A.N: Mkay. So, kinda realized that my leveling system might be a little fucked if I continue with the doubled exp requirement for level up. Like, it'll take 204,800 EXP to level up at lv 12, and with how my exp gains work? I doubt Tatsuo would ever reach level 100 anytime before the war arc. Maybe, idk. So, here's what I'm going to do. I've decided to Cap the EXP requirement at it's current threshold of 51,200. I feel like that's a big enough number that he won't get OP too fast, but his growth won't stagnate and he won't inversely be underpowered for the challenges coming his way. Sound good?
Finding that entrance to the dungeon might have been more difficult than I thought. The notification did say it was 200 yards to the left of where I was, but that was just a general direction. It wasn't precisely 200 yards to the left, it was just in that general area. So I ended up having to search around for a bit before I finally found it. The entrance looked similar to heat waves in the sense that it was a bunch of ripples in the air, but there was some sort of green mist around the edges, forming the shape of an oval suspended midair. And above it was,
1st Tier Dungeon
Level range 8-12
Difficulty: Normal
Proceed?
Y/N
Yes.
The ripples suddenly ceased. Becoming concentrated until it was just a white void in between the bordering green swirly mist. Shrugging, I stepped through the portal and exited in a very spacious cave. Wooden beams struck up from the ground and into the ceiling, moss and other fungus covered the wooden beams and in some patches of the ground. All in all, it looked like an abandoned mine shaft.
Congratulations on finding your first dungeon!
As a reward, the system will give you a bit of information regarding this particular dungeon.
Neat.
This is the first dungeon of many, and as tradition between gamers, the first dungeon is a zombie dungeon!
As stated before, each dungeon has a reward at the end. The reward will appear in a chest once you have beaten the boss of the dungeon
Dungeons come with small quests that go alongside them, most amounting to defeating a certain number of mobs, but there will be a small minority of dungeons that are different. For instance, there are 3 cases of dungeons in the elemental nations that require you to perform an escort mission within the dungeon.
Speaking of which…
Zombie Dungeon Quest Received!
Objective 1: Kill every zombie [0/50]
Objective 2: Kill the Boss [0/1]
Rewards:
Objective 1: 1 Gacha token, +5 Stat points
Objective 2: Reward chest Key, +10 stat crystal
Have fun player!
So all I gotta do is kill things here? Well now, that's my specialty.
A sudden thought just occurred. System, does my Hero of Wave title apply here?
Hm.. while the dungeon itself is located on wave you're technically not in wave at the moment. However, Wave itself is a small nation and therefore the title wouldn't be worth much otherwise. We shall allow the title to apply to dungeons on wave as well.
Okay that's goo- wait, dungeons? So there's more than one on wave?
There are currently 4 dungeons on wave, 1 of which you are in now.
Well, ain't that something to look forward too?
Regardless, Equip hero of wave title.
Name: Tatsuo Kyodo
Class: Monk [10/100]
Title: The Hero of Wave
Level: 10 [19,850/51,200]
HP: 800 (1600)
CP: 1000 (2000)
CC: +40%
STR: 56 (112)
END: 40 (80)
DEX: 20 (40)
INT: 50 (100)
WIS: 25 (50)
LCK: 30 (60)
Ryo: 2,700,200
Stat Points: 0
Daddy likey these numbers~
Still, these numbers don't mean much if I can't even utilize my most valuable skills. I'm inside a god damned mine shaft, there's no way I can use my explosions without causing a cave in, killing everything in here including me. Luckily, I do believe I have a plan.
I've determined that regular attacks are my STR x 1.5, meaning right now I can deal 168 damage with each punch I deliver, that's increased by another 50% with the Unarmed Combat skill, bringing that up to 252 dmg. And I can boost that even further thanks to my Heavy Impact perk, giving me a total damage output of 264. These zombies can't be any tougher than Gato's band of thugs so a good 4-5 punches should bring them down. And that'll be even less with Bulk Up.
Time to cause some carnage.
I walked into the mine entrance and made my way down the winding pathways, everything looked the fucking same in this god forsaken place. But I eventually made my way into an open area about the size of a Tsunami's first floor, in this 'room' there appeared to be 8 Zombies all outfitted with ripped and torn miners clothing, some had helmets on with broken headlights, while only 2 still had a grip on their pickaxes.
General Observe
8 Zombies
Calculating average stats…
HP: 940
CP: 0
STR: 53
END: 47
DEX: 35
INT: 0
WIS: 0
LCK: 2
Thoughts about you: Wants to eat your brains
Thank you system, now activate Bulk Up
-400CP
STR and END x2!
Tatsuo Kyodo
HP: (3200)
CP: (1600)
STR: (224)
Excellent.
Before the zombies could do anything I sprinted towards the one closest to me and sucker punched it in the jaw, breaking it in the process. Before it could recover I grabbed it by the shoulders and drove my knee directly in it's throat, crushing it's rotted windpipe and separating their head from it's shoulders. I turned towards the next zombie as I ducked under it's overhead swing and delivered a powerful jab to it's armpit, severing it's right arm from the rest of it's body. I quickly backpedaled as the rest of the zombies swarmed where I just was. I bobbed and weaved between the attacks thrown at me. I got hit 4 times before I managed to escape the chaos, taking 258 damage in the process.
My eyes scanned the crowd of zombies as they tried to figure out where I went, I locked onto a zombie that had his back turned and sprinted at him. Halfway there I jumped into the air and sailed over to it, and once I reached the apex of my jump I prepared to cave the fuckers head in with a haymaker. The zombie never saw it coming, just as I had reached him I swung my arms down in a powerful arc and exploded his head like a watermelon. Capitalizing on my close proximity to the zombies, I twisted my body and landed on the ground in a crouched handstand, before I extended my legs outwards and kicked two zombies in the chest and sent them flying back.
I took a pickaxe swing to the back of my leg, I growled in pain as I pushed my hands off the ground and backflipped off the ground, wrapping my legs around the body of another zombie as I arced over them I yanked them forwards and slammed them into the ground, splattering their rotted flesh onto the floor as I landed in the middle of it. The two zombies I kicked earlier were already up and rushing towards me along with the other three from earlier. I ran towards them at full speed, and just as the two zombies I kicked reached me I raised my arms and close lined the both of them, killing them instantly. Continuing my charge, I crashed through the remaining three. I grabbed two of them zombies by their arms and swung my arms forward like I was clapping and slammed the two zombies into each other. They pretty much exploded when they crashed into each other.
The last zombie, the one with only one arm left from earlier, sneaked up behind me and bit deeply into my neck. Roaring in anger, I reached behind my and grabbed him by the head and ripped him off my neck and held him in front of me. I placed both my hands on the side of his head and popped it like a cherry.
I stood in the room and waited, and waited. System, where's my EXP notification?
All accumulated EXP is given when the dungeon is completed
Ah fuck, no insta heals for me just yet.
I sit down and get comfortable, Bulk Up won't last much longer and I need to heal the damage I took. So I sit in lotus position and activate Meditate for the first time.
10 minutes later I reopened my eyes and stood up, fully recovered and raring to go. I cracked my neck and jumped in place a bit, hyping myself up as I jogged back into the mineshaft maze.
(2 hours later)
This place is miserable. I've defeated the 50 zombies like I was supposed to, but after that I had no idea where to go, until now. I spent the last 45 minutes to and hour searching around, getting turned back around multiple times before I finally managed to navigate myself to what I can only assume is the boss room, given the giant iron doors that bar me from going further.
I raised my foot and kicked the doors full force. The iron doors burst off their hinges and flew inwards. What greeted me was a room the size of a school gymnasium. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all stone just like the rest of the dungeon, but the wooden beams were now made of solid steel. Oil lanterns adorned the walls and some of the support beams, casting a blue eerie glow around the room. I took a step inside, and as I did so the floor behind me rose up, blocking the room entrance. I was now locked in the room with whatever the boss was. Speaking of the boss, my attention was taken by the sounds of armored footsteps. Gazing back towards the center of the room, a zombie in samurai armor was walking towards me. Their eyes glowed a mystical blue behind their helmet as it slowly unsheathed it's serrated katana.
Observe
Meiyo the Protector
Class: Undead Samurai
Level: 20
HP: 3600
CP: 700
STR: 88
END: 180
DEX: 50
INT: 35
WIS: 30
LCK: 25
Thoughts about you: Must kill you in revenge for his fallen employers
Holy fuck, I thought the levels were between 8 and 12, yet this motherfucker is level 20?!
Bulk Up!
-400CP
STR and END x2!
Tatsuo Kyodo
HP: (3200)
CP: (1600)
STR: (224)
As soon as I used the skill, the undead samurai rushed towards me. Before I could move he was already in front of me, sword swinging towards my midsection. I leaned back as the blade passed above me, slicing off some strand hairs. I attempted to punch him in the stomach, but his armed hand grabbed my wrist before hurling me at one of the steel pillars. My back cracked against the beam as I coughed up spittle. Glaring at the approaching samurai I rushed him, and dropped to my knees and slid on the ground to avoid his attack and slammed my fist into his armored torso. The metal caved in from my punch, but left my fist was now stuck in this monster's stomach. Thinking quickly, I jumped into the air and placed my feet onto it's chest and yanked my hand out while pushing my feet downwards.
My hand was ripped free and Meiyo was hurled towards the ground, and upon impact caused a billow of dust to rise up around him. I stayed cautious and on guard as I landed. My eyes darting back and forth as I carefully listened to my surroundings to try and pick up any footsteps.
I heard him a second too late, he was behind me. I twisted my body sideways, and instead of being stabbed through the chest I instead got a nasty slash across the back. I roared in pain as I slammed my foot down and twisted my entire body, landing a strong roundhouse kick into the side of their head. The Samurai was launched backwards and tumbled on the ground a few feet away. Before he could get up I pounced on his back and delivered blow after blow, managing to land 8 hits before the monster threw me off his back and gradually drew himself back up. I rolled midair and managed to land crouched on the ground. I glanced at my HUD and laughed, standing up to full height I let out a bloodthirsty grin as I clenched my fists.
BULK UP
-400CP
STR and END x3!
Tatsuo Kyodo
HP: (2890/4800)
CP: (1400)
STR: (336)
I launched off the ground and ran towards the zombie at full speed, the zombie matching my dash with his own, sword drawn and prepped to strike. And we clashed as we met in the middle, bodies becoming a blur as we traded blow for blow. It ended up becoming a battle of endurance, him slashing at my body with me attempting to endure it as I punched and kicked him back. Eventually it became too much, I jumped back to gain some distance as I wearily glanced at my opponent. He looked beaten up pretty badly, if anything he looked like another good hit would do him in. Mustering up the rest of my strength I waited as the zombie tumbled his way over to me. And just as he was on top of me, sword raised to pierce my head from above, I flashed out a palm strike right to his face, stunning him, and I slammed my fist into his face with all of my remaining strength, caving his face in as the body was blown back and laid still on the ground. His body disappearing in whisps of ethereal smoke and fire until there was nothing but a rusted armor set and broken sword.
Zombie Dungeon Quest Completed!
[x]Objective 1: Kill every zombie [50/50]
[x]Objective 2: Kill the Boss [1/1]
Rewards:
Objective 1: 1 Gacha token, +5 Stat points
Objective 2: Reward chest Key, +10 stat crystal
Gacha Token added to inventory [1]
+10 stat crystal added to inventory [1]
Reward Chest Key added to inventory [1]
You have killed 50 Zombies and 1 Boss!
5 level 8's, 8 level 9's, 7 level 10's, 20 level 11's, 10 level 12's
Calculating EXP…
48240 EXP gained!
1 level 20 BOSS
Calculating EXP…
40,000 EXP gained!
Total EXP gained: 102,640!
Applying Battle Hungry Bonus…
Applying Jack of All Trades Bonus…
256,600 EXP gained!
You have leveled up x5!
Name: Tatsuo Kyodo
Class: Monk [15/100]
Title: The Hero of Wave
Level: 15 [20,450/51,200]
HP: 1000 (2000)
CP: 1100 (2200)
CC: +40%
STR: 66 (124)
END: 50 (100)
DEX: 20 (40)
INT: 55 (110)
WIS: 25 (50)
LCK: 30 (60)
Ryo: 2,700,200
Stat Points: 55
[Unarmed Combat] has leveled up x10!
Unarmed Combat [20/100]: The art of punching the shit out of everything. Unarmed attacks deal 100% more damage
You have obtained 50 END! Time to choose a Perk:
Strong Body: Your body has toughed up! Gain a 20% Damage reduction from attacks
Healthy Body: Your body is very healthy! Health is now END x 30
Healthy body, I choose healthy body.
Name: Tatsuo Kyodo
Class: Monk [15/100]
Title: The Hero of Wave
Level: 15 [20,450/51,200]
HP: 1500 (3000)
CP: 1100 (2200)
CC: +40%
STR: 66 (124)
END: 50 (100)
DEX: 20 (40)
INT: 55 (110)
WIS: 25 (50)
LCK: 30 (60)
Ryo: 2,700,200
Stat Points: 55
Now, allocate 30 Points into DEX, and the rest into WIS.
Name: Tatsuo Kyodo
Class: Monk [15/100]
Title: The Hero of Wave
Level: 15 [20,450/51,200]
HP: 1500 (3000)
CP: 1100 (2200)
CC: +40%
STR: 66 (124)
END: 50 (100)
DEX: 50 (100)
INT: 55 (110)
WIS: 50 (100)
LCK: 30 (60)
Ryo: 2,700,200
Stat Points: 0
You have reached 50 DEX! Time to choose a perk:
I am speed: You're a speedy boi! Move 50% faster
DOOOOOODGE: You're the dodging champ! You're reaction time is 50% faster
You have reached 50 WIS! Time to choose a perk:
Chakra Regen: You're chakra regenerates faster. Regen changed to 2(WIS)/Min
Inner peace: You're at peace with yourself. Leveling up Chakra natures becomes 20% easier.
Hmm, I choose… I am speed and Chakra Regen
As soon as I finish with my stat sheet a wooden chest appears in the center of the room, looking like a classic Zelda dungeon chest. I approached the chest and summoned my reward chest key from my inventory and opened the chest.
Reward Selection!
New Skill or UPGRADE
The fuck is UPGRADE?
UPGRADE does exactly what it sounds like. It upgrades something. Specifically, it upgrades a random Skill, Trait, Perk, or Title.
Then of course I'm going to choose Upgrade
UPGRADE selected!
Rolling…
Trait Upgrade selected!
Rolling…
Rolling…
Rolling…
Battle Hungry Selected!
Battle Hungry [+]: You crave for battle, any fight that brings about the death of your enemies is the best high you can receive.
You gain triple XP for battles fought to the death.
Well now, ain't that something? Now how the hell do I get out of here.
As soon as I think that I find myself glowing brightly before everything disappears in a white flash, and when I come to I'm back at the cave entrance. I gaze up at the sky and it appears that only 2-3 hours have passed since I went inside the dungeon, which is pretty much the same amount of time I spent in there, so time must be a 1 to 1 ratio.
A foul smell fills my nose, and I cringe. I look down at myself and see that I'm covered in Zombie residue. Well, I can't just come back to Tsunami's covered in all of this now can I? Better find a lake or something.
After wandering about for a bit I eventually found a lake to wash myself in, clothes too. Setting my clothes off to dry I came to the realization that this was the perfect opportunity to practice water walking. Leaf concentrating and Tree walking came super easy so surely this will to, right?
It didn't.
I spent 2 hours attempting to walk on the water. Continuous trials and errors that ended up with me just walking through the water or blasting off the water until finally I received the following notification.
Due to special actions you have been awarded the skill Water Walking Exercise!
Water Walking Exercise [1/20]: An advanced Chakra Control exercise developed by the Hidden Mist Village, which was later shared with the other hidden villages after the first ninja war. 1% CC. Completion of this skill allows access to Expert level Chakra control exercises. Cost = 10CP/Sec
I was frustrated. It took so long to get the technique down, and now my chakra was almost empty so I can't even practice the technique to completion either! That was a fucking pain. Whatever, guess it's time for some relaxation.
Swimming out a bit into the lake, I turned over until I was floating on my back, closed my eyes, and simply floated. It was…nice. Fish in the lake poked and prodded my body in curiosity before swimming away.
Oh, idea?
Biting my thumb till it drew blood, I lazily went through the hand signs before using the Summoning Justu on my chest, and out of the smoke came Jagakushii. She shook her head a little before stretching like a cat and looking around.
"Ne ne, Tatsuo, why are we in the middle of the water?"
"Maa, I was just relaxing and my brain was like 'Idea, let's get kushii here for a relax sesh' and I thought it was a great idea."
Jagakushii in response just nodded in agreement, and sprawled herself across my chest. I laid my hand across her back and scratched her back lightly, enjoying the rumblings that came from kushii as we floated in peace on the lake.
(Naruko)
It's been a couple of hours since Kakashi-sensei's warning about Tatsuo, and our start on Water Walking. It's honestly really frustrating! Sakura, like usual, got the exercise down really quickly. Kakashi said it was because she had the least among of chakra between the three of us, so I can reluctantly deal with that. But Sasuke learned it before I did, and he's acting so smug about it! Teasing and belittling my inability to grasp what exactly we're supposed to do. Sakura, like usual, sides with Sasuke and doesn't offer me any help.
Kakashi-sensei doesn't offer any help either, not because he doesn't want to, but I get the feeling that he just doesn't know how to help me. Having the fox in me has increased my Chakra levels to extremely high levels, at least that's what he told me privately. Stupid fox.
I ended up storming off from the bridge after Sasuke and Sakura became too much for me to handle. Tatsuo should still be in the woods, right? I'll just go to him. He's a super strong ninja isn't he, maybe he could help me?
I walked towards the woods where he entered from this morning and looked around, but I couldn't find him. 15 minutes of searching later and I found his clothes hanging on a tree branch in the distance. Walking forwards revealed a beautiful large lake. Low and behold, Tatsuo was floating in the middle of it with one of his summons resting on his chest. They both looked so peaceful, I shouldn't disturb them.
"Oh, Naruko? What are ya doing here?"
"Ah, sorry to bother you Tatsuo, I can leave if you want me to."
"Pff, nah you don't bother me Naruko. What's up? You seem a bit down."
Of course he noticed, he's a super strong ninja so his perception must be pretty high.
"Ah, well, I'm having a little problem getting this technique down. Kakashi-sensei says that it's because I have too much trouble thanks to my…uh, freaky deaky chakra as you called it. And I just can't get my chakra levels down enough to perform the technique!"
"That does sound like a problem. Hm, say, Naruko?"
"Yeah?"
"You mentioned earlier this morning during your recap of Zabuza that you made clones of yourself right?"
"Oh, you mean shadow clones? What about em?"
"Can't you just, make a bunch of clones and try to perform the technique after?"
It was such simple advice, yet my eyes widened all the same. Why didn't I think of that? Why didn't Kakashi think of that! Bad brain, now's not the time for that! Crossing my fingers, I performed my signature jutsu.
"Shadow Clone Justu!"
The clearing was filled to the brim with clones of myself, easily 300 or so. I could feel my chakra reserves dip down close to half. With that out of the way, I concentrated on emitting a constant stream of chakra in my feet before I took a tentative step onto the water. And then another, and another, and before long I made it 8 steps in before my concentration broke and I fell into the water. But that didn't matter, because I did it! I managed to water walk for the first time all thanks to Tatsuo's advice!
"I did it Tatsuo! I managed to water walk for the first time!"
Tatsuo lazily waved his raised fist in the air as he continued to float in the water.
"Great Job Naruko. Now, get your clones started on the training to."
"Why would I do that? They're just clones?"
My question had his head turning towards me, a confused expression resting on his face.
"What do you mean why? Shadow clones transfer their memories to the original after dispersing, so while they aren't useful for physical training, they're great for jutsu training/mastering."
"WHAT?!"
"I'm surprised you didn't know sooner, Kakashi should know right? One of his monikers is 'Kakashi of 1000 Justu,' it should stand to reason that he knows what the Shadow Clone Justu can do."
He should know shouldn't h- no, not the time for that right now Naruko. Focus on mastering Water Walking so you can rub it in that dumb bastards face that you mastered Water Walking before he did!
"All right ladies, you heard Tatsuo! Let's get to work on mastering Water Walking! Once one of you has made some progress, disperse so that the rest of us can further that progress!"
"YOSH!"
Pretty soon, all 300 of my shadow clones were hard at work water walking with me right along side them. Hours passed by, but eventually there were just 128 clones left and we could make it halfway across the lake. I had to disperse the rest of the clones early, my chakra was close to a quarter full and I didn't want to suffer from chakra exhaustion in the middle of the lake. But I should be able to get back to work soon! My chakra regenerates fairly quickly thanks to my tailed beast. Silver linings.
I looked out towards the lake where Tatsuo and his summon were floating, I'm pretty sure they fell asleep cause they've been floating out there not moving for a pretty long time. Getting off the ground, I decided to leave the two of them so they can have some alone time. Besides, I gotta complain to Kakashi-sensei about not telling me vital information about my awesome jutsu! And to one up Sasuke-teme, whichever comes first.
(Tatsuo)
+5 Affection with Naruko for helping her with a difficult jutsu (55/100)
Mm, that's nice.
I must have fallen asleep in the lake sometime after Naruko's clones were practicing the Water Walking Technique, cause I couldn't hear any of them anymore. Turning my head towards the shore, Naruko was nowhere to be seen. Yawning, I glanced down at my chest and noticed Jagakushii still sleep. Well, now that I've relaxed for a long while I should get to work on my own water walking training.
I started to lazily backstroke back towards shore, and once I reached shallow enough water I scooped up jagakushii in my arm and walked back the rest of the way. Setting her down gently underneath a tree, I walked back towards the shore. Time to grind.
(Kakashi)
It was late afternoon when Naruko came back to Tsunami's home. I don't know why she's here, I left her with Sasuke and Sakura by the bridge to practice water walking while I stayed with the clients for my protection shift. She locked eyes with me before power walking towards me.
"Kakashi-sensei! I got the hang of water walking!"
Well, that's a surprise. I expected her to take the rest of the week to get the hang of it with her chakra reserves. Regardless, I gave Naruko my patented eye smile.
"Congratulations Naruko, you must have worked very hard to get the hang of it so quickly."
"You're damn right I worked hard! I couldn't get it at first, but Tatsuo gave me a bit of advice and I managed to get it down no sweat!"
Tatsuo helped her?
"Oh? Why'd you go to Tatsuo and not ask your teammates?"
"Kakashi-sensei you know why! Sasuke barely talks to me other than to insult me and Sakura just bandwagons with him! Besides, you said Tatsuo was like this super strong ninja so I figured whatever advice he could give would be much better than whatever Sasuke or Sakura could have said."
That's…actually a good assumption on her part, I'm almost proud. Though I'll have to remind my other students about the importance of helping each other.
"And I was right! He understood that I had too much chakra and recommended that I make enough shadow clones to lower my chakra reserves and then try performing the Jutsu then!"
"That's some good advice there Naruko, good on you for going to a more experienced ninja for advice. It takes real character to seek out help when you know you can't accomplish something on your own."
"That's not the best part sensei! After I managed to get 8 steps off on my own Tatsuo told me that my shadow clones could transfer their memories when they – WAIT A SEC THAT'S RIGHT! Kakashi-sensei! How could you not tell me that about my signature jutsu!"
"…What did Tatsuo say, Naruko?"
"Oi don't dodge the question!"
"Naruko, answer me first and I'll tell you afterwards."
"Fine, fine. Like I said, Tatsuo told me to have my clones train Water Walking with me because he said that the shadow clones can transfer their memories when they dispel to the remaining clones and the jutsu caster, so it would speed up training for jutsu exponentially or something like that. Now tell me why you never told me!"
"Maa maa Naruko, I didn't tell you because most jonin can't make more 4 shadow clones. With the amount you could make, I was worried that you couldn't handle the information overload that 100+ clones could give you."
"Awww Kakashi-sensei I knew you cared about me! Sorry to leave you, but I gotta go brag to Sasuke-teme!"
Naruko ran back out the door, and only once she was out of sight did I let my face harden. How the hell does Tatsuo know the secret of the Shadow Clone Jutsu? That's a Hidden Leaf kinjutsu, clones sharing their memories with the caster shouldn't be known by anyone outside of the village. Which begs the question on how Tatsuo came to know such secret information. And if he knows the secrets about the Shadow Clone Jutsu….
Could Tatsuo know any other classified information of Konoha?
Name: Tatsuo Kyodo
Class: Monk [15/100]
Title: The Hero of Wave
Level: 15 [20,450/51,200]
HP: 1500 (3000)
CP: 1100 (2200)
CC: +39%
STR: 66 (124)
END: 50 (100)
DEX: 50 (100)
INT: 55 (110)
WIS: 50 (100)
LCK: 30 (60)
Ryo: 2,700,200
Stat Points: 0