Ch. 5 - System [Tutorial] Ending

Konohagakure no Sato, also referred to as the Hidden Leaf Village, was waking up. Thousands of civilians were opening their businesses, awaiting the early customers.

Children—or more specifically, academy graduates—would awake in less than an hour, following their usual morning routine before heading to the Ninja Academy to be placed in teams under a Jōnin instructor.

However, there was one person who differed from them. This person was in his apartment, doing handstand push-ups.

"One hundred and twenty-two..."

He counted, grunting in pain. Today was the day he would be placed on a team with two other academy graduates.

This didn't bother him much as he continued exercising to get his blood pumping for the day ahead.

"One hundred and twenty-three!"

Beads of sweat trickled down his body, which had gained a bit of weight, giving his once skinny frame the vitality one of his bloodline should have. Naruto finished his last two push-ups before dropping onto the sweat-soaked floor.

—Haa, Haa, Hup~

After taking two deep breaths, he forced himself up, only to be greeted by multiple system notifications popping up in front of him, making him frown.

«Due to arduous training, you have gained +1 STR!»

«Congratulations! You have finished the [Tutorial]!»

«Secret Buff: [50% training bonus] has been removed!»

«[Inventory] sub-space has been added. [Skill] tab has been added.»

«System update! 1%... 100%»

What's going on?

Does this mean that these three days were simply a tutorial for me? What does that even mean?

Naruto stared at the screens in front of him, confused. He hadn't expected this turn of events, nor did he know how to react to this information from the system.

Hell, he didn't even know he had a buff. Though, he did find it suspicious that he gained strength and stat points rather easily during these three days, but the speed at which he gained them seemed to slow down after they hit the 20s.

Hey, system. What the hell is happening?

He asked suspiciously in his mind, trying his luck to see if his system, which hadn't responded to his questions before, had gained even a little sentience after the update it received.

«The [Tutorial] has ended as of today. With the end of the [Tutorial], the buff given as a newbie reincarnated person has ended, along with the unlocking of two system tabs!»

«The [Tutorial] is placed so that The Gamer has a chance to grow for a small amount of time after a [Canon Event] and before the start of a new one. Failing the [Tutorial] means the death of The Gamer, and as such, you may think of that period of time as a test imposed to weed out the weak crops.»

So, basically the set of time between [Canon Events] is at random. If I had transmigrated during the Chūnin Exams, I would have probably had to wait until the end of the Sand Invasion to finish this secret [Tutorial].

Though, thanks to being transmigrated at the beginning of the story, the end of my canon event was marked here, which aligns with the next canon event of getting into Team Seven.

Confusing to wrap my head around.

Naruto rubbed his head as he tried to think deeply about it before giving up. He felt it was a waste of time to think about it, so he moved on to other things.

Skills.

He called out in his mind.

«SKILLS»

Beginner -> Intermediate -> Advanced -> Mastered

[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu / Shadow Clone Jutsu] - Mastered

[Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu / Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu] - Advanced

[Henge no Jutsu / Transformation Jutsu] - Intermediate

[Kawarimi no Jutsu / Substitution Jutsu] - Beginner

[Tree Climbing] - Mastered

[Water Walking] - Intermediate

[Fūinjutsu / Sealing Arts] - Beginner

———

What a pathetically low amount of skills.

Naruto thought as his eyelids twitched. Although he knew he hadn't learned any other jutsu so far, shouldn't he have a few more like the normal Clone Jutsu? Or maybe even Shurikenjutsu?

—Haaah

He sighed, shaking his head.

No need to think about that right now. Let's head over to the tailor shop and pick up my clothes, along with asking her to make a few more of those same clothes for me.

He pushed the matter to the back of his mind and let his future self deal with it, picking up his wallet that had grown thick with ryo notes from completing a lot of D-rank missions yesterday and the day before.

Now, he had a total of 105,000 ryo in his pockets, having taken on an extra fourteen missions yesterday, plus the leftover cash from the last time he had gone out to buy.

And so, he quickly bade farewell to his home, feeling slightly melancholy at the sight of nobody saying goodbye to him as he stepped out of his apartment.

Only to return after a few seconds, having forgotten that he was working out and was sweating bullets. He quickly took a shower before going out again.

...

In the Hokage office, Hiruzen could be seen sitting off to the side, a crystal ball in front of him as he stared at the figure of a transformed Naruto picking up some clothes and handing about twenty-one thousand ryo to a young lady at a tailor shop. A grin spread on Naruto's face as he did so.

—Pufff

He puffed out a plume of smoke from his mouth and nose, closing his eyes and sighing, a smile soon forming on his face.

I suppose I'll tell you about your mother once you become a Chūnin, Naruto.

He thought inwardly, his shadow clone continuing to sign paperwork and review some old documents that he received every couple of hours.

He felt slight pity for the boy. He knew that it was his fault for the things that happened, yet he still tried to help the boy out as much as he could.

Though, the council along with Danzo had ended up interfering with much of the help he wanted to give to the boy whom he considered to be his grandson.

If I wasn't so weak anymore... if I wasn't so old...

—Puff

He puffed out another plume of smoke at those thoughts, before shaking his head in resignation, a pitying frown forming on his face as he gazed at the retreating back of the boy making his way home.

Forget it. There isn't any point in thinking of such things.

Instantly, the Jutsu on the crystal ball was undone, as he moved away from it and went over to his desk to help out his clone.

...

Naruto didn't take long to return home, changing out of his clothes and putting on the new ones he got as he looked himself over in the mirror.

"I look cool!" he exclaimed, a grin plastered on his face as he turned around and looked over his shoulder behind him.

He had thought he'd look weird and out of place with the outfit Gojo Satoru wore in Jujutsu Kaisen, but instead, he looked quite cool with it—probably due to his increased charisma, which had risen to 14 during these three days.

He went from looking like a total loser who anyone would pity to a sort of cute teen. What helped his case were his moisturized skin and lips that weren't dry anymore, along with his hair finally being better kept and not having that oily look and texture to it.

The beauty products of this world really are amazing! Much better than the ones on Earth.

He couldn't help but think. Among other things, the most help he received to improve his body was the new diet he was undergoing—eating a lot of healthy food like beef, fish, pork, eggs, and a bunch of veggies.

He didn't eat things such as potatoes, bread, or sugary foods as that would only harm his health in the long run.

In total, he consumed close to 4,000 calories now, as opposed to the first two days when he had to slowly increase it to this point.

Was such a caloric intake healthy? Perhaps not. But for an Uzumaki plus a chakra battery, such a thing wouldn't harm him much at the moment, and by the time it would harm him in the future, he would already be at his peak, and it wouldn't affect him much, if at all.

The only problem is that I feel stuffed every day.

—Huuu

He moved on from that and went over to his kunai and shuriken, dumping a big portion of them into his inventory that had infinite space, humming while doing so.

Once finished, he grabbed his wallet and dumped it into the inventory as well, then left his apartment again, this time heading to the Ninja Academy.

Hmm..?

He sensed that people were staring at him, so he focused on this feeling and traced it back to a few civilians looking at him in wonder and confusion.

They're probably thinking along the lines of, "What happened to the Fox Brat?!" Hehe.

At that thought, he narrowed his eyes and ignored the curious and glaring looks he received. Most civilians were confused by the sudden change in Naruto, as he hadn't been spotted throughout the village for the past three days—ever since the academy graduation had ended.

They probably believed he had hidden at home, depressed at not having graduated, and thus went about their days.

They didn't expect him to suddenly come out of hiding wearing strange clothing, along with having a Konoha Forehead Protector—though the Forehead Protector was currently being used as a belt.

The blonde smiled suddenly, having reached this thought himself. His footsteps hurried a little, weaving through the civilians with great footwork.

...

Konoha Ninja Academy, an institution focused on raising child soldiers—something very common in this world of Shinobi.

Right now, in a class filled with a bunch of clan heirs and slightly above-average civilians, a single person was sleeping soundly at his desk. He woke up and checked the time by looking at the beautiful, majestic, magnificent, handsome—Cough!

He simply gazed at the clouds, having already gotten an idea as to what time it was, before shifting his gaze to the bustling classroom. The numerous fan girls of Uchiha Sasuke kept talking endlessly, claiming they would be in his team.

—Ngh~

What troublesome girls.

He couldn't help but think as he stretched, releasing the pent-up stress from his muscles. The chubby boy next to him, upon seeing him awake, instantly grinned and moved the chips he was holding closer to Shikamaru.

"Here, want some?" he asked with a big grin, sharing some of the chips with his friend.

"Nah, I'll pass this time." Shikamaru gave a lazy reply, licking his lips and about to go back to sleeping...

Only to be interrupted by the loud thud of the classroom door opening with great force, along with the heavy foot stomps of two girls as they rushed into the classroom.

"I won, Ino-pig!" the pink-haired abomi—ahem—girl screeched out, making most of the class wince in pain as they covered their ears.

One pair of dog and human were the most affected by the screech, as the dog whimpered and the kid quickly covered his ninken's ears with his hands with an angry look forming on his face.

"No! I made it here first, big forehead!" the blonde of the two yelled, enraged at the pinkie before her.

Before anyone could tell them to shut up or stop them from fighting, the classroom instantly went quiet as a figure entered, gazing around with a cheeky smile on his face.

What is he doing here?

Shikamaru thought with a raised eyebrow, gazing at the blonde who had just arrived. His eyes then glanced downwards and saw the Forehead Protector on his waist acting like a belt.

So he passed?

[\][\][\]

Maah, Maah. Sakura really is a pain in the beginning of Naruto. So, I'll be taking it upon myself to give her some face sla— ahem, character development!

+10,000 aura points for Naruto and his grand entrance! (lol)