The game system is somewhat based off of the one in the manhua 'The Gamer'. Its a pretty entertaining story. Also, if you are into the Gamer plot, you should check out Temairine, who has written quite a few stories about it.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed. Nice comments inspire me to write, and criticism is always loved as I want to improve my writing, and make this story the best it can be.
I currently don't have a beta, so while I attempt to proofread somethings might escape me. If anyone would be interested in being a beta for me please send me a message.
Oh, also, I own nothing in this story.
'And, just like that, she was no longer in blackness, nor was she a spirit. '
Her eyes were shut, but she knew where she was almost instantly - home. The sounds filtering in from outdoors were so familiar. As she inhaled she smelled the familiar scents that let her know she was in her bedroom. Cherry blossom and vanilla were the scents her mother washed her things in. This bed, her bed, had been lost in Pein's attack. She had been relieved back then, as it was finally an excuse to get a bigger one, but now she was so happy to have it back, because it was home. She was home.
She, however, was not alone. Her eyes shot open, and she sat up, looking for the other presence. She took a deep breathe to settle herself when she saw it was the Kami.
"Welcome back, Sakura."
The pink haired woman who wore a child's body sent the woman a warm smile. She was home, she was happy, and she was especially hopeful. The horrors of her fight mattered less, and less as she thought of plans for the future.
"So, how will this work?" she questioned.
"For starters, let me introduce to you the menus you have available to you. First of all, you have your basic status window in the top left of your vision," said window appearing as the woman spoke, " This window lets you see your basic information. Your health is the red bar, and your chakra is the blue. Above the bars you can see your name, and your title - of which you currently have none. Below your status window is your group window, which will show the status' of your party members. In time you will be able to form your own party. However, the game can also auto assign you party members as needed. Understood?"
Sakura nodded.
"Now, you also have your ability menu that lists what abilities you have learned. To open it, simply think ability menu. When you have these menus open the world will freeze, or pause, as will you, physically. Open the ability menu now."
'Ability Menu?' she thought, and said menu appeared, overlaying over the world behind it.
"As promised, I have given you a few passive abilities. These abilities will grow stronger as you do, however, unlike most other abilities, they can not separately be leveled. The first is 'Tsunade Number Two', a name given to you by many of the Konoha shinobi force for both your talent, and your beauty. As such, it will give you a boost to your Mind, and Body stats. You have one other stat, Spirit. I will explain them all further later. This ability will also give you a bonus in learning medical skills, and your chakra control"
Sakura scanned over the ability as it appeared in the window before her.
Tsunade Number Two - lv 1
+3% Mind
+3% Body
+20% Chakra Control
" Your second ability is called Field Medic. Not every medic can perform in the field, and it is rarer still for any to be able to do so as well as you. This skill gives you a boost to all your stats, as well as boost the power of all your medical abilities, increase your chakra control, and improve your poison skills."
Field Medic
+2% Mind
+2% Body
+2% Spirit
+20% Chakra Control
"Your third ability is God Punch, because, as you pointed out, you did, in fact, punch Kaguya. A brilliant move that almost finished her."
God Punch
+4% Body
+2% Spirit
+5% Taijutsu Damage
"And your fourth ability is Overpowered Puppet. You made an antidote to Sasori's poison, and saved Kankuro. You smashed Sasori's puppets, and dodged his brutal attacks. You allowed Chiyo to use you as a puppet, and the two of you took down Sasori. You even attempted to sacrifice yourself for the elder puppet master."
Overpowered Puppet
+2% Mind
+2% Body
+2% Spirit
+5% Poison Damage
"And last of all, we have Top Test Taker. In your younger days you studied hard to learn what it meant to be a ninja. In many ways you were still so innocent, and ignorant of what was to come, but you truly did put your mind to work when it came to being a shinobi."
Top Test Taker
+6% Mind
+20% Ability Experience Gain
"You have three stats that you can increase, which, in turn, affect all your other stats. First of all you have Mind. This affects things such as your intelligence, perceptiveness, your chakra control, and how many stats you earn every level. It is the main source of power for genjutsu. Second is Body. It affects things like how strong, fast, and flexible you are. It controls how your body looks. It, of course, affects your taijutsu. It, along with Spirit, controls how much chakra you have. Spirit also controls how much experience you gain, your luck, and your ability in ninjutsu, among other things."
"How do I find out what else they control? And how much they boost things?"
"I'll let you figure that out on your own. You can see your stats in the Character Window."
'Character.'
The window in front of her was soon covered by another. It showed an image of her, and around it were squares, of which only one had anything in it; that thing being her nightgown. Clearly the squares were for her equipment, if not other things as well. To the right side of the image of herself was a list of stats.
Haruno Sakura
Age - Five
Level - 1
Xp - 0/250
Health - 17
Chakra - 17
Mind - 1 (1)
Body -1 (1)
Spirit - 1 (1)
Stats - ?
Sakura was fairly certain that those scores were not only bad, but abysmal. The scowl on her face showed just how she felt about that.
"Remember, dear, you are only five years old, and only at your first level. You have time to grow. Now, you have stat points to put in for your first level. This will be different from level to level, based not only on your static boosts, but also from luck. In RPGs, random numbers are used to control many aspects of the game. You'll have to get used to this. Every level up will give you at least 1 point in every stat, as seen above. Now, the system will generate your bonus stat points that you get to control."
Sakura watched as the question mark next to Stats turned into a seven.
"Now, as with opening the windows, you simply need to think the command."
Sakura did not take long to think things through. Her first year in the academy had mostly been spent on knowledge. However, she did not want to let the other stats fall behind. She was in a game now, and she did not know what changes alone that would make.
'Three points to Mind, Two points to Body, and Two points to Spirit.'
Mind - 4 (5)
Body - 3 (3)
Spirit - 3 (3)
Accept changes?
'Yes.' And with that thought she could feel herself change. It was small, but she felt more energetic, she could tell she had more chakra, everything about her seemed better. She grinned. 'I can get used to this!'
"You also have an inventory that will show the things you have on you. This is another gift that I give to you. You will be able to store things here, and summon them with a thought as needed; much like a storage scroll. You also have three save slots, and one auto save. Use them wisely! The autosave will save for its first time when I leave. I will leave the rest of the game's abilities for you to figure out. One last thing before I go. I have given you many things, but this one thing I will be taking from you. You know very well that you did not appreciate it enough. I hope you will grow from this."
Sakura frowned, "What is it?"
"Good luck, Haruno Sakura." And with that she faded away. The game windows closed, and life resumed outside the walls of her house.
Auto Saving
Sakura slipped out of bed, and stretched. While the market outside was as noisy as ever it was quiet in the house. Her parents were obviously away on missions, which Sakura found disappointing - she had not seen them since before the war started. Plus, this meant she had to make her own breakfast. Bummer. She set about getting herself ready for the day, and some time later she was clean, and garbed in a red tank top, blue capris, and black ninja sandals. The clothing she had been wearing before was now in her inventory. She made her way downstairs, and was headed to the kitchen to find something to eat when she heard the knock on the door.
Quest Started
You Are My Sunshine
*Answer the door.
Sakura could vividly remember her mother scolding her for answering the door on her own when she was little. Sakura wasn't really little, though, and her mother wasn't here; it was unlikely she would get in trouble, and that was not going to stop her anyway. The tiny pink haired kunoichi made her way to the door, and peaked out the window next to it. The person outside her door was ANBU. Sakura swallowed hard as her stomach felt like it was doing flips. It was unlikely that they were here to see her parents since the Hokage would know they were on a mission, so he would not send an ANBU for them. No ANBU would visit someone on there own in the uniform. The only logical answer was that they were here for her. She had only one reason that she could think of as to why an ANBU would be visiting a child.
Sakura took a deep, shuddering breath, then opened the door. The quest objected completed, and another appeared below it. So far, it was only a question mark.
"Good morning, Anbu-san. How may I help you?" she was proud of how steady her voice was.
"The Hokage has requested your presence, Haruno-san," the ANBU member replied. That they were female was obvious to tell now that Sakura could hear her voice. Had she heard sympathy in the ANBU's voice? She was rather certain she had.
"Alrighty?" Sakura questioned with an undertone of excitement - a ninja hopeful would be excited to see the Hokage, right? Acting five was going to get annoying.
"I will escort you."
The quest updated.
*Follow the ANBU
Sakura nodded, and stepped outside, closing the door behind her. She took another deep breath, this one steady, and followed the shinobi through the village.
Another objective complete. Still no mention of a reward, though.
There was a chair in front of the Hokage's desk. People, at least people like herself, did not sit with the Hokage. People stood. Always. Yet there was a chair in front of the Hokage's desk.
"Haruno Sakura, yes?" the old man, the Hokage, asked her. She nodded. "Please, have a seat."
She did not tremble. She simply sat in the chair, and waited.
The Hokage waited for a while, yet after coming to realize that she was not going to speak, he started to tell her why he had summoned her.
Sakura listened, sitting still, - she would not tremble! - but her face paled to a chalky white.
Her parents were dead. Killed on missions. Separate missions. Dead. She had taken them from her. This was the price she had to pay. She closed her eyes in an attempt to hold back her tears, then let out a short, hysterical giggle before she bit her bottom lip to stifle herself. She let in a quick breath, let it out, then wiped the tears that had fallen from her eyes.
"I have no family in the village, but I don't want to leave. How do I handle the funeral? I, I." she cut herself off as her voice started to turn hysterical again. Another breath.
"Konoha will take care of the funeral arrangements. As for you, well, you have a few options. Your parents had some money saved up, and Konoha takes care of the children of its fallen shinobi. Normally you would be sent to live in an orphanage. Does that interest you?"
Sakura vehemently shook her head.
"No? Well, you can stay in your home if you wish. A social worker will check up on you from time to time, and will help you with your budget. Money will be tight, though. Your house has a guest bedroom, right?"
Sakura nodded, though was bewildered as to where he could be going with that question.
"There are other orphans in the city, and not all have a home. One boy is having trouble in the orphanage. Now, the village would be willing to compensate you to allow him to live with you, and stay in the spare bedroom. Does that interest you at all?"
*Make your decision : Yes or No?
Sakura pondered it over. She'd need money, that was for certain. She didn't particularly want some kid around, though. Unless, well, there was the chance that the kid was Naruto. It could just be wishful thinking on her part, but orphan who had problems with others just screamed Naruto. The game obviously had a hand in this. Still, might as well be careful.
'Save Game?'
Which Save Slot
Save One
Save Two
Save Three
'Save Game in Save One.'
Rename?
'Rename Save One Before Orphan Decision'
Game Saved : Before Orphan Decision
"Yes, but, might I meet him first, sir?"
*Make your decision : Yes or No? : Complete
*Seal the Deal
"Of course."
A few minutes later a small, child version of her teammate stepped into the room, trailing behind an ANBU. For a few moments he stared at her, and she stared right back.
His clothes weren't awful, but definitely were not anywhere close to being new. He seemed a bit smaller than she was, but physically healthy, though thin, besides the split lip. An accident, or had someone hurt him? She was fairly certain she knew the answer to that question. Her hands tightened their grip on the arms of the chair.
"Who're you?" Naruto finally demand, his voice loud.
"Haruno Sakura. Who are you?"
"Uzumaki Naruto!"
He seemed defensive with the way he shouted, and the way he glared at her. He was five, and yet already used to people picking on him. She could tell.
"I've heard about you," Sakura started. "They call you a monster." She said matter-of-factly. The Hokage opened his mouth to speak, but Sakura continued on. "They call me Billboard Brow 'cause of my forehead. I hate that." she explained, wrinkling up her nose. The Hokage seemed to calm, and waited for her to finish. "You're not like them, right?"
"No way!" Naruto shouted, sounding offended.
"Me neither." Sakura replied, giving the boy a warm smile. "Wanna be friends?"
Naruto, suddenly shy, looked down at the floor, then glanced to the Hokage.
The man sent a reassuring smile to the normally boisterous boy. "She has a room for you to stay in, Naruto. I think you two will get along well. Don't you think?"
Naruto nodded.
"So, what do you two say?"
"I'd be happy to have Naruto stay with me. You will, won't you, Naruto-kun?" she questioned, sending her best puppy dog eye's expression at the child.
He nodded again.
Ability Created : Persuasion : lv 1
The ability to influence someone to do something.
+2% Mind per Level
*Seal the Deal : Complete
Quest complete!
$400 /month
Companion gained : Uzumaki Naruto
Legendary Questline Unlocked : The Show Off
1612 Faction with Sarutobi Hiruzen
2930 Faction with Uzumaki Naruto
80 XP
"Good, good. I will have Naruto's things brought over," he said, the ANBU leaving after he spoke. Coincidence? She thought not. "I'll bring you two home, but first, how about we get some lunch?"
Lunch? It wasn't even noon yet. She wasn't going to complain, of course, especially because she was hungry already from having her breakfast interrupted. Then, of course, this was the Hokage she was talking to.
"Ramen?" Naruto asked, his voice as loud as ever.
"I love ramen!" Sakura lied. Like, sure, but love? Not quite.
"Then its settled. Ramen it is."
She and Naruto had spent the morning just talking. Well, they talked when Naruto was not shoveling ramen into his mouth. Honestly, it was like the kid didn't think he would get to eat again. Though, with how thin he was, Sakura suspected he might not have been getting enough to eat. Surely not on purpose though. She'd keep telling herself that until she believed it.
Around noon the Hokage finally dragged them away from the ramen shop - Ichiraku's,of course - with the excuse that he had to get back to work, and dropped them off at Sakura's home.
"'C'mon, I'll show you to your room," Sakura said as she opened the front door for the blonde behind her. The boy sent her a nervous glance before stepping through the door. Sakura shut the door, grabbed the boys hand, and dragged him up the stairs. "This one is mine," she said as they passed the door at the top of the stairs. "This one is the bathroom," she said, pointing to the left door further down, "And," she said, drawing the word out, "this one is yours!" With that, she threw the door on the right side, opposite, the bathroom, open.
"Now, I know the bed sheets don't suit you. This room was meant for adults, so the bed will be big for you, but we can get you some cool blankets, and stuff, once we have the money," she said, then turned to face the young boy. "Okay?" she asked, her voice trailing off as she saw the look on the boy's face. "Naruto?" she questioned uncertainly, her voice quiet. What had happened to upset him. "Did they forget something? Why are you sad?"
The boy let out a choked sob, and shook his head. "I dun think I am," he stammered out.
Sakura closed the distance between them, and pulled the boy into a hug. He tensed for a moment, but she held on until she felt him relax, and returned the hug. In a few moments the boy was clinging to her, and sniffling to hold in his tears. He wasn't her Naruto, not yet, but that really did not matter to her right then. Her team mate needed her. "Its okay to cry," she murmured, resting her cheek against the top of the shorter child's head. "It is with me. I'll be the best Nee-san ever, okay? So you can count on me!"
The teary eyed boy looked up to send her a big smile. "Promise?"
"Promise."
Ability Leveled : Persuasion : lv 2
Apparently comforting a crying child counted as persuading someone.
They spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking Naruto's things, talking, and goofing around. He had very little, so the job would have been easier if they could focus, but she wanted to see him smile, and he was a five year old. Very little got done. It was surprisingly easy for her to come up with games that were fun for the both of them. The Game granted her +1 Mind, and +1 Body over the course of the afternoon.
She had always thought Naruto was stupid, but he was able to catch on to the rules she came up with quickly. He was clever, especially for a five year old. Yet Naruto had been an awful student, and she had always disliked him for that. School had been important to her. Naruto had always been so loud, so disruptive, and that had bothered her. He had been an enemy against education. He didn't even seem to try. How did this boy become that boy? The only answers she could come up with make her feel queasy.
"Sakura-kun! I'm hungry!"
"Sakura-chan, silly. Kun is for boys, mostly. Or you can call me Sakura-nee. 'Cause I'm gonna be your big sister." She had decided they would be family, and it would be so. Chibi Naruto was adorable, plus, this might head off that crush he had developed on her. She could not deny that there had been developing feelings for her Naruto, but she would never know what would happen with them now. She was seventeen years old. Kakashi would be, what twenty? And her boys, her teammates, were five years old. In her time she had loved them, she would always love them, but she could never love them like she had before. A part of her hurt over that. A big part of her.
"Sakura-neechan! I'm hungry!" Naruto corrected himself, looking proud. His exclamation snapping her out of her brooding.
"Alright, Naruto-kun. Let's go make some dinner."
Ability Created : Crafting : lv 1
The ability to create items.
Ability Created : Cooking : lv 1
The ability to create food.
She had just sent Naruto to his room to go to sleep. He had pouted, and had not wanted to leave her. It had been adorable. She reminded him that she would be there in the morning, and the sooner he got to sleep, the sooner they could play again.
Sakura thought that, just maybe, being a mother could be nice. Maybe someday.
Once he was asleep she washed up the dishes, then crept back up the stairs. She passed her bedroom, then Naruto's, walking all the way down to the end of the hall to open the door there. She quietly walked across the wooden floor to reach the bed. It was so tall that she had to climb into it. She burrowed under the covers, grabbed her mother's pillow, and let herself cry as she clung to it. A few minutes later she was joined by another. The blonde pulled her into a hug, and the little boy held his new friend as she cried herself to sleep.
Haruno Sakura
Age - Five (Seventeen)
Level - 1
Xp - 80/250
Health - 6
Chakra - 5
Mind – 5 (6)
Body – 4 (4)
Spirit - 3 (3)
I hope you all liked it. Next chapter will likely be more Naruto and Sakura bonding as the two get ready to attend the academy.
Would seeing my full stat spreadsheet be something you guys would like to see? Let me know in a review/message. It still isn't complete, though. Heh... I just filled in what I would need for the chapter, mostly. I suppose it is okay if I take my time, though. I don't want to make this feel like a job.
Any ideas for abilities you'd like Sakura to learn? They don't all have to be combat based, like with the crafting.