While I sincerely hope you are getting used to my more than erratic upload habits, I do still hope you are enjoying the story. As per usual, I apologize for the hiatus. I've been spiralling downwards for a while now, but I was feeling inspired to write, so I did. I also made some progress on the next chapter of Waking up Dead, though it is far from completion. Between work, school, and the drama festival I am participating in, I cannot say for certain that it will be completed any time soon. Though I do hope to have the time to do more writing, it felt great to get something done for once.
Without anything more to say, please sit back and enjoy the most recent chapter of Life is a Game, Play It!
Rage. That was all Naruto knew. One moment, he was catching Sasuke, hearing his last words, the next moment he was punching the mask off of the fake-hunter nin, throwing him through one of the mirrors, consequently shattering the others. In his haze, he didn't notice the slight red aura around him.
What he did notice, though, sapped all the rage from him. Beneath the mask of the hunter-nin was the face of his new friend, Haku.
As he and Haku came to a stop, him with his fist above Haku, who was sprawled on the ground, he was lost. While he had lost Sasuke, who had quickly become a brother-figure and a rival to measure himself against, could he really bring himself to kill Haku? Haku, who was one of his first friends, despite their current situation.
"Why? Haku, you're… Why?" He asked, hopelessly.
"For Zabuza-sama's dream." Haku replied, equally lost. "Though… I'm no use to him now. What use would he have for a broken tool? And that's all I am now. Naruto, I ask that you kill me."
"W-What?" Naruto asked, shocked. "Haku I couldn't possibly-"
Haku cut him off with a story. The story of a young boy, ostracized after the murder of his father, as retribution for the death of his mother. The story of an orphan who, once found by a missing ninja, dedicated his life to fulfilling the goals of his saviour. Haku told Naruto of Zabuza's goals, and by extension, his goals. Haku told him his story and, in that moment, Naruto and Haku understood each other.
"Haku, I can't." Naruto despaired. "You could come with us, back to Konoha! We could talk to the Hokage, and find a place in the system for you and Zabuza. I'll talk to the old man, we can send support to Kirigakure to help end the purges and the civil war. I can't let you both die, not knowing what you told me."
The sound of a thousand chirping birds reached their ears, as an eerie blue light sprung into existence.
"Zabuza-sama, he's in danger!" Haku exclaimed. "You have to let me up, Naruto! I have to save him!"
"Throw me." Naruto said, quietly.
"What?"
"I said throw me!" Naruto was beginning to lose his patience. "Just… Don't tell anyone about it. I'll save Zabuza."
"Alright, Naruto-kun."
With that, Naruto helped Haku up from the ground, and took a stance that would make it easier to throw him. Haku grabbed his extended hand, pulled, rotated, and threw Naruto like a speeding bullet.
Just as Kakashi was about to impale Zabuza with his lightning jutsu, Naruto rocketed into the missing nin, sending them both tumbling. Zabuza thrashed around in the blond's iron grip, but Naruto was determined not to let go, worrying that Kakashi would take any chance to end the fight.
"Naruto! What the hell are you doing?" Kakashi asked.
"Kakashi-sensei, stop! He's just trying to save money to stop the bloodline purges in Mizu no Kuni! We don't have to kill them, just keep them from killing Tazuna. Then maybe we can talk to Hokage-jiji and get some help sent with him to Kiri, and we can work out an alliance, this can work in our favour."
"Heh," Zabuza grunted, "Typical of Konoha brats to try and get what's best for them out of a situation. Ne, Kakashi?"
"Maa, Zabuza, it may not be the most altruistic notion… But he does make some sense." Kakashi said. "Perhaps, if you're willing, we can work something out and send some backup with you to Kirigakure."
Congratulations!
You have passed your first Charisma check.
You have received 50 exp.
You gained 50 Positive Karma.
Congratulations!
You survived an encounter.
You have received 1000 exp.
(2) New perk(s) available.
"Yatta!" Naruto shouted.
"Well, well, well." A voice said from the end of the incomplete bridge. The mist cleared away, revealing a short man in a suit, surrounded by thugs. "Look what the cat dragged in. Some battered shinobi, but only one of them is dead? Tsk tsk, Zabuza I thought you were better than this."
"You know damn well that I am, but facing Sharingan no Kakashi is much more difficult than you would think." Zabuza growled in response.
"It doesn't matter how difficult it is, you seem rather tuckered out. Why don't you sit down for a while, and my men can finish your job for you. Afterwards, we can talk about the matter of your… Payment." Gato said, attempting to sound menacing.
Kakashi looked to Zabuza and shrugged. "Your boss told you to sit out," he said, "so I guess you have no choice."
Zabuza chuckled darkly in return. "You have a point, Sharingan no Kakashi. Try not to die too fast, alright?"
"Maa maa, Zabuza-san. You're much too fixated on titles. I could be the Yondaime Hokage for all it matters, and you still wouldn't just use my name, would you?" Kakashi then became more serious in his demeanour. "But like he said, sit out for a while well this is finished up. I trust you're smart enough to realise that he intends to betray you?"
As Kakashi said this, Gato at least had the decency to look surprised that it was so obvious.
"Of course I knew," growled Zabuza, "the little twerp has never been trustworthy."
"I'm done with this farce." Gato declared. "You all know what to do, right? Take these pathetic excuses for shinobi, since they seem so exhausted. The one who brings me the head of the one with silver hair gets a raise, and half of whatever his bounty is worth!"
With this announcement, the thugs at the end of the bridge gave a mighty cheer, and charged at the completely prepared Kakashi. It would be an understatement to say that it was hardly a fight for him, as he was not injured in any debilitating way in his brawl with Zabuza. Though to call that a brawl, would mean that this confrontation was nothing more than a game of tag for the ninja. He quickly became a cyclone of death, evading swords, knives, and spears as he plucked the life the thugs sent by Gato.
It took less than three minutes for all to be said and done. That isn't to say that he killed them all, a fair amount of them turned tail and ran. In the end, Gato was left quivering at the end of the bridge, unsure what to do.
"Z-Zabuza!" He screeched. "If you and your apprentice help me I'll double, no, triple your current pay!"
While it was indeed tempting, seeing as he knew that he needed the money, but he decided to shrug at the man who was lacking in both stature and dignity.
"Like you said, we're much too tired to fight anymore." He said, before closing his eyes and relaxing to the sounds of the diminutive man blubbering. No aid came to him, and soon Kakashi ended the tyrant's life.
"Well!" Kakashi said. "It looks like that's the end of that. Now Zabuza-san, would you mind helping me carry my poor genin back to Tazuna-san's house? The three of them seem like they need rest."
"Wait… T-The three of us?" Naruto sputtered. "But Sasuke… Sasuke is-"
"Unconscious, I know." Kakashi interrupted with an eye-smile. "Now, if I'm not wrong, you're about to be too."
Naruto looked questioningly to Kakashi, before a wave of exhaustion washed over him. He soon crumpled to the ground, oblivious to the world around him. Oblivious to Kakashi shaking his head as he hefted Naruto over his shoulder, before walking towards Tazuna's house.
Naruto shot up out of bed, eyes darting around his room as the previous day's events caught up to him. His expression changed from proud, to embarrassed, to terrified, before settling on relief. He flopped back onto the bed, going over the things that had come to him the day before. He gained attribute points. Now he just had to figure out what to do with them.
He muttered a quick "Menu", before the world faded and he was in his own paused reality.
Words began to take shape in the air in front of him.
Attributes
Skills
Perks
Inventory
Contacts
Quests
Deciding to focus on one thing at a time, he followed up with a statement of "Attributes."
Str. 30
Spd. 10
Int. 3
Wis. 4
Cha. 50
CP. 160
Agi. 10
Sta. 50
End. 40
Lck. ?
Available attribute points: 15
"Ugh, my stats are so scattered!" Naruto whined. "But wait... Why do I have fifteen available points? I only got five when I gained a level."
Ten points are awarded at first level, to encourage character customization.
"Augh! Why didn't you tell me sooner? I could've done something before the battle yesterday to make the outcome better!"
The outcome of the Battle on the Bridge were the optimal results. The best path available.
"But still, so many people…" Naruto trailed off, deciding not to follow that train of thought. "Oh well, the past is the past, right?" He laughed weakly. "Now to assign my points! Yosh!"
In the end, Naruto decided to increase his intelligence to fifteen, and his speed to thirteen.
Three glowing lights appeared in front of Naruto. Two shot towards his legs, one each, and the other penetrated his skull. One moment Naruto was laying in bed, the next he was absorbed in agony. It felt like his skull was tearing itself apart, and his legs weren't faring much better. Soon though, the pain receded to a dull throb.
"Okay," he groaned, "That's all my attribute points. Ow. I wish I had been given a WARNING about how painful that would be!" He exclaimed in an accusatory fashion. His statement garnered no reaction from the incorporeal entity that decided to turn his life into a game.
"Hmph. Whatever. Skills!"
Shuriken-jutsu - 17/100
Chakra-control - 9/1000
Fuinjutsu - Not Unlocked
Ninjutsu - 20/200
-Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - 50/150
-Kawarimi no Jutsu - 30/50
-Bunshin no Jutsu - 3/50
-Henge no Jutsu - 50/50*
-*Henge no Jutsu specialty - 20/50
Genjutsu - 1/200
Taijutsu - 10/200
Unlock more skills to reveal them in this section
Available skill points: 10
"I know what I'm doing with this!" Naruto declared loudly, before dumping all of his skill points into chakra-control, raising it to nineteen. As this happened, his body began radiating a soft blue light, with jagged edges. As the change took place, the edges smoothed out marginally. "Huh! That wasn't painful. It's gonna be weird getting used to this though, I already feel like I can do so much more with my chakra."
Deciding to forgo the perk allocation, Naruto closed the menu. He wasn't expecting the pain from attribute point allocation to come back in full, and was overwhelmed by the pain, passing out again.
A/N: Thus concludes the thrilling account of the Wave Arc. All that's left is returning to Konoha, sorting things out with the Hokage, and hoping he doesn't have an aneurysm when he notices the little addition to their party. Or maybe Zabuza and Haku will stay in Wave, waiting on word from Naruto an co. to tell them the details of their arrangement. Who knows?
I hope you've enjoyed, and you can expect more updates of both this, and Waking up Dead in the semi-near future. At least in the coming months.
This has been RahvinsCage, bringing you some more words to relieve your boredom.
Rate/Review/Follow/Favourite at your discretion.
G'night!
~RahvinsCage
