Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Log Horizon. This is a fanfiction used to help with my writing skills and the fact I enjoy writing stories like these. All I own is the ideas and sub-plots used to make this fanfiction and explore Log Horizon and Naruto in a different way. Also, don't own any of the games and anime I make reference to in this story, but still got to give homage to video games since this is technically a video game fanfiction as well.
Authornote-Snicker snicker. Sorry. This is one chapter I been waiting to post. It involves something mentioned in the light novel, but I am amazed the anime never went into it. Especially considering it is the reason everyone in the Database as swimwear. It would have been good for comedy if used, though. However, hope you all enjoy this chapter!
"Thank you for your purchase, come again." Shikamaru said, keeping a smile on her face till the customer left the small stall area. "Whew, troublesome." Shikamaru groaned, slumping back in a chair behind the counter.
"Shikamaru-chan, if Naruto-kun catches you like that, then you might find it worse than troublesome." Itachi&Kisame hummed while tidying the small shop area up. Shikamaru instantly sat up straight with horror on her face.
"Don't remind me. He's worse than my mother." Shikamaru said, a smile twitching on her lips. If I ever get to see my parents again, never complaining to them again. "Where's Sasuke and the others? Aren't they suppose to help out as well? I mean, we been having very steady traffic since opening up the market.
"They are working on the supply chain with West Wind Brigade today due to they have no idea how things are going to get." Itachi&Kisame said smiling at Shikamaru. "Crescent Burger is our main focus for the first few days."
Crescent Burger is our main stable for the plans Shiroe and Naruto cooked up. Serving food with flavor will be definitely a sellout. On the flipside, we are selling items hard to get. Higher quality as well as items no one else has, so we been doing pretty good on this end as well. Add the fact we have the supplies taken care of, both businesses are self-sufficient and able to adjust to demands. Shikamaru sighed, "A brilliant plan I would be too lazy to execute."
[Stop slacking, Slow-mo, I rather not lose a potential customer to your laziness.] Shikamaru jumped back into position with seeing Naruto's textbox. She looked around before sweating, finding Naruto putting a huge upper part of armor onto a stand to replace one they sold, though forced to use a stool to do so. [If I find one error on your invoices, you will regret it.]
"You do realize I am technically human, right?" Shikamaru said, checking the status menu. "Anyways, what happened to you. You're status are more like Itachi&Kisame-san's now. Even Sasuke's status went up with fainting yesterday, though it's nothing compared to what you had before." Shikamaru said, seeing Naruto's HP and MP were 7630 in HP and 12170 in MP, pre-Elder Tales levels as the druid said the numbers were. But, I don't get how HP and MP that high was able to drop back to this much.
[No clue. Just still trying to figure out why I went chibi. Though, I am perfectly fine with my HP and MP where they are.] Naruto let out a sigh, putting the helm on the dummy stand. [However, it was only Sasuke and I with major changes. Rin and Gaara just had a race change. Though, thankfully, Sasuke only got tiny bit shorter compared to chibi like me.]
"Maybe it is due to your subclass." Shikamaru said, deciding to look over her invoices. "The Otherworldly Sage sounds something alien, which would explain the odd horns Sasuke and you have." Shikamaru sighed before seeing Itachi&Kisame and Naruto looking at her in shock. "What? Sasuke is still an apprentice, but he has added to it The Otherworldly Sage to make The Otherworldly Sage's Apprentice. What's that about anyway?"
[Heh. Now it makes sense.] Naruto chuckled, his finger in the air to check his menus. [The Otherworldly Sage of the Noosphere - A title for one who has travelled through time and space, gaining knowledge and skills as the waves of times passed. Due to his own meddling with taboo affairs, he is cursed with several afflictions.]
"So, the strikes weren't so much taken off, but were transformed into your new title?" Itachi&Kisame asked, "But how are you able to craft still? Don't you lose all your subclass EXP when changing it, even forcibly in this case."
["Gaining knowledge and skills as the waves of time passed" is the reason why. It carried over all my skills as part of the title.] Naruto sheepishly grinned while scratching the back of his head, [Though, I am amazed it used my self-proclaimed title I used for raids and PVP instead of something… Well, more fitting for the back story relating to all this.]
"Back story?"Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow at the blond. Ah, that's right. If I remember Minori and the other beginners told me, back story was used to give a story behind items and quests, often allowing you to be a direct part of the narrative.
"Wait, you mean like the reason why several of our surnames including yours and mine changed to Otsutsuki?" Itachi&Kisame said, shocked, "If I remember correctly, isn't the Sage of the Six Paths from that clan?"
[Yep and he's alive and kicking now protecting the newly formed Shinju serving as the server for the intranet that runs the forums and website.] Shikamaru's eyes widen at Naruto. [Sasuke and I met him while out cold in my mindscape. Though, I now understand a bit better the precursor to a good deal of the memory issues and history being rewritten in our world. But it still leaves a lot more questions than answers. However, they don't really affect us now, so I am trying to avoid them till we solve our biggest problems now.]
So you do know more of what is going on then you said. Shikamaru thought, looking out at the main yard of Santa's Workshop where customers were browsing the various small shops opened up by Grandeur and Radio Market members. Even some of the members of Crescent Moon had a stall though with only two people working it with their other operation. But, knowing you, you rather keep your mouth shut about it. Much like how you never told me where you learned of the games you taught me came from. All to keep the problems to a minimum.
"So, what is the creator of ninjutsu like?" Itachi&Kisame asked, a curious look in her eyes.
[Ninshu, not ninjutsu. He might be patient and wise as a Sage, but I am amazed he has yet to use his abilities to whack people who keep confusing his techniques for ninjutsu with his staff as I know he hates that.] Naruto sighed, shrugging, [He's just your stereotypical sage who has to be reminded not a lot of people talk like sages do in the past.]
That's too freaking vague… How is it you can be such a loud mouth, yet so vague with your answers? Shikamaru groaned, holding her head for the coming headache. "So how much longer will Santa's Workshop will be open?" Shikamaru said, changing the subject before Itachi&Kisame attempt to drill Naruto to only drive them insane by the master of dodging subjects. Shikamaru learned it the hard way and hence stopped trying well back in the academy days.
[A bit longer. 8th Shopping District is named due to 8 pm was the best time to do business in Akiba.] Shikamaru paled, looking at Itachi&Kisame to see her also giving an annoyed look. [However, that was when people were adventuring more and such. Now, it is random when the best time to sell is. Though, it seems we hit it around noon today, so probably an hour or two more. I won't be surprised if that changes with what is going on and once word of mouth gets around. Our objective with being outside of the main market and trade areas is so we don't have to compete directly with the competition.]
"That's good. I would like a good night rest tonight. I never knew how exhausting running a shop is." Itachi&Kisame sighed, getting a nod from Shikamaru. "Now I see why retired shinobi often ran shops. It's a great way to keep somewhat in shape."
[That and keep the mind sharp. Though, knowing Shikamaru, she would find a way to put the least amount of work in it to get such a shop running at maximum efficiency.] Naruto did a thumbs up while grinning. [I am grooming her to become a much needed Merchant or Accountant for Log Horizon since I know she rather set up shop than fight monsters. Add the fact we discovered with setting a zone for selling items, we can keep shoplifting from happening through the location controls is quite handy and reduces the workload of watching the shop.]
"Plus, I'm too lazy for big things like negotiations that Shiroe-san and you do even though I can follow them and easily understand them." Shikamaru yawned, pulling out a sleep antidote, "You just want me in best shopkeeper mode for now so we have maximum customer retention, right?" Shikamaru sighed, taking a sip of the potion. These antidotes are quite useful to keep the nap bug away. I would have been getting punished in Hamelin all the time if I hadn't keep using these to keep awake in between battles.
[Correct. Keep it up and you will get a full three days to nap all you want once things have settled down.] Shikamaru nodded before looking back into the yard.
"A-Ah, Naruto, we might have a problem." Shikamaru said, paling at the people who had entered the Santa's Workshop.
"Who are they?" Itachi&Kisame said, seeing a red hair man in dark armor, a light brown hair man in blue armor and glasses on, and a long blond hair man with rogue like clothing and a bow on his back heading straight for the Log Horizon stall. Many other players have also flooded the yard, looking around at the other stalls.
[Well, was not expecting word to travel this fast. Though, considering the three biggest production guilds are facing supply issues due to everyone switching to crafting, I am not surprised with the battle guilds wanting to see what's going on.] Naruto smirked, adjusting his glasses. The orange robe and black plants he was wearing simply made him look like an adorable evil kid to Shikamaru, [Isaac of Black Sword Knights, Krusty of D.D.D, and William Massachusetts of Silver Sword, it is a pleasure to see you at my shop.] Naruto did a slight bow as a greeting.
"The hell? Is this thing a special NPC? It has rabbit ears." The red hair man Shikamaru saw was Isaac asked, a bit taken aback by Naruto. Shikamaru also noticed the blue armored man was Krusty and the rogue that was William.
[Make fun of my horns again Isaac and I'll send you to the Cathedral.] Naruto chuckled, his eye twitching in anger.
"You think you take me on, Pipsqueak?" Isaac chuckled, "You're a brave kid, but stupid."
"End Game Boss." Krusty sighed, adjusting his glasses and looking at Isaac. "May I ask a meeting with him?"
"Oh, yeah, kid, where's the legendary Raid Boss at? I got a proposition for him." Isaac grinned, getting a glare from the other two men.
"Issac-san, he's right in front of you." Itachi&Kisame chuckled, Shikamaru understanding the joy the girl was getting from seeing Naruto seething. Shikamaru was enjoying it as well. Karma getting back at the blond for being vague was always good.
"Oh, the Crazy Bullet Witch is here as well." William said with a bit of shock. "I almost did not recognize you with your face and hair different."
"C-Crazy B-Bullet Witch?" Itachi&Kisame asked, dumbstruck as Shikamaru snickered at her reaction.
That's right! We are all in Naruto's characters and everyone believes we are like how he played us. Shikamaru thought, trying hard to keep from outright laughing. Though, what the hell did he do to get the Crazy Bullet Witch?
"Is the God of Shinobi also here?" Krusty asked, smirking at them.
How close to the Hokage was Naruto playing that character? Shikamaru asked mentally, instantly recognizing the nickname and who it was for. Well, at least the Hokage can happily know Naruto was accurately emulating him compared to the others since he made me a girl.
"Though the Hokage has managed to join Log Horizon, he is-ah, how to put this, on another server."Itachi&Kisame said, sheepishly chuckling, "He had an accident with a Fairy Ring, but had an item that has allowed us to keep in contact with him as he travels back here."
Smooth lying, Itachi&Kisame-san. Shikamaru said, smirking, If what Shiroe said is true, if people find out about the chat rooms or our other discoveries, then it could be really bad in more ways than one. At least, still something to keep those bad things from happening happens first.
"I see, then is Las Boss around? I wish to speak to you both, ah, Itachi&Kisame and him about possibly joining D.D.D." Krusty said, smiling at the girl.
"Hey, don't simply take up Krusty's offer. Silver Sword is also offering an invitation." William said, glaring at the other two men.
"Same with the Black Sword Knights." Isaac grinned, the three men unleashing killer intent that shocked everyone in the market.
"Oh, dear, this is not good." Shikamaru said before trembling at a more potent killer intent.
"You three want to end up waking in the Cathedral?" All three men jumped back, the two armored men pulling out swords as the William instantly got his bow ready. "If you even think of fighting, then it will be with me."
Holy shit. Don't make Naruto mad. Shikamaru gapped, seeing Naruto somehow back to a full size adult, his robe and pants had adjusted to his body and made him seem like a samurai with his spear out. His monstrous HP and MP back. Ah! Don't tell me one of his punishments is it gives him two forms! Shikamaru thought as the three men's eyes widen with recognizing Naruto.
"Holy crap, he's already broke through level 92." Isaac whistled, putting his sword away as did Krusty and William stand down. "So, where you been, Las? I been looking all over to recruit ya. Seems you alright-Ah. Easy with the spear." Isaac held his hands out in peace as Naruto had his spear at his throat.
"I think I will pass since you called me Pipsqueak." Naruto chimed, his raspy voice adding to his sick smile.
"Wait, you were the kid?" Isaac asked, confusion over his face.
"Yep… Oh, wait? My voice and body is back to normal?" Naruto said looking over his body as he stand down as well. Everyone jumped with seeing him engulf in a puff of smoke and appeared as a kid again with the smoke clearing. [Ah, I get it now, it seems now my body recognized my adult form as the fighting form and this one as a non-fighting form. Guess it was this world's way to help me with being stuck in Raid Boss mode due to the expansion.] Naruto let out a sigh, tapping his spear on his shoulder.
"I see, I apologize for the mixup, ki-I mean, Las." Isaac sheepishly said.
"My offer still stands if-" Krusty and the other two men blinked as Naruto held up his hand.
[I am with Log Horizon, second-in-command to be exact. I'm also the Production Chief and Treasurer. I must decline your offer as well as the invites to Itachi&Kisame and the Old Man. As you can see, we are also running this market, Santa's Workshop, at the moment, so we must also decline any mercenary work. However, in the coming months, we will be offering mercenary services to guilds once we done a few more exploration missions like the one we just finished in Susukino.] Naruto sighed, pulling his spear away.
"Mercenary work? As in serving as extra assistance in raids?" Krusty asked, adjusting his glasses.
[Correct. At this moment, we have too few people to do raids. Even with six people including myself from the Tea Party, that's just one party whereas you need four for a full raid. Hence instead, we are taking on apprentices though players who seem to have good potential and grooming the units we need while we take the time to earn the funds for exploring the world and to take quests.] Naruto chuckled, adjusting his glass while looking at the men. [Since we will probably not be up to raid level for a bit of a while, we are planning to offer assistance in raids and such as a side service here in Akiba once we get our less battle focus part of the system running smoothly. Well, for a proper fee that is. We got a lot on our plates from testing out new recipes for crafting, cataloging our findings, and training fine new Adventurers who will join our ranks.]
"However, from looking around, all the people working these stalls are from small guilds." William said, taking a note of the other stalls.
[We offered Grandeur and Radio Market a part of the action. They can use some of the ingredients and recipes we gain in exchange for setting shop up here in Santa's Workshop for a small rent fee to help cover the upkeep cost and help running Santa's Workshop once we get things really rolling. Also, as part of the deal, the battle focused players of both guilds are allowed to the archive Log Horizon is developing for battle information as well as assist us in gather the intel we need for quests and future raids. It's a win-win for all three of us since we are tiny, but got enough experience in various fields to make a hardy organization.] Naruto smirked.
"I see. However, may I ask why the End Game Boss is working in a shop?" Krusty asked, both of the man next to him smirking as well.
[My subclass used to be Crafting Sage for a reason and I still have those skills even with the subclass change for the Raid Boss event I was going to be in.] Naruto sighed, getting paled looks from the three. [I craft more than I raid, hence I work better as a Treasurer for raids including when I was in the Tea Party. Kind of the reason people keep forgetting I was a part of it.]
"Heh, so what all are you selling?" William asked, "Since it is clear you won't join my guild, might as well not make this a wasted trip."
"Gladly." Shikamaru sweated as Itachi&Kisame chimed, stepping aside so they could see the inside of the stall better. "We have a good range of equipment, clothing, potions, weapons, and other items for sell from production class to artifact class. However, we will be opening up our workshops to do custom gear and crafts in the coming weeks. We also have a promos going on today and the next few days depending on what you buy, especially for our series items."
I thought you were a ninja, not a salesperson, Shikamaru thought, but kept her mouth shut. Better her work than me.
"Heh. Now I see why you are all running a shop. This is top quality equipment any raiding party would benefit from." Krusty said, looking over the armor. "I am just surprised you have such an inventory. Did you craft it all?" Krusty looked at Naruto.
[Most of it, yeah. Itachi&Kisame has a level 90 tailor class, so she done a lot of the clothing items out. The lower level stuff is items I have the apprentices make. Trying to see what their area is good at through having them as my apprentices. Allows them use of all my craft skills so we can properly put them in the right sub-class. A good blacksmith and other crafting subclasses are very useful to have in a raid.]
"Agreed. We have several in our guild just for weapon upkeep. Only the best works for me." Isaac grinned. "Heh, I am starting to like you kid even more, though I don't have the patience to let little brats catch up to me like you're doing."
"Wait… This is…" Krusty and Isaac looked at William. "It can't be! It hadn't even released in the old world yet! How is it here?" Shikamaru looked at what William was holding.
"W-Wait! That's Hidden Village Hero?" Isaac asked, shocked at seeing William holding the first volume of Hidden Village Hero. "How is that possible? All the books here are magic tomes and such!"
"You can still write and draw on paper. Though, having level 90 sub-class scribe skills really help to do whole issues in hours." Itachi&Kisame chuckled at the warrior's shocked faces.
[That and plenty of 24 hour comic attempts. I had all the way to volume 10 done in the real world, so it is not hard to redraw it all again from memory. What's a pain is I gotta bound them all by hand and do each copy individual or having a few scribes help copy my work once the main copy is done. I have volume 1-2 for sell this month with also limited edition bundles with extra artwork, volume 3, and handpainted covers compared to the copies I had the scribes do.] Naruto grinned at them.
"L-Limited edition?" William asked before Naruto pointed behind Shikamaru where all they were keeping the limited edition and promo packages.
"Also, for the opening day, we have special figurines of various types including possibly getting a rare Menma figure for every limited edition item or package." Shikamaru sheepishly smiled, sweating at the hungry look in all three of the men's eyes. I-I see, so these are the otaku Naruto were talking about. Scary.
"How much for the limited edition set of Hidden Village Hero?" Krusty asked, looking back at Naruto.
[300 gold for the plain bundle of volumes 1-3 with an extra art piece, 500 for the hand painted covers bundle.] Naruto adjusted his glasses with a smirk. [The downside of using the inks of this world is to get the good quality stuff I used for this kind of work is a pain in the ass to make. Same for the paper. But, all in all, pretty damn good deal considering we also have individual books and manga going for 50 to 100 gold a piece as well. But, we are limited on how many we can make at one time, even with saving a copy and just having a scribe transcript new ones. Hence high for a non-battle item.]
"I'll take one of the hand painted covered bundles." William said, pulling out his pouch of coins.
"Same as me! Do you have a pre-order list for later volumes!" Isaac said, holding his hand up.
[Not yet. Doing the first run of all the books and manga on print-on-demand with a limit for each day so I can gauge how well my little publishing system works. It's not a recipe so I can't do multiples, so got to rely on my own scribe skills and others to make them all. It's an annoying process, but well worth it since it brings back some entertainment.] Naruto walked behind the desk, getting up on the small later to get the items down. [Ah, Shikamaru, get the invoices ready.]
"Yes, sir." Shikamaru said meekly, grabbing the notepad turned into a invoice pad.
"I would like one of those bundles, too, though could you save it. I am curious of the other books." Krusty smirked, seeing the stand of books.
"Sure, let me write your name on the invoice and I will put it with your stuff." Shikamaru sighed.
"Same here as well." Isaac said while William nodded in agreement.
"Okay." Shikamaru sighed, Well, upside, we hooked three big fish, so let's see how much they will spend.
"Mi'lord, what are you doing?" Shikamaru look back to the opening and saw two women walk into the stall. "You better not be messing around." A stern dark hair woman said, holding a clipboard.
"No. Not at all. You all should look around here, Misa. There is quite a good bit of good items here we could use for our guild." Krusty said, holding a book he was checking out.
"So far it seems we will be taking in quite a haul. Many members have been buying at the other…" The woman named Misa stopped while looking at the farther back displays. "I-Is that what I think it is?"
What is she-Oh, yeah. Those. Shikamaru blushed, seeing the mannequins wearing cute frilly female underwear and even some normal male underwear ones. Still amazed Naruto and Itachi&Kisame put these out here instead of keeping them in the back. Though, can't say I was not happy to get some with finding out why girls wear bras and panties. Still embarrassing to think about it, but now very happy for it.
"U-Underwear?" Shikamaru looked at Isaac, finding the mean also gapping at the display.
Of course, not exactly appropriate for a shop, Shikamaru sighed, shaking her head..
"Correct. Elder Tales expansion was also adding a new equipment slot through underwear, though it was still in beta when the Expansion kicked in. However, several of the recipes did come over. Sadly, I only have a few of the recipes and they are all the high level ones. Hence I gotta put them for a higher price due to ingredients and such." Itachi&Kisame chimed, smiling at them.
Nope, you just experimented and figured out a new recipe through that. Though, not lying about the price and ingredients, but so worth it after a month of no underwear. Shikamaru sighed, remembering the fact it seems everyone in Elder Tales when they woke up in this new world, quickly discover their underwear did not follow them and neither did their avatars wore any.
"Misa, alert the whole guild. Now." Krusty said, adjusting his glasses with a frown.
"Shit! No way in hell I am letting your guild get this advantage! Tell all the guild members to come to Log Horizon's stall asap!" Isaac shouted while putting his hand on his ear. "They just solved one of the biggest issues we been having."
"Hurry, come here. Now. Bring the whole guild. The down under issue has been solved, but D.D.D. and Black Sword Knights are in on it." Williaim growled, also having his hand to his ear.
"Oh, crap," Shikamaru paled, remembering Naruto mentioned the three guilds he mentioned were big ones. "A-Ah, Naruto, Itachi&Kisame, don't you two have… Oh, maybe a cloning ju-I mean, skill? We might need more people."
"Yeah. We both… do." Itachi&Kisame and Naruto looked at each other before smacking their heads. "Dammit! That could have save me so much time!"
[Ditto.] Naruto comically cried as they both opened their menus. "Leafy Sprites!" Naruto shouted, throwing leaves in the air for even cuter little versions of him to appear.
"Solid Shadow." Itachi&Kisame sighed, casting a spell for her shadow to stretch out and form into several clones. "Alright ladies, we are about to have war on the stall, partially for lingerie, so get each an invoice pad!" Itachi&Kisame shouted, holding out a bund of pads. "Not chancing those disappear with you using the ones one you."
"Hai!" Shikamaru looked back the men who were shocked at the two now cloned people.
"New skills unlocked with the Expansion." Shikamaru sighed before hearing what sound like a stampede. "Is t-that?"
"Oh, yeah. Shikamaru, you have permission to hide under the counter. This is going to get messy." Itachi&Kisame sighed, her face pale with looking out the stall.
[I think this is one of times I misjudge the amount demand a product will have. Again.] Shikamaru caught the text box before ducking under the table. The shouts and screams that came afterwards utterly terrified the Cleric, making her rethink being a shopkeeper was a good thing.