I do not own Naruto or any characters from the anime; I don't even own Cabadon because I realise I just took Abaddon the… er…inhaler? Impaler?
Abaddon the failure from Warhammer and put a C in front of his name without even realising it.
(Yes, this was a funny skit but only if you know Warhammer 40k lore.)
XXXXX
Day-3 Ultimatum
Congratulations! You Win!
Naruto sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, the game always knew precisely when not to act all enthusiastic about stuff.
Item acquired Midnight Cloak.
Item acquired Assassin's blade.
500 monies
Exp 500
Congratulations you have saved the Blacksmith Higurashi! You can buy and sell weapons and armour now!
Naruto perked up at that, if that was true it meant he could finally start using all the money he had acquired throughout the past 3 days.
You have completed the tutorial levels! Now hints will only appear when new information appears in front of you! You can also now begin side quests and rescues!
Rebuild society by rescuing the people who you choose! Will you save the world from Cabadon's influence? Or will you only damn it yourself when the time comes? The choice is yours!
Naruto felt an eyebrow twitch at this, all of this crap he had gone through, all of the monsters and fights he had barely survived, this was the tutorial?!
Growling to himself Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and reined in his rapidly growing temper, he didn't even want to begin to acknowledge the last part of that little tidbit of mind-fuckery.
Naruto stole a glance towards Higurashi and sighed miserably to himself.
The man held his daughter's lifeless body and sobbed into her shirt. Naruto bit his lip and wondered what he should do, ignoring the fact that even he had to admit that he was socially retarded when it came to this sensitive stuff. The only family he'd ever had was an extremely distant Sarutobi as his grandfather figure.
Not even realising the rather depressing nature of his thoughts Naruto decided to wing it and begin with some good news.
" …" Naruto began and the man's red rimmed angry eyes bored into Naruto's Cerulean orbs.
"Kid, if you know what's good for you, you will leave and let me grieve before ending this once and for all." The man said and Naruto's blood ran ice cold as the man's statement rolled over in his head. Surely he didn't mean he'd…
Naruto quashed down the light feeling of jealousy that bubbled up, nobody would do that for the demon brat would they? They'd just-
Bad thoughts, bad thoughts…
Naruto swallowed nervously and realised they'd just spent a very awkward moment just staring at eachother in silence.
"I… thought you might wanna know, your daughter, she's still alive," Naruto said hoping the accusatory glare in the man's eyes might fade away. It did and instead a manic rush filled his brown eyes.
"What?!" he barked out and got up suddenly. Naruto felt a rush of panic as the man ran over and shook him violently. "HOW?! Tell me! I need to save her!" the man barked out roughly and Naruto screamed as the man squeezed his wounded shoulders.
"Stop…" Naruto hissed out. "Stop it!...AGHHH, STOP IT!" Naruto shouted as his shoulders flared in agony. He flared his chakra unconsciously and sent Higurashi stumbling backward. It seemed to bring the man to his senses and Naruto could see the regret in the man's entire body as he sagged forward.
"I… I'm sorry I got caught up in the- my god your shoulders!" the man gasped as he saw why Naruto had been screaming.
On his right shoulder a hunk of flesh was missing at the tip of his shoulder from where a beam of darkness had barely missed his head.
Along with various cuts and bruises Naruto also had a black eye from his crash earlier in the morning, and a trail of dried blood trailing from his lips when he coughed up blood from the poison in the fight with the flying demon.
But worst of all was the baseball sized hole in his upper left chest that gaped open obscenely. Naruto dimly realised that now he was aware of it the hole in his shoulder burned in agony and he hissed in pain. Cursing as his hands started shaking uncontrollably Naruto slowly took out one of the precious health potions he had acquired earlier and took a sip.
The effect was instantaneous, Naruto let out a sigh of relief as his missing parts of flesh sealed over with brand new unmarked flesh. He still ached and only the two worst wounds were healed over, but Naruto knew that the potions had to be conserved until he could secure a permanent source of them.
Sometimes not being stupid sucked, Naruto reflected as he poke a figure through the massive hole in his shirt.
"Look, your daughter is fine for now, the entire elemental nation's has been locked in their own personal nightmares and I've been rescuing people from them, this was yours." Naruto said, the man's eyes widened as he looked around and studied the surroundings with a suspicious glare. "I just have to wake you up out of your nightmare now that I've dealt with the demon that was sent here,"
Higurashi decided to reign in his questions for now and simply nodded. They could talk more once they were out of this hellish place.
Naruto stepped forward and barely managed to lift his arm to touch Higurashi's forehead lightly and the entire world shimmered before descending into a familiar darkness.
XXXXX
Rescue Complete!
Blacksmith (Higurashi) Unlocked!
Money unlocked!
Monies: 4000
Exp 1500 –level up!
Enemies defeated 1/50
Rewards gained 2/5
Ending 1/2
Secrets found 1/1
Tutorial levels finished!
Naruto found himself in a familiar shop and sighed as he wondered how long it had been and where the hell Sakura disappeared off to.
Looking around the shop he heard Higurashi gasp and start to wake up and gasped out in a coughing rasp before raising his head quickly and looking around sharply.
"I'll be damned" he said quietly not even noticing Naruto before a desperate gleam entered his eyes and he got up suddenly and ran to the door behind the counter. Naruto sighed as the man rushed off further into the building.
This was not going to be the slightest bit of fun.
XXXXX
"-and then I rescued you." Naruto said thinking he should look into make a recording of an explanation so he wouldn't have to repeat himself so often.
Higurashi remained silent as they sat in the main living area of the Higurashi household. After rushing into the bedroom to find Tenten (Naruto finally got her name) laying on her bedroom floor in a rather depressingly familiar comatose state, Higurashi had lain her gently on the couch in the main room.
He'd then got up and made two cups of tea and sat Naruto down on the dining room table and interrogated him furiously on what was happening.
Which lead them to here, Higurashi remained silent mulling over some sort of decision before a pained expression made its way onto his face, as if he didn't like what he was about to say.
Naruto got the uneasy feeling he wouldn't like what Higurashi was going to say either.
"I'm sorry but I'm not gonna sell you anything until my daughter is safe." He said finally after a moment of silence, Naruto blinked.
"I'm sorry, what? ...I know you did not just say that; cause if you did I think I'd have to punch you." a part of Naruto wondered when he had started being so cynical, or when he'd learnt what cynical meant.
The man remained stony however, "Kid I've lost everything, I ain't losing my daughter to some bullshit now after all this, I will do whatever it takes to ensure her safety." Naruto felt his temper grow, was he serious?! He'd risk the entire world's safety sending Naruto along in a wounded and weakened state to save his daughter.
"You realise that you're risking the entire worlds safety for you daughter," Naruto said his voice getting dangerously low.
"Yes, and I don't care," the man hissed "You're saving her; one way or another." At this Higurashi's eyes flicked over to his hammer leaning on the wall.
Naruto exploded and slammed his hand on the table "YOU HAVE NO FUCKING RIGHT-"
"I HAVE ALL THE RIGHT!" Higurashi yelled, mirroring Naruto and slammed his fist on the tabled. The table gave way and broke in two at the massive impact of Higurashi's fist. Naruto bit back his retort and glared at the man through his black eye. The retired nin seemed to wilt as he realised what he was doing. He sighed heavily and looked older than ever for a few seconds before speaking up.
"Look I'm sorry, I know it's selfish, but I refuse to let you do anything else until my daughter is awake. She means the world to me after her mother died and I…" the man sighed "I've honestly been a mess ever since. She was only a baby but honesty she's taken care of me far more then I've taken care of her." Naruto sighed, he knew it was hypocritical of him to get angry over this considering his usual approach to his precious people being in danger but…
A cold hard voice of logic had appeared in Naruto's head ever since he'd leveled up, pointing out logic that even the loudest, most stubborn, part of him couldn't refute.
And now it said that Tenten was obviously a higher level for Naruto, and even if he was at his best, (which he wasn't) he'd be in serious danger of dying again. Naruto didn't know if what happened the first time was a fluke or not. But immortal or not he was going to avoid dying as much as possible.
Karmatic Moment!
Naruto closed his eyes as the world faded to grey and he was left wishing he knew who was behind the game messages so he could murder them.
Rescue Tenten for her father?
YES/NO
It was a hard one, the old Naruto would have been equally as torn not sure whether to admire the man's devotion to his precious person, or to fight back against Higurashi's attempts to force Naruto to save Tenten.
However even though it was stupid and was probably going to get Naruto killed. Even though Higurashi had used the dirtiest method possible to get his daughter saved instead of asking or being patient and understanding the world came first. Even though Naruto was weak right now from the past two fights and needed his rest.
Him and his goddamned bleeding heart, Naruto scowled before selecting yes.
Karmatic moment complete!
You chose to rescue Tenten even though you were wounded and needed rest. +10 karma
"Fuck. You." Naruto hissed out vehemently to Higurashi before he kicked the remnants of the table out of the way and walked over to Tenten. Pointedly ignoring Higurashi; Naruto huffed angrily as he reached out touched the mark on Tenten's forehead hesitantly.
Begin Rescue?
YES/NO
Naruto mentally selected yes.
Warning this rescue is meant for levels 18 and up continue?
Naruto paused as something screamed at him that he was missing something stupid. And where once he would've shrugged and continued; Naruto sighed and selected no.
Naruto then remembered he had levelled up and forgotten it during the fight between him and Higurashi. Slapping his forehead and feeling more then a little stupid Naruto opened up the main menu and levelled up.
XXXXX
Finding himself in the stat screen Naruto glanced over to his icon and gasped, he was now level 9. He then realised it was probably because he had just fought two very difficult fights which seemed to yield a lot more exp then the little ones did.
Naruto placed pointed into Endurance, speed and charisma, knowing that damage was really unpredictable and pretty much was based off crits. And the opposite was also true Naruto needed a higher HP so a lucky hit wouldn't kill him in one blow. Looking over his stats Naruto felt a bit pleased with himself nonetheless.
Naruto Uzumaki:
HP: 500/500
MP~/~
Str: 16
End: 20
Spe: 20
Dex: 15
Spi: ~
Int: 18
Cha: 20
Naruto then entered the next screen and looked over the rather empty looking skill screen, he realised that he probably needed to rescue someone important before it would start to expand.
"Well there's that extra intelligence put to use" Naruto said wryly to himself and vaguely wondered if he should be worried about his rapidly changing persona. Shrugging to himself Naruto placed his points evenly between his two options again.
Ninjutsu-20
Taijutsu-20
Ability unlocked!
*Chakra Training
*Focus
Elemental mastery
Naruto sighed as he realised two of the abilities he'd unlocked were useless thanks to the infinite spirit he gotten.
"Well great, no medical jutsu, no genjutsu, and two thirds of the abilities I got are fucking useless." Naruto muttered to himself.
Shadow clone Jutsu 0/10
Transformation Jutsu 1/3
Replacement Jutsu 1/3
Grand Fireball Jutsu 0/5
Fire Fist 4/5
Hardened body 0/10
Water Walking
Chakra Climbing
Elemental Mastery 0/10
Looking over his abilities Naruto now found himself wondering what abilities he should choose. He shook himself before deciding to read over the abilities he had assumed he knew everything about last time like an idiot.
Naruto did put a final point into Fire fists so they would be useful in fights finally,
Fire fist mastered!
Next level!
Black flames taijutsu!
1/3 pre-requisites complete.
Naruto wondered what these ones where before he mentally selected kage bunshin and looked over the description.
Shadow Clone jutsu 0/10
The user splits his chakra evenly to create solid clones with no elemental weakness.
*only Naruto can use this jutsu beyond level 1*
Level 1 User can create a shadow clone!
Level 2 Naruto can make 50 shadow clones
Level 3 Naruto can make 100 shadow clones
Level 4 Naruto can make 500 shadow clones
Level 5 Naruto can make 1,000+ shadow clones
Level 6 Shadow clones can take 1 hit extra hit before popping
Level 7 Shadow clones can now appear with no smoke and appear to take wounds and "die" instead of popping in smoke right away.
Level 8 Shadow clones can now create their own shadow clones
Level 9 Shadow clones can now think independently, and do not have to be managed directly by Naruto
Level 10 Shadow clones now send memories to the user when popped.
Naruto's breath hitched.
It was official; he was the world's biggest idiot for ignoring this jutsu the first time around.
Scrambling to place the last 7 points into his favourite jutsu Naruto vaguely wished he could master the jutsu for the memories right away.
Shaking his head Naruto exited the menu and stared at Tenten's comatose form before tapping her forehead again and entering her nightmare.
He had a horrible feeling about this.
XXXXX
Annnnnnnnnnd that's a wrap.
Mmm this chapter went by alright, nothing much to say here except that we're getting into the meat of the story finally. Sorry if it's a bit rough though, late night editing in like 30 degree temperature sucks.
(why, why did I have to be torn from my sweet, cold, Canada and thrown into this boiling, muggy, rock called Australia!?)
Granted Naruto has to rescue a few more 'key npcs' before things start to get rolling but such is the way in a game where you have to unlock your own npcs :P.
And yes shadow clones are OP as hell, he pretty much can make shadow clones whenever, like he does in canon. Honestly though I regret leaving them available to Naruto right away as it's not fun writing combat with shadow clones.
So if you find yourself wondering why Naruto doesn't use shadow clones that often it's because I prefer straight up combat to clone spamming.
This fic is also getting a bit darker then I wanted it to, hmm guess having character deaths and people trapped in their own personal hells doesn't leave much room for jokes huh? Hopefully when non antagonisty characters like Sakura pop up I can have some humour thrown in the dialogue bits :P.
Also what do you guys think of Higurashi? He's kind of a bastard I know but you're meant to sympathise with him, he's lost everything except his daughter and now he just wants her to be safe, much to her chagrin as a ninja, but don't be too hard on the guy.
Lastly I'm just gonna reply to the bigger reviews now because I don't have to energy anymore to reply to every single person, so if you don't get a reply here I apologise :P, I still love all of you!
Except you Steve! Fuck you! (I apologise if your name is actually Steve)
Replies:
Kin Tsuchi: Ah so the 'rp-er' returns! I think there's a hole with your logic about the 8 gates thing, cuz if someone revived you afterwards you'd just live for 5 minutes before dying again :P. buuuut maybe if some did impure resurrection on your rather pleasant butt you wouldn't be alive normally and kept alive by the jutsu,
Or it'd just sap all the user's chakra and Kabuto dies, a win-win really either way.
Timeline wise it's after the wave arc, but juuuuuuuuust berfore Kankuro decides to make a complete ass of himself before the chuunin exams.
I'm sorry about explaining things in the summary but some of them have no reason to be expanded on in the writing itself because Naruto wouldn't worry about stuff like that, but readers might, I'll try to keep expository rants and spoilers here to a minimum.
And as for you making an appearance, let's say inner sakura isn't the only minor character who I was planning on giving a large role in the story, the fact that your commenting is just a happy coincidence.
Lastly FUCKING GODDAMNIT KIN! I hope nobody but me read your review until now cause goddamnit you were spot on. I thought I was being subtle about that stuff too. Seriously though that was suspiciously accurate….you aren't…stalking me are you?
It's just, you know…. Orochimaru was your teacher… he stalks people…..yeah I'm not going outside for a while… (not that I was going out much anyway)
Twisted Pxl: I really, really, want to rescue Kakashi soon, its just difficult considering how much bigger of a scale his nightmares would be on. I mean a fresh fangirl genin and a retired chuunin who barely did anything in the war? Not very dangerous enemies.
Kakashi?
Ooooooohh lordy does he have some f**ked up s**t in his life.
First his dad, then Obito, then Rin, then Minato, then Naruto, then Sasuke, then the third, I don't even want to think about it too much :P.
His nightmare will have a lot of detail and work put into it.
As for the Ramen chefs they'll be rescued soon-ish. If not before Kakashi then directly afterwards.
Remzal: The demons are trapped inside their hosts right now, sorry I wasn't clear about that :P, they are awake and are aware of what's going on, but are unable to move the hosts body or communicate with them in any way. So they're pretty much trapped in their own personal nightmares without even having the spell put on them, kinda ironic really.
Random Guy: You'll see that somewhere ;)