A big thank you to everyone who reviewed. I hope you continue to enjoy the story.
Sakura awoke, and, as she was trained, was immediately wide awake.
Sleeping has restored your HP and CP. All status effects have been removed.
Now that was useful. Or rather, it would be. Sakura wonder how long she had to sleep for her chakra to regenerate. She'd have to test it.
A warm smile made its way onto her lips as she remembered the night before. She could see so much of her Naruto in this little boy. Even now, he was as kind as ever. And loud, so loud. Well, at least while he was awake. The only sounds the boy made now was his soft inhales, and exhales. He had a smile on his face. She hoped he was having pleasant dreams. She hoped even more that she could keep that smile on his face.
Sakura was fairly certain that if she had placed any less points into Body that she would have been unable to untangle herself from her new housemate with waking him up. As is, she was still impressed her tiny body had managed the feat.
You have gained +1 in Body.
Which meant, without boosts, her Mind and Body were even. Spirit, however, was trailing behind. The abilities she had did not give much of a boost to Spirit, either. Now, she could focus on leveling up, or at least learning to level up, or she could focus on learning more abilities, and getting the boosts from those. Perhaps, since she would be starting at the academy soon, she should work on the academy skills? That seemed reasonable enough, despite the fact that they were only taught theory in their first year. She would get the ability for them, and would have a head start at the academy. Win win. Plus, she had a bonus for learning abilities, already. That would be fastest way to gain stats, most likely, though not as controllable.
'First off, I'll do Henge. It was the hardest to do, so it might give the best stat gain.' she thought to herself, but when she went to perform the jutsu she found herself not knowing how. Which, for Haruno Sakura, was impossible. She did not forget things. Especially not something like Henge! Which clearly meant that the game had made her forget. Which meant she was going to have to learn it all over again.
The only thing that kept her from throwing a temper tantrum was the fact that she was still a few feet away from the peacefully sleeping Naruto. Sakura silently ghosted out of the room, and down to the hall to her own room. She closed the door to her room, walked over to her bed, and with a mental shout of 'Shannaro!' she smashed her fist into her pillow.
Ability Created : Power Strike - lv 1
An attack where the attacker strikes the target with a lot of force.
+5% Critical (when active) per Level
+10% Taijutsu Damage (when active) per Level
Ability Created : Beginner Taijutsu - lv 1
Hand to hand combat.
+2% Body per Level
+1% Taijutsu Damage
The first things she noticed was that her chakra had gone down a small amount, by five. She had channeled a touch of chakra into her punch, but not much at all. Yet, her chakra stores were down under eighty now. She could only use this ability sixteen times before she exhausted her chakra pools. Unless she had some sort of regen. She'd find out about that later.
Interestingly enough. the first ability only gave her bonuses while she was using, while the second gave her a static boost. So, not all abilities would give her stats. However, she could level different abilities at the same time. She had learned cooking at the same time she had learned crafting. So if she worked on leveling cooking, she would also level crafting. So, cooking was a subset of the crafting skill. So, if she worked on Power Strike, would she then also level her Taijutsu? Then again, Power Strike did not state that is had to simply be used for Taijutsu. It seemed like a basic attack that could done with just about any weapon. If she leveled it, then wanted to try a new weapon she'd still have a decent attack to use, despite having a low weapon skill. That could make her versatile. A medic nin needed to be able to adapt, and more adaptability would definitely help against foes like Kaguya. Then again, so would having a strong attack in just a few things. Though, with the game, if she worked hard enough she might just be able to have both.
Her inner musing was cut off when her stomach gurgled.
First she would have breakfast. Then, well, the sky was the limit. Maybe.
"Blegh, Sakura-nee! What is that smell?" Naruto shouted as he made his way downstairs.
"Uh," Sakura said unintelligibly, staring at the pan in front of her. She had just been making eggs, so how had it ended up like this?
'Well, your cooking skill is low,' she reminded herself, but still, this was just silly. The eggs, which were fairly fresh, had gone rotten after she had put them in the pan. Seriously, this game was being a jerk. She only had four hundred dollars a month! She couldn't afford to waste food.
"Uh, um. I'll try again," she said, laughing nervously as she scooped the half cooked, and completely rotten, eggs into the trash can. The pan she dumped into the sink. No way was she using that again. "Could you take this out to the trash can?" she asked as she put a knot in the top of the trash bag.
Naruto took the bag from her with one hand, and plugged his nose with another.
"Careful," she chided as he dragged the bag across the floor. "It could break, ba-silly!" she added, stopping herself from calling the five year old an idiot.
Still, she couldn't blame him; it did smell in here. She moved to look under the sink -her mother stored the cleaning supplies there- to look for the air freshener. After she had found it she began to liberally spray it into the air.
She jumped mid spray as she heard someone who sounded nothing like a young boy clear their throat somewhere behind her. She spun, dropping into a defensive stance, ready to wield the aerosol can like a blunt weapon, bringing herself to face the intruder, also known as the Hokage.
"H-hokage-sama," she stuttered out, her face flushing as she swiftly moved from her stance into a deep bow. "Forgive me."
The man chuckled, as he set the bags he was carrying down on the kitchen table. He put his hands gently on Sakura's shoulders, and pulled her upright. "It is me who must beg your forgiveness, Haruno-san. I did not mean to startle you. Naruto let me in" he said, giving what seemed to be a young child a warm smile.
Sakura, still flushed from embarrassment, assured the Hokage that it was no problem, "The can was loud, so I was focused on that. I did not hear the door open." The Hokage was in her house. Tsunade had never even been in her home. "Tea!" she perked up. "Would you like tea, Hokage-sama?"
The man chuckled once again. "I would like that, but will you let me help you? How about you get the cups and tea ready, and I will get the water going, alright?"
Perfect, that way she wouldn't be able to burn down the house trying to heat the water.
"I hope you don't mind, but I brought over some breakfast. I have some things I would like to talk to the two of you about."
"Of course not, Hokage-sama," Sakura assured the man as she gathered three tea cups, and enough tea for the three of them. She set them on the table, then stood at attention for anything else the Hokage might need.
"Please, sit Haruno-san."
Sakura could not stop the flinch at his words. People like her did not sit with the Hokage. She took a deep breath, and slipped into her seat. There would be no bad new today. There would not.
The Hokage brought the water over a few moments later, poured it into the cups, and took seat.
"Jiisan!" Naruto whined. "I'm hungry."
"Manners, Naruto-kun," Sakura chided, though not unkindly.
"Yes, yes, here we go," Sarutobi said as he started placing out the boxes of food. Soon the three had in front of them Rice, Miso Soup, and broiled Salmon.
"Neh, no Ramen?" Naruto demanded.
"Naruto, Ramen is not good to have for every meal. Besides, it is not as nutritious as most foods. It has to be a treat if you want to grow strong." Sakura against coached the boy before the Hokage could even get in a word. The elderly man simply smiled at the two. Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but Sakura cut him off. "My mommy said so." she said simply, and the young boy's mouth snapped shut. He might not have been good, at all, at social interactions, but even he could see red flags from that line.
"Oh, then it must be true," Naruto mumbled, before starting on his meal.
Sakura's returning smile was small, and sad. It took her a moment to school her expression, and another calming breath. "Thank you for the meal, Hokage-sama. Itadakimasu."
After the trio had eaten for some time the Hokage spoke up. "So, the Academy is starting soon. You are both old enough to attend. Would you like to?"
"Yes!" Naruto cheered.
"Yes, please," Sakura replied in a much more mild voice.
"Oh, right. Yes, please," Naruto said, still as boisterous as ever. Sakura put her hand over her mouth in a failed attempt to muffle her giggle. Naruto was so adorable at this age.
"Excellent, because I've already filled out the paperwork for the two of you. Also, I've brought over the school books you will need. Normally you wouldn't get them until the first day of classes, but I thought you might like a head start."
This time Naruto was not the only one who cheered. Though soon his face feel.
"Eh, books? I can't read though, Jii-jii."
"I can!" Sakura said. "I can teach you, if you want. It'll be fun!"
Naruto giggled this time. "Yeah! Nee-chan and I are going to learn all the jutsus before school starts! We'll be the best."
Sakura did not have it in her to tell him that there would be no jutsus in these books. The Hokage didn't either.
"Also, here is the monthly stipend for the two of you. Remember, this must last you two the entire month." he spoke, passing the money to Sakura.
Gained $500
"Eh?" Sakura said, frowning down at the money. "This is too much, right?" she questioned, looking up at the Hokage. They had agreed on four hundred dollars. She wouldn't forget that.
"Ah, yes. This month you get a bit extra to get your school supplies." The man explained.
Sakura wasn't sure that this was the normal procedure, but she was not going to argue.
"Is there a list of what we will need?" Sakura questioned.
"Can we get kunai?" Naruto questioned, excited.
"My… I have some. Plenty, I should think. Though, I think Academy Students use practice weapons," she said, frowning at the end.
"Any weaponry you need will be supplied in class. Here," he said, passing a scroll to Sakura. "This is a list of required supplies. Now, Sakura, you have money that is available to you should you need it. Until you are of legal age, however, you will need permission to access it. As of now, I am the legal guardian of both you and Naruto. If you need anything, anything at all, you come to me, alright?"
Sakura nodded. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," she said, bowing her head.
"Now, if that's that, I'll have to get to the office. I fear I might be late as is. Take care, and remember, I am always available for you two."
"Bye, Jii-jii!"
"Have a good day, Hokage-sama."
+20,600 Faction gained with Sarutobi Hiruzen
Sakura blinked at the amount. That seemed like an awful a lot for just being polite during a meal. What had she done to impress him? Or was it the game itself that had made the number so high.
Soon the Hokage was gone, and Sakura was reading the list as Naruto continued to stuff his face with food. His manners needed work, but Sakura did not find herself disgusted with the amount he was eating as she normally would be. He was too cute to be disgusting, and too thin for her to want anything but for him to eat.
"Lets see here. Notebooks, pens. Hmm, that is a lot of stuff. We'll need backpacks too. I have enough clothes, but you don't have much. We'll have to get you some."
"We don't need to," Naruto said guiltily.
"Don't be silly. You need to be able to focus on your schoolwork. Not things like whether you have enough clothes to get through the week. Don't worry, we'll have enough. I promise."
"Alright, nee-chan." She very much liked being called that, she found.
Persuasion has gained a level.
Which, if her math was correct, should bring her up to eleven in Mind.
"Now, why don't you go get washed up, and dressed, so we can head out, okay?"
"Okay!" The boy shouted, then scampered off to do just that.
+20,400 Faction gained with Uzumaki Naruto
Again, the amount seemed huge, but what did it mean, exactly?
'Faction Menu?'
Group Factions
Konoha Civilians : Neutral : 0/20000
Konoha Ninja : Neutral : 0/20000
Solo Factions
Uzumaki Naruto :Friendly : 23,330/100,000
Sarutobi Hiruzen : Friendly : 22,212/100,000
So, that meant out of everyone in the whole world the only two people who gave a shit about her were Uzumaki Naruto, and Sarutobi Hiruzen. All in all, she thought she was pretty lucky. Out of anyone, those were two very nice people to have. Though, it was odd to her that the Hokage was almost as fond of her as Naruto was. She'd have to fix that.
Sakura set about putting the leftovers away; the Hokage had brought over more food than the three would possibly need, and headed upstairs to get herself ready.
The Show Off – Academy Wannabes
Find a way to buy school supplies.
"Get out, and don't come back!" the woman screeched at the two as they were forcefully shoved out of the shop. The two children fell to the ground. Naruto was sniffling, trying to hold in tears, and Sakura was shaking, trying to hold in her anger; which was not something she was known to be good at.
"Fine, you hag!" Sakura screamed back to the shop keeper, as she righted herself. "If you want to deny an orphan the right of patronage, go right ahead. I don't need to be shopping anyways. I'll just go back to planning my parent's funeral. You know, the ones I found out that died yesterday, protecting this village that you live in!" She shouted. The people surrounding them stopped to stare. The woman went even redder in the face, and slammed the door to the store shut. Naruto burst into tears.
"S-sorry, Nee-chan. M-my fault."
Sakura whirled around as the boy started cry. Getting back into the dirt on her knees, she pulled the boy to her, wrapping him into a tight hug. People were still looking on, most with shock, but some with disgust. "Shh, shh. Don't be silly. Bad people do bad things. Its not your fault."
"Girl, get away from him. Its not sa-" he cut off at the glare Sakura sent his way. Or perhaps it was the killing intent she was letting out. She opened her mouth, but before she could get a word out someone spoke instead.
"Ma, ma. What do we have here? Troublemakers?"
Sakura turned to look at the man, eyes wide with shock.
'Kakashi?'
"Ah, yes, Shinobi-san. Troublemakers." the man agreed, nervous.
"Can't have that. Up you two. Lets go."
Sakura got to her feet, pulling the sniffling Naruto up with her.
"Yes, Shinobi-san."
"Good girl." And with that, the masked man gently scooped up both of the tiny ninjas-to-be, and Body Flickered to the roof of the store, then again to a few buildings over.
"Whoa," Naruto breathed out.
"Thank you for saving us, Shinobi-san," Sakura said as sweetly as possible, hoping to make the most of the situation.
"Is that what I did?" Kakashi asked, amused.
Sakura tilted her head to the side, and put a confused look on her face. "Well, we didn't do anything bad. People were mean. Then you came, and took us away. That counts as saving us, I think. Right?"
"I suppose it does. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Well… I need to buy supplies for Naruto and myself for school. That store that threw us out has the best prices. So, either we have to shop somewhere else, which would be difficult on our budget, or, um, well, since you did technically offer, sorta, to help, you could, uh," she said, stammering in an attempt to be cute at the end, "teach us the transformation technique that the academy students learn so we can shop there without upsetting anyone," she finished, her words coming out in a rush. Then she looked up with her big green eyes, peeking up at him through her eyelashes. "I learn quick! You'd only have to show me once. I promise."
"Yeah, nee-san is smart!" Naruto chimed in, despite having very little evidence towards that.
"Well, alright then." Kakashi said as the game informed her she had received another level in persuasion. , Both Naruto and Sakura gave him a huge smile as he set them down. "I am just going to show you once, then." And with that, he slowly went through the signs for the jutsu, and with a poof of smoke, he had transformed himself into… a beautiful, busty, redheaded woman. He released the transformation a few moments later. "Your turn."
"Hmm," Sakura closed her eyes, focusing on the chakra within herself, and on the image of the transformation she wanted to make. 'Dog, Boar, Ram!'
Ability Created : Transformation Technique
+1% Mind per Level
+1% Spirit per Level
And with that, the beautiful, busty redhead had returned.
"Did I get it?" Sakura asked.
"Yes," Kakashi replied slowly, not quite believing his eyes.
"Wow! You're so cool nee-chan. Its my turn now!"
He pressed his fingers together into the correct seals, which Sakura was shocked to see. How had he copied them so easily? Or had he learned them before? It wasn't unlikely for him to have asked the Hokage to teach him something, she suspected.
However, nothing happened.
The Show Off – Academy Wannabes
Find a way to buy school supplies.
Teach Naruto the Transformation Technique
Sakura let the henge drop. It was bringing her chakra pool down the longer she kept it up. Slowly, but she had to be careful is she wanted to get any shopping done.
"Here, Naruto-kun, do what I do. Listen, and close your eyes," she instructed as she did that same. "Focus on your energy, your chakra. Feel it flowing through your body, like rivers flowing through a forest. Always flowing. Do you feel it?"
"I-I think so!"
"Focus on the rivers. Let it flow. Now, do the signs, but this time, remember to let your chakra flow. Let the flows change, if they need to. If they want to. Open yourself. Let the seals control the waters, the chakra. View the image of your transformation in your mind. Hold onto the image, and let your chakra go. Ready? Go."
The two went through the signs, and there were two poofs as they both transformed.
Ability Created : Mentoring
+2% Mind per Level
+2% Spirit per Level
+2% Body per Level
+100% Ability and Skill Gain for Mentee (when active)
-50% Ability and Skill Gain for Mentor (when active)
+1 Mind and +1 Spirit Gained
The Show Off - Academy Wannabe!
Find a way to buy school supplies.
Teach Naruto the Transformation Technique
Academy Wannabe : Complete
233 XP Gained
You have leveled up!
HP and CP restored.
Sakura stared down at the Henged Naruto. He looked almost the same, except his hair was pink, his eyes were brown -as were hers-, and those giveaway whisker marks were gone.. Sakura pumped her fist into the air. "Cha! You did it! Awesome."
"Hehe. I wasn't sure what I wanted to transform into, but I figured that if I had pink hair, at least, no one would suspect it was me. Especially if you had red hair. Then, with both having brown eyes, we would look like we really could be related!"
"Thank you so much, Shinobi-san," Sakura said, bowing low to her past, and hopefully future sensei.
"Yeah, thanks Shinobi-san, dattebayo!"
"Well, you two take care." And with that, he disappeared, leaving the two on the roof.
+9844 Faction Gained with Hatake Kakashi
+11604 Faction Gained with Uzumaki Naruto
"Alright! Lets get to climbing," Naruto said, looking over the roof.
"Naruto-kun, there is a fire escape stairwell over here..."
The two emerge from the clothing store some time later. After the first store, where they had bought their school supplies, Sakura was forced to release her henge. She had not been out of chakra, but she had gotten below halfway. There was no way any self respecting ninja was going to let themselves be drained of chakra outside of a dire circumstance; which shopping did not count as. Well, at least not now that she was older. The clerk at the clothing store had tried to convince Naruto to shop from the girl's section, and Sakura had had to quickly intervene before Naruto got offended, and blew their cover. Once she got him out of hearing distance of anyone she explained his slip up. They were undercover, and so they had to stay true to their characters. Naruto had frowned, asking if that meant he had to get girl clothes. Sakura rolled her eyes, and replied that, no, he was the tomboyish twin.
After that, they ducked into an alley where Naruto dropped his henge.
"Neechan, I'm hungry!"
"Me too, wanna-"
"Lets get ramen," Naruto cut Sakura off midway.
Sakura opened her mouth to protest, but then snapped it shut. 'Stupid,' she chided herself, and nodded to Naruto. "Sure, we did a good job today, so we can treat ourselves. Good food for good work!" She would drill that thought into his head, and maybe, just maybe, it would motivate him to study.
Though, it would be good if she learned to cook; taking him out to eat was going to get expensive. She'd have to read some cookbooks, and follow the instructions very carefully. She prayed that doing that would help.
As it turned out, lunch was not going to be expensive after all. Naruto had explained to the shopkeeper, and his then very young daughter who had been working on school work at the bar, that he had gotten accepted at the Academy. He had then explained that he and his 'neesan' had to learn a fancy ninja jutsu to sneak into a store to shop -which he promptly showed off- cause the shopkeeper had thrown them out. They were immediately congratulated, and told that their dinner was on the house.
Which was when Sakura burst into tears.
"Sakuranee! Why are you sad?"
"I don't think I am."
The two made their way home, bellies full of ramen.
"Why don't you put your clothes away, then we can pack our bags for school," Sakura suggested as she made her way to the kitchen to drop the school supplies on the table. She promptly grabbed one of her mother's cookbooks, and plopped down in a chair to find a recipe. Perhaps a soup. Soups weren't hard. She flicked from page to page, scanning, until she found one that looked good. She read over the instructions, and crinkled her nose. Nope, too complicated. More scanning, and she read another page.
Cooking has gained a level.
'Well then,' Sakura thought, flipping back to the front of the book. That made things much easier. By the time it was late enough for dinner. Sakura had fifteen levels in cooking, and seven in crafting. The soup she made that night didn't turn out that bad, and she earned another cooking level while making it.
Sakura put Naruto to bed, then went to her own room. She used the inventory to change into nightgown, then crawled into bed.
'Character'
Haruno Sakura
Age - Five
Level - 2
Xp - 63/500
Health – 83/83
Chakra - 84/84
Mind – 6 (8)
Body – 5 (6)
Spirit - 4 (5)
Stats - 25
'Wow!' Sakura thought as she say the amount of stats she had to add. She had gotten lucky this time. 'Now, putting points into Mind would, theoretically, help me the most in school. However, despite having the jutsus I've learned taken from me, I still remember everything else. Still, Mind would allow me to capitalize on my biggest strength: chakra control. However, I barely have enough chakra to hold a henge for half an hour. I am so weak in this body, and people have proven that they are going to make my, and Naruto's, life difficult. Today it was just a civilian, but what if we run into a ninja who had a grudge against 'the fox demon'? How I am I going to protect us like this? Plus, I need Spirit if I ever want to be a medic nin. Chakra control was good enough before, more than good enough, but now ninjutsu requires Spirit. In short, I need everything.'
So that was just what she got. Nine points went into Mind, eight went to Body, and another eight went to spirit.
Mind – 15 (20)
Body – 13 (16)
Spirit - 12 (14)
Accept Changes?
'Yes.' And with that, she closed the game window, and went to sleep.
Haruno Sakura
Age - Five
Level - 2
Xp - 63/500
Health - 22/22
Chakra - 21/21
Mind – 15 (20)
Body – 13 (16)
Spirit - 12 (14)
Group Factions
Konoha Civilians : Neutral : 0/20000
Konoha Ninja : Neutral : 0/20000
Solo Factions
Uzumaki Naruto :Friends : 34,934/100,000
Sarutobi Hiruzen : Friendly : 22,212/100,000
Hatake Kakashi : Positive/Curious : 9,844/100,000
So, Sakura gets another level. As you can see, her abilities that she was given at the start have a big effect on her stats. She is progressing quickly, but, as everyone who plays games know, the higher level you get, the harder it is to level. She might be overpowered soon, but how long can she stay that way as those around her progress, too? Plus, the game itself is going to spin out challenges for her. In fact, in the next chapter Sakura is in for a big surprise thanks to the game.
Oh, and I am still looking for a beta.