Chapter 02 of Return of The Gamer
Author's Notes: Hello once again to Red Blush's readers. It has been a long time since Red Blush has been here and now that Red Blush is back in the mood of writing lets continue this story.
Disclaimer & Warning: (Rei) Red-sama was too dare lazy to re-write all of this again so he said I should tell you all to check the first chapter of the story. Gomen! *bows*
Return of The Gamer
Chapter 02: A Game? You Gotta Be Kidding Me!
(7:11 AM - Uzumaki Clan Compound)
[Quest Alert!]
Make Them Believe, Dattebayo!
Main Quest: Convince your mother and sister that you're see texts above people's heads now!
Main Quest Completion: 500 EXP, Reassure your mother and sister you aren't crazy
Hidden Objective: 300 EXP per Hidden Objective Completed, "?", "?", "?", "?"
Failure: Decrease closeness with mother and sister, mother and sister thinks you're crazy, Possible Death
[Quest is Mandatory!]
'What?!' my visage became even more confused at this box of texts. 'Is this seriously a quest? Wait? Quest? EXP? Question marks? Hidden Objective? Failure?! Just what the fuck is happening?!'
The blue box of text still hovered in front of my face as the atmosphere of the room gradually changed to one of those serious moments we rarely have with our mother when she gets angry. My brain went into overdrive as I quickly thought of ways to prove to them that this was real and I wasn't crazy or anything.
'Okay, let's roll with the idea of my life suddenly being a game and I'm the game character there must be something that I can do game-related to make them believe.' A break of sweat rolled along side my face as I thought hard on what can be done. 'I'm a game character, maybe I could do some fancy trick. Something explosive, no chakra can do that, change clothes via equipment- eh they'ed say it's Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique), disappearing act? Nah, easy pesy for ninjas- wait! Disappearing, that's it!'
I walked over to the kitchen counter and casually took up the basket of cinnamon buns that Kaa-chan made. 'Now, lets see if I'm really a game character...'
"Inventory...?" I spoke out in a whisper, unsure of what I was doing.
Ping!
[You have discovered the Inventory! An unlimited dimensional stasis storage for the personal use of The Gamer. This can be accessed by simply using the voice command, "Inventory" or going into where you usually store your equipment and miscellaneous items such as your closet, draws, bags and scrolls.]
"Aha!" I half shouted, half whispered at the appearance of the Inventory Window. Seeing several empty boxes along with occupied ones with a few of my possessions, clothing, scrolls, kunais, shurikens - just to name a few, I wordlessly shoved the basket of treats inside the window for it to ripple like the surface of water and vanish from my hands. From my sister's and mother's point of view they saw that I had made the basket of buns vanish into thin air, in actuality it was sitting still in one of the countless boxes in my Inventory.
"There, see!" I exclaimed, clearing my name of any suspicion.
"..."
"..."
There was this eerily silence before Kaa-chan spoke up, "You just performed an undetectable Kaifū no Jutsu (Unsealing Technique),that, or you did something to the pastries without chakra..."
Unfortunately, this seems to have had the opposite effect I was aiming for as it only drew more suspicion that I could be an impostor to Kaa-chan and based on Narumi's craving for cinnamon buns, she'll possibly go The Psycho Cinnamon Bun Avenger for taking away the buns.
'Shit, this only got worst!' I panicked mentally but was shushed with an ungodly calm easing my mind. 'Huh? What was that...? No time, got to deal with this first.'
"Ummm, I need another game related ability for this to work." I cursed under my breath but I was sure they heard me. I noticed Kaa-chan was reaching behind herself to most likely pull out some hidden weapon on her person to attack me. Narumi as well. Us being ninjas, I think nothing less nor found it offensive given the situation. I mean come on, not everyday you hear your brother/son talking about something strange to a really unexpected degree like seeing floating names and numbers around right?
Ping!
[A new skill has been created through continuous action, Observe (Active) Lv.1!]
[Through continuous observation of the situation and your environment, a skill to gain information on a target has been acquired.]
[Observe (Active) Lv.1 EXP-10%: A skill which allows the user to gain basic information on a target; HP and CP.]
"What the hell? Grrr! Not now with this bullshit!"
Back to the matter at hand, I thought a lot faster on what I could do to convince them. Then at the last moment, my Thinking Cap pulled through!
"Create Party, Uzu Family. Invite Uzumaki Kushina and Uzumaki Narumi to Party, Uzu Family!" I spoke those words so fast and just in time to cause Kaa-chan to stop from stabbing the kunai now held in her hand, into my forehead. Well, more correctly, the presumably blue window boxes that appeared before both her and Narumi's stunned faces.
"Uzumaki Naruto has sent you an Invitation to join his party 'Uzu Family'? Accept/Decline?" Narumi read what the box of texts said in a questioning manner, now unsure of the situation.
"J-Just press 'Accept'." I spoke out in a nervous tone as I was still being held up by the kunai Kaa-chan had pointing at me.
Wordlessly, they both accepted the invite, Kaa-chan taking longer than Narumi though. The widening of Narumi's eyes had me believing that she could now see our levels and titles now too, Kaa-chan still being unidentifiable in her case. While I could say the same about Kaa-chan's reaction, an extremely dark and dreadful visage, I was unsure of her mental state as I couldn't make heads or tails of what she was thinking.
"Onii-chan, this is so unreal..." was Narumi's response.
"I know right." I quipped back with a slight shrug.
Another eerie silence fell upon the kitchen as it was broken by Kaa-chan who had long ago put away the kunai and was now hold tightly unto my shoulders with both her hands. I could say I was genuinely worried about what she'll say on the matter.
"Naruto Uzumaki... when last do you remember going into the Clan Studies and what do you remember last doing?" she asked in an all-serious-and-no-joking motherly tone. She rarely ever uses our full names and when she does, pray that you haven't done anything wrong.
Thinking of her question now though... "I went yesterday, but I don't really remember... doing anything... Uhhh." I tried thinking back to what I was doing inside the Studies yesterday but everything seemed foggy in my mind. It was as if I was being prevented from remembering anything about being in the Studies after going near the... "Forbidden Chamber...?"
"Huh? What does the Forbidden Chamber has anything to do with this?" Narumi asked in a puzzled tone.
Kaa-chan's visage grew more dreadful that moment than ever before. "Oh no!"
Ping!
[Quest Completed!]
Make Them Believe, Dattebayo!
Main Quest: Convince your mother and sister that you're see texts above people's heads now!
Main Quest Completion: 500 EXP, Reassure your mother and sister you aren't crazy (Accomplished!)
Hidden Objective: 300 EXP per Hidden Objective Completed, "Perform a vanishing act and gain a perk!", "Find out the truth behind your new Gaming abilities!", "Use a game-like ability to make them believe you!", "Gain the Scroll of The Gamer!" (Accomplished)
Total Rewards: 1700 EXP, Perk; 'Vanishing Act', Truth behind your new powers, Scroll of The Gamer
Ping!
[You have leveled up by 1!]
"Kaa-chan? What's the matter?" I spoke now worried about the state of Kaa-chan than anything else, the ungodly calm washed over me again, keeping my mind at ease once more. It didn't help with the insane increase of her grip on my shoulders though.
Some Minutes Later - Uzumaki Clan Studies
Narumi, Kushina and I stood in front of the chamber door leading into the Forbidden Chamber which Kaa-chan had always told us to never enter without her being present. I was always eager to learn about fuinjutsu and the seemingly impossible feats one could achieve with it. The Uzumaki Clan Studies consisted of much of those things and the Forbidden Chamber, as the name speaks for itself, has many of the like. Dealing with the dead, souls, demi-creatures, suicidal or self-harm techniques, inhumane experimentation and practices - just to name a few.
I watch as Kaa-chan perform an untraceable series of handseals before placing her open palm into the sealing array of the chamber doors. Pumping chakra into the seals then caused the doors to slide open, giving us clearance to the dark secrets inside.
"Sochi, I always told you, not to enter here without my permission and me being present." ever since I told her what I vaguely remembered from yesterday's events inside, Kaa-chan's been silent upon til now. "I don't know how you got in, but you did some how."
I said nothing, as I could neither deny nor confirm her thoughts. But I personally knew that I always wanted to go within the Forbidden Chambers myself anyways. My craving for fuinjutsu sealed behind this door always left me yearning for more especially with the little time Kaa-chan let's us spend in here.
She lead us into the Chamber going far deeper in than usual, almost to the end at that. "As a fellow Uzumaki, I understand what you did and I failed you as a mother to protect you from this Sochi-kun." I could almost hear her fighting back the tears in her eyes. What could possibly have happened to make Kaa-chan this upset?
Stopping in front of wall at the end of the large chamber, a sealed compartment into the wall that possessed something Kaa-chan stressed never to touch was now open. Of course I couldn't resist the urge to find out what was inside there! Technically telling a child not to touch something that important and at some point they will try to touch it anyways! There was always the feeling of wanting to uncover the unknown and learning more about it that made Naruto determined to see what was inside. Apparently it was nothing short of his possible doom. But not just his alone.
"Kami no!" Kaa-chan cursed angrily as she pulled out a scroll easily larger than my own body from the compartment. Throwing it harshly to the ground she began tearing down everything within the archives and shelves as she went into a frenzy of anger. Her chakra chains sprouted from her back like malicious tendrils as they made a mess of the place. They swung, wiped, lashed and pierced anything within range. She screamed to the very heavens themselves.
Narumi was too shocked to do anything, while to me this was disturbing to see Kaa-chan like this. We could quite frankly do nothing until she finally calmed down.
Some Time Later
It was some time before Kaa-chan had finally calmed down. We all sat around one of the fortunate tables that survived the wrath of our mother's rampage and seated on similarly fortunate chairs. On the table laid before us all was the scroll that seem to be the source of all this. The title above the large scroll stated 'Scroll of The Gamer'. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who saw this either.
Kaa-chan allowed a soft sigh to pass through her lips, "Sochi-kun, Rumi-chan," she'd had our undivided attention to her for the pass half an hour, I didn't think had to request for it, "I never thought I'd tell you about this until you were ready but it seems that I will have to tell you now."
We remained silent as Kaa-chan began her story, "You see, Naruto now has an ability called 'The Gamer', an ability only attainable through this scroll." she gestured towards said object.
Narumi half-laughed, "Kaa-chan, I know fuinjutsu can do many things but giving you a gaming ability? That's absurd." My little sister wasn't deep into fuinjutsu as I was but I couldn't really blame her on that part. I held my tongue though, leaving Kaa-chan to the talking.
"That's what we all said, as crazy as it sounds, it was achieved by one of our own. A great fuinjutsu master among the clan back in the older days." Kaa-chan clarified in a serious tone causing Narumi to go quiet. Fuinjutsu was a dangerous and powerful art not meant to be taken lightly.
Trying to keep Kaa-chan's focus off of Narumi, as neither of us can bare the feeling of her serious gaze, Narumi more than I, I asked, "Who exactly was it that made this Kaa-chan?"
"A young man of our clan named Uzumaki Samoto Aruki. He was one of the best of the best at our clan's traditional art, a perfectionist at heart. Through that sheer skill alone, many thought that he'd be the next clan leader someday. Now I know that you're thinking, 'Why would such an aspiring person create such a thing?'. Well, I could say he shares something with you Naruto. Not heritage, or skills in fuinjutsu, but his great passion for games."
"As you guys may already know, even before I was born things advance such as online games could be played then and Samoto was both a master and champion at countless games of that time, he even developed a few himself. Back then not everyone were into gaming and he wanted to show the world just how fun it was. As such he decided to bring the world of gaming to life. He spent almost a decade on his project until it finally came to be."
"At first they were all happy for his long desired breakthrough and the perks that came with the gaming ability. But then the actual game began. Enemies from all over the Elemental Nations came to breed, those thought dead came back, foes that were spared came back more powerful than ever and with a stronger vengeance. Beings and forces from other dimensions ripped through time and space or some way or another made it's way to him."
"Samoto thought he could take it all, and he did. Bravely so. There arrived a point where just too many died, countless suffered, the 'final' bosses were getting more unbeatable, then the ultimatum known as Existence came at him. He tried, he tried so hard. Nothing was effective enough. So, bitterly, he had to run. Then he came up with a bizarre idea. Restarts. I don't know how he pulled it off, but he was able to go back in time. Though the game considered this a 'restart' and didn't allow him to go beyond when he first gained the abilities of The Gamer. That's when repeated time loops came into play."
"Whenever he died, the game would ask if he'd like to continue or truly end his life at that point. Now having the option to relive his life from that point, he kept using that option. It was a miracle he thought, all those that he watched died, suffered and torn away from him was there again. They were all alive and well, but what no one remembered what happened but him... At first he accepted it but after countless restarts, it was maddening. Being the only person to remember all that they had collectively went through, even when he tried telling them before hand they died in similar fashions as before. It reached a point where he gave up leaving an inscription of these details and decided to end his life in order to get away from the, unbeatable 'End' and the repeat of unbearable losses."
"So let me get this straight, one of our ancestors decided that he'd create an ability to live his life as a game and by extension allow others to as well. This ended up with him getting super stronger and having to face tons of enemies the game happen to create until he met the final boss. Now after being unable to accomplish this, he just gave up like that and called it quits leaving behind his life story in short, for anyone to have come across this scroll?" I asked in a tone way calmer than usual.
Narumi who had sat closer to me than Kaa-chan, was frozen from the shock of the tale told and the implications. I could clearly see why Kaa-chan had her feat of rage earlier. The thought of me technically committing Seppuku in order to prevent this mess from ever starting was world-shattering. The simple thought of losing me had her in tears already.
Kaa-chan nodded solemnly in response as I didn't think she had much else to say.
"Well then, I suppose I better start getting stronger. Fast too." I got up from the chair and unto my feet. They both looked at me as if I were crazy, how can one heard such a thing and be so calm afterwards?
Guessing that the source of all of this was going to be useful in the future, I picked it up and slipped it into my Inventory before walking away. 'It would sure be helpful if I could use some of the scrolls inside the Forbbiden Chamber in order to get stronger.' I thought briefly as my eyes glanced over the now unorganized archives before dropping the idea of it as Kaa-chan rarely wants us here much less to learn things until she considers us fit to.
Author's Notes:
RB (Red Blush): Red Blush has not much to say aside from being back to continue this story from where Red Blush has left it.
Rei: Greetings Reader-kuns and -chans, if there are any females out there reading Red-sama's story. *giggles*
RB: Red Blush feels that should be an insult some how but Red Blush will ignore it for now. *glares at Rei evilly*