked to be around his late-twenties or early-thirties, a friendly smile permanently drawn onto his face.
"Good evening, sir! Welcome to Sublime Garments, which is just the place for you to acquire high-quality threads. Is there anything that I can help you with today?" He approached me, quite energetically at that, while also politely offering a hand for me to shake. "My name is Hiroshi Toyonao, by the way."
I reciprocated the action, quietly humming to myself in thought.
Taking a curious look around at everything within my general vicinity, I noticed that there were actually a few mannequins showcasing certain outfits, which I sort of found strange considering this world was very different compared to the one that I had originally come from. However, it appeared that some things were just universal, I guess.
"Well, to be honest, I'm just searching for a couple outfits to buy. Most of what I already have is a little too small for me now." I chuckled, sheepishly rubbing the back of my neck. "Not to mention, I've been attending the academy for the past two years, and I would really like it if my clothes lasted for more than just a few instances of physical training."
The man nodded his head, clearly understanding the implications of my words, which must have been due to previous interactions with people that had decided on taking up the life of a shinobi. I wondered to myself internally, between the civilian and ninja side, who visited this store the most.
It was probably civilians that were the higher amount, huh? That seemed logical. If that was actually true, however, did it mean that there was also clothing shops located around the village purely tailored for those that were shinobi? Either that, or it could be some kind of delivery service, which allowed them to acquire new gear whenever their previous equipment was damaged from a mission or something.
Hiroshi walked further into the store, glancing at a few items along the way, and I couldn't help but do the same considering so much of it had piqued my interest.
This world had a completely different taste in fashion, after all.
Not to mention, it was obviously set in a different time period as well, so certain things were going to be very unfamiliar to me.
In my previous life, my father was of African descent while my mother had Japanese roots, which at least made certain aspects of the culture around here feel somewhat nostalgic.
It brought a smile to my face as I remembered the few times that all three of us would go to visit my mother's parents located on the other side of the world, who had always seemed like very loving individuals every time we met.
"So, do you have any specific preferences?" Hiroshi asked, glancing back at me in curiosity. When he noticed the smile on my face, his upturned lips curved even more so, but I wasn't really sure how he had interpreted the gesture aside from that. I probably just seemed like an innocent kid to the guy, so I didn't really dwell on it for too long either.
I quietly hummed to myself once more, giving the man's question some thought. However, I didn't really have that many specifications in mind, but I could at least add something just for my own sake.
"Erm- My favorite color is probably red..." I murmured, awkwardly watching as the man set a shirt that he had been holding back down onto a nearby rack. He glanced at me, raising an eyebrow.
"Probably?"
"Well, I like blue nearly just as much." I chuckled. "However, considering it's somewhat difficult to choose between the two, I'll usually just say that my favorite color is purple. It's the result of both of them mixing together, after all. Not to mention, it works out for me since I like that color too."
After a moment of silence, the man let out an amused chuckle, sharing some of the laughter with me. "I'd say it's quite fitting, all things considered."
It was a remark that rang true when I glanced at a full body mirror located inside of a dressing room that I eventually walked inside, along with a handful of clothes that had been picked out for me to try on.
Running a hand through my short and spiky blue locks, I stared at a pair of red eyes through the mirror, which didn't end up blinking until I did.
'This is crazy. I still can't decide whether or not my reincarnation is just some kind of twisted joke. The fact that I had been reborn into the body of the lancer himself, Cú Chulainn, just made my current situation feel even more ridiculous than it already was. If that was even possible, at least, which seemed to be apparent.'
There wasn't much that I could do about it, however, and so I was simply forced to just go with the flow as I began trying on a few pieces of clothing within my dressing room.
• • •
Making my way out of the clothing store after saying goodbye to Mr. Toyonao, I continued on with my journey throughout the streets of the lively village.
There were other kids running around, occasionally engaging in friendly banter with their groups of friends. Meanwhile, most of the older folk were either oblivious to what was going on around them, or had simply been rendered amused by those same youngsters playfully bouncing around like child-sized energizer bunnies.
Aside from that, pretty much everyone just casually went through the motions that was their day-to-day existences, which was satisfying enough to them for it to be a fulfilling life. Now, that was a sentiment that I truly couldn't blame them for.
It was a whole lot better than some kind of war breaking out across the elemental nations, after all.
My internal musings were abruptly cut short, however, as I realized that an interesting spectacle was occurring not too far away from where I was standing.
"Get back here, you pervert!" A notably feminine voice yelled out, venting her frustrations with curses at a man that had apparently been caught peeking within a nearby hot spring, and was now trying to escape the clutches of death.
At least, that's what it looked like from the sidelines.
The woman's face had turned beet red, clearly embarrassed by the entire altercation, but that seemed to be overwhelmed by her blinding fury. Her clothes seemed to have been haphazardly thrown on as well, which was most likely due to their current chase throughout the village.
What caused my brain to nearly stop working, however, was the fact that her peeping tom turned out to be Jiraiya of the Sannin.
This time around, when the sound of a notification went off that only I could hear, I had actually expected it to happen. Once I saw that there was a question mark alongside another reward, however, it really caught my attention.
With that, quickly stowing away my bags into my inventory when nobody was looking, I took off running after the man.
• • •
I quietly trailed behind the gallant Jiraiya, or whatever he had called himself back in the anime, and knew that it wouldn't last for very long.
Comparing my current level to him, I might as well have been trying to gauge my own strength to Hashirama Senju. The fact that I was going to be noticed within the next few seconds just seemed like the most transparent outcome.
That is, if I hadn't already been noticed by now, at least.
However, the whole point of trying an inconspicuous approach wasn't to get the drop on him or anything. It was for the creation of a new skill, which would no doubt prove extremely useful within the near-future.
[New Skill Acquired: Stealth] - [Level 1]
[Description: When this skill is used, it increases the effectiveness of concealing your physical presence by 1%.]
Once Jiraiya reached the equivalent of an intersection, he stopped walking, seemingly for no reason as well. When I saw that, however, I knew that to not be the case.
I copied his actions, tucking both hands into my pockets. My eyes were practically glued to the man's back until his head turned ever-so-slightly in my direction, an amused smile etched into his face.
"You're not even going to try, huh?" Jiraiya murmured, his tone of voice clearly indicating that he had known of my presence from the very beginning.
I shook my head in the negative, our eyes meeting at the same exact moment.
"That would be a waste of time. I'm not stupid, or at least I wouldn't consider myself to be that dense."
He chuckled in response, the modicum of tense atmosphere quickly dissipating after that. I hadn't even really noticed it until the end, which felt a bit odd in hindsight.
Once he gestured for me to come closer, which I did after a moment of hesitation, he began speaking once more as we turned a right corner.
"So, are you going to introduce yourself, or did you just want to follow me around for the rest of the day?" Jiraiya quipped, his eyes occasionally focusing on the figure of an attractive woman passing by.
I couldn't really blame him, which was because I had been doing the exact same thing. The man's question, however, pulled me out of my internal thoughts as I looked up at him with a deadpan stare.
He grinned right back at me in response, most likely catching where my line of sight had just been as well. Before he could throw out another joke, I rolled my eyes and focused my attention back onto the dirt path ahead of us, already in the process of giving my reply.
"My name is Jiten Akuji." I said, following Jiraiya as he veered off in the direction of what appeared to be an empty training ground. Luckily, he didn't bother trying to push the topic of his perversions onto me.
It wasn't like I was a prude or anything, not by any stretch of the imagination, but this was literally our first meeting with one another. Perhaps we could talk about women at a later date, if whatever this was actually ended up turning into some kind of friendship, but my mentality wasn't on that type of timing at this stage of my reincarnation.
My overall growth as an academy student came first at the moment, or to be more specific, I just really needed to put my focus into developing my currently atrocious physical capabilities until they were at least near the level that would allow me to be somewhat of a decent genin once I graduated.
After we walked just a little bit further into the training ground, Jiraiya casually leaned his back against a tree before sliding down into a comfortable sitting position, unconsciously resting his large scroll next to one of his legs. He motioned for me to sit down as well, which I did a second later.
"My name is Jiraiya," The white-haired shinobi looked at me with a grin full of confidence, at least before he diverted his attention towards a different task, which was to apparently search for an unknown item hidden within his clothes. "The Hokage of this beautiful village."
"You probably knew that already, however."
My brain momentarily shut off as soon as he said that, the power immediately going out before the backup generator luckily brought everything back to life.
Now, to rephrase it...
I nearly had a fucking stroke.
That brief lapse of awareness, at least when it came to my reaction pertaining to his statement, unintentionally saved my ass just enough time to hastily throw up what was supposed to be a mask of indifference. While it might not have come out exactly how I wanted it to, either my attempt was good enough to only get a mild question in response, or the man really just didn't give a fuck.
"Are you okay?" He chuckled, now holding a smoking pipe that immediately gave me a sense of deja-vu. "...What the hell's wrong with your face? It looks like you're trying not to piss yourself right now."
In my search of a convincing reply, I decided to just use the first thing that came to mind. To be honest, I was really just depending on the fact that I hadn't even graduated from the academy yet, which would hopefully save my ass from any real suspicion. I mean, the excuse felt like it would ring true for a whole lot of younger individuals, so I didn't really see the problem in acting the same way.
I was going to act like a fan of sorts.
"Erm- Well, I've actually been holding it in for a while now. It's just that, when I saw you running through the village and everything, I got excited at having finally laid my eyes on the Hokage. I actually sort of forgot about it until now..." I trailed off, hastily rising from the ground in order to walk a fair distance away from the man, aiming my front towards a random tree.
The fact that I actually started feeling the need to piss once I left the clothes store turned out to be a very good thing, it seems.
A round of intense laughter broke out of the silence that had permeated the training ground after I rose up from the grass, which sent a feeling of relief throughout my body. However, I still didn't really feel out of the woods just yet, and I hadn't expected to.
As long as I just stayed true to myself, though, I wasn't going to feel all that worried about it.
Jiraiya was a good person, at least the one that I had grown familiar with in my past life. I could only hope that this alternate version of the man kept that same aspect within his being.
The short period where I emptied my bladder also gave me the chance to calm myself down, a myriad of thoughts running rampant through my brain. However, I simply decided to try keeping in mind that this was clearly a very different portrayal of the world that birthed Naruto, and so I returned to Jiraiya's side with a much calmer frame of mind.
Jiraiya was letting out the remnants of his amusement in the form of a hearty chuckle before his eyes landed on me once again, his lips slightly curving upward as he took a pull from the pipe that was hanging on the side of his mouth.
"You're currently attending the academy, is that right?"
"Yeah, I plan on joining the ranks." I confirmed without any hesitation, resting my back against the base of a nearby tree. Jiraiya immediately paused at my words.
His dark eyes lowered to the ground as a drab silence infiltrated our previously laidback conversation, which was quickly disguised as the man simply inhaling once more from his pipe, and I was pretty sure it contained the equivalent of tobacco.
The fact that I worded it the way I did essentially gave the man all the information he needed to know. That wasn't how a naïve academy student, or just a child in general, would normally express themselves when talking about becoming a shinobi, after all.
They were usually a lot more hyper-focused on all of the cool and powerful techniques that they could learn within the near-future, or it at least resembled something like that.
With one last glance at my eyes, most likely searching for something, Jiraiya eventually let out a quiet hum of acknowledgement. His response was said in a monotone-like pitch, which was quite the contrast from how he had just been smiling and laughing at my expense.
"Gotcha." The white-haired Hokage intoned, his mood having clearly dropped down to a significant degree. After a brief period of silence, he spoke up again. "Reason?"
"You mean aside from becoming strong enough to survive anything that's thrown my way?" I questioned, getting a slow nod in return. Jiraiya seemed to be taking my words seriously, so I figured that actually speaking the truth would work in my favor this time around.
"Well, this village is my home." I started off, letting out an amused chuckle. "If a war breaks out and we somehow end up losing, I'm probably not going to have a comfortable bed to sleep on anymore, am I?"
My reasoning for becoming a shinobi was pretty damn boring, but something like that didn't always need to turn into a bold proclamation of spreading peace across the elemental nations. I could never really relate to Naruto in that regard, anyway.
While living in a peaceful world sounds great, yes, concepts like that never really crossed my mind that much, if ever. Perhaps I'm not that good of a person and just don't really care about other people, but at the same time, I've been able to empathize with certain individuals through the ability to relate with their problems.
In my previous life, there had never been peace. Dissension had always been a constant in that world and it probably never stopped, even after I passed away, so the thought of potentially spreading some kind of friendship power across the planet and then just magically never experiencing any sort of conflict...
Honestly, something like that didn't even sound possible to begin with, or perhaps that's just because I haven't gone through it yet. I genuinely have no clue.
What has always felt a lot more realistic is the possibility of living in a world where everyone can at least respect and be cordial among one another before anything else happens. A simple disagreement between colliding ideologies, or even a petty fist fight, all of that is completely fine. People have emotions and functioning brains for a reason.
However, the whole point is to be able to put your pride to the side and shake hands with that same exact person you had a scuffle with afterwards. To admit mistakes and accept self-accountability without resorting to something like a fucking war, which would only spread more negativity and unnecessary death when all of it could've just been avoided by deciding to treat everyone else the same way that you want to be treated.
To achieve even a modicum of peace, you don't have to be friends with every-fucking-body, you just need to be a decent human being and treat people with respect. It's unfortunate that certain individuals don't like that idea, so decide not to follow it by acting like pieces of shit at every opportunity that's presented to them.
When it comes to me, personally, I just can't really see myself declaring to spread peace across the world like Naruto.
That's because I honestly don't care about what ends up happening to the planet, or at least that had been my thought process back in my previous life, but that was mostly due to the fact that I knew it would never happen while I was still alive. The only thing I really cared about was my family, which also included the tight circle of friends that I surrounded myself with.
It was that same mentality that I planned on utilizing within this world as well.
However, to be honest, my approach would really end up becoming dependent on the system. This world was obviously much different than the one in my previous existence and I didn't want to miss the opportunity of exploiting this second chance given to me at life.
Only time would tell though.
My eyes were locked onto Jiraiya's, who calmly sat across from me while continuing to puff smoke from his pipe. For a brief moment, I wondered if Hiruzen had given his white-haired student the one that he used all the time, or if it was some kind of duplicate.
If my memory wasn't failing me, the pipe that Jiraiya was using looked nearly identical to Hiruzen's, but I could be wrong.
Eventually, Jiraiya's voice cut through the silence, and his next question promptly threw me off-guard. "How about we make a deal, kid?"
With a confused tilt of my head, I raised an eyebrow at the man in curiosity. He took that as his cue to go on.
"If you graduate at the top of your class, I'll give you a... reward of sorts to assist you on your journey of becoming stronger. For the sake of, like you said, being able to survive anything that's thrown your way." He coughed, momentarily pausing in order to regain his composure. "It will be given to you once I get word of your acceptance as a graduate."
My eyes widened at the offer, clearly aware that such a thing would be seen as favoritism between students if it ever reached the public. Before I could say anything, however, the Hokage made sure to clarify what was required of me.
"Remember, you will only receive this gift if you surpass everyone else within your age-group at the academy, as well as pass with flying colors to boot." Jiraiya finished, taking another puff of his tobacco before finally stowing it away within his clothes. I eagerly nodded, a feeling of excitement swelling up inside of me.
The man laughed at my sudden change in demeanor, picking himself up off the ground as he grabbed the large scroll sitting next to him before placing it on his back. I rose up as well, noticing that not much time had really passed during our conversation. Our small talk honestly felt like it took longer than it actually did.
"I've got to get back to work. I am the Hokage, after all." Jiraiya sighed, but didn't look too bothered by that fact. If anything, he seemed to be proud of himself for reaching such a milestone in his life.
Nodding in resignation, I fully understood what he meant by that. "I bet that paperwork is a bitch." I laughed, casually wiping the dirt off of my shorts. Jiraiya snorted in amusement at my remark, which appeared to ring true as he didn't even bother denying it.
"I'll see you around, kid." With that, he seemed to body flicker away, his presence long gone from where he had just been standing a couple feet away from me.
...That was a very interesting experience.
• • •
I sat on the edge of a riverbank, a slight breeze causing my body to relax even further as the clear water passed me by. My eyes, however, were focused on the system floating in front of my face.
It seems like my brief talk with Jiraiya got me a few notifications, to say the least.
[Quest Completed!]
[Quest Name: Have An Encounter With Jiraiya!]
[Description: I think it's pretty obvious what the name of the quest entails.]
[Rewards: x2 New Skills, x4 Levels to Stealth]
This was the quest that popped up after I saw Jiraiya running away from a very angry woman.
Huh.
Four levels to my new stealth skill had been the mystery reward, which seemed to imply for the second time that the system could predict what might happen before it even did in the first place.
Either it was that, or perhaps it had originally planned on giving me a skill relating to stealth, but simply adjusted the mystery reward once I ended up doing it earlier than expected. I don't know, nor do I really care to begin with.
Now, let me see those new skills...
[New Skill Acquired: Calligraphy] - [Level 1]
[Description: The art of beautiful handwriting, words personified by the beauty of their illustration. 1%.]
Yeah, that actually made a lot of sense.
Jiraiya was supposedly a master of seals, or at least seemed like one considering his previous acquaintances with Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki, and most likely even Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The last one had to have been decent with the art, at least. With a name like The Professor, it would've felt quite strange if he wasn't.
[New Skill Acquired: Basic Taijutsu] - [Level 1]
[Description: The art of close-quarters combat, mainly while empty-handed in a fight against your opponent. 1%.]
Perfect timing, really. I definitely planned on leveling up that skill later.
'Status.'
[Name: Jiten Akuji]
[Title: Academy Student]
[Chakra Reserves: 60/60]
[Strength: 6]
[Endurance: 9]
[Dexterity: 4]
[Charisma: 10]
[Perception: 7]
[Chakra: 6]
'Oh?' I thought to myself, raising an eyebrow at the screen floating in front of me. Endurance and Dexterity had apparently increased by a single point for some reason. That was odd.
I was just going to assume that it came from chasing after Jiraiya.
Did weaving through a crowd of people count as training my reaction time or something? Either that, or maybe it was from trying to push myself to run faster than what I was capable of.
It was a shame that the system wasn't very elaborative whenever it came to stuff like that. A tutorial or something would really help me out, but whatever.
My eyes widened as I found another notification that was related to one of my stats. However, it was one that I definitely wasn't going to complain about.
[Charisma Milestone Reached!]
[Randomizing Reward...]
[New Perk Acquired: Beloved Pupil]
[Description: This passively increases the rate at which you improve with a mentor-like figure by 25%.]
That's going to be very nice when the leveling of skills begins to slow down. Not to mention, it looks like I can essentially stack it on top of my current title.
[Title: Academy Student]
[Description: This passively increases the rate at which you improve while on academy grounds by 5%.]
Honestly, it was a shit title, but I don't think it really matters since everything is going to level up pretty damn fast anyway. I was basically a noob at the moment.
Breathing out a sigh, I realized that there was one more notification left to check. It appeared to be a quest, which confused me, but that quickly turned into panic once I read through the description.
[Quest Name: Under A Watchful Eye]
[Description: The brief interaction you had with Jiraiya, also known as the fifth Hokage of Konohagakure, has subsequently placed you on Danzō Shimura's radar. Perhaps you could give the man a reason to indoctrinate another child within the ranks of his secret organization by graduating at the top of your class, or if you're feeling particularly rebellious, you could just say fuck it and not go that route. It's completely up to you though. What's the worst that could happen?]
'What the hell kind of description is that?!' I yelled inside of my head, currently feeling a slight urge to shit my pants right about now. 'God-fucking-damnit.'
I just can't seem to catch a break.
• • •
[Swiftness has gone up a level!]
"Oh, it's you!" A clearly feminine voice suddenly reached my ears, abruptly pulling me from my troubled mind. I had just left the riverbank and was still thinking about the possibility of Danzō's interference within my life.
Due to the fact that I had been running through the streets of the village without really paying attention to my surroundings, I ended up basically tackling the girl to the ground, unfortunately incapable of stopping my built-up momentum in time.
"Kyaa!" She yelled in surprise, not expecting such an enthusiastic greeting.
However, I did have enough time to switch our positions in mid-air before we hit the dirt, which allowed me to at least cushion the poor girl's landing and take the brunt of the damage.
"Oof!" I exclaimed, my back roughly impacting the ground. I tried my best to hold back a hiss of pain as I felt my skin tear against the rocky dirt, but the grimace stuck on my face probably told it all.
I could feel the girl's warmth pushed up against my body, her pink locks splayed across my chest, and that was what confirmed her identity once my eyes opened again after a few seconds passed with me trying to regain my bearings.
However, there was an issue.
It was only after Sakura eventually picked her head up to look at me, bleary-eyed and confused, that I realized where my hands had been placed during the midst of our fall. My left hand was wrapped around her midsection, keeping her secure and close to my body, but...
My other hand, however, was currently grasping a handful of something that felt very soft. Instinctually, I gave the object a light squeeze, which only confirmed what I already knew to be the case as Sakura let out an embarrassed squeak.
It was her butt, alright.
Look, man, they've got a mind of their own-
No, no, I should take accountability for my actions...
I meant to grab her leg, like, in the thigh region? Wait, no-
Erm... it was an accident.
'Would she honestly believe that?' I thought to myself, genuinely unsure how my hand got there in the first place.
As a matter of fact, I was still puzzled as to how my life even got to the point where I would be grabbing the ass of Sakura Haruno of all people.
My life's a fucking mess, that was for sure.
[New Title Acquired: Closet Pervert]
[Description: Increases the rate at which you improve when it comes to sexual-related abilities by 50%. There is also a slightly higher chance that an erotic scenario might randomly occur during an interaction with the opposite gender.]
God-fucking-damnit.
— POV Switch —
Sakura felt her face quickly heat up, the hand currently resting against her butt momentarily switching to a firm grip, which unintentionally caused the pink-haired girl to lose control of herself.
The noise that was released from her mouth made Sakura want to die. Not literally, of course, but she just felt so embarrassed in her position that it was difficult to even do anything as a result.
She wanted to dig herself into a hole and stay there for a long time, completely out of sight from any sort of attention that might possibly be directed her way.
The young Haruno had always somewhat resembled the shy, quiet girl type. For her entire life as well, she's been picked on for it, and even both of her parents have pointed out how naturally submissive the girl seems to be.
Not only that, but the current situation just further amplified those innate qualities, and the whole thing honestly felt a little overwhelming to deal with.
Sakura was genuinely unsure on how to react, and also felt hesitant on slapping the boy trapped underneath her just in case it was an honest mistake.
The fact that they've been stuck in an eye-lock for a while now didn't make the situation any less awkward, that was for sure.
Jiten was the first one to speak.
"Are you okay?" He asked, his voice noticeably strained, but she couldn't tell if that was from her weight or a potential injury.
The possibility of the latter caused her frame of mind to near-instantly switch as she spoke with concern laced in her voice. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine, but what about you?"
He tried to move his right arm, but she quickly noticed the grimace that had been stuck on his face beginning to intensify, which subsequently elevated her worries.
However, for just a moment, the embarrassment returned when something eventually dawned on her. The arm that Jiten tried moving, but ended up deciding not to out of pain-
It was attached to the hand that still hadn't left her butt.
Jiten also appeared to come to this realization, apologetically releasing his grip on her backside, which they both seemed to wordlessly agree that they weren't going to talk about. Not in the moment, at least.
She assisted him in standing back up before gently leading the boy towards the hospital. Those medics should be able to fix him up without too much trouble.
— POV Switch —
"...Once again, I'm sorry for not paying attention." I said for what felt like the hundredth time, which Sakura waved away with a pleasant smile on her face.
"Don't worry about it, Jiten. Honestly, I wasn't really paying attention back there either. I just remember noticing a shadow out of the corner of my eye before realizing that the person it was attached to looked familiar." She giggled, unconsciously shifting on her feet. "I wasn't really doing all that much today, anyway, so it's not like anything bad came from it. Neither one of us are perfect."
I slowly nodded, eventually coming to accept it. Offering a fist bump just like I did at the academy, Sakura giggled once more as she reciprocated the friendly gesture.
"No hard feelings then."
It was a mutual agreement, further accentuated with a nod of her head in confirmation. That's when the thought of my quest, which essentially revolved around her, suddenly came to the forefront of my mind.
Subsequently, I called upon the screen to manifest in front of me, more so for the sake of a self-reminder. It was an immediate reaction as well.
[Quest Name: An Insecure Bookworm!]
[Description: Sakura Haruno is a young girl full of naivety and self-doubt, which could have lasting consequences out in the field if she doesn't change. Be her life-altering catalyst.]
[Rewards: ?, ?, ?]
Ah, right.
The description still felt slightly confusing to me, but I was able to understand the gist of it, which was that I would be deviating from the canon storyline.
Well, in the sense that I would be changing a fundamental part of Sakura's original characterization if I wanted to complete the quest, at least.
However, I also knew that I wasn't obligated to go through with it, which felt pretty nice all things considered. It was like the system wasn't forcing me to really do anything, at least not for subjects like this, and I honestly appreciated it.
Glancing at the sky, I realized that there were still a few hours available for me to spend some time with the pink-haired girl, so I quickly came up with a plan before turning back to Sakura.
It would probably be best if I just eased my way into the role of her friend at first, especially if I wanted to avoid any semblance of trying to force it, which is something that I didn't want to happen.
Not to mention, I had already been planning on at least making myself relatively acquainted with the rest of the group, more so just for my own personal sake. In all honesty, it simply felt like a mandatory path to take.
I had been reincarnated into the world of Naruto, after all, so I felt like it would be seen as pretty understandable that I would have certain interests. However, as I opened my mouth to speak once more, there were two words that stood out within my mind.
Fuck canon.
My story has been placed in two different communities. That's pretty cool. :)