Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. No surprise there.
Naruto: The Gamer Scroll
Chapter 1: New Game!
How could anyone recount the history of The legendary First Hokage, who fought in many epic battles and created the world as they knew it in such a boring manner? Naruto didn't know. What he did know, however, was that he was definitely skipping the next class because of it. It had bored me enough, he thought.
Getting out of the class was no simple task for the blond boy as the scrutinizing eyes of most teachers followed him throughout the day. It would require a certain amount of ingenuity and talent for the boy to get out of the watchful eye of a Chunin, or even a Jonin. Regrettably, Naruto had only a certain amount of either, so he usually needed outside help.
"I'll make it up to you, I swear!" Naruto pleaded, making Shikamaru roll his eyes. "All you have to do is make a clone and transform into me for the next class! Please~"
Shikamaru conceded, placing his hands on his neck. "Fine, fine. But if it comes back to bite me, I swear I'll—"
"It won't, see ya!" the whisker-marked boy shouted and waved his goodbyes, rushing past the hallway out the front the door in matter of a few seconds. Then, just as quickly, he darted past the academy grounds, making his way to the busy streets of Konohagakure to do something he had planned for a long time.
A building, one that always left a mark in the young boy's mind. For the blind eye it would be nothing of note; a simple, neglected wooden hut right in the middle between two large buildings that both sold Shinobi equipment. What Naruto saw — or more accurately, noticed — was that not a single soul ever visited it.
Right above the door there hung a sign that simply read as 'Start'. Naruto had no clue what it could possibly mean, but the vague sign intrigued him ever since he first laid eyes on it. This was the day when his temptation finally got the better of him, and he decided to break in as the door was always locked.
Glancing right, then left, up and down, Naruto made sure there was not a soul looking at him as he made his way through the narrow gap between the shop and the wooden hut. A window on the left side of the hut seemingly served little to no purpose, as no view or sunlight could properly be appreciated from within it.
Determined, the blond thrust his arm forward, breaking the glass with his elbow, the glass shards clattering down the floor. He went right through to the window to find. . . nothing of note. The room was much darker than Naruto had expected, and as he blankly walked across he hit something with his foot and stumbled to the ground.
Focusing, Naruto quickly realized that what he stumbled on was a piece of paper, or more accurately, as he found out from the shape, a scroll. A wide grin spread suddenly across the boy's face. "Phew, at least there's something here," he said to no one in particular.
He unfurled the scroll, not expecting to see the letters because of the dark, but to his surprise, they were clear as day. The words shone bright, neon blue.
Why do I need to write down all this crap here, Naruto thought as he read through the various basic questions such as name, age and alike written on it.
He was slightly disappointed, but it was already better than what he first thought as he broke—ventured in, but wrote it all down anyway. Then, the same blue neon text disappeared, and across the scroll horizontally 'Start Game?' was now written. Naruto wrote 'Yes', of course.
Suddenly, Naruto let out a girly gasp as the building got lit by light blue flames from torches in each corner. The ominous blue light revealed another thing here; a trapdoor at the upper right corner of the room. With a gulp, Naruto continued and opened it with some consideration. Hesitation wasn't exactly a term often used to describe the blond.
A stairway going deep and long was under it, with the same torch lit with neon blue fire was found under the trapdoor. A thought of just maybe not going in alone and giving someone the information that he was here crossed Naruto's mind, but he brushed it away quickly as he saw a peculiar door down down below.
As if anyone cares that I'd get lost here anyway, he reflected with a frown.
He took a step, and many more down. The steep steps gave away a feeling of nearly falling each step, and right as he thought of going back he hit the door face first.
It was much more interesting door then the one hut had up above; it had modern, almost alien like for the young boy look as the glass was neon light and the main material of the door was a pure white marble.
He took the golden handle and opened his way into the room to find it all blinding him enough to squint his eyes and cover them with his hands. He looked around and waited a solid minute in it for him to finally question what the point of getting here was.
Annoyed, he took the same scroll from before out of his pocket, and found new words written in neon blue written on it yet again. This time, the words felt bigger to a point that they were right in front of his eyes.
[Tutorial]
Accept?
[Y/N]
Naruto raised an eyebrow at that. "Do I look like an idiot!" he exclaimed aloud. Unconsciously, he didn't write and instead pressed on the 'N' letter, changing the scroll yet again.
Are you sure? You will never get this opportunity again?
[Y/N]
Naruto laughed it all off. He still felt as if it was some sort of joke-like scroll the boy himself would likely make. Nope, I want to get right into the good stuff, he thought.
Soon, another message appeared on the paper.
[Quest Alert!]
Graduate the academy!
Find a way to graduate the academy by any means necessary.
[Time to Beat: Indefinite]
[Objective Completion Reward: Skill Points +100; The Arrangement of teams from your class]
[Quest Failure Penalty: Won't receive main quests until completed; if failed, try again next year]
It was. . . odd; the scroll seemed to know more about Naruto than it should. He never even wrote that he was in a shinobi academy; most kids in Konohagakure are usually homeschooled and typically are civilians. Even more bizarrely, it claims it will give him a reward of arranging teams. Unless he could control the Hokage himself, there's no possible way to do that!
"I was about to graduate the academy all by myself anyway!" Naruto exclaimed, trying to shook off the odd feeling he was feeling in his gut. With it, he decided to go back home.
(Next day)
Naruto woke up, brushed his teeth, and did the bare minimum of cleaning to make sure that rats wouldn't roam free as they pleased. The test for graduation would be soon; too soon in Naruto's humble opinion.
He didn't feel motivated at all that morning, quite the contrary, in fact. The boy had entered the academy as per Hokage's command and failed twice already. Naruto didn't know what he'd do if he failed yet again. With this sad notion, the only thing to make his day better would be looking at the pretty blue lighted words on the scroll. Even if it all were nonsense, he thought.
It had changed, he instantly noticed. It now had a sidebar, and using his index finger he scrolled down, finding new stuff written on it.
[You Have Slept. HP and Chakra Fully Restored]
Active Quests:
Graduate the Academy
"Maybe I should've done the tutorial," he pondered aloud with an expression mixed with confusion and embarrassment. The blond looked in each direction, walked in every corner to check for somebody or something that could possibly be spying on him.
Angrily, he shouted, "Get out this instant, you filthy pervert!" He knew there was no one there. One of the few things the boy had a knack for was the feeling of knowing when someone is looking; a skill he developed through experience of the angry glares he received with each step he took in the village.
He looked intently at the scroll and noticed yet another thing. Three thick lines with short gaps in between, surrounded by a neon blue circle around it. Naruto pressed it and the paper transformed in mere milliseconds.
[Resume Game]
[Map]
[Skills]
[Achievements]
[Settings]
[Quit Game]
Interested in clicking all but the last one, Naruto decided to press the second one. He was surprised when he saw a detailed map of Konoha painted colorfully. It looked very similar to the map the academy had, but it also showed where he was right now, and some symbols that he knew little of. Luckily, he soon saw down below a legend where the symbols were explained. Some of them included in the list were 'Fast Travel' with a golden pointy end as a symbol, 'Side-Quests' indicated by a golden yellow exclamation mark and 'Cave' by a golden… cave symbol. All were pretty simple to understand.
He looked at the clean surface, gaping his mouth at it. That's so cool, he thought in amazement.
Blinding his eyes with a palm, he shook his hand in the air and placed it blindly on the map. His index finger hit 'Mysterious Location,' indicated by a white question mark, which he tapped lightly to make a waypoint. It wasn't far from home thus he decided to check it out firstly out of the many.
Kicking the door wide open, Naruto rushed around the corners quickly making the destination he had set. Wait. He could see a bluish crystal symbol appear up in the air, a mile ahead. Odd, the boy thought as he ran.
The scroll would be far from disappointment as he originally thought it was if the place is truly the correct one; Naruto could already picture ways to prank with such a powerful tool in his arsenal!
The mysterious location with the crystal emanating high above the air, Naruto soon realized, wasn't so mysterious after all. Quite the opposite, frankly.
Ichiraku Ramen shop might as well be his most visited place in the village besides the academy and his own home, though the order could be disputed.
It was sham were one of his first thoughts, but just as it had multiple times already, the disappointing notion dissipated as he thought off the obvious; what if it's under the shop just as the underground stairs in the hut?
"Hey Naruto, a bit early, aren't you?" The tall and familiar figure broke his thoughts, and Naruto looked up to find the familiar face in sight. "Same as always?" he asked.
Naruto shook his head. "I'm searching for—" the blond bit his tongue. Even the naïve boy Naruto was he knew the dangers of letting people know what he has; the price tag on such a tracking device couldn't be placed accurately, but it certainly feed a lifetime.
"I want to check out your kitchen and help, old man Teuchi!" he corrected himself. Placing his fingers up his chin, Naruto continued, "I've always wondered how it looked inside! I would be a great help, trust me on that one."
Teuchi pondered for a mere second, and quickly let out a genuine smile. "Come on in, boy! How could I decline help from our favorite customer?" he said, his eyes closed as per usual, and motioned to what work Naruto would work. "Clean the dishes. No, not like that! Focus, Naruto! You use water and not the ramen!"
It took an unreasonable amount of tutoring for a simple task, but he made progress. Nobody ever told or taught Naruto such basics, nor did he clean much himself. Once the Ramen Guy made his way out of the kitchen, Naruto stopped cleaning and started looking around. It took making the kitchen all messy, but he found it!
A button, an odd one at that, from white pebble hidden in one of the kitchen's sink cabinets. Obviously, the curious boy pressed it in an instant, and felt a screeching ache in his head. One eye closed, he opened the scroll, and saw the background go pure black from the light brownish and the letters change to blood red.
[Quest Alert!]
Destroy the Ramen Shop!
Leave only rubble and waste from Teuchi's Ramen Shop.
[Time to Beat: 10 minutes]
[Objective Completion Reward: NONE]
[Quest Failure Penalty: Death]
He dropped the scroll in an instant, his eyes as wide as they could be. Still, they weren't as stretched as what couldn't be described as a mouth; his jaw dropped, mouth in a gaping void of terror while his lips trembled in fear.
Just the thought of hurting the innocent old man who was always nice to him made Naruto dizzy. "Fuck this!" he half-screamed, half-screeched, and threw the scroll into the wall.
"Language, boy!" he heard Teuchi shout from behind the wall.
Naruto still wanted to think that this was all a joke. He really did; but he could practically taste the death in his tongue approaching each second.
Nine minutes and twenty-four seconds were left. The numbers were moving down live on the scroll, he saw as he picked up the scroll yet again. Never in his life was he this confused and perplexed; he had to do something, otherwise, he'd die.
All of his life work and the only legacy besides his daughter was what the shop represented to the old man. It'd be beyond cruel to just destroy it like that, even a boy with morals all over the place knew that. But there was no other way around it when his life was at stake. Only when one's life is at stake does they realize the value of it.
Even then, how could he do it? He had no powers whatsoever to destroy such a building. Stuff like kunai and shadow clones (which he couldn't even do) would do be as useful as chasing your own shadow.
The time was ticking. Too quickly. There were about five minutes left, and he had done nothing to do the quest. The timer continued to go down, reaching just below two minutes. The prolonged, deafening silence in Naruto's ears was interrupted by Teuchi's calm and collected voice. "What's wrong, boy?"
". . . Everything. I made a mistake. A big one. A very very big one. I can't. . . I can't do it in more ways than one," Naruto said in between a hiccup. "It's over," he finished, his pupils stretching as far as they could.
A gentle hand placed on his shoulder was all it took to calm the boy down. "Everything will be fine," Teuchi said confidently. "There's always a way out, trust me on that one, kid. I've. . . lost my wife in the Third Shinobi War. She was a warrior; strong and dependable as one could be. It was tough at first, but I had a daughter I needed to feed. Find something to fight for, boy, and grind your teeth as hard you can and continue forward!"
"But I can't do it! I have nothing to do what I need to do!" Naruto said sorrowfully, still looking at the man he respects with a teary eye.
"Pffft," Teuchi dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Be strong! The worst that could happen is death; until then, fight on, boy! Grit your teeth, and, as I've said, look for solutions," he added and ruffled Naruto's messy hair.
"Until my death. . ." Naruto said, distantly. "I'll do just that!" he announced loudly, raising his fist into the air, and took the scroll in an instant. With composure unseen, Naruto stood tall and collected.
Naruto couldn't even hear the voice of the wise man anymore; he had a mission. If the scroll could end his life, it might give him a way to end life, or in this case, give him power of mass destruction. Clicking random settings, placing marker on the map and alike weren't doing the trick.
"Skills! Obviously!" he exclaimed, not caring the least bit what Teuchi now thought of his random endeavor. The skills section was filled with thousand upon thousands of lists filled with question marks, and only a handful were left written. All of them required something: defeat/kill an enemy, find a legendary weapon, have a child, consume poison, and various other things all over the place throughout the extensive list of skills.
[Skill]
[Kyūbi no Ken (Sword of the Nine-tailed Fox)]
A scorching and flaming blood-red sword with a black handle boasts devilishly powerful strength; the blade burns at a degree that evaporates life all around it, flowing in a way that the blade always has nine fiery edges.
[Skill Cost]
The Nine-tailed fox's life
0 Skill Points
Accept?
[Y/N]
The timer was getting too close; Naruto had no time to waste or think properly. Consequences be damned, he thought. The essence of what he'd sacrifice, or even has to sacrifice, didn't register all too well.
With a sharp tap of his fingers, and a weird feeling in his gut, he focused his hands and held them together, fusing some chakra and summoning the sword right between them. It felt ethereal, almost god-like. Never had he felt such power before.
At the same time, he was relieved. Like a demon was exorcised out of him, his bodyfelt as if the stress he had held within for a his entirety melt away.
"W-what's that?" Teuchi said in amazement, tumbling down to the floor. "Where did that come from? How. . .?" he was out of words.
"I'm sorry, old man. I'll get it all back. All of it, I swear it on my life!" Naruto promised, glancing at the timer leaving him roughly a minute to do the job. "Get out, and please, keep quiet about what you'll see. I'll explain everything later. Go!" he said loudly, and the geezer rushed, fumbling each step he took, basically crawling on fours more than running.
It felt. . . magnificent. Power Naruto had always wished to have. He even forgot the feeling of powerlessness; forgot the desperate life he had lived. Each swing he took made him forget just what he was doing.
The house burnt down faster than a clock could go around in a full circle. At the last second Naruto took a swing that enlarged multiple times forward in length, extending its reach so the fire would evaporate what little was left of the building, and only then did the quest deemed completed on the scroll.
I've done it, Naruto thought, a weak, but happy smile tugging his lips whilst Teuchi was down on his knees, looking at just what he lost.
The blond didn't seem notice that as he came to him with a smile, making him vomit his happiness right out. "I-I'm sorry! I truly am!" Naruto said apologetically, yet it came off forced to the other eye.
"Get out," He stated harshly. "I've built plenty of buildings in the old days. I'll deal with it."
Naruto let out a sigh. He took it far better than I could, that's ramen guy for ya, he thought, grinning at the man, not feeling the tense eyes he held. "We'll build it together! With my new power I could—"
"Get out, I've said!" Teuchi screamed out in anger, dropping his white chef hat on the floor. "Never come to me or my daughter ever again, you sick bastard! I did my best to be nice; as nice as my wife was and my daughter hopefully will be. I acted, and truly believed I could help you, but I guess that's how a jinchuriki acts when one gives his heart out for him?" he spewed angrily.
"But. . . " Naruto said, finally understanding what the skill requirement meant. He is — was — a demon. "I'm. A. Jinchūriki?" Naruto half-said, half-asked, failing to find words to say it properly.
"Of course!" Teuchi shouted. "Only a demon would act like that when a man pours his soul into helping! GET OUT AND NEVER COME TO ME AGAIN!" Teuchi finished, and took his leave, most likely to his daughter.
The sword, just as it appeared, evaporated in a flame though Naruto could still feel he had the power to unleash it in him.
"I'm. . . sorry," Naruto desperately said, falling to his knees in exasperation. To make his day even more wicked, more troubles awaited him as it usually did; a shinobi lurking in shadows was already stepping on his heels.
Something was wrong; The Third could practically taste it. He had a knack for such things, probably due to the long life he had lived.
He took a deep breath, before addressing the young boy, "So, Naruto, could you enlighten me why you decided to do what you did?" the boy flinched, his ever-usual smile gone ever since he was brought in. The hyperactivity, a thing that defined Naruto was all but gone.
Hiruzen continued watching at the boy with a wary eye for a long minute, expecting some sort of excuse or a lie at the very least, but nothing came but dead silence. ". . . If you can't answer that, how about another question?" Hiruzen asked and the blond nodded.
"How did you do it? People around said they saw some sort of giant flaming sword, annihilating everything in its reach."
Naruto wasn't willing to give away the game's secret yet.
The scroll was not only a dangerous weapon but also a threat to the person using itself; he got tricked and could've easily died just like that and without even a reward in return if succeeded. While it would get him off the hole he dug himself into, it certainly wouldn't help his case if he admitted of sacrificing the tailed beast within him.
On another note, Naruto thought as he peered into the Hokage's thoughtful eyes, it all made sense now. He had trouble to control his chakra because of the tailed beast inside of him. He got neglected and stared and glared at by his peers because of the demon within of him despite the fact that he himself didn't even know he had such evil.
That, however, gave him a perfect excuse of why he could've done as he did. "I did it. . . because I was angry." For some reason, it gave Naruto deep satisfaction in seeing the shocked face on his beloved grandfather.
"Why's that so, child?" the old man asked. Quite possibly the most intelligent man in the Elemental Nations had seemingly forgot out of shock about the flaming sword, as they called it.
"I found out the truth about it," Naruto said, stretching the last words for a long second. "It got the better of me. I wanted to hit, burn, and pillage. I was too angry to even think about any of it."
Hiruzen gulped uncharacteristically before calming down. A secret he and all the others had hidden from the child; he couldn't blame the child all that much for what he done.
"I'm sorry, my child. It was better to keep it as a secret, or that's what we believed would be better for you," Hiruzen admitted, gravely. "I do, however, hope such an event won't ever repeat, Naruto. We'll cover the costs of the owner's shop rebuildment and the buildings close-by renovation from the damages taken in the flames."
Naruto let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding. "I understand, it won't repeat. That, I'll promise," he said, already making a clear-cut plan on how he'd be doing it.
A certain piece of problematic paper needs to disappear for the normality, so to call it, to come back. But. . . despite saying it all, and trying to make himself believe by repeating the same words, Naruto didn't want it all to go back to how it was. Especially since he already had messed up so much in a matter of a few days, what more would do?
"Hokage-sama," Naruto formally said, "was there a scroll left from the fire? It's one of the few that I've bought from a shop downtown to learn a thing or two so I could finally get through the academy tests," he explained prompting a nod from the old man.
"Surprisingly," he said before taking the last smoke from his pipe, "It had. You've got yourself quite a paper there. It is rare, but not unseen, for some scrolls to be made from material or be enhanced by jutsus to survive such spells," he explained half-suspiciously half-interested before showing with his index finger where it laid; between the many seals laid messily.
He slowly crept his way to the scroll, looking at it with a perplexed eyes, ones that even the Hokage himself had trouble to make out what they had within them. Probably because the boy was conflicted, saddened, and, surprisingly, hopeful.
AN: Hope you enjoyed it! This is more of a semi-gamer fic than a pure one, as you probably noticed. In any case, I do believe it is for the better. If you have any concerns/thoughts/suggestions or anything else, please leave them in the reviews. The more, the merrier. It helps to motivate me in writing and continuing the story.
Until next time.