And…I'm back! With another chapter for all you amazing readers.
So the poll/votes were counted, and it turns out everyone wants a "The Gamer" story, and that's the way I'm writing it!
So I'm pretty sure I answered most of the questions and stuff posed in the reviews in PMs, but there was a Guest who had a pretty long review so here's my reply:
Hello Mr. Guest, thank you for posting your long reviews. Actually, surprisingly I'm sure for you I actually did think about all those storylines you offered, but I decided it wouldn't work because I wanted the bonds to be permanent and life-or-death situations. For Chapter 1 I wrote multiple versions, one for the VR game storyline, the SAO like storyline, and some other storylines. However in the end the current one won out, because I liked the way it was going the best.
Anyway, enjoy the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, sadly.
Naruto's Apartment, Konohagakure
Naruto sighed, running a hand through his hair as he shifted through the wardrobe, the numerous suits of the orange jumpsuit, like the one he was wearing, almost blinding his eyes. "I seriously have to wear these?"
First order of business: Get some new clothes, Naruto thought as he finally gave up, shutting the closet doors while he slipped on his navy-blue sandals. But sadly, I need more money…10000 ryo won't get me much, sadly. I'll just get lunch and check out my current location. The blonde grinned. Of course, there's also those new techniques to try about.
Naruto got up, but instead of pushing open the front door, he went to the balcony. "This should work," Naruto muttered a little nervously as he surveyed the town in front of him, backing up to the glass door while setting up in a running position briefly before leaping off the balcony with a running start, easily passing over the railings to land on the next rooftop, three floors down.
"Ouch!" Naruto exclaimed, expecting a sharp stab of pain, but nothing happened as he kneeled, clutching his feet reflexively. "Woah…sweet! I can jump super far!" The blonde grinned, immediately leaping into the air to land on another roof before pushing off and leaping back onto his balcony. The blonde grinned, but his face fell slightly as he remembered what business he had. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He cried, forming six clones that poofed into existence around him.
"Listen up," Naruto clapped his hands for attention, "I want four of you guys to scout this place." Four of them nodded before leaping away, already gone. Naruto pointed at the clone nearest to him. "You, read the basic handbook," Naruto commanded, swiping a finger and selecting the inventory option, a list of his items appearing. He tapped the [Basic Handbook] option, materializing it into thin air and tossing it to his clone. "And you, follow me in the shadows. I want you to observe anything near me that might be of interest." The two remaining clones supplied an affirmative before one went back into the apartment with the book and the other merely jumped out of view.
Naruto sighed, vaulting over the railings and leaping down onto the bustling street below, the din of local life reaching him as he began to walk, looking for a restaurant where he could get some good food while observing his surroundings at the same time. Immediately, he noticed the green health bars hovering next to passerby and a green diamond spinning slowly above their heads.
Hmph. This place is quite different, Naruto thought as he looked around. No skyscrapers, cars, planes…I'd say this is like an RPG, except instead of the Medieval elements, they have this 'chakra' and jutsu techniques.
Another thing he noticed was that only a select few had the forehead protector like he did, with the leaf-like symbol carved into the plaque. Those forehead protectors are probably a distinction for something, presumably something like a warrior or shinobi? He looked around, noting two nearby people who had the same forehead protector as him; one, an adult with the protector wrapped around his right arm, wore similar garb to the ninja he had fought earlier in the tutorial. The other was a pink-haired girl standing a few meters away, the protector strapped to in between her bangs and the larger part of her hair. They also have the same pouch and holster strapped to them, and instead of green diamonds, the girl has an orange diamond and the man has a red diamond…
Naruto was interrupted from his thoughts when a sharp voice rang out to him, "Well, aren't you going to say hi?"
The blonde turned around to find the pink-haired girl looking at him with an irritated expression, hands on her hips. "Ignoring me, is it?"
Naruto was confused. Back in his home world, he had made it a point to not interact with others much, especially specimens of the opposite gender, so he wasn't the best at interpreting emotions or expressions. "Go find someone else to bug," He said coldly as he turned and walked away, expecting the girl to walk away or at least something similar.
Whatever he was expecting, it certainly wasn't a brutal punch to the gut, sending him sprawling back onto the street. The girl had a furious expression on her face. "How dare you ignore me and say that, baka!"
Naruto stifled a groan, as he stood up, furious. "So it's a fight you want, is it?" He said, completely misinterpreting the situation as he snapped and four clones leaped out of the surroundings, formed by the one clone following him as soon as he had seen the girl punch the original. "Macedonia!" Naruto shouted, the four clones immediately forming a circle around the unfortunate girl.
"What the hell?" The girl said, confused. She had definitely not been expecting Naruto to fight back, but she took a stance anyway. "Naruto, you are so dead!" She shouted, dragging out the 'so', while the blonde looked at her curiously.
"How do you know my name?" Naruto asked, a mixture of annoyance and interest shown on his face.
The girl gave him an angry look, "Don't play dumb, Naruto! I don't know what you're trying to do here but you'd better stop it!"
Naruto froze. "So it's like that, eh?" Naruto licked his lips. "Macedonia Formation One!" He shouted, and one clone charged in, launching a flurry of fists at the pink-haired girl, who flipped backwards, ending up on one of Naruto's clones, who grabbed her by her feet and spun her forward, sending her into the air.
Naruto saw his opportunity and leaped into the air in pursuit of the other ninja, drawing a kunai from its black holster and launching it at the girl, who in turn drew her own kunai and deflected it into the air.
"Kawarimi no Jutsu!" With a poof, the kunai was replaced by a clone, who was gripping another clone by the feet, with the standing-up clone leaping off and tackling the girl.
"Agggghhh!" The girl cried, smashing a fist into the assaulting clone and turning him into grey smoke as she kicked off a nearby building and landed on the ground. "What the hell are you doing, Naruto?!"
The blonde didn't reply, landing behind the three remaining clones, whom had all taken defensive stances and waited for commands. "She's tough, boss," A clone noted as the original got to his feet.
"Yes," He nodded, acknowledging the statement, "But there are too many flaws in her form and her battle efficiency is not very high based on prior observations. It can be easily countered, as long as we attack from 37-degree angle."
Around him, numerous passerby had stopped to watch the battle, including a silver haired ninja with his protector worn to cover his right eye, and a black mask mostly obscured his face. He did not got unnoticed by the Naruto clone that was still hidden as the clone observed him carefully.
"Go! Troy Formation Two!" Naruto cried, and the three clones leaped into action quickly, charging straight forward with a dash, the original leaping over their shoulders to perform a flying kick that was parried away by the girl while a clone followed up with a punch that was barely blocked.
"Take this!" The remaining two clones dashed from behind, fists loaded back, a wide grin on their faces as they knew they had her. The pink-haired girl only had time to launch a singular punch, sending one of the clones into oblivion while the other clone let his fist fly, knowing it would hit-
and then his surroundings erupted in grey smoke, feeling a strong and firm hand clasping his wrist as his onslaught was stopped. The smoke began disperse slowly, revealing the grey-haired ninja, his one visible eye looking down at the clone with a twinkle.
"Now, now, Naruto-kun, why would you be trying to punch your teammate here?"
There was a long pause as Naruto's brain processed this-despite his genius intelligence-before his reply came.
"Yeah…right…" Naruto replied confidently, "There's no way someone this ugly and annoying could possibly become MY teammate. And besides, I just got here-"
He was cut off by a powerful uppercut to the jaw, sending him spiraling backwards into a sturdy wall with a crack. "UGLY AND ANNOYING, YOU SAY? YOU AIN'T SEEN ANYTHING YET!" The girl shouted, raging as the older ninja barely managed to hold her back.
"Now, now, Sakura, I'm sure Naruto didn't mean that," The grey-haired man said hurriedly, "Didn't you, Naruto?"
"Urrrgghh…" Naruto groaned, "I didn't know there was so much pain involved in this, too…"
"You see?" The man said. "He didn't mean it…"
"I suppose so," Sakura huffed, crossing her arms (oblivious to what Naruto had actually said). "I'll let you off the hook this time, Naruto…"
"Anyway, Kakashi-sensei, why are you here?" Sakura asked curiously, as Kakashi sweatdropped at the complete change of subject.
"On some official business with the Hokage," Kakashi replied impassively. "Now, if you don't mind, I have to be on my way…" Saying that, smoke exploded from the ground and wrapped around him, and when it dissipated, Kakashi was nowhere to be seen.
"Wait! Why does everyone here-" The recovered blonde started, before noticing the absence of Kakashi "Hm…I'm stuck with you then." Naruto glared at Sakura, who began to look at him with a weird look on her face.
"What do you want?" The pink-haired kunoichi crossed her arms again, her annoyed mood returning. "Watch your words, mister."
"I want to know how you know me."
Whatever Sakura had been expecting, it hadn't been that, and she burst out laughing. "What, have you been taking too many soldier pills recently, Naruto? Seriously…"
"I said I want to know how you know me," Naruto almost shouted, not taking to being laughed at well. Sakura stopped her laughing before deciding to actually answer seriously,
"Of course I know you, Naruto, I've known you since we were in the Academy," Sakura replied, "Are you sure you haven't been going too hard on those soldier pills?"
Naruto was about to reply, when suddenly a white window popped up in front of him:
New Quest: Alternate Universe Memories
People you don't know seem to know you…why?
Objectives:
?
Rewards: ?
Failure: ?
Accept:
[Yes]
Strangely, there was no [No] option, so Naruto went ahead and tapped Yes, and the window compacted out of existence.
"Hey, Naruto, you alright?" Sakura said, confused, watching Naruto looking at and tapping at things nonexistent.
She can't see the windows… Naruto thought, interested. "I'm alright. Anyway, I gotta go," He said, all thoughts of eating gone from his mind, as he leaped up onto a nearby roof, unhearing of Sakura's cries of irritation.
Naruto's Apartment, Konohagakure
"The food in this world is just as good, if not better!" Naruto cried out, in an uncharacteristic display of enthusiasm. "God, it just never gets old!"
Clone #5 sighed, looking up from the thick handbook he had been reading. "You know, even to yourself you both look and sound stupid…"
"Shut up, you," Naruto grunted as he shoved the empty instant-ramen bowl into the trash. "Hmm…I guess I could also say, shut up, me."
Clone #5 sighed again, "You-I mean I'm-acting really weird today…"
Naruto ignored him before returning to looking out from the balcony, "The 4 clones I sent out to scout the place have dispelled, so I've got a mental map down."
"Accuracy?" Clone #5 asked, returning to his book.
"Around 86.2%," Naruto replied quickly, "Which is acceptable, but not the best. After all, the key to an RPG game is know your surroundings and abilities."
"You're taking this way too seriously, you know," Clone #5 said loudly, "It's not a game. You're the only one that can play it as a game-for everyone else, it's real life, with real people, just like back in our world…"
"Technically, it's my world," Naruto retorted sharply, "You didn't exist back then."
"Technically, I'm you," Clone #5 argued back. "You existed back then, didn't you?"
"My god, I didn't know arguing with myself was so tiring," The original rubbed his forehead, "And god, you're like an exact copy of me."
"I am," #5 replied, almost primly.
"By the way, what did #6 report?"
"Nothing much…just what I already knew, except for the silver-haired man watching me beforehand…" Naruto answered. "By the way, there's still that quest."
With a tap in the air, the menu slid out of the air into existence, showing the menu selection. The blonde tapped on the option marked Quests, then Active Quests, bringing up one result:
Quest: Alternate Universe Memories
People you don't know seem to know you…why?
Objectives:
?
Rewards: ?
Failure: ?
"Just on a hunch, I'm willing to bet the rewards probably include the alternate universe memories…" Clone #5 tried.
Naruto rolled his eyes, "No shit, Sherlock. Didn't think of that."
#5 sighed again exasperatedly, "I'm going to get back to the book. Don't interrupt me again."
"Since when did sighing become part of my bodily language?" Naruto muttered in annoyance as he sat down on the couch across from his clone, who was engrossed in the handbook.
Taking advantage of the momentary silence, Naruto gestured at the air, bringing up the menu again, but instead of choosing quests again, he chose the [Skills] option:
[Advanced Academy Taijutsu] - 1/1000
[Intermediate Shuriken Bukijutsu] - 1/1000
[Intermediate Kunai Bukijutsu] - 1/1000
[Chakra Leap] - 1/1000
[Chakra Dash] - 1/1000
[Kawarimi no Jutsu] - 1/1000
[Henge no Jutsu] - 1/1000
[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu] - 21/1000
[Kyuubi Initial Jinchuuriki Form] - 1/1000
[One-Tailed Kyuubi Chakra Cloak V1] - 1/1000
[Two-Tailed Kyuubi Chakra Cloak V1] - 1/1000
[Three-Tailed Kyuubi Chakra Cloak V1] - 1/1000
As Naruto read over his skill list, he remembered the [Kyuubi Chakra] he had supposedly been given yesterday. "Kyuubi means Nine-Tails…what, does that mean I'm some sort of youki fox?"
"Yeah, right," Clone #5 snorted from across the room.
"Get back to reading, you…" Naruto growled, before getting up. "I'm going to go see if I can train up. Besides, I need a weapon…these stupid knives and darts don't feel good. Swords are nice for RPGs."
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, forming two clones across from him. "You two, tail me. Do the same thing as #6 had been doing," He commanded to two curt nods from the both of them.
"Alright, we're off…" Naruto said, looking over his mental map. "I think it's Training Ground 2?"
Training Ground 2 didn't look much like a training ground.
This was what Naruto noticed as he and a clone landed in the grassy clearing, quickly scanning over the surroundings and locating two dummies that looked like they had seen better days. Other than that, tree surrounded the clearing, and that about summed up the training ground.
Perfect, Naruto thought as he landed. Soft, secluded, and spacious. Doesn't look like much, but perfect for my situation.
"What's the status on the masked shinobi who was following us?" Naruto checked, although he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.
"Still following Clone #2…" #1 replied. They were talking about a man in a grey flak jacket, with his face obscured by an animal mask that had been tailing them.
Naruto nodded briefly, Why was he following us? Another thing to find out… The blonde gamer sighed, bringing up the menu and selecting skills again, but this time tapping a particular skill.
[Kyuubi Initial Jinchuuriki Form]
Mastery: 1/1000
Cooldown: 6 hours
Passives:
+20 Strength, +20 Speed, +20 Endurance, +20 Chakra, -5 Chakra Control
The first and least powerful Jinchuuriki form, achieved by channeling minor amounts of Kyuubi chakra through the user's body. This significantly enhances all of the user's abilities, including natural physical capabilities and the power of ninjutsu techniques.
Naruto read it over quickly, memorizing it almost instantaneously as he read it. "Alright…seems pretty straightforward…" Naruto muttered, "But how do I use this thing?"
"Says something about channeling chakra," #1 suggested.
The original nodded in acknowledgement, "So sort of like how I use those other techniques, right? I know the feeling…"
"However this time it's Kyuubi Chakra, meaning you have to channel something else." #1 pointed out, though no doubt original Naruto already knew this, as they were the same person.
"Gotcha," Naruto affirmed, as he formed his hands into a clasped position. "I remember the Tutorial saying these hand seals channel chakra, right? So this should do it…"
The blonde felt a familiar warm energy flow through his body suddenly, and somehow he knew it was the right kind of 'chakra', letting it explode out from the core of his body outwards.
"Holy shit!" #1 yelped, jumping a bit as he noticed a red aura appearing around the original's body. He also didn't fail to notice the elongation of the nails, the sudden appearance of whisker-like marks on Naruto's cheeks, and the overall more feral appearance of his boss. "Damn, boss…you look a lot different."
"And I feel a lot stronger, too," Naruto replied, getting up from his stance with a grin. "I could get used to this."
"But how did you know what kind of chakra to use?" #1 asked, confused. "It took you less than a second, which is way too fast, even for us geniuses."
Now, Naruto looked genuinely puzzled. "I actually don't know…" Naruto murmured, "Perhaps there's a system assist in the system?"
"But that raises the question of…what is the system, and how is it accomplishing all this?"
AND CUT! :D Sorry, I know this is only 3,000 words but I cut 2,000 words for the next chapter because I decided it would fit better there…
Anyway, that question is pretty important. I've already got a set plot and everything for this story, including how he got the power, who 'God' is, and why he's in this world at all. Everything. Oh yes, and for those of you that noticed something about Sasuke last chapter, good job!
By the way, I'm starting another story, because I decided I wanted to use at least one of the prologues I made for the beginning of this story. The new story is going to be called Shinobi Art Online, and it's going to have Naruto as a player along with the trapping of players.
Shinobi Art Online will also be a minor crossover with Sword Art Online; namely the game mechanics and females (such as Sakuya, Asuna possibly, Alicia…), who Naruto might be paired with. Kirito will not appear, sadly, because I've decided he wouldn't fit well with the story. (Just saying, the pairing will probably be NarutoXMulti…)
Sorry for that rant, and thanks to those people who read through all of that little rant. On one last note, I'm having trouble deciding the pairings for this story and as of such I'll be setting up a poll for it later on.
Signing off,
FlamingBlaze