Chapter 8: The new world
(Morning)
([Field type] Dungeon - Tranquil Meadows {F-rank})
On a hill overlooking a land filled with pastures, small patches of forest and rivers that ended in pounds or a lake near a stone church there was a cave. There was nothing special about this cave until the entrance became pixelated with bright blue vines that were soon sucked into a vortex that opened a portal of white light. It was from this portal the Naruko and Benihime materialized in a rain of pixels before the gamer landed safely in her feet.
"Wow, that felt awesome!" exclaimed the whiskered girl at the rush she felt after passing through the portal. Then she looked back at the gateway and wondered: "Maybe a should have waited for them?" At the question, the Navi giggle with a "Probably," as they waited for the other party members. Thankfully the wait wasn't long as the portal flashed and was soon followed by Hinata coming out. Naruko was fast and caught the girl who seemed to have tripped into the gate.
"Careful there Ojou-sama," the jinchuriki joked after catching the Hyuga.
The bluenette blushed at the fulfillment of the old cliche. However, she couldn't enjoy it for long before the portal flashed once more. Next thing they knew Ino came screaming out of the gate and crashed into the leader of the party which resulted in a cloud of dust. This was the scene that the jonin and Hokage walked into. When the cloud cleared Kakashi could be heard giggling. The reason for this was that while the Hyuga heiress landed by the Uzumaki's side the Yamanaka heiress, on the other hand, fell on top of the jinchuriki. But the thing that made the cyclops giggle like this was one of his books was because as Ino got up she ended sitting on Naruko's face. Neither the Hyuga or the Yamanaka noticed this as they coughed away the dust from their lungs.
"Huh, Yamanaka-san? I think you should get up for Uzumaki-san's sake at least," Kurenai suggested with worry.
Seeing that the girls didn't understand she had to point down for them to see the position the mind walker found herself in. After squeaking in embarrassment the purple student jumped off her fellow blonde's face while she held onto her skirt as a blushed started forming. Strangely enough, when everyone looked down on the Uzumaki, the girl was the picture-perfect image of serenity with the only exception being the nosebleed. Seeing this made Kakashi giggle harder as Kurenai facepalmed, Ino's blush darkened a shade and Hinata bit her lip while looking between the two girls with something that looked like jealousy over the situation.
'Poor thing is lucky Anko-chan isn't here. She would have never let the girl live down how she discovered her kink.' the Genjutsu Mistress thought upon seeing the look on the whiskered girl's face. Thankfully she decided to spare the academy student from any sort of kink-shaming and helped her up. "You okay there, Uzumaki-san?"
"Soft… it was so… soft…" Naruko could be heard saying in a calm voice. That statement only causes Ino's blush to nearly match one of Hinata's best. As for what was the Hyuga princess reaction to this? Well, the adults and fairy did manage to feel a small burst of Killing Intent thrown at the mind walker how was too embarrassed to notice it. Weirdly enough it was that brief burst of K.I. that snapped to the jinchuriki back into reality.
"What happened? Why do I remember something soft landing on me? And why is my nose bleeding?" Naruko questioned to everyone present.
"No reason," Hinata responded with a sweet smile. "What's the plan, Naruko-kun?" It took the gamer a few seconds for her fogged brain to register the question or were it came from. But it still needed a second or two later more for the brain to understand what was being asked of it. Too bad the fog didn't let her notice how the blue princess hadn't stutter or how the purple princess was trying to not look at her in the face.
"Plan… plan… plan… What's the plan Beni-chan?" the fairy was questioned by her still not there mistress. The small red-head chuckled at this but still answered while pulling out a napkin for the girl to clean herself.
"Given this is a field type dungeon I would suggest looking for a high enough vantage point. From there we'll be able to see the lay of the land."
"Wouldn't the cliff we're on now count as one?" Kurenai inquired as she saw the drop point just a few feet from them. The whiskered student shrugged and walked to the edge of the cliff. There she managed to see part of the area she was in before something caught her eye.
It was a lone watchtower.
~ New Quest ~
[(Mandatory) Quest: Climb the tower]
[Description - Welcome to the tried and true practice for an assassin or adventure finding and climbing a high point to see the world around them. Get up there find what interesting points are out there for you to explore.]
[Condition - Climb the tower and chart the map of the land]
[Reward: Unlocks full map of the area and lets you use Markers]
"So this is the so-called quest. Seems interesting," Kakashi commented at seeing the screen before them.
"Yeah, pretty much and we'll have to finish it if we're ever going to have a map of this place. This is weird considering I had a map of our village and I didn't have to climb the Hokage Monument," Naruko answered after closing the quest and the map screens. She had open them previously so see if she could get any information out of it but the screen only showed static.
"Hmm, that seems understandable given this is a new world but I'm sure we could get by with making a map of the area as we walk. We'll only be here for a couple of hours after all," the Hokage mentioned and as soon as he finished that sentence they heard sirens blaring.
[WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!]
[Party member has tried to sequence break a tutorial mission outside of New Game+! A punishment shall be administered effectively immediately.]
[PUNISHMENT: Party (No name assigned) will not be allowed to leave the dungeon until 96 hours have passed and they have finished (Mandatory) Quest: Climb the tower.]
"And people say I'm the trouble maker," the gamer could be heard muttering as they read the new message.
"Wait, we can't leave for 96 hours?" Ino inquired out loud while doing the math in her head. Then her eyes widen and she screamed: "That's four days! Hokage-sama, we can't stay here for that long. People will think we're missing or worst dead. Pus if Hinata-chan and I disappear at the same time, people will think we were kidnapped for our bloodline limits. Not to mention that if you're not found then people will think you were assassinated and war could break out!"
"It seems Inoichi-sama has not been skipping on teaching his daughter how some levels of politics work," the masked jonin in the group commented. Then he turned to the kage. "Yamanaka-san, while only a tad extreme, is right. We can't be here for more than a couple of hours before people start wondering where you are, Sandaime-sama."
"I agree with Kakashi-senpai and Yamanaka-san, Sandaime-sama. We need you back in your seat to keep the people calm. Plus I know the Hyuga clan would go rabid if Hinata-chan is not back after the appointed time. I'm sure you remembered how things were when she was nearly kidnapped by that Lighting ninja years back," the Genjutsu Mistress concurred. The village leader and accidental instigator of the problem nod understanding his subordinates' worries.
"Those are very real concerns, everyone. Now, Naruko-chan why-" Hiruzen agreed while turning to the gamer only to not find her there. "Naruko-chan?" he called out as everyone finally noticed the whiskered girl not standing in front of them.
Then they heard what sounded like thunder behind them followed by the pained screams of a girl. Not a second later a black blur flew by them and over the cliff. Thankfully Hinata managed to notice a curved blade embedded on the edge of the cliff after the blur fell. Quickly she told the adults about as she ran towards it and the grown-ups soon followed. There they found Naruko twitching with achs of electricity sporadically running through her. Weirdly enough the girl's whole body, clothing, and even weapon seemed to be flashing, for lack of better words, yellow around the same intervals as the lightning arcs.
"A little *zap* help would be very *zap* appreciated right now! *zap*" the Uzumaki screamed at them while twitching with each flash and arc. Kakashi was already prepared and summoned a rope that he used to lasso the blonde. Once the rope was secured everyone help pull the yellow twitching gamer back to safety. There they stared in dread at how the girl just stayed on the ground glowing and twitching while still gripping her weapon like it was a lifeline. Fearing that the girl would suffocate given that position of her face Kurenai turned the girl on her back. There everyone blinked in confusion as they found Naruko looking both bored and slightly annoyed even as she kept on spasming.
"I thought Mute was *zap* was the most annoying affliction *zap* when it hit my spellcasters and *zap* healers. But paralysis just *zap* sucks," Naruko complained while putting away her weapon. Then she tried to stand up only for her body to keep locking up on her with each attempt. "Beni-chan, *zap* can anyone other *zap* than me access my *zap* inventory?"
"Sorry, only spouses have that privilege however we can circumvent this by one of your party members requesting a trade for an anti-paralysis," Benihime answered and explained to them how the trading system worked while using Hinata as the example. During the tutorial, the bluenette opened a trade screen which also appeared to the paralyzed student. From there the girls were successful in exchanging items since it turned out Naruko didn't need to touch the screen to confirm something but just think of it. After the transaction, a glass flask with a yellow liquid materialized in Hinata's hands which Benihime instructed to be given to the afflicted youth. To the surprise of the non-gamers once the whiskered girl drank the potion she glowed into a white silhouette that popped. After the pop, the light went away to show the girl was completely normal.
"Huh, weird. I thought that would taste awful but it's more like honey-lemon tea," Naruko commented while getting up and stretching to test out her body. "By the way, unless you want to experience what I just went through I suggest not trying to open the gate while it's locked," she added while giving her limbs a final shake. Feeling both numb while your muscle spasm out of control was a surreal experience for her and gaining control back the next second gave her a bit of sensory disorientation but thankfully it went away during the stretches.
"Thank you for trying to find a solution while we were somewhat in a panic, Naruko-chan. However, we still need to find a way to exit this dungeon." Hiruzen commented. Then he turned towards the Navi and asked her if she knew of a way out of her predicament. In response, he got a glare from both of the adventures.
"We wouldn't be in this predicament if you hadn't wanted to skip a mandatory quest!" both girls reprimanded and the old shinobi had the decency to look like a kid that just made their mother angry. Everyone else present just stared slack-jawed at the swift in power they just witness. Then the floating redhead talked: "Given Naruko-chan has followed the rules up till now the system hasn't found a reason to punish her. However, now that it has happened, I have to make it clear that any punishment made or given by the system is absolute. We will have to wait out the full 96 hours before we can exit. Thankfully time inside a field type dungeon moves significantly faster than it does in the outside world. To be more specific an hour outside equals 24 hours inside but we will feel all of those four days from daybreak to sundown. It's also why it still early morning here while outside it was already noon."
"Does this mean any time Uzumaki-san wishes to enter a field type it will be morning? Also, what is the maximum amount of time one can say inside a dungeon?" Kakashi inquired to the living manual.
"Answer #1: Yes, anytime a field type dungeon is entered it will be early morning, Hatake-san. Answer #2: The maximum amount of time one can safely spend inside a dungeon is a week. Any more than a week could become detrimental to a player's mental and physical health without proper training or preparations. Also, I like to point out that once a dungeon is evacuated it cannot be entered again for eight real-world hours. During this time the natural resources found used, gathered, consumed or mined shall be replenished and enemies that are not part of quests will also respawn. Quest found and finished in a dungeon however can't be repeated unless they are of the gathering type. In such cases, the rewards for repeated quests will be reduced to either monetary gain, healing items or materials common to the area" Benihime informed them.
"Please tell me I'm not the only one that finds all of this weird," they heard Ino begging which earned her a small laugh from the Uzumaki.
"It may be because of all of the video games I've played, my new bloodline limit, wishing I could live like a video game character or a combination of everything but each new thing I find out about my powers as a new adventure," the whiskered girl said as she crisscrossed her fingers behind her head. Then she started moving away from them and down the small hill to their right. "We should start moving and get to that watchtower to open up the map. That way we can see what we can do for the duration of our stay here."
"Uzumaki-san, wait! We need to make a plan before we think of exploring anything!" Kurenai shouted at the girl. It got the desired effect of stopping the girl but when she half turned to them she had a bored look on her face.
"I have a plan, Yuhi-san. Finish the quest assign to me. Besides, this is an F-rank dungeon which means the only one here in mortal danger is me. Even Violet-chan there, who is just Lv18, would seem like a legendary champion against the monsters here. That's not even taking Hatake-san and Sandaime-sama into account. Those two are practically gods walking among ants in here," Naruko answered before she continued her walk.
"Is she always that disrespectful?" the ruby-eyed jonin asked with a small frown on her lips. Then she heard both the Yamanaka and Sarutobi chuckling which made her raise an eyebrow. They were about to answer her at the same time when they noticed this and the mind walker tried to remain silent to let her leader talk. The elder, on the other hand, told her to talk instead and the girl bowed in thanks before talking.
"Yuhi-san, that was Naruko being in her best behavior. Normally when she wants to be disrespectful she makes sure you feel as insulting as possible and somehow does so without cursing. In fact, I once saw her make the principal so mad he screamed at her so loudly they had to get him to the hospital because he passed out. Later it turned out he managed to pop a blood vessel during the screaming."
"That doesn't inspire confidence," the female jonin commented. Still knowing that they would be left behind by the gamer the group went after the girl. Thankfully they didn't need to need to walk down the hill for more than a couple of minutes before the found the girl. The strange part of this, however, was that the girl was talking to a grey-bearded man wearing robes and looked to be around their Hokage's age. Then as they got closer the group saw the old man hand over to the girl a book with a light grey cover. She accepted it before opening it and a few seconds later she gains a sour look.
"I can't read anything here, Endo-san," Naruko announced mournfully as she kept flipping the pages in the book. Hearing this Endo started stroking his grey beard in thought as he eyed her critically.
"Are you sure? I can sense a great deal of mana in you for someone so young. You should be able to easily see the words written in an entry-level spellbook like that one."
"I can see the letters no problem. But no one ever bothered to teach me how to read or write in our common language. So this new one is almost impossible for me to understand. All I can see are squiggly lines with dots here or there. Even my language usage straighter lines make the characters!" the girl confessed since she hadn't noticed her party had reached them.
"That is a shame but understandable in these dangerous times. How about this? You bring me five Baked Apples and I'll use a transfer spell to give you a basic knowledge of Magika so you can translate the written words."
~ New Quest ~
[Cooking Quest - Baking Apples for spells]
[Description - Endo-san has promised to teach you how to understand Magika so you can read spellbooks. All you have to do is bring him five Baked Apples.]
[Conditions - Gather five(5) apples and cook them]
[Reward #1: Understanding of the Magika language
Reward #2: Entry-level spellbook (Non-elemental)
Reward #3: Bake Apple recipe]
[Will you accept? YES/NO]
"Five baked apples coming right up!" Naruko declared while handing the book back to the old man. Then she looked around for apples and quickly found a few apple trees a little down the hill. Without bothering to check with her teammates she dashed to the trees and started collecting the fruits. During this Hiruzen tried to talk to the old traveler but the man just stood there unmoving and unresponsive to any of their calls. At one point Ino got angry and yelled at him with all her might but the non-response remained the same. Then Naruko came back but seemingly without the apples.
"Why are you yelling at the nice old man, Violet?"
"It's not my fault this geezer doesn't know any manners!"
"First of all, Endo-san is an NPC which means that he is not real. Second, NPCs only talk to the party leader in other words. me. And finally, considering I'm the first person with the GS bloodline limit its safe to say any person we find here are nothing but fakes or mana constructs." After that explanation, the whiskered girl spoke to Endo. Just like she had said he easily responded to her by asking if she already had the food.
The adventurer responded negatively which prompted the old traveler to comment about how much he liked those open fire cook apples. The party noticed how their leader's eyes lit up at the obvious clue before she pulled out the apples and placed them on the campfire close to the man. Then she took out her zippo-lighter, lit up the wood and patiently waited for the apples to cook. Kurenai was about to comment that this was going to take a while and it would have been more effective to skewer the fruits over the fire when they noticed how the apples started producing smoke. Then in a brief poof of smoke, the fruits had darkened and the Uzumaki smirked as she grabbed the food. To their surprise, she didn't get a burn from picking them up and then she extended her hand to Endo who grabbed it. This opened up a screen confirming the completion of the quest.
"Ah, those sure hit the spot!" Endo was heard saying while rubbing his belly. Then he pulled out two items: the grey book and a small transparent blue crystal that could pass as a piece of chalk. The book was handed to the Uzumaki while the transparent chalk's tip lit up with a blue spark. Then they saw the old man burn a circle on the air close to the girl's forehead, a triangle hourglass near her throat and a square above each of her ears. All of these geometric shapes had in their center symbols that could be words but they couldn't read any of it. Once the shapes were done the chalk was turned off and put away. Naruko for her part didn't try to move as she recognizes these were magic sigils and from her games knew how bad it could get is they were disturbed during mid-incantation. Then when the old mage put his hand in prayer the party felt the energy around them come to life. This awakening also signaled the shapes to start spinning as they began glowing.
"Oh spirits of the world," Endo started chanting "I have found one of great promise who wishes to learn the words of life written by the children of mana. Please hear my pleas and let me share the songs that your ears enjoy. Let this child speak your voice as the gospel of the world. Spirit's Tongue!"
During the magical chant, Naruki had felt her throat burning and dry as she had talked non-stop for years. She hears thousands upon thousands of voices whiskering at the same time in her ears. Finally, in her head, she could see letters and words suddenly gain forms alongside meanings that could be understood. Then when the chant was completed the shapes became a spinning fire that smashes and shattered like crystal in front of her mouth. A second later the small fragments shoot into her mouth and while there was no pain she needed to gasp as it felt she the breath knocked out of her.
"Don't worry my dear. Just take deep and relaxing breaths for a minute or so and you'll be fine. It was fun getting to know you Naruko Uzumaki. I can see you will be someone to watch in the future." With that finished, Endo walked away from the girl and her party up the hill where he soon disappeared from their sight.
"A-A-Are you okay N-N-Naruko-kun?" Hinata asked while gently placing a hand in the girl's back. Just like the old mage said it only took the Uzumaki a few moments to recover from the process of gaining a new language. "C-C-Can you r-r-read the book n-n-now?" At the inquiry, the blonde opens the book at a random point and smiled at seeing how the words now made sense.
"Yeah. It's still difficult to understand in some places but I can read it. Heck, somehow I can now see pictures and diagrams with explanations and/or equations that weren't there before!" At this exclamation, the Hyuga felt joy for the girl gaining something that had been denied to her. Then she became confused when the blonde sighed and said: "Too bad I can't read it for another week." Those hearing this were about to ask "Why?" when they heard a giggle. This made everyone turn to the floating fairy who was grinning up a storm between fits of laughter. Soon enough Benihime noticed that she got everyone's attention and managed to get control of herself.
"Sorry about. It's just that I'm surprised it took this long for you to say that Naruko-chan," the small redhead commented. Then she added: "While your bloodline lets you use up to two skill-books by "consuming" them they are still books. This means that you can circumvent the learning limit by reading books like a normal person. Plus spellbooks are different in that depending on their level you can learn multiple spells from the same book if you take your time to understand the text. The number of spells that can learn base on level of mastery is the following: four (4) for Entry, three (3) for Intermediate, two (2) for Advance and one (1) for Master.
Also, your Gamer Mind will help speed up the process of learning how to invoke magic from a spellbook by letting you read everything about one spell at a time. However, this will take a great deal of mental capacity that will more often than not leave you drained and in need of sleep. As such I suggest only reading before bed to let your mind rest and recover from the strain put on it."
"That's very interesting. But does this mean Uzumaki-san can just take say two weeks off to read and come back mastering a while class of magic?" Kakashi questioned with a thoughtful look. At the same time, he thought: 'If it's like that she may very well have a bloodline limit that will surpass even the Sharingan in the ability to gain new jutsu."
"There exist safeguards for that, Hatake-san. Three in fact: player level, magical proficiency, and elemental affinity. For the first one, the player needs to reach a certain persona level for the shop to give access to the books or even be able to open that book containing the desired spell. For magic proficiency, the player must practice the magic of that level until they acquire mastery over it at which case the proficiency will evolve into the next level.
However, each class of magic has its proficiency that needs to be mastered individually through repeated use. This brings me to the last part "Elemental Affinity" which is dictated by the user's affinity with a type of magic they can use initially. While humans can mostly use any type of magic everyone has an area that they better at than others. Depending on which element comes naturally to you will determine how difficult it will be for the user to master the other elements. The reason behind it is the elemental rock-paper-scissors system where an element is stronger or weaker than another element. " Benihime explained and got a nod from the cyclops.
"Hmm, while a little different this magic seems to work like we've come to understand the elemental natures we used in our jutsu," Kakashi commented while stroking his chin in thought. Then he noticed Naruko raising her hand like one would at school. "Yes?"
"What's the difference between the magic and jutsu system? They never taught us about elemental jutsu in school," the Uzumaki inquires to the surprise of the adults. Then the girl added: "Come to think of I do remember Iruka-sensei did try to teach us about them but Mizuki-sensei reminded him that the principal had passed a rule or something like that that made us skip that part. I think I heard something like "It's their jonin-sensei's job to teach them the really dangerous stuff." From what I could tell it was probably to stop the more active students like myself from burning down our homes do to unsupervised jutsu practice."
After saying this, she noticed that the adults were glaring in her general direction. Thankfully years of hateful stares had taught to tell apart a look of hate at a person and one produced by other thoughts not connected to the person. That didn't stop her from asking the heiresses from collaborating her story which they did while expressing their confusion on the subject. They always did find it weird that such an important knowledge for prospective shinobi was not taught but didn't word it because their parents taught them about. Thus the princesses had, mistakenly, assumed it was a clan's job to teach about the different elemental natures and how they work with or against each other. But then where did that leave the students from civilian families and orphans?
"Girls," the Hokage started with a very grave voice. "Tonight while we make camp I want you to tell me what you have learned during your time in the academy. I noticed that the quality of some of our genin has dropped in the last couple of years. By the looks of it, it seems I've done a mistake in letting the Civilian Council lower the requirements for students to graduate."
"That partially explains how easy it was to fail the many genin teams that you've tried to give me recently. Now I feel a little bad about causing them so many nightmares during their exam," the cyclops said with a thoughtful look. 'I did notice a drop in skill level when it came to the new genin hopefuls but put it to one of the cons of living in a somewhat peaceful era. Guess it is my mistake from not following what I preach. But knowing Sandaime-sama he will want to get to the bottom of this. Log knows how many have died on the field because of this and possibly even more lack of knowledge do to someone thinking it was too hard for the children.'
Just like the Copy Ninja was thinking the Hokage was already processing this new information. He had noticed the quality of the students falling slightly in recent years but that was to be expected given the lowering on graduation requirements. However not in his wildest dreams did he think that meant the classes being taught would themselves be lowered! The academy was meant to prepare the students for what was to come in their future which meant that the teachers had to provide as much knowledge as possible. Giving this information people like Iruka still believed in this but apparently, the principal didn't think so. As such, the ruler of the village decided that this conflict of ideas needed some looking into after he got out of this dungeon.
"Thank you for this information ladies. I will make sure that this gets investigated once we're back home." Huruzen told the children who nodded in acceptance. Then he added: "As for your question Naruko-chan? We can go into more details tonight while we camp for the night. However, one difference between your magic and our jutsu is that even through rigorous training and research people had usually only ever managed to use one or two more elemental outside their primary one. Only those with special bloodline can effectively wield multiple elements and in most of these cases, it's because bloodline limit that lets them fuse these different chakras into a new element. A good example of this can be my teacher and our first Hokage, Hashirama Senju. He had could unit water and earth chakras to form wood chakra which he used to create the forest that surrounds our village."
Understanding this the girl nodded and accepted that she would later know more. After this, she suggested that they started moving since she was starting to feel the need to explore. No sooner than this was proclaimed that the party heard water sloshing alongside something bouncing. This made them turn to see a blue orb jumping around without a clear destination. Noticing that this jelly looking thing was producing the sounds Ino was about to ask what it was when Naruko ran passed her in a burst of speed and jumped onto the jelly. One stomp later the creature exploded with a SPLAT that briefly showers their feet with blue gel. A second later they saw the congratulations screen indicating that they gained 1XP and 1 copper coin. Once the screen disappeared alongside the remains of the thing that was just killed they turned to its killer who looked to be searching for her next kill. The Uzumaki noticed the looks she was getting and turn around to grin at her party members.
"Well? Come on people! Let's move it already. That was just a little Slime, I'm sure we'll face harder enemies the further in we go." After the proclamation, the girl proceeds to move down the hillside road followed by her fairy companion.
"Does anyone else getting the vibe that we're stuck in here with a killer? Because I do." Ino commented as she felt a shiver run down her spine do to that display. Part of the training that all Yamanaka needed to do to understand how to use their techniques was to study psychological behavior. While this didn't make the mind walker an expert yet give her age and inexperience it did let her know and detect a few things. Some of those things being that willingness and ease with which the Uzumaki showed when killing that slime as she called it. Her daddy may not have let her read up on the files of the really messes up people he had interviewed over the years but she had read enough to see that very distinguished red flag. Then she felt a hand gently patting her head and she looked up to see Kakashi.
"Don't worry so much, Yamanaka-san. After all, Uzumaki-san isn't the only killer you're stuck with," the silver-haired jonin told with the most ominous voice he could muster while smiling at her with his eye. Then he left her to follow their leader on the road to adventure while not bothering to look at the trembling mess he turned the girl into.
"I… I think I hate him." the Yamanaka heiress stuttered while shaking in fear.
X ~ X ~ X ~X ~ X ~ X ~ X~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~X ~ X ~ X ~ X~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~X ~ X ~ X ~ X~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ ~ X ~ X ~X ~ X ~ X ~ X~ X ~
(Hours later)
For the party members the trip through the dungeon had been eventful to say the least.
As they followed their designated leader they were subjected to her apparent lack of concentration with the task at hand. It almost seemed hypocritical how the whiskered girl had admonished their kage about not wanting to finish the original quest while she got distracted by everything else. More times than they could count they had to stop for their leader to pick a bush clean of its flowers, to look under rocks the size of a child's torso, the occasional cutting of patches of tall grass and for her to climb a tree to get all of the fruit, nuts or bird eggs on it after which the tree would down in four swings of her scythe and then somehow turn into a bundle of wooden planks with another swing once the tree trunk landed on the ground.
Worst was that they couldn't tell the Uzumaki to not do any of these things do to all of the materials and money they had gains from it. The flowers the gamer was gathering, Ino noticed, could be used as ingredients for making healing tonics or many possible poisons. Then came the cutting of tall grass that somehow produced both already bundled wheat, copper coins and insect that the girl would try to capture with some difficulty; the bugs turned out to also be useful for potion-making once the girl scanned them. Adding to this was the act of looking under the rocks gave which earned them more money or bugs. Then much to everyone else befuddlement when the rocks were thrown they would break easily to reveal even more money or produced pieces of flint and maybe salt pebbles.
However, nothing of the previously mentioned compared to the girl's seemingly insatiable need to kill all the monsters they would see. It was like the girl just could not let a single monster lives be they slimes, bats, rabbits with horns, slugs with huge lips, living mushrooms, dog size squirrels, wolves or any other enemy they had encountered none were safe from the whiskered adventurer's warpath. Then came the treasure map the girl found inside satchel strapped to the bones of a long-forgotten traveler.
"GAAAAAH! I can't take it anymore," Ino was heard screaming as she pulled her hair out of another bush it had gotten stuck in. "We've been indulging your every whim for who knows how long but I've had enough! I could stand the fighting you force Hinata-chan and me take part in because the jonin senseis agreed that it would be good practice for us and I will not say no to all the money that we've made but I draw the line here!"
"Ino-san…" Hinata tried to start but a fierce glare from the enraged blonde made her flinch.
"Don't you try to defend her Hinata-chan! I know full well I forced myself into this exploration without knowing what it was about but I will not stay silent when I see us being lead to our death by freaking inept stubborn fool!"
"Hey!"
"No, you sip it Naruko-baka! Right now I'm tired, angry, hungry, sweaty and dirty enough that cold bath in a river is sounding divine. So I don't care anymore for keeping up appearances just to keep that stupid inflated ego of yours. We already heard you confess that you can't read and didn't say anything out of respect but enough is enough. We all knew it was a mistake to let you read that map and the fact that you had us walking around this forest for hours proves it. I'll admit that the idea of finding mysterious buried treasure is a good fantasy. However, it's not one I'm willing to die for because our supposed "leader" can't admit that she has already gotten us lost because she never thought that maybe it was better to ask someone for help with something she had no hope of finishing.
Well, surprise baka! We're now in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees with branches thick enough to almost back out the sun and lord knows how many monsters just waiting to jump us. So you two options: admit that you got us lost and give to one of the adults so we can get out of here or I use every last bit of my energy to beat you conscious and we brag your sorry ass out of here."
"Are you done?" After getting a nod in response Naruko lower the map and sighed. "First of all, yes, I do admit to not being able to read like you people heard. However, it's not from lack of trying and more because no one bothered to help me with that while we were growing up. Second, that doesn't mean I can't read this map because it uses pictures instead of words. Therefore I can understand and make out the directions as I used to making maps for my games since there doesn't exist a place where you can just go a look up a map of the area you get stuck in. Third, after that rant, I am willing to admit I may have forgotten the part where I was with other people instead of just me and Benihime. For that, I am sorry and will try to interact with you more; be it asking for help, directions or something else I'll take you into consideration. You aren't nameless NPCs after all. And finally, I was going to say, before your legitimate rant, that we're in the area marked on the map."
After saying this the small leader showed them the map which showed the image of three tree stumps in a triangle formation pointing at a pair of hands holding up a bag. Then the girl pointed behind her where they noticed the tree stumps that were pointing at another tree. Then the party looked a the tree which had a carving of the hands holding up the bag.
"That doesn't change the fact that we have been blindly following you since you refuse to ask for help," Ino commented with a scowl.
"I don't expect you to forgive me after that rant. But I promise to do a lot better after this. We're going to be stuck here for three more days and the last thing we need is for us to be at each other's throats."
After that promise, and to show she was talking it seriously, Naruko asked the jonin to help her see if there were any traps around. Both Kurenai and Kakashi agreed to help as they would get to both tests the Uzumaki's knowledge of traps and possibly used this as a learning experience for the other two students. However, during this search they also thought back on what they had seen during this excursion were they had taken a more passive role mostly on the unspoken order of the Hokage. This way they managed to see how the students worked together in this environment. What they saw was not something they liked.
First came Naruko who while was technically the leader seem to think that meant her ways were the only way. Much like Ino had pointed out the Uzumaki seem to expect that everyone will do what she would say without a second thought. It also didn't help that Benihime was feeding this behavior by doing anything and everything the girl ordered. Not to mention it was worrying how often the girl sought out battle and treated it like sport. It was true that for the life they live enjoying a challenge was a good step to surviving some of the harder parts but they all knew happened to Blood Knights that were felt unchecked. Either they became food for maggots on some godforsaken field or they went rogue in search of a better fight.
However, this was more worrisome due to the girl's status as jinchuriki as such bloodlust could be perceived as a symptom of holding the demon. It wasn't that they didn't trust the Yondaime's sealing abilities but they also knew from research and word of mouth that it didn't matter how strong a seal was if the vessel was weak. And in this case, 'weak' could easily mean that the kunoichi to be leaned far more into her violent tendencies that the could easily use a fuel. Worst, if it ever awakens, the Kyubi could possibly trick with promises of greater power or that the real challenge came from killing those close to her without getting caught. Then there existed the apocalyptic possibility in which the girl managed to sharpen the bloodlust and turns into someone like the Yondaime Mizukage goes on to commit genocide against the world while back by the power of the strongest Tailed Beast.
After this came Ino who made the grown-ups frown at what they saw. The girl had barely any physical aptitude to show for her years in the academy. Sure, they had taken into account that the children had just come out of a full school day but civilian children already were balls of energy that exploded into activity after school ended. Therefore into was supposed to be a given that a child from ninja clan should be even more energetic given their higher stamina capacity obtain through training. Yet the Yamanaka almost couldn't keep up the pace of the Uzumaki and Hyuga. It was true that said pace could be erratic but there were enough times where they would just sit around and wait for their leader to finish something.
Then came the girls fighting skills when Naruko suggested for the other two students to join her. They had noticed, just like Naruko had pointed out, the monsters in this dungeon were weak and easy to deal with. The jonin would compare the level challenge these creatures pose to be on the same level as fighting a first-year student. This could be seen in how easy the Uzumaki and Hyuga could defeat their opponents in seconds. On the other hand, Ino seemed to have trouble battling the more mobile enemies to the point her classmate had to help distract the monsters more than once. More than once they felt frustrated how some of the enemies could easily run circles around the girl before she got help.
Then there was their evaluation of Hinata and even Kurenai couldn't deny what was in front of her. The girl was not only shy but showed so little confidence in herself that she didn't even try to fight Naruko's whims. This was unlike Ino who had from time to time bicker that they were wasting time even that went unheeded by the whiskered blonde. Sure they did notice the girl had an or was forming an infatuation with the Uzumaki but didn't excuse acting like a doormat. It also didn't help how constantly the girl tried to erase her presence from them. Normally this would be praised by the jonin since that was an invaluable skill for any shinobi to possess in their repertoire. However, they knew this was being done because of a lack of self-worth and Kurenai had to bite her lip since she knew this stemmed from how the girl was treated by the clan.
However, the adults didn't just concentrate on the bad aspects as they took account of the skills the girls did have. Examples of this were Naruko's incredible adaptability with how she could get into a fight with a monster and quickly find a weakness that she could exploit. Then there was her eye for detail as she always kept herself alert for any items that could be useful for her later on. Next was Ino, who much like they expected, could easily identify the plants the Uzumaki gathered and informed them what these did and how best to prepare them. Plus the girl turned out to be a natural with the whip once the whiskered student managed to convince her fellow blonde to use the Rat Lasso after a particularly embarrassing fight the girl had against a group made the dog size squirrels and living mushrooms. Finally came Hinata who came with the standard kit of skills they've come to expect from a Hyuga if slightly weakened because of the girl's shyness. Still, they did notice that the princess was far more flexible and graceful than the average Hyuga who were known from their rigid and unwavering defense. On some occasions, they even saw her bend or waltzed out of attacks only to come back with a counter from an angle that another Gentle Fist user would not have used.
However, to their overall assessment, the three students still needed work before they could be considered proper kunoichis. Even if this was a time of peace Kurenai knew that should she had fought the three of them as they are now when she was a genin she could have knocked all of them flat on their faces and she didn't even know a quarter of the genjutus she knew now. Because of this they really hope that these girls didn't represent the standard for their since that would mean something wrong has happened in the academy.
*Thunk*
"And with that, the swinging axes trap is no more," Naruko declared from on top of a three-branch after she had cut the strings that had been previously holding the weapons in the air. After this, she landed on the ground and examine the weapons which she determined to be a regular pair of woodcutter axes in good condition. That meant they went into her inventory for later while at the same time she pulled out a shovel she had bought a couple of days back. Also, it turned out that the shop provided by the system was now called Digital Adventure's Shop and it even had a cute redheaded merchant called Anna operating it. Anyway, the next thing the Uzumaki did was ask Hinata to use her Byakugan to see how far she would need to dig and it turned out that the chest was only four feet down. However, the bluenette's confused stare made the whiskered blond groan.
"I knew they would be a catch," Naruko muttered before asking: "Please, tell me what you're seeing Hinata-chan?"
"T-T-The chest… It has a c-c-chakra network?" Answered the Hyuga princess in confusion.
This, of course, prompted the Uzumaki to ask what a chakra network was since she didn't remember the term. The adults quickly explained that, as the name implied, it was the pathways with which the chakra traveled through the body and that all living things had one. The party was quick to notice how that information soured the girl's mood considerably as she started muttering and cursing to herself while she started digging at a rather blazing fast pace.
Due to this, and to almost everyone's surprise, it didn't take her more than a couple of seconds to hit the chest. However, they didn't get a chance to think of the impossibility of a girl that size finishing a job that would have taken a full-grown man half an hour. The reason for this being the jinchuriki jumping out of the hole with her weapon drawn and at the ready once she landed. Next thing they knew the ground exploded with the treasure chest popping out of the hole opened only it was filled with rows upon rows of teeth alongside a long drooling tongue.
Ino scream in fear but Naruko managed to hit the underside of the creature with an upper swing of her scythe. This causes the monster to not only shut itself from the impact but it to also flipped it in the air. That caused the monster to land on its "head" once it crashed onto the ground. Not taking the moment for granted the gamer put away her scythe and took out one of the new axes. Then she took a leaping swing at the chest, slammed the ax on the creature's bottom and went to town on it with the weapon. However, after 10 hits the Uzumaki waa sent flying upwards by way of a kick to the chin from an emaciated leg that shot out of the monster. Not a second later another thin leg joined its twin and equally spindly arms but ending in long sharp claws slid out of its side.
Once that happened the monster jumped onto its feet and stood a foot taller than Kakashi at its full height. After this, the monster growled in rage before throwing crazed swipes at the party. Thinking fast the Copy Ninja and Genjutsu Mistress grabbed a student each and jump out of the way while Hiruzen took out a black and gold bo staff to push the monster back. He didn't get a chance to do so as a spinning blade came down and amputated the chest's arms. Already knowing attack came from Naruko the kage used his staff to sweep the monster's legs from under it. The legs snapped easier than the twigs they resembled and caused the creature to crash back on the ground. There it roared at the old shinobi and tried to stab him with its tongue. That proved to be a mistake and the reason why it lost the appendage as Naruko crash into its head axe first. Between the combined impact and weight of the girl the creature's mouth was slammed shut and in turn causes its teeth to serve the attacking tongue. Therefore it was understandable when the treasure chest screamed in pain and opened its maw wide.
"Keep it open!" Everyone heard the girl scream as she let go of the wedged weapon and was thrown back because of it. Not second after hearing this Kakashi and Kurenai lassoed strings of ninja wire around the upper half of the monster and tied to other ends to trees. The living chest tried to fight its entrapment but it only resulted in the steel wire cutting further into its gums and resulted in more pain. During this Naruko ran back towards the front to the creature but everyone notice she now had manic grin stretching her face.
"Hello there," she announced with a mad giggle once she was in front of the monster. This causes the chest to growl at her in hate but then it started to shake in fear as if it seemed to have noticed the girl's bloodlust. This made her grin even more as she pulled out an unlit torch whose rags were wet with oil. "Please do scream, would you? I want your species to hear your death. I want them to know I'm coming for them!"
Once the declaration was made the mad Uzumaki lit the torch and rammed it down the creature's throat. Given the wooden body of the monster, it was no surprise how quickly it burst into flames. That, however, didn't prepare them for the cries and whimpers they heard coming from the monster as it trashes about while to flames consumed it. This lasted for about half a minute before the monster-chest exploded in a cloud of white smoke and its place now remained an apparent normal chest waiting to be opened.
[Congratulations! You win!]
[You've gained 150XP]
[Loot: 50G and Gold key fragment x01]
[Naruko Uzumaki has leveled up!]
Naruko Uzumaki [Lv4] ~Trickster Queen~
Job: Novice
XP: 012 / 395
HP: 101 + 17 = 118
MP: 1,444 + 69 = 1,513
ATK: 015 + 1 = 016
DEF: 038 + 1 = 039
AGI: 013 + 1 = 014
VIT: 009 + 1 = 010
INT: 007 + 1 = 008
SPR: 263 + 6 = 269
PER: 009 + 1 = 010
Attribute Points: 0000 + 10 = 0010
Everyone remained quiet for what seemed like forever as they tried to process what just happened. Then…
"What… the… hell?!" Ino finally asked at the top of her lungs while she looked at the Uzumaki in terror.
"I haaaaaaateeeeee mimics," Naruko answered with more venom that anyone that possible from the normally cheerful blonde. "They stay there calling out to you with promises of money, weapons or legendary items. Promises of wealth and power beyond that will be yours if you just open the chest. But noooooo, once you open it you get a face full of teeth!
But the worst is when you just finish killing the boss the dungeon and you decide to explore some more because: "Hey maybe I missed something!" So against your better judgment, you heal up and start looking around only to find that one chest you miss. So go: "Gee golly looks like I miss one!" Then like a total idiot you go for it knowing full well you have yet to save your game in hours yet you still open it and BOOM! FACE FULL OF MIMIC!
But you're still optimistic about and think: "No worries! I can take this loser!" Only for him to cast whack on your healer first and somehow managed to land the damn spell that seems to never work! So you now can't revive party members. Then SOMEHOW that stupid fake manages to used WHACK THREE MORE TIMES AND WIPES YOUR PARTY WHICH FORCES YOU TO LOSE EVERYTHING! SO NOW YOU HAVE TO GYAAAAAAAGH!"
It took everyone more than a couple of minutes to get their bearings after being blasted away by the girl's rant induce rage. But when they did the party members saw their party leader twitching and panting as she tried to get a hold of herself. At the same time, the two jonin not familiar with the blonde bared witness to the nine whipping tails the jinchuriki's hair had turned into.
"Been holding that one in for a while, haven't you?" Benihime asked after she floated back to her mistress. "By the way, your eyes are glowing red again."
That earned the fairy a small glared but it was enough of a signal for the Uzumaki. As such the girl closed her eyes and started taking calming breaths as her chakra began to control itself. As the power and wind started to die down the hair when back to its normal straight version. Then when silence fell on the forest the girl's knees buckled and she would have face-planted on the ground if Hiruzen hadn't caught her.
"Anything we should know about, young lady?" The tone used by the old Kage was more reprimanding then worry to show how serious he found this sudden show of rage. In contrast, the student in question looked like she was halfway between drunk and sleep as she turned her head, the only part of her body she could control right now, to answer.
"Remember how angry you felt years ago on your birthday when you thought you had finished your paperwork early for once and then they brought in two more trolleys full of paper for you to sign? Yeah, same feeling," the de-powered child answer with a slight slur to her words before she let gravity take her head.
"I understand the feeling but doesn't mean you can let your emotions control you like that." After the reprimand, the Sandaime wait for a response but got none. "Naruko-chan? … Hey, Naruko-chan? … Naruko!?" Worrying about his honorary granddaughter he turned her softly while holding her head just in case. Yet as once he saw her face Hiruzen didn't know whether to laugh or worry at the goofy and half-sleep look the girl now had. Heck, he ended up chuckling a bit as the girl somehow managed to slowly blink one eye at a time. Then the girl spoke:
"~Hey~ Is it normal to taste periwinkle and hear banana?"
That made everyone sweat drop in astonishment at how the maelstrom of rage just a few moments ago and this drunk were the same people.
"What is wrong with her?" Ino finally asked after ignoring the flight response of her brain and getting close to the Uzumaki. On a whim, she poked the girl which earned her a stupid drunk giggle and a "Pretty lady," response. If asked they ask the Yamanaka why her cheeks got red it was because she's angry NOT because that compliment made her heart thump! During this Benihime scanned the Uzumaki to see what happened and she chuckled.
"I guess we just found out one of the triggers the Gamer Mind can't suppress. Gamer rage truly is a sight to behold," the Navi explained with a small grin. Then she added: "Don't worry everyone! She's like this because one of her skills got overloaded trying to calm her down. Give our illustrious leader a couple of minutes and she'll be back to normal. In the meantime, why don't we open the chest? Oh, but make sure to let her keep any weapons or items for now!"
X ~ X ~ X ~X ~ X ~ X ~ X~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~X ~ X ~ X ~ X~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~X ~ X ~ X ~ X~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ ~ X ~ X ~X ~ X ~ X ~ X~ X ~
[System reboot starting…]
[Please wait…]
[ 10% … ]
[ 25% … ]
[ 40% … ]
[ 75% … ]
[ 90% … ]
[System reboot complete. System start!]
"Ouch, my head. Did anyone saw the horse shoe that hit me?"
"I think even you would have died if a horse kicked you in the head," an annoyed voice answered Naruko's groaning.
Painfully that the Uzumaki tried to open her eyes but the light hurt and she closed them again. Still, the girl didn't give up and tried again to slowly open one eye. It took a while but the eye became acclimated to the light. After this, a quick look around showed that there was still daylight out. However, the group had set up a small camp with a fire where skewers of fruits and meat were being cooked. Then she looked to where the sound had come and found Ino setting a few feet away. It was at that moment that she finally felt the soft and warm pillows her head was resting one. Thus the whiskered girl looked up and meet a pair of orbs covered by a dark blue shirt. Mind still filled with fog she followed her instincts.
*Poke*
"Eeeep!"
"You're a lot smaller than that dress made you out to be Kurenai-san."
"I am over here Uzumaki-san."
This causes the girl in question to blinked and look in the direction of the voice. Sure enough, she found crimson-eyed kunoichi looking back at her with a raised eyebrow as the woman looked after the food. One slow blink later the whiskered blond sat up at a sedated pace and once the girl was sitting in a stiff fashion she turns to look at where she had been resting. There Naruko found a cherry-red Hinata with an embarrassed smile to accompany the radiant blush while hugging her chest. That made it click to the small lesbian what had just happened.
One: Hinata had been giving her the famous lap pillow.
Two: She had just poked Hinata-chan's chest.
Three: Hyuga's boobs were just if not a little bigger than her own.
Four: she just touched another girl's boobs.
"Nice!" Naruko declared with a thumbs up. How the Uzumaki managed to put so much energy and passion into that exclamation while keeping a perfectly blank expression they will never know. But the mask did not stop the explosive nosebleed that propelled the diminutive girl headfirst into a tree. That impact, besides toppling the tree to the ground, knocked out the gamer almost immediately.
"Great, she is a lesbian and a disaster one to boot. At least that confirms she not after Sasuke-kun," Ino muttered after seeing the display. Then her eyes discreetly, for her, wandered to the Hyuga's chest. 'Not that I blame Pumpkin. I never hear a peep of a rumor that Hinata-chan being that stacked! Almost wants to make me get a squeeze in too. NO! Bad Ino! Hinata-chan is a friend and both of you are straight! …. Right? Wait, what am I thinking? Of course, I'm straight since I like Sasuke-kun! Plus I've never heard of someone that likes both genders. So get away from me gay thoughts!"
After this display, the only two males of the group could be heard discussing something about a bet and the changing of it. Kurenai decided to ignore the "idiots" and made a Leaf Clone so it would bring back the unconscious jinchuriki while she dealt with her almost comatose ward. At the same time, she asked the fairy to watch the food so it wouldn't get burnt.
"Well, overall I think today was productive," Benihime said with a laugh at what happened during this adventure.
X ~ X ~ X ~X ~ X ~ X ~ X~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~X ~ X ~ X ~ X~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~X ~ X ~ X ~ X~ X ~ X ~ X ~ X ~ ~ X ~ X ~X ~ X ~ X ~ X~ X ~
Author's Notes:
Not going to lie. I was late because I was busy playing and beating Astral Chain for the Switch. It's not a perfect game but would recommend it if you like character action games.
Update (09/19/19): Made a mistake with the XP need to level up. It's supposed to be 395xp to reach Lv5, not 263xp.
Update (01/16/20): Noticed a slight error in math. Naruko's Defense was set to 38 when it should have been 48 with the leather geat and 49 when she leveled up.
Update (01/19/20): Noticed errors in the math for some stats.