Age 4
It was almost her birthday, she was nearly five years old in a few months, which is the age chakra that was widely known to safely train chakra without damaging chakra coils. Ever since she turned four years old, she trained even harder, all she wanted to do was get away.
Escape from the orphanage. Matsuma is only using her for money, and as much as she felt bad for the other kids, she was just a kid herself. There wasn't much she could do on her own but save her own skin and hope the rest turn out okay.
What did work for her benefit was sneaking out to the library every once in a while. A plethora of knowledge just sitting around, probably propaganda-fueled but over there, she was able to get her hands on the law book and a few treatises.
Every orphan who met the requirements was to enter the Academy and move into a state-owned dormitory. It was a recent development enacted several months ago, passed by the Kazekage and his council under the suspicion that the orphans were doing poorly in the Academy due to the environment, or even sabotage.
All things considered, the Fourth Kazekage wasn't that bad of a Kage. He passed fair laws, revised several civilian-to-shinobi regulations and was a decent public figure. If you ignore his horrible course of action with his youngest son, that is. So she started digging. Why exactly was this law passed?
She'd narrowed the reason down by spending a good chunk of her free time by the market in the first district, popular within the shinobi population rather than civilian and got her facts checked. The rule was implemented so that students wouldn't be influenced by the orphanage. It's to make sure that they won't be bound by civilians (Matrons) and can spend their childhood (the prime age of learning) to grow up in a shinobi environment rather than a civilian one. Not to mention the silent reminder that Sunagakure's forces have dwindled after the Third Shinobi War.
It also cracks down on the misuse of funding, which is exactly what Matron Matsuma has been doing as far back as Tamako first discovered the misuse.
The Village handles living expenses like food, weapons, rent, running water, and healthcare, and depending on the likeliness of the child's potential, from career-chunin to high-ranking Jounin, affected the stipend.
Oh, and that sweet sweet sweet stipend was gonna come to mama.
But more on Districts.
After exploring the Village with the help of her minimap, she's visited each district to some extent, the Village was absolutely massive in all things considered. The first, second and third districts housed a lot of upper-ranking Clans and Families and had the best open-markets. The fourth, fifth and sixth district housed civilians and had a lot of mom-and-pop shops. The closer one was to the Kazekage Tower, the higher standing and more money one had and it reflected within the districts.
A lot of new families, who were comprised of at minimum three shinobi were housed in the back half of the districts one, two or three, further from the Kazekage Tower or in the front half of districts four and five. District seven where a lot of state-owned buildings were located, like the hospital and orphanage. Among that housed a lot of low-income civilians that were either retired or injured, basically it was affordable housing regulated by the state and maintained. She'd seen a lot retired-shinobi lacking limbs going about their day, and most of the time, these shinobi worked at the hospital or cypher division by the Kazekage Tower.
And last, District eight.
More commonly called the Flower District. There was nothing flowery about that place, hell, the first half of it was sectioned off in a true segregation. Over there had a few training grounds, the occasional food-stand for the hungry shinobi but after the wall, was just seediness. Every village had a dark side of it. If the Flower District earned its name in how a flower survived in a desert, maybe it was aptly named. Withering.
Those who never recovered from the war and swayed to alcohol, becoming nuisances to society. They had given up, stopped working and stopped contributing were sectioned off. Sometimes, well-fare stopped by to clean up any dead bodies or try to rehabilitate. Most of the time they repurposed broken families and took the children away and enacted them into the system.
Matsori was one of those kids, taken while she was still a toddler into the Matron's care. She was one of the more serious kids, diligently reading but Yukata always seemed to bring out the silly in her.
Which brought Tamako back to reality. Sunagakure had some serious problems. Rasa was a good Kazekage who brought order and rule during a time of recovery, but this man seriously didn't know how to handle mental problems of society.
Was she going to be the one to fix this all? No, this was honestly beyond her. She just wants to maybe achieve Jounin, become a sensei, ensure all three kids become legends and then retire as a Village Elder and deal with it then.
So she trained like a mad dog, only taking bathroom breaks and food, which she had to admit, tired her out at a fast pace. With the [Gamer's Body], all the stress and sores her body had accumulated throughout the day disappeared when her head touched her pillow
Her skills were, in her opinion, pretty high, especially her [Ambidextrous] since she trained every meal since she was two years old.
[Ambidextrous] Level is 51 while every other skill gained only 6-14 levels this past year. It was getting noticeably harder to level up skills. Plus, she realized there was a level cap until a certain age, so everyone starts out at the same level. Assuming the level cap disappears once entering the Academy. A game mechanic for sure to even out the playing field.
She used [Observe] every time she passed the Academy, most of the first years in the Academy are only at level 6 or 7. That would make sense since the average age to enter the Academy would be around six, and It's almost the end of the year. Tamako would be turning five in 4 months.
I think I need a break, at least a month's break. If I keep training like this, people will start to question. She picked up loose kunai on the ground absentmindedly and shoved them into her inventory.
I want them to know I'm gifted to be ahead of her age group, but not gifted enough to become a legend.
We all know what happens to legends.
Hatake Kakashi. Genin at five, chunin at six, then jounin at twelve. Because of that, he was sent to the front lines faster than he could blink and experience misery.
Uchiha Itachi. Genin at seven, chunin at ten and jounin at eleven. He pushed the burden of the village and his clan by murdering hundreds at thirteen.
They were considered child prodigies of the century.
She doesn't want to be that, she wants to be a child prodigy of the year— no. Child prodigy of the decade.
Gifted enough to be ahead of her age group, but not gifted enough to be sent out like an animal.
They need to understand that she can be much more effective if she has time, that she needs to develop. That she'll be far more useful if kept alive than sent to a near-impossible mission that risked permanent death.
First, I'll take a nice cold shower and dress nicely. It's been a while since I dressed cozily. Then maybe wander around and perhaps search for the Sabaku siblings and get nice and cozy with them, and later, land a nice cushy seat in the high ranks.
She nodded at her thoughts, forming connections this early on would only help her. She walked up the stairs, almost stripping when part of the stair crumbled and glared at it. She double checked the water tank and almost cursed out-loud when there was only a little left.
A lot more of the kids in the orphanage have been training after she did a little showcase for Matsuma, who was incredibly pleased with her progress. Sure, she was a showoff, and the ooohs and aaaah of little kids were so incredibly adorable she couldn't help but show her off her shurikenjutsu. The way their eyes lit when the shuriken ricochet off each other, hitting all targets' bullseye is forever ingrained in her mind.
But at the sight of so many sunburnt kids who moaned and groaned at supper always dialed her back. It didn't help that some of the older kids had started to fill her bed with sand and scorpions, both incredibly annoying. Though, the scorpions were actually positive. Too many times she went to bed hungry, the food at the orphanage was severely lacking in both quantity and quality.
Only one time did she prepare the scorpion wrong and died of excruciating pain via poison.
Nevertheless, she took a light shower and dressed in comfortable clothes, consisting of a fishnet shirt and a light cream oversized T-shirt (courtesy of being a hand-me-down) thrown on top. She wiggled into black shorts that stopped at her upper thigh stuck on knee fishnet socks and began wrapping the rest of her exposed legs before finishing off with standard shinobi-standard sandals that she had just found in a dumpster by District One.
She walked right out of the door and into the real world, her eyes crinkling at the sun and the beat of the rays. She quickly crossed District Eight walls then into District One. Here, she could smell the dango stalls and the fried stick-goodness that she had to pass out. She was dirt poor. With her hair tidy and bright eyes out, she looked like she belonged here.
Then, she looked at each stall and their wares, "Observe"
Beginners Fan - Rank: Poor
-A cheaply made fan that isn't worth the price
+ Wind Damage: 3-5
+ Durability: 5/5
Beginners Puppet Set - Rank: Intermediate
- A well-made puppet set for beginners
+ Damage: 8-15
+ Durability: 20/20
This isn't such a bad spot. On the off chance that she does find the Siblings on a day their weapons broke it could work out for her—
"—Kankuro, if you weren't trying out new tricks, your puppet wouldn't be broken right now." Temari groaned, her fingers delicately brushed across her forehead as she looked at her brother with exasperation.
The boy in question turned red, snapping at his older sister while waving his hands. "Shut up! Like you're the one to talk, if sensei was watching you try out new attacks, your fan wouldn't be ripped in half." Kankuro defended himself before looking at her direction, probably to gaze at the assorted weapons behind her.
DING!
[Looks like you were right, you deserve this]
+2 LUCK
Good thing she was at least conversing with a vendor, else she'd be caught as eavesdropping creepy. She placed well-timed nods at the vendor's explanation, and watched the side of her eye at the siblings.
"Look Temari, the vendor restocked his supplies, and you thought that we won't get replacements until next month," Kankuro commented, nudging Temari with a look that screamed i told you so.
"Whatever, let's just get them and go," Temari replied bluntly, staring at her brother with disdain.
"All right..." Kankuro muttered with his hands up in surrender at his sister's gaze, "I'm going..." Kankuro sauntered towards the stalls, ignoring Tamako who continued to talk to the vendor. With a well-time save, everything around her froze as she rewrote last week's crystal experimentation.
Time continued and Kankuro was once walking towards the girl's direction. Soon enough, he was gazing at the assorted weapons on display.
"Hey, I wouldn't get that fan you were eyeballing if I were you," Tamako suggested helpfully, if not quietly, in case the vendor was still on this side of the stall before smiling at him with warmth.
His face squeezed with confusion, "Huh? Why not?"
Very eloquent. Well, I guess I shouldn't expect much from a six year old. He must've just started the Academy.
"Look at the lining between the cloth and the guard..." She muttered, grabbing the fan carefully and slowly traced her finger across. "If you look closely, it's about to fall apart. And what's even worse is that the quality of the guard, the wood is all rotten. The folds are literally made out of old bed-sheets, you're better off with a stick."
"Oh wow." Kankuro leaned in for a closer look. "I really never paid attention to those parts." Kankuro sheepishly said, rubbing his neck from embarrassment.
[+5 Relationship with Kankuro!]
"Hmhm, it looks like it's your first time shopping here? I can help you, what're you looking for?" Tamako tilted her head with a smile. Her entire personality screamed street-kid. Very different from street-rats. At least in Suna, street-rats were looked at with a different lens.
Often paired off to do dirty work, these kids knew what merch was coming in and out, what area of the village to avoid and when to call a sick-day. They were street-smart, and getting an opinion out of them on merchandise was sometimes far more important than the word of a vendor, most of the time at least. Street-kids on the other hand, just spent way too much time outside and picked up things by running with the other.
"O-oh!" Kankuro stuttered, obviously shocked that the younger girl was still offering help. "Um, I'm looking for a Puppet Set, I was tinkering with my older one but I broke it..."
Tamako put on a thinking face, her fingers cupping her chin before pointing with bright eyes, "Oh, I know!" She placed the half-assed fan back down and gently lifted the puppet set, "This one's pretty well-made. There's no fraying and it's completely set to adjust and fix— it's pretty good for its price too."
She handed him the set, watching as his face went through many stages of emotion before nodding, "Oji-san, I'll take this!" He hollered, handing the man a few coins without really taking a glance at the price and blindly telling him to keep the change. He then turned back to the smaller girl with a small smile, "Hey thanks for helping out, I usually don't go to the market myself and usually, someone's there to help me out."
No jounin escort? Grinning back she waved her hand, "No no, it's fine."
Kankuro glanced at her up and down, "Say, I've never seen you around these parts, you from around here?"
With raised eyebrows, she pointed behind her with a thumb, "Yeah, I live down main street, but I spend most of my time training so I don't go around town as much." Shrugging, she leaned on the stall's wooden post. Main street meant a lot of things, but Kankuro didn't inquire.
Instead, his face instantly lit up like a firework at the mention of training.
Checkmate.
"Really! Me too, my father gets me a few instructors to teach me, I'm training to be the best puppet master in Wind!" Kankuro smiled, starting to flush at his excitement.
"Wow!" Tamako clapped her hands in awe, internally rolling her eyes at the mention of private teachers, damn rich kids. Everyone else is literally scraping the barrel here. "You must have really good chakra control. Your father is powerful enough to get you sensei... he must be a powerful shinobi!" Tamako uttered back without an ounce of jealousy laced in her voice. No, she couldn't be jealous. He's just a kid after all.
[+5 Relationship with Kankuro!]
"My father's not a powerful shinobi, he's the most powerful shinobi in the village! The Fourth Kazekage!" Kankuro boasted, his chest puffing with pride as he smirked.
Tamako could only roll her eyes mentally at his childish display, "So you must be well trained, ne? Wanna play Ninja with a twist?" A hint of tease laced her voice as the boy returned a flustered and before Tamako leaned back.
"I don't know, it's not that fun with just two—"
"Aw, really? I guess so—"
"—Wait, I can ask my sister! She's over here!" He grabbed and dragged Tamako's hand and bolted towards the disinterested blond, whose head rose when she caught sight of her brother and another girl. She lifted an eyebrow at them.
"Kankuro, who's this? I thought you wanted to get a new kit."
"Oh, uhh, this is—"
"Tamako." She cut in with a smile, she gestured towards Kankuro, "Saved him from being scammed."
Temari's lips quivered at her words before nodding, almost as if she accepted Tamako before holding out a hand, "Temari."
Tamako grabbed her hand and smiled back, "Ehe, nice to meet you Temari-chan! Ne ne, why don't you play Ninja with us?"
"Ninja?" He tilted her head and glanced at her brother, then back to the light-haired girl. "Kankuro sucks at playing Ninja— you can't rely on him at all."
"That's not true!" Kankuro cried out, his face turning tomato red as he lunged at his sister, "Take that back!"
Temari giggled, dodging the boy with ease as she ran off, "Ha! That's if you can catch me!"
Tamako was almost thankful for how easy it is to make friends at this age.
. . .
The game of Ninja ended as soon as they ended up in a training ground littered with large boulders, the three kids gasping for air as Tamako sat on a boulder, trying to collect herself. Temari had superior stamina, probably because she was three years older and was in her second year of Academy conditioning.
"S-see?" Temari gasped out, pointing at her brother, "What did I tell you? Com-completely unreliable."
Kankuro, who fell to the ground with exhaustion, had little to no energy to refute back and instead focused on breathing as sweat dripped from his temple
Tamako shared a smile with the older blond before they laughed in unison, leaning on each other when they ran out of breath.
[+10 Relationship with Temari!]
"Yeah yeah, laugh it up. You two were teaming." Kankuro finally managed to lean against a boulder.
"Teaming? C'mon, don't be a sour loser, Kankuro-kun!"
"Oh yeah? Me and you, right now!"
The younger girl raised an eyebrow, shoving a hand into her pocket and retrieved her metal canteen filled with water from her inventory, taking a long sip before throwing it back with vigor.
"Bring it."
Temari's face instantly turned into one with interest, quickly becoming the proctor for a fair fight, even teasing Kankuro that he should take it easy, before counting down as the two wannabe-shinobi took their stances.
[Quest Alert!]
Fight
Objective: Defeat Kankuro
Special Objective: Defeat without sustaining any injuries
Quest Rewards: +50 EXP, +50 Relationship with Kankuro and Temari [Impress them]
"3"
Aim for legs and disable his arms for a quick draw
"2"
Display crystal kunai to pique his interest
"1"
Kankuro will blab his mouth to his father
"START!"
And checkmate..!
Tamako moved to the side with light steps before she dashed towards the unsuspecting boy with all the speed she could muster, bending close to ground for a sweep before rapidly changing her stanza to a high-kick.
Kankuro, who was clearly shocked and trying to keep up with her speed, barely blocked with both arms into an 'X' formation. The girl then fluctuated her chakra, snatching a crystal kunai she spawned from the air and aimed to slash down.
The soon-to-be puppet master forgoes his earlier block and snatched Tamako's wrist before it could draw blood— but not fast enough to leave a scratch that left blood trailing down his face. Tamako responded by dropping her kunai and using her free hand to grab the arm that halted her wrist and pulled— bringing him closer to herself and striking his ribs with her free leg.
On impact, Kankuro staggered to the side and was forced to let go of her wrist, letting Tamako spring forward with all the aggression she could rally up in her small body and began rapidly jabbing at him as quickly as she could.
Unable to completely dodge, he instead favored into blocking them recklessly to keep up at her fast pace, this continued for a few seconds before Tamako suddenly dropped down low and finally did a sweep, unlike her first feint, she continued with her actions and caught his legs.
He stumbled to the ground, arms forward to catch himself before grunting when Tamako caught both arms and swiftly moved them behind his back, then sitting on them. Kunai to the neck, Tamako said in a syrupy voice, "I won."
She waited until he felt her sag before releasing him from the hold, offering a hand to him.
He took it, staggering when he stood up, "Y-you won?" He questioned more than stated, shocked at the spar that transpired in two minutes.
[You have completed the quest!]
[Rewards: +50 EXP, +50 Relationship with Kankuro and Temari]
"H-how did you move so fast! Where did you learn to move your body and fight like that?" Temari shouted excitedly, running across the field and grinned, "I can't move like that and I'm already in my second year in the Academy!"
"A lot of practice, chakra enhancement, and flexibility," Tamako responded, spinning her kunai expertly around her fingers.
"Augh, I'm at least two years older than you but I still flopped" Kankuro sulked, still a little bit sore after losing that spar he was so confident in.
Trying to appeal to him, Tamako shook her head and smiled, "Aren't you trying to become a Puppet Master? The rules of the match were already in my favor since you spent more time on chakra than Taijutsu." She then angled her kunai in a way where the sunlight bounced back, making it as shiny as ever.
"Which reminds me..." Temari's eyes glanced at her kunai before coming back to her, "Where did you get it? It's so pretty that if they were sold at the market I would've seen it."
Tamako gave her another smile, damn how many of these did she use!?, handing Temari the kunai so she could take a look at it. "Hehe, wanna see something cool?" She added childishly, acting true to her age.
Both of her hands cupped together, palms down as they glowed, chakra being expelled into the air as both siblings took a closer look in awe. The chakra fading away in favor of the development of the delicate crystal that slowly formed into the exact replica of the kunai Temari held in her palm.
"Isn't it cool?" Tamako glanced up at the two before closing her eyes and giving them a huge grin. "It's our secret" The crystal's luster seemed to die down as soon as she opened her eyes wide with panic, "Shoot— I have to go! I'll see you guys later!"
She crushed the crystal in her hand and wiped the dust against her shorts, giving the two siblings a quick wave and ran off with both shouting at her back—protesting her to wait.
As she ran off, she cackled manically once out of their sight, secrets? That's the one thing kids can't keep to themselves.
Character Status
Name: Tamako
Class: The Gamer
Age: 5 Years Old
Title: Momma's Little Gem
Status: Happy. Normal
Level: 5
HP: 125 - HP Regen: 0.2 per 5 seconds
CP: 170 - CP Regen: 0.4 per 5 seconds
Strength: 10
Vitality: 10
Wisdom: 11
Intelligence: 9
Dexterity: 15
Agility: 16
Luck: 7
Fame/Infamy: 0/0
Money: 0 Ryo
Unspent Points: 4
Sabaku no Kankuro respects you! (60/100)
Sabaku no Temari enjoys your company! (60/100)