The Game

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Disclaimer: I am in no way, shape, or form earning money from this story.

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Author's Foreword: The POV will now be 1st person Naruto and will remain so for the rest of the story, it'll stop the need for him having to talk aloud and me needing to put half of the worlds in italics… I hope.

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Chapter 2

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It arrived with its usual thunderous fanfare, light orange words coming into view in a box only I could see in front of me.

'Tutorial Completed! Missions now online! Training Grounds now open!'

The box disappeared the moment I finished reading, I barely had any time to think about it before I was turned against my will to face Iruka-sensei as two men carted away Mizuki off to the side in a nondescript building. If I could remember correctly that was the same place where captured men would be sent, whenever a Shinobi would be able to get a prisoner alive, of course. The door's didn't open very often, but Mizuki was going through them now. I had a feeling he won't be teaching at the Academy anytime soon, since I've never seen any of the people who entered it ever again.

Iruka had a large smile on his face, and his posture was more relaxed than I've ever remembered it being. I had hopes that he no longer worried about me being Kyuubi any longer, but I didn't hold my breath on it, the effects of my new choices had me grasping at straws. I was friends with Sasuke, Sakura and Ino, but Iruka didn't believe in me! Iruka was the kindest man I've ever met, and he believed in me even before Konohamaru did, the thought of him thinking I was an enemy made me slightly ill.

"Hey, Naruto." Iruka intoned, and it seemed rather formal for some reason I couldn't point out. I was also unable to speak for some reason. "Remember to meet for team assignments three months from now, okay?" There was a pause, and the air seemed to shift for a moment before he was taking something out of his pocket. "It's thanks to you, I really didn't get hurt pursuing Mizuki today, he was more than a match for me, I want you to take these."

I received something, but I couldn't discern what it was. He turned on his heel and leapt up to the rooftops, vanishing from my vision so fast I could hardly believe he was there.

As soon as he was out of sight, the distinct impression I could now move made itself known.

Then thunderous noise returned, and the first thing I did after regaining my muscle movement was to jump up almost 10 feet in the air.

Could I turn that off or something?

The words came into being arranging themselves in the left rather than the right, they were smaller as well and instead of a box, it was in a bulleted column under 'Mission Gains'.

'Iruka Relations Increase!'

'Relations signify your current relationship with a character, this is important for any Romance you may be planning on pursuing with that character.'

I blanched, bile nearly filling my mouth at the thought of pursuing Iruka-sensei. The villagers didn't seem to react and the game just continued as if it didn't just tell me I was a step closer to romancing a man 15 years my senior.

'Lighting Scroll: Static Acquired!'

'Scrolls are used to learn Jutsu, these are very rare and difficult to gain! Be sure to know your affinity or else the Jutsu won't be nearly as strong as it's supposed to be or not work at all if you try to use opposite elements!'

A Jutsu so quick? I really couldn't even believe my eyes at the text in front of me. My last life I only learned two Jutsu and I already reached that number an hour after I learned my first one!

Tch, what had I been doing?

'2500 Ryo awarded!'

"Holy shit!"

I slapped my hand over my mouth as everyone around me gave me odd looks, it was the market district at the entrance of the town, so yelling wasn't very common in these parts.

But fifteen hundred Ryo! I only got two hundred fifty a month! This was enough money to stock my kitchen for the next few months, until I could get back to doing missions.

That thought made me stop and think for a moment, it said that missions were now online. Did that mean I could get actual missions now? I was pretty curious about the training grounds as well, but I didn't know where that was in particular…

But the Hokage's tower had a map of the village inside of it! I could check out the Mission Center and find out where the training aground are as well!

"Excuse me, but are you Naruto Uzumaki?"

It was a foreign voice, accented and much different from those that I usually heard. I looked over my shoulder and sure enough it was a girl wearing some odd uniform I hadn't seen before, with a foreign headband around her forehead. Despite it all, she didn't look remarkable in any way besides her differently colored skin.

I pondered on what to say for a moment, I felt like I had more to say for some reason now, and chose what sounded the least offensive yet would still net me some information.

"Depends," I answered smoothly still just looking over my shoulder, "Who's asking?"

She was silent for a moment, before resuming her in her oddly accented voice as she reached for something in her back pack.

"I am a courier from the Fire Capital's Shinobi taskforce-"

Two marking appeared, one on the lower left of my vision and the other on my right. The red sigil made me wary immediately, it looked just like the outline of a fox's head, while the blue looked akin to a stylized tree. I knew I could go without choosing one, and let her continue, but I chose the blue immediately.

I turned on a dime, my hand swiftly going to my sword as I glared at her behind my locks as they settled. I had no control once more, and I spoke before I even thought of it.

"Care to explain why exactly you look so different, if you're even who you say you are?"

She stiffened, and a familiar voice came from the side.

"Enough, Naruto."

I turned to Ojii-san, letting my hand leave the sword I had been recently bequeathed. The street was silent, and I was surprised to notice all the stores were closed and there were no persons in sight, probably by the ANBU he had following him all the time.

'20 Sage Points Gained!'

'You are now a Rank 1 Sage! Be sure to apply your Sage Point!'

"Release yourself, Yuugao." He called behind me, and when I took a glance the woman behind me was now a woman clad in ANBU armor with flowing purple hair. She gave a nod as she fished a mask from underneath her vest and leapt up to the roof-tops disappearing within moment even though I tried to keep my eyes on her.

"Ojii-san?" I asked tentatively, looking at the ground where to woman was and back to him. I was certainly getting confused now.

"My grandson would hardly be stupid enough to steal the Scroll of Sealing from the tower," He explained, taking the pipe from his mouth momentarily to blow a trio of smoke rings into the air by his side. Even though he looked away, I felt as if I was being analyzed by a larger predator and had to stop my hand from grasping the hilt of my sword. "I needed to make sure you were you, and that you didn't somehow lose 50 points of IQ over a Genin test."

Oh… oh!

"I was tricked into stealing it." I scratched the back of my head as I gave a weak smile. "Not my best moment Ojii-san."

The man's eyebrow raised several notches, and the silent street got decidedly quieter for some reason.

"Ojii-san." The Hokage mused, reinserting the pipe into his mouth. An odd smirk appearing on the side of his face, I must not have called him that in this life. "Appropriate since I somehow let a civilian get the Scroll of Sealing."

He smiled a terrifying smile.

"Would you kindly hand me the scroll that contains all this villages secret techniques?"

Then I realized I still had the Scroll, and he wanted it back. It was inside the Crystal in my forearm. I fumbled around it for a few moments, as he watched me, I eventually got it to work with a literal slap on my own wrist. I wasn't aware how it actually worked, of course, since everything I grabbed just tended to disappear most of the time.

Then the gigantic scroll simply appeared in front of me and dropped itself on the ground.

The muddy, horse-dropping covered ground in the middle of the street that sold vegetables and threw their scraps right on the street.

The silence was deafening now, and the leader of my village actually palmed his face.

'Village Reputation Lowered.'

Yes, thank you for telling me what I already know game. Thank you very much.

I scratched the back of my neck, feeling very awkward now and feeling that I the habit of scathing my neck would probably just grow with time.

"Just come with me, Naruto." Ojii-san sighed as he shook his head, turning around and starting a leisurely pace to the tower "Take that scroll with you as well…"

I reached out to pick up the scroll, sheepishly.

"And actually carry it instead of putting it inside the thing you've barely had for an hour."

"Hai, Ojii-san." I managed through my embarrassment, as I tucked the massive scroll under my hand. I was pretty sure my white clothes would get stained from it as well, but I really, really didn't want to complain after dropping the storage scroll of the village's most forbidden techniques into a pile of horse shit.

The walk was silent after that.

…

"So, Naruto…" Ojii-san drawled as he kicked back on his chair and put his feet upon his table, odd I don't remember him ever doing that in my last life. "Would you care to explain to me why you chose to specialize in Close Combat rather than ANBU Commander?"

I was sure that I looked like a gaping fish, since I was blinking quite rapidly and my mouth was akin to a fish.

"I th-"

A small book immediately hit me square on the forehead, and before I could even touch my forehead he was in front of me blazing with rage.

"Did I not hammer a single thing into your head, Naruto?!" He thundered, and I had to slump into my seat as his presence seemingly sucked up the entire room. My god, did Ojii-san teach me in this dimension because I was a geniu-

He smacked the side of my head with the book, it didn't hurt but I had to wince. Given the fact I was sure that he could have killed me, that was done purposely.

"You bloody fool! I took you in because of you said you'd use your insight properly, but here you go refusing the job best for your talents!" He was absolutely livid, and more than a few veins were appearing on his forehead as he practically shouted his head off.

At least my Perception seems to be making some changes too, while Intelligence seemed to have changed entire social dynamics Perception seems to have netted me some of Ojii-san's time.

"No brain in his head," He muttered as he stomped, a bit petulantly though I couldn't say that out loud, back to his desk. He took his seat again and crossed his arms as he leveled a glare at me.

"Report, Naruto." He grunted, "Enlighten me to your idiocy despite all the years I've taught you."

I winced lightly, once more going to scratching the back of my head in embarrassment.

"W-well, you see…" I began, almost instantly having to dodge another small book.

"Wrrrooonnnggg…" Ojii-san drawled, "It seems you've not only forgotten about your promise but how to give a report to me while you're at it!"

A small ding resounded and suddenly I was no longer in my body, but one more in the odd form where I was out of it much like the vision where I met the Fourth. I saw myself sitting oddly as Ojii-san laced his fingers together and rested his chin on the interlaced digits.

'High Intelligence and Perception detected! Applying Analytic perk and Body Language perk! Low Charisma found, taking away Flattery! Average Strength found, locking Bully! Average Agility found, Fast Talker locked! High Luck found, applying positive 10 to Mood!'

Then three options of the familiar dusty orange color came to being off to the side of my vision, most of the words disappearing from the forefront of my vision immediately.

'Placate: Good towards Alphas, Leader Figures, yet Deltas will take offense to this.'

'Appease: Good towards Betas, Follower Figures, yet Alpha's will take offense to this.'

'Intimidate: Good towards Deltas, Trash, Betas and Alpha's will kill you for this.'

Off to the right corner two images suddenly appeared, marked Perception, and I realized that was where 'I' was looking. It was easy for me to determine the controlled beating of Ojii-san's heart, and the relaxed tension he exuded from every pore. Instead of being calmed by the information influx, I was actually even more frightened.

To the right a box appeared marked 'Analysis' and it said a mere three words:

He's Fucking Pissed.

Thunder resounded and a wall of orange text blocked my vision from the scene in which I was so utterly fucked it was not funny.

'Speech! Speech is an extremely integral part of the game! While some Charisma and a few perks help, it'll always be up to you to convince people onto your side/s! Be careful and think upon the characters behavior and mood before speaking! You have plenty of time to choose! The Speech skill levels up whether or not you succeed so you need not worry about failing beyond changing some events in the story or relationships! Certain career paths are also heavily affected by this skill! No doctor can work with an unruly patient, and neither can a business mogul not speak to his subordinates! Who knows! You may even turn enemies into friends!'

Oh shit, Oh shit…

Alright… Calm down… there's plenty of time to choose…

I was never much of a talker beyond yelling and cursing, but I can make this work… there has to be a correct choice in one of these three.

Ojii-san would never be intimidated by me, that would be just plain stupid. I don't even know how I would use that thing if these three are the only choices I would get.

So I was left with Appeasement and Placation.

Quite frankly I didn't quite think he'd like getting his ass kissed or being part of some sort of a deal…

But…

Fuck it…

I covered my invisible face with my invisible hand, and pressed 'Appease.'

"Ah," My…self scratched the back of his head awkwardly, and I was more than a little disconcerted as I was immediately zoomed in to get a good view of my upper half. "I have to admit that I wasn't actually thinking clearly when I asked Iruka-sensei-"

Ojii-san slammed his fist into the table and even though I was immediately shifted over to view the side of my Ojii-san's face I knew that that particular line had been cut off…

"I think that the fact that you weren't thinking clearly has been impressed already, Naruto." His hands returned to the small platform they had been before for his chin, "But, please, show this stupid old man why you acted as you did."

I was suddenly over the shoulder of my body again, and I could hardly suppress my attempts not to scream in fury, why must I do this? Why can't I just run or leave?

The three choices appeared once more, and I pressed 'Appease' again, call it being stupid, but I had a feeling that it was the safest bet I had at the moment.

My other self took a deep breath.

"I didn't want to leave my friends." He said it simply, but even I didn't exactly know where my sudden conviction came from. What surprised me though, was the sudden release of invisible tension from Ojii-san's body that I picked up from the screen that my Perception had given me. "If I went into ANBU as we planned I won't be able to help Sasuke."

There was ominous silent for a moment, and I was sure that if I had hands at the moment I would've been dragging my finger nails with enough force to break the skin.

Dozens of emotions crossed Ojii-san's face, before he lowered his hands and tilted his hat forward. I was at his side once more, looking at the face that was hidden underneath the shadow of the hat I dreamed to wear proudly.

He was smiling.

Then he turned his chair around, and I wished I could turn to see that smile as the sun set over the sea of green the horizon. A soft melody played, seamlessly adapting to the world. My body got up and was about to leave when my smiling grandfather tossed something backwards through the air for him to catch.

"You'll need that to use that if you want to use that crystal on your wrist effectively." He stated simply, and my body uttered a word of thanks before exiting.

Ojii-san got up the moment the door closed behind my body, and he walked onto the balcony that graced his office. I was still at his side, when he took off the hat and looked upon the mountain that held facsimiles of the villages greatest heroes.

"Sensei…" His voice was a mere whisper, wind gracing the smile on his face, and the music seemed to dim as he spoke to the edifices of out mightiest heroes. "The Will of Fire still burns brightly in this generation."

With those words I was once more in my body, and I wondered if it really mattered if I chose any other path.

Ding!

Suddenly the empty space at the very top center of my screen was no longer empty, a bar that I had seen when I picked that kiddy lock filled up. Thunder resounded, and in bold letters the game declared:

'Speech XP Full! Speech now level 15!'

'You have leveled up! You are now level one! Please assign a skill point!'

'HUD device found! Applying!'

My body moved by itself, and I took out the object that Ojii-san had given me.

They were contact lenses, and before I saw them clearly two fingers immediately dabbed into them and captured the lenses as the casing was thrown away. They were immediately pressed against my irises as I felt an arc of electricity arc from my arm to my eyes.

A shock and I had to grit my teeth through the sudden pain, it felt as if hot metal was pouring through my eyes and in. My vision blurred for a few moments, and even as I blinked I was able to see the shapes forming at the very bottom of my vision, at the center and the right left corners as well as to the right.

After the third blink I was thoroughly aware of the two bars, one red, and one blue off to the lower right and the regular thunder struck as a box of text appeared in the center of my vision with its normal qualities of blurring everything that didn't exactly matter. Since the two horizontal bars encased by thin, bright gray weren't blurred I deduced that it must be what the game was talking about.

'These are your Health and Chakra Bars! The numbers depicted within each bar represent how much Chakra or Health you currently have! Chakra will always refill at 5 per second without perks, and Health will Refill at 0.1 per second during battle and 1 per second outside of battle without perks! Losing all your Chakra will impede its regeneration for an entire minute, if you're not careful, so make sure to use it effectively! Always watch your health though! One second per point may sound pretty amazing but you gain 10 of Health and Chakra every time you level up and dying is never fun!'

Yeah, it isn't, try being on the end of a stalagmite you jerks. I rubbed my stomach idly as the text disappeared and a new one formed, this time highlighting the green bar encased in the same silver as the others in the very center of my screen.

'This is your Stamina Gauge! Unlike Chakra and Health this one refills at 25 points a second after battle and 10 whist in it! It may seem fine and dandy, but the detriments to getting past zero Stamina is much worse! You may not die, but you will be unable to move until the whole gauge is filled, the worst way to a battle! Stamina Gains can only be done with constant draining, and levels will give you no stamina at all! The best way to make sure you're gaining stamina is by sprinting, and climbing and jumping at all times!"

The green bar was situated in the middle of my vision for a reason, I guess I'll still have to train hard… The block was replaced with another, and this one outlined what seemed to be an outline of an orange circle surrounded by hollow orange circles.

'This is your active skill slot! Skills are noteworthy to the character whose life you are currently experiencing and costs no Chakra to use! Instead it utilizes a cool down that only allows it to be used a certain number of times before it is inaccessible for a certain length of time!'

'As a Naruto Uzumaki character type your Active skill is: Kage Bunshin! Make three clones of yourself at a time! Upgrades to this skill include explosive clones, stronger clones, and allowing the cool down to be nonexistent and allow you and entire army of yourself!'

Well… I guess I know where all my skill points went… I would've succumbed to further depression had I realized that I had a blank slate in whatever 'Skills' was and I could hope to change from spamming clones everywhere. Though I wouldn't stop, of course, now that I had a sword four of me would already be plenty awesome!

I was interrupted from my musings by the disappearance of that particular box, and the blurring of the skill box and the appearance of a new pair and the outlining of the largest square with a triangle in it's very middle.

'This is your map! It may be small at the moment, but that because we decided we couldn't let you get too lost and we couldn't cram your entire screen with it! You can find the larger one in your menu, but this one's always present for your use! Use this to find important places such as the Training Grounds, or the Mission Room!'

I blinked rapidly as the final message blurred away and I was left up to my own devices. I took a look at the map, no easy feat as it was literally at the upper right corner of my vision. I was the triangle, and the cone in front of me was probably my field of vision. Stairs were off to end of the hallways, and windows were apparent as well, it was definitely going to be very useful if I needed to navigate anywhere.

Then I was alerted to the beeping sound on my wrist, and I was surprised to see the moment I looked at the crystal device it was surrounded by numerous lines flowing around it, probably a part of . Each line was about the size of my finger and revolved around my arm in a slow orbit, some were gray but the two that were emanating sounds quite clearly were pulsing a deep orange.

I tapped the one of the glowing lines, and the other's immediately disappeared and it became horizontal. Its glow left and it sank into the lattices of the crystal.

There was a pause and a click, then hundreds of lines expanded and left my the crystal all at once, first forming the borders then filling the space of the emerald frame themselves. Though it was only the length of my entire arm, it filled up my entire vision nicely when I held it close.

It's… a lot better than holding the sliver of a crystal up to my face, that was for sure.

'Level Up! 1 Perk Point available!'

'Choose a perk in a skill tree to substantially grow in that area! Choose carefully, and be sure that you'll be able to gain the most advantage from whatever you may choose.'

It was a giant cylinder, a facet for every skill and how far I had progressed into each one.

'Barter: 19'

'Speech: 9'

'Medicine: 14'

'Chakra Control: 10'

'Chakra: 24'

'Sneak: 14'

'Repair: 18'

'Explosives: 12'

'Melee: 17'

'Unarmed: 10'

'Seals: 14'

…it really didn't look all that good besides for my Chakra, I had a feeling that I would need this singular point more than I would think.

A quick skim provided me with the choices I had, and they were nowhere near as good as the array of 'perks' I had to choose from, each one was just a 20 percent rise in effectiveness in the skill with 4 more banks after the first.

I chose to go with 'Melee' though, increasing the effectiveness of weaponry by 20 percent and the moment I chose it the entire cylinder was wiped away and I was astounded by the three branching choices I was to choose next. It seems that after my first choice I was expected to choose in a particular path that had been spoken about.

'Skill Creation Unlocked!'

'Assign 5 points to a mix of these skills!'

'Assassination Skill One: Lethality: Increases damage of critical attacks by one hundred percent! Increases by a hundred every point! Stacks with Dual Wielding and Parry! 0/5 points.'

My neck tingled at the prospect, one hundred multiplied against five was five hundred percent. Anything multiplied against that would be astronomically huge. What can even stand against such damage?

'One Handed Skill One: Dual Wielding: Allows utilization of two one-handed weapons at the same time and increases attack speed of each weapon by twenty percent and increases chances of blocking with each point! Stacks with Lethality. 0/5 points.'

A speed demon prospect but I had my doubts about it, I couldn't imagine using two blades and swinging them around without eating up all of my stamina, I was fairly sure swinging around two chunks of metal was worse than one. The speed would probably just allow me to be drained even faster than I normally would.

'Two Handed Skill One: Parry: Allows you to utilize the 'Parry' function with any two handed weapon, with a marked decrease in effectiveness with any other weapon type! Parry's cost less than blocking and provides an opportunity to cause critical damage up to two hundred percent after it's done with a simple slash! Increase the lethality of this skill with every point! Stacks with Lethality. 0/5'

It was the safest course of action, I knew the importance of making sure blades stayed away from me at all times and it would give me the ability to cause more damage without endangering my stamina. The only problem would be the Ninjato that Iruka had given me, it was fairly long but I had my doubts if it was a two handed weapon as I would need it to be. I would rather not trade it in.

I put in most of the points into the first 4 skill point things into Parry and the last into Assassination. A little offensive power would never hurt anyone after all, and specializing in something to much would render me horribly ineffective in some areas. I would never know when I would need the extra point in damage from Lethality.

A spiral appeared with the word 'processing' underneath it.

'Passive Skill Unlocked: Slightly Lethal High Parry! Parry Enemy Attacks at the cost of your block feature for 10-25 points of your stamina! Cause three hundred percent more damage in your counterattacks! Be careful though! You can't hold a Parry, you'll need to activate this manually before an attack hits you by blocking!'

The box of text coalesced into a small box with what appeared to be an etch very long blade with a drop of blood at its tip against a gray backdrop.

Once the choice was plugged in the bracer returned to its regular shape, and I pressed the other one expecting a cylinder much like the other one.

I was wrong the two icons returned, with the blue tree glowing ethereally as a small plus hovered over its upper right corner. The tree was right next to the sigil of the nine-tails, which was a muted red at the moment.

After a moment, I decided to touch the tree.

The tree's brightness suddenly became lighter and I held to hold my hand in front of my face.

Suddenly, everything was gone and a sense of peace washed over me. The walls disappeared and I was suddenly in a meadow. There was gentle gust of wind, and an other-worldly scent that soothed me in it.

There were three trees in the distance, I was in the middle of three paths standing atop a stone in the most beautiful place I could ever imagine. I looked up, and my breath was taken away.

Choose.

There was no box, no sound of thunder, only a word that seemed to float in and out of existence from the beautiful starry sky. It was day, yet it wasn't, I was at the apex of the times. Where the beauty of the night was synonymous with the beauty of the day.

I knew that I had three choices, but unlike the simple choice of power as I had gained before, reaching one of the gigantic trees in the distance would change me far more than I could ever hope.

So I looked, and my vision extended.

The very first tree to the north, was similar to where I was. There was beauty and elegance, yet a rawness I couldn't hope to describe. It was strong, and towered over all the rest. Powerful, mighty… things that I sorely felt I was or could be. Maybe it was what I chose before, I remember fighting and laughing, being the center of attention and winning.

I touched my chest, where a gigantic rock erupted from my very eyes. I didn't feel like I could do that again.

I turned, and I was faced with a desert in the distance. It wasn't a tree, it was a gigantic spire that traveled upward. Flowers bloomed at it's very tips, but all around it were dead trees. It's massive roots stretched deep into the ground. It did not nurture, it took for itself and nurtured those it held in esteem.

I wanted those I cared for to be happy, but I could not do unto others such things.

And so I turned to the last path.

It was an elder tree, all around it was snow. It was dwarfed by the others, but nothing existed around it, there was no beauty or majesty. It stood against the world unnoticed, but strong. Nothing else grew where it was, simply lacking the tenacity it had.

I took the step before I could think, and the other paths disappeared as I fell from the rock. The meadow disappeared and an icy chill crawled up my spine as my foot made contact with the snowy ground, a mound of ice was in front of me and ever so slowly a small plant grew from it, a single leaf unfolding against the worlds wishes for it to fall.

…and then the world fell away…

A gentle chime sounded to warrant my attention to the otherworldly script in front of me.

'Controlled Breathing: twenty five percent chance to not use Stamina in an action, ten percent chance to ignore all stamina loss penalties at the cost of five percent of current health, skill becomes unavailable at thirty percent health'

I looked away from my wrist, the boxes disappearing as my statuses reappeared along with the map. My forearm was once more surrounded by lines, but they weren't as noticeable as before without the two glowing ones.

I examined the map for a minute, and a few deductions allowed me to figure out that there was a very easy way to get to the second floor. It would actually only take a few steps, if I was correct. The Mission Center was directly below me, and it would do well for me to start using this map. I hadn't paid much attention to reading maps in my past life, but using the one in the corner just seemed natural.

I opened the window, there was no lock for the inside, and closed it behind me. I dropped onto the ledge, hanging off of my arms, and was happy to find that the window below was open just as the map had said it would be. A small leap forward and I was in the Mission Center, not even drawing a look with my entrance. I would hazard, since hundreds of ninja enter the place daily, my own entrance was hardly noteworthy.

It was as drab as I remember, black and white tiling as flooring, grey walls with a few electric lamps, and a ridiculous amount of people attending to hundreds of scrolls on multitudes of cheap tables. Those tables were mostly off to the east and western sides of the room, though and the south was free with a set of double doors made from similar wood. The north of the room was dominated by a gigantic extended table with more than a few ninja sitting lazily as they waited for someone to accost them for a mission or two from the piles of scrolls they had next to them.

Curiosity compelled me to analyze further, it must have something to do with the intelligence that was now my own. My sight was dragged around, and my breath caught as I comprehended what I was being shown.

The floors were a dark brown, but near the edges were traces of white, the original coloring. The entire room was stained in blood just like the Northern Gates, this time thought it was probably from the veins of allied ninja who had imperative reports to deliver before thinking about their own bodies. Or maybe they were still enemy blood, infiltrators were always heavy even in peacetime and this place must be a huge trap.

There was three doors, all of them similar in design and I had to frown at that that wasn't nearly as introspective as the former. One led to the hallway that had access to the stairs, one led into the room where the scrolls were stored until they could be picked up by whoever sifted through the massive amounts of information and the last one led to the rest of the building.

I blinked rapidly.

There was no rest of the building to my knowledge.

Then I remembered that the Hokage tower was vaguely circular in shape and its mid-section was wider than the rest of the tower, right where the Mission Center was located. A security force hidden in plain sight, ingenious, they could just enter as if they were in there the entire time but were really prepped for immediate defense.

Then my sight was moved to the ceiling and I nearly dropped to my knees.

It was covered in tatami tiles, most of them new but I finally noticed the sifting shadows within them.

"Naruto!" A voice suddenly exclaimed, and I turned to see Iruka attending a desk with a boy my age seemingly just as surprised as I was. I was happy to see Iruka well, but I wondered if he should be working right after confronting a traitor so soon, or even working at all since it the sun was most certainly setting off in the distance. I would gladly think that having detained a man about to make off with the villages secrets would earn a man some time off. "Mind helping out an old classmate of yours with a mission?"

I was shot out of my body once more, the entire array of tools I had been given moments earlier disappearing to be replaced by the Body Language box and the Analyzer Box. I was bemused to find it actually being helpful this time, and my avatar showed none of the fear I was sure that I had when I realized how well defended this place actually was.

The Perception box appeared alongside the analysis, Iruka's breathing was calm and showed no signs of tampering. His hands were folded calmly and held no tension at the wrist or forearm. He was leaning forward, maybe his back was hurting was lightly. There was an easy smile on his face as always, and it didn't seem to betray any of his feelings, he might be hiding something…

'Analysis: Iruka is no fool, don't try anything rash. As an ally he's already proven himself in battle, and that's worth more than rebuffing him for another person who might be stronger.'

Useful, and pretty neat as well. I'd like to know how to approach people before I start speaking to them, would stop from making me sound like a dumbass, Kami knows how many times I spoke with my fists last time around.

My avatar turned on his heel towards them, giving a nod to the other person before standing in front of Iruka. When my viewed was moved to view my avatar, I was perturbed to see him so grimfaced, it probably had to do with my lowered Charisma. Much to my chagrin, it seemed that immediately affected Iruka, his smile became noticeably strained and his back straightened as one hand drifted off its relaxed position.

"A mission, Iruka-sensei?" My avatar asked brusquely, the game not even bothering to give me a chance to say hello or anything. I could tell that I was going to dislike my lowered Charisma, but I could only wonder how high my old charisma was at for me to be able to speak and change other people's minds so freely.

Iruka gave a terse nod and gestured to the boy at the very edges of my point of view, thankfully my view abruptly changed to accommodate the newcomer. Iruka's vitals abruptly left and was replaced by the newcomer's whose hand was already ready to grip my own. I was thankful that my avatar had enough Charisma to return the shake with a nod before resuming to his grimness by crossing his arms across his chest and tapping his foot impatiently.

Wow… I must be coming off as an asshole.

"Wow." The boy remarked, as he put one hand on the back of his head. "You're still a bit of an asshole aren't you?"

There was a strangled noise behind us, and I was treated to the sight of Iruka coughing into his sleeve while making 'go forth' gestures with his free hand without meeting my eyes. I expected my avatar to glare, or even yell in outrage but he just rolled his eyes and… gave a small smile?

The hell?

"Nice to see you too, Guresu-san." My avatar tilted his head lightly, the boy opposite giving a quick grin in return. The line of sight haphazardly changed to capture my avatar's smug expression before suddenly shifting to the friend I couldn't remember."Life treating you well?"

He was must have been from the earlier classes I had taken in this new life, since he was most certainly not 14 as I was. There was an absurd lack of fat on his lean face, as if he hadn't eaten in weeks, and his brown hair would probably have been in a disheveled mess if he didn't keep it tied up, save for the ones framing his face. He was wearing a commoner's yakuta colored in the not so commoner color: black with his headband wrapped around his waist. His clothing was torn in a few places and I could see the similarly colored pants underneath the torn hemline. Needless to say, I couldn't see any of the grace that he was named after.

Options appeared, right alongside the Analysis and Perception boxes, it was getting easier and easier to just take a glance at them after seeing two of them work. Guresu was showing signs of fatigue, and he was trying not to fall asleep, and he seemed friendly enough to warrant some sort of relationship, without even taking into account that despite his tattered clothing he had no true wounds bandaged and didn't prefer one limb over the other. He was strong, several leagues above me. I would not win against him it stated quite simply, and I shouldn't try to kill him anytime soon.

I wonder how much of an asshole I would've been if I was only smart in these conversations, Perception was most certainly helping me get to know people more than Intelligence, giving me details about how a person might be feeling (though Ojii-san seems to be able to control it, and Iruka can do the same to a limited degree, so I wouldn't put all my eggs in that basket). Intelligence seems so… cold, calculating and seems to just see people as another resource, it was scary in a way.

It makes me wonder if I made the right choice in specializing in it, since I was most certainly feeling the effects of my basic Chakra Control and I supposedly had plenty of knowledge about almost every other skill set to go alongside it. It was supposedly a huge boost in almost every non-combat skill there was, but it was starting to make me feel queasy on how it assigned such callus marks on people.

I shook my invisible head and focused on the new set of choices that was in front of me, funnily enough it was technically within the space between my character and Guresu but I was simply looking onto them off the side like an invisible specter. The village was in the background and it was quite easy to see the villages milling in the background, and when I strained my non-existent ears I could hear some conversations in the background.

It was sorta, kinda neat to be doing this, admittedly.

'Mission.'

'About.'

'More.'

'Exit.'

Well… it seems this game likes single word choices, I couldn't complain now that there was an exit key, though I wasn't going to choose it in any case. 'Mission' would probably just talk about the mission, I had no Idea what 'About' was all… about, and 'More' just seemed like a good idea when I didn't have anything to go on.

So I chose 'More, and the words disappeared as I treated to the side of my character's face.

The smirk fell away and he uncrossed his arms, squaring his shoulders a little, even though it looked a little dumb because of his small frame. It wasn't something that I necessarily noted when I was checking my new body, but it seems the perk 'Small Frame' seems to have literally given me a small frame alongside the attributes it gave. The appearance explained, I focused on my character's voice.

"I would like to know more about why this is all happening." My avatar stated simply, and I wondered if I could mimic that voice if I tried, I remember speaking to Sasuke and the others in the Tutorial but I haven't done anything akin to that yet now. "I'll need all the information you're willing to give me."

"Still the information scrounger, I remember." Guresu smiled as he shook his head, once he was finished he regarded me with what seemed to be some respect. "It's nice to know that some things stay the same, despite time…" He demurred wistfully, though there was an edge of malice in it that wasn't necessarily pointed at me. I took note of the sudden new addition of 'Possibly Betrayed' in Analysis, and the increased rate of breathing that he was clearly displaying (to me). "Do you have anything in mind?"

Fully-faced to my new 'acquaintance', new options popped up.

'Jyu.'

'(Intel. & Per.) Betrayal?'

'Skill.'

'Back'

Betrayal? Et tu, my charismatically retarded avatar? I think I'll save that for later, when I've spoken, I don't know, more than a dozen words to him at least. I wasn't quite sure who would pursue a choice like that… well I'm sure that my older self would probably have asked, but probably just because of Perception. I remember coming to a very quick conclusion when I saw that chopped up boar, then immediately went to rescue Tsunami and Inari with a split decision, so it was worryingly true that I could have chosen such a route without qualm.

'Skill' sounded the like the wisest choice at the moment, and maybe it will lead me to the illusive Training Ground I had planned on visiting after going to see if I truly had access to missions.

"I'm fairly well-off for a Genin," My character spoke bluntly as he crossed his arms once more, going as far as to raise an eyebrow, and I had to hold back another wince as he spoke without inflection or care, just seeking information. "But I can't gather why you'd ask me above someone with better training than others. I'm not telling you I'm not going to join, but I would like to know why I'm going to be sent on a mission that managed to harm an experienced Genin Squad."

Iruka coughed, camera shifting to him and away from my own face to his. He steepled his fingers, after he placed the scroll he had been scanning away, and spoke without meeting my character's gaze.

"As of the moment," Iruka stated slowly, "You're at a very tentative position, Naruto-kun." He shifted lightly and under both information boxes I was succinctly told that he was choosing his words very carefully. "My methods in promoting you are very… strange during peacetime, and requires a bit of convincing to be fully approved. You'll need to show your skills, and show your aptitude for being a Shinobi while being scrutinized." He gestured, my view leveling off to see him point at Guresu. "He can provide the second report on your skills and how you acted on the mission, a surveyor if you will."

"So it's like probation?" My character asked over his shoulder, and Guresu gave a chuckle as Iruka's attempt to sound serious fell away at my avatar's blunt affirmation. I had to give my own chuckle at how he linked the evaluation to something so serious as setting a off on a leash. Given what I had inside me, the irony was not lost on me at all, it was rather humorous in a dark sort of way.

Iruka gave a tired smile, and nodded, resuming his work with the scrolls as three options returned as I faced a smirking Guresu. I was aptly told that he was more relaxed, and I was thankful that my character had a sense of humor. There was hardly a situation where humor was not needed. I had to wonder, if I would still be able to prank people, but I remember such things tapering off when I started my career. I was also quite clearly reminded about my supposedly low relations with my own village, one part due to my status as a Jinchuuriki and the other as simple mistake of dropping the village's culminate knowledge into a pile of horse shit.

So pranks were off limits for now I guessed…

I chose 'Jyu' since I still didn't feel any comfortable talking about possible betrayal just of yet, I couldn't be sure of how Guresu felt just yet. Advice was best taken with a grain of salt, anyways, and there wasn't a grain of doubt in my mind that the two information boxes were best taken as such.

"You're… Jyu." My character said slowly, turning his face towards Guresu and away from its shoulder overlook onto Iruka. "Jyu Guresu, you graduated last year with," His brow furrowed and he placed his chin onto his hand mumbling words in deep thought. "Gyan Waizu and Kyoshi Subete, correct?"

The two boxes went haywire at the words Kyoshi Subete, his pulse increased and his hands clenched as he gritted his teeth. 'Possible Betrayal' went all the way into 'Betrayed by Kyoshi Subete'.

'Speech Level Up! Level 16!'

Yes, yes please shut up.

"It's good that you remembered me, Uzumaki-san." He inclined his head slowly, and I was aghast to find that he was monitoring his words carefully this time and was making visible effort to stay calm. Due to his youth it was nowhere near jii-san's level and he just looked stiff beyond belief. "I'm sure that they will be glad that you remember as well."

He smiled though.

"This will only make working with you easier." He continued on a lighter note, still stiff in voice and movement though my character did not show any feelings beyond taking away his hand form his chin. Jyu gave a rather regal bow that made me wonder where exactly he was raised, and my view stayed on him as the options returned to the ones I had before I chose 'More' and that was gone as well. "I have no doubts that with your help I will be able to accomplish my mission."

'Jyu Relations Increased: Liked!'

Well shucks, if not for the fact that I just learned that a fellow Konoha ninja may have just betrayed another one I would have wiped my invisible nose with my invisible hand and thought about asking Jyu to eat a bowl of ramen.

Why can't missions ever be simple? Why does there always have to be someone getting hurt in the end of it all? In Wave it was Zabuza and Haku alongside all the others who died because of Gato, now I'm knee deep in betrayal of someone who I've undoubtedly talked with and should've died for per our villages traditions.

Dammit, I hope his other teammate was still alive at least.

The only relevant options were 'Mission' and 'About' now, since I had no mind on leaving this alone now. Jyu seemed friendly, and I had a feeling that if I was betrayed I wouldn't stay the same until he got at least a little payback, who knows a few punches to the face gets anyone off their high horse.

I picked 'About', of course. I wasn't too sure whether or not 'Mission' would start me on it right away, and I wasn't about to take any chances. I took plenty of them my last life, and that ended with me getting thrown into a cliff, not rushing things if I could help it.

"So," My character inquired, and I wondered if he felt the same as I did or if he felt nothing at all, since I was technically 'him'. "What does this mission entail, exactly?" He crossed his arms once more, and I was convinced that was my new quirk instead of laughing. "Location, Objectives, Secondary Objectives," He listed off the top of his head. "Don't leave anything out."

Jyu got more stressed, and I glanced worriedly at the sudden influx on the Perception information that was coming through, his neck muscles were tensed behind the skintight material that reached halfway up, and he didn't seem to intent on speaking.

My character continued forward, "I need you to tell me everything, Jyu." He continued without remorse, apathetic to the trembles racking through the boy's body even as the room became quieter and quieter. "What did the enemy use? Why are you the only one here? Why just me? Why just a Genin?"

He was barely a foot away from Jyu now, and apprehension caused my stomach to do back flips.

"I am only a Genin at best, the only people I would be sent would be people I would know how to fight." He paused, and crossed his arms across the white vest, "You've been betrayed, and I'm being vouched because I know them as well." My character accused, shooting a glare into Jyu's eyes that I caught as much as the intentioned victim because I was moved to see it as well. I felt like I was being dissected by cold, blue eyes outlined by green of the contacts I had just acquired.

He took a step back from the trembling boy, and I realized that dozens of warning symbols were popping up in the boxes. Jyu was beyond furious, blood was trailing from his fists and onto the floor from his nails sinking into his flesh.

It would only take a small push…

"So which one of your friends betrayed you?" My character asked, and I guessed that was the push that threw the entire train over the cliff.

'Jyu Relations Decreased! Vilified!'

Jyu was so fast, I was sure I only caught his shift into stance because I was not looking from my own eyes. He flowed like water, knees bending as is elbow flowed into my stomach, and through the pain that engulfed my extremity he skid his foremost foot forward and extended his shoulder, driving the appendage deeper into my stomach.

I swear I felt a rib give, and I felt first hand why exactly I could not hope to beat this boy merely a year ahead of me as Jyu's perfect form allowed him a nearly split second attack that was twice as powerful as that elbow.

It was a fist, supplemented by the entirety of his weight, his right leg like a trigger primed to transfer energy with its corded muscles planted firmly upon the ground, cocked over his shoulder as he snarled and covered in rippling Chakra.

It was a majestic hit, and I witnessed it beautifully from my viewpoint just before it made contact with my stomach. I felt blood escape my lips like I spat water, and my white vests abdominal regions disintegrated with the passing force as civilian clothing tended to do when so much force was unleashed upon it.

The only time I remember being hit so hard was when Zabuza's clone kicked me in the abdomen and sent me flying away, but this time I didn't go flying…

Because this time my avatar was gripping Jyu's shoulder, and even as blood poured from his lips the tip of the Ninjato I had pulled from the crystal was at his abdomen, held by one hand even though it's handle was quite assuredly for two hands.

It was quite the stupid thing to note, given the fact I was almost about to kill someone so traumatized he could barely speak about his mission.

Just as I was afraid that my avatar was about to drive the blade through Jyu's stomach the entire screen was blurred by the imposing blue tree that I remember choosing a long time ago, alongside the latter choice of the stylized fox with nine tails. I did not know what the first would do, but I was assured that the second would truly end Jyu's life, because the fox would always revel in bloodshed.

I viewed as blood dripped between my avatar's feet and Jyu's and my stomach clenched in horror as it began to drip behind Jyu's back.

And that tension released when the un-bloodied blade hit the ground and my gaze flowed upward of Jyu's back, onto the arm encircling his torso that belonged to the boy whose lips ran with blood as he held him.

"Get some rest, Jyu." He whispered, and I could hardly believe what I had technically done. Where was the cynical man who counted men as figures? Where was the machine that I thought I had to suffer through? Where did this man of immense compassion come from?

Was this really me?

"You've earned it." He continued even as the Jyu realized what he just did through the haze of anger and his knees gave out from shock alongside his arms. I felt the strain as pain coursed through me, of how he must have felt from holding up someone his same weigh after getting hit by what was a punch that would've destroyed a tree in nay instance.

Could I really do this?

As the Jyu began to weep and apologize, I knew that I needed to.

If only for Jyu and Iruka now, I needed to be this otherworldly being in front of me.

And as I met his eyes, I felt that he approved, and all too-fast I was suddenly back into the aching body as Jyu regained his footing and quickly exited the room, more than a few eyes following his shaky gait.

'Jyu Relations Increased! Idolized!'

'Jyu Unlocked as Companion! Seek him out as a powerful partner in crime! Be careful to make sure he doesn't die or do anything he doesn't want to! He won't be coming back from the former, and he may hate you for the latter!"

'Village Relations Increased! Mixed!'

'While you have your enemies and friends in the village, the attitude is slightly more positive than it used to be! Good for you! Try not to kill anyone important soon m'kay?'

I gave a small chuckle that drew some odd looks from the surrounding ninja. I wiped away the blood on my moth with the remnants of my odd shirt, eying the pulsing health bar that had no more than fifteen points out of a hundred that was slowly climbing back up due to my status as a Jinchuuriki. Eighty five points of damage from an elbow strike and a punch, the game was most certainly not kidding when Jyu complexly outclassed me. Another punch would've ended my short life without question.

My knees were still wobbling from impact, and when I tried to take a step on the brown floor I almost fell over. I was caught, however, by Iruka and his smile was absolutely radiant in its brightness. I would've been happier if I actually did what I had done, and earned his true praise.

I hazarded I'll get plenty of chances to do that in real life though, I've been through plenty of fighting in my last life to know that I would have ample opportunity in advancing through ways I found meaningful later on.

Iruka guided me to the middle door, opening and closing it with speed I could barely follow, and I wasn't surprised to find the set of spiral stairs that he helped me down upon.

It was a simple tiled room, to my easiest observations, but Intelligence quickly pointed out the medical cabinets that took up the majority of the wall, as well as the small chests at the foot of no less than half a dozen-beds. The emergency hospital that I had thought of before the conversation was no longer just an imagined structure, and I was mildly relived that it existed rather than the armory.

Iruka helped me onto the nearest bed, and the moment my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.

…

A deep guttural growl filled my senses, primal terror welling inside me as I could not ascertain where or when I was.

"What have you done mortal?!" The voice asked with rage.

I could not answer, and the voice roared in fury that could have broken the world.

"I offered you power!"

I did not offer an answer.

"I offered you a path that will destroy your enemies!"

I did not want to answer.

"You are a fool for refusing me!"

I know I chose correctly.

"You poor fool…"

I am no fool, not this time.

The abyss faded into a more soothing darkness.

…