Home at Last…right?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…Yet

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Chakra Beast/Boss/Summon"

(AN: Authors Note)

(Side thought)

'Game'

"Jutsu"

Emphasis

Last Time: As soon as he finished speaking, I saw Sarutobi finish connecting the dots to reveal an ugly picture, if the scowl on his face was anything to go by.

"I see. Inu, can you fetch the orphanage matron and take her to T&I please? Oh, and please tell Anko and Ibiki to give her the special treatment, will you?" Receiving a nod, the figure vanished into a swirl of leaves not even a moment later. "Now then children, why don't you two take a seat while I get something ready, alright?" We nodded, taking a seat on the couch "Excellent. Now don't worry, this shouldn't take too long."

Liar

Chapter Three:

Liar

It took him over six. Hours. Since he said that and the paperwork still wasn't done! That wasn't soon at all! And Naruto, ever the energetic one, spent most of it running around the office looking at what he deemed as 'cool', or watching the Hokage work. Though there was a close call where Naruto almost fell out of the window, with one of the hidden anbu quickly catching him. Though this had the unintentional side effect of Naruto jumping out of the window a few more times before he was tied up and sat next me on the couch, where he was still pouting.

I, on the other hand, was looking at one of the most recent additions to my abilities, this one from my Wis reaching 100.

Perk: Magic Generator

Some people are born with greater, more efficient minds than others. This allows the generation and collection of Hp, Mp, and Cp to exceed that of others.

Health, Mana, and Chakra regeneration is increased by 50%

Honestly? It was pretty overpowered for my level, but I'm not going to complain. It'll make any fights I get into easier, that's for sure.

Closing the screen, I began to look around the room. There wasn't too much in here, sadly. Other than the paperwork and some books there were only a few potted plants here and there. Looking around some more, I was startled by a window popping up in front of me.

Due to repeated actions, Skill: Observe has been created!

'Observe'

Level- 1 0/100

One of the most basic and important skills of The Gamer, Observe allows you to see a detailed description of anything this skill is used on, with the amount of detail depending on the level of the skill.

Reading the skill, I had to fight to keep a grin off my face as I finally had something productive to do. Which is good, considering that the Hokage looks like he still has a few hours of paperwork to do.

So, using my new skill, I began observing everything in the room, not bothering to read the descriptions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three hours…

It had been three hours, since I had gotten Observe, and I had looked at everything in the room, raising it to level 13. I now knew more about those freaking plants than my own body! Though that's not too impressive, so I guess that's a bad example, but still! The only thing even slightly interesting that happened was an anbu coming in to talk to the old man. Not that we could hear him, though he seemed pretty pissed about whatever it was.

Just as I was about to try to jump out the window myself, the Hokage shifted, catching my eye as I watched him put the last of the papers into the pile.

'Finally' I mentally shouted in joy, my previous annoyance forgotten

"Sorry about the wait, sadly my strength is on the field, not the office." He chuckled to himself as he walked out the door, gesturing for us to follow

On our way out of the building, I saw a few glares, but not nearly as many as I thought there'd be. In fact, a few of the shinobi even smiled in our direction, the exact opposite of the civilian's sentiment towards us.

Though as soon as we exited the building, the glares were back full force, barely deterred by the Hokage's presence. Though I did get a new skill from it, so it wasn't all bad.

'Killing Intent'

Level- 1 0/100

This skill allows you to both sense and produce Killing Intent, or 'KI'. This is useful for sensing those who mean you harm, or by stunning enemies with high enough levels of killing intent.

Range: 50ft

Though the fact that it was already at level 16 from the 20 minute walk to the building was pretty concerning…

Speaking of, the building was a rather large structure, being around four stories tall. It, like many of the other buildings, was a dull tan color with a red roof. It was pretty run down looking as well, with nearly all of the lower windows covered in moss and algae, and several patches of dead grass in spots that looked like they used to have flowers. There were vines crawling up the side of the walls, and even several dead trees in the, surprisingly large, yard. But thankfully nothing a bit of hard work and elbow grease, or Telekinesis, couldn't handle.

Walking inside of the building, we were met with a cloud of dust from the previously undisturbed ground, causing Naruto to sneeze. Much to mine and Hiruzens amusement.

Leading us further into the building, an old apartment building, he handed us each two rings of keys before speaking.

"Now then, what I'm about to say might be a tad overwhelming, so please, sit." We did as instructed, sitting on a nearby chair before he resumed speaking

"Earlier today, I had the anbu who brought you to me take the Matron of the orphanage into custody for questioning." He paused to let that sink in, "What we discovered from her was rather… unsettling. For anyone, to treat a child like you were treated is unforgiveable, but even more so for someone in her position. I assure you she will be punished accordingly.

However, that won't erase what she's done. I don't think anything ever will, but I will do my best. Of that, I promise you." He gave us another moment to let that sink in. Which was good, because Naruto looked like his eyes were about to fall out of his head any moment now

"Therefore, as a start I've gone ahead and signed this building in your name, with both water and electricity being provided by the village, and a monthly stipend for food and supplies." As he said this, he pulled out a fairly large envelope and handed it to me.

Naruto, not able to speak, merely rushed forward and hugged the man, crying tears of joy.

Smiling at the young boy, he merely pat him on the back as he settled down. Once he stopped crying, he pulled back with a large grin on his face as he sat back down.

"Thank you JiJi!"

"Of course, Naruto. It's the least I could do after all you've gone through."

After a few more minutes of talking, Hiruzen had to leave, telling us that he would be back in a few days, and the he had a team come and clean one of the apartments, and to stock the fridge for us, though we would have to clean the rest ourselves.

Since it was already so late, we decided to start cleaning tomorrow, eating and taking long showers each. We had spent the month in the forest, after all. And the cold shower was heavenly. I even decided to go to sleep for once! I hadn't done that in…Actually, I don't think I've slept since I got here…huh. That's probably not healthy, even with Gamers Mind… Oh well, nothing to do about it now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Next Morning~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up, it took me a moment to get over the unfamiliar sensation, the grogginess clouding my thoughts for a few moments before it vanished, the memories of the previous day hitting me full force.

We had a house…

Not just an apartment, or a small room, but a full blown, massive house/apartment building! And we had to clean it…

Shit…

'Oh well, better get to work' I thought to myself, walking into the kitchen to see Naruto already up, eating a bowl of cereal. Seeing me walk in, he gave me a bright grin before he went back to eating his cereal.

Waiting for him to finish, I started getting a few supplies for cleaning. Said supplies consisting of trash bags, two dusters, some paper towels, and several bottles of window cleaner.

Just as I finished gathering the supplies, I heard Naruto cleaning his cereal bowl. Walking in, we started planning how to clean. It was decided that Naruto would take the left half of the building, and I would take the right side. Today we would just work on the first floor, and work our way up, saving the exterior of the building for last.

Looking at the hallway of doors from the lobby, I gave a small sigh of despair. Each floor had a total of twenty four apartments, each apartment with a kitchen, a dining room, two bedrooms, and a full bath, leaving me with a total of 30 rooms and a hallway to clean before we met in the middle to clean the lobby before we finished for the day. Putting the daunting thought out of my head for the moment, I walked to the closest room and began working.

Unfortunately for us, the rooms were filled with old furniture that seemed to be falling apart, making it unusable. Luckily I was able to move it with Telekinesis, temporarily putting it into my inventory, but it ended up taking more time because of that. Though I was able to get a few decent couches out of it, so it wasn't a total loss.

It ended up taking about an hour or so to get the furniture out of the rooms, but it made them easier to clean.

Speaking of, while I was in the middle of cleaning I had gotten a new skill!

Due to repeated action, Skill: 'Cleaning' has been created!

'Cleaning'

Level- 1 0/100

Scrub all that dirt away like a champ!

All cleaning is done 10% faster!

The boost was much appreciated, and the skill leveled up pretty quickly due to the amount I was using it. And every level I gained gave another 10% increase, meaning that I was cleaning twice as fast by level ten, and three times as fast at level twenty!

Soon enough I was cleaning each apartment in less than an hour and, since I didn't have much else better to do, I started cleaning the second floor, then the third, bringing the cleaning skill up to level 43, bringing my cleaning boost up to a whopping 430% increase. At the rate I was going, the building would be done by tomorrow!

Before I could start on the fourth floor however, I saw that it was getting dark, meaning I should probably check on Naruto's progress and make him some food for dinner. Going back down to the first floor, I saw Naruto just finishing up the last of his rooms, just leaving the lobby to clean for the first floor.

"C'mon, it's getting late, we can finish tomorrow. Let's go and get you some food, alright?" I asked the blond, getting a nod in return before he paused, seemingly thinking about something. Before I could ask what was wrong however, he spoke

"Hey, Sora? How come I've never seen you eat?" He said, furrowing his eyebrows

The question caught me off guard, making me pause for a minute before I responded

"I uh, I don't need to eat like you do, and if I did it would be more for pleasure than necessity, and since we never had any food to spare, I just never ate."

"But…couldn't you eat now? JiJi said that he would give us money for food and stuff, right? So wouldn't you be able to eat now too?"

"I suppose I could, if I really wanted to, but again, I don't really need to, so it would be a waste of money. Besides, since I've never really eaten anything before I'm not really missing out on anything, and money that would be spent buying the food for me to eat, could be better spent on other things, like weapons, or clothes, or something. Why are you asking all of a sudden?"

"I just… I dunno, I just want you to be okay too. I don't want you to get sick because you've never eaten anything dattebayo…" He mumbled, looking at the floor

'Ah, so that's what this is about'

"Naruto, look at me." Waiting until I was looking him in the eyes, I spoke, completely serious

"I'll be alright, okay? I would never, do anything to upset you unless I absolutely had to, and even then, I would do my absolute best to find another option, alright? Do you understand? I love you, Naruto. You're my brother, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that you're both safe, and happy, alright?" Sniffing as a few tears rolled down his face, he nodded.

Pulling him into a hug, I spoke

"Let's go get you some food, alright? I've got something in mind I'm sure you'll love." After I said that, I did something I thought I would never do…

I introduce Naruto Uzumaki to ramen…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Next Day~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the, quite frankly horrific, event of last night's ramen massacre, the two of us went to bed, the action bringing me far more satisfaction than I thought it could, honestly.

When we woke up, the two of us showered, brushed our teeth, etc. Grabbing the supplies from beside the door, we made our way to the fourth floor to clean. We decided to do the lobby after we cleaned outside, since it would be the easiest to clean compared to outside and the fourth floor.

After emptying the rooms of the furniture, I noticed a large amount of personal items in these rooms, ranging from a few photos and books, to pieces of jewelry and expensive dishes. Being more careful with these, I put them in my inventory. I would give the pictures to the Hokage when he came back so that they could be returned. The other stuff was free game though.

What caught my attention the most, however, was one of the bedrooms was filled with things for a small child. Nearly everything in the room had fallen apart over the years, but somehow, two fox plushies had survived the years of neglect.

One of them was a white fox with purple eyes and a snowflake pattern on its fur, and if that wasn't odd enough, the other was an orange fox with bright blue eyes and a wind pattern on its fur.

As soon as I saw them, I was on guard. There was no way this could be a coincidence, it was too perfect. Casting a quick Observe on the foxes, I was met with something…worrying.

Item: # $%^%$#

Description: This Item was put here by %^!^#!#$ to ^%$ %^ ()&&*% for &^%$ so you could $%&^#^%$&.

Threat Level: Nonexistent

Carefully picking up the foxes using Telekinesis, I threw them into my inventory as quickly as I could.

I know the Game said it was no threat, but I still didn't trust them. Especially with a description like that!

Depending on how I felt later, I might let Naruto have the orange one, but until then, these things were staying in my inventory.

Putting the thoughts aside, I started cleaning the rest of my assigned rooms before I went up to the roof to start cleaning it.

Arriving at the roof, I was met with a decently sized flat area, with a wall to help prevent any accidents. Inside the walled in area were a few trough planters filled with dirt and weeds. Other than that there were a few poles that looked like they were used for drying laundry, but were close enough that they could be used for hammocks if we wanted to hang some up.

Other than that it was just a bunch of loose dust and trash, which I quickly cleaned up.

Looking over the now clean roof, I gave it a nod before going down to help Naruto with his rooms.

After we finished the fourth floor, we went down to the yard to see what we had to do.

The yard was filled with dead bushes, trees, and flowers. The grass was overgrown, and filled with random bits of trash.

Seeing all the work we had to do, I couldn't help but sigh. Oh well, time to get to work.

Sadly, as I soon found out, yard work wasn't considered cleaning, so the Cleaning skill would stay at level 53. Though I did get the Gardening skill from this.

Due to repeated actions, Skill: 'Gardening' has been created

'Gardening'

Level- 1 0/100

People have been gardening for hundreds of years, and now it's your turn!

All plants you take care of grow 5% faster

All plants you take care of are 5% healthier

Not too bad of a skill, but it didn't help me do the work any faster.

We spent the rest of the day cleaning the yard around the house, with Naruto collecting all the trash and dead flowers, as well as cutting the grass. While he did that, I focused on ripping up the dead trees and bushes using Telekinesis, deciding to throw caution to the side for the time being since the property was fenced in.

After we were done with that, I gathered everything into a pile out back on a patch of concrete. I also threw all the broken furniture away, keeping whatever few good pieces that there were. Giving the large pile a nod, I got out a few matches that were in the kitchen and used them to light the large pile of highly flammable materials, causing the whole thing to go up in seconds.

It took me a few seconds to think that lighting a massive fire in a ninja village might not be the best idea. The dozens of random ninja showing up only confirmed my suspicions.

Thankfully though, as soon as they saw what was going on most of them just left. Though a few of them ended up coming back with marshmallows and various types of meat

…huh

Ignoring that, I stayed outside with Naruto and watched the fire to make sure it didn't spread. Though I made sure to stay far enough away that I didn't feel the heat.

I should have gone with Plant Whisperer…

Anyways, it took the fire about four hours to finish burning, reducing the once raging inferno to just a few sparks. The ninja that had come by had eventually left, thanking us for letting them stay, and that they had a lot of fun.

Though we never got the chance to clean the lobby since we had the fire… oh well, I guess we could do that later, we were ahead of schedule after all.

Carrying Naruto to his room was pretty easy, since I had such a high strength stat. debating with myself for a moment, I pulled the Orange fox out of my inventory, placing it next to him, where it was immediately pulled into his chest. I couldn't help but give a small smile at the sight.

Just as I was about to exit the room, I looked back over my shoulder at his sleeping form, smiling at how peaceful he looked. Turning the light out, I shut the door.

Once I got back to my room, I got in bed before I paused.

'…Oh what the hell.' I thought, pulling the white plush out of my inventory, I pulled it up to my chest, relaxing into the surprisingly soft fur as I slowly drifted off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Next Morning~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up, we went through our morning routine before we both sat at the table, Naruto eating breakfast.

Just when Naruto finished eating and I was reaching for the cleaning supplies, he spoke up.

"Hey, Sora, can we go to the playground we saw on the way here? Please?" He begged, looking at my with his damned 'puppy-dog eyes no jutsu'

'Damned brat, he knows I can't resist that look' I thought to myself, gritting my teeth in annoyance at my weak will

"Fine," I spoke," but only because you've been working hard to get the rooms clean. You deserve to have a break."

"Alright dattebayo!"

"Yeah yeah, just get ready to go." I grumbled half-heartedly, waving a hand dismissively

A few minutes later, after he was ready, I gave him a quick once over before I refreshed the illusion over our ears and my skin/hair. Though I made the illusion a few shades lighter, more like my non-illusioned self. If I did it right, then I would be able to slowly let up on the illusion and, eventually, forgo the illusion for my skin and hair altogether. If all went well, it should only take a year or so at most.

Our ears though, I had a plan for those...Mwahahahaha!

Ahem, anyways, as soon as I applied the illusions we started walking towards the playground. It was a short walk, only ten minutes or so, but somehow I gained another seven levels in Killing Intent from the glares of the civilians. I would have to keep an eye on Naruto to make sure he didn't get hurt.

Arriving at the park, it already had some children playing there, but I had expected that. What I wasn't expecting, however, was that all of the various clans' children were there, from Shikamaru and Choji, to Hinata and, most surprising, Sasuke freakin' Uchiha!

Why were they here?! And all together like this!? And I can't tell him we have to go back home when we just got here, I promised him we would come here after all, and an Uzumaki never goes back on their word! But I should still tell him to be on his best behavior, these were powerful people after all, both politically and physically.

Just as I turned to tell this to Naruto, I saw that he wasn't there, and was instead introducing himself to the other children.

*sigh*'I should have expected that to be honest. No matter what happens, he's still himself after all.'

Walking to the group of children, I saw Naruto gesturing to me, presumably talking about me. As soon as I reached the group, I heard Naruto say something along the lines of 'Let's all play tag!', before immediately tapping Kiba on the shoulder, surprising the boy as Naruto dashed away, prompting most of the others to do so as well as Kiba gave chase.

I joined the sitting Shikamaru, Choji, and Shino, introducing myself as the others played tag.

"Hi there, I'm Sora, it's nice to meet you." I said, earning a nod from Shino and Shikamaru, and a polite 'Hello' from Choji

"Is it alright if I sit here?" I gestured to a spot next to them, earning two nods and a 'sure' from Choji

"Thanks"

Sitting down, I watched as Naruto and the others all ran around, attempting to avoid the 'tagger'. The game lasted a good hour or so before they got too tired, minus Naruto of course. After their game, they came back towards us and sat down, taking a break from their game.

After everyone sat down, Naruto gestured towards me, introducing me.

"Guys, this is Sora, my brother, Sora, this is Hinata, Kiba, Ino, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Shino, and Choji!" As he was saying this, he gestured towards each person as he introduced them, each giving a nod or a hello as he introduced them.

"It's nice to meet you all." I smiled "It looks like you all had fun, is there another day that you'll all be here so you and Naruto can play again?"

"Our parents all meet up here the same day every month, but a few of us are here every few days or so, so there's a good chance someone'll be here if you show up." Choji supplied

"Thanks, I'll have to remember that." I smiled at the boy

"No problem"

We sat around for another half hour or so before they started another game of tag, somehow dragging me and Choji in for this game. I made sure to hold back, but it was still difficult for them to catch me, didn't want it to be an easy win for them after all.

After another four hours of cycling between playing tag and resting, the others eventually had to go back home, their parents calling them one by one until it was just us and Sasuke. Though he eventually had to leave too, with his brother coming to pick him up, much to the younger brother's joy. He left with a loud goodbye and a wave from his brothers back.

After we were left alone in the park, we started heading back home from the surprisingly fun day. As soon as we got home, I made Naruto dinner and we both took showers before heading off to bed, gripping our plushies to our chests. Just after I fell asleep however, something happened...

The plushie twitched.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Next Day~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yawning as I stretched, I looked around for a moment before spotting the thing I was looking for. The plushie, which I was holding last night had fallen on the floor during the night, though somehow it managed to land right side up.

Neat

Anyways, after me and Naruto completed our daily routines, I grabbed cleaning supplies as we went downstairs to the main lobby and got to work. I put Naruto in charge of the stairs, windows, and the floor of the lobby while I worked on the walls, ceiling, chandelier, and the bathrooms.

I had just finished the chandelier, ceiling and walls when we stopped for a lunch break up on the roof.

It was pretty cloudy outside, meaning we would probably get a storm soon. Keeping this in mind, Naruto ate quickly so we wouldn't get caught up in the rain. It was a good thing he did too, since just as we got back inside it started pouring down rain, pelting the newly cleaned roof with a barrage of raindrops.

Making our way back to the first floor, I had Naruto go back to our living apartment, since he had finished cleaning his section earlier.

"Are you sure? You don't want me to help?"

"Of course I'm sure, you already did your parts, so it's only fair that I do mine, right?" I grinned at the blond, ushering him into the apartment.

Debating with himself for a moment, eventually he gave a small nod as he spoke.

"Alright, if you're sure…"

"Good, now go relax! There's a perfectly good television in there that hasn't been used since we got here!" I exclaimed, pushing him further into the room as I did, shutting it as soon as he was far enough in.

Giving out a slight sigh of both fondness sand exasperation, I started working on the bathrooms until they were nearly sparkling. Though I would have to make sure we got some toilet paper to put in the stalls.

We would need more cleaner too, now that I thought about it, since we had used most of it to clean the rest of the apartments, and we had just used the last of our glass cleaner to clean the outside windows and the bathroom mirrors. Thankfully we didn't have anything else to clean or we'd be out of luck.

Letting out a sigh of accomplishment, I leaned against the tile wall behind me, only to feel the tile I was leaning on shift inwards as I did.

Eyes going wide, I immediately stopped leaning on the wall, only to see the wall next to it open up to reveal a hole that looked like it went down for several hundred feet.

The hole didn't go straight down, but it looks steep enough that if you fell in, you would need to hit the bottom before you could stand up again. And with how far it went, it looks like you did not want to fall in. Before I could get a closer look, a screen popped up in front of me.

Warning! Field dungeon found!

Recommended Level: 15

If you wish to enter the dungeon anyways, simply step forwards.

Huh…whelp, Fuck that! I am NOT dealing with that today! Not when I'm only level one, no thank you!

Right as I turned around to nope outta there however, a massive boom of thunder made me slip on the wet floor, falling backwards and, much to my horror, right into the level 15 dungeon. As this happened, only one thing went through my brain.

'Ah…Shit…'

End: Chapter Three

Ah, gotta love those cliffhangers, am I right? For those who care, I posted the skills Sora learned and their total level down below.

.

'Observe'

Level- 16 2978/3000

One of the most basic and important skills of The Gamer, Observe allows you to see a detailed description of anything this skill is used on, with the amount of detail depending on the level of the skill.

.

'Killing Intent'

Level- 23 3589/5500

This skill allows you to both sense and produce Killing Intent, or 'KI'. This is useful for sensing those who mean you harm, or by stunning enemies with high enough levels of killing intent.

Range: 160ft

.

'Cleaning'

Level- 56 33,139/36,000

Scrub all that dirt away like a champ!

All cleaning is done 560% faster!

.

'Gardening'

Level- 13 1978/2250

People have been gardening for hundreds of years, and now it's your turn!

All plants you take care of grow 65% faster

All plants you take care of are 65% healthier

.

See you next time!