Chapter 3: Forging paths, friendships, and weapons
~Naruko's Appartment~
Bathroom
Naruko was resting in her bath letting the hot water cleanse ways her troubles as she thought about what had transpired in the last hours. When they had gotten back home it was just past 8:30 in the morning. Yet for Uzumaki, as it all started to sink in, it felt like a lifetime had passed since yesterday and today.
'I went to sleep yesterday dreading that after today it would be another week of school and another week of failure at learning.' she thought and almost felt her mood dip at those memories. Then she heard little splashes and turned to look at Benihime. The fairy was in a small bucket with water they heated in the kitchen. Seeing the creature swim about the improvised pool made her smile. 'Now I have this little fairy and incredible powers that bend reality into a mockery of itself.'
"What are you thinking about there?" Benihime asked while resting her head over her crossed arms on the rim of the bucket. "A copper for your thoughts."
"Just one copper?" the blonde raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "Damn, guess I better start dumping all of my points on my intelligence from now on!" she added over-dramatically which cause the redhead to giggle. "But for real… I was thinking of how you changed so much for me in just a couple of hours. Thank you."
"Don't worry, I was created to help you and be your companion."
"Still, its more than anyone has ever done for me. I mean sure, Jiji pays the bill, Iruka-sensei takes me to ramen and Ichiraku-san cooks the ramen alongside his daughter. But none of them have ever given me something that makes me feel like my dream isn't just that."
"What is your dream if I maybe ask?"
"I tell everyone it's to be Hokage so that everyone can look up to me and they wouldn't ignore me. But…" here the fairy saw her mistress become silent for a few moments. In those blue eyes, the redhead could see small traces of regret like the blonde had betrayed someone. Then the girl started talking again "But I know that's the wrong reason to become the leader of this village. Still being Hokage is about the only goal I have to strive for."
"Why do you think that? You're a strong girl with a lot of talent. Something you showed plenty of during that dungeon! I'm sure they're a lot of things you could do!"
"Not in this village." Naruko snarked with enough poison on her tone to kill a man. Then a righteous glare was directed to the tiles of the walls as if they were all to blame for the whiskered girl's problems. "Did you know I don't even know how to read or write? Pretty sure that only reason I haven't had problems understanding that words written in the text-boxes are because of a safeguard in the system that makes it so that even an idiot can use it!"
"Wait, you don't know how to read or write? But you're twelve!"
"Well, no one has ever bothered to teach me or even though ask me if I did know or not. It's one of the biggest reasons I always fail my exams. It's a vicious cycle really that starts like this: I can't read or write so I can't take note, because I have no note I can't study since I can't study I can't answer the questions which I can't even guess the answer to because I can't read them in the first place. *sigh* About the only good thing about all of this is that I've learned to fake how to write."
"How do you fake knowing how to write?" the pixel winged girl asked incredulously. In response, the Uzumaki just shrugged and rose her hand to mimic writing.
"I tried to copy the arm and hand movements of the students writing their answers."
"Does that even work?" Benihime questioned. Already her mind was imagining all the possibilities towards information gathering that this skill could offer to the young kunoichi in training. Then the academy student answer.
"I've started getting 30 and 40 points in the latest exams so I'm guessing it does work."
"Those are still failing grades!"
"Even at 30 points, it's still double what I normally got before I started doing that!"
After that, there was a long pause between the two females. The larger of the two didn't talk because of both embarrassment and frustration at her particular problem at this age. The smaller of the two however from confusion, anger, and admiration. The confusion over why this young girl had been abandoned by people in such a way. Anger about how she was left to fend for herself with so few tools that people normally took for granted. Then admiration over the level of determination shown to keep fighting and adapting to a world that seemed to try and put her down at every turn. All of this made the fairy vow to help her mistress even more not just because it was her job but because this girl needed that.
"Okay… I think we just found a new long-term quest for you." Benihime commented as she started to code a new quest in a new screen. Naruko rose an eyebrow at that line before pouting.
"That means I have to go to the library, doesn't it?"
"Yes, among another thing," she answered as she kept fine-tuning a list of quests for the gamer. "The game store has many things you can buy but it's still best to buy things from this world if you can."
"Why?" the blonde asked in confusion while sat cross-legged in the bath to better see what the fairy was working on. Regretfully all she could see in the small screen with symbols that she couldn't understand. So, she continued with the questioning about the shopping the fairy mentioned. "Why do I need to buy things from outside when I can buy armor, weapons, skill books, food, clothing, and even house or ninja supplies from the shop?"
"Because most of the things in the store are magical items that while, yes very helpful, have their limits based on your experience. Hence the more you know of the world the more options become available to you." the Navi replied with a small smile. Then she made another screen appeared. "Plus, the more you explore that more detailed your map of the world becomes. It will also open up the possibility of Fast Travel to key locations."
With that, she lightly threw the screen at the blonde. The screen slowly floated towards the Uzumaki until it stopped before her. Then it expanded until showed a perfect map of her apartment building from the outside. Then the map zoomed in until it represented a perfect top-down view is her apartment. To her amazement, everything was there with a legend on the lower side which she could toggle to highlight or turn off different objects. Then she noticed the fast travel flag over the windows and exit/entrance door.
"Fast Travel? Wait, is that like Return/Zoom from Dragon Quest?"
"Yep, with it, you will be able to return to key locations on the map at any given point so long as you don't have a ceiling over your head. If you try it indoors you'll just end up crashing headfirst into the roof."
"Well, that's awesome. It will make going a vacation so much easier."
"Sure, but you will have to walk to those places first."
"Guess that's it then," Naruko concluded before standing up. As she got out and started drying herself with a towel she added: "Let's get dress and explore the town."
Benihime nodded, closed the screen she was working on and floated to her mistress to get dried as well. Once the girls were nice and dry Naruko walked towards her bedroom while drying her hair. Sure, it was nowhere near as long as Sakura or Ino's but it still reached a little past her shoulders. That meant it was still a pain to fully dry. Either way, she reached her bedroom and looked for a new set of clothes to wear. That meant another jumpsuit.
"Please tell me you're not using that jumpsuit again." the fairy begged once she saw another copy of the orange monstrosity.
"It's the only thing I have to wear." the gamer once more pouted. The Navi just looked at her with a flat look.
"You have 150 gold from your first real quest. Pretty sure if you can go to the Style clothing shop and you could find something."
"Will it be in orange?"
"Yes, but please don't make it too flashy okay?"
Nodding at that option Naruko opened up her menu screen and looked for the shop tab. Finding it she clicked on it and another screen appeared to show her the clothing section. In her previews quest the hidden reward "Unlock Costumes" had been a pretty nifty thing when she looked at it. That reward had unlocked sub-tab in the equipment screen which was used for her to put on any style of clothing she wanted. With this did she could now wear any clothing while also wearing armor who's image would be "overwritten" by the clothes or costume.
In theory, she could go around in a bikini if she wanted to and still have all the defensive capabilities of wearing full plated armor. In practice, the clothing worked as the perfect disguise to make everyone believe she was just a civilian instead of a fully armed kunoichi ready for battle. Add to this the fact that her main weapon was never "on her" it was perfect for completely hiding her potential. Hence, she went for something she found "cool looking" to fool people into thinking she was just another child playing ninja. Naruko ended up looking at the following:
{COSTUMES}
White shirt with the Final Fantasy logo (45 copper coins)
Pair of black jean shorts (25 copper coins)
Pair of black and orange striped knee pads (15 copper coins)
Blue King Slime wristwatch from Dragon Quest (24 copper coins)
Pair of black combat boots with orange flames in the toes and sides (29 copper coins)
Black zipper jacket with orange striped sleeves and hood with a red spiral on its back. The hood was also in the shape of an orange fox head with little black ears and red eyes. (55 copper coins)
'All of this and its only worth one silver and 93 copper coins!' Naruko thought in surprise at the low prices she saw and thought 'Either things are cheap in this shop or I'm being ripped off to high heaven in this village… Dammit, it's probably later.'
Sighing at the fact people just loved making her life hell she bought the articles of clothing and put them on. She noticed that by putting clothes in the style section made it so that neither of them gave her defense boosts. Still, they did make her feel not just pretty but comfortable even if leaving the jacket opened made that people and perverts would see her already developed chest. Normally she used the jumpsuit to hide that so that people wouldn't get ideas. This especially so when she was way bigger than any girl in her class considering she was sure that she was the only that could currently wear bras. Plus it kind of messed a little with her image given how her height didn't match the chest. Still, she shook that off and decided to look for better equipment since these clothes didn't even put a dent on her money.
Hence, she went looking for real armor and there she found out a few things. First was that armor was divided into three categories: heavy, medium and light. Heavy-type like one would expect, gave by far the best defense giving that most were made of metal but unless one had a mastery over such equipment the user suffered a penalty to their speed. Thus, she ignored it and looked at the other options starting with the next level medium. Like she guessed this type had the second-best defense out of the three types and the best was it didn't restrict a person's movements. The description also commented that in this category there existed a subcategory that held a type of armor made from enchanted or magical materials that made it as strong or stronger than steel. Finally, there was light armor which held almost nothing in defense giving it was mostly made up of robes and clothing however most if not all of them were enchanted to help the wearer channel mana from their body or nature and into their spells.
'Well, for ninja mobility is a must so the heavy class is immediately disqualified. That leaves me with medium or light.' Naruko thought as she weighs the pros and cons of the two remaining classes. Then she remembered how difficult the last dungeon was because of her low defense. 'Medium armor it is.'
With that though she opened the tab for the classes and her eye twitched at what she saw. Besides the leather armor set everything else was locked away because of her low level. Since the next set of armor would not unlock until she was level six Naruko bought the set. The prices and bonus of the equipment were the following:
{EQUIPMENT}
Leather helmet |Common| [90 copper coins]
+8DEF and 2 Style
Leather armor |Common| [175 copper coins]
+12DEF and 2 Style
Leather braces |Common| [50 copper coins]
+5DEF and 2 Style
Leather boots |Common| [50 copper coins]
+5DEF and 2 Style
Naruko laughs somewhat at the idea that she was wearing boots inside of boots but was more than happy about how much her defense had risen. Her natural defense was just a miserable 8 but thanks to this new armor she was at 38 with this set. Regretfully and thankfully(?) she could not attach the insect shoulder guard because the leather armor already had shoulder pads. Nevertheless, with that done the blonde went to buy a better weapon. Sure, her rusty scythe had been upgraded twice already but she knew sooner or later the rusty part of its name was going to bite her in the butt.
Therefore, she quickly looked for a replacement. This new weapon turned out to be a scythe with a bronze blade which appeared to be the original form of her first weapon before it became rusted. Not thinking twice, the blonde bought the new weapon even if it was slightly weaker than the upgraded rusty one.
{EQUIPMENT}
Bronze Scythe |Common| [150 copper coins]
+8ATK
Funny enough once she equipped the weapon, she felt a tingle around her right middle finger. Raising her hand to look she chuckled at seeing a bronze ring on her middle finger with a small insignia of a small fox holding a scythe with its paws. Why it was a fox or how she could tell it was one Naruko couldn't tell. However, she did find it cute and couldn't help but smirk at the implication that every time she was summoning the weapon, she was, in essence, flipping her enemy off.
"That's enough for now," Benihime commented upon seeing that the blonde was about to go into the book section of the store. "Let's go outside and explore!"
"But what about buying a spell? I want to do magic!" the Uzumaki pouted with a quivering lip. From experience, she knew that normally made people cave into her demands. The fairy, however, was immune as she shook her head with a smile.
"Sorry to say this but while the system may not have warned you the reality is that you can only learn two spells and/or skill books every week. You already used one chance with the entomology skill and if you use the other one now you wouldn't be able to learn Blacksmithing which means you wouldn't be able to the forge tonight."
"Okay good point." the whiskered youth acknowledge upon remembering those rewards from the quest. Therefore, she went for the next best thing and bought the following consumable items:
{CONSUMABLE ITEMS}
Medical Herbs x25 [08cc each]
Antidote Herbs x25 [08cc each]
Eye Drops x25 [10cc each]
Echo Herbs x25 [12cc each]
Cold Herbs x25 [14cc each]
Heat Herbs x25 [14cc each]
Coagulants x25 [20cc each]
Gold Needles x25 [20cc each]
Smelling Salts x25 [20cc each]
1 Zippo Lighter with the 4-star dragon ball painted on its sides [2 silver]
The blonde gave at small whistle at seeing such a huge spending spree only costing her just 40 silver and 58 copper coins. At the prices of this village, just half of that would normally cost her twice if not triple that price. Yet she felt a questioned look directed at her which made her turn to a worried fairy.
"Naruko-chan… Why did you buy a Zippo lighter?"
"I still have some sake from the dungeon. If I spit it on the flame of the lighter it would create a small fireball attack."
"Is there something I should know about you and fire?!"
"That I considered it a perfectly good distraction to one escape if the need should arise."
"I worry about you Naruko-chan."
The girl ignored the comment and was about to leave the apartment when she came back to her bedroom for the green goggles. With a smile at the item, she grabbed them and put on her head like a makeshift hairband. This made her bangs fall over the goggles but not her eyes while the rest of her hair pooled around her shoulders.
Now with her new look ready, she exited her apartment at which point a new quest window materialized in front of her.
~ New Quest! ~
[(Collectible) Explore your village!]
[Description – You've lived your whole life in this village but do you know where everything is? Why not take a day or two to see if you can find some important places to visit? How knows, maybe you'll find an adventure or two!]
[Mission: Find interesting places]
[Reward #1: Each important spot will become a Fast Travel point
Reward #2: Each spot found gives 5XP]
[Will you accept this quest? YES/NO]
"That seems straightforward enough," Naruko commented with an enthusiastic smirk.
"I aim to please!" Benihime bowed before floating over to the whiskered girl's head. Then she sat there while slightly resting against the goggles.
"Comfortable?" the kunoichi in training asked while trying to look up. "I mean, I can't feel your weight up there but still. Aren't you worried people may see you?"
"Not really I was made with a special self-cloaking ability that makes me invisible to humans that can't see mana."
"Isn't mana just chakra? Also, wouldn't I look like a crazy person talking to thin air?"
"Mana is purer energy to an almost spiritual degree. That's also the reason why your Spirit raises your MP. As for the crazy talk…" the fairy responded before she started looking for something. When the item was found she gave it to the Uzumaki. The device looked like a much smaller wireless radio communicator colored in white. "Here. Put this on one of your ears. It creates a small cloak around your head that hides the fact your talking to me. To everyone else, it will look like your singing something in a low voice or you didn't move your lips. It also covers any sound made by either one of us."
At the explanation, Naruko thanked the fairy and placed the item on her right ear. She felt a quick tingle that made her shake a little but other than the brief moment nothing happened. The Navi promised her that everything was working correctly so with a nod the gamer proceeded to exit the apartment building.
With no real destination in mind and her wristwatch saying it was still 10:28 am Naruko just decided to walk around the village. During her whole life, she has managed to survive through luck and instincts so she chose to let the fates work their magic. Hence, she walked in random directions to see what would happen. It was during this walk that she found a few shops here and there that were marked on the map but none triggers the fast travel icons. It was starting to get irritating and she was about to start walking to a place she knew when something caught her eye around one of the alleyways.
Normally a normal person would have ignored such a thing given that areas like that were where you ended up getting stabbed and robbed of your belongings. Naruko Uzumaki however, was anything but normal which is why she went straight for that alley with a second thought. What she found strange however was that she noticed that people looked into the alley and then quickly looked away while picked up their pace. This made the blonde picked up her own pace towards that alley. She remembered that type of behavior from when she was six and she still bared the ugly jagged scar right where her liver is.
Sure enough, there was a man at the end of the alley the even at this distance reeked of cheap alcohol. The drunkard was yelling at something being held by his left hand as his right fist hand already connected with what he was holding. Benihime gasped as she noticed the women shaking on weak legs so much that they were only holding her because the man had her by the hair.
~New Quest~
[Affinity Quest: Resolve the incident]
[Description – Something caught your eye and you decided to investigate. Now you found a woman in distress! Will you choose to save her or walk away?]
[WARNING! The system will not give a reward for this quest. Whatever rewards you gain will be based on the results of your actions and what the affected person thinks of you.]
"You aren't so proud now that your bitch isn't here to protect you, huh?!" the drunk man yelled into the woman's face. The female was either brave or had accepted her fate and wanted to go with dignity because spat her bloody saliva at his face. That seemed to enraged him a great deal and was about to deliver another punch her if not for the metal trash can lid that nailed him on the face.
As he yelled in pain and held his face, he let go of the woman who fell on her knees. Naruko having known that an opening that was about to appear had taken off running behind the trash lid. Not a moment after the lid hit, she was already close to the man and proceeded to do a jump kick him straight to his side. The original assailant didn't stand a chance and was sent toppling to the ground in great pain. Then when Naruko landed and place herself between the man and woman was she used Scan on her new opponent.
Hoyo Lv? ~Obsess Ex~ (Drunk)
HP ?
MP ?
ATK ?
DEF ?
SPD ?
INT ?
Those results made the kunoichi click her tongue in frustration and worry. Whoever this Hoyo was his level was way over her own. A level 3 miniboss had already proved to be a problem and now she just walked into a fight with a human clearly above her abilities. Then to make matters worse she noticed the man's clothes and it made her curse. The drunkard was wearing the same type of outfit Iruka-sensei wore so that meant she was at the very least a Chunin.
"Who… Who are you?" a voice behind her asked in surprise. Naruko turned her head slightly look over the female in distress. The woman looked to be between her mid-twenties to very early thirties. Had the most striking light blonde hair that almost looked like transparent gold. The one eye that could visible was brilliant amethyst, regretfully the other was closed because of a black eye. The next thing the whiskered girl noticed about the was that she was extremely pale almost as if someone forgot to color her. Then to top it off the woman was wearing a very form-fitting forest green cheongsam that reached her knees. To finish the look, she had a pair of green sandals.
"Right now, I'm your savior." Naruko proclaimed proudly with a smile. Yet at seeing her face the woman gasped. The Uzumaki knew and dreaded that type of gasp.
"You're the demon child!" the injured woman exclaimed in surprise at seeing the most hated person in the village standing before her. The whiskered girl frowned at that but returned her gaze at the drunk getting up. Right now, he had a more pressing matter.
"You demon bitch!" he growled trying to get up. "You'll pay for this!"
"Really now?" Naruko taunted while readying herself for battle. Benihime also started floating about ready to help out. "I like to see you try!" she added with a bit more bravado. Then she felt a hand roughly grabbed her right arm and started pulling her away from the alleyway.
"No! We run now!" the albino woman screamed as she pulled the Uzumaki as hard as she could while running away.
"What the-" was all Naruko and Benihime could say as the woman pulled them away.
"GET BACK HERE WITH MY WOMAN!" Hoyo screamed in utter rage.
Soon enough the two humans plus fairy were running/flying through the street, stalls and other alleys to escape the drunkard. Naruko was truly surprised at how well the woman ran through the streets and almost smile at how easily they evaded that fight. That thinking seemed to tempted fate just the right amount as the dagger flew right by her face and embedded itself into the woman's thigh. The albino screamed in pain and fell on the ground. The moment that happened people started screaming and giving that the "demon brat" was there soon the blame was being sent her way.
"Get away from my wife you demon!" a familiar voice demanded. "How dare you chance and stab her, you monster?!" It seemed dear Hoyo managed to get to some of his senses and used her bad publicity as a shield for his activities. "I'll kill you for that!"
At that shout, he practically threw himself at the child and the fairy yelled for her to dodge. Yet the kunoichi in training just knew that if she moved now her opponent would continue moving a probably kill the albino female. Then he would probably say that it was her doing, that she tricked him into killing his love and the next thing she knew that whole village would be asking for her head.
In moments the sound of a blade cutting through flesh was heard round the streets. People remained silent in shock at was just transpired. As blood dripped on the ground, even the attacker was left speechless at how things turned out. After all, it was not every day you saw someone stop a knife by using their hand as a shield. Then the demon brat firmly grasped the hand wielding the jagged dagger with enough force to surprise the man.
"You know that the best part of being this close?" Naruko asked with a vicious grin forming on her lips. Then as she rose her eyes to meet her attacker's some of the people swore the demon's eyes were glowing with blue dust. Only the woman she was protecting managed to see a rusted kunai appearing in the young girl's right hand. "I don't have to aim!"
With that yell, the child quickly flickered her arm and wrist. The kunai vanished and the next thing everyone knew Hoyo was screaming bloody murder while clutching his face were the knife had just stabbed him through the eye. As the man screamed he had let go of the dagger still sticking on the Uzumaki's left hand. Seeing an opening and throwing caution to the wind Naruko grabbed the knife and ripped it out of her hand.
[Warning! The user had been afflicted with Bleeding status!]
The whiskered girl ignored that message and grasps the jagged dagger with both of her hands. Then with a scream of her own, she ran at the drunkard with the blade sideways. The man opened his one good eye just in time to see the demon brat already on him. The poor excuse for a shinobi didn't have a chance to move out of the way as he was stabbed. He and every other male present wished he had been stabbed in the stomach too bad Naruko hadn't raised her arms that high.
As the drunkard clutched whatever was left of his wounded manhood Naruko looked around for anything else to hit her opponent with. She found it in the form of a bicycle from one of the pedestrians surrounding them. Before anyone could see, asked or deny her plan she had grabbed the bicycle ran to Hoyo and smash the entire vehicle, side first, on his head. After that, she used a quick coagulant to cure her bleeding and ran to the albino woman that was still on the ground. Not even asking for permission the Uzumaki lifted her in a princess carry and soon both of them were out of there.
"Quick! Tell me where you were taking us!" Naruko demanded at the surprised woman. "I'm pretty sure I just stunned him with those attacks at most!"
"Oh yes! You need to…" the woman then explained the directions where she was tacking them. Benihime quickly memorized said directions and created a moving green arrow just a few feet ahead of her mistress. The fairy then hastily explained that the arrow was programmed to signal where they need to move to reach their new destination. The gamer gave a fast thank you and forced herself to run faster. Only the Navi noticed how the kunoichi was unconsciously fulling her legs with chakra to run faster.
In moments they arrived at what looked like a café from the outside. Naruko managed to stop herself from crashing into the doors when they got there. Hence, she was able to push them open without breaking the glass. She completely ignored the other woman in uniform cleaning or stepping on tables. Instead, she looked for the closest chair and place the woman on it. Then she looked at the dagger stuck on the woman's thigh.
"Don't pull it!" the purple eye female protested. "I think it hit an artery!" At those words, Naruko frowned because she didn't know if that was correct but she did know if it was true the woman could bleed out before they could get help. Then just like that, her eye widened and she smirked.
"Don't worry about that lady." the jacket wearer announced while grabbing the handle of the dagger. "I got it covered." After that, she ignores the protest of all the women in the room and yanked the dagger out. The albino female understandably screamed in pain but Naruko quickly applied a coagulant to the wound which stopped the bleed immediately. Next, she cast First Aid three times on the woman who briefly glowed green as the spell took effect. After the glow ended, she was back to normal except a few scraps around her lips and right eye that hadn't heal completely.
"There. That should keep you from losing your leg or your life." the whiskered girl announced to the surprise of everyone in the room.
"How?" the purple-eyed female asked in a surprised gasp alongside her companions. The gamer just chuckled softly at that.
"It's a basic healing jutsu I learned to quickly heal small wounds," she explained/lied while getting back up. Then she proceeded to look around the establishment before asking "By the way, are you sure this place is safe? I'm pretty sure that guy is going to be looking for blood after what I did."
"What did she do? / Why were your hurts? / What's happening here? / Why is the demon brat here?!" Those and many similar questions greeted her after the women finally got there senses back. Naruko was about to decide to just walk out and wait for the drunkard to find her so she could lead him away from here when the woman she saved yelled.
"Enough girls!" the albino ordered with a great deal of authority. Immediately all of the uniformed females became silent. "Her name is Naruko Uzumaki and from now on this place will be a haven for her. So, I suggest you drop your problems with her because as far as I'm concerned, she's a hero. Do you understand?"
At that command, the gamer and fairy heard the females start apologizing, agreeing or thanking the Uzumaki for saving their employer. At that, the Naruko blinked and looked at the albino for answers. The older female chuckled and was about to introduce herself but was interrupted by the 12-year old's stomach growling out of hunger.
"Guess saving ladies in dark alleys from evil men can be starving work. Okay, girls! Bring out a helping of our special dish for my little heroine!"
After that, the woman asked Naruko to sit while they waited for the food. Then she introduced herself as Ming-Ming and the owner of this bar called The Mint Lily. She also promised that while she would not dare serve liquor to a minor her doors would always be opened to the small Uzumaki. Naruko looked around the bar and while she had never been in one before she could tell this one was designed to look conformable. The bar top like all other tables was made of well polished and cleaned wood. Behind it was a large collection of bottles ready to serve. The tables were placed about in small groups around the right side of the establishment and close to an arena were a band or musician could play for the patrons.
Then on the left side, the whiskered girl noticed two billiard tables, an air hockey table and on the wall a dartboard she given that shape of the darts Naruko could tell it was the safe magnet type. Then the Uzumaki also noticed some paint around the walls. What surprised her about these paintings was that most of not all were of women either hugging, pressing their foreheads together or holding hands in different positions in very romantic settings. The blue-eyed girl blushes more than once at some of them. She had only seen such display of affection in a manga or two she had very well hidden in her room. She had always thought of it like a dirty little secret that she would never let anybody, not even Jiji. Yet here was this adult woman and owner of her store displaying such forbidden scenes.
That woman noticed the girl's reaction to the paintings and worriedly asked her if they made her uncomfortable. The smaller blonde blush and shook her head but did ask why there were so many paintings of so many different pretty ladies being friends all about. Ming-Ming giggles at how the little girl seemed to stress the word friend when describing the paintings. The giggle just made the Uzumaki blush harder and wish the ground swallowed her. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see the owner smiling gently at her. Naruko would call it almost motherly if she knew how that felt.
"It's okay dear. You don't have to worry about hiding it here." the purple-eyed woman stated reassuringly. Then she pointed to the paintings with her head "Those are portraits of lesbian couples out on romantic dates. I put them on the walls to remained and help the girls that come understand that their feelings are normal. It okay to feel different when you see everyone else attracted to the opposite sex unlike you but that doesn't mean it wrong."
"Wha…wait you're the same!?" Naruko exclaimed in amazement at the possibility of finding someone like her. Then she heard a chuckle as her plate of fried rice that was filled with different types of meat.
"The owner, as well as most of us, employs and our customers are lesbians looking for a place to relax and find girls of like minds. Though from time to time we do get a straight girl of two looking to get away from men or maybe experience what it's like." a girl with black hair in a high pony-tail and brown eye said. Naruko took a look female and noticed she was around 18-20 at best wearing the establishment's uniform which consisted of dark forest green and black pants.
"Thank you, Rinka-chan." the owner told to the employee.
"My pleasure Ming-sama." Rinka responded with a bow. Then she turned towards the whiskered girl and bowed low. "Thank you again for saving her for us. She is more than just an employer for many of us. So, you have my gratitude as well as the girls."
Naruko and Benihime then heard multiple agreements alongside pleasantries that for once in the Uzumaki's life felt genuine. Therefore she nodded thanks and welcomes at the females before digging into her food. It wasn't ramen but that didn't take away how incredible it tasted which she informed with a grin. That had won her a few points with the cooks. After that, the Uzumaki proceeded to make small talk with the owner or employ that would pass by.
There she learned a few things like that The Mint Lily was a very popular place among kunoichi. Because of this, they ended up with a lot of civilian girls and women wanting to explore a new side of themselves. Also, this place worked with an expectation of privacy and became a haven for those that wanted to keep their private lives private. The talking was going so well and natural that Naruko and Ming-Ming had forgotten about the episode that had made them cross paths until the door opened. The people plus fairy look to the entrance and gasped.
After all, it was not every day that the one and only Hokage walks into your bar. Due to the constant exposure to them, from either being around the Hokage or being chased by them, Naruko knew he was flanked by two ANBU though it was still hard to pinpoint where they were hiding. Either way, the owner and employees got up to bow to the leader of the village with the proper reverence for the man. Naruko just stayed in her chair and yelled "Hello Jiji!" before she went back to finishing her food. The old man chuckled over both the girl's way of addressing him and the slightly mortified look on some of the women.
"You know, one of these days I'll make you can be Hokage-sama." Sarutobi commented with a smirk. It was kind of refreshing being called like that. Not even his sons or grandson showed so little respect for his title. Naruko in response just shrugged like every other time he had said that.
"Just wait until I become an official kunoichi. Then I'll give you the proper respect during the process of getting and delivering missions." the Trickster Queen told with a smirk. Then she asked, "By the way, why are you here?" In response to the thing, the Hokage pull out a wanted poster with the Uzumaki's face printed on it. The women and fairy gasped at the printed face grinning while the owner of said face laughs heartily. "Wow, they actually pulled those out again? The last time I saw them was when I accidentally drank your coffee two years back!"
At the mention of that dark and terrible day, the people shivered at the memory. Naruko even heard an "I still have nightmares of that day." coming from one of the chairs. She quickly but discretely used Scan in that area. All she got for her troubles was the sight of a human outline covered in static standing beside the chair. It made her raise an eyebrow at the fact she didn't even a name but shucked it up to the ANBU using a cloaking jutsu that hid them even from her ability.
The Hokage, on the other hand, raised his eyebrow at having felt the young girl release that small burst of chakra around the room. Normally with the small dose used and how it was dispersed people would not have sensed it. However, he was a trained shinobi with decades worth of experience under his belt which meant he was able to tell a sensing technique being used. It did make him wonder how the girl learned such a jutsu considering she had never shown skill before.
'Maybe she's a later bloomer?' he thought while he remembered such chases happening from time to time over his many years of service. Still, that was a question for another day as right now she had to deal with a situation that had come to his attention.
"Student Uzumaki and Ming-san, it has come to my attention a situation has happened between you two and a third party. From the reports giving by police, it seemed that you, student Uzumaki, have kidnapped Ming-san from one shinobi of Chunin rank named Hoyo. Then during your escape with the victim, you injured Hoyo by way of stabbing him in the eye and his nether regions. Then you hit him in the head with a bicycle before running away once more with the victim. Is this all true Student Uzumaki?" Sarutobi questions with the same professional voice you would expect him to use when interrogation en enemy shinobi.
He had used that tone because he wanted everyone to know how serious this situation was. Just by entering here he could tell the kidnapping part of the report was completely bogus. However, that still left that part where the resident pariah of the village was seen attacking a ranked shinobi in the middle of the street. Normally he could ignore her pranks and slightly random acts of chaos that she used to mask acts of petty revenge against people that wronged her for two reasons.
The first one is an arrangement he made with the ANBU Commander to use the little Uzumaki's little acts of mayhem as training for new and old recruits since the girl had proven to be very devious when it came to making traps or finding escape routes. That alone had helped a great deal of them detect possible deathtraps, alarm or hidden passages when they were out in the field though they would deny that even on their last breath. The second reason was that all of the running and escaping help teach and train the young kunoichi those same aspects in a way that people would not fight back with excuses for him playing favoritism.
Yet now he found himself in a position where he might very well not be able to save the girl. He smirked internally when he noticed the little Trickster Queen didn't even bat an eye at his tone. She was so calm and collected she could even take another bite of her food. Then he noticed Ming-san was the first adult to react to the accusations. The albino female started saying her side of the story as quickly and clearly as she could to make sure her savior was seen as such.
She even started from a point way before Naruko was a part of the story. It was during this that everyone learned that Hoyo had been bothering her while she was shopping for the supplies the bar need. Multiple times she had told him to back off in far harsher words. At some point it seemed like he had given up for the day but for them when she had finally let her guard down, he appeared again and dragged her into the alleyway. From there she told them how he started yelling and beating her for "not being his woman or knowing her place." The worst part of it is that she had seen multiple people pass by and didn't even try to help until Naruko showed up.
After that, with the help of Naruko, they told him everything that happened up until he got here. At the end of the talk, the elderly man sighed for two reasons: happiness and exhaustion. The happiness was over that fact that someone other than the usual three plus him had stood up for the little Uzumaki. The exhaustion was because this was another case of people using the whiskered girl's position to try and put down her once more.
'I have seriously failed and three of you… Minato-kun, Kushina-chan and most of all you Naruko-kun.' the old shinobi thought regretfully before thanking the Ming-Ming. "I seriously have to thank you for helping clear up that grievous misunderstanding. It seems people were too quick to judge the situation base on false information. I'll make sure that is correct soon. As for Hoyo, he will be arrested effective immediately and especially so since he broke the rules of his probation."
"Probation?" both Naruko and Ming asked in unison. The kage nodded in affirmation to the question.
"Yes, the fool attacked a client during a mission and to make it worst he was intoxicated while on duty. Rest assured he will be stripped of his rank and feel the full extent of the law." Sarutobi informed them. Naruko shook her head in disapproval of the drunkard's idiocy while Ming scoffed.
"Hopefully now something will be done about him." the albino growled under her breath but everyone managed to hear it.
"Come again?" the Hokage asked with a serious look on his face. The purple-eyed woman got the message and explained it.
"About a year ago, I filed charged for stalking and harassment against him but the police did nothing because they apparently couldn't find enough cause."
"I see, if that is true it was not shown in his files. Had I known that his original punishment would have been more severe." the leader of the village commented. Then he noticed that the whiskered student was dutifully raising her hand. He almost chuckled at how young she looked doing that. "Yes, Naruko-kun?"
"Did you really have to come here and ask? I know for a fact an ANBU was tailing me since I came out of my apartment. There is always an ANBU trailing me when I'm out and about. It's was a real pain losing them at the start when I wanted to pull a prank." the gamer questioned and revealed a little too much. Many of the adults blinked at that and at the same time the Uzumaki, unknowingly, provided a perfect excuse her the sensor ability that the Hokage had felt her used. It made the old man chuckle like a proud grandfather.
"Yes, there was an ANBU following you and they reported everything to me but I wanted to hear your perspective. I'm surprised you didn't embellish the truth to make look cooler like you usually do Naruko-kun."
"I thought I was already looking super awesome in the story." the little heroine told with a smirk and a shrug. "Besides, I have to learn how to be humble."
'Glad to know you're learning.' every adult thought with a sweat-drop at the "humble bragging" they just heard. Nonetheless, it was the Hokage that recovered first.
"Well, now that this matter is done, I will take my leave and work on resolving the misunderstanding. I, however, suggest you be careful during the rest of the day Naruko-kun. The news may travel fast but gossip is a monster all on its own."
"Trust me, I know." the Uzumaki acknowledged with a nod. However, as the kage was about to leave he turned back and asked.
"Before a leave, may I ask what brought about this new look, Naruko-kun?"
"Huh? Oh, you mean my new clothes, right? *shrug* Just felt like it was time to change. After all, in two months I'll be an official kunoichi. Once that's done, I'm coming for that hat, dattebayo!"
"And I'll be waiting."
With that one of the two oldest living shinobi in history walked out of the bar and left the woman there to breathe a sigh of relief. But just then Benihime finally remembered something about the interaction with the now ex-shinobi. She quickly told this to Naruko who asked the question to Ming.
"Ming-Ming-san?" Naruko started asking "I just remembered that Hoyo said something about a woman protecting you. Who did he mean?" at the question the gamer and fairy both noticed the albino woman's face suddenly light up with a smile of pure delight.
"That would be my fiancé. At jonin kunoichi named Yachiko and she's also the one responsible for a lot of these paintings." Ming-Ming answered while looking at the paintings hanged around the bar. Somehow the smile on her lips seemed to grow even more. "Besides me, her hobby has always been painting. She said it helps her deal and decompress from the stress the life of being a ninja brings."
"Wait a minute, you're both women! How can you get married?" Naruko questioned in surprise. Especially so when it wasn't until now that she noticed that ring on the woman's hand. Hearing that question brought an amused chuckle to the older blonde before she started explaining.
"Because it's legal in Konohana since almost the beginning. Rumor has it that a very good friend of the wife of the 1st Hokage wanted to marry the man of his life about it was illegal. So, Lady Senju decided that she would not give the 1st anything until an unbreakable law was passed down that made homosexual married as legal as a straight marriage. Given that law has never been revoked it's a good guess to say her plan worked."
"That's… that actually a really interesting story." Naruko commented and field that information for later. Then she finished the rest of her food and got up. "Regretfully, I think I must go since I have things to do and possible people to meet."
"Wait! You heard the Hokage and saw the poster. People might be hunting for you right now." one of the waitresses called out with worry. Somehow that worry summoned a very dark chuckle and accompanying smirk to the whiskered face. They also noted that for a brief moment the girl's eyes glowed with blue dust.
"Oh, trust me I'm counting on that. Besides, if I give ANBU trouble when they want to find me how hard do you think it will be for regular civilians."
With -that the gamer pulled the orange fox hood over her head and in a burst of speed, she was gone without a trance.
"Suddenly I feel sorry for anyone trying to get that reward." another staff member commented.
"Well…" Ming-Ming started with laughter in her purple eyes. "It's their problem for being idiots."
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(07:45 pm)
~Front of Naruko's apartment building~
Just like Naruko had imagined and the Hokage had predicted. There had been a few groups of two to six people here or there trying to collect that bounty on the blonde. Yet it seemed as if an ordered had gone to all shinobi not to do this because neither Naruko or Benihime could find one among the armature bounty hunters. Hence it had been rather easy for the Uzumaki to travel around as barely anyone recognizes her in her new clothes. Even the ones that did notice her fox hood just glared but couldn't properly see her face.
Hence moving around the village didn't prove to be such a hassle. This especially so during the time she took the road known as "the ninja high way" (the rooftops) around Konohagakure. Anyway, after the little adventure, they had with the owner of the Mint Lily both Naruko and Benihime agree it would be faster to first find places the Uzumaki knew about. With that in mind, the first place they went to was the Ichiraku Ramen just to get that Fast Travel point out of the way. After that Naruko proceeded to run around finding the ninja academy, the Hokage office building were shinobi went to take missions, the Hokage monument behind the office, they randomly found the Library after Benihime managed to read the sign, the area with various training grounds and much to Naruko's delight an arcade call Digital Gods.
After all of that running around and looking at the time, they decided to call it a day. Wanting to try out her new Fast Travel system Naruko had opened her map and clicked on her apartment building. Then when she confirmed that was where she wanted to go, she was shot like a cannonball into the sky. When she finally stopped her ascension the Uzumaki regretfully looking down as her eyes almost pop out of her skull. From this high up she could see everything within the great white walls defending the village. Then she was rocketed to the ground but before she could even have a chance to scream her feet were firmly and securely planted in the ground as if nothing had happened.
She still had to wait until Game Mind to finally activate for her legs to stop shaking though.
"Don't worry Naruko-chan! I'm sure you'll get used to it after you started using it more." Benihime said we cheerful grin.
"Hopefully…" the blonde begged through gritted teeth.
"Well, why don't we go in to eat something and then start smithing!"
Naruko nodded at the suggestion and proceeded to climb up to her apartment. Once in her house, she shed her clothes and a screen popped asking if she wanted the clothing washed. Not thinking twice, she accepted and unequipped everything. After the bath and a quick mean consisting of a hot bacon pizza that was in the food section of the store, the girls found themselves in the leaving room.
"Okay, I guess the first thing is first, right? That would mean I should use the blacksmithing book now, correct?"
"Correct. Then you can summon the Fun-Size Forge so you can make your first items."
The Uzumaki gave a nod of understanding and used the book. Once more it shattered like glass and its pieces flew into her. Somewhat similar to the entomology book Naruko somehow now knew the basics of working with the metal, fire, acid, oil and water needed to create basic tools or weapons. Besides that, she also gained the basic knowledge on how to use the tools need to craft something in a forgery or a workshop. Then to her surprise, she also somehow learned to work with other materials like leather, stone, glass, crystal, monster parts and even other magical items. Unlike the first skill book this time the amount of new information gave the girl a small headache that made her moan in pain. She held her head for a few moments before the pain started going away.
"Guess some skill are harder to understand than others the first time around," she commented while blinking the residual pain away.
"That or maybe your body still getting used to your new powers." the fairy theorized. After that question, she floated to the gamer and patted the girl's head in support. "When you feel ready you can summon the FSF, okay?"
It was only a couple of seconds later that Naruko felt okay enough to function. Then she summoned the forge in front of her. Once invoked the items description appeared before them:
{KEY ITEM}
Fun-Size Forge |Epic|
Description – It's a forge but fun-size! Now you can take the forge with you wherever you are in the world. Just set it up in a camp or stay in a safe zone, pick up that hammer, put your materials into the forge and start hitting that iron! However, be careful when trying to make something above your skill level because if you fail those components are gone.
The girl whistle as the description went away. Then she saw Fun-Size Forge and her eye twitched. The contraption had been made with an adult in mind when it was considered small. She thought this because for her it was almost felt like a regular size forge given that she needed to stand fully to reach over the tallest part.
As for the forged itself, it was colored in shades of purple and light purple with the borders made of solid gold just like its four legs. The main body was a big rectangular slab with a cylindrical vase at its top away from where one would be forging. The slab seemed to have a mechanism where it could lower different parts of its interior to form that shape of whatever was going to be worked on. The top of the lid had a big green jewel orb similar to the other three she saw on the sides of the forge. Each of these orbs seemed to glow softly and gentle with either chakra or mana because, at this point, she couldn't tell the difference. Around the vase, there seems to be an arc with openings on the inside ready to pour the melted materials from inside the vase onto the slab. Naruko also noticed a red button that seemed to be made of ruby with the word "OPEN" imprinted on it with white letters. Then on the right side of the forge, she noticed a hammer with the same purple and gold color scheme.
"So… how do I make this work?" Naruko questioned while grabbing the hammer. To her surprise even though it looked incredibly heavy to her it felt as light a feather. Thanks to her blacksmithing knowledge she knew just how to wield this instrument.
"Just press the OPEN button. After that, a menu screen should open telling you what type of armor or weapon you can create and what items are needed."
Sure enough, the gamer did as what she was told and a menu did appear. Knowing that tonight was just a simple test run she just looked for a shield for the hell of it. The first option in the shield category that appeared was one called Egg Shield. To make it she only needed 10 of the materials labeled "eggshells" and it said she had 99 of those which were probably the ones she got from killing the roach empress. The blonde confirmed that she wanted to use them.
The lid popped open with a small click and the eggshells flew into the forge which closed far they went in. Naruko saw the glow of the orbs intensify before she felt the temperature raise to the point both females started sweating. Then she noticed a white-hot substance crawl out of the openings and onto the standard shield indentations that appeared on the slab. After this is was like her body moved on its own and she proceeded to strike the liquid into shape. From hard to soft, slow or quick the hammer struck time and time again the magical material until its shape was completed. Then the final hit was given and Naruko just knew it was done. As if responding her thoughts the forge seem to summon water to rapidly cool down the shield. The steam lasted for only a few seconds before it was gone and her first creation was revealed.
{EQUIPMENT}
White Egg Shield |Common|
Description – A small shield in the form of an egg created from the shells of various monster eggs.
+2DEF
Weapon Skill: Hard-Boiled – Adds +10DEF if the user is afflicted with the Burn status.
"Is it me or is that ability weird and troublesome?" the gamer questioned with a raised eyebrow as she looked at her first creation. During her examination, she noticed that the shield while small for an adult it worked perfectly for a child. She also noticed a text-box saying that so long as she had her scythe equipped, she couldn't equip the shield which the blonde had already expect would happen given that scythe classified as a two-handed weapon. The last thing she noticed before putting the shield in storage was that on the inner part right above the handle there was the same emblem of a curled fox-like with the ring her scythe was in. 'Guess that means that's my forging brand then or at least the one the system assigned to me.' she thought with a small grin.
"What did you expect from materials so easily gotten from just one fight?" Benihime asked her companion in response to the previous question.
"You might be right on that one." Naruko agreed before a strong yawned overtook her. "Guess that means it's time to sleep." she added after it.
"Well today has been an eventful day." the fairy agreed.
Thus, the gamer put the forge back into her inventory and went to sleep on her bed. After all, tomorrow would be her first day in the academy as a whole new person. Before sleep took her, she gave one last look at her level progress.
Naruko Uzumaki [Lv3] ~ Trickster Queen~
XP: 84 / 264
HP: 91 / 91
MP: 1,444 / 1444
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Author notes:
Yes, the Fun-Size Forge is the same one you use in Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age. I loved that game and thought to incorporate a thing or two from the series.
Grammar Update: 08/17/2019
MP UPDATE: 01/19/2020