AN: Alright, so I'm still thinking about Gamer stuff. Might as well get started on the next chapter. Also, it seems I was wrong, this is not the first Naruto/The Gamer crossover. There's another one; it's just called Naruto: The Gamer. So...check it out, I guess. First, though, here's a review response.

Indy: And here I thought I was being a pioneer of the crossover. Oh well. As for that fic itself…eh, it's okay.

IMPORTANT NOTICE! AFTER SOME ADVISEMENT BY MY ASSOCIATE KOKUENDG, I WILL BE RAISING THE LEVELS AND STATS OF THE ACADEMY STUDENTS AND NARUTO. SEE THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER TO NOTE THE CHANGES, OR LOOK AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS CHAPTER.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Gamer.

"Speech"
Text/[System Message]
Thoughts
Inner Being to Outer Being
Bijuu/Jinchuuriki/Boss
Jutsu/Technique/Skill

Chapter 2: The Gamer Goes Through the Tutorial

Naruto sat slumped in a kitchen chair, staring across the table. At the end of his gaze was the black-haired Jee-Han, who was looking back at him calmly.

"So..." Naruto began slowly, "Let's see if I've got this right. You came from a world completely different from my own because some weird old man asked you to help him gather research for a story."

In a distant country, a man with white hair sneezed violently.

"Said man came to you because you have a power. That power allows you to...eh..."

Jee-Han patiently supplied, "Interact with the world as if it's an RPG."

"Right," grunted the blond, not even pretending to understand what an RPG was, "So, the reason you're here is because your power is so strong you can give it to other people. The old man thought it would be cool if you gave it to me. Am I following this right?"

"Yup."

"...Okay, so why should I not just think you're full of shit?"

"Because that wouldn't do anything," Jee-Han said immediately, frowning, "Whether you believe it or not, it's the truth. I've given you the power to learn things really fast, and in any direction. You could become a swordsman in about five times less time than it would take another complete novice, for instance, or you could learn how to do any sort of technique just by picking a book."

That got the effect that he was hoping for. Naruto sat up a bit straighter, his eyes suddenly gleaming with eagerness. If there was one thing he loved, it was cool jutsu. "R-really? I can learn any jutsu? As many as I want, dattebayo?"

"Kekekeke!" laughed Jee-Han, "Knew that'd get your attention! Yeah, you can learn as many jutsu as you want, but you'd have to spend a lot of time training to make them strong."

Naruto just waved that off. "Pfft, training's no big deal. I do that all the time!" Then he yawned. "Not right now, though. I gotta get to sleep." He got up and walked out of the room. "You can use the couch if you want. Night."

The black-haired man stared after the boy in surprise. Then he sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Heh, what a weird kid. Still…he trains a lot already, does he? I guess that explains his level." He huffed. "Jeez! I wasn't even a Level 5 when I got to High School! But, I guess that'll be fine. I want to see how he'll grow."

[The Next Day]

*Shoop!*

[By Sleeping, your HP and MP have been fully restored.]
[All Status Effects have been dispelled.]

Naruto stared up sleepily at the rectangles again as he lay in bed. So that wasn't a dream. I can already tell that those words are gonna get old real fast. As he shuffled around getting ready for the day, he remembered that they would be having Taijutsu practice at the Academy. "Damn it," he muttered, pulling on his usual orange vest, "Too bad that 'video game power' can't make me better at Taijutsu."

"What's Taijutsu?" called Jee-Han from the living room.

Naruto froze in surprise before remembering his new guest. "Oh, you know, hand-to-hand stuff. I suck at it; Iruka-sensei always says my form's terrible, but I don't really get it."

"Ah. Well, actually, our power does cover that."

The blond stopped, holding his new goggles loosely. "Covers it how?"

"Well-" Jee-Han suddenly interrupted himself, "Actually, get in here already! It's really annoying, talking from separate rooms."

"Yeah yeah," Naruto muttered, entering the kitchen. The young man was seated at the table, which was littered with various pieces of bread and a carton of milk. "Where'd you get that?" he asked as he sat down. Personally he wanted some cup ramen, but he'd take something that wouldn't take three minutes to make.

Jee-Han grinned secretively, taking a bite of the bread. As he did so, Naruto briefly saw a green '+10' float away from his mouth. "Well, that's another part of my—er, our power."

"Just how many parts does it have?" Naruto deadpanned, eye twitching as he watched more green numbers float away from his guest's head.

"Hm…they kinda overlap at points, so it's hard to tell, but I think there are…five main parts. But that's not important right now; we're talking about that Taijutsu thing, right?"

Naruto bit into his piece of bread (+5!) and said thickly, "Yeah. What do you mean when you said that our power covers it?"

Jee-Han scratched his head. "If you knew what video games were, this'd be so much easier to explain," he mumbled, "Alright, let's go with an example. Yesterday, while you were doing…whatever you normally do, did any System Messages pop up?"

The blond grimaced. "Those weird rectangles? Yeah, they scared the crap out of me."

"Those are a standard thing, you'll get used to them. Anyway, at any point, did you do something special? And after that, did you get a pink system message that said something like-"

"'A new skill was created?'" Naruto supplied, nodding more animatedly, "Yeah, twice. Something about a skill for, er, gathering information, and a skill for thrown weapon mastery."

Jee-Han blinked. "Throwing weapons? Really?" Then he shook his head, "No, more importantly, you got Observe already? That's really good, that's like one of the most basic Gamer skills."

"So what's it mean?" asked Naruto.

Pausing, the Korean man gathered his thoughts. "Right…so, one of the biggest parts of The Gamer's power is 'Skills.' Think of the power like a giant notebook: if you perform a special action enough times, that action gets recorded or written in that book as a skill. After that, you can use that skill again whenever you want."

Now Naruto was growing excited. "Is that what you meant when you said I could learn any jutsu I wanted really quickly?"

Jee-Han nodded. "Yeah. Both of the skills you've gotten are called 'Passive Skills.' That means the skills don't cost you anything to use, like Observe, and they're always in use, like Thrown Weapon Mastery. However, in order to make Observe gather information, you have to use it like an Active skill. To do that, just look at whatever you want information on and say 'Observe.' I recommend you do that a lot because the higher Observe's Level is, the more information you can get."

"Right." Naruto glanced at a clock hanging on the wall and grimaced. "Crap! I need to go!" He quickly exited.

With a snort, Jee-Han started gathering up the foodstuffs and stuffing them back in his Inventory. "Well, at least he's got the gist of it now. I wonder what sorts of skills he'll make."

Despite being in a rush to leave the apartment, Naruto's journey to the Academy was taken at a much calmer pace. The reason for this was that for anything that caught his eye, he'd stop and say 'Observe.' Whenever he did, another rectangle (or a System Message, as Jee-Han seemed to call them) would pop in front of him, describing whatever he was looking at.

[Orange.
Grown at a local farm.
An edible fruit, good for the body.
+15 HP
Heals Status Effect Inflammation.]

Or...

[Medium Quality Wooden Crate.
Made by a local construction company.
Useful for storing a large amount of objects.]

Or even...

[Kaneda Weapon Shop.
Owned by Kaneda Tenka.
Carries various Ninja Weapons for Sale.]

Things like that. When he tried to Observe a living thing, the result wasn't that different.

[Kamizuki Izumo Lv. 27
HP: 575 MP: 950
A Chūnin in the service of Konohagakure no Sato. Carries the ability to use Chakra.]

And so it went on, Naruto continually muttering "Observe" at everything. The fourth time he did this, another System Message appeared.

*Ping!*

[Observe's level has increased by 1. More details can now be Observed.]

Sure enough, now whenever he used the skill on people, it would then list another number along their HP. "Hm," he mumbled, "Wonder what that's for." By the time Naruto got to the Academy, his Observe skill had leveled up twice more, putting it at Level 4. With it, the information gained greatly increased. As he entered the classroom, he saw Iruka and muttered "Observe" once more.

[Umino Iruka
Class: Academy Instructor
Job: Konoha Chūnin
Title: Fair Teacher
Gender: Male
Age: 21
Level: 25
Next Level: 49.7% EXP
HP: 630 (630) MP: 650
STR: 32
VIT: 20
DEX: 32
INT: 25
WIS: 26
LUK: 8

Instructor at Konohagakure's Shinobi Academy. A man who treats all of his students fairly, but is occasionally strict. A Konoha Chūnin of modest ability, Umino Iruka possesses the capability to use chakra. While his parents were killed in the Kyuubi attack 12 years ago, he endeavors to be supportive of Uzumaki Naruto.]

The last sentence made him pause on the way to his seat. What would the Kyuubi attack have to do with him? He was born on the same day, true, but...even as a small seed of suspicion began to grow within him, he shook off the thought and continued on, sitting in the same place as the day before.

As students began arriving for the day, Naruto watched them out of the corner of his eye, thinking. Occasionally, out of curiosity, he'd use Observe on them, but didn't learn too much interesting. When Sasuke entered, however (much to the joy of his assembled fan club), Naruto did not hesitate to use the skill.

[Uchiha Sasuke
Class: Uchiha Clansman
Job: Academy Student
Title: Self-Appointed Avenger
Gender: Male
Age: 12
Level: 15
Next Level: 75.8% EXP
HP: 400 (400) MP: 400
STR: 28
VIT: 16
DEX: 19
INT: 12
WIS: 7
LUK: 7

The last Uchiha in Konohagakure. Uchiha Sasuke has sworn vengeance on his older brother, Uchiha Itachi, after the latter murdered their clan and fled Konoha. Possesses the capability of using chakra. Also possesses the Uchiha Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan, but has forgotten that he has already awoken it. Sasuke works hard to develop and maintain high-level skills, but is arrogant, considers everyone in his age-group beneath him, and feels that working with others is a waste of time.]

Naruto wasn't all that surprised by that last part, but the revelation that the boy's brother had been responsible for the infamous Uchiha Massacre did give him a little pause. So...he's got no one, like me, he thought. Then he grunted to himself and shrugged. He's still an ass about it, though.

*Ping!* [Observe's Level has increased by 1. More details can now be Observed.]

When Hinata entered, Naruto gave her a friendly wave, prompting a squeak from her in answer. For a moment, he wondered if he should Observe her, but decided against it. He did, however, remember to thank her.

"Yo, Hinata!" The girl turned a brighter red, but nodded silently to show that she'd heard him. "Thanks for those goggles the other day! I like them a lot!" He touched the aforementioned accessory, which he was now wearing on his forehead.

"Ah-" For a second, Naruto thought that she would again fall silent, but then she ducked her head and said quietly, "Y-you're welcome. It was nothing..."

Truthfully, the boy had never received many presents in his life, so from his point of view it was a lot more than nothing. However, he was unable to say so, as Iruka chose that moment to call for silence.

"Alright you guys, if you'll remember, I told you yesterday that we would be having Taijutsu practice today," said the teacher, once everyone had fallen quiet, "So be sure to remember your stances when we go outside. First, though, we'll be reviewing some the basic Chakra control exercises, as well as some of the general uses that come from Chakra manipulation."

Naruto groaned. Chakra control was, like most Academy subjects, his weakest point. Even he knew that chakra control was required for jutsu, but his was bad enough that he could barely perform two of the three Academy basic jutsu with any kind of consistency. However, he remembered Jee-Han's words about his new ability, and how it would allow him to learn and master anything he set out to do. So he did his best to pay attention to what Iruka was saying.

It was more or less everything he knew already, though he'd forgotten the finer details. Chakra was a mixture of both physical and mental energy, which was combined inside the body's chakra coils and distributed through the chakra circulatory system. If asked, Naruto would have no idea what the latter looked like, but that wasn't as important. Chakra control, meanwhile, was exactly what it sounded like: the ability to manipulate one's chakra. This helped in performing Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, as well as using the energy for other things, such as increasing one's own speed and strength.

Once the explanations were done, Iruka and Mizuki started handing the students leaves. The goal of course was to use chakra to stick the object to a certain point on one's body, usually the forehead. When Iruka handed Naruto his leaf, he obligingly stuck it to his head and began focusing. As usual, while he could feel the abnormally chaotic flow of his chakra, he noted that it was hardest to feel in his own head. Nevertheless, he slowly managed force a certain amount of the blue (in his mind's eye) force into that area, and then to where he felt the leaf on his forehead, held there by his own finger. From there it was somewhat tricky, but he slowly forced the chakra out through his skin, where it spread across the underside of the leaf. Tentatively he took his finger away, but the sensation of the leaf remained. It was stuck to his forehead.

"Yes! I did it!"

*Ping!*

This time he didn't jump, though he did gasp a little as the System Message appeared.

[A skill was created through a special action.]

[Through continuous effort, the skill for manipulating the energy in one's body, 'Chakra Control,' was created.]

Naruto's eyes widened. Even Chakra control can become a skill?

[Chakra Control (Passive) Lv. 1 EXP: 0.0%

In the ages following the Rikudō Sennin's teachings, the ability to manipulate a combination of the body's physical and mental energies has become well-known. With the ability to control one's chakra comes the ability to mold it more finely. The level of Chakra Control improves with the user's INT.

Lowest to Low grade Genjutsu techniques can be performed successfully.
Lowest to Intermediate-Low grade Ninjutsu techniques can be performed successfully.
MP cost of Ninjutsu and Genjutsu Skills reduced by 1%.
Note: Certain simple techniques require better Chakra Control.]

With every word, a grin slowly stretched across Naruto's face, mindless of the leaf as it fell off. There is was, in black and white. Er, black and pink, rather. He now had a skill for chakra control, and if Jee-Han was to be believed, then now he could practice and get better at it much more quickly than before. It would certainly beat the whopping zero progress he'd made before.

Looking around, the blond noticed that everyone else was still doing the leaf exercise. He quickly stuck the leaf back on and tried again. Alright, I'll try for longer this time!

A long while later, Naruto's brow was feeling sore from how much he was furrowing it in concentration. In the end, he had managed to get the leaf to stay on for a good three minutes at a time, rather than the few seconds that resulted from his first few tries. Even better, he received another System Message, telling him that Chakra Control's level had increased and that now he could successfully perform 'Lowest to Intermediate grade Ninjutsu techniques.' He still wasn't clear what the grade thing meant, but he could guess. In the meantime, he was happy that something was going right for him.

Finally, Iruka called a halt to the practice, looking rather pleased at all of them. "It's good to see that you can all perform this exercise without problems; I'd hate see anyone falling behind because of a lack of chakra control.

Naruto squirmed in his seat, trying not to let his emotions show on his face. He had an uncomfortable feeling that the teacher had been addressing him in particular.

"Right! Let's move this to the Taijutsu ring outside," said the Chūnin cheerfully, drawing both excited murmurs and groans from the class, Naruto being one of the latter.

A few minutes later, they once more stood outside the academy. This time, however, they were at the Taijutsu sparring area. It wasn't all that special, just a circle drawn in the ground. Naruto eyed it moodily; he'd either gotten beaten up or knocked out of that ring plenty of times in the past.

Mizuki cleared his throat and held up a clipboard. For the first time, Naruto took a moment to look at the man properly. He was not particularly surprised at his appearance: shoulder-length, silvery hair covered by a bandana-style Hitai-ate, along with the standard Chūnin uniform. The label over his head, likewise, was no less interesting

[Academy Instructor]
Lv. 24 Hitodora Mizuki

Again, that was more or less what he'd expected. Pretending not to look at him, Naruto glanced again at the man out of the corner of his eye and mumbled "Observe."

[Hitodora Mizuki
Class: Academy Instructor
Job: Konoha Chūnin
Title: Foul Teacher
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Level: 24
Next Level: 46.3% EXP
HP: 645 (645) MP: 660
STR: 35
VIT: 21
DEX: 34
INT: 24
WIS: 22
LUK: 9

Status:
Status Effect: Animal Cursed Seal [Lowest]

While wearing the mask of a benevolent teacher, unlike his coworker Iruka Mizuki is rotten to the core. Possessed of an inferiority complex, Mizuki prides himself on being bereft of morals and teamwork. He possesses an irrational hatred of both Uzumaki Naruto and Umino Iruka. Specializes in the use of Large Shuriken, and possesses a dormant Animal Cursed Seal from Orochimaru of the Sannin. Mizuki hates thinking that someone is looking down on him.]

Suddenly, alarm bells started going off in Naruto's head as he read the System Message. Mizuki-sensei...hates me? What? But he's always so...well, not so nice, but he never did anything bad, right? There was, of course, no answering message, but he was left wondering about his teacher.

Meanwhile, several pairs of students had already gone into the ring. As he hadn't paid attention, he didn't really know who won what, but he did briefly see Sakura stick her tongue out at Ino as she exited, apparently victorious. Normally, he might have congratulated her (however little it might ingratiate her towards him), but he still felt preoccupied by what he had just learned.

Finally, Iruka called out, "Alright Naruto, let's see how you do."

There was a bout of sniggering from the rest of his classmates, but Naruto ignored them as he walked towards the ring. As he passed her, he thought he heard Hinata mumble something, but couldn't catch it.

Waiting for him on the opposite side of the ring was Sasuke, looking bored and aloof as usual. The moment he entered the circle, another System Message appeared. This one, however, was different.

[Quest Alert

Academy Assignment: Defeat Sasuke

As part of an in-class sparring session, you must fight Uchiha Sasuke using only Taijutsu. If possible, try to win by knocking him out of the ring or making him surrender.

Completion Award: 1800 EXP
Increased Respect from Iruka.

Completion Failure: 600 EXP]

[Yes/No]

Naruto blinked. The description was simple enough, but for a second he couldn't help but feel confused. I still don't know what EXP means, but...does this mean that I can actually win here? Slowly, a grin spread across his face. As much as he knew that Sasuke was actually better than him at Taijutsu, that he could never best him in the ring, the wording of the 'Quest Alert' hinted at a chance to him. A tiny chance that maybe, just maybe, there could be a victory here.

"Are you ready, Naruto?" asked Iruka.

He was answered by a much wider grin than normal from the blond. "You bet!" he said cheerfully.

[Yes] confirmed the System Message.

Sasuke merely looked at him as disdainfully as always. "Hmph. You won't even lay a hit on me, loser."

As expected, Naruto felt a wave of hot anger at the insult, but at the same time remembered that rushing in was what got him beaten the last few times as well. "Yeah? Is that a promise? 'Cause unlike you, asshole, I always keep mine: your ass will be over that line when I'm done with you!"

"Like you even could, dead-last."

Before Naruto could snap back, Iruka interrupted harshly, "Alright, cut the trash talk you two! Now, make the Seal of Confrontation."

Instantly both students made half of a Ram sign, glowering intensely at each other.

"Begin!"

Each boy ran forward, Naruto lashing out with a punch and Sasuke dodging around it easily. Before Naruto could react, Sasuke grabbed him by the shoulder, spun him around and threw him off balance, before handily flipping him over to land heavily on the ground. Even as Naruto tried to regain his bearings, the dark-haired boy was on him in an instant, knees straddling either side of his stomach and with a fist cocked back.

"Surrender," he growled. As always, Naruto could see the dark, barely suppressed anger in his black eyes. After Observing him, he knew what that anger was directed towards, but he also knew what was coming next if he were to refuse.

So of course, there was only one answer to give. "Like hell," he said, teeth bared in a snarl, but even as he spoke, he twisted his head sharply to the side; Sasuke's fist smacked into the ground where it had just been and bounced off.

As the Uchiha briefly flinched in pain and surprise, Naruto suddenly squirmed, supporting himself with his elbows. He wrenched his legs out from underneath Sasuke and pressed his feet against his chest. This time it was Sasuke's turn to react too slowly as he was shoved clean off of his opponent, falling back and landing hard on his ass near the edge of the circle.

Naruto quickly rolled back onto his feet and put up his fists, grinning again. He had finally managed to counter Sasuke's previously-incomprehensible throw. Now to follow through on his promise. He charged at his sparring partner, who immediately got over his confusion and intercepted him with a fast, straight punch that caught him solidly in the cheek. Even with the shock and impact, though, Naruto did not falter. His foot came down hard in a single determined step and he pushed back, driving his own fist into Sasuke's stomach with a sharp cry of exertion. Then, as the dark-haired boy reflexively doubled up, Naruto took another small step, wound up with his other fist and punched. His fist caught Sasuke in the chest, and then he pushed even harder with a shout, the boy's feet actually leaving the ground for a second as he was thrown from the ring.

Naruto stopped, breathing hard and with his fist still out. He looked at it in surprise, and then switched his gaze to Sasuke. Hey...did I just...?

"Well would you look at that," he heard Iruka mutter, clearly impressed, before declaring more loudly, "The winner of this spar is Uzumaki Naruto!"

Instantly there was an outcry from Sasuke's fan club, followed quickly by the rest of the class telling them to pipe down.

Sasuke climbed to his feet, looking quite angry. Naruto had a suspicion that if Iruka were not there to stop him, the Uchiha would be coming after him with a vengeance. Well, not like I'd just let him, either. Feeling deservedly smug, the blond decided to get in the last word. "Told you I'd keep my promise."

Unbidden, Sasuke's eyes flashed and his fists clenched.

"Now for the Seal of Reconciliation."

Naruto grimaced, remembering that they were supposed to 'apologize' to each other at the end of each spar. However, he admitted to himself that it would be pointless to antagonize his opponent any further. Besides which, he could always just prank him later. So he held out a hand, index and middle fingers extended towards Sasuke.

For a long moment, the boy glowered at him, making no move to return the gesture. Finally though, after a glare from Iruka, he reluctantly walked forward and linked his fingers with Naruto's. They broke apart quickly, and Sasuke pushed past him, now as moody as Naruto had been before the match.

As Naruto followed him, it started to dawn on him that he had just won. He'd actually beaten Uchiha Sasuke, the current favorite for the Rookie of the Year. Of course, all of his fangirls were now glaring at him with enough heat that he imagined he might burst into flames.

Not like they can do anything, though, he thought smugly, I won, fair and square. Hey, wasn't that Quest thing supposed to give me a- *Ping!* -Oh, there it is!

[Gained 1800 Experience.]

[Your Level has increased by 1.]

[A Special Skill was created through a special action.]

His eyes widened. Putting aside the Level thing, he'd even made a new skill?

[Through continuous combat and practice, the skill for fighting without weapons, 'Unarmed Mastery,' was created.]

[Through continuous perseverance in the face of attacks, the skill for raising one's fighting spirit, 'Kiai,' was created.]

[Through continuously attacking, the skill for dealing a powerful blow, 'Power Strike,' was created.]

By now Naruto's bright blue eyes had grown so wide that the other students were looking nervously at him. Noticing the odd glances, Naruto shook his head and forced his expression back to normal. Or at least, he managed to get his eyes back in his sockets, before he read the new pink System Messages.

[Unarmed Mastery (Passive) Lv. 1 EXP: 0.0%

Allows the user to freely fight while unarmed.

+10% attack damage without weapons
+5% attack speed]

[Kiai (Active) Lv. 1 EXP: 0.0%

A technique to psych up the user and raise their confidence. Uses an exhalation of breath or a shout during an attack in order to increase the damage that a normal strike deals.

MP Cost: 15
+10% STR
+30% attack damage
+25% chance to ignore enemy attacks
Duration: 5 sec]

[Power Strike (Active) Lv. 1 EXP: 0.0%

Strikes the target with a strong force.

MP Cost: 30
+15% Critical chance
+50% attack damage]

This time Naruto opted to cover his mouth under the guise of scratching his face in order to hide his wide grin. These are all awesome! The math stuff is still confusing, though, but this Power Strike thing sounds pretty easy. Maybe Jee-Han-san can explain all the other stuff later...

Shrugging, he dismissed the skill messages and turned his attention back to what the rest of the class was doing.

It turned out that he need not have bothered. Apart from a few more sparring matches, not that much more happened. Afterwards, they all went back inside for some more theoretical stuff, history to be exact.

Despite the elation that he felt at his earlier feats, it took almost all of Naruto's concentration to focus on the lesson. He tried, he really did, but Mizuki's tone of voice was such a drone that he found himself looking around out of boredom. Nothing good outside the window. The clock was ticking dreadfully slow. Hinata seemed mildly interesting, but she seemed to sense his gaze and become uncomfortable, so he glanced away. He yawned.

"Naruto!" said Mizuki-sensei mock-cheerfully, "Since you seem to know so much on the subject, maybe you can answer a few questions!"

Naruto cursed quietly. This always happens! Stupid attention span! "Er, sure sensei. Hit me."

There was a quiet snickering from the rest of the class, but the blond dutifully tuned them out.

"What were each of our Hokages known for?"

Naruto blinked. Did the white-haired man actually hate him, or did he give him an easy question on purpose? As a boy who one day wanted to become Hokage himself, Naruto made sure to ask the old man as much about them as he could.

"Oh. Er, well..." he wracked his brain, trying to remember the mnemonic that he'd made up. "Okay, so...the Shodaime was the 'Heart,' and he built Konoha along with some other guy. The Nidaime made up all the laws and stuff. Oh, and he also made up a lot of cool jutsu!" That one was easy to remember. "The Sandaime is still alive and is ruling for a second time. He trained...er, some team of guys, the Sannin. Real original, there. The Yondaime kicked a lot of ass in the last war, killed the Kyuubi and he looks kinda like me." He blinked. "Hey, wait a second..."

"V-very good," stammered Mizuki, surprised that the class clown knew enough for a competent answer, "Glad to see you've been paying attention to that much, at least."

"Of course!" barked Naruto, jumping to his feet and pointing determinedly at his teacher, "One day I'll be the Hokage too! And when you ask another student that question, they'll have to include me in that list!"

Everyone groaned. Hardly a week would go by without the class clown declaring his dream. Needless to say, it got old fast.

The only person who didn't scoff and roll their eyes was Hinata. The quiet girl merely remained seating, but she was looking up at Naruto with what seemed like a mixture of awe and admiration. When he looked at her properly, though, she just blushed and looked away again.

After that, the day passed without any more events. When class finally let out, Naruto was one of the first ones out. Normally, after that he would have made a beeline for Ichiraku's after pestering the old man a bit, but today was different. Instead, he went straight back to his apartment.

"Oi!" he called as he opened the door, "I'm back!"

Jee-Han, who was seated once more at the kitchen table, glanced up at him from the scroll he'd been reading. "Hey. What's up?"

Dimly, Naruto registered that the scroll was an old one from his room on the basics of chakra and its applications, but put it out of his mind for the moment. "Okay, so a lotta weird stuff happened today because of that power you gave me."

"Usually that's a good thing," the young man pointed out, returning to his examination of the scroll, "It's also pretty common with us Gamers. You mind being more specific?"

The blond nodded. "Well, when we had our Taijutsu spars, I got paired with that bastard Sasuke."

Jee-Han blinked at the language coming from a twelve year old, but said nothing.

"So when I got called on, this weird window popped up, something about a 'quest.'"

"Ah!" the man nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, Quests are pretty important. They're basically events that our power acknowledges as being important enough to announce. If you succeed, you're usually rewarded with Experience Points, or EXP for short, and sometimes something else. What was your quest?"

Shrugging, the blond said, "I had to beat Sasuke. The reward was a lot of…EXP, and apparently now Iruka-sensei respects me more? I dunno. Oh, but I also created three new Skills!"

"What?" Jee-Han's head snapped up, shock visible in his black eyes, "Three at once?! That's...well, really impressive. When I started out, I could only make one at a time. Granted, I didn't really fight all that much, but…" he broke off, realizing that he was rambling and chuckled. "Heh…you're really something, aren't you, kid? But anyway, what skills did you make?"

Naruto, who had been basking in the indirect praise that his new housemate had been giving him, came back to his senses. "Oh, right. Uh, I got this thing called 'Unarmed Mastery,' 'Kiai' and 'Power Strike.'"

Jee-Han smiled, as if remembering something. "Ah, good old Power Strike. That was one of the first ones I made too. I'm not surprised you got that from fighting; it's pretty simple to get and using it is pretty good. I always did wonder if you could use it without a weapon…"

"Eheh…yeah, all I got was that it lets me hit really hard," Naruto admitted sheepishly, "I didn't really get all the weird math stuff."

The older man's face sharpened into a stern look. "We'll have to fix that," he said seriously, making the boy sweat, "A great deal of the stuff that our power covers uses numbers. You need to know how to keep everything straight."

Naruto gulped.

"But anyway, what do you remember about that other skill, Kiai? I don't think I've run across that skill before."

"Ah, um," he wracked his brains, trying to remember, "There was a whole lot of percentages, but I think it…increases my S-T-R, whatever that is, does a lot of damage, but not as much as Power Strike, and there was something about a…er, chance to ignore an attack, or something. Oh, and it lasts 5 seconds!"

Frowning, Jee-Han nodded to himself. "Hm…with a duration on it, it sounds more like a buff than a straight attack. Interesting."

"Buff?"

Realizing his mistake, he explained, "Er, rather than being an actual attack, the skill makes your body stronger for a period of time. Oh, and STR stands for Strength. It's one of your Stats."

"Eh?" Naruto just looked more confused.

Sighing, Jee-Han rubbed at his temples. "…Okay, I'm going to teach you another big part of the Gamer power: Commands. First off, please say 'Status.'"

Tentatively, the blond complied. "Status."

Instantly a tan window sprang open in front of him, making him jump. On it, written plainly and neatly, were all sorts of words and numbers. Near the top were two bars, one red and one blue.

"Alright, so what does it say?"

Obediently, Naruto read the window out loud.

[Name: Uzumaki Naruto
Class: Gamer
Job: Konoha Academy Student
Title: Yondaime's Legacy
Level: 11
Next Lv: 52.4%

Not noticing the numbers contained in the colored bars, he skipped them by accident.

STR: 20
VIT: 32

He frowned, seeing another number there, but continued downward.

DEX: 16
INT: 6
WIS: 10
LUK: 18
Points: 5
Money: 2,500 Ryo]

"What about your HP and MP?" asked Jee-Han, picking up a glass of water and frowning.

"My what?"

"The red and blue bars."

"Oh. Let's see…oh yeah, I see them now. My HP is 950 and my MP is 1550."

Halfway through taking a sip, Jee-Han registered the numbers and spat out a fine cloud of mist. "Gah- what?" he yelped, "Nine hundred HP? On a LEVEL 11?! And that amount of MP is impossible no matter how you look at it!"

"W-wait, what're you talking about?" sputtered Naruto, who had gotten sprayed by the water.

Jee-Han shook his head and leaned back in his chair. "Kid, when I was at Lv. 11, my HP and MP weren't even half of that. Although…I wonder if there's something in your status…Observe!"

Naruto flinched, bracing himself for something, but felt nothing.

For a few minutes, nothing happened, but as the dark-haired man stared at something only he could see, the blond could see his eyebrows drawing together in a scowl. Finally, he sighed. "As I thought, you've got some powerful status effects on you. I wondered what was special about you…to think that it was something like you. Keheheh, I'm almost afraid to see what you'll become in the future."

"What is it?" Naruto demanded, irritated at the suspense.

Jee-Han grinned apologetically. "You've got three permanent Status Effects, but only two explain the mystery going on right now. The first is that this chakra stuff you have is used in your techniques, so the game says that it's your MP. However, it says that chakra is also sort of like your life force, so your VIT, or Vitality, increases your Max MP."

"I could've told you that," said Naruto simply, "I mean, not like that, but I know that stuff already, except the VIT thing."

"The second thing," the man continued, a tick mark appearing on his temple, "Is that your Uzumaki status gives you an additional 110% VIT, along with making you heal faster."

That gave Naruto extreme pause. "What?" he asked, "You mean…Uzumaki is special? I thought it was just my name."

Jee-Han shrugged. "Well, the description says that you're from a clan that died out a long time ago. Didn't you know that?"

"What?! No! I never even heard that!" He paused. "By the way, what was that third status thingy?"

"Oh, something called 'Jinchuuriki.' It increases your regeneration on top of the Uzumaki stuff."

Naruto blinked. "Jinchuuriki? What's that?"

"How the hell should I know?" snapped Jee-Han. Then he rubbed his chin, looking at the ceiling. "Although, it might have to do with that Kyuubi thing being sealed in you. Hm?" He looked around just in time to see Naruto topple off his chair in a faint. "…Was it something I said?" he asked.

AN: I think I'll end it there. Wow, I managed to right a good amount here! Anyway, this ends Chapter 2 of CoG: Create New Character. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Summary time:
1. So Jee-Han gives Naruto the whole story off-screen. It's basically the same thing that Storia told Jee-Han, so I felt you didn't need to hear it again.
2. Understandably, Naruto is rather skeptical of the situation. However, that turns around once Jee-Han tells him what to expect.
3. The way I see it, that healing message upon waking up acts like an alarm clock of sorts. It only appears once you wake up.
4. Jee-Han gives Naruto a severely dumbed down version of what skills are. I think I did a good job here.
5. Naruto goes to the Academy while grinding Observe. Just so you folks know, counting the time he used it on Iruka, Observe's level is now at 5.
6. Naruto now knows Sasuke's stats, background and weaknesses.
7. He also manages to make a skill for Chakra Control. Better get that up to scratch quick.
8. Yes, I made up Mizuki's surname. Anyone even a little familiar with Japanese should recognize what it means.
9. I made both teacher's titles opposites of each other to reflect their natures. Fair Teacher for Iruka and Foul Teacher for Mizuki.
10. And yes, now Naruto knows about the Animal Cursed Seal. But he doesn't know anything about it, so he doesn't realize that it shouldn't be there, so it's just a passing thing.
11. The spar against Sasuke is treated like a Quest. I felt that it would be a good way for Naruto to learn about them.
12. I hope that you enjoyed the fight, brief though it was.
13. Naruto certainly did, because he won. And Leveled Up. And learned 3 new skills.
14. Power Strike is, of course, from The Gamer canon. However, Jee-Han stops using it after it hits level 3, so we don't get to see how powerful it can get. Needless to say, Naruto is not Jee-Han.
15. In the meantime, Unarmed Mastery and Kiai are original skills. Unarmed Mastery functions similar to other Mastery-type Passives, and Kiai is an Active Buff. While it doesn't seem like much now, it has the potential to become extremely dangerous, like The Gamer power in general.
16. Despite being a, let's face it, idiot in canon, I feel that Naruto would commit anything about the Hokage to heart.
17. Sometimes it takes saying something out loud to really acknowledge it. Naruto said that Minato looks like him as a joke, but then he's like 'wait a sec, he really does.' This will most likely be addressed in the next chapter.
18. Hina-chan is crushing bad. It's adorbs, yo.
19. More exposition with Jee-Han, though it's all over the place, I admit.
20. Jee-Han is displeased by Naruto's lack of mathematical knowledge.
21. Naruto learns about the Status command, but misses a few things the first time through.
22. So Naruto has a huge amount of HP, MP and VIT.
23. Jee-Han knows about the Kyuubi (and the Uzumaki clan) from reading the description when he used Observe on Naruto. Just to be clear, he didn't actually use it in the previous chapter.

Oh, and about the level thing? I raised them from how they used to be in Chapter 1. Now all the Academy students are levels 13-14, with Sasuke being Lv. 15 and Naruto starting off at Lv. 10 because of his Dead Last status.

So, here is Naruto's new profile (current)

Class: Gamer
Job: Konoha Academy Student
Title: Yondaime's Legacy
Level: 11
Next Lv: 52.4%

HP: 950 (Regeneration 5% +12%)
MP: 1550 (Regeneration 5% +15%)
STR: 20
VIT: 32 +35.2 (+110%)
DEX: 16
INT: 6
WIS: 10
LUK: 18
Stat Points: 5

Status:
[Uzumaki]: +110% VIT, HP and MP regen both start at 5%.
[Chakra]: VIT increases Max MP. In cases of insufficient MP, HP may be used to fuel Skills.
[Jinchuuriki]: Allows the use of Bijuu Chakra. Increases HP and MP regen

Background: Born to Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, Naruto is a member of the nearly-extinct Uzumaki clan, who are known for their powerful life-force and extra-potent chakra. Naruto possesses the ability to use the energy known as chakra. From birth, Uzumaki Naruto had the Kyuubi no Yoko sealed within him, making him the Third Kyuubi Jinchuuriki.

Emotions: Shock, Excitement, Confusion