36 In the Good Books

"Daisuke-senpai?" Sasuke came up to me.

"Yeah?" I was waiting at the usual training ground for our study-group. I was going over the Perk List, trying to find additional possibilities. Lady Killer, which I hadn't even considered before, was starting to actually seem appealing...for all the wrong reasons, of course.

"I was wanting your opinion on how useful a team really is," Sasuke said, sitting down on the bench beside me. "The Academy instructors always talk about the Will of Fire and how important a team is, but you go off on your own a lot and you do fine."

"My opinion?" I repeated. "My opinion is that teammates are supposed to be your friends and you should try your best to protect them."

"So, you go off on your own because you want to protect your team?" Sasuke raised his eyebrow. "What if something happens to them while you're gone?"

"I also prefer to minimize their interference," I sighed. "Look, I am far and away the worst example of how a team can help you. If you really want them to be beneficiary, figure out how to work with them. I'm told the results of a good team are spectacular."

"But you don't agree?" Sasuke asked.

"Doesn't matter if I don't agree," I replied with a frown. "If you leave your team behind enough, you get pulled from active duty."

"Wait, what?" Sasuke looked alarmed. "You got pulled from duty?"

"Temporarily," I replied. "After our furlough's up in 10 days, I have to go through tactics classes for another two weeks…no missions until that's done."

Sasuke stopped short. "…missions are the only way for you to get stronger, right?"

"Yeah," Why do I get the feeling that telling him this is a horrible mistake? "But…you know…apparently, they think I'm going to get myself killed or something."

Sasuke steepled his fingers, going deep into thought, only grunting in response. I…really wish I had a higher charisma so I could at least get an idea of what he's thinking because I just got this strange feeling of dread that I might've just caused some kind of catastrophe.

"Basically, it's easier to work with your teammates now, as opposed to not and getting penalized for it later," I shrugged as a final word.

Sasuke simply grunted again, still thinking.

Then Sakura and Nichiren showed up, having met at some point down the road before.

"So, that's the main job of a medic nin," Nichiren summed up as they drew closer. "Since you have great chakra control, maybe you should consider it at some point."

"I'll definitely think about it," Sakura nodded, turning to us. "Hey, Sasuke-kun! Daisuke-senpai."

"Sakura," I nodded in response. "Speaking of medic nin, how's that coming, Nichiren?"

"Sensei finally taught me the mystical palm technique the day before the…fish-men," He nodded with a grin. "I'm still getting the hang of it – not a lot of people to practice on, we're still trying to get me permission to help at the hospital for some minor things but when I get promoted to Chunin, that'll be cleared up and I can start working there."

"Why do you need to be a Chunin to volunteer at the hospital?" Sasuke asked with a frown.

"As a Genin, you're tutored by a Jounin in the basics of being a shinobi," I answered. "When you're promoted to Chunin, you're fit enough to start more specialized training, like being a Medic Nin."

"Or cryptography or Research and Development," Nichiren nodded. "There's a lot of places you can go."

"Yeah…Research and Development," I grumbled with a frown. That reminds me, I do need to confiscate all the notes and not back down this time…destroy them. No letting myself get guilt tripped, the knowledge of what I can do could get to Orochimaru or the Akatsuki interested and that'd be a headache I don't want.

"Something the matter, Daisuke-senpai?" Sakura asked with a furrowed brow.

"No, just thinking," I replied.

"So then he said 'I'm four' and he held up like nine different fingers," Naruto and Hisako had started walking up the same way Sakura and Nichiren had.

"Huh," Hisako said, turning to us. "Hey, everyone."

…Naruto remembered our first conversation?

Naruto?

Huh.

Wow. I…didn't realize how important that was to him. I think I'm going to treat him to ramen after this. Heck, maybe I should just take the whole group. That'd be a good thing to do, right? I'm pretty sure they'd be okay with it.

Greetings were exchanged, and we headed out to training ground four.

"So, Sasuke," Nichiren began. "You said you've been working on another of your clan jutsu. Made any progress?"

Sasuke nodded. "I can perform it now."

"Ooh, are you going to show us?" Sakura said, clasping her hands in excitement.

"I can," Sasuke nodded. This was part of the arrangement, we all shared if we've done better and new things we were working on. I don't think he would be so open if that weren't the case.

When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured, and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates. It was an old quote, and I don't remember who said it but it couldn't be more true.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower jutsu," Sasuke struck the appropriate hand-seals and with a breath, released a swarm of tiny fireballs that flew in an erratic pattern forward. What was more important was that it was much faster than the great fireball. Easily a great crowd control jutsu.

Sakura gave an enthusiastic applause. Hisako and Nichiren were polite and impressed and my applause was short. Naruto gave a half-hearted one before looking away in discouragement. Well, I suppose it's good to see that the rivalry was still on. Sort of.

Chasing shadows was burning a hole in my quest log. It gave EXP, was suitably difficult and helped my best friend. There had to be something I could do to get the Mass Shadow Clone. I haven't even checked what the check is on it, but it had to be a higher check than the normal shadow clone. Even if it is only more of the same.

After that, we simply continued. I performed a storage seal that automatically stored chakra and got larger the more chakra it ate. I could've rigged it to take Nature Chakra, I guess, but I didn't want to it miss the normal chakra and leave the enemy not drained of their most precious resource.

Fuinjutsu Check Success: 99/85.

+1200 EXP.

3345 until level 18 and the Water Element.

An A-rank Fuinjutsu. Lots of EXP, lots of uses. Totally going to use it and make things easier later. Especially in dealing with enemy Ninjutsu specialists because screw them.

Hisako and Nichiren didn't have anything really new, and Naruto only had to show a slightly improved Taijutsu stance and katas, which honestly surprised me at how quickly he's starting to improve now that he's got a motivation. Awesome. Sakura also didn't have much to show…basic physical conditioning wasn't something you could really show off immediately, you had to wait until you got the figure, but she did say she's been working on the tree-walking technique, which is awesome.

After that we started sparring, talking shop and other things. Naruto and Sasuke both argued on who got to be my sparring partner first, an argument Naruto won because best friend. We talked Jutsu as well and after the sparring, Sasuke and Naruto both started work on tree-walking. The results were…less than stunning. Naruto wasn't even able to stick due to his poor control and Sasuke destroyed a tree due to over loading it with chakra. But they kept trying, bless them.

After a couple hours, around 4, we were about to break for the day and I…

"Hey, guys?" I called. They all turned to me and I felt just a little self-conscious. Just a little. "I was-uh…I was wondering if you guys wanted to go...eat out as a group? Together? You know, hang out? And stuff? Naruto and I know this awesome ramen stand and I think everyone would like it…"

"Yes," Hisako said immediately with a small smile that did…interesting things to my insides.

Those interesting things have probably been going on for a while, just now that I've noticed that puberty is here, I look at everything it does with a microscope and notice it a lot more.

"Yes! Oh man, Ichiraku's the best, you guys are going to love it," Naruto said with a grin.

"I'd have to let my parents know, but yeah," Nichiren nodded. "Sounds like fun."

"Same," Sakura replied. "Where do you want us to meet?"

"…in front of the academy, I guess. Ichiraku's not too far from there," I said with a sense of relief. "I'll totally meet you guys there in…say…an hour?"

Everyone gave an affirmative, even Sasuke, who only gave the slightest of nods in response.

"Great!" I said with a smile. "I'll see you then!"

Then I Shunshin'd off, because I just had a thought.

Here's the thing – the Library has to have new books in stock. I found a skill book that I hadn't purchased in the pile of books that currently graces my room…additional ones had to have spawned. I need more skills. At least one book for Fuinjutsu to round out my 99 to 100.

Because it's bothering me.

It's bothering me a lot.

Just like that guitar.

…I haven't given up on it. My clone just smashed it when the guitar's very presence offended him enough to try and learn it and he smashed it and didn't fix it because chakra cost. I haven't bothered to fix it yet.

The repair jutsu is actually a two-step, adapted henge. The first part puts the pieces back together, the second perma-henges them back together – no elemental chakra necessary. The sad part is that perma-henging something only works on objects without their own chakra network and changing an object to permanently be something else is prohibitively expensive. It's most efficient at what it was designed to do and if you want something else, use another jutsu.

Still probably going to teach Naruto and see what he comes up with. My bet is that he changes all the faces on Hokage Mountain to be his own for a prank. Or uses it to apply permanent paint to their faces.

I arrived at the academy in record time. The security, thankfully, had been reduced from the whole building to just the classroom the Rookie 9 were abducted from, leaving the library open. So, I charged up there, showed the Librarian my ID card and started looking.

No clones, my summoning gambit relied on everyone thinking I didn't use them. But I did look. I went up and down shelves, took random books out of their shelves and started reading, only to put them back when the skill increase didn't happen. I started using chakra-strings to pull out the books and start reading them in rapid succession only to put them back. I was getting antsy. I need more skills. I mean, I'm going to max everything long before I hit the level cap of 50, but I still want it done as fast as possible.

Skills are good.

+1 Fuinjutsu.

Yes!

Okay, I am officially the foremost expert in Fuinjutsu in the whole elemental nations. I mean, I kind of was before, but now there's not even a sliver of a doubt. Okay, what else can I find here…

Nothing.

There's nothing else here.

"Are you looking for something, Daisuke-kun?" I looked up and saw the Hokage approach me with a kindly smile on his face.

"I'm looking for books to increase my skills," I replied, figuring it would be best to be honest at this time. "Hokage-sama."

"Books increase your skills?" The Hokage asked, frowning immediately. "But training does nothing for you."

"It doesn't," I replied, my mouth a line. "But some books increase my skills the same way my power spikes do."

"I see," The Hokage nodded to himself. "Perhaps you might be willing to indulge me, then. How do your power spikes increase your skills?"

"It's a percentage increase," I shrugged. Whatever, it's not like he won't ever be able to figure this out on his own. "Every book I find increases the appropriate skill by one percent, bringing it closer to total mastery."

The Hokage hummed. "I'm assuming that your Chakra control is at one-hundred percent mastery?"

"Yes, it is," I nodded, still looking for skill books while talking to this old codger.

"Any other skills?" The Hokage asked.

"As of ten minutes ago, sealing," I answered.

The Hokage was frozen. "Did you say sealing? As in Fuinjutsu?"

"Yes," I replied. "Because that skill is valuable."

"I am quite aware of how valuable it is," The Hokage replied, looking a little disconcerted. "A book allowed you to get that far?"

"I was a percentage point off from it anyway," I shrugged. "But now…if there's something that can be done with seals, I can do it…provided I've got the smarts to work out all the pieces."

The Hokage hummed again. "…how many skills do you have that can be brought to perfection?"

"A grand total of thirteen," I answered. "No more, no less."

"Hmmm…well, Daisuke-kun," The Hokage started. "I've come to tell you that the research team has found out everything it can about your bloodline within the bounds of Konoha Law…since there has been nothing that would put the majority of Konoha in immediate risk and you seem to know everything about your blood line, the research has been concluded."

I blinked. I was not expecting that.

"The research notes will be delivered to your apartment to do as you will with them," The Hokage finished. "Also, you'll be happy to note that Yakushi Kabuto, the Ninja you requested remain off the team? We actually found that he had some connections with a traitor to Konoha. So, we greatly appreciate that you told us about your…hunch."

"A traitor?" I asked. "You mean Orochimaru?"

"Why would you think Orochimaru?" Hiruzen asked.

"The research notes I recovered in the sewers," I replied, full BS. "If Kabuto was a traitor, he'd obviously work with one who had common interests – he was a medic nin and Orochimaru was a scientist. They coincide."

Speech Check Success: 44/25.

Thank you, game.

"I suppose that does make sense," The Hokage mused. "But no. The connections we found were to another traitor, Shimura Danzo. We will apprehend him, thanks to you."

"That's good, then," I replied. Kabuto had connections to Danzo? That's…odd. I guess it makes sense for him to have been a Root agent, but I just never thought of it. "Is there anything else I can do for you, Hokage-sama?"

"Well," The Hokage began. "I needed to know…do you understand why you've been pulled from missions?"

"Because…I don't know, I didn't leave markings for my team to follow beyond the corpses of my enemies," I shrugged. "I didn't attempt to rendezvous with the rest of the group, I didn't wait…basically, I'm not a team player."

"That is correct," The Hokage nodded. "As a result of not being a team player, you've nearly gotten yourself killed. I understand getting kills helps you grow stronger, but that doesn't excuse trying to get the battlefield to yourself."

"With respect, Hokage-sama," I started. "But since I can sleep off almost anything, literally almost anything, and I always know how close I am to death, the chances of me actually dying are insanely low. Especially since my condition remains static after I get injured."

He hummed again, stroking his beard. "You always know how close you are to death."

"Down to the last point of health," I confirmed with a nod. "And I can recover fairly quickly with blood pills."

"Then why did you come out of the sewers coughing up blood and still suffering from your chest wound?" The Hokage asked with a frown.

"That," Oh, crap. Yeah, an injury like that looked bad. "That was…an interesting circumstance. Blood pills don't fix ruptured organs or broken bones…but as long as I have health, I'll stay alive. Crippled limbs are irrelevant."

"But you can still die," The Hokage said.

"Yeah," I answered, not entirely able to meet his eyes for some reason.

"That's what your team is for," The Hokage replied.

"I guess," I frowned. He…had a point, I suppose.

"Ultimately, the point I'm trying to make is that, durable though you may be, hard to put down, though you may be, you can still die," The Hokage summed up. "None of us want that. Do you?"

"…no," I replied. "Not really. I just want to get up to the point where my…social problems are taken care of."

"I know you want it fixed," The Hokage said. "But at this point, you have to ask. With all the clan's eyes on you, are you really willing to deal with clan politics before you have the strength to establish yourself as a dominant player in the arena?"

"I…is my Charisma really the only thing keeping me out of Clan Politics?" I blinked.

The Hokage frowned slightly. "Yes. Yes, it is. Your teammates have also learned how to look past it and you are doing better for that as well…you don't need to go into clan politics right now."

I sighed. "Fine."

"So, what have you learned?" He asked.

"I...that my team is there to help me stay alive as much as I'm there to help them," I rattled off, going over what we've talked about. "Going with them reduces my chances of dying and increases my chance of actually getting to the point where my social issues are taken care of, so it's foolish to simply charge in to save time."

Speech Check Success: 44/40.

"Good…now," The Hokage said with a smile, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Let's see if we can find some more books for you."

By the Hokage's order, I was given supervised access to the Chunin and Jounin libraries. Basically, as long as they know what I'm looking at, I have total access to their library, which means…

+10 Medicine.

+7 Ranged Weaponry.

+3 Taijutsu.

+5 Ninjutsu.

Then, based on what I told and showed what worked for me, he went ahead and went to the Libraries back room and brought a large stack of other books out for me.

+5 Ninjutsu.

+5 Genjutsu.

+5 Taijutsu.

+5 Ranged Weapons.

Naturally, I was utterly and absolutely gobsmacked. As far as ways to get back in my good books…this was a pretty good one. I think I've grabbed every skill book in Konoha until more spawn. I…holy cow. This was insane. I think he could tell how giddy I was, too, because he was smiling as well.

Awesome!

After my skill-book bonanza, I headed off to the Academy gates and met everyone there. Then we introduced Hisako, Sasuke and Sakura to the wonder that is Ichiraku ramen. Because that stuff tastes good. I mean, really, really good.

Hisako sat to my left, Naruto to my right and then going down from that is Sakura, Sasuke and Nichiren. Ayame looked really happy that everyone had showed up; she bowed, she took orders and struck up a conversation with everyone.

I…didn't really have much to say. I mean, I invited them all hear, but I wasn't one to talk unless it involved jutsu. I just…listened while everyone else talked and tried to avoid thinking about where I was going tonight because then I'd end up obsessing about it and not be able to pay attention at all. It was nice, all things considered.

After an hour or so of…socializing, if you can call barely speaking with anyone socializing, we all departed for our respective homes. I dove into my apartment through the window and…saw my guitar, still in pieces.

Let's try again.

I put it back together, opened the play book. Let's go slowly. From cord to cord. Got to learn. The old-fashioned way. Don't get frustrated. Don't give up.

Inhale.

Exhale.

This would go on for several hours, focusing and driving my obsessive personality on those strings and frets and trying to get better. It was the only thing I've found that doesn't use Game Mechanics to succeed. I need this in my life. Even if it's maddeningly difficult that I don't just get it right away because I have the stats and…

Inhale.

Exhale.

Fix the guitar, and start again.

Until, eventually, it was time.

Midnight was about to strike. I went into the bedroom, where I've left the blinds down for the whole day. Normal eyes won't see anything and they won't be suspicious because I'm suddenly closing blinds.

I hope that's how it works.

I was a little disappointed that I made so little progress, but fighting a war should lift my spirits considerably. I had the cylinder in hand and I used the Shadow Clone Jutsu, substituting and activating it as per the previous evening. With a salute, I activated the summoning jutsu and quickly found myself in the winter wonderland once again.

Quest Updated: The Liberation of Blackfoot Island.

Completed: Go to the Penguin Island at 12am.

Meet the Penguin forces at the North Shore.

Alright. Well, I'm back in the spot I came to. The Penguins are my summons. Or they would be if they let me sign their darn contract but fighting a war about who gets to eat who is good too. As long as I try not to think about the implications…I mean, I'm fighting to stop genocide. That's good, right? Right.

This time, Yujiro was there to greet me.

"Well, you actually showed up," The Penguin nodded with a raised eyebrow. "Good. I was almost worried you'd rethink your decision."

"Why would I?" I asked with a frown. "Fighting is fun."

"Enough to join the losing side of a war?" Yujiro smirked. "You crack me up, Shimoda."

"Whatever, let's just get moving," I said with a mental groan.

"Quick question, before we go," Yujiro held up a flipper. "You can make more of those rock bombs, right?"

"Yes," I nodded with a smile. "Yes, I can."

"Great," Yujiro grinned. "We need more of those."

"How many more?" I asked with a frown.

"About six," Yujiro replied. "They can be set off like normal explosive notes, right?"

"Right," I replied. "You'd have to time the fuse right, though. That's why I prefer remote detonation for them. More control."

"You can detonate them from afar?" Yujiro asked with interest.

"Yeah, but it's kind of complicated," I answered. "If you know how deep the targets are, then it doesn't matter, you could rig them the old-fashioned way."

"We do know how deep the targets are," Yujiro nodded. "Now are we going to sit around talking or are we going to move?"

"Give me just a second," I said, making several hand signs and slamming them to the ground.

Fuinjutsu Check Success: 100/90.

+2400 EXP.

945 more EXP until I level.

The Flying Thunder God technique scrolled itself on the ground…if something bad happens or I wind up getting reduced to under 10% health, then I've got the means of retreat. I may be willing to fight for the Penguins, but I'm not particularly willing to die for them. I'll probably write another one if I hit landfall somewhere so I'd be closer to combat and can come back after downing some blood pills.

"Alright, let's go."

With that, Yujiro fell on his belly and we started sliding to the rendezvous point. Over snow, past the frozen bay and even past the Ice Berg Palace. Eventually, we arrived at the North shore where quite the sizable contingent was preparing to move. Lots of penguin soldiers. Decked out in what I could only assume was shark-leather armor.

Well, at least they use every part of the kills they make. It's morbidly cool.

As we maneuvered in, the air was filled with chatter. Excited. Nervous. Not everyone today was going to come back home. That's just how war works. It was only a matter of who were those unlucky enough to not come back home. One of those might be me, if I'm not careful.

That's a little worrying, actually. I need to give myself an advantage.

Yujiro lead me to six, large boulders that had been carved out of the stone. "Alright, kid. Make these into bombs."

"How deep are the targets?" I asked.

"Shallowest is 1000 feet below, deepest is 1075," Yujiro replied.

Oh. Only a couple second's difference, then. Pretty shallow, too, but jutsu and chakra mucks that up a bit. "Alright. You want them easy to carry or can you handle the weight as is."

"Depends," Yujiro asked. "What do you mean by 'easy to carry'?"

"I used a seal to make the bomb lighter yesterday," I answered, writing a bomb seal on the first ball and moving forward. "Just remove it when you're ready to drop and it sinks like normal."

"Is it easy to remove?" Yujiro asked with raised…well, not eyebrow, but the muscles had moved all the same.

I wrote a seal to demonstrate, then picked it up with one hand. Then I set it down. "Just inject chakra into this little circle right here and seal will dissipate."

"Do it," Yujiro nodded and I obliged. "The easier for the Vanguard, the better."

"Understood," Replacing the seal on the rock and moving on. "So, where are we headed with these?"

"You'll get a mission briefing from your squad after you're done sealing these up," Yujiro replied. "Once we're all ready to move, the Emperor will give a speech, and the operation will begin."

"Alright," I shrugged.

Once all the rocks were light as a feather and packing half a kilo-ton of explosive power, Yujiro escorted me to a group of four penguins, each of the Emperor variety.

"Alright, Squad 3. This is Shimoda, our little mercenary," Yujiro introduced me, slapping my back to get me to step forward. "Get him up to speed. I'm off to brief the other squads how to use the bombs."

"Can do, Yujiro," The short, squat member of the group bowed and Yujiro waddled off. "Alright, Shimoda. I'm Captain Shinzo and this is-"

"-Riku," The physically largest member of the group gave me a nod.

"-Masato," No nod, just a frown from the skinny one.

"-And finally, Shoraku, but we just call him Rookie because he's the youngest in the group," The youngest member didn't look too bothered by this and he nodded his head enthusiastically.

"Pleased to meet all of you," I said in greeting. "Now, what's the mission?"

"This mission is the beginning of the campaign to liberate Blackfoot Island," Captain said with a frown. "I don't know if you know this, but not all penguins are suited to exist on the frozen tundra. Blackfoot Island was the home to the Black Footed Penguins – like our beloved Court Jester, Yujiro."

His occupation is Court Jester? Makes sense. He's still a jerk though.

"Our job is simple," Captain continued. "The Sharks have set a deep-water blockade over the Island while the Sea Lions keep themselves concerned with fronts closer to the surface. We will be one of six squads taking those giant bombs over there and dropping them right on top of their outposts to kill them all. Once that's done, we'll move in from the deep onto the shore with the rest of the army."

I nod. Alright, sounds simple enough.

"Today is also a special day for all of us," Captain said with a wistful look. "We get to fight alongside the Emperor himself."

"The Emperor is coming with us?" I asked. That's odd, I wouldn't think he'd be the type to…wait, these are my summon animals. Of course, he would be the type to charge in.

"Oh yeah," The Captain grinned wide. "He has to, because if either the Sea Lion Boss or the Shark Boss show up, he's the only one that can stand a chance."

That makes sense. "Do either of these bosses have a special name or title like the Emperor does?"

"Eh, the Shark-boss does," Masato answered with a frown. "They call him The Megalodon. We don't know what it means, but he's big."

They have a prehistoric shark as their boss? Hooboy.

"Riku would be one of the few Penguin's whose seen him and lived to tell about it," Captain said, shaking his head. "Or, he would…if a fish hadn't eaten his tongue right out of his beak."

I did a double-take. "Wait, what?"

Riku leaned forward and opened his beak, revealing an empty space where a seal had been written.

"Wow, huh," I said, frowning. "Sorry about that."

Riku just shut his beak and shrugged.

"But just to be clear," Captain said, turning to me. "You're a ninja, and you may be used to doing things your own way. But you follow my orders on this operation. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," I replied with a bow.

"Good," Captain replied, seeming satisfied. "You're in charge of handling the bomb. After it's detonated, we are to send an ice-mortar back to the island to let them know that the operation has been taken care of. Now to be clear, if anyone sees The Megalodon, your orders are to swim away as fast as possible. No engaging because he needs to die, that's the Emperor's job."

It's almost like he's talking to me still, but the squad nodded in affirmative so…maybe not?

The sound of a whistle sounded across the camp and our attention was called to the Emperor, who looked as if he were ready to address the army.

"Fellow Penguins and assorted mercenaries," The Emperor began. "Hear my words. Today is a time for action. Your fellow penguins have been forced from their homes or separated from their families over the course of this war against the absurdist trifecta of fish, shark and sea lion. But we will not let them get away with this! We will not let this stand! Today, we take back what's ours! Today, we restore the homes of our black-footed brothers and sisters! What say you?"

Cheers. They were loud, they were hopeful and most of all, they were angry. The Penguins around me wanted blood. If there were still penguins on Blackfoot Island, they were Sea Lion and Shark food. That's a horrible thought. Me? Well, I'm not here to eat. I'm here for the EXP and in this war, I'm pretty sure traditional morals fit less than in the human portion of the Naruto world.

Just don't think about it. I don't want to get depressed all of a sudden.

"Vanguard!" The Emperor called, and I stiffened. "Begin the offensive!"

Myself, Squad three and the rest of the squads slid across the water.

Quest Updated: The Liberation of Blackfoot Island.

Completed: Meet the Penguin forces at the North Shore.

Destroy Shark Outposts: 0/6.

Kill all Sharks: 0/151.

Well. I'm assuming the Penguins are going to get most of those.

…when we get to the Island, I'm going to try what I think is the Mass Shadow Clone jutsu. That'll get me level 18 and Water Element, and we're going to need ever advantage we're going to get.