Achievement Hunter

Hey there! So, looks like I finally get an opportunity to delve back into the Elemental Nations. My muse with pure Naruto stories has been considerably lacking as of late, but finally found it. This idea is... uh... considerably old. I think it might even have been a whole year since I wrote the first half of this. Either way, here we are!

Oh, and I'd really like to thank Mysty over on my Discord server for the cover of this story as well. She drew it back when I first had the idea and it was probably one of the big reasons I actually got motivated to finish this chapter. Finally, I get to have a cover for one of my stories that's actually been drawn specifically for me!

Chapter I: Third Time's the Charm

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. All rights go to the respective owners. Please support the official release.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but if you can't even make a Clone properly… there's no way that you can pass this year." Uzumaki Naruto looked at his two sensei, then at the sickly looking versions of himself that exploded as soon as he glanced at them, as if to further rub salt in the wound. He was going to speak, to reply, to argue but something stopped him. Rather… should he say that everything stopped besides him?

Iruka and Mizuki seemed to be stuck in place, while the two clouds of smoke behind him remained still, not dispersing, not enlarging. He looked around, but could find no explanation to what was going on until he caught sight of something in the corner of his eye. Turning to face it, he found himself face-to-face with… that was a woman, right?

"Achievement Earned: [Third Time's the Charm… Or Not] for failing the Shinobi Academy three times in a row. System Unlocked: [Save Slot 1], [Load Slot 1]." The woman, if she could be called that, appeared to be about the same height and build as Ayame-nee. She had dark green hair highlighted with streaks of a lighter green tied up in a ball behind her head, with a long ponytail emerging from that down to her waist and her hair coming down to just above her shoulder on the sides. Her eyes were strange, with green sclera and black irides that bled into the pupils as if the two were one. Even stranger was her 'skin', which appeared more like steel than flesh. It was a bright grey that gleamed in the sun, strange black markings over parts of it that were exposed which looked a bit like circuitry.

The strange woman was wearing a sleeveless top and short skirt, both of which were black with a dark green stripe down either side and two light grey stripes running alongside each of those. From under her skirt, a pair of long, green socks ran down her legs, disappearing into a pair of heeled, knee-high boots. The boots themselves were some sort of light grayish color with a stripe of light green running up both sides of her legs. Green gloves extended from her fingertips all the way up to her elbows and there were seven green rings that looked like bracelets levitating just a few centimeters from her skin around her neck, wrists, ankles and lower biceps.

"Um… what? Who are you?" The woman looked at him blankly as her eyes seemed to gleam a little.

"I am the avatar of the System with which you can communicate." She stated emotionlessly, just like before. There was no further commentary on her existence or its purpose though, so Naruto decided to find out more.

"What do you mean System? System of what?" The woman paused a moment before responding.

"The System is a network of synthesized and natural processes overlayed on your world which allow you, the Player, to affect, interact and interface with aspects of reality that non-Players are unable to. In the occurrence of gaining access to new abilities or new aspects of abilities, or earning achievements, which will unlock new abilities or new tiers to existing abilities, I will show up to tell you and give a short tutorial on how they function in relation to your world and any interactions they might have with other abilities you currently have unlocked. Would you like to begin the tutorial?"

As System finished her mini-lecture, Naruto jumped back as a large… he wasn't sure what it was. It seemed to be a large screen not unlike his TV, except flat and mildly translucent. On it, a series of words appeared. Would you like to begin the tutorial on save states? [Yes] [No] The options were situated on the bottom of the… screen, on the left and the right. "What's a tutorial?" He asked System for clarification.

"It is a short lesson on how an aspect of the System works, allowing you to gain a quick and mild grasp on vague concepts but giving you the chance to learn most of it on your own." Naruto liked the sound of that! Just something short to tell him the basics where he could figure out everything else? That was much better than what he had at the Academy. He hesitantly – as he didn't know what would actually happen – began moving his index finger towards the Yes option and was surprised when he touched what felt like a solid object. The button lit up as his finger pressed down on it, but it was only after he lifted his finger that the screen disappeared. As it did, System's eyes seemed to shine again before she talked.

"Save states, unlocked via your Achievement [Third Time's the Charm… Or Not], are a simple concept. By using the verbal command of 'Save' or using the pause menu function to manually save, you can create a copy of the world-state as it exists in space-time that can be traveled back to at a later date. The verbal command 'Load' or the pause menu's option of Load State can be used to transport your consciousness back to the previous world-state with all of the memories gained by the Player prior to Loading. In the unfortunate circumstance of a Game Over, you will automatically be Loaded back to your most recent Save State. For now, you only retain one Save State, but future achievements will unlock further Save States which may be stored independently of one another. The System has, by default, created a point in Space-Time for your Save State beginning twenty-four hours ago so that you may see how a Loaded State functions for yourself. As you do not yet have access to the pause menu, please give the command 'Load State 1' so that the tutorial may continue."

Naruto hesitantly nodded. He wasn't sure he understood everything that System had told him, but if what he did understand was true, it wasn't too hard. Basically he could create checkpoints to go back to, like in Super Jumpman World, one of the only video games he actually played before. However, while in Jumpman the character had to find and jump through the checkpoints himself, Naruto could make checkpoints wherever he wanted and go back to them whenever he wanted. "Load State 1?" He stated not very confidently.

To Naruto, the entire world shifted, yet it seemed to remain still at the same time. Instead of standing in front of two exploding clones and before Iruka and Mizuki, he was in his apartment, surrounded by paint cans, a harness and other things that he would use to paint the Hokage Monument the morning of the Exam. The world still wasn't moving and System was still in front of him. He couldn't help but grin. He could use this to pass the Exam! "I can come back to this save state however many times I want, right, System?"

"That is correct. You may reload this world-state infinitely with no ill-effects on the space-time continuum. You will retain your knowledge, but not things such as muscle mass increase, food or new objects. Any items you gain after this point in space-time will disappear from your inventory, which you will unlock later, but any damage to your body will also disappear. Your chakra reserves will return to their previous level when you saved. Chakra control will, however, remain if trained due to it being more psychological than biological.

"Whenever you save or load, the world will auto-pause, and you may manually pause the world-state as well. While the world is paused, you must remain stationary, though you may speak and look around to some degree. When you wish to continue playing, you may use the verbal command 'Unpause' or, once you unlock the interface for the pause menu, select the 'Return to Game' function. I will only appear when you pause the world. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me that way. You may begin when ready."

Naruto couldn't help from his grin widening. He would use this to do whatever he needed to prepare for the Exam! "Unpause!" He couldn't help but shout and watched as his clock began to tick once more. Ignoring his prank supplies, he brought his hands together into a ram seal. It was time to get that Clone down!

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Naruto had long since lost track of exactly how many days it had been, of how many times he'd taken and failed the Entrance Exam. Was it ten? Fifteen? Fifty? He wasn't sure, but he did know one thing. There was no way he wasn't going to pass it. Even if he went insane, he would make sure he could pass!

With the way things were going, that might be what it took though. He really had no idea how long it had been, nor was he seeing any tangible results that would point to him making much progress. After the first week of getting the same results, he had even begun searching out ways to get around the Clone requirement.

By studying for the Written Exam, he'd at least managed to barely pass that somewhat reliably and consistently. Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough.

24 hour intervals didn't seem like enough to really get better at fighting for the sparring portion of the Graduation Exam, so all he could do was try and get a handle on how his teachers fought. He was certainly able to see through some of Mizuki-sensei's moves, but being able to react fast enough to do anything was another matter altogether.

On the plus side, he was getting really good at the shurikenjutsu part of the Exam. He didn't really even need to train for that. Doing the Exam so many times was helping him understand how to properly use shuriken more than classes ever had.

Still, it all really came down to the spar or the Clone. He'd have to either beat Mizuki-sensei or get the Clone down if he really wanted to pass and graduate. Day by day, it was looking more like an impossible task. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he just make one single fucking Clone that wasn't a sick mess?

There had to be something he was missing, right? What could it possibly be though? Maybe jiji could help him. He'd done everything else up until now on his own, but maybe he really would need to get some help. This was no time to let pride get in the way. His hat and robes were at stake!

So, the blonde uttered the familiar words. "Load Slot 1." As he did so, the world shifted in a way that was becoming commonplace for him. He looked around his room, seeing the state of disarray preparing for one of his pranks often left it in. He'd clean it later. No use in wasting the time when next time he loaded it would just end up the same again.

Heading outside, he began hopping across the rooftops until he could see the Hokage Tower. There was little reason to actually use the front door. The secretary would just stall him and waste his time. Instead, he eyed the window that led to the Hokage's office. With practiced ease, the blonde got to the windowsill and climbed inside.

Hiruzen was right there, sitting in his seat and doing paperwork. "Good morning, Naruto." He stated without looking up. "Are you getting up to trouble again?" You know, he should have seen that coming. If he didn't have his save slot, then he would be working on his glorious painting across the Hokage Monument, after all.

"No way, jiji! I'm training for the Graduation Exam tomorrow!" Hiruzen looked up from his work to regard the boy with a smile.

"Oh? Is that how it is then? What brings you all the way over here then? Come to ask an old man for help with something last minute?" He nodded several times. "Well, I was about to take a break anyways." With that, the Hokage rose from his chair and regarded the boy, who was sitting on the floor near the window. "What is it that you needed?"

"I'm having trouble with the Clone Jutsu, jiji." Naruto admitted. "They always come out like… uh… well… I'll just show you." With that, Naruto formed a ram seal and two of his sickly Clones appeared in the room.

The Hokage regarded the Clones with an inquisitive gaze. After a moment, his eyes lit up with realization. Instead of smiling, however, Hiruzen frowned. "I see. I know what the issue here is. Your clones are being filled with too much chakra to remain stable. I'm not sure that there is enough time before your Exam to fix this though. Chakra control is a skill that has to be fine-tuned over months, if not years."

Years? He would have to keep living out the same day for years to get his control good enough to pass the Exam? That was ridiculous! If that's what it took though… then he would make sure he could graduate! "However, there might be an alternative we could try."

Those words caught Naruto's attention just before he was about to reload. "There's something else I can do that won't take as long?" He wondered. Shortcuts weren't usually his style, but it's not like Clones were that useful anyways. When he became a Genin, he'd be able to get some really cool ninjutsu, after all!

"There is… something that you might be uniquely suited to using." Hiruzen explained. "However, it is quite dangerous, so you must not teach it to anyone. If someone tries to use it without having enough chakra, they could very well die. It is another type of Clone, and should be acceptable for the Graduation Exam. One Clone jutsu is just as good as another as far as the test is concerned, after all."

"Wait, is it a super-awesome and powerful ninjutsu?" Naruto wondered. When Hiruzen nodded, the Uzumaki boy grinned wide and stood up. "I'll definitely master it before the Exam then! Believe it!" With a smile, Hiruzen ruffled the boy's spikes and glanced around the room. It might be better to go somewhere else for this.

When Hiruzen placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder, he wasn't sure what to expect. As the two of them disappeared in a vortex of wind, dust and leaves he realized that that certainly wasn't it. He didn't know where they ended up, only that he immediately dropped to his hands and knees and nearly vomited up his breakfast.

Wait a second. What had he had for breakfast? It had been so long he couldn't even remember. Oh well, it wasn't that important. He found his footing once more and noted that they were in the middle of a forest somewhere. He didn't really recognize this place though. "Are we in one of the Training Grounds?" He wondered.

"That's right. I think that teaching you something like this in that little office might be a bad idea. An old man needs to get out of the village proper and breathe in this nice, forest air as well. There's only one handseal for this one, but it's not one that you're likely to have ever seen before."

To emphasize the point, the Third Hokage held the first two fingers of his right hand out, pointing straight up. The first two fingers of his left hand were also extended, but crossed perpendicularly across and in front of his right ones. "This was a technique made by the Second Hokage himself, and creates solid clones out of your chakra."

"What do you mean by solid Clones?" Naruto wondered. "Like… these Clones can actually fight instead of just being illusions?" The old man nodded and his student's smile grew even more. "That's awesome!"

Quickly, he matched the handseal that Sarutobi made and listened to his instructions on how to mold his chakra properly. Finally, after Hiruzen was sure that all of the preparations had been made, he told Naruto the name of the technique and had him try it. Given control was not Naruto's strong suit, his instructions were to put as much of his chakra as he felt comfortable doing into the technique.

"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto called out as he released the pent-up chakra inside of himself. Hiruzen had some idea that the forest would be filled with smoke and more Narutos, but even he had not been prepared for exactly the number. For a moment, he had to close his eyes from all the smoke that was generated. When it finally cleared, however, there was not a single direction – including up – in which he looked that an ear-to-ear grinning blonde was not visible. This wasn't just in the direct vicinity either, but as far as his aging vision could perceive.

"Did I do it right, jiji?" A thousand Naruto asked in unison. The sheer number of them made what was likely a very reasonable tone sound like a shout coming from every direction. The realization of what he had done in a moment of sympathy for his favored shinobi-in-training seemed to only hit the man just then. One Naruto was bad enough, so what would happen now that there were a thousand of him? He may very well have doomed the village.

"Please do not speak all at once." He asked with a calm he himself was not sure he actually felt. "I'm very impressed that you got it down on your first try. The technique itself actually takes care of a lot of the work, though. The amount of chakra you put into it actually translates into the number of clones that come back out." When it looked like Naruto was going to speak again, Hiruzen interrupted. "Please form a handseal and release them. Just the original Naruto. I would rather I did not get a headache on my break."

A thousand Naruto once more acted in unison, rubbing the backs of their heads with a sheepish grin. The original released them back into smoke before apologizing. "How does the jutsu do the work though, jiji?" He wondered.

"Well, let's say that every Clone has a chakra cost." He said. The explanation he was going to give suddenly seemed a bit too complex for Naruto to understand though. How could he simplify it? Ah, I know how. "Let's say each Naruto needs a ramen cup's worth of chakra to be made. And let's also say that the technique itself costs a ramen cup's worth of chakra just to use.

"After taking the first cup out, to use it, all of the remaining chakra is then divvied up and forms the Clones on its own. However, this is the weakest form of the Shadow Clone Jutsu. When you get better chakra control, you can actually overfill a Clone with chakra for various purposes. With just the basic technique, a Clone will be destroyed with a strong enough punch. However, when you get to the point you can choose how much chakra goes into each Clone, then they might be able to take almost as many hits as you.

"An even further use of the technique is to overfill a Shadow Clone with so much chakra it becomes unstable. If you do that, then the Clones will actually explode when something hits them and potentially kill an opponent that you're fighting.

"On the other end of the spectrum though, if you get your control of both the technique and your own chakra fine enough, you can Clone inanimate objects, like shuriken and kunai, to multiply the number of projectiles you throw at an opponent. It is quite a diverse technique, honestly. Each user of it that I know of has added new uses to it, so I'm sure that you'll be able to do the same."

Naruto widened his eyes as he realized what was being told to him. Jiji was trusting him to make this jutsu even better than it already was. It was created by a Hokage, and he wasn't allowed to teach anyone. It was probably some super-secret jutsu that only the Hokage and their successors were supposed to know! "Don't worry, Hokage-jiji, I won't let you down!"

With a chuckle, Hiruzen ruffled the boy's spikes once more. "Keep that a surprise for Iruka and Mizuki tomorrow, alright? I'm looking forward to hearing about your graduation. I know you'll do well."

And that's it!

It's not much, but it is just the first chapter. A couple of minor differences here and there, but it'll be the start to something interesting, I hope. Let me know your thoughts through a review, via a PM or over on the Discord server at Discord-dot-gg-slash-PWDD44v

Also, I have a pat-reon now. If you're interested in supporting me, check it out over at pat-reon-dot-com-slash-orpheuskidwell

Orpheus out! Ja ne!