Quest and Consequences

Maybe I shouldn't upload on a Wednesday… bah ill upload whenever I want. Don't own Naruto or The Gamer. See you at the end of the chapter!

Onasicorp: Yeesh those are some harsh words, I'm sorry you don't enjoy it but I'm working on my dialogue, and I am greatly aware of the huge flaws my premise has and the flaws in my writing.

You realize: The story takes place in the climax of the 3rd war right now so Uzu has already fallen and his choice of land to go to was decided as soon as I looked up 'Naruto world map' and took the first suggestion. I also believe its boring to have him stay at a farm or something as I want to keep Shin improving.

Previously on Cloud Gamer

"Fucking pig" I spat while frowning as a great fatigue washed over me and I collapsed to the floor in a bloody, bruised heap. 'Heh, I win' I thought before slipping into unconsciousness.

~~~~~~~Chapter start \(^o^)/*\(^o^)/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awoke in a bright room; I didn't know how long I was out but the woman from before was sitting in front of me with an impressed? look. I tried to stand but all 4 of my limbs were shackled to the chair I was on, and the chair was stuck to the ground so there was no hope of pulling it off.

"You finally awake? Good, because you have quite a few questions to answer." She said sternly while I looked her in the eyes.

"Jolly, I just woke up and I'm already being questioned again." I replied in a snarky tone while resting my head on the back of the chair.

"Silence brat, first off, how the hell did you get weapons past security?"

"Trade secret"

"Well, be ready to spill your 'trade secrets' before we maim you, starting at the bottom."

"Its just magic, sleight of hand if you will."

"Show me. Right now,"

I pulled a shuriken from my inventory and dropped it on the ground behind me. She got up from her chair and walked around to my back, eyes widening at the appearance of the star shaped projectile.

"Now that I'm looking, do it."

"Sorry ma'am that was the last one."

"So, if I give it to you know you could redo it?"

"If you give me time yes. The free use of my hands would also help."

"No can do on that front, I can't let a prisoner have their hands on weaponry, especially if I'm the one giving it."

"Then I can't show you, my magic."

"Just tell me how to do it and I'll do it."

"That's not how it works but ok, if you can't get it that's on your inability not my poor teaching."

"You're a prick for a 6-year-old."

"I try." I then started spewing out bogus techniques that made no sense until she got annoyed enough to just take it away and continue my questioning.

"Fuck this, next question, how did you beat a chunin with your bare hands?"

"I punched him until he dropped."

"Elaborate or we start taking fingers."

"Here I thought we were starting at the bottom."

"Stop fucking around child"

"I'm not, I just punched him really good."

"Anyone that was there saw you punching him so elaborate on the beginning of the fight."

"Well, he tried to rape me, so I pulled out a kunai. Then I tried to escape but he slammed me into the ground, he stole my kunai and kneed me in the head and threw me into the mirror. Then I punched him through the door and the rest was history."

"Even if you both didn't have chakra that was a chunin you 'punched really good'"

"Yeah, I'm surprised too."

She sighed deeply before making a few signs with her hands and four guards unshackled me and dragged me back to the fucked-up cell. I was chucked onto the ground and several books were placed at my feet, all easily 300 pages in length.

After throwing the books, the door was slammed shut by the guards and I was left in the darkness, glass was still scattered around the ground and the pungent smell of blood permeated the room.

I laid down on the top bunk, thinking about the battle I had just been through. I had killed a man, but it was weird, I didn't feel any remorse for that bastard, no guilt, no queasy feeling in my stomach from thinking of the corpse, nothing, just an empty feeling in my body as I drifted off again into unconsciousness.

The next morning

I woke up to several alerts from the system, the blue screens blaring in my face as I stirred. The cell was still dirty, but I didn't really care, I was only here for the night and was leaving today.

The books were still sprawled on the ground where I left them, and the glass was still all over the floor. I hopped off of the bed and picked up the books, knocking on the door and receiving no response.

I waited for a while and checked on my system notifications.

"Quest complete 'Prey that fights back'

Objectives 1, 2 and hidden 1 have been completed. Your rewards will be displayed below.

2x 5 skill voucher, 1x 10 skill voucher, 6000 ryo, 170 reputation with Shimo guardsmen, 1 skill point, passive skill 'Copycat'"

"'Copycat' The user can take an ability used by a foe after killing them. The ability will be formed into a skill for use."

"You have 230hp left!"

"Berserker path is being utilised current boost: 5.5x"

"Your opponent used no abilities to combat you, there is no reward"

A guard opened the eye latch and looked down at me.

"What is it?"

"Am I able to have some free time outside?"

"You have 1 hour." He said while unlocking the door, I walked out and shielded my eyes from the sunlight coming in through the windows. I was led to the top of the village wall where 2 guards were stationed to watch over the grounds below.

"You will be supervising this one for the next hour." My guide barked while the 2 guards flinched at his presence.

"Yes sir!"

I sat in silence while reading my books for the next hour. I learnt about the license requirements and how to get each through the proper channels.

A merchant license was given when you passed a test commissioned by the village you were trying to get certification from, you would also need to specialise in a genre of product and pay a fee to take the test, which was 40,000 ryo, a hefty cost for any newbie merchant.

Shinobi licenses were earnt through the shinobi academy graduation, or an aptitude test you could take after you were 18 during peace times, and 16 during war. They also came with a printing fee of 10,000 ryo for your first and 30,000 ryo for each after that.

A hunter's license was not at all similar to the other ones as it was more like a rank than a license. To receive your first bronze mark, you would complete a task issued by a commission office, then once you receive the mark, you choose a specialisation. There were many different specialisations ranging from bounty hunters to treasure hunters to assassins, similar to the hunter system in HxH.

After you receive the first bronze mark you can accept jobs or go and explore and cash in treasures at stations located around the continent. Depending on your rank, your reward would be taxed more harshly, the lower rank you are the higher the tax. Ranks went from bronze 1 – 3, silver 1 – 3, gold 1 – 5, platinum 1 – 5, caution was advised as keeping a high rank would give you a high chance of receiving a bounty of your own, like one of the top dogs of the bounty system Kakuzu, who gained a bounty of 70 million ryo.

The shinobi license was a no go since I didn't want to be roped into wars or other stupid battles, the merchant license required a specialty which I didn't have so that left the hunter license. I continued on reading information on the hunter license and the general rules/customs hunters followed, many were small things like leaving the body clean for easier collection, one that surprised me was the custom that battles should be between just the opponents, and it was heavily frowned upon to involve family or relatives for an advantage.

Soon my hour was up and I got dragged back into the same bright room as usual, appendages locked, seals placed and the same guard sitting in front of me.

"You really must not have anything better to do huh?" I joked while looking at the stern woman in front of me.

"I do, and that's why I'm getting you out of my hair today. You will be released after this last question."

"Haven't you asked enough?"

"No, now comes the real stuff. What can you tell us about kumo's defences?"

"Why would you want to know that?"

"None of your business kid, now please share your information before we have to resort to harsher means of extraction."

"Meh, their patrols are quite lax, the ones I came across didn't have sensors in them and that was on the south side. There is not a lot of defence around the village in general."

"Continue."

"That's it."

"You don't look to be lying but I doubt they are that lax with security, especially with the battles happening around the world."

"They aren't lax with security; they are just thinly spread. The new graduation age at the academy for everyone is 8 years old, which means they are putting children that haven't even hit puberty on the battlefield."

"Alright, that's all we needed to know. You will be taken out of the village now." She said while snapping her fingers, immediately 2 guards opened the door and unlocked my shackles.

After being dragged through the facility I was placed on the main road outside the village, I had lost quite a few tools on this venture, but it was better than losing my life. I took a few steps onto the road and head towards my next destination, who the fuck knows where.

7 hours later

I was still running down the path, it had been 7 fucking hours and I still hadn't seen any life or branch in the path anywhere. That is until a couple of bandits stumbled onto the road, obviously drunk as they waved around weapons spewing all sorts of profanity while walking up to me with outstretched hands.

When they got within a meter of me, I grabbed one of the hands and picked him up, slamming them into bandit on his right, this sobered up the one on my right a bit as he swung his blade down across my body. Quickly parrying with a kunai, I grabbed his hand holding onto the blade and pulled him into a knee to the face, knocking him out quickly.

The other 2 started to get up as I slit the unconscious one's throat, they stared in shock while I wiped the blood on my pant leg. I looked towards them, and they took a step back, they didn't know what hit them as my kunai dug into one of their foreheads and a foot slammed into the others.

Finishing off the last one, I searched the bodies and stored their weapons, money and stole a map, it didn't have much use since I didn't know where I was but still would be handy once I get my bearings.

I sighed heavily to myself and began my trek further down the path, hoping that I would reach some sort of landmark soon to make use of the map.

3 hours later

It was nearing evening while I watched the sunlight reflect off of the snow around me, the past couple of hours were so dreary and boring, I was starting to hope I ran into a battlefield, just so I could do something.

Using a couple of the survival jutsu I picked up, I set a fire alight inside of a small pit in the snow. It took a while to find dry fuel, but I managed, and I would have been drifting off to sleep if a certain ragged homeless looking person stumbled into my camp, his deep breaths reeking of alcohol.

"Excuse me young *HICCUP* lad, do you got *HICCUP* any more food?" He said while taking a seat on the snow and warming his hands.

"Yeah sure, do you have somewhere to stay?"

Instead of responding he turned around and threw up on the snow behind him. I internally cringed at the smell as it wafted over to my side of the pit, shuffling backwards slightly to escape it.

His hands went through a couple of sloppy hand signs before his hand glowed green and he put it on his forehead. Sweat started to form on his brow but his skin regained some colour, he opened his eyes and walked around to my side of the pit.

"Nah I don't, I have a bag in one of my scrolls though. Always prepared for days like this."

"Days like this?"

"Mm, yeah, days just like this."

His face took on a more solemn expression as he stared into the fire, hands on his knees as he sat cross-legged. I wanted to ask what he meant, but it wasn't my place to, so we just sat there in an awkward silence for a couple of minutes. The silence whittled me down before I started to make some talking points.

"Whats your name old dude?"

"I'm not old kid, still in my prime and don't forget it." He said while snickering.

"My name is Shoma, but my friends call me Sho"

"My names Shin."

"Well then Shin, what are you doing out here?"

"I'll tell you, if you tell me why you're out here"

"Hmm, deal. It doesn't matter that much if someone knows."

I explained my story of how I left the village and why, the things that happened to me over the past few days and what I was going to do on my little trip.

"Interesting story, sadly, my reason isn't profound as yours. Today is my anniversary, the first one without my wife with me."

"What happened to her?"

"Sumiye was everything to me, and that feeling only increased when we were about to have a child of our own. I took some leave off of shinobi duties, even though it was war time I couldn't help but spend more time with her.

We weren't city people and stayed outside the main village, far away that if any battles were to occur, we would be safe, and I would be close enough to help. That didn't help us when the attack from out direction, I was out shopping in the main village as smoke pooled out from out house, alarms were blaring, and I ran straight home to protect my wife and son.

It was too late when I arrived and I saw Sumiye being crushed under our own house, I didn't even get to hear her last words before the fire covered her. Even when it was out, I couldn't bare going back, the sight of my wife's charred body crushed me.

Other families that lived outside the village were hit too, and since I had no reason to stay off duty I went back to the battlefield and saw much more death, heard many more last words, and I had to tell many more families that their children fought honourably even if they were crying and begging for mercy.

Her memory, and the wills of all of my comrades keep me going, and they brought me to where I am as a retired expert shinobi and medic. I would be still up there, but my mental health was deemed unfit for battle."

I listened closely to his story; his eyes started to form tears that glistened in the new moonlight showering the camp. When he was done, we sat in more silence, it was barely night, around 7pm at most when he left the camp to collect extra food for us.

While he was gone, I absorbed the "Lightning style: Current" scroll that had been sitting in my inventory, and the other "Water style: Water clone" scroll.I still had a couple of jutsu vouchers to use but I would save them for now and instead pulled out the blank summoning scroll and the summoning jutsu guide I had received.

The blank scroll sat on my lap while I skimmed the book, it contained hand seals, a list of summoning clans/species, types of senjutsu, and a general rundown of the clans themselves. It was annoying that I wouldn't get to choose a clan and I would be instead dragged into whichever one would fit me most according to the book, but summoning was still summoning.

I didn't want to just disappear randomly, so I put the scroll and book away and pulled out my skill vouchers. I had 15 1 skill, 6 5 skill, and 2 10 skill vouchers, that was enough to give me 13 levels at least, I brough up my status to look at all jutsu I could possibly level up.

Name: Shin Chinoike

Title: Natural, Prodigy

Title buffs: 35% to exp, higher chance of gaining skills faster.

Birth date: February 26th

Level 98

Hp 210/1172.5

Cp 850/1350

Stam 815/815

Efficiency ?%

Stats

Strength: 100

Vitality: 65

Chakra: 80

CC: 66 (+30 with ketsuryugan activated)

Luck: 45 (+20 due to Fortuna's blessing)

Intelligence: 52

Willpower: 50

Charisma: 50

Stat points remaining: 0

Monthly Lotteries collected: 47(Can be claimed on the first of each month!)

Skills

[Ketsuryugan] level 90 (41%) {click here for details}

[Leaf sticking exercise] Level 76 (12%) {click here for more details}

[Basic Chakra Exercises] level 25 (54%) {click here for more details}

[Lightning style: Flash] level 29 (67%) {click here for more details}

[Lightning style: Lightbulb] level 18 (34%) {click here for more details}

[Cooking] level 21 (44%) {click here for more details}

[Mindscape] level 32 (2%)

[Fire style: Spark] level 1 (93%) {click here for more details}

[Water style: Filter] level 1 (87%) {click here for more details}

[Earth style: Pit] level 1 (45%) {click here for more details}

[Shared Mindscape] level 1 (40%) {click here for more details}

[Misty Fist technique] level 22 (65%) {click here for more details}

[Haze Sword Technique] level 28 (15%) {click here for more details}

[Lightning style: Thunder spear] level 46 (31%) {click here for more details}

[Surface clinging] level 44 (52%) {click here for more details}

[Lightning chakra creation] level 28 (11%) {click here for more details}

[Earth style: Mud wall] level 2 (4%) {click here for more details}

[Blood attunement] level 1 (0%) {click here for more details}

[Fire style: Phoenix Breath] level 17 (44%) {click here for more details}

[Substitution jutsu] level 2 (11%) {click here for more details}

[Genjutsu: False surroundings] level 1 (94%) {click here for more details}

[Fortuna's blessing] level MAX (100%) {click here for more details}

[Infused blood manipulation] level 1 (0%) {click here for more details}

[Tree hopping] level 6 (55%) {click here for more details}

[Lightning style: Current] level 1 (0%) {click here for more details}

[Water style: Water clone] level 1 (0%) {click here for more details}

'Is there a summarised version of this?' I thought while scrolling down the page. I could level up my dojutsu to 100 and see what happened with that, but my other skills were quite lacking in the level department, I rubbed my chin while thinking of what I would need for the future.

Survival skills were useful, but I could level those when I needed to, my taijutsu really needed work and it also wasn't something I could level, I could try and level up the basic chakra exercises to improve my control, if it even did that. I had too many choices and it was getting quite annoying with my growing list of techniques that needed to have time put into them, I decided to hold off using them for now, in case I got calligraphy or a fuinjutsu skill, still needed to go grab my new rhinoceros beetle friend.

After the vouchers were out of sight, Sho popped his head around the bushes with a couple of snow foxes that had been unfortunate enough to hunt late and run into him. They were already dead and were in the process of being skinned while I watched from my seat.

"Hey Sho, I'm going around the continent as I said. Would you like to join me? I need some company for the journey I'm on."

Sho froze for a moment before flipping his knife in his hands and cutting down the corpse's body.

"I don't know, never was a good babysitter. I guess you do need someone to make sure you don't get killed though."

"Babysitter my ass, so is that a, yes?"

"Sure, I don't have anything left here. Let's go grab supplies from my house before we leave tomorrow"

I shot him a smirk before catching the fox he threw at me and holding it over the fire on a stick, he did the same with the other and we engaged in more comfortable chatter than earlier. We had just met but I felt a bond between us form, it wasn't like Yugito, it wasn't like a friend, it wasn't something that scared me, it just felt unfamiliar.

After an hour of discussing various topics, we both got into sleeping bags, and I put out the fire. The snow was cold, and the moon looked like it froze over above the trees, a chill crawled up my spine as a bony black hand reached down my sleeping bag and caressed my body.

I looked around to see if Sho had seen, he was still asleep. A second hand grabbed the bottom of my chin and forced me to look up while the other rubbed my torso. A figure with a torn hood bore into me with its maroon eyes, patterned pupils and sinister smile.

I couldn't make out any other features with the light, I couldn't move my body, only my mind was working, and it was working fucking fast at that. The black hood got closer to my body and so did its face, its hands were reaching dangerous no-no territory and all I could do was watch.

"I have a gift for you."

'What?'

"I have a gift for you."

I couldn't understand its words, but I knew what it said. I have a gift for you, its hand immediately pulled itself out from my pants and settled under my shoulder, the hand on my chin doing the same on the opposite shoulder.

I was lifted up and out of my sleeping bag, standing in place, my legs uncontrollable, only 1 figure stood in front of me. They put their hand on my chest and the figure was sucked into me.

My heart was racing, and I finally gained control of my body, wobbling around a bit before falling backwards and hitting my head on the log I had been seated on hours before, entering unconsciousness.

The next morning

I was shaken awake by Sho, who had a worried look on his face. I blinked a couple of times, bringing my hands up to rub my eyes, they were a bright pink, having been kept in the cold for hours. My health was fully regenerated but I didn't feel refreshed at all.

"Shin, you alright? We need to get going early, I don't know where, but we got the whole day ahead of us."

"Don't worry, I have our first destination in mind. Let's go back to your house to restock, then we can head off."

Sho nodded in agreement, and we ran off into the forest, quickly approaching a small hut that was built on burnt ground. It was nothing special, just a dark wood building with a couple of windows on the walls. Inside of the house was a simple living room, bedroom and kitchen, fit for only one person it seemed.

We walked through the house and raided his pantry for goods. He stocked things into a scroll while I chucked anything I grabbed into my inventory; I only grabbed a couple of cans as to not look suspicious.

I was sitting on the ground outside while Sho grabbed the rest of his things, including heirlooms, pictures and tools. When he walked out, he was in a much better state than yesterday, cleanly shaven, hair tied in a ponytail behind him and a black jumper under his flak jacket. In the light of day, I studied Sho's features as to get a better look at my new companion.

His eyes were a deep jade green, and his hair was black, perfectly matching his jumper. Sho's face was sharp, and his body was quite slim, but still held some muscle that could faintly be seen hugging his tight clothing.

As much as I would have loved to call Sho an old man, he was really only about 29. His features perfectly reflected the idea he was in his prime or just coming out of it.

Sho walked out of the house with a bag full of scrolls on his back. Before catching up to me he pulled out a lighter and a box of cigarettes from his pockets, lighting one up and throwing the lighter back into his pocket with the packet of smokes.

He quickly sped through hand signs, ending on a tiger seal before setting his house alight, no expression crossed his face as we ran down the path, following the directions he ordered using the map.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Set your house on fire"

"Those grounds only held bad memories, I have burnt my bridges to my old life and now I'm starting a new journey. Quite wise huh?"

"Definitely wise, old man."

"I'm only 29!"

"Don't try and sound like an old man then."

"I was just trying to sound wise!"

We kept up our banter throughout our run towards the eastern border, we hadn't crossed any patrols yet, but I wasn't caught up on the news surrounding the war so there could be something going on around the country.

Once we crossed the border at midday, the map became useless and all we had to rely on was the compass we brought. The snow was slowly changing into life filled grass, knowledge said we were heading into the land of hot water, hopefully where I would get a hunter license.

"Hey Sho, we are going to the capital, I need to get a hunter license."

"I should probably get one as well, anything else we need while we are there?"

"Not that I remember, I believe we can relax for a few days at some of the hot springs here."

"Sounds nice, I went to a couple before so we could go to those."

"Sounds like a plan."

We continued to run through the paths, seeing merchant carriages broken on the side of the road and people being very cautious of us. Something was wrong here, and me being the captain obvious I am, blurted this out while Sho thanked me for the contribution.

Soon enough, we found the cause of this problem. 12 bandits were surrounding a carriage, I could hear sobbing inside of it and there was a single guard holding a sword that was bleeding profusely while leaning against the door.

The bandits slowly closed their perimeter around the carriage and the guard made a scream of battle and charged at the one in front of them, slicing him clean in half. 2 other thieves closed in around him and swung their blades, he took 1 slash to the shoulder and decapitated the other thief before they could land their swing.

Sho let out a whistle of applause and I agreed with him, their right arm was useless now, and the left would soon join it, but he still kept fighting. Him fighting on the other side didn't save the carriage from attacks on the other side, a point proven by the screams of a woman being dragged out by her hair and along the dirt path.

The guard ran around the side of the carriage and received a slice to the back for it, he still continued to move around until he saw the bandit holding his blade to the girl's throat.

I moved to the bushes behind the bandits while they had a conversation, however one sided it may have been, with Sho following me.

"Heh heh, now you stay right there. You've killed enough of my boys today, but I've also killed a few of yours, so, since I'm such a great guy, I'll let you leave alive if you go right now. If you don't, you can watch me have fun with your mistress here before we kill you."

"Please let her go, I'm begging of you."

"HAHAHA, if you get on your knees right now and beg for forgiveness while licking my boots maybe I'll forgive you speaking back to me."

The warrior started to get on his knees and the leader threw his mistress to the side, being caught by another flunky on the side. He walked forward and put his boot on the back of the warrior's head, smashing it into the ground while laughing.

I pointed to the bandit that wasn't holding the girl and directed Sho to take care of him while I took down the one with the girl. We moved silently, quickly reaching our targets and taking them down with perfect accuracy, me using a kunai and Sho breaking their neck.

The girl looked quite spooked and screamed out when the hold on her went loose and she turned around seeing her captor's slit throat bubbling and a small child holding a knife.

The leader of the group stopped slamming his foot on the warrior's head and turned around to investigate the commotion, I dropped the body of my target and walked forwards, flicking the blood off of my kunai and blasting my new "Killing intent" skill, it scaled off of my willpower and used stamina, which wasn't used often.

The bandit started to sweat a little but didn't back off, I held my glare and waited for the opportunity I was presenting to be taken. Slowly, the warrior grasped his blade and brought it up to swing, before he was cut down by the bandit he left on the side of the carriage.

The young girl behind me screamed out and I rushed in, using chakra to augment my muscles, I launched into the leader with a drop kick and threw my kunai at the other bandit. The other thieves had run away after my display of killing intent and the leader was out cold on the dirt after my kick, the kunai struck true and embedded itself, handle deep, into the bandit's head.

I turned around at Sho was looking at me in shock, the girl was unconscious and everyone else was dead. I stood there for a few moments before Sho smiled and patted my back roughly.

"I didn't think you would kill him. Is that your first?"

I hadn't told him about Rodriguez, just that I was held for a couple days at the gate.

"No, it isn't."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, no I don't."

Sho left the conversation at that but still cleaned off the kunai I used before handing it back to me. He searched the rest of the bodies while I sat down next to the girl that had gone into some sort of shock from the bloodshed.

When finished, Sho started to walk towards me but quickly rolled to his left while I huddled down to protect the girl's face. A senbon needle embedded itself in the tree behind me.

'I didn't sense any killing intent!' I thought while picking up the girl and taking cover behind the carriage, Sho was still out in the open and would probably start to fight soon.

"Come on out thief, you won't get me that easily." Sho called out into the forest, eyes darting around for any sign of movement.

"Mmm, and why would I do that?" Responded a spectral voice that surrounded the area.

I heard Sho click his tongue loudly, I looked around the side of the carriage and a senbon embedded itself in my shoulder, shaving 75hp off of me and disabling the limb.

"Children shouldn't interfere in the adult's fight. Mmm"

My body involuntarily shivered at the sadistic tone the voice used, I tugged out the needle and activated my eyes, chakra laced the area thinly but didn't impede any sort of sight.

"Shin! Disrupt your chakra flow! We're stuck in a genjutsu." Sho shouted from over the carriage. I moved my chakra sporadically around my body, stuttering the flow and dispelling the genjutsu.

A tall, slim man was walking down the path towards us casually, he held senbon between each of his fingers and my vision started to go hazy. I disrupted my flow once again to narrowly dodge 6 senbon coming at me.

I rolled away from the carriage and placed the girl down at the edge of the path. Quickly taking out 2 kunai and throwing one over the carriage for Sho to use.

We both ran forward towards our enemy and deflected several needles coming our way, I got hit in the legs and shoulder, but I had to keep up and end the fight quickly.

Our enemy vanished and I disrupted my chakra, dissolving the illusion he placed. He made distance by jumping backwards and throwing several more senbon at us, we were forced to stop and block the instruments while he flashed through hand signs.

"Water style: Flowing guardian pillars!" Several large branches of water sprung out from underground and surrounded the man's form. I looked at Sho and he shrugged his shoulders.

I put my hand out in front of me in a grabbing motion, "Lightning style: Thunder spear!" I shouted and threw the newly formed stick of lightning into his defence, only to be met with much resistance from the tendrils of water that moved to protect their master.

The spear pierced 1 branch, then another, before being stopped by a third and slammed into the ground to dissipate. I only used a tenth of my chakra on the jutsu but I still expected a bit more. I put up a wall of mud to block us from view and performed a false surroundings genjutsu while moving to the tree line to my left.

Our enemy's dome of water branches collected into several less, but larger forms. "Water style: Flowing hydra" the larger forms gained crystal blue eyes and large, gaping mouths with razor sharp teeth. There were only 6 heads on the technique, and it seemed to take a lot out of the user just to make them, he was already starting to sweat a bit from my view.

3 of the heads attacked the wall we were hiding behind previously in a pincer attack while the other 3 stayed guard. The wall exploded before their might and much to the user's confusion, we weren't there.

Sho appeared under the ground of the enemy and landed a devastating slash from their lower torso to the upper, just barely clipping his chin before he jumped backwards.

The last 3 heads converged on Sho's position and crashed into him, only to be met with a muddy pile of dirt. The actual Sho blasted from the tree line and landed a devastating jutsu on the defenceless shinobi.

"Wind release: Gale palm!" His palm slammed into the shinobi with amazing force, sending him flying through the air and into a tree.

"GAH! YOU BASTARD!" The shinobi shouted while flying away, waving his hands around to control the heads of water, Sho weaved through them and started his run towards the enemy.

With his attention shifted, I formed another lightning spear silently, the crackling of lightning filled the forest as I slammed the spear through the tree he was leaning against and piercing his stomach.

Bolts of electricity coursed through his body, jumping around his skin and leaving burn marks in their wake. He screamed out in pain and lost control of the hydra jutsu, leaving it to collapse into a small pool on the path.

My jutsu dissipated and he slumped down, seemingly dead or unconscious. I trusted my own power and walked over to Sho, who was sitting on the ground.

I deactivated my dojutsu and sat down next to him, we engaged in a little bit of chatter while recovering some stamina. I had completely forgotten about the girl that was waking up on the ground, she was still shivering while she looked around before calling out to us.

"D-d-did you two do this!?"

"We did the bandits not the other guy."

"U-um well, can you two protect me?"

I never was one for escort quests so I wanted to decline, but this was different, if we left her out here then some unsavoury things could happen.

"I-I'll pay you of course!"

My senses screamed at me, and I rolled to my left, hiding behind the carriage. Sho wasn't as fast and got swallowed by a snake made of water, carrying him away into the forest.

I looked around the carriage at the panting form of one, previously unconscious shinobi, wearing a crossed-out headband with 3 diagonal lines. He reached for a pocket on his jacket and unveiled a pill bottle.

I threw a kunai at the bottle, narrowly missing as he chucked one brown pill into his mouth, growling about some sort of shit tasting drug. Now replenished, the shinobi decided to make some small talk.

"Oi kid, you really did a number on me. How about we join up together?"

"An interesting deal, what will we be doing?"

"Well, I need to fill my quota of course, so mostly murder and odd jobs for money."

"Quota?"

"Yes of course, my quota, 30 bodies a week. All for my lord."

"Alright then, I would like to know the name of my new partner."

I walked out from my spot nonthreateningly and we met in the middle of the path, he stuck his hand out and I grabbed it.

"The names Manzo, what's yours, partner?"

"My name is Shin"

I shook his hand and ignored the cries from the girl next to me, I locked eye contact with Manzo and put my right hand to his side, quickly summoning a kunai and stabbing his side.

"WELL FUCK ME THEN I GUESS, ALRIGHT, EVERYONE IS FUCKING DYING" He shouted while going through hand seals.

"SUMMONING JUTSU. YOU'RE ALL FUCKED NOW"

A 5-meter-tall gecko poofed into existence, over 10 meters in length as well. It waved its tail around and destroyed a few trees, it was bright yellow in colour with red spots covering the body.

"What is it you need Manzo-sama?"

"Hello, Yamono, I need you to help me defeat these kids down here. Lord Jashin will smile upon you greatly for your services."

"I have no need for your lord's approval. *sigh* Why did our summoner have to be so stupid."

The gecko sounded frankly fed up with their summoner's behaviour, the name of his lord freaked me out a bit, but he hadn't tried using that double damage bullshit or immortality, so I thought I was safe.

Manzo took another pill and his veins started to bulge outside of his head, I activated my eyes and saw streams of charka flowing off of his form. He was holding far too much and needed to spend it quickly.

His summon launched towards me at terrifying speeds, wrapping its tail around my neck before flinging me away. I slowly got off of the ground only to be met with a kick from Manzo to the chest, slamming me back down.

"Can't dodge from here, can you? Water style- OOF!" He was launched aside by a dropkick from a battered Sho, he got back up quickly, and I threw him another kunai, only 5 left.

Using our weapons, we raced towards his summon, hoping to finish it off quickly. It opened its mouth and a large blast of wind slammed into me, Sho jumping over and stomping the top of its jaw down into the ground.

The tail curved around and grabbed him off of its head, slamming him a couple of times before launching Sho into the carriage, causing splinters to fly away.

The girl had already run and hid away among the trees, Sho was out of commission, it was only me to fight against an amped Manzo and his summon.

At least, I thought Sho was out of commission, he had already risen up from his spot and started to get closer to Manzo, who was watching me fight with a grin on his face.

I dodged another bullet of wind and tried to parry the tail that was about to slap me, the strength proved to be too much, and I was launched away down the path.

My hp was sitting at exactly 300 now, my strength boost was at 6x and that meant I was in mortal danger according to the system. With the new boost, I ran back into the fight, wielding a spear of lightning in my right hand and a kunai in my left.

Several wind bullets were launched at me, I slid, hopped and ducked under them all and when the tail attack came, I took the hit and grabbed on with my kunai stabbed into it, costing me another 120 hp.

The summon roared in pain while looking at me, I threw my spear with all my might, straight into its mouth. Its body jolted and twisted before poofing back into smoke.

On my right, Sho had trapped Manzo in a stealthy water prison during my fight and was trying his best to hold the missing nin. Manzo was slowly drowning but was much closer to breaking out than dying.

The bubble burst and Sho was flung back from the force, Manzo was panting, and it was just him and me. We ran towards each other him throwing several senbon at me while I deflected them, we met at the edge of the path, my kunai was about to slash off his arm, but a metal brace under his clothes blocked it and he kicked away my weapon.

My strength was far greater than his currently, my now 7x boost made me around the same strength as him with full energy. I had half my reserves left while he had most of his still in the tank, we both had advantages in the fight, but his experience gave him the edge.

I was being thrown around like a ping pong ball, every hit I'd land would do good damage, but he would land 4 more in my place. 'My bones cracked long ago; I need to finish this quick' I thought while taking another hit.

I spun with one of his punches and attempted to stab him with a thunder spear, he grabbed my forearm and broke the arm at the elbow with his knee.

I yelled out in pain but was quickly silenced by an uppercut from Manzo, flinging me up into the air while going through hand signs. My leg was grabbed by a water tendril, and I was slammed onto my back, I had just 40hp left, one more hit and I would die.

Sho burst out of the forest and landed a mean kick into Manzo's neck, flinging him away like a ragdoll. Instead of following up, Sho attempted to heal my arm, it hurt like a bitch and Manzo got back up quickly.

With the quick healing I got back over 100hp, either I had a pitiful amount of hp or Sho was an amazing medic. We both stood up, I only had 1 useful arm, Sho was battered, but Manzo was just as bad. He slowly walked towards us while going through hand seals.

"Water style: Water trumpet" A huge wave of water flowed from his mouth and engulfed us both. I pushed Sho out of the way and he stayed far from the wave.

When it settled, I was on 10hp, I knew it was probably the end of my life, I did say probably though. I pulled my jutsu vouchers out, confusing everyone, and absorbed them, hoping for a good technique.

"Skills gained! "True red world genjutsu (A – RANK)" "Wind style: Vacuum sphere (B – RANK) "Water style: Water bullet (C – RANK)" "Fire style: Great fireball jutsu (C – RANK)"

Manzo stepped onto the water and continued his march towards me. I couldn't use handseals, I couldn't use lightning, I couldn't use close quarters, I couldn't win.

He finally got within arm's length of me. Manzo just stared into my eyes, he was panting, his lips were bloody and bruised, he probably couldn't see with his left eye considering all the blood flowing down his face, we were both on our last legs.

I really didn't want to spend my skill points, but there was no choice. I had 57 saved and another 70 in vouchers waiting, I put 20 into my physical tree, gaining another 6cm in height instantly and gaining 1000 more maximum hp. 10 were used in my spiritual tree, my eyes evolved even further, and my mental resistance became greater. I saved 7 and used 20 in the chakra tree, getting a new passive skill and my chakra reserve boost was 40% instead of 20%, bringing my total reserve number to 2210.

My new eyes had a second dot under the dash in the middle and were in the style of a division symbol (÷). They glowed a bit before settling and I looked up at Manzo, my boost was at its maximum possible, 10x.

This meant my strength was 1000, with just 400 I could throw Rodriguez through a steel door and kill him easily. I felt my sanity slipping as I drew upon the boost, my vision became red, but my mental resistance even worked against the system, I was feeling in control, if a little laggy in a way.

I reeled back my unbroken arm and Manzo put up a hand to catch it, he hadn't seen my strength earlier against the summon so he must have thought I was doing one last ditch attack.

I threw the punch forward, chakra enhancing my muscles, system enhancing my strength, desperation forcing it to hit. It landed. His hand broke on contact and my fist rocketed towards his head, a sickening crunch ran out through the forest as my knuckles cracked through his jaw, then cheekbones, then he was launched. My battle was won.

Uh hey. This took a while to get out cause of last week of school bs with making tests and shit all now, but at least I got it out right? This is my first try at long style combat, tell me if you enjoyed it, if it was a drag, whatever. Heres a couple of answers to reviews I got while I wrote this.

TrumpasaurusRex: Ah! I remember you! I just wrote down the firs tname that came to mind, he was supposed to just be a steppingstone for Shin and his future and present developments, and also to show off berserker path.

Aisu Fenn: Your review made me want to finish this chapter a lot quicker just to write my response, than you so much for the kind words. Feel free to curse on reviews, I read them all so I'm sure I'll see way more colourful language than what you wrote here.

I think I might rewrite the first few chapters at some point to give a better feeling of the series now and in the future. Not now though, I want to continue writing the story first before rewriting. Quick question, does Shin feel too strong?

That's all for now - tired