Age 3
Tamako was at the age that Yoshima deemed her old enough to visit the library with her. They walked side by side with each other, the smaller one looked around her with bugged out eyes— absorbing all the details, it was still the same. Poverty was considered normal here, there were some stalls filled with vegetables and meat, with the occasional sweets and food stands.
Now it isn't everyday that Yoshima left the orphanage, let alone with a kid with her. With the amount of kids in the system, it was honestly a little surprising that Matsuma, the Head Matron, even let Yoshima take a few hours off for leisure. It was only the cherry on top that Yoshima liked her so much to bring her alone.
The light-haired girl side-eyed the Matron, glancing at Yoshima with a particular look on her face. She took in the older girl's appearance, dark brown hair tied into a neat bun and hair framing her face. She wore a long dark cloak and white drabs of fabric that loosely wrapped around her neck and shoulders and draped down. It was the standard traditional Sunagakure garb that nearly everyone they'd passed by wore. It was protective against both the harsh sun, the dusty wind and warm enough once the nights set. The Desert was simultaneously the hottest and coldest place on the Elemental Nations.
At a closer inspection of the state of her clothes, wrinkled and small holes on the sleeves. Her white cloth ensemble was more of a light cream color than white. It was old and used frequently. She doesn't seem like she's got any money to spare...
Tamako's tiny fingers wrapped around Yoshima's thumb as she guided the younger girl to the library, stopping occasionally for a quick wave and a hello. The village was massive. From what Tamako has seen, and from her handy map, Sunagakure was devised into eight districts that were walled off with eight massive walls.
Why eight districts? She hasn't figured that out yet, this was her first time outside after all. But from what she was able to discern, the walls were more for protection rather than segregation, at least so far. Tamako peered up at Yoshima, surely the woman would know.
She tugged on her thumb, earning a hum. "Why does Suna have so many big walls?" Tamako asked curiously, wrapping her garbs closer to her neck to protect herself from the blow of sand.
Yoshima smiled gently down at her. "Since the dawn of time, this land was a vast wasteland of sand. Every few years we get a devastating Sand Storm that smothers the Village in sand, almost as tall as the Kazekage Tower."
Tamako's eyes widened. The Kazekage Tower was the largest structure in Suna, located at the epicenter of the Village where all eight walls were connected. That's a lot of sand.
"So Shodaime-sama decreed, instead of the whole village to be drowned in sand, leaving thousands stuck, we were to wall off the Village in eight sections, trapping the sand in one."
That was a little metal, and if not a bit telling of Sunagakure's whole Will of Wind, or whatever they called it. It was like cutting off the lizard's tail, so the rest of the Village could live on. But that still didn't add up. It almost felt like Yoshima was just telling her a story rather than reason. "But we have those biiiig cliffs surrounding the Village. Only a little sand comes in."
The matron paused, staring at her in muted surprise. She coughed into her fist and continued. "Yes, it was the Nidaime who had crafted the cliffs that protected Sunagakure. He called it, "The Ultimate Natural Defense of Sunagakure."
Why was Yoshima not telling her the real reason behind the eight sections of Sunagakure? Was this some sort of Hunger Game-esque? That each district held a different caste system member?
[Quest Alert!]
Objective: Discover the history behind Sungakure's Eight Districts
Quest Rewards: +100 EXP, +2INT, +2WIS
Before she could ask another question, brimming with curiosity, they reached the library and then left the young Tamako at her own devices to explore. Sunagakure's public library was probably more secure than the entire orphanage, with its Chunin librarian and Jonin head staff.
Bookshelves filled with massive scrolls that were labeled. Two huge bookshelves filled with labels such as chakra, an extensive looking shelf with history and a sectioned off part of the library for shinobi. Tamako, on her tippy toes, glanced over that section with gleaming eyes but was ultimately scared off when an off-duty chunin raised his eyebrows at her.
After scurrying off to the civilian section, she wandered around before finding a few books on chakra, academy-leveled ones to be precise. How convenient that they were written splat by the entrance. Propaganda most likely. A few talked about the appropriate age to start working on chakra, others applied practical usage of chakra into civilian daily life such as exerting a small amount of chakra to mix batter more efficiently. Honestly, she was pretty surprised in how in-depth they went.
Shrugging, Tamako slammed the book shut and placed it back where she'd found it and scanned the books once again. Dragging her small, chubby, hands across each book, Tamako skimmed through the titles, abruptly stopping when a blue window popped out of nowhere and assaulted her vision.
[You have found a Skill Book]
[Would you like to learn?]
Huh? What did I touch..?
Tamako'sthoughts trailed off as her eyes snaked down to her arm back to a hand lightly grasping a book labeled, Rock Climbing.
Rock climbing? Like Tree Climbing? It would make sense since they're literally no trees in the desert...
Tamako shrugged at her thought and tapped 'yes', backing up quickly when the book suddenly went into flames before degrading into nothingness.
DING!
[You have learned Rock Climbing!]
Rock Climbing (Passive) Level: 1 EXP: 0.00%
-You are now able to comprehend the basic concepts of walking vertically up any surface with resistance.
So if I touch a skill book, I'm able to learn it without any problems... I call hacks.
Tamako grinned at her thoughts, as knowledge slowly filtered out through her head. Her mind slowly bending as the principles of gathering chakra into a molasses-like state in an even layer could glue herself onto a surface. There were more pratical applications that just rock climbling, she could glue a kunai to her foot and launch it with a single kick.
At least, theoretically.
With newfound excitement, she dragged her small fingers across another bookshelf, looking for another window and beaming when one popped in her face.
[You found a Skill Book]
[Would you like to learn?]
Without any hesitation, Tamako quickly tapped the 'yes' before a red window assaulted her view with an error sign.
ERROR!
[You were unable to learn, Current skill for [Rock Climbing] is too low]
So, She summarized with a glint in her eyes, some skills require another skill and have to be at a certain level to learn. She looked at the book in her hand and read the title before chuckling, no wonder I couldn't learn this skill, it was Water Walking.
Gently releasing the book in her hand, she paused back at her crime scene with a look of fear- "N-no one saw that, right?" A quick glance with wide eyes quickly confirmed that no one was around to see the book dissipate into dust.
Her shoulders sagged with relief but reiterated back to her current problem. She was sure that with her chakra control being next to nothing, any other skills she'd find would prove to be too difficult to learn. She clasped her hands together with a soft smack and nodded at her thoughts, heading off to another bookshelf with more profitable skills she may be able to pick up
She read through the titles pausing at a few before placing them back when her taijutsu, or lack of taijutsu, was too low to learn.
Tamako desperately needed to earn a Taijutsu skill— it was one of the main three needed to survive in this blood-ridden world. And with enough luck, picking up any kenjutsu would serve just as useful, if not more. She can literally create her own weapons meaning another leverage.
Katana, kodachi, tanto, senbon, kunai— all of those needed to be learned to a certain degree. Having multiple skills will always give herself an advantage, that's just how the world works. Being both skilled in melee and ranged will cover the majority of weakness, and if she can exploit her ambidextrous status, who knows what will happen.
DING!
[For planning ahead on your Shinobi career, you earn yourself +1 Wisdom]
In all honesty, Tamako just wanted to get the main plot rolling and see how much her existence changes or screws up the plot before acting on it.
What can she say, she's a sucker for ruining things.
After pretty much skimming through all the chakra-related Academy scrolls she could find, which were just illustrations of practice, like sticking a pebble to your forehead or walking on sand without leaving a trace, she headed towards the history section. Now there, she found a lot of propaganda.
Living in a military state, she pretty much expected such things and after reading in how much foul-play Iwa enacted during the Second Great Shinobi War, she decided to take every history lesson with a grain of salt. In all honesty, she was more curious about the inception of Suna.
She knew that Shodaime Kazekage gathered all the Sand-Dweller Families under his rule with his might, creating a safe-haven for all Sand Shinobi. The scroll skimmed past the formations of the walls and more so highlighted the Nidaime's prowess of Doton to create the massive cliffs that they could thank today.
Then she saw it, a small journal tucked between dozens of scrolls. It had leather binding and a wood collapse, clearly well-worn and used. Inside were neat strokes of kanji and the like, unlike the scrolls that used some sort of pencil to etch, this one had expensive dark ink staining the white pages.
This journal was clearly in the wrong spot, sectioned between the cooking and gardening utility manual. Slowly, almost in fear that one too quick of a turn would alert the library staff, she flipped to the first page and read the katakana.
サ ソ リ
Sa so ri
With wide eyes, she tucked the journal into her garbs.
There was no way she found Sasori's Academy journal. The childish katakana, written with a shaky hand almost seemed to taunt her memories, each stroke seemingly so much different than the Sasori she knew from the other world.
Her pudgy hands shakily held two scrolls and quickly skimmed them to calm her nerves. There was no way this journal was even supposed to be in the civilian section. No one would miss it. With hardened eyes, she walked off in the general direction she last saw Yoshima before tripping on her own feet. Perhaps she was getting a little ambitious, she thought, rubbing her behind before running up to the Matron.
Who was she kidding, learning how to wield swords? Stealing from the library? She couldn't even walk properly!
Tamako slapped her face and put on an innocent look like she just wasn't burning public owned property and stole what should be a historical relic of the most infamous shinobi that Suna had ever produced and poked Yoshima's hand. The Matron bid the librarian goodbye, and grabbed the periwinkle hair girl's hand gingerly and walked right out of the main entrance.
Unfortunately, they just had to leave during rush hour. The main street was bubbling with people coming out of work, grocery shopping for dinner and lo and behold, shinobi on break. The pair pushed and pulled their way through the crowd, Yoshima taking matters into her own hands and picked up the smaller girl and charged forward.
Tamako settled into her arms, relishing the feel of being so high up, much higher than she was used to, her eyes wandering around with fervor. So many years were spent crawling, surely this was a prize, no?
Red hair parted the crowd, an almost ironic reenactment of Moses parting the Red Sea and before she could get a better glimpse at what small thing could cause such a big reaction, Yoshima lurched forward.
Gaara!
The Matron booked it, leaving the smaller girl to wallow in her thoughts, Gaara! Nooo!
. . .
And so her days were filled with meticously scowering over Sasori's journal, who had to be her age when he wrote this, and boring training. It humanized Sasori a bit, the scary image of a puppet with red-hair who threaten to bleed her dry slowly withered away. Watching Sasori's handwriting slowly becoming more pronounced, less shaky and, if she dare say, more elegant was a little heartwarming.
Sensei went over the Puppet Brigade today.
He said that Baa-sama was instru men tal
within the Brigade and has revo lu tion aized
Suna's Puppetry understanding.
There was a dark ink splatter, but she could still make out the words.
I̶ t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ P̶u̶p̶p̶e̶t̶s̶ a̶r̶e̶ i̶n̶t̶e̶r̶e̶s̶t̶i̶n̶g̶.
If Sasori wasn't talking of his day, even if it was just four or five lines, he was detailing his usage of chakra-strings. There wasn't anything revolutionary, just a prodigious usage of such, and Tamako's chakra control was probably not even close to same-age Sasori.
Although his practices in chakra-control were pretty useful. Using chakra to section sand by the grains required a precise use and understanding of chakra, and each time she divided ten grains in half, she increased the amount of grains until she pretty much gave herself a headache. But she did realize that crafting kunai at intermediate quality now came as a second-thought rather than full-time exertion.
Baa-sama said that mother and father are
on a mission. I think she's lying.
Today she showed me her puppet room.
If the Kazekage can take mother and father,
I will take them back.
After this part of the journal, Sasori no longer signed off as サソリ. He used kanji instead, 蠍. Meaning Sasori and Scorpion.
From then on, Sasori's daily writings turned weekly, now spanning just a few lines.
Mastery of water-walking was trivial. I do
not understand why my classmates struggle.
Chiyo-baa handed me some of her puppets back
in the Second War. They aren't so impressive.
In three weeks, I will take the Genin Exam.
I will pass.
I've completed the prototype of Karasuno,
fitted with twenty hidden compartments.
I'm almost done with Kuroari and have
drawn up my drafts for Sanshōuo.
Sandaime went missing.
Chiyo-baa-san is worried.
I am not.
Today my former Academy classmates graduated early.
The Third Shinobi War has been declared last week.
I am to be deployed to the Suna-Iwa Border.
A former Academy classmate lost an arm during
a bombing by Iwa's Explosion Corp in Stone.
I created a Puppet Arm for him, so he could
continue his dreams as a Shinobi.
Today he died.
And that was the last entry. Signed off with a red stamp of a scorpion. The journal detailed Sasori's life from Academy to Chunin promotion, it was just a few months later would earn his moniker, Akasuna no Sasori, just by looking at the date.
She's read from cover to cover of the journal more times than she'd like to admit. From the light readings of whatever he learned in the Academy to the discoveries he made in how to lacquer a puppet the right way. Creating new hidden contraptions and even filing his first ever patent of Karasuno, his first major puppet creation. His ups and lows, all written in the same manner.
It was obvious when he discovered the death of his parents, how he subtly blamed the Kazekage and then killed him soon after graduating, or at least within a few months of each other. Sasori wrote in his journal incredibly sporadic at the time leading to his graduation.
With one last read, she tucked the journal safely into her inventory and finally went back to the task at hand. She'd been crafting her targets in an effort to curb her chakra control, throwing her kunai left, right, upside down and in mid-air. Basically, throughout her routine, she was incorporating chakra with her movements.
Tamako heaved out a cough, fingers clawing at the dirt as sweat dripped down her cheek. One hand slowly raised into the air before flicking a senbon at the final target, just missing the bullseye by a few centimeters.
"I suck at this."
Tamako rolled around onto her back, raising both arms to block the stupid hot setting sun of Suna. "It's so goddamn hot! I keep sweating and my clothes are sticking to me!" She moaned in anger, "I hate this!".
A quick glance to the corner of her vision let her know it was almost time for supper. "And I'm hungry, and tired, and dirty..." Tears welled up in her fact, "I'm gonna die in the Chunin exams." A fist slammed to the dirt and she cried out, "I thought this was supposed to be easy!?"
A window suddenly popped out, startling the girl in mid-tantrum.
[Your Pain Tolerance increased by one! [Pain Tolerance Skill] is now level 13]
Her head felt hot, her teeth clenched and fist held up high, "And this stupid System won't shut up! Give me a worthwhile level up at least!?" She jumped into the air and slammed two kunai's into the targets, shattering it with her strength.
Then two windows popped out, startling the girl in mid-jump before fumbling back to the ground with a roll.
[Your throwing increased by one! [Throwing Skill] is now level 37]
Throwing (Passive) Level: 37 EXP: 0.00%
-75% guarantee you land a bullseye
-You can jump, roll, backflip while throwing an array of kunais
"Ah, so now you give me the level up? After TWO hours?" She threw her hands into the air, "What a shit game!"
[You're four years old now! Congrats!]
+25 HP and +25 CP
+1 to all stats
LV UP
Tamako sulked to the ground, tracing patterns into the dirt as she muttered, "Now that I'm Level 4, I need to grind other specific skills to get that sweet sweet Level 30 range... how long will that take..?"
"Skills." She whispered, eyeing the length list.
Skill List
Gamer's Mind (Passive) Level: MAX
*Allows the user to calmly and logically solve problems in any situation. Enables a calm and tranquil sense of mind and is i̷̙͎̞͚̜̻͋̓̄m̴̛̫̺̀̈̌̓̂͂̌̋͝ṁ̴̤̟̝͕̼͋̋̌̀̌̀͛͝͝͠ư̶̤͓̜̲̗̦͈̟͔͍̞̋͐̀̏̈́̐̊̈́̇̽̈́̑͝n̵̙̥̤̲̝͑̚ȇ̶̗̱̪̺̱͛̌̏͂̐͊͠͠ ̵͕̠͕̤̻̤̠̱̩͉̲̩̩͉̓̔̐̊͑̌̆͗̂̀̽̄̂͘̚to psychological status effects.
*Provides an impenetrable mental shield against memory modification.
Gamer's Body (Passive) Level: MAX
*Grants the body to live in the real world like a game.
*Sleeping fully recovers HP, CP, and removes all negative status debuffs.
Gamer's Body (Passive) Level: MAX
*Grants the body to live in the real world like a game.
*Sleeping fully recovers HP, CP, and r̴̨̢̳͕͎̬̫̹͈͙͎̮̳̲̻̊̓̂̂̃̈́͋̃͊̓́̀̊͠ḛ̶̍̾͛̈̔͂̄̀̿̽́̓̌m̴̡̧̧̦̣̺͓͈̍̑̍̃͆̅̏͘͝ȍ̸̧͎̀̓́̓v̴̧̳̗̯͉̟͈̟̦̤͓͗́̉̂͜e̴̢̧̖̫̝̝̪̥̥͈̭̓͌s̸̢̛̫͕̟̙͉͉̺͔̳̜̤̥̰͑̒͒̌͗́͒͋̈́̈́̄͝͝͝ ̴̨̨͔͋̽̑́̅̈̔̀͋̇̏ all negative status debuffs.
Observe (Active) Level: 48 EXP: 4.12%
-Enables [The Gamer] to see and read detailed information of an object, person, living being, that they are looking at. The higher the level, the more information about your target is revealed.
*CP Cost: 0
[Manipulate Matter] Skill
*Related to Guren, the only known Shinobi to acquire the Crystal Kekkei Genkai
*Ties with Orochimaru, her Lord.
-You can now use any particles in the world except chakra to create crystal
-Focusing your chakra and directing it at a certain degree will sprout crystal and will be at your command
Crystal Release (Passive) Level: 31 EXP: 27.48%
*A gift from your mother
*Only your mother and you are known to have the Crystal Kekkei Genkai
-You can now use any particles in the world except chakra to create crystal
-Focusing your chakra and directing it at a certain degree will spout crystal
Running (Passive) Level: 32 EXP: 48.30
-How fast and far you can run
Ambidextrous (Passive) Level: 42 EXP: 8.27%
-You can wield items and perform various actions with both hands naturally
Manipulate (Passive) Level: 14 EXP: 2.03%
- You can influence a person in your favor
Rock Climbing (Passive) Level: 29 EXP: 94.83%
-You are now able to walk vertically on any object without major problems
Kenjutsu (Passive) Level: 29 EXP: 26.38%
-The art of sword fighting
Basic Academy Taijutsu {SUNA} (Passive) Level: 33 EXP: 73.51%
-The standard taught Taijutsu at the Suna Academy, nearly all Suna Shinobi has used these Katas before
My [Ambidextrous Skill] is high since I switch out chopsticks on each hand every meal. Practicing it every day ever since I could eat food myself proved to be fruitful. My Taijutsu on the other hand...
She grimaced at the level, after grinding it so hard on a few rocks and a few bloody knuckles later, if you think that my effort would land be something around the 40s, but in actuality... it's very hard to level up without real, moving, targets.
Then, her eyes landed on the weakest skill she owned, [Manipulation], at a mere fourteen, only getting experience when she shamefully used it to get more food during dinner.
Speaking of supper—
"Tama-chan! Dinner!" A voice called out to Tamako, she picked up her kunais and stuffed it into her inventory. She made a noise at the back of her throat before appearing before Matsuma. With a cheerful smile, she leaned forward and swayed back and forth like a child. "I was practicing all day today, and I accidentally got a small burn from the sun, do we have aloe lying around?Matsuma-san"
Despite living in the fucking desert, aloe gel was still extremely expensive due to its unique restorative properties heighten with chakra, its high demand and low storage made it expensive to the ordinary citizen. Multipurpose items that will never expire in her inventory. It was perfect!
Plus, Matsuma was using her for the potential stipend, so, might get her money's worth.
"This burn keeps bothering me and I can't train as well, I'm starting to lose focus..."
Matsuma didn't know how advanced she was, nor did she know how weak an Academy student is, she'd assumed they're strong as an adult. Internally raising her eyebrows at the Matron, Tamako quickly turned on her [Observe] skill.
Name: Matsuma
Gender: Female
Age: 36
Occupation: Matron
Village: Sunagakure
Level: 12 [Civilian]
Status: Hesitance / Understanding
The woman paused, and Tamako could practically see the woman's cogs turning. "Of course! I'll stop by the market after supper for you."
Tamako knows that Matsuma uses most of the money sent from the Kazekage for her own personal use rather than the entirety of the orphanage. If the shoddy mud walls that were cracking weren't an indicator, then it was obviously the shiny new necklace Matsuma wore nowadays.
Character Status
Name: Tamako
Class: The Gamer
Age: 4 Year Old
Title: Momma's Little Gem
Status: Happy. Normal
Level: 4
HP: 125 - HP Regen: 0.1 per 5 seconds
CP: 170 - CP Regen: 0.1 per 5 seconds
Strength: 7
Vitality: 7
Wisdom: 6
Intelligence: 6
Dexterity: 10
Agility: 7
Luck: 5
Fame/Infamy: 0/0
Money: 0 Ryo
Unspent Points: 2