Now Playing - Loneliness
Right before being released, I actually was led to the mission desk to receive… pay. For some reason, the concept hadn't even crossed my mind, especially since the quest had not mentioned that I would be paid. Possibly because I wasn't supposed to die during it. Danzo most definitely did not pay a large portion of his ROOT followers, or at least not anything more than functional food and ninja tools.
[+600.000 Ryo!]
These were several stacks of cash that were, thankfully, put into a complementary sealing scroll because I had nowhere to put them. Also had no idea what to do with it, how much that was worth.
Was the lives of the rest of my comrades worth that much?
When I was dropped off at Yakiniku HQ, I found a note for me saying that apparently, Itachi had to train with his dad and Shisui had followed. Which was fair, though I now had to cross off the bucket list that I had a date with two boys, left to have a mental breakdown, and was subsequently stood up.
...no, I don't have such a bucket list, who do you take me for?
Leaving the restaraunt, I instinctively went into Stealth, one of my few worthwhile skills, and scaled to the rooftops. From there it was just a matter of closing my eyes and focusing my instincts...
"[Display Mode: Party]. " I murmured. As it were, scanning the area around me, I was quickly able to locate the yellow name tag.
Uchiha Izumi, Uchiha Clan Kid, Lv.9
There.
At this time of the day, I was hardly the only person taking to the Konohan rooftops to avoid the streets. I had not done this before; while I'd learned how to tree-hop (albeit, at a pathetic speed), doing so in broad daylight and on the roofs of houses was a liberating experience. In the manner of minutes, I was back to being close to the Uchiha compound.
Indeed, as I found my way to the front of the Naka Shrine, I set myself to hiding nearby, observing. It appeared that one of the Uchiha was holding a lesson for the Uchiha children- though I saw no hide nor hair of either Itachi nor Shisui. After a moment, I saw why- it was regular Shurikenjutsu lessons, having the children line up in front of targets and having them throw while the instructor, one Uchiha Kagen, Uchiha Police Officer, Lv.?, moved to correct their stances one after another.
…this was boring. And looked like it was going to take a while. On occasion, I could see Izumi look annoyed or desolate at her own- well, lack of skill wasn't fair to say to a six year old, but when the only available comparison for her was Itachi, Shisui, and myself…
Well, suffice to say, she sucked. But considering the gaggle of six year olds that were levels four to six below me, some of which could barely hold their kunai, she sucked considerably less. As the instructor's eyes met mine, I gave a wave, but otherwise didn't move. I really wasn't in the mood for interacting with anyone right now, given what had just happened.
I lazily scrolled through my remaining quests, my stats, my skills, trying to find something to focus on. My quest book right now only held Miðgarðsormr, Jubjub's Massacre (and what was with giving me quests with absurd names and absurd requirements?) and Impress Fugaku Uchiha. The one with the smallest time frame still had three and a half months for me to complete, and most notably, already had the secondary objective flagged as complete as apparently, it didn't actively track whether I remained level 15 or not. Still, short of tracking down Orochimaru (was he still in village, at this point?) or killing Itachi, I guess I can focus on the last…
My skills were mostly on pause until I actually bothered assigning points to things, since I'd only raised my stats to the point where they wouldn't be lowered, but I still could not progress in my best one, Shurikenjutsu Training, for some reason unrelated that I did not actually find out.
I lacked guidance, to be completely honest, over what was good for me, what was a worthwhile pursuit, et cetera. But it wasn't like I could approach someone to ask them "Hey, if I hypothetically could do anything with my life and possessed quasi-infinite potential, what would be the best course of action for me?"
Choice paralysis stayed my hand in terms of spending my remaining 41 skill points. That and the fact that it was far easier to act like I was just kinda good rather than being prodigious for as long as I wished if my stats matched those of a Lvl.8 kid.
Bah.
As I was beginning to set into a light doze while I waited for Izumi to be done, I was joined by another presence of a teenager.
"Hey there, brat." I rolled my eyes at the arrival. Thankfully, he hadn't really been hiding his presence or arrival, so he didn't startle me as much as he might have.
"Hey." I said, before snorting, morbid humor welling up in my voice. "Sorry for not warning you, I would've let you touch my corpse if I could."
-8HP! (nonlethal)
ow my head
"Stop saying I molest dead bodies! It was part of the report to the Hokage!" He hissed, and I huffed out a laugh before ducking back towards the other side of the rooftop to not be spotted. "Geez, kid... I guess the Hokage really didn't want to wait for a moment before sending you out."
I nodded listlessly, not really willing to correct him. So what if it was one of the Hokage's councilmen and not the man himself? He clearly didn't disapprove enough to go tear the man a new asshole six ways from Sunday.
Anxiety was welling up within me at the reminder. Was Danzo really just not going to pursue my case? No re-kidnapping, no torture, no getting rid of me to make sure I didn't blab any secrets, not even reapplying the damn tongue seal?
Your Skill Level has increased!
Genjutsu Resistance, Lv. 3
-Your ability to identify and break free from Genjutsu, the art of using one's chakra to fool an opponent into believing things that aren't real and behaving differently than they would.
A pair of shiny red eyes appeared in my field of vision, suddenly, and I snapped back to reality.
"You really gotta stop doing that." I hissed, weakly throwing a punch towards Inabi that was more for show than damage. Unsurprisingly, he caught it.
"Worked well enough to snap you out of your panic. You got unresponsive." He glared back at me as his eyes switched back to dull brown, and I honestly could not tell if he was angry, annoyed, or concerned. The Uchiha were shit at displaying emotion.
I looked away. "I'm fine. Just... struggling with everyone assuming I know things and me having to play ball."
"'Play ball'?" He parroted after a moment, before realizing what I meant. "Odd saying, but that's what being a prodigy does to you. And at least you get recognition for it."
I gagged. "Fuck recognition. If I wanted that, I would've picked up a guitar and" Started a band, was what I was going to say, but did they have those here? "become a bard." I finished, somewhat lamely, as evidenced by the scoff with which he responded.
"You only say that because you're not part of a clan." I tugged on one of my strands of green hair. He rolled his eyes back at me. "One of the clans of Konohagakure."
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"Us of the Uchiha, we're a shinobi clan first and foremost. Sure, now that time has passed the clan's got a hell of a lot more civilians, but since it's conception Konoha has always been about the shinobi, especially those from the clans. And so, we have a burden to uphold an image of strength and show off our best, as we're both the first line of defense against enemy villages… and against our own. The rest of the clans will smell weakness like an Inuzuka smells blood. We're already seeing the signs."
"…what the hell are you talking about, Inabi?"
"The Leaf is starting to turn against us, kid. And when it does, it'll be either-"
"Tomo-chan, get down from there! It's not safe for you to be on a roof!" A shrill, child voice screamed at me, interrupting our conversation. "Oji-san, please let Tomo down! We haven't taught her yet how to land properly!" It took me a moment to register, what she said, before snorting and turning to look at Inabi, who was sporting an incredulous expression.
"Does she not know-"
"No. To her, I just disappeared for a while and then came back." I raised my arms expectantly. "So, Oji-san? Care to get this helpless kid down from a two story roof?"
"…Shit, gaki. You make it really hard to remember that you're like three years old."
"Five."
"That really isn't helping your case." He said, before picking me up on his shoulders and jumping down with a frankly uncomfortable and unnecessary amount of jostling, the douchebag. And then I was back in front of Izumi, who attempted her level best to hug me to death with her- [Observe]-
Uchiha Izumi, Uchiha Clan Kid, Lv. 9
HP: 100/100 CP: 150/150
STR: 15
VIT: 10
DEX: 20
INT: 7
WIS: 3
CHA: 15
LUK: 8
Admittedly scary physical stats for a kid her age. "Hi, 'zumi."
"Tomo!" she said, thankfully ceasing her assault on my ribs in favor of holding me at arms length with a grin. "Kaa-san said you were sick today and needed to sleep in." she paused, squinting at me analytically. "Are you sneaking out?"
"No, I'm all better." I smiled.
"Clearly better enough to join the rest of the children down here. Are you done skipping out on shurikenjutsu lessons?" the teacher, Kagen, glared down at me in particular, but at Izumi too. "Izumi-chan, did I perhaps say that you could stop practicing?"
The gaggle of children around us were giggling, in the way only a kid watching another kid get caught could. Not on my fucking watch.
"Right, then. Let's get to it. You got a kunai for me, Izumi?" I asked, wiggling my way out of her grip.
"I hope you aren't thinking of getting away with only one throw, child."
"Three then. Izumi, make sure to watch how I throw these." I turned around and winked at her. She made an O with her mouth before nodding and handing me her kunai pack.
Right.
Strolling up with as much swagger as I could to the target range until I was a fair distance farther than what I'd seen the rest of the children do, I casually flicked my wrist three times in a rapid motion (sadly, my fingers were hardly long enough for me to fit one kunai's in each).
I'd aimed for a triangle shape made out of the kunai. One was slightly off the mark and they formed a C instead, but all of them were clearly dead center.
Your reputation with Uchiha Kagen has decreased due to your flippant behavior!
Your reputation with the Uchiha clan has increased by a little due to your proficient showmanship!
Blinking the text out of my eyes, I smiled contentedly and turned to Izumi. "Right. Think you can do it too?"
She frowned for a moment, swaying slightly on her feet as her eyes flipped back to their black color from the red, before nodding. Her throw was a little off, but managed to complete a square shape around he dead center of the target.
"Right. We'll be off then, teacher-san. Please prepare something more appropriate to our skill level for the next lesson. Now excuse me, but I've been away for long and I'm dying to hang out with my sister."
The man just glared at us, before turning around to the rest of the children and simply shouting: "Well, what are you ogling around for? If you've got time to gawk, you've got time to keep practicing!"
"We are so going to get in trouble for this…" Izumi muttered to me. I simply glanced at her.
"Sorry, I got a little carried away there… you could go back, saying you don't agree with me?" I'd made her copy my throw technique, so she genuinely didn't need to continue doing that basic exercise, but I didn't want to impact her future education.
She stared back at me, before slowly shaking her head. "No, I… want to stay with you." She grabbed my hand into her own. "I don't want bad things to happen again because I let you go."
I smiled back at her. "I'm not leaving again, Izumi." I reached out to hug her. "Never again."
When returning at home after a round of sightseeing around Konoha that lasted well into the evening, I and Hazuki exchanged hi's and how are you's and all the meaningless platitudes that were customary of the case. I was still mad- taking a dunk into yet more untrustfulness when this was the place that was supposed to welcome me was not very fun, and… well, poison is poison, regardless of how "mild" it was.
Izumi did detect that things were not fine for some reason between me and her mom, but given that I wasn't telling and Hazuki most certainly wasn't, she could do nothing but pout at us. Dinner was a quiet affair, and then after washing myself in the bathroom where the lack of the huge mirror seemed to almost glare at me.
Sleep did not come to me, as I ruminated on recent events.
I frown, reaching a hand out into the air as I lay down. My personal interface immediately greets me, regaling me with my own stats.
Five years into this world of ninja and chakra... five years, and even my excitement about magic has been dwindled down to nothing. I guess that's what happens when you're a child soldier.
But it's not just any world of ninja and magic- it's Naruto. A known quantity. And even though time hasn't been that kind to my memories of the show, I still largely knew the beats the story followed.
Except that "this story" isn't about Naruto. Sure, the thing in his belly killed me when I was young, but... I can't stress this enough, it's been five years. Eleven more will need to pass before the boy even becomes a shinobi. I've already killed so many more people in so much less time.
And this world doesn't feel any less real, except for... well, me. A displaced soul that can respawn on command with a game system as a guide. But despite how alienating it was originally, by now it was just part of my life. But what is this life about in the first place?
Of course, one could just answer that there's no point, no God, if not maybe for the system itself. Except that...
Miðgarðsormr
Orochimaru, the snake that betrays the leaf, is set to kill his former teacher Sarutobi Hiruzen, the God of Shinobi, in order to pursue his ignoble experiments. If The Gamer prevents him from doing so, ripples in the future are sure to be formed.
Time Limit: 11 years
Reward: +500Exp, ?
Clumsy, in the way that all of my interactions with the Game system are. But the message is clear- it wants me to make changes, albeit to what end, I'm not so sure. Ripples in the future. Perhaps it wants me to rid myself of my own knowledge by shaking up the default Naruto story?
Albeit, 500exp for it as a reward is laughable. Dismissible, even, except…
Additional Objective: Save the Third Hokage without revealing to anyone of your limited future knowledge!
Reward: 20000exp, A meeting with the [Administrator], ?
The system doesn't want me to just do it for the sake of doing it. It wants me to be a good boy (or girl, currently) and play by the rules set for the world. I can act within my knowledge, but I can't tell. Maybe it's that with my future knowledge it truly would be as easy as walking up to Hiruzen and telling the God of Shinobi everything. Maybe it's that the system wants to make things "realistic"? Everything except for itself has been, for all intents and purposes, like a real world to me.
For your analysis of part of the motivations behind the system, you gained +1INT!
…is this a bribe?
Whatever.
Not like a real world. Hazuki, Izumi, Itachi… they're all real people. If anything, I'm the alien, the fake here. And the fact that there exists an administrator who, even if I don't know whether they're all-powerful or something, definitely put me in this situation, and definitely has power over me.
'Who even is the Administrator?'
WARNING: Users with the Guest Experience are not permitted to access this information. Your System Question has been refunded.
Tch. Of course.
Well, I guess this is my goal now. Meeting the administrator, huh?
God, I hope they're not a creep who gets off on watching others suffer.
I'm alive, and back from my August vacation!
This chapter features introspection, money and Inabi. I like Inabi.
As always, you can check me out on the place of patrons where I post FIVE chapters ahead now, if you wish to support my work.
And as always, until the heat remembers to die down for September, remember to drink water and stay awesome.
Nick of Name, out. :)