10 The Eternal Genin

Quest Ability Level Required: Genin

Quest has no Time Limit and is Repeatable.

User: Naruto Uzumaki will be reset back to starting point upon Death.

Death?

Naruto started to break out in cold sweat. Who wanted to experience death? Not anyone of sane mind would.

The quest says that he wouldn't completely die and be brought back right after. Essentially saying he's immortal inside the simulation.

But...

It's still scary to think of dying even once. Try breaking over and over again.

Obviously, Naruto wasn't anywhere near Genin level yet, so he had time before even thinking about attempting the quest.

The blonde just finished the work from today and started on the Second Chapter.

A Month Later

Things were going smoothly in Naruto's life. He had extra money from the missions and was able to buy food under Henge no Jutsu.

Much to his back's pleasure, some of the worn-out furniture in his home was replaced.

Not only was his living situation improving, but also his academic situation.

He had built a routine that he followed religiously.

Wake up, Academy, Train, Study, and Sleep.

His progress had shown some great results. Especially with the boost he gained from the Training Grounds.

Name: Uzumaki Naruto

Level: 3 (50/200)

Title(s): Pranking King

Class: Academy Student

Village: Konohagakure

Ryo: 1080

HP: 8750/8750

CP: 1960/1960

STR: 26

DEX: 29

VIT: 20 + 15

INT: 13 + 15

WIS: 6

LUK: ?

Stat Points: 20

Primary Chakra Type: ?

Secondary Chakra Type: ?

Chakra Level: Beginner Jonin

Chakra Control: Abysmal (The weakest Academy students have more chakra control than you)

Perks: Prankster (10% gain to experience in Sneaking and Trap Making, +10 DEX when Pranking), Uzumaki Lineage (+5 VIT and +5 INT for every level, 50% gain towards ?, +25% gain towards ?), ? (? Unlocked, Chakra Type: ?, -25% gain to Chakra Control), Unbreakable Will (+50% chance at creating allies and +50% experience gain toward Leadership skills)

Bio: Naruto is a lonely orphan that dreams of being Hokage and having the respect of everyone in the village. His life is shrouded in mysteries that are just waiting to be uncovered.

He had chosen not to use the Stat Points since he did not need them.

All the question marks still irk him.

Naruto decided to ask Hiruzen when he went for next month's allowance since he had forgotten last time.

The blonde has also had no luck finding the two Taijutsu nuts since he followed them to his current training grounds.

The system said they would be his training partner and instructor, which hasn't reneged its word.

He knew it was not a reality bender and would not affect anything outside himself.

Even though it may be inconvenient to those impatient, Naruto had grown a better mindset from before.

Seeing tangible results each time from the training built the confidence he lacked before.

About said training, the results have been taking longer and longer to build. It constantly gave stats towards STR and DEX after each training session. Still, it gave them only every other training session.

Naruto would have to find a solution for this or make a more strenuous regimen.

There were also some gains toward his new Steel Guardian Style.

[Steel Guardian]

Stance Mastery Progress: 37.5%

Steel Sweep Mastery Progress: 22.5%

Steel Impact Mastery Progress: 33%

Steel Guard Mastery Progress: 30%

Steel Retort Mastery Progress: 12%

Naruto could feel his familiarity with the style increasing daily. He had also hit sand similar to his daily training when his progress slowed after the 25% mark.

However, he had already found a solution to this.

[Training Clone]

Leading by Example! When prompted, a clone of the user can appear to properly perform the technique or task correctly.

Training Partners:

Sasuke Uchiha

Rock Lee

Sparring has shown to be his saving grace when refining his new style.

Though he only fights with Sasuke due to what happened during his "spar" with Rock Lee clone.

Let's just say he still felt the blows from the massive beating he received.

Against the Sasuke clone, at first, he was getting destroyed in 10 to 20 seconds each time. After a week, he was lasting more than a minute against him.

He had recently gotten a draw with the clone once after burning all of his energy against it.

His Observation passive skill has grown since a month ago and is now level 2. It wasn't until recently that he remembered he had an active Observe skill as well, and what he found using it was rather chilling.

While this is great, Naruto never showed off this new style at the Academy.

And what he had found left him feeling somewhat cautious against his teachers, mainly Mizuki.

2 Weeks Ago

The class was instructed on their stances and hand-to-hand combat skills on this day.

Naruto and a half of the class were instructed by Iruka, while the other was instructed by Mizuki.

As Naruto had made significant improvements, he was mostly left alone with praise from Iruka.

Since he wasn't bothered, he had time to observe his surroundings to train his Observation skill.

Off to the side, he saw Mizuki instructing a civilian kid on the proper form for kicking, and the kid seemed to do a crap job of it every time.

Naruto was taking his attention off the two when he noticed a change in Mizuki's demeanor.

A slight sneer appeared on his face, and an almost unnoticeable twitch appeared above his brow.

They'd think he was just getting impatient with the kid's poor skill if it was anyone else, but Naruto felt otherwise.

The feeling he got from Mizuki was dark and foreboding. It was the same feeling he got from all the villagers looking at him.

Before the kid could notice, Mizuki had long changed back into the patient teacher façade.

Mizuki must have felt his gaze because he had turned in Naruto's direction.

Thankfully, Naruto had already looked away by this point, feeling alarm bells ringing in his head. He had used [Observe].

What he saw showed him more than he expected, and it was a shocker.

Name: Mizuki

Level: ?

Title(s): Academy Teacher

Class: Chunin

Village: Konohagakure

Bio: Mizuki is an academy teacher for Konohagakure's Academy. He has known Iruka from a young age and holds great jealousy for him. Due to the uncertain nature of a casualty during a mission, Mizuki was initially held back from the teacher position. Furthering his jealousy of Iruka when he was able to get the job under praise.

Present

There was no way Naruto could trust Mizuki after learning this. So, he kept his new style secret, forgoing the ultimate surprise he was coming up with.

Naruto could only sulk at the loss of his dream of conquering Sasuke and earning Sakura's heart.

He learned from this incident and used his [Observe] skill constantly on those around him and could level it up to 3.

After leveling it up to 3, not only could he see the levels of most of those at the Chunin level, he could now see the relationship status between himself and them.

Name: Mizuki

Level: 18

Title(s): Academy Teacher

Class: Chunin

Village: Konohagakure

Relationship: Hated

That only served to seal the deal. Though Naruto was surprised when he checked his classmates, he paid attention to a select few of them.

Name: Iruka

Level: 19

Title(s): Academy Teacher

Class: Chunin

Village: Konohagakure

Relationship: Friendly

Name: Sasuke Uchiha

Level: 9

Tag (s): Last Uchiha

Class: Academy Student

Village: Konohagakure

Relationship: Neutral

Name: Hinata Hyuga

Level: 7

Title(s): Hyuga Princess

Class: Academy Student

Village: Konohagakure

Relationship: Honored

Name: Sakura Haruno

Level: 5

Title(s): Sasuke Fangirl

Class: Academy Student

Village: Konohagakure

Relationship: Unfriendly

To be honest, Naruto was dumbfounded by these evaluations.

Naruto never fully trusted Iruka's intentions with him. The teacher's attitude towards him in the past did not help in the slightest.

So, seeing hard evidence that the man truly cared made him a little emotional.

With Sasuke, Naruto honestly believed Sasuke disliked him or even hated him. At least now he knew Sasuke was just a jerk through and through.

Hinata was definitely not expected. Why did she favor him so much?

The news stunned him so much that he had stared for too long and was noticed.

Naruto felt embarrassed being caught and looked away, whistling innocently.

Completely missing the explosion of red appearing on Hinata's face.

On the other hand, his crush was not a surprise, but it still stung to know she disliked him more than Sasuke did.

What about him was so annoying to her? Naruto didn't have much to go on in advice or experience with girls.

If pursuing Sakura made her not like him, should he just lose interest in her?

Naruto really wished he had someone to talk to about this.

Present

Currently, Naruto was on his way to the usual training grounds when he noticed someone was already there.

It was an old man with a mesh armor shirt under a brown, sleeveless kimono wearing what seemed to be kitchen utensils on his back.

'Is this guy okay?' Concerned, Naruto wondered if someone had lost their senile grandpa.

At least until he came close enough to see the man practicing with his tanto.

Naruto was put into a precarious position since this was the only training ground he knew no one visited. It would be hard to hide his new style if someone showed up while he was training.

While Naruto was lost in his thought, a voice sounded from the old man's direction.

"You know it's bad manners to eavesdrop on someone's training." Startled, Naruto flinched, knowing he was caught and came out from his hiding place.

"Sorry, I was not expecting anyone to be here." Thankfully, the old man did not look offended.

The old man looked surprised at who he was. Still, instead of the expected aggression, the blonde was surprised to find the old man offering a smile before beckoning him closer.

Naruto hesitated slightly before slowly heading over.

"Sorry, I'm quite old. My sight and hearing are not as they used to be." The old man gave his plight. "No one comes here without reason, so if you are here, you must have been allowed to stay."

Naruto looked confused, which must have shown because the old man explained.

"This training ground has special meaning and has become a private ground of sorts. You will know when you are ready if you don't know."

There must have been a reason the training ground was unused and well kept, but Naruto never really thought about it.

After thinking about it, cold sweat began forming on his back as he realized the implications.

The training grounds were obviously of some importance which restricted access, meaning this area has to be well monitored.

Also means someone must have been monitoring him without him knowing.

Furthermore, this meant the old man Hokage knew to a certain extent about his training.

That kind of bummed him out since he really wanted it to be a surprise, but whatever, he had not said anything, so everything should be fine for now.

He wondered how he would explain the book he had been pulling out of thin air.

Oh well, he'll figure it out when the time comes.

"Since you're here, would you like some pointers? Oh, where are my manners? My name is Maruboshi Kosuke. Nice to meet you." Kosuke bowed his head slightly in greeting. Naruto reciprocated.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. Nice to meet you too. Well, I usually train alone and don't want to disturb you."

The old man only laughed and continued.

"I have fought in all three world wars alongside many famous shinobis, including the four Hokages. Besides Lord Third, you would be hard-pressed to find another with as much experience as me. So what do you say?"

A deep contemplation grew on Naruto's face as he thought of the pros and cons.

He used [Observe] to make sure he was telling the truth.

Name: Maruboshi Kosuke

Level: ?

Title(s): Eternal Genin, Konoha's Strongest Genin

Class: Genin

Village: Konohagakure

Relationship: Liked

Bio: Maruboshi Kosuke is a valued member of the Leaf Village who remained a Genin for over fifty years due to a reckless decision causing the death of his teammates. He has fought in all three Great Ninja Wars alongside the previous Hokages and the Sannin. To this day, he continues to sharpen his skills for the day he is needed again.

The titles and class threw him through a loop for a moment till he read the bio.

His expression softened as he read through it, and the feeling of admiration and respect grew steadily.

After a short wait, he agreed. After all, the Third Hokage already knew, and if this old man was allowed here, he had to be at least trustworthy.

There was also the pro of having someone to give him pointers on his style.

Doing something on your own may increase your degree of understanding, but progressing would be twice as difficult.

When Naruto accepted, a screen appeared.

[Training Partner Unlocked]

Instructor: Maruboshi Kosuke

Boosts: DEX and WIS Stat Gain, Insight

Recommendation: Study Leaf-Style Willow for Inspiration