My name is Tomo- Fuma Tomo. I am [The Gamer] of this world. It is a power that grants me the ability to live out my life as though I am in an MMORPG video game.
This ability has brought me pain. It's brought me frustration. It's brought me fear.
But it's also brought me knowledge, and satisfaction, and joy.
Either way, ever since I've had it, it's changed me profoundly, shaping who I am.
The thing is, up until 4 years ago, that had not been the case; both referring to [The Gamer] ability, as well as being Fuma Tomo. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
When I first arrived in this world, I was scared. Confused. How can one describe the sensation of just ceasing to be, for however long that could last, and then suddenly being again?
But most of all… I'd lost everything.
I don't know how it happened- if I'd ever known, I most certainly don't know now. That knowledge, together with anything I could possibly call my… "backstory" if you will, had been ripped straight from my brain. Left behind was instead everything that was factual that I had learned.
And it was all useless.
The Welsh word Hiraeth describes a feeling of longing and nostalgia for something irretrievably lost- a home one can no longer return to.
Anemoia describes instead a feeling of longing and nostalgia for something that you have not taken part in- for example, a yearning for the "good ol' times", even if you weren't even born by then.
Combine the two of them, and you get my situation. I yearn to return to a home I cannot possibly return to, that I remember nothing of, in a place I only know to be so far away it's not even funny. Of course, I'd trade knowing the definition of those words for my actual memories.
Couple that with having to deal with being a baby, with imbalanced hormones, teeth coming in, and the cognitive dissonance of being an adult in mind, but a baby in body.
It's enough to drive anyone completely insane. I know it did me.
At first, I had attributed the game's notifications as a side effect of my mind having hit its lowest point yet at the ripe old age of 1; back when I realized that the faces carved into the stones on the mountainside weren't of random people, but of the three Hokage in the Naruto anime. I wasn't just shunted into a world different than my own, but the world of a manga that I only knew the general lines of the plot, and that I knew for a fact that everyone not named Naruto Uzumaki was pretty fucked. That wasn't something I could accept.
That trend of rejecting the reality around me continued well into my second birthday. I dismissed just about anything [The Game] threw at me, and I was… just about the most useless baby one could find. I did not speak, I did not willingly move, I did not play. I only ate when the threat of death by dehydration or starvation loomed over me.
To say that my mother, Fuma Kiyomi, was distraught was an understatement. I had already picked up on this, but she was a single mother for some reason. Couple that with being an active duty kunoichi and having been one for however long it took for her to conceive me and having a baby that went between inconsolable sobbing and near-catatonic refusal to do anything?
She was a stronger person than me, that's for sure. Unlike me, she had not reached her breaking point, but I definitely left her heartbroken.
The Yamanaka infant psychologist, or whatever equivalent of one was here I was brought to was similarly baffled, and I was spared from having unearthed from my mind whatever they could find with a Mind Walk only by the fact that the guy was reasonably unsure of the potential effects of mind-walking someone so young, and at the first sign of possible damage to me, Kiyomi's face just went blank as she turned her back on the man and walked away.
Overhearing her sobbing her heart out to Takeo that night… it lit a metaphorical fire under my ass.
So, on that day, I resolved to start taking this life seriously. Better late than never.
It took a while to transform that spark of motivation into something concrete, but when it happened, it happened. I gave quite the scare to Kiyomi when, after she returned from a mission, I walked towards her, calling her kaa-san, asking to be picked up to hug her.
It only took three attempts at dispelling a Genjutsu and a very tiny amount of killing intent leaking from her before she picked me hug and hugged me. In her words, it was as if that day the shinigami himself had come down and finally given back my soul... which was a disturbing thing to say to a child.
She became quite a bit more religious after that, but can I really blame her, considering that I was pretty sure that, if not Gods specifically, higher beings were a thing here?
After that day, I began looking more seriously into my abilities. It took me a very long while to resummon the HUD that I had dismissed so long ago, if only because I had forgotten what it took to do it. It was almost as though I had to coax it back into my life after ignoring it for so long.
But eventually, come back in my life it did. And with it, came the hovering texts, and all the weird things.
It took a bit of trial and error to figure out what would or wouldn't work with it.
Three of the options, [Save], [Load], and [Logout] were completely greyed out and no matter what, I could not use them. The reason for it, I cannot fathom. Why bother showing up at all?
Worse still, was that whatever version of [the Gamer] I'd gotten seemed to be intensely nerfed.
One and a half years ago
Obtaining skills was… difficult. This body was not made for complex or exhausting physical ability, and after a bit of training, I found that was quite literally the case.
[Skill Failure Alert!]
Sprinting, Lv. N/A
Your ability to move faster while moving along the ground.
Current movement speed bonus: 0%
WARNING: Sprinting DEX requirement: 2
WARNING: Sprinting STR requirement: 2
Note: Exp will be stored until Skill unlock requirements are met.
So that was a bust. Imagine the hilarious image of a toddler attempting to train up his or rather, her? That was still something weird I was trying to come to terms with- physical abilities.
But. Something I could do, instead, was questing. And there were skills that I could perform. Even if their leveling up was… very slow.
I was the best baby at hide and seek, better than all other babies.
At least I had quests to perform to keep my mind occupied! Sure, they mostly involved baby activities, like learning to say a certain word- knowing the word and knowing how to say the word was different skills apparently- or doing a certain thing.
Still, the system was definitely stingy with the Exp it gave out. We're talking like, 10 to 20 Exp per weekly quest.
But after nearly a year's worth of effort and getting my bearings back, I had become level 4. This leads me to the Level Up mechanics.
My first level-up looked something like this:
[Your level has increased to Level 2!]
5 Skill Points Available!
1 Question Available.
The skill points were something I could understand- I could dump them in whatever stat I wanted to raise. Detestably, that was also the way that I learned that the possibility to increase my STR, DEX, and VIT scores were all gated behind an age requirement of 3. Apparently, the limit would gradually expand as I grew, but not to any satisfactory degree.
Now, the question on the other hand…
To put in the clearest way possible, the question was exactly that. I got to ask one question to the system, and it would answer truthfully, within reason.
I don't remember the answers to the questions I asked back then, for reasons that should become apparent in a minute.
My first three questions were:
"Why am I here?"
"Who brought me here?"
"Who am I?"
As I said, I don't remember the answers, but I do remember growing increasingly frustrated with them. The only reason I even remember the questions that I asked is because they are logged for me in the Karma section of the menu.
And sadly… on the eve of my third birthday, I was wrapping up the last quest that I was required to perform to get to Lv.5.
Bull's Eye!
As an up-and-coming kunoichi of the Fuma Clan, throwing objects is in your blood. Hit a target more than 10 meters away in the dead center with a Kunai.
Time Limit: 1 day
Reward: 10Exp, Shurikenjutsu Training Level Up
What could possibly go wrong, one might ask?
Well, I was already quite tuckered out, my fatigue even managing to bleed over to the system depicting me as [Fatigued] (DEX and STR halved). It was after dinner, quite close to my bedtime and I'd been at this all day trying to improve my Shurikenjutsu Training skill.
So I just threw. And threw. And threw…
And suddenly the system informs me of THIS bullshit.
Critical Failure!
I also don't know what kind of goofy cartoon physics is required to make a weapon bounce in the way that it did, but it happened. The next thing my ears pick up on is a
Ding
Ding
Ding
Critical hit! -23HP!
…of course, I was a little more concerned with the fact that, for some reason, my own kunai was now sticking grossly out of my right eye and piercing into my brain.
I did not get to scream. I just felt my limbs go slack.
My mother, however, who just sort of materialized in front of me? She definitely did.
And then there was darkness.
Present Time
"Tomo-chan…" Uncle Takeo mumbled as he walked over to me. "Is that what it looked like last time too?" he asked gently, taking my bleeding hands into his own. Reaching into his mission pouch, he pulled out a roll of gauze. I hissed when he touched me, and my hands screamed with pain as the adrenaline and single-minded determination to have my body again crashed down.
-1HP!
"Ow…" I hissed but did not answer. Kiyomi…
I'd spent the past two years trying to help her in any way I could to recover from the damage that the world had done to her. That I had done to her. And now, she lay dead in my hands, crushed by the Kyubi's stampede. For some reason, I'd failed to account that this would happen. Lost track of time.
My next breath came in a shudder as I was left staring at the bloodied mess that was my hands, and uncle bandaging them up. He wouldn't know that I just came close to hemorrhaging myself to death. "She's gone."
He looked oddly contemplative but sighed. "Sometimes, that's just how it is in our line of duty. She died to protect you." He closed his eyes. "Michio did the same for us, and I'll tell you what Kiyomi told me then." He stared at me, much more serious. "Do not dare tarnish her sacrifice by blaming yourself for it, as though it couldn't possibly be what she wanted. She tried to protect you." As he said that, he finished wrapping my hands up. They were already stained red. Tears began filling my eyes once more. It hurt. I'd barely felt it while I was digging, but it hurt now. And it was cause enough to open the floodgates.
"She shouldn't have!" I shouted back. "She knew-!"
"Knew what, Tomo?" he glared at me. "That the same miracle that saved you once would happen again? That the unknown bloodline limit you have would save you more than once?"
"You just don't care, do you?!" I challenged, tears forming in my eyes. "Oh, 'As long as the kid with the powerful bloodline limit is still alive, who gives a shit that my sister-in-law died for no real-'
-7HP! (nonlethal)
Your Skill Level has increased!
Pain Resistance, Lv.4
-You are used to gritting your teeth and working through the pain, causing you to suffer less of its effects.
I flinched at the slap that sent my head rocketing to the side, eyes widening. "Don't you dare say what she should or should not have done for you."
The tears stopped flowing, my thoughts nonexistent and my mind reeling, as I processed that he'd slapped me. And he didn't even look contrite about it.
"…I hate you." I stood up, glaring at him before my gaze drifted off to the rest of the house.
There was nothing left for me here.
My room was completely flattened, everything I'd ever owned (which admittedly wasn't much) gone. So was Kaa-san's room. In a cruel twist of fate, the only two things that were spared were most of the outer walls, though I couldn't say the same about the roof, and most of Takeo's room.
Being outside, the inner courtyard with the targets for practice was also spared. I haven't used this portion of the house since the incident.
Fool that I am.
Did I really think that just because I wasn't actively putting myself in harm's way, I wouldn't be swatted like a fly for just daring to exist?
I wanted to make Kaa-san proud. To be proud of myself. I wanted to grow and become someone. A primal part of me wanted to see those numbers grow, to become high leveled and everything.
Standing up, I began to move away.
"Where do you think you are going?" Takeo asked, scowling at me. If it was meant to be threatening, I couldn't feel it. He wasn't using killing intent anyway.
Maybe him using that tone would've made me flinch yesterday.
Now?
I just felt empty.
You are empty inside.
Right, that thing. The whole thing that makes me able to respawn in the first place.
"To see if the rest of the people I love are also dead," I growled back at him, before turning around once more to stalk off.
A moment later, I felt an arm wrap around my midsection for a moment. Everything blurred, and by the time I'd gotten my bearings again, I was somewhere else entirely, Takeo gone.
…asshole. Couldn't even ask permission to Shunshin me.
I hated being weak.
Listlessly, I murmured [Status] to myself.
Fuma Tomo,Fuma Clan Kid (The Gamer), Level 5
Health Points (HP): 3/30 (15)
Chakra Pool (CP): 3/10
Experience Points (Exp): 0/500
Money: 0 Ryo
STR: 2 (1)
VIT: 3 (1.5)
DEX: 4 (2)
INT: 6
WIS: 4
CHA: 2 (1)
CC: 0%
LCK: 5
Status: Chakra Burnt (Halves STR, VIT, DEX and CHA), Injured Hands (Activities using hands may cause HP loss)
Points to Spend: 19
Questions Unasked: 4
[Skills] – 13*
[Boons] – 1*
[Titles] – 1
Level 5. That was… worse than my previous level of 7, but better than last time where recovering my body only brought me back to level 2. Did it give back an arbitrary amount of exp?
…no, wait. The exp requirements are 100 more exp each time. If last time I died at level 4, it would give back only 450 exp, which isn't even enough to reach level 3 on its own. Now, I died at level 7, which is…
Ugh.
Trying to calculate things with this low an INT sucks.
…
…
Almost enough exp to get to level 5. If you then count the exp from the quests it gave me in the hospital… yeah, ok, I get it.
Thanks for not making me have to pick up from scratch each time, I suppose.
The music track, barely above a whisper in my ear, caused me to shudder. I disabled it.
And then appearing in front of me all of a sudden, was a man. Well, man was a strong word- a teen, though by Konohan standards he was more than an adult. He still wore the flak jacket with the Uchiha fan on its back that signified him as a member of the Konoha Police Force.
Uchiha Inabi, Konoha Police Officer, Lv ?
"Gaki." He sighed.
"Bastard." I glared at him, for a moment, before scoffing. I couldn't even pretend to be mad.
"Let's get you inside." He bent down to pick me up, properly for once, and my breath hitched. All of a sudden, I felt how little I was, and tears began streaming down my eyes once more.
"I died again. Kaa-san died too." I whispered in his ear. He flinched for a moment, before resuming his gait.
"Takeo?" he murmured back. At that, I flinched, and my crying turned into ugly sobbing as I shook my head. "Tsk. Somehow, it's always the assholes who refuse to die. Come on, let's get you inside."
"Shouldn't we report to the Hokage?" I sobbed.
He sighed. "Kid, the Hokage's dead too."
...ah.
I… I hadn't made plans for Naruto's dad per se, but…
I thought I had more time.
Fuck.
"Hiruzen-sama?" I asked, my breath hitching. He hummed, his face still frowning.
"We can try to check, he's the previous Hokage after all. Doesn't hurt to figure out who goes where in the chain of command."
And as for how Inabi, a low-level policeman- policeboy, really- who definitely shouldn't know S-ranked secrets knew about the fact I could revive in the first place?
Well… waking up back then after my first death, I was just as confused as I would later go on to be, without the added confusion of being alone in a hospital with people recovered from what was essentially a warzone.
The house I had woken up in was… quaint. A traditional-style Japanese (Konohan) home. It still had all the basic utility essentials, but rice paper walls, low tables, and floor cushions instead of regular walls, regular tables, and chairs. The floor was a pretty wooden floor. The room I woke up in was filled with odd things I would eventually recognize to be mine; scrolls and ink with chicken scrawls one might even try to attempt to recognize as writing, both blunt and sharp types of thrown weaponry, plushies, and a futon bed.
Exploring the empty house, as well as my Menu, eventually led to me unlocking the That Which Was Lost quest again.
I guess it wouldn't be again but for the first time. Semantics.
The associated light, which of course I did not know would lead to my corpse, was in the backyard of the house, six feet under.
It had taken me a while to dig up my own corpse, but I had nothing but time.
After recovering my memories, I was just… confused. Concerned. Primly because of the fact that everyone else in the house was missing, and I had lots of ideas of where they might've gone.
But I decided that, at least in that precise moment, I did not want to care about it. I was fatigued, hungry, and dirty, and my level had gone back down to level 2, together with my 20 INT being lowered back to its initial 5.
That, somehow, ended up being the most distressing thing about this entire ordeal, at least in the moment. It would soon be replaced by another type of apprehension when I woke up to a man standing in my room, staring at me with blazing red eyes spinning like a pinwheel.
For a long time, we had just ended up staring at each other. After a while, he simply began interrogating me- about why I was in the house, who I was, and so on. Only after the fact did I realize that I was put under a genjutsu- from the fact that I'd held his gaze unblinking for a good 3 minutes, and the fact that my Genjutsu Resistance had leveled up twice in the process. That had been… both eye-opening, in more than one way, and violating.
It hadn't been someone attacking me, or coercing me into doing something I did not want to, or anything else. There were no hand signs. No silly shouting of the activation of a technique. Just me staring into his eyes, and I was singing like a little bird all the things that I very much would have rather kept a secret. And this was one of the policemen working for the Hokage. A policeman I would go on to become... unfortunately familiar with.
And this was the second time he was bringing me to see the old man.
At some point, while we waited for him to make time for us I must've dozed off, with how tired I was. I'd been placed on the ground, apparently, and woke up curled up to Inabi poking me awake with his sandal.
"...asshole," I yawned. "What-?"
"The Hokage wants to see us." Blearily, I checked the moon's position.
Well, the sun now.
We had waited a whole night?
I can understand why, but still… I dunno, I imagined it would be the slightest bit faster. But then again, what's the worst that could happen to me if I waited? I could die?
…that sounded a bit funnier when I was formulating it in my head.
"[Status]" I murmured to myself as I began standing up, though I rapidly dismissed the window once I got what information I wanted.
I was now at 12/15 HP, and my CP was back to full. Which meant absolutely nothing, mind you, since I didn't even know how to use the damn resource.
And HP meant nothing either, given just how fragile I was. It might as well have been a flag that stated Alive/Dead. Neither of my states were gone either, which was evident since as soon as I woke up, my skin felt like I was badly sunburned and my hands felt like I had dug through a house's worth of rubble with reckless abandon.
wait
As we slipped into the Administration Office, my brain finally decided to come back online. Right. Hokage.
Hiruzen looked like he had aged 10 years since I'd last seen him, though most of that aging was probably done over the course of the past day. His beard was already starting to show grey hair, and his skin seemed the slightest bit more sagged. Regardless of that, his eyes were sharp as they landed on our pair, and decked out in full battle armor rather than his Hokage attire, he still made for a very intimidating sight.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, God of Shinobi, Lv ?
HP: ?/?
CP: ?/?
STR: ?
VIT: ?
DEX: ?
INT: ?
WIS: ?
CHA: ?
CC: ?%
LUK: ?
Thank you, game, for being useful as always.
"Ah, Inabi-kun, Tomo-chan." Hiruzun breathed, and in a second, the kindly persona had returned. "I am glad to see you are alive and well."
'Not because of a lack of effort on the Nine tails' part.' I thought to myself and involuntarily snorted bitterly.
-1HP! (nonlethal)
"Excuse Tomo, Hiruzen-sama. She has had a stressful night." I winced at the karate chop on my skull. Ow!
To both of our surprise, however, Hiruzen laughed. It was a weary laugh, full of exhaustion, of an old man who laughed to not cry.
"It is of no matter, Inabi-kun. This night has taken its toll on all of us, and I'm sure that we all would like to go back to normalcy soon. Rest assured, that everyone is hard at work to try and rebuild hope in the village." Spoken like a true politician. "What did you wish to speak to me about?"
Inabi sighed. "Tomo claims to have died once more, in the wake of the Kyubi's attack. This time, I have seen proof for myself that, amidst the rubble, there was her corpse." Out of his pocket, he produced a fucking polaroid picture of my corpse, what
"Huh?" I was stuck looking between Inabi, who had the decency to look at least awkward, and the ex-Hokage, who was pensive. "What do you mean?"
"Take no offense, Tomo-chan," Hiruzen replied, and I could detect the slightest bit of condescension. "While none of us doubted that you and your mother were claiming the truth as you saw it, there still lie the possibility of the both of you and your uncle being placed under a Genjutsu, or events being orchestrated by an outside force. This is an important development." He turned to Inabi. "How sure are you that this was the corpse of Fuma Tomo?"
Inabi scowled. "Absolutely positive. I observed it with my Sharingan, and it matched with just about everything I've seen about her. Neither Tomo herself nor her corpse seemed to react to physical damage like one would when they were henged. If it was an illusion, it was one that even the Sharingan couldn't pierce."
"When?" I breathed out.
"Roughly an hour after the Kyubi disappeared? Your uncle appeared in front of the Uchiha shelter with you in tow after the sixth hour struck, close to the morning."
I slowly breathed in, and then breathed out. That was disturbing.
Might as well share the pain.
"…Inabi, you sick fuck, you molested my corpse to see if it was under a henge."
For once, the usually nonplussed teenager began sputtering and turned red at the implications.
Hiruzen threw his head back and laughed.
There wasn't much to be done after that. The sitrep was done. I was sure that when I joined the active roster, this would be noted with a red marker on my file, but there was surprisingly few evil overlord things you could do with an immortal four year old child if you wanted them to stay on your good side. The conversation had been lengthier, back when I'd died the first time... I don't quite remember the details of the conversation we had, except for the fact that the Hokage was surprisingly understanding of my situation- for a given value of understanding. At the time, I suspected that there were had far more political and strategy and whatnot talks with my mother than with the literal three year old, but apparently it was just regular old suspicion of the claims of a literal toddler, even with testimony that she'd truly died.
I remember clearly, however, being instructed to keep it a secret- the whole thing was in fact deemed as an S rank secret, only to be shared with my mother and uncle. And Inabi but that was just because he already knew.
Briefly, I wondered if another, less kind soul than the Hokage towards his countrymen, would've had me spirited away into ANBU or some other secret program in order to maximally abuse the fact that I could die and respawn. Actually, I knew that realistically, most of the shinobi characters in Naruto would sacrifice me, even at this early age.
Not many walked away from Omelas, after all. For him to allow me to stay with my family at all… well, it was very charitable of him.
Shame he had to die.
Or did he?
[New Quest Alert!]
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: 12 years
Reward: +500Exp, ?
ACCEPT/DECLINE
I would not have done this. I wouldn't even have thought to pit myself against Orochimaru, in any way, shape or form, especially for 500 paltry exp, if only for a single detail…
Additional Objective: Save the Third Hokage without revealing to anyone of your limited future knowledge!
Reward: 20000exp, A meeting with the [Administrator], ?
...and against my better judgment, I accepted. At least, the quest mentioned no penalty for failure to protect the old man, so I could just… not do it.
Even if it meant that I wouldn't receive enough exp to catapult me from level 1 to 20, or that I did not get to meet the person who most likely put me here and-
AAAARGH. Let's just. Not think about it.
I have 12 years for this shit. Or, had. 11 now.
Getting back to what happened after my first death, I did not get to stay at Inabi's house. I did, however, get foisted off on Inabi's sister and her husband. She was older than him. By a lot. It was surprising to find out at all that he was 16, with how tall he was and the stress lines that marred his face. And I guess the fact that he's a policeman tricked me into believing he was older.
…then again, children are deemed fit for duty at 12 years old, on average. That's a depressing thought.
But the reason behind their gap in age, apparently, remarrying is a common thing in the Uchiha clan, especially when attempting to maintain blood purity. Eck. So when Hazuki Uchiha, Uchiha Outcast, Lv.? began showing interest in marrying a clanless man- an orphan, of all things… "Well, there's a reason we no longer live at the compound." She'd once mentioned offhandedly.
But yeah, that meant that at the ripe old age of 54, the couple decided to pump out another kid. How they managed to is anyone's guess, but they did, and so Inabi was born.
And there, I met the one who would go on to become my best friend… or at least, that's what Izumi had proclaimed herself to be. For a whole month, I ate, slept and lived under their roof. After that, my mom came back, had a big cry, was brought in with me to the Hokage, and... well, the rest is history.
...and now, my new mother won't ever get to cry again for me. Once more, everything had been taken from me.
Still... I was clothed, fed, and housed in an Uchiha-run disaster refugee shelter as the afterglow of the Kyubi no Kitsune's assault remained, and for the most part I was left to my own devices.
I was pretty uncomfortable, given that I knew no one there, and most people were either Uchiha civilians, which wouldn't really spare me the time of day, or regular civilians, which took one look at me dressed in ninja clothing- for all that a form-fitting green shirt and green trousers could be. It was probably the kunai I nicked off of Inabi and my bandaged, bleeding knuckles that did it- and decided that it would not be worth it to approach me.
If I was an actual ninja I would have a headband, but I doubt that they ever bothered to learn that fact.
Still, this was just as fine by me. Yesterday, I had unlocked my chakra, and I wanted more. My first experience with it had left me singed and in pain for a whole hour, but after that pain faded… I was left with a pleasant warm and almost reassuring thrum beneath my skin.
This was Chakra. Lifeforce. Power.
And I was totally not trying to put out of my mind that my best friend and her mother were likely dead, and that my mother was dead, and-
Deep breaths, Tomo.
-and if that happened while I also figured out just what to do with myself since I got reset once again, all the better. So here I was, [Meditation] active, eyes closed, cross-legged, as I began navigating the menu once more.
"[Status]" I muttered.
Fuma Tomo, Fuma Clan Kid (The Gamer), Level 5
Health Points (HP): 13/30 (15)
Chakra Pool (CP): 10/10
Experience Points (Exp): 0/600
Money: 0 Ryo
STR: 2 (1)
VIT: 3 (1.5)
DEX: 4 (2)
INT: 6
WIS: 4
CHA: 2 (1)
CC: 0%
LCK: 5
Status: Chakra Burnt (Halves STR, VIT, DEX and CHA), Injured Hands (Activities using hands may cause HP loss)
Points to Spend: 19
Questions Unasked: 0
[Skills] – 13*
[Boons] – 1*
[Titles] – 1
These stats were pitiful, but still better than the ones I had as a newborn.
And, truth be told, I did not know what I wanted to do with the 19 points. I could dump them all in one stat and become… well, not good most likely, but reasonably decent at one thing. Or I could spread them out evenly, and become better than I previously was at everything, yet still pitiful by comparison to the rest of the world.
…maybe I'm looking at this wrong. I should first figure out what I want to do, then place stat points accordingly. Right? That makes sense.
First of all, let's check out that damn [Boon] that has been flashing in my mind's eye ever since I awakened my chakra.
[New Boon!]
You have unlocked your Chakra. To shape your future progress, please select one of the following:
Sensory Prowess
True sensor-nin, a subtype of Shinobi capable of sensing others' chakra, are in most cases born, not made. By virtue of this perk, you count amongst the ranks of such Shinobi, gaining the capability to imprecisely perceive others around you, as long as they are not hiding their Chakra Signature.
+5 Wisdom.
Ninjutsu Prodigy
Ninjutsu are the most common and versatile type of technique in this world, capable of shaping battlefields and tearing through ranks through might alone. By virtue of this perk, you gain the capability to learn Ninjutsu at a far faster rate than the norm, and your casting speed is doubled.
+5 Chakra.
Normally, I would've given these two a ton of thought- one would see me gain a sort of sixth sense, which might just mean that without it some things may be, for me, impossible to achieve, whereas the other would see me gain a non-indifferent amount of power and versatility if I ever decided to specialize in combat.
I… probably didn't give them as much thought as they deserved.
But that was for a good reason.
The alternative was just that strong.
Chakra Control Mastery
The ability to will one's Chakra to do exactly what they want is what sets apart the good ninja from the great ninja. By virtue of this perk, your innate capability to shape your techniques and control your own chakra expenditure becomes that of a master. Your Chakra Control is boosted by an amount equal to your Intelligence. Chakra Control gained in this fashion can exceed the soft cap of 70%, but not the hard cap of 100%.
+5 Intelligence.
W h a t
This… this was bonkers levels of good. Not only was it this good, it was the most generalist type of perk that was here. The less punitive, in a way.
From what little I knew of Naruto, in this universe there were 2 types of characters; those with a natural power that made them so much better than everyone else, such as Naruto, Sasuke, and so many others with a bloodline that gave them an advantage, and then there were the Cool Ones. Minato, Tsunade, even Hiruzen himself. They were all masters in their own regard, without having access to cheats.
There was also the fact that its strongest contender, Ninjutsu Prodigy, came with issues. If I wanted to specialize in Ninjutsu, I needed to boost both INT and CHA, since CHA being double than INT came with a debuff. On the other hand, boosting INT without CHA came with no such restrictions.
Now, I had access to cheats, sorta. But if I could also have this…
I took it.
[Boon Selected!]
As I felt for the third time in my life the pleasant effects of my INT doubling, I decided to double down on it.
'Dump 10 points in INT.' I asked the game and shivered in pleasure as I could feel my brain tingle as a result. I almost put more, but then remembered I had only 9 left and needed to be smarter about this.
Now.
I checked my Status again, confirming that now I was cozily sitting at 21 INT.
The next step is a bit clearer now.
I really need to stop wasting questions on dumb bullshit. The first time, I was trying to ask philosophy to a machine, and getting frustrated that it couldn't answer properly. The second time, I didn't even use them, electing to keep them for when I really needed them. See how much that served me.
No more of that now. I had 1 question, and if I needed to think about my growth, then I would most certainly make use of it.
Which stats did I want to focus on?
…well, I first needed to see which ones would serve me. Still, I had my suspicions, but I did not want to waste a question just on that. Let's see… a character with 100 DEX would still be far more accurate and faster than one with 0 DEX. Same thing for a lot of these things, so, thinking…
'Wait, what's the deal with Observe?'
Observe, Lv. MAX
Your ability to observe things.
OBSERVE VARIANT: Amount of Information granted based off target reputation and target level difference. Levelling disabled.
Current Observe Information Bonus: (YourLvl-TheirLvl)*10+Rep%
That's
Awful.
Just awful.
Who implemented this shit? Eugh.
Alright, I'll quit complaining.
So. Let's put that nogging figuring out which skills are based on what stat. Assuming that they influence things at all, which they should.
Shurikenjutsu Training, Lv. 6 (DEX) (Would STR influence the damage, maybe?)
Stealth, Lv. 8 (DEX)
Hand Sign Dexterity Lv. 3 (DEX, it's in the name)
Cooking Lv. 1 (DEX?) (WIS?)
Calligraphy Lv. 1 (DEX) (Is INT or WIS the stat related to being artsy?)
Pain Resistance, Lv. 4 (VIT or WIS, they sound both plausible)
Physical Endurance, Lv.2 (VIT)
Meditation Lv.5 (CC is INT, so probably that?)
Eavesdropping Lv.1 (WIS or LVL)
Killing Intent Resistance, Lv. 1 (WIS)
Sprinting, Lv.4 (DEX? STR and VIT also seem possible)
Observe, Lv. MAX (-)
Genjutsu Resistance, Lv. 2 (WIS, probably?)
Hum. Well, I'd imagined for DEX to be a given. That's a surprising amount of possible WIS skills, however. I have 9 points left. Then, I'll put… 10 feels like a good number. Alright, I'll put 6 in Dex and 3 in WIS. My locked-out skills will come back to me, in theory, when this affliction passes.
Groaning back into awareness, I shook my head and looked up.
"Ne, Tomo-chan, is this your reaction to seeing me?" Looking up and opening my eyes, I saw her. Brown-haired, with large black eyes, super pinchable cheeks, and a single mole right below her eye, she was pretty as a doll, She also boasted base stats that would make grown men cry. Light of my life, mother of my babies, Uchiha Izumi, Uchiha Clan Kid, Lv. 7.
…okay I was exaggerating and we were both children and girls but I was very happy to see her and her stats are very high
HP: 60/60
CP: 80/80
STR: 4
VIT: 6
DEX: 15
INT: 8
WIS: 4
CHA: 8
CC: 5%
LUK: 11
literally, how did you raise your luck girl wtf I can't do that with my points?
Right. My favorite dumb bitch had stats that I would murder people for.
…probably will murder people for.
Stop being depressing, Tomo. Things happen, deal with it.
With a sigh, I pat the spot next to mine as I untangled my legs and was treated to the sensation of pins and needles.
She grinned at me, though I could see that her grin was shaky, and she was trying to look strong. Look strong for me. How sad it was, that I could feel myself instinctively doing the same, that she felt like had to do it at all for me?
Sometimes I hated the fact that I looked like a 4-year-old. Was, in body, a 4-year-old. "How is Hazuki-san?" I murmured as she sat down against the wall.
"Alive." She shrugged before closing her eyes. "Tou-san…" she trailed off, but I still understood what she meant. I hugged her tightly, and she returned the hug.
We were like that for a few moments. After that, I whispered in her hear. "I lost kaa-san."
Her grip tightened on me. After a moment, I heard her whisper in my ear. "Takeo-san?"
"…alive. Don't wanna talk about him."
She huffed. "Still a brute?" I nodded. When he'd met me again after my first death, he'd broken my wrist clean through with how hard he'd squeezed it trying to pop a nonexistent henge, believing me to be some sort of cruel prank.
Of course, things were then explained, and I was brought to be treated... but that had not been fun. Kaa-san's reaction to me being alive was better in some ways, and worse in others.
Not that it mattered anymore. Still, I was happy to be with Izumi right now. At least someone I hold dear is still here.
Cracking an eye open, I noticed that one of the presences in the room was… different. A kid, just like myself and Izumi, with black hair and the Uchiha fan on the back of his shirt. He was holding a baby.
Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Clan Prodigy, Lv.13
HP: ?/?
CP: ?/?
STR: 8
VIT: 10
DEX: ?
INT: 14
WIS: ?
CHA: 14
CC: 28%
LUK: 8
Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Clan Kid, Lv.0
HP: 10/10
CP: -/-
STR: 0
VIT: 1
DEX: 0
INT: 1
WIS: 1
CHA: 1
CC: -%
LUK: 15
And I closed it right back. Nope.
I'm not dealing with this bullshit right now. Or ever. Fuck this.
I was tired, had a headache, and had gone through so much bullshit in the past day alone.
The me of the next time I woke up could deal with this.