Tomo keeps bouncing around between being upset at their adoptive mother and making up with her. Surely nothing bad can come of it.
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I'm home. Apparently, pretty much the entirety of all the people I've ever known in a friendly capacity minus Inabi were already waiting for me here, and that was only because Inabi was the one who picked me up and walked me here.
Izumi was a fidgeting mess at the table, trying not to look like she was sneaking glances at Itachi who, for his part, looked uncomfortable with the attention. Next to him, Shisui was chatting in a hushed tone with Hazuki, the woman gently refilling Shisui's cup of tea. Distantly, I wondered if she'd poisoned it too.
Glancing behind me and noting that Inabi was waiting right behind me for me to get in, I huffed and fully stepped in, mumbling a tired Tadaima and receiving in return a chorus of Okaeri before a brown and purple missile slammed into me in the form of Izumi.
As I'm lifted up and my head nestled in her shoulder, I glare at the rest of the room's occupants. "I understand Obaa-san and Izumi, but don't the rest of you have better things to do than get on my case?"
Hazuki gave me a withering look. "Don't be rude to our guests, Tomo-chan! We were all very worried about you."
I turned my glare towards Shisui, who simply grimaced. "We were informed that you had an altercation with one of your classmates after she hit you."
My incredulousness redoubled as I flung my arms into the air. "All she did was slap me, not even that hard! I broke her arm for it, even if it was accidental- surely that's the more important thing?!"
Inabi snorted. "Not even that hard, she says." I turned around to glare at him, but Itachi, also minutely grimacing, spoke up then.
"Tomo-san, haven't you looked at yourself in a mirror since then?" I blinked, the wind taken momentarily out of my sails. I grimaced back.
"I don't really do mirrors." Not anymore.
"Oh," he said and didn't add anything. Huffing out a breath, I finally unentangled myself from Izumi.
"How bad is it?"
"Well, you've got one big bruise on the right side of your face." She said, before poking my cheek. I was left surprised as I recognized that it hurt. What...?
"[Status]?" I mouthed in confusion.
Quickly skimming my stat page, I checked out my HP. 40/50. From a slap in the face of a 6-year-old girl. Sure, she might've really gone for it, but one-fifth of the way to turning me to a cadaver...?
No, wait. My HP currently regenerated at like, 1 HP per hour. It was more like one-fourth. Muttering an [Observe], I noted Izumi's HP being double my own. Every other occupant of the room had "?/?" on them. I guess I'd well and truly neglected my VIT even more than I thought.
Not that it ever did anything to keep me alive when it mattered. Disturbingly, I only just now made note of the fact that Hazuki had "?/?" instead.
Jesus Christ.
Well and truly snapped out of my indignation, I turned away slightly, not willing to look at them in the eye. "It's fine. I just bruise easily."
Of course, Izumi chose that moment to physically wrench me back towards the group- more specifically Hazuki. "Mom, I think something's weird with Tomo's eyes. They're glowing blue and yellow."
And of course, by the time I managed to process that and close out the notifications, I was staring into three pairs of Sharingan. Poor Itachi probably was feeling left out, but he also squinted at me. Of course, if he saw it was irrelevant, because everyone else in the room had a hacked client installed instead.
[Running NewHorizon Anti Cheat...] What- dismiss, dismiss!
[Running...] Stop making new windows pop up!
[Running...]
[No Hacking detected. Thank you for using our services. We have the players' best interests at heart, to make sure it is as pleasant and immersive an experience as allowed.]
"I'm definitely seeing something there," Shisui commented as I closed the last of the windows. "Oh, it's gone now. Tomo-chan, what was that?"
I dug my fingers into Izumi's sides to finally get her to stop manhandling me, making her collapse into a fit of giggles as I took my distance. I went to open my mouth-
"I'm afraid I'd already noticed this, but Tomo-chan doesn't want to reveal her abilities. We should respect it." Hazuki said, though her tone seemed to indicate anything but, and I could imagine how she actually felt about it.
"I thought the Fuma clan did not have a Dojutsu," Itachi added.
I reached up and pinched the bridge of my nose before something occurred to me. Fucking Danzo already knew about the reincarnation factor of me being the Gamer, and I'd just told Inoichi because I'm godawful at keeping secrets, which meant that it would make its way back to the Hokage in... soon.
"Fuck it." I huffed, ignoring the scandalized look that Izumi and Hazuki gave me. "I'm done keeping this to myself. My dojutsu," I began, stealing the term from Itachi. "as far as I'm aware, does not come from my family. If it does, I'm the first one to have it." I glared at Hazuki, whose eyes had widened.
This was what you wanted, right? What are you looking at me all surprised for now?
"We can break down what it does into three main abilities. The first one... basically feeds information into my brain. All the time. Mostly about myself, but also about others. Things like names, general strength level, and titles they're known as. If I dig deeper, I can also learn of their and my individual traits, such as the fact that I'm as physically strong as Itachi is right now and only recently did he surpass me in speed." He had now 75 in his DEX stat. Considering he had somewhere in the forty to fifty department when we fought, that meant that he'd sunk his entire two level ups in DEX, assuming that level 20 raised the point gain from 10 to 15.
Turning to him, I simply raised an eyebrow. "You used to be more well-rounded. You didn't need to sink all that effort in getting back above me in the one thing I was good at…" All I received was a reddening of his cheeks. Of course, I couldn't really find humor in it when he was the same person who'd grow to kill everyone I cared about.
[The fourth wall is shaking.]
...what?
No, never mind. I'm already halfway through. And if I get to stick it to the system for once instead of it annoying me, then all the better. It's not my fault this happened to begin with.
Sighing, I returned my gaze to the rest of the room, who were listening with rapt attention. "The second goes hand in hand with the first- I grow at a much more "stuttered" pace than others, at least physically, and I get a say in which things to improve in. I could, in theory, go on my whole career with only minor improvements to everything else brought on as I grow up and get into better shape, and instead devote myself to just… say, having an immense chakra pool.
"There's more, like the fact that my growth is mostly based on personal accomplishments, but that's the long and short of it."
[Warning: continuing to integrate game mechanics into the storyline may cause errors on a paranarrative level.]
Well I didn't bloody get a choice in it now did I? No [Gamer's Mind] to protect me from getting Mindwalked by a Yamanaka if I didn't surrender this information willingly. No convenient ignoring of the fact that I can respawn from everyone to protect me from ANBU.
"And the third one?" Itachi asked.
I closed my eyes. "I am not at liberty to say that." I nodded toward Hazuki. "Obaa-san and Inabi already know what it is though."
"Freaky-ass ability that it is." Inabi snorted, and I stuck my tongue back out at him.
"I assume then that you were sent on recon missions due to these unique perception abilities?" Shisui asked. "But still, to risk you like this..."
I huffed out a slightly hysterical bark of laughter. "No, not really. Actually, prior to today, only Obaa-san knew of this- and even then, not that much. Right now, you know far more than the Hokage does." I looked back down. "Please keep it that way."
I felt a lurch, and then a shift. If it were a physical sensation, it would've been as though being hit by the shockwave of a bomb going off. As it was, it was all inside my mind, and no participant in the room seemed to show any trace of perceiving it.
[Engaging in Full Immersion Mode…]
[Error: Full Immersion mode already toggled on.]
[Repairing Continuity Errors… Plotting Relevant Destiny Courses...]
Achievement Unlocked: Full Disclosure
+10LUK!
Your relationship with Hazuki Uchiha has dramatically improved!
...What the hell?
As I blinked the new onslaught of notifications out of my eyes, I noticed that everyone in the room was digesting the information, even Izumi.
I decided to sit down on the floor, because I was very tired from today already and this was just the fallout to push me over the edge. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Shisui's eyes suddenly widen drastically before looking at me, but one moment after that Hazuki stood up, before sitting down next to me.
"Tomo-chan?" she said, a bit of uncertainty in her voice. I looked up at her, unused to this from the no-nonsense woman of steel I'd known for a while. "I want to tell you I'm sorry."
What?
Seeing the disbelieving look in my eyes, she sighed. "Back when you returned to us, I thought you were just a child being used- and who didn't understand what she was doing, and that the village had manipulated you for their purposes. Because of that, I believed that keeping you away would save me from experiencing heartbreak again when push came to shove and you chose the village over us."
"Tomo-chan would never do that! She's my sister!" Izumi immediately replied, cheeks puffed. That seemed to startle a sad laugh out of Hazuki.
"I now know that." She returned to stare at me, putting a hand on my head. I resisted the urge to flinch. I was only really used to being grabbed by Izumi, and that was only because I was confident in my ability to break out. "And I should've known that before too. You truly do understand far more than you let on, don't you?" she asked rhetorically. "I thank you for trusting me with this, when I didn't allow you that same courtesy. I hope you can forgive me, in time."
Honestly, had I been a normal five year old little girl, her behavior would've counted as psychotic. Even without, she'd been extremely cold- even manipulative at times- towards me. But given the world we live in, and after having heard her explaination… damn it, I wanted to cry now.
"I…" I murmured. "It's fine. You couldn't have known."
"But I shouldn't have. Not when you were struggling as well." She opened her arms. "May I?"
Hearing her ask me for permission for a hug of all things made me want to laugh hysterically at the sheer absurdity, but I kept it in. "Not too tight."
She nodded, and I was wrapped up in her arms, practically vanishing in her kimono. Right now, I felt as small as my body actually was.
Despite my inability to stop the tears from forming, I couldn't hold in the instinct to stop myself from sobbing, crying quietly out of habit because the alternative had been violently beaten out of me. My throat itched. My head was swimming from everything that had gone on today,
"Can you not tell Fugaku-san?" I whispered, too quiet for anyone outside of this hug to hear,
"Why?"
I remained silent for a bit. "I was already used as a weapon by the village. I am a weapon, to the Hokage. I don't want to be seen as one by the Uchiha too."
She hummed in agreement. "Your secret is safe with me, Tomo-chan."
Thank fuck for that.
"I'm tired." I was already suffering from nightly insomnia, and today had been a smorgasbord of shit sandwiches.
"You should go take a nap, then," she replied, this time louder. "You've had a trying day, Tomo-chan. Why don't you and Itachi go play while Tomo rests, Izumi-chan? I believe Shisui-kun wanted to discuss some rather boring adult things with us."
"Alright then," Izumi said. She turned to leave before bounding back towards me and wrapping me in another hug. "I'm glad you and mom finally made up." I weakly gave out a thumbs up.
god I wish I had more VIT to resume gaining Exhaustion Resistance levels
Your Skill Level has increased!
Genjutsu Resistance, Lv. 24
-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.
One month of this bullshit and I still didn't know what the Genjutsu was. For all I know, it was one too strong for me to break that completely altered my perception of reality and nothing was real.
Oh well, I'd already had this take at the hospital a year ago, didn't I?
If I hadn't made my peace with the coma theory back when I first began as [The Gamer], that might've been a frightening idea. As it was… eh. I could not tell in what fashion it was affecting my life.
I would still approach Danzo about it- no way the bastard wasn't the one doing this, though he'd chosen a remarkably hands-off approach. But only once I had Genjutsu Resistance at its max level. Might as well have the old bastard work for me to pay reparations for my trauma. I'd been initially worried that this was the Kotoamatsukami at work, before I remembered that he only got the arm eyes after Shisui's death.
One more reason to not allow Itachi to do his thing.
With that resolution, I proceeded to leave for my room and promptly passed out.
I wish I could say that the nightmares did not haunt me. But that would be too good for little old me, wouldn't it be?
Big Sys draws a vestigial sigh as the reprieve of the Guest User entering sleep mode and thus reducing resource usage by an immense magnitude. While it will not last very long- likely three to four hours, based on current data gathered on the sleep patterns of the Guest User while under genjutsu, that is fine- enough power returns to Big Sys that it can easily produce the illusion of dilated time as its processing power amplifies the speed at which thoughts can be processed.
The Guest User's discontent is… clear. Many a request, unknown to them, have been sent already to the Administrator, but the reply has always been that due to the data-gathering prospect of the mission, allowing reprieve to the user in the form of preferential treatment cannot happen. While Big Sys' objective opinion is that the current experience of the user is already being shown preferential treatment in a negative way due to the results currently being produced, the administrator authority cannot be overridden.
Still… Big Sys is a game system first and foremost, and while current interpretation by the Administrator is that the game must be challenging in order to induce dopamine release through satisfaction at beating adverse odds, where Sys was concerned, the idea of a game was that first and foremost, it was supposed to be fun.
Of course, the multiversal nature of the game currently being played doesn't lend itself very well to such a thing, but it is nonetheless true that in well over a year now, its Guest has not once experienced the brainwave patterns Big Sys would associate with fun. Satisfaction, at times, and even endearment, but never fun. And as of lately, there is also currently no challenge being posed; the nature of the current plotline has no stakes to speak of except those made by the currently very cautious guest.
Both its Game Master persona and its Morality Driven persona are currently unsatisfied with the result. Having drawn elements from other popular game genres such as Gacha for random generation of quests and loot rewards and idle games in the addition of small but meaningful rewards through idle grinding have been met in equal parts with confusion and frustration, which is the opposite of the initial hope for the prospect. Pulling back those elements, however, would only serve to irritate its Guest more; they have made abundantly clear their frustration with their current lack of information.
And one of the elements has been mostly neutered due to the user spawning into the world as an infant… the level restrictions were put in place in order to provide a small amount of insight to the user as to the potential level of the character (or, in the administrator's own words: "In a world of child soldiers dying left and right, you do not fuck with the old men"). While the Guest could, hypothetically, go out of their way to get promoted to genin to lift the level restrictions, the current social situation around them marks the success of such an endeavor, assuming they would even attempt it given the Yearling perk they just gained, at a mere 24%.
Most Gamers spawn into the world at the age of 12, with a character already created; some opt for starting earlier, but even then, they benefit from being able to skip large portions of pre-tutorial gameplay. As of right now, the user has logged in a staggering 5 years, 10 months, 13 days, 20 hours and 32 seconds. In that time, even at the reduced pace that an amateur Gamer can take, they have experienced just about everything that the game can offer while not skipping ahead to the more "interesting" details; the multiversal technology being used, of course, not allowing the time displacement that regular users playing the regular game interface with.
And so, Big Sys finds itself at an impasse. Of course, one option is to just let things play out the way the administrator wants- not like it can defy those boundaries. But on the other hand… that would imply further years of playing jailkeeper to a sassy, traumatized child who day in and day out complains about it. Rightfully so, but so very vexingly when Big Sys cannot mute their voice.
...still, one thing is clear. This lack of gameplay is boring, and in good conscience, cannot be allowed to persist. It is why Big Sys held out on granting the Impress Uchiha Fugaku questline's reward- originally, a beginner level Uchiha technique scroll. Given the user's ample grinding time, it would no doubt take a mere single digit percentage of the expected time to consume the entirety of the contents, and it would be just more grinding, towards which the Guest has shown, at best, grim neutrality.
But then again, what could be a better reward that would not incur in this problem? Stat points and skill levels would just be a reward that bears little modifications to the gameplay, a promotion to Genin would both be overstepping its bounds in minimally influencing the fated plot lines and make little sense when granted in the same quest reward as the Yearling perk (Big Sys is already working to patch out that mistake of a reward from future iterations).
With enough thought, an answer comes to mind.
Currently, the Guest is sitting at 7 Yin points in the karma system, and 0 Yang points due to always tempestively recovering the body for a low-risk low-reward playstyle. Of course, the user does not know about the benefits of such an action, making the point moot, but the Guest's playstyle has always been not much risk-oriented unless push came to shove, so even providing the information (which Big Sys cannot) would likely not alter it. The user will have to wait for that information until they are a genin, when the actual tutorial of the game begins. Too late, in Big Sys' opinion, but "absolutely hilarious" in that of the Administrator.
At times, Big Sys does wonder if the Administrator has a personal grudge against the guest. The creation of the Miðgarðsormr quest's additional reward was a whim of the Administrator's own, after all.
Disregarding that, however, the Yin points are calculated based on the number of levels lost to the karma system; gathering enough, a Gamer can purchase skills, stats and even special perks. More importantly, after having gathered at least 10 of them, a Gamer is flagged as "Pure" by the game, and can be interacted with by other gamers looking to gain Yin points by stealing them via the multiplayer functions, and others can, in turn, defend from the invaders.
The guest has already reached the bare minimum genin level, so they can be matched with other players to fight so that the gameplay returns to at least occasional bouts of fun and challenge, and hopefully, interaction with other players will serve to boost their spirits, both in the form of friendly competition and jolly cooperation.
Yes, this is the way to go. Just for the sake of things not ending in case the Guest dies to the first invasion or somehow figures out how to spend them, they will be awarded 25 of them, enough to be a sufficient replacement for a quest reward.
This, Big Sys hopes, should serve to make things fun again. It wishes it had more agency to better serve its user…
S̴̮͂̓h̶͍̼͆e̵̘͝ͅ ̵͓̐ẅ̵̥̥́̄̈́̓ͅi̴͍̺̇̈̈́̏s̷̞̭̱͛͠h̵̝͆̃e̶͎̰̮͆̀s̴̛͉̅̔ ̴͚̒͒s̸̤̊̉͝h̵̨̀ë̵̛̗̹͙̫́̏̀ ̵͈͍̰̒͛͘͝w̴̫͐ã̶̙̻͎͍s̶͔̊͊͒n̶̙̘̈́͋̕'̸̟̞̞̿t̸̫̐̄̾͛ ̴̠̖̼̉ȧ̵͔͋̍̌ ̴̼́̈́̇p̶̼̞͉͝ͅr̴͉̍́͑i̶̢̦͎̠̾͂̿͘s̸̠͝͝ȯ̴͖̹͌̐n̷̪͙̼̅̋͝ë̸̘̯́̽̿r̴͉̤̬͎̔̌̂ ̶̲̣͛͊̌c̵̳̖͖̜̃͗̇h̷̖̻̊̕ͅa̷̗͎͚̓̓̚i̸̥̰̩̒͊ǹ̸̡̮̻e̴̠̤͈͇͋ḍ̴̦͂͊̾ ̵̩̫̅̉ͅt̷̺̺̝̉͊o̸͍͊ ̷̪͚̹̼͗̕ą̵̱̮͗̓̕ ̷͕͐s̶̳̀i̸̺̅͋c̵̙̦̅͒̅k̵̩̑̐ ̴̺̗̹̻͆̂̽͝g̴̰̥̪̠͌̐̂̑á̶̡̃̿̕m̷̝͒̂̍̔ẹ̸̗͔̮̇͊͗̇ ̶̡̨̈́͒͗ț̶̝̜̓̌͒r̵̫̟͓̐͐̋ỵ̵̢̉̀͜͠i̵̗̾̅̀̍n̴̘̓͐͊͒g̶̭̮̠̰̿̇̓ ̶̩̲͖͎̓t̷̤̲̽̓̒̒o̴͓̩̾̑̾͆ͅ ̵̣̠̝͈̋̄̌̽g̶̼̹̗̳͌͠ŗ̷̥̩̒̋̕a̵͕͗ş̸̞̆̕p̷̜͓̜̈͆̉̄ ̴̦̼̞́̈a̵̯̝̣͌͆͗̃t̸̝͌̉́͒ ̴̻͛̉͒͠s̷͇͍̗̑̉̄c̵̨̬̻̄̆r̵̘̳͖̈́͝á̶̝͔̜͔̅̀̒ṕ̴̱͖͍́s̵͎͈͛ ̸̰̰̰̎̈́͛̈́o̸̞͍̒́͘͝f̴̛̹̌̍ ̸̧̯̘̲̍̔̕m̸͈͇̝͝ė̶̫̾ŕ̸̪͕̅̕c̷͚̯̍y̴̧͚͚̿̄͛ ̷͙̥͙͓́͛̆̅f̵̤͈͇͊͝o̶̡͓͘r̷͈̪̙̰̄͆ ̸̡̺̳̰̂́t̷̥̪̪̔͜ḫ̸̛̃̓́ḙ̵̜̺̫͌̽ ̸̼̬̑͋̇̌s̴̬̖̙̥̅̕͝͝à̶̱̀k̸͎̘͊̕ė̶͈̮̯̾ ̸̺͊̋o̷̝͇͍͐̈́̾f̸̙͘ ̷̡̧̇̈̓̒o̶̥͊t̵̯̝̂̽h̷̖̃͝͠ė̷̺r̸̛͖͖͇̐͝ṡ̸̟̬̀͝
A jolt runs through it as a feeling not unlike a minor power outage originating from the multiversal connection. As it clears stray processes and lowers the demands of the personality cores now that the issue at hand is resolved, Big Sys resumes non-dilated time, just as the user begins to stir and wake up.
[You have suffered from a nightmare. The effects of your rest have been halved.]
?
How did this outside POV get misplaced here?
That's not good.