Chapter 1: Forced Internship

Disclaimer: Disclaimers don't actually mean or do anything, but tradition is tradition. I do not claim any ownership of Naruto.

Preceding Authors Note: This is our introduction to the protagonist of the story. I will try to keep to a constricted first person perspective with him, though I can probably guarantee some segments from other perspectives might pop up. Anyway, please enjoy.

October 14th 8:23pm Local Time, 2016

Woodbury, Minnesota

Home Stadium of the Woodbury Tigers

The score was 33-30. They were on the opponents 40. There was 15 seconds on the clock. It was 3rd and 9. They had one timeout. Not an ideal situation, but not a horrible one.

"You hear that freshman?" Someone said to me.

"Huh?" I mumbled out. This earned me a smack on my helmet.

"White Bear Lemon 35 that's the call. Keep your head in the game. Got me?" snarled the QB Jake Peterson.

"Yeah I got it," I responded. 'White Bear Lemon 35' was a play we had run a lot so we knew it could probably get us the 5 yards we needed to try and get the field goal. White stood for a halfback run, Bear signified that the Center and Right Guard would both push forwards while the tight end would flip back and move in behind them to either seal off a hole or block a linebacker. The fullback would then either push up the hole to clear out any remaining linebackers or a safety. That would leave me a clear lane either for a guaranteed 3-5 yards or a lot more depending on what the safeties did. It was an easy way to guarantee a win.

I lined up behind the fullback and waited for the snap. This is when everything went to shit.

"HUT!" Peterson followed this up by fumbling the snap. At the same time their cornerback came crashing down through the unprotected right of the formation. The tight end had already cleared and was pushing into the hole created by the center and right guard

"Shit!" I swore as I rushed up to the right to deliver a block on the cornerback. He was a 5'7 140lb sophomore, I was a 5'8 170lb freshman. Physics did my talking and I pancaked him on his back. I sprinted out to the flat before turning back to see Peterson had completed a 5 step drop and was looking for someone who was open. I was open.

"Pete!" I waved my hand. His head snapped towards me and within a half second he delivered a perfect spiral pass, right before a defensive tackle took him to the ground. The spiral was pretty, one of his prettier passes as I could remember it.

I snatched the ball out of the air and tucked it, turning up field. I had a linebacker to my left and a safety up a head. Normally, I'd be fucked in this situation, but I'd noticed a tendency of this particular safety. He always overbited on double moves to his right, that was my advantage to not getting wrecked.

I drove up field, the linebacker closing in from my left, and the safety having built up a full head of steam. I made my move. I started to cut right, the safety wasn't fooled and he held his course. I then reversed left, and held the direction for the tiniest of moments. The safety bit, and he lunged at me, while I reversed direction again. I felt my knee's scream at the abuse, but they held up.

As a result the safety slammed into his own linebacker taking them both down. Ahead of me was green grass and I bounded in for the touchdown. I spiked the ball, howled like a barbarian, and was tackled by my team in the endzone. The following hour was a blur of yelling, chanting, and dancing. I remembered every detail.

We, the Woodbury Tigers had just won our 7th game in a row. We would be headed to the state championship. It felt good to be a winner. It felt better to be the reason why we won. Eventually, the celebrations dimmed down and we all split off. My parents drove me home. I kept my eyes closed, but I remembered every bump and turn in the path they took.

That was the problem though, I was always remembering things. In fact I remembered everything, from what I ate for breakfast to what I saw in the corner of my eye 3 years, 6 months, 24 days, 8 hours, 45 minutes, and 26 seconds ago. It was a dragonfly on a leaf. I had an utterly perfect memory, every moment of every day I would remember as if it had happened seconds prior.

As it is with most things this had both upsides and downsides. On the upsides school and other things of an academic nature were as simple as a glance. That's not to say I am some sort of supercomputer, I still process things at a more human speed. That means you could flipp 600 pages of a book in front of my eyes, I'd be able to remember every letter from every page, but I'd still need a while to actually internalize what I'd read. It's the difference between having a bunch of pictures with words in them, and actually knowing what those words are saying.

Continuing with the theme of utter unfairness of my existence posing to other people was the fact that it seemed like I had a body that was growing into a 5 star college football recruit was good fortune, because my only real dream was getting to play in the NFL. Ironic, having an amazing brain and just taking the only job that will have it smashing into people at high speed.

Eventually, our car rolled up into our driveway and we got out. I got the same congratulations from my parents and sister, that I got when we won our game three weeks ago.

We already had eaten so it was only a short period of time before I professed being tired and trudged up stairs. My room was pitch black, but that was fine. I remembered where everything was so it was simple to change into pajamas. I crawled into bed and stared at the ceiling, re-living the experiences of the day all over again. I enjoyed recapping my days before I would let exhaustion claim me. It would be several hours before my mind would calm down to let my consciousness slip away.

As I was dozing off to sleep, I heard a sound. A sound that didn't trigger the back of the head deja vu that almost all other sounds did, this was a unique sound. My eyes snapped open, and I shot up in bed. Reversing back my auditory memory, it became clear that it came from my left ear. My head rotated left, towards my window, and I saw something unique. A hovering ball of light, in the middle of my cul-de-sac. I had never seen something like that before, a low-pitch hum was seemingly emanating from the orb.

In a flash I slipped on my slippers and raced down the stairs. Lights came on in my parents and sisters room. I ripped the door open and raced outside. My eye's soaked up every little detail in the object, every little ripple and change of color. I had to see more.

I ran out into the cul-de-sac. The orb just sat in mid-air hovering and doing nothing besides emit that low humming sound. Something pulled me towards it as I just kept stepping closer and closer until I was under the white orb. It was beautiful.

"Roger!" I heard a voice call out to me, I snapped back to reality and located the sound. It was my parents and sister, they were running out the door of the house.

"Wha-" I began to say back before something happened. A crack emanated from above me, .2 roughly seconds after that a somewhat translucent white light surrounded me. My eyes widened, my family's eyes widened, for the first time I saw a raw primal fear from my family.

.3 seconds after the white light surrounded me it began to brighten dramatically over a second of time. I started to smell ozone in the air. The hairs on my skin tingled. I heard the beginning of a word.

"Rog-!" The light brightened dramatically, my eyes began to shut. Whatever the word was cut-off as a loud boom deafened me. I experienced some sort of shock to other senses, I felt my body shutdown as my mind fell into unconsciousness.

October 15th? Unknown time, Unknown year

Unknown location

It was a drop of something cold on my face that woke me. My eyes shot open and I leaned up. This earned me several pieces of key information, my body was bruised and sore. I was in a forest, and I had a drop of water fall on me. My clothes were wet. Struggling to my feet I swept my surroundings with my eyes. This earned me more pieces of critical information.

I was not in immediate danger, the forest looked to have really big trees, and it was daytime. I was wearing my slippers, pj pants and t-shirt. I was breathing fine so the atmosphere was not immediately poisonous. All of these facts when taken together with my memories of what had happened had several implications.

"Something" perhaps a divine or higher power, aliens, man made weapon, or other had moved me to this location. This location could range from somewhere on earth, to the afterlife, otherworld or ect. I was in the apparent wilderness with no tools, no proper clothes, and no information. This necessitated the first question of survival, am I in a place where I can expect rescue or must I expect no rescue?

Well since I was transported by some unknown force to an unknown location, it was likely those who would want to rescue me have no fucking idea where I was. So until information changed I would have to expect no rescue.

"I'm so fucked," I said to myself. My heart race began to increase along with breathing as I began to panic. I couldn't panic.

"No No NO! No fucking panicking!" I lied to myself. I was never going to see my parents or sister ever again. I was going to die here. I was fucked fucked fuuuucked capital F Fucked.

I slapped myself, twice. The pain stung my cheeks, but it refocused my mind. Panic would decrease my survival odds dramatically. The key to survival was making it the first hour, then day, then week, then month and so on. Every milestone I hit would increase my odds of not dying a horrible death. My brain buzzed as it searched through all the material I knew to compile a set of rules for survival.

Rule 1. Don't fucking panic.

Rule 2. DO NOT PANIC.

Rule 3. You will survive.

Rule 4. Be positive.

Rule 5. Focus on making it to singular milestones.

Rule 6. Don't panic

"Okay don't panic, Do not panic. Not one bit" I repeated to myself.

"How do I survive the first hour?" I asked myself.

"Obvious moron, find a better spot and search for resources." I smartly responded. I had sticks, rocks, some vegetation that looked familiar though wasn't a perfect match to anything I remembered and water.

A stream was trickling to the right of me. That was good. Streams mean rivers or lakes, which maybe means habitation.

"Okay, me let's follow the stream."

"Good idea me, let's do that" So I followed the stream. I followed the stream for a long fucking time. I definitely made it past my first hour and my second hour. All the while my head buzzed as new sights, sounds, and smells were cataloged. It seemed wherever I was was similar to Earth, though there were several unrecognizable plant species and animal calls. This did reduce the odds that I was on Earth which was bad.

It was around hour three that I got thirsty, now if I had some receptacle to boil water in or purify it I would. But I didn't have those things so I just drank from the stream, some bad gut bacteria would take a lot longer to kill me than dehydration so it was a trade-off worth making.

I kept following the stream, around hour 6 I came upon a larger creek that the stream fed into. This was good. It was indicative of there being some bigger water system that would lead me to people, if I got out of this forest. I followed the creek. I walked in silence, partially because I had gotten my panic out of my system for now. It was around hour 10 that darkness started to fall. This was bad. I doubted I'd be able to start a fire using the ole friction method, plus who knows what a fire might attract.

I would be better off sleeping without a fire. So that's what I did. I was tired, cold, hungry, and scared. I was also alive, so I had that going for me. Tomorrow I would walk for half the day, then if I found no habitation would then try and acquire my own food alone with tools.

I found a dry and flat plot of dirt, laid down, and closed my eyes. It was uncomfortable, but I was too tired to care. The sound of running water was a comfort that made me forget just a tiny bit how scared I really was at that moment. Unconsciousness claimed me soon thereafter.

I didn't dream that night.

October 16th? Unknown time, Unknown year

Unknown location

Voices snapped me back into the world of the waking. Voices meant people which meant I was rescued. My eyes snapped open to take in the world.

What greeted me that morning was a spear, a spear that was pointing right between my eyes.

A "Huh?" tumbled out of my mouth. That earned me a kick to the stomach, which brought a chorus of laughs and jeers. I was most definitely not saved. Rewinding my memory I picked out several interesting details: The language I was hearing wasn't english, but rather Japanese though with a unique accent. I was surrounded by at least 3 men, all of whom were armed with wood and metal spears. My legs were tied up by some net held by two of the men on my periphery. Finally, they were definitely a violent group of people. All of these facts had several implications on my future actions.

I kind of knew Japanese, when I first figured out my memory was perfect I shoved as much language learning resources into my skull as quickly as possible. I could understand and write it with time to think about what I was trying to say, but my pronunciation and sentence construction would be childish until I gleaned more from my captors. However, I would be able to communicate and understand them. This would increase my chances of survival dramatically. I just now had to not get murdered by my captors.

"Hello?" I said, wincing at the garbled disaster that came out of my mouth. This earned me another kick and more laughing.

"He speaks like a moron!" Laughed the captor on my left.

"I'm not sure the Boss will have much use for him, why don't we just kill him now," the captor holding the spear to my face said. I began to panic, I was immobilized and having a pointy object in my face was not making my mood better

"No, look how big he is. He may be stupid, but we can use him for a human ox or something else." The captor on my right jeered.

"Aww are ya sure Ryota? We could gut him right now and nobody would ever know."

"Rules are rules, plus we might be able to get a cut of whatever he's worth when he's sold. You're not ruining my pay day with your bloodthirst," responded my captor who was apparently called Ryota. He also coincidentally was my favorite person at this exact moment, though the future possibility of being a slave or human trafficking victim was not appealing.

"Fine, but you owe me a game tonight," the captor with the spear pulled it away from my face with a huff.

"Get up you moron"

I looked down to my tied legs and then back up to my captors. They laughed and untied my legs. I got up and with something sharp digging into my back I began to follow the guy named Ryota. I kept quiet, while the guys around continued to talk jovially and make fun of me. My mind raced as I worked through the new facts of my situation

Good news was that I was not dead, bad news was that I might be sold as a slave. Good news was that I could speak the local language, bad news was that I could speak at a level of Lennie Small. Good news was that I could learn it quickly, bad news was it might not be quick enough to get sent off to some deep dark mine. In short, I was still stuck up shit creek without a paddle, but I was getting used to the idea of getting my hands dirty.

Our party weaved through the forest, exiting into a clearing with what seemed to be a small fort right in the middle. I was led up to the fort gates where a bored looking sentry armed with a spear waved us through the open gate. My eyes scanned from side to side picking up numerous but probably useless details. For one thing it was almost a guarantee that they didn't have firearms here, no way would anyone even bother carrying a spear if guns were commonplace. Inside the fort stood numerous buildings seemingly constructed in a vaguely Japanese style, though to be honest I didn't know jack shit about what even a Japanese style was beyond what I had seen in the movies or textbooks.

I was led into a multi-story building that was in the apparent middle of the fort. We moved past a couple guards at the front of the building who let us pass after my captors explained the situation. Already, I had begun to pick out slight differences between the language these people spoke and what I knew of Japanese from Earth. Tonal shifts, different emphasis placed on words and other minor details were all vacuumed up by ears and mind. I would have to demonstrate some kind of usefulness to not get thrown in mines, and talking like I had the wherewithal of a cow would not help me at all.

We made our way up several flights of stairs before we came to a door with 2 more guards standing at attention to the side of it. Yet again, my captors explained the situation and the guards let us pass through the door. Three men were already in the room, one of them was fat pudgy and was sitting in a chair behind a desk, to his left was a lanky looking guy who was pointing and gesturing at an open book on the desk, and finally was a grim looking fellow with an eye patch leaning on a wall staring at us. The whole situation screamed mafia, though I doubted they'd start speaking italian or threaten me with concrete shoes. I had to bite down a snort at how horrifically cliche it all seemed. I had to wonder if this was all just a really fucked dream.

We marched up to the front of the desk and waited while the pudgy man and lanky guy continued to talk. The subject of the conversation, being the accounting business of their enterprise piqued my interest as my eyes drifted down to the book on the desk. It was upside down of course, but I had a little trick to get over that. I closed my eyes, but in my mind's eye I was able to take the image already stored in my memory and rotate it till I could properly make out the text and numbers. It was a ledger of weekly expenses over the course of a month. It detailed the various forms of income they had, the various expenses they had, and the total net gain over the month.

This ledger provided me with 3 important facts, they used arabic numeral system we used on Earth, their writing system was a near exact copy of Japanese, and they were definitely criminals considering smuggling, trafficking, and protection money were all forms of income listed on the ledger. As I examined it something began to niggle at the back of my head, some kind of inconsistency or something, but before I could find it a slap to the back of my head broke my reverie.

"You awake stupid?" My bloodthirsty captor asked. My eyes shot open to see the guy in the chair staring at me, a crooked grin on his face.

"So what have you brought me today Ryota?" The apparent Boss asked.

"We found this boy sleeping in the woods south of the compound, he wasn't armed and was dressed in these clothes. We took him captive and brought him back here for you to decide what will be done with him," Ryota answered.

"He's tall and muscled, but he's as dumb as an ox. He jabbers like a drunk loon. I'd bet he'd make a great mule or rock carrier, seems that's all he'd be good for" My bloodthirsty captive added with a laugh and another slap to the back of my head.

"Interesting idea Kazou, so boy why were you in my forest?" The Boss asked me, knitting his pudgy fingers together and resting his head on them. I cleared my throat and tried to sell a lie the only way I knew how, by telling the truth.

"Well," I began, but I heard a snort from Kazou and the grin on the Bosses face grew a bit in amusement. I forged on anyway. "I'm just lost sir, I didn't mean to trespass on your forest. I just lost my way from my family and I was looking for my parents," I explained cringing at how my vocal cords seemed to trip over the noises my brain told them to make. Unhelpfully, the niggling feeling of inconsistency was still stuck in the back of my head as I tried to spin a web of bullshit that would let me not get sold off as a human mule.

"Interesting story, do you know where your parents are? Would they be able to afford the fee for your safe return? The woods these days are awfully dangerous and I hope they could afford for me to send some of my valuable men to escort you back to them, safe and sound of course," The Boss said with a smile of a viper who had a mouse dead to rights. Looking into his eyes I knew there would be no fucking way I could claim to have parents here, he seemed like the guy would cut my throat just for lying to face. My planned lie died in my mouth as I muttered out the truth.

"No sir sorry sir. I don't know where they are," I admitted. His grin just grew wider.

"Well then I guess we'll just have to find accommodations for you here, though you'll need to work a bit to pay for your room and food. I'm sure that would be perfectly fair, considering the protection I'm giving you. Ryota can you take him to the-", the Boss was cut off by a loud set of knocks at his door.

"What!?" he growled at the door. A different guy burst through the door and came in looking both scared and overwhelmed.

"Boss! We just ran out of oil for the lanterns? Should we still send out Koji's raiding party?" The minion asked.

"How did we already run out, do you morons bath in the stuff? And no don't send out Koji's how the fuck is he supposed to raid if he can't see enough to trip over his own dick?! Send someone out to get more lantern oil and rush back before, if they are late tell them they will have to answer to me personally!" The Boss yelled, the illusion of a calm mobster totally broken. Though, this interruption gave me time. Time to realize how fucked I was, and how there was no way out of the situation, and how it was strange that 30,000 of whatever currency they used was always missing every week in that damned ledger. The last thought brought the wave of panic building inside me to screaming halt, as the little niggling sensation at the back of my head disappeared.

"That's it! There's always 30,000 skimmed off, but the method and amount skimmed always changes week to week" I mused to myself. I had been lost in my own head so I didn't notice how the minion was already starting to run out of the room, and I had mused loudly enough for the lanky guy to hear me.

"What did you say?" He questioned me.

"Oh, err. Well there's always 30,000 or so always unaccounted for week by week. See, in week two revenues and expenses both rise, but revenues rise 15% while expenses rise 22%. Every other week the rise and fall is a 1 to 1 ratio, such as in week 3 and week 1, but in those weeks transport, animal feed and maintenance costs rise 7% higher than they do in either weeks 2 or 4 compared to the revenues and other expenses. It's never just one item, but all told each week one item is always a bit more expensive or a bit less profitable than it should be otherwise." By the end of my ramble I had all the eyes of the room glued to me. The once mocking grin of the Boss turned into a contemplative frown.

"There's no way that's right let me see," The lanky guy focused intently on the ledger and began to scan it with his eyes more carefully. The Boss's eyes also narrowed as they shifted from me to the ledger. The eye patch guy just stared at me, but with an intensity that could set wood alight.

"I'll be damned, you're right, how did you know this?" The lanky guy pointed an accusing finger at me. I shrugged.

"Something seemed off to me at a glance, I just sorta figured it out ya know?" I offered up. All of a sudden I saw a possible window opening for me, but I had to be careful.

The Boss looked up from the book and stared at me with a new look in his eyes, interest.

"So you picked this up with just a quick glance at my ledger eh? Even though your speaking skills leave something to be desired I surely can't let a talent with numbers like that go to waste, and since you've lost your parents and would be penniless and defenseless out in the woods, why don't you come work for me as my personal accountant. I'll give you a clean bed to sleep on, warm food to fill your belly, and a small stipend for you to buy personal effects. At least until you can locate your parents. Sound fair?" He offered with a sly grin. Reading between the lines, I was not going to be sold off as a human mule if I was able to provide value as a personal accountant. I doubted he'd just let me leave freely anyway, so this would be the best outcome I could get.

"That sounds like a very fair and generous option, I gratefully accept. I must say I do not know your name sir?" I asked back using the most deferential way I knew how.

"Excellent!" He clapped his hands together. "I am Arata Kawaguchi, but you can just call me Boss. What is your name, my newest friend?" He said with a smile. It was honestly jarring how quickly he switched from willing to sell me like I was a prized pig to being a stereotypical pal.

"My name is Roger Walker." I offered up. The Bosses face turned puzzled for a bit.

"That's a unique name, my new friend. Anyway, Mr. Tsunoda can you please find and show our new associate a quality room, a warm meal, and clothes and personal effects he will need to be an effective help to me?" The Boss asked, looking towards the lanky guy.

"Yes Boss," he responded.

"Good, now Ryota can you please untie him. I'll make sure you gentlemen are compensated well for finding me such a talented lad," the Boss ordered. Soon thereafter the ropes binding my hands were untied and for the first time it seemed like my luck was starting to turn up after it had been in the straight toilet for so long.

"Thank you, Boss," Ryota said with a slight bow after having untied me.

"Think nothing of it, I make sure to reward those who go above and beyond in their service to me. Mr. Walker I will send for you tomorrow morning so you can begin your work for me, so get a full night's rest and be ready to work tomorrow to earn you keep. Now go get settled," the Boss advised congenially.

"Thank you Boss," I replicated Ryota's tiny bow. This only seemed to amuse the Boss. He motioned forward to Tsunoda, who came forward and ushered me out of the room. As we were leaving the room I glanced back to see Mr. Eye Patch whispering in the Bosses ear while staring at me. It sent an involuntary shiver down my spine.

Over the course of the next three hours I learned many things. First of Tsunoda was a nice enough guy, who had also been conscripted to serve as the personal assistant to the Boss. Second off I learned the location and purpose of every building in the fort. Especially important were the stables, dining hall, trading post, storehouses, laundromat, barracks, and dormitory, which is where I would be staying. Though, dormitory wasn't what they called it, it was the same functionally. Small private single rooms that would have a shared bathroom, common area, and other facilities. Honestly, it was a bit of an incongruity to have clearly medieval technology in some areas and also have mostly modern dormitory complexes with indoor plumbing and hot water.

In terms of equipment and clothes, I was issued 7 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, 3 pairs of shorts, 10 pairs of underwear, 10 pairs of socks, 1 pair of shoes, 1 pair of winter boots, 1 pair of sandals, 1 winter coat, 1 backpack, 1 raincoat, and 1 medium jacket. In terms of items, I was given a toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, pens, pencils, a notebook, soap, a lighter, and a set of towels. This set of items led to the incongruities pilling up even higher, it made no sense that synthetic fiber toothbrushes could exist in the same universe as people wielding spears, yet that was seemingly the universe I was in the moment so I just shut up and rolled with it.

Tsunoda took me inside the dining hall, made sure my name was on the list of people who were to be fed extra well, and grabbed dinner for both of us. We chatted about mostly pointless things, like how this or that thing was odd. He was a 26 year old dude, who was a bit shocked that a 14 year old kid had been wandering a forest in weird clothing. I mostly deflected the questions by either eating or just shrugging. Eventually, we finished eating. He led me to my room, handed me a room key and wished a good night.

My room was a tiny space, room just enough for a bed, bedside desk, and a small dresser. My room had a glass window that overlooked the inside of the fort from the 4th floor of the dormitory. A candle inside of a glass lantern burned cheerfully on the desk. It was weird how I somehow had gotten a room no worse than a college dorm in this criminal hive, though I guess it made sense to have decent quarters so that the minions didn't grumble too much about the Boss.

I stowed all my clothes in the dresser and stripped down into my underwear. Tomorrow, I would get my pajama's cleaned by the laundromat so I could wear them in bed, but for now they were filthy due to me trekking and sleeping in the forest in them exclusively. I blew out the candle in my room and crawled under the covers. The light from the fort slightly illuminated my room, but I didn't need it. Once I memorized what my room looked like, I never needed light anyways.

I stared into the ceiling. I had somehow survived being captured by criminals, and was not being sold off as a slave. Though, I was going to have to work and help them. In terms of purely static morality, I was doing a bad thing, but also what choice did I have? Though, I guess that's how everybody rationalizes this sort of thing, I would just have to make sure I didn't cross the line. It would be nice if I could somehow make it through this situation without doing anything truly evil before I somehow escape from here.

Eventually, my mind quieted as best it could and I was lulled to sleep by the flickering of firelight streaming into my window.

October 17th? Morning, Unknown year

Kawaguchi's Fort

Roger's Room

The sounding of knocking broke me from my dreamless sleep.

"Hey Roger? You need to get up, we need to get to work within 30 minutes. I came by to make sure you got up in time to get breakfast. Can you hear me?" The voice of Tsunoda emanated through the door.

"Yeah, I'm up, give me a minute to get dressed." I said, pulling the covers aside and standing out of bed. I quickly pulled out and donned a shirt, shorts, and a pair of sandals. I opened the door, Tsunoda was standing outside.

"Make sure to get your writing materials, you can write right?" Tsunoda looked at me questioningly.

"Oh right, and yes I can write," I turned back into my room shoveling my writing materials into my pack and turning back to Tsunoda.

"Alright, ready to go!" I said more cheerily than I felt.

"Sounds good to me kid," Tsunoda said with a chuckle. We swung by the dining hall where the cooks armed us with a pair of rice balls each. We walked and ate while we crossed the compound. Entering the central building we shuffled up to the top floor where the guards waved us into the Bosses room. Inside was the Boss and Mr. Eyepatch who was leaning on the same wall as he had been yesterday.

"Good to see this fine morning Mr. Walker, now the task I have for you might be work intensive or it might not. It all depends on you, does that work for you?" He prompted with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll make sure the job gets done whether it's easy or hard, Boss," I responded diplomatically.

"Good answer, now I want you to go through all the ledgers from all my locations and figure out where money has been disappearing. It could be happening a lot or it could only have happened once, I don't know which I why I'm going to have you search thoroughly through all the records available to see if you can find anything. That ledger you saw yesterday was just for one of my many outposts, and a smaller one at that. You're gonna have a lot of documents to sort through, but I wouldn't have hired you if I didn't think you could perform up to my expectations." The Boss explained.

"I'll do my best and meet expectations, Boss," I responded. It was actually easy to talk to him if you imagined him as a no nonsense coach mixed with the fact he could order your murdered.

"Excellent, Tsunoda, can you find him a work space and provide him with the full records from the first location."

"Yes, Boss." Tsunoda replied.

"Good, Mr. Walker I want you to return here when you're finished combing through those first ledgers. Please have a written report and examples so that I may narrow down who could be the culprit."

Tsunoda guided me out of the office into a different office space that was 2 floors down from the Bosses office. Inside were a desk, chair, lantern, and a window. Honestly, it was a small closet space, but it was quiet and would be mostly private. Tsunoda fetched the ledgers for me while I got settled.

Tsunoda returned with 5 thick ledgers in hand which he dropped onto my desk.

"You're joking right?" I probed.

"Nope! This is all the records for that particular location dating back 5 years. I have to get going now so Good luck!' He said with a cheerful smile departing the room and closing the door.

"Well, at least it's not an unpaid internship," I muttered to myself. I opened up the first ledger and began to skim it. I began by flipping through all the ledgers so all the information inside would already be stored. I then proceeded to work backwards from the first instance of skimming that I had noticed which was the report of this particular location from three months ago, I confirmed that the skimming had continued in the three months since that first ledger page I had seen.

The amount skimmed was remarkably consistent up until 13 months from the latest financial report. After that it quickly shrank to almost nothing, but I kept going through each page to try and see if there had been an inciting event. I found it 18 months from the latest report, a measly 5,000 or so of whatever currency they used here. After that there was straight up nothing by minor over and undercounts.

So it seemed rather obvious that this first 5,000 was a test, then the culprit waited to see if anything happened. When a couple of months passed and nothing happened, they began to increase the amount to 30,000, which seemed to be the amount that skimmer thought was the most they could get without raising suspicions. I pulled out a pen and began to detail all my findings, my handwriting skills were not up to par with the new language they were faced with so it took a good amount of time and patience to write everything down. I made citations to specific examples and page numbers in the ledgers.

During this work I figured out 2 interesting elements, 1 their calendar system was exactly the same as the one on earth. It had 12 months, 30ish days per month, and 365 days in total. What this implied, I had no fucking idea. The second was more interesting, but also of unknown importance. The day of month in this world lined up exactly with the day it would be in my original world except it was 3 months earlier so here it was June instead of October. What this indicated I also had no idea, but it was interesting nonetheless.

It was late in the afternoon when I was able to finish my report. My hands ached, I was hungry, and I needed a breather, but I wanted to get my report turned into the Boss as soon as possible so he wouldn't think of me as lazy or stupid. I picked up the stack of ledgers and the 4 pieces of paper that formed the basis of my report. The guards outside his room opened the door for me and I walked.

Boss, Tsunoda, and Mr. Eyepatch were all in the room looking over some other paperwork. I announced that I was done and launched into my report. I placed my 4 sheets of paper on his desk, pointed from them to points in the ledger, and generally detailed the entirety of my findings as I saw it. Tsunoda and Boss would interrupt me from time to time, so to ask questions or point out something to others. It was a 20 minute minute spiel that had me feeling confident of my success.

"So in conclusion I can guess the first instance of skimming occurred 9 months ago. After which it became consistent over a period of 2 months after that first instance and then has continued ever since. I've included sums of the total estimated amount of money that had been skimmed off. I can answer any more questions you have Boss." I concluded my small presentation to the Boss. His smile widened.

"No, that's quite enough actually. I already have an almost certain guess as to who is responsible, excellent work Mr. Walker. As a reward for your exemplary work I will allow you to be apprenticed to my Shinobi commander, you may call him Commander Uchiyama or whatever he may desire from a student of his. He will meet you later tonight after his duty shift to me ends. Please be in front of this building two hours after sundown, Mr. Walker," Boss ordered.

"Yes, Boss. I'll take my leave," I turned and left the room, my head spinning. Shinobi? Did he mean ninja, like with the throwing stars? On the one hand the clearly Japanese theme would have indicated something like this being possible, but criminals having ninja with them? That was fucking odd, but in the end it was important to remeber all my preconceptions would have to be overwritten if I were to survive.

Tsunoda joined me for dinner that night in the dining hall. I was happy to have his company. He talked about the unknown skimmer I had unmasked. He was apparently a new appointment that had been recommended by one of the Bosses family members, so it would be messy trying to remove him. When I asked what would happen to him, Tsunoda looked worried and then changed the subject. I did my best to write it off as nothing, but in the back of my head I already knew what I had set in motion. Unfortunately, forgetting it would be not a luxury I could attain.

I asked Tsunoda if there was any real violence or any people I had to look out for here. Something that I had always seen in movies is that there were always nutjobs who would be slighted by me somehow and try to shank me in the shower. He waved off my concerns, Boss ran a tight ship and any participation or hiding of inter-crew violence was harshly punished, so it wasn't a concern. It was apparently one of the unique things that made the Boss a successful crime lord, he could hire people who normally wouldn't have the temperaments to work with criminals compared to other criminal bosses who let violence run rampant inside their organizations. It made sense, Tsunoda wasn't the most intimidating guy and yet he was a key piece of the Bosses inner circle. In any movie crime group he probably would've been the first guy shanked.

Our dinner continued in much the same manner as we talked away the time, our plates already cleaned empty. Eventually, he made his excuses and he left. Looking outside I noticed how dark it had already become, searching my memory I realized we had been talking for what already was probably two hours after sundown. I bolted up and ran back to the central admin building. Mr. Eyepatch did not seem like the kind of guy who's bad side I would not want to meet.

He was leaning back against the building as I approached the main entrance.

"You're barely on-time, do not make this tardiness a consistent habit," He lectured in tone betraying nothing.

"Yes, Comm-," I began to apologize.

"Do not call me that in this setting. You have not earned the right to call me anything at all yet. Until you have earned that right you will not speak unless spoken to and prompted to respond," He icily ordered. I opened my mouth to acknowledge his order and then shut it.

"You will follow me," He commanded before leaning up and beginning to walk at a brisk pace. It took me a moment to internalize what he said before my brain caught up and I rushed to catch up to him.

We walked at a brisk pace, we exited the fort through its gate and continued on a dirt path that led into the dark forest. The moon was covered by low clouds so it was horrifically dark, so dark that I could barely make out Mr. Eyepatch who was only 5 feet ahead of me. Normally, I would have been tripping on every little branch and divot in the road, but I had been taken this way when I had been first captured so my mental map of the road allowed me to deftly ignore the numerous roots and divots that would have had me eating dirt had this been my first time.

We continued on the path for about 20 minutes or so, eventually the path split and Mr. Eyepatch took me down the split I had not walked before. I began to trip and stumble more. Ten more minutes of me bumbling through the forest, the path broke into a small clearing. He wheeled towards me and I stumbled to a stop.

"What do you know of Chakra?" He asked, his singular blue eye seeming to glow in the dark of the night. That question stumped me, he couldn't be serious right? Though, the hard edge in his eye made it clear that lying to him would be as effective as lying to Boss.

"It's some kind of pseudoscience bullshit that is peddled to fools who want to feel in more control of their negative emotions. It has some kind of "energy" element that comes from the body and the universe at large. It's not real," I concluded. The look in Mr. Eyepatches' singular blue eye did indicate that I was saying something wrong as I talked, but I finished strong and completed my explanation.

"You are incorrect, Chakra is very much real. Explain to me how you have not encountered it before, you are clearly not from the Five Nations," Mr. Eyepatch's glare pierce into me.

"You are corrected I am not from the Five Nations, and where I come from we do not have Chakra," I answered curtly.

"Where are you from? Tell me how you got here, leave nothing out." He commanded.

I only hesitated for a moment, then I launched into as in depth an explanation as I could muster. I explained about my Earth, I explained about how we had wondrous machines that could fly and communicate instantly. I told an abbreviated life story, and I went into detail about my perfect memory. The story of how I woke up in bed and was drawn to a floating orb in the sky that seemingly transported me here was as detailed as I could be. Mr. Eyepatch would interrupt me periodically to ask clarifying questions. It took me an hour to get through with my explanation.

Once I was finished, Mr. Eyepatch simply nodded. "I see, that would explain why I can sense no chakra within your body. Though, if your description of your life is as you say it is, you might have potential as an apprentice after all. Stand still," He commanded. Time seemed to slow as suddenly my brain kicked into overdrive. It is said that certain moments seem to last forever, because our minds actually record at the highest detail possible so our experience of time slows due to the flood of information. My mind was always recording every single minute detail perfectly, and yet time slowed for me.

Mr. Eyepatch's right hand began to emanate a soft blue glow, a seeming outline of energy began to pulse around his digits. A tingle ran up my back, my hair stood on end, and my eyes widened. I was seeing the impossible, the clearly utterly fucking impossible. The glowing hand shot out towards me. Before I could even flinch, the hand grasped the left side of my chest.

Sensation exploded inside of me. It started around the area his fingers directly grasped, but it quickly spread into a formless blob in my chest and heart. It was an odd sensation, part vibration, part temperature, part emotion, part knowledge, part form, and many more aspects that were unplaceable within my own experience. What was definite, was that it was foreign and not of me.

I gasped. My muscles tightened, my body twitched, but the iron grasp of the hand upon my heart left me no leverage to break free. My eyes darted between the singular blue eye and the hand on my chest.

The moment lasted ten heartbeats, just as I saw an evaluation of some kind race through the singular blue eye staring at me, something changed within me.

In an infinitesimally small piece of me, one inch deep and in between my 3rd and 4th ribs, a singular portion of me turned the aspects of the foreign energy that was bathing it into something different, something that was my own. This new piece of me began to convert and pump out this energy with new aspects. It was like the entirety of my person was being demonstrated by this new form of energy. It's hard to explain, but it was simultaneously a frequency, a shape, and a feeling of something that was attuned to the universe at some deeper level.

The sensation of this new energy began to spread, first as an ill-defined blob, but then as a racing tree of sensation. It was as if my blood carried this new sensation to every corner of my body. As this sensation traveled into my head it merged with the constant thing I guess I would call a consciousness, or self. This sensation was a manifestation of me, my body, my mind, my will, and all the other things that were me. I felt my will begin to take hold of sensation and with a flip of a switch I was in control of it. I felt the inertia and motion of the energy as it reached out to encompass the rest of my bed, and I felt supremely confident that I could halt it and stop it if I willed it. It continued to grow.

This entire mental revolution took only 3 heartbeats of time. by the end of it I was staring back into the single of Mr. Eyepatch, a new understanding starting to dawn on me. His eye had widened as my body had developed this new sense. A small smile creased his face.

"It seems you do have talent, I will train you. You have earned the right to call me Sensei. Will you accept my training?" He asked, his eye boring into my very soul.

"Yes, I accept. Thank you, Sensei"

Author's Note: That's a wrap for chapter 1. I hope I was able to at least interest you in the person of Roger. I hope however to make it clear that he isn't going to just be a Gary Stu, though I have stacked the deck extremely in favour for him. I mean combining the memory aspect ripped straight from Peter Cline's "The Fold", with the physical abilities of a Calvin Johnson, Bo Jackson or Jim Thorpe creates a very powerful person. However, this does not mean he is impossible to make errors, foolishness, over-reaction, and other general flaws that make the human experience so unique. I do hope though over time we can see that he is a 14 year old who is prone to the errors that all of us who were or are at that age committed. Finally, I hope that as the story progresses he will gain more of a personality as he goes through his adventure partially as a defined arc of growth and partially as a natural outgrowing of a personality that I can just guess at from the start of this adventure. Thank you for reading this far, and all forms of feedback are extremely welcome.