4 Chapter 4: The Last House on the Left

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, The Gamer or any other familiar characters.

Chapter 4: The Last House on the Left.

The next morning, I asked dad if he could enroll me in the academy. He ignored me as he hurried out. Was he crying?

"You can just go there by yourself and apply, chipmunk!" Sadako said when I asked her that morning, "but you'll need an adult signature! And even then, you might be too young, usually kids are 7 or 8 when they apply. But hey! If you make it, we can both be shinobi and rescue princesses and save villages together! Imagine that!"

She had stars in her eyes.

That was evidently a wrong picture. Shinobi had to kill, they had to do horrible things to follow their own ideals and convictions, to protect those they love or their villages. Look at the sacrifices Itachi had to make for his village and his brother. Or consider Obito, who, in his own way, had done and would continue to do horrible things to achieve his twisted dream. Even Danzo, however cruel he was, had a specific idea in mind that he used to validate his horrendous acts.

Would I be like that, someone who didn't care about the consequences of his acts just to achieve his ambition? Could I avoid pointless killing? After all, wasn't this merely a game? Dying here would not mean a real death, and, if I die here, I wouldn't die in the real world, right?

Back in the real world I preferred to sleep the day away and doing nothing if I had the chance, but here, something compelled me to act, to advance. Was it the overwhelming fear that I could die a violent and hurtful death?

'The body cannot live without the mind.' I remembered that phrase, maybe it applied in this scenario. Nevertheless, I decided I wouldn't risk dying in this world.

"I'll ask at the academy about applications, okay munchkin? Gotta go!" Sadako took off running with a smile and didn't even lock the door on her way out.

That afternoon, Sadako confirmed that, indeed, I would need the signature of a parent, guardian or a jonin and, if you applied to early enrollment, you had to also pass a small test. 'Anyhow, I still have to wait 7 months to the next entrance ceremony, and I'll need my dad's signature,' I concluded. I kept on training.

The rest of the first month was spent training my observation skill, the leaf concentration exercise and meditating to replenish my chakra. I got them all to level up! My control rose by one percent and I didn't fall asleep while meditating anymore, so no more nightmares.

Observe increased by five.

Observe. Lvl 10. (31%)- Observing what's around you is a great way to obtain information. At higher levels, more information is revealed.

Leaf Concentration increased by one.

Leaf Concentration Exercise. Lvl 1. (78%)- A staple of ninja training.Increases Chakra control percentage by 1; number of leaves to hold: 1.Cost: 8 Chakra Points per minute.

Meditation increased by five.

Meditation. Lvl 6. (79%)- Achieving a mental state of self-awareness and emotional serenity.Increases HP, SP and Chakra regeneration by 55%.

I also took some kunai and shuriken –10 of each, to be exact– from dad's unlocked weapons closet. It was dusty and messy, so I didn't think he would miss them.

Regular Steel Kunai.Regular shinobi grade kunai.Quality: Normal.Damage: Str X 2.

Regular Steel Shuriken.Regular shinobi grade shuriken.Quality: Normal.Damage: Str X 1.

Items had an inherent quality, a pretty standard thing in RPG games. Did legendary items exist? 'That would be really cool.'

Kunai practice was a lot of thrusting and shadow blocking, but I didn't have anything to throw the shuriken at without Sadako or dad noticing holes around the house or a pesky neighbor telling on me. I was stuck with throwing shurikens and kunai to the wall in my room. I even drew a bullseye in the wall, alas, the room was too small. I got slightly better at weapon handling, but I didn't get any related skill, which was weird. I couldn't really know how much I advanced.

I never got my dad to retrieve the admissions papers form the academy let alone sign them, even though I asked every morning. Sometimes at night, when he did come home sober and before his daily drinking routine, he promised he would get the papers and sign them for me. After the third time, I didn't expect anything anymore.

Something was wrong with dad. His gaze was empty, his mind seemed to stray further away every day. My mother's death must have been terrible for him to not deal with the present, to neglect his son in this way. I couldn't say it hurt me, nope. As far as I was concerned, he was not my real father, nor have we ever had a close relationship. I regretted not knowing much about him or mom, but perhaps it was already too late. Dad was a broken man; he lost his purpose in life and decided to drink himself into stupor. He couldn't cope with the world without alcohol. It had nothing to do with me, nothing to do with his personal choices. He was a shattered man doing the best he could to keep trudging along.

Still, the problem persisted: where could I get an adult signature? Without much thought, I went to old man Yataro's. That morning like the last one, he was sitting on his wooden chair reading a book, his pipe fuming in his mouth and his long blue scarf around his neck. The cold of the autumn morning didn't disturb him much.

"Good morning," he said without taking his eyes from his book, "what brings you here, boy?"

I sat in the grass at his side, gazing at the cloudless sky.

"I need a signature to apply to the shinobi academy."

He seemed to quickly understand the issue.

"Get the papers and I can sign them without much trouble. I may be retired now, but I was a Kumo jonin for a few years before I had to withdraw from the system."

I nodded appreciatively. What had made the old man retire? If he was a jonin only for a few years, he must have withdrawn from the shinobi force quite some time ago.

We remained silent for the rest of the hour, apparently enjoying each other's company.

Sadako eventually got me a copy of the entry form to the academy and, with old man Yataro's signature, she handed them over to the academy's admissions office. I would get an answer a few weeks before the start of the next academic year in another seven months.

I spent the rest of the following months busy reading and training. The books in my parents' bookshelves covered different topics. Hand signs, chakra theory, introduction to nature transformation and shape manipulation, shurikenjutsu and kunai styles, different types of basic taijustsu katas, kenjutsu katas, survival techniques, body training for shinobi, etc. Most of the books were thin and dealt with foundational topics, the book dealing with chakra on the other hand was thick and looked old.

The book on chakra described a lot of things I already knew from reading the manga. It explained chakra formation in the human body, how to channel it to different areas of the body and the role of tenketsu, and how it's transformed and manipulated. Interestingly, the chakra system was, in fact, a system like the nervous or lymphatic systems all human beings have. There were even deformities and diseases, some even fatal. Chakra was also variable among people. Its color, density and other properties were specific to each individual and reflected, in one way or the other, the personality of the shinobi, giving them a "chakra signature".

The most interesting things about chakra were its properties, and I was definitely playing with them later on. Apparently, to achieve different outcomes, you could change the chakra's density, its temperature and another badly explained property that I could only assume was viscosity. Essentially, chakra behaved like a fluid! A freaking fluid! And apparently, shinobi didn't understand the concept of viscosity very well. Did chakra behave like a liquid or a gas? How would it react to pressure variations? What was the relationship between its temperature and its viscosity or density? From what I gathered, this world doesn't follow the same physics laws as in the real world – I mean, you could literally breathe out a massive wall of fire – and I was looking forward to experimenting.

The book 'Introduction to nature transformation and shape manipulation' was rather brief, but it talked about the different types of training that must be done to succeed in transforming the nature of molded chakra. It reviewed how to control the different elements, with a special emphasis on lightning and how to avoid being damaged by your own lightning jutsu. It was a Kumo book alright.

It depicted how to change the shape of chakra itself once you've already transformed its nature and gave some examples of lightning jutsu, like how to go from a lightning bolt to a lightning sphere. I knew in advance that one could change the shape of raw chakra before transforming its nature, the rasengan being the foremost example, and that the better chakra control a shinobi had, the easier it was to manipulate its shape. I needed a more exhaustive reading material and maybe some testing too.

The other book showed how hand signs are used to accelerate the formation of a jutsu. Generally speaking, for a jutsu to be executed correctly, chakra had to be molded in a specific way, particular to each technique, even before transforming its nature or manipulating its shape. Since manipulating chakra through willpower alone could take precious time in battle, hand signs were used to mold chakra faster. Each sign represented a common way of moving or shaping the chakra, and the combination of different hand signs helped mold chakra into the required form to execute the related jutsu. Hand signs could also help speed up nature transformation and shape manipulation.

So, could you perform any jutsu as far as you knew the hand signs? Or could you improvise sequences and see what, if anything, comes out? In fact, no. Hand signs were rather rough, they didn't mold chakra by themselves, they just ease up the process; one must know in advance how to mold the chakra. In fact, that's how the sharingan's copy system worked, I supposed. Not only should the Uchicha be able to trace hand sign movements, they should also be able to see the structuring and molding of the opponent's chakra.

Be that as it may, hand signs might not be required given a high enough chakra control and mastery of the jutsu. Nevertheless, and the book never emphasized on it, some jutsu inevitably require the use of hand signs.

The other books where more technical, although they did give me skills!

The shuriken and kunai books displayed the correct positions of the body, hands and arms to launch kunai and shuriken, how to wield them in hand to hand combat, how to sharpen them, etc., There was also a short kenjutsu book.

Skill Created:

Beginner's Bukijutsu: Short Blades. Lvl 1. (1%)- The basics of any respectable blade style.Increases damage and accuracy by 1% when using kunai and other short blades.

Skill Created:

Shurikenjutsu. Lvl 1. (1%)Increases shuriken damage and accuracy by 1%.

Skill Created:

Beginner's Kenjutsu. Lvl 1. (1%)- The basics of any respectable sword style.Increases sword damage by 1%.

The taijutsu book showed katas, positions and common corrections of a basic taijutsu style, along with a lot of exercises to further develop neuro-muscular memory, strength and dexterity.

Skill Created:

Beginner's Taijutsu. Lvl 1. (1%)- The foundation of any respectable style.Increases unarmed damage by 1%.

Another book described shinobi training during his/her growth. It stated that 5 years old was an acceptable age to start muscular training and that it was common for shinobi infants to exhibit enough mental maturity to meditate and discover their chakra at 6 years of age. The book mentioned that katas and other exercises could be performed at any age if the child had the necessary fine motor skills. Hard training didn't affect growth or sexual development, the incidence and severity of injuries was low regardless of age if the exercise was performed correctly, and the usage of chakra usually reduced injury risk. Hence, I was wrong about training... I could do katas, exercises and use my chakra without considerable risks, even if I was freaking 5, as long as I didn't overdo it.

All these books and training possibilities defined the day to day routine of the following months. Whenever my chakra filled up, I stuck leaves to my forehead until my chakra was almost depleted; I meditated for about half an hour, and then performed taijutsu katas - sometimes with kunai in my hands - and practiced shurikenjutsu in my room. Rinse and repeat.

Taijutsu katas where simple; some hits, some chops and some kicks. At first, it was difficult to get the positions right. I had to correct everything, the position of my elbow when thrusting my arm, my balance when kicking and blocking, starting the movement from my feet and through my hips. But, quickly, neuromuscular memory came into play. Not a week later I could do the initial katas with my eyes closed, only correcting minor movements.

These taijutsu katas in addition to the physical exercises in the books -twisted versions of pushups and jumping squats- made me realize the differences between a normal body and a chakra-infused shinobi-bred body. I was stronger, faster, more resilient and had more energy than ever. Even when I trained 4 days a week in college back in the real world, I couldn't do 100 pushups or 100 one legged squats in a row. I mean, I could now maintain a one armed lever for minutes, or do a one armed handstand without assist!

With my skills advancing, I looked for whatever jutsu I could find in the bookshelves. It turns out that the only jutsu I found was a small scroll forgotten in the corner and covered in dust. It was a genjutsu scroll, Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique. If my memory served me right, it was the genjutsu Kakashi used on Sakura during their genin test. The instructions on the scroll were clear and concise, teaching how to mold chakra, the corresponding hand signs and describing how the opponent's mind was affected; causing a disturbance in their senses and irregularities in their chakra flow. There was a sound when I finished reading the scroll.

Ding!

Learn jutsu?

I accepted, and the scroll disappeared from my hands. Just like that, no light, no particles, no Zelda tune. It simply faded away. It appears that the game differentiates between scrolls and books. I could absorb jutsu from scrolls and learn skills from books, but books didn't disappear when read them. Was it because how they were written, or it was just game mechanics?

Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique Learned!

Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique. Lvl 1 (1%).D rank- A simple genjutsu that shows the victim its greatest fear.Requirements: 20% Chakra control.Cost: 20 Chakra Points.

The only problem with genjutsu is that I didn't have anyone to practice it. I wouldn't do it to civilians, and neither could I find that fat cat I saw roaming around the neighborhood the other day.

I also trained the Observation skill. Some afternoons I walked to old man Yataro's house, sat with him and observed everything that moved. People, birds, even the occasional shinobi running on the roofs.

We spent most of our time in silence, apparently enjoying each other's company. I didn't want to accept it, but I needed human contact, even if it was silent.

"Do you know about chakra?" He asked one day.

I nodded.

He passed me a leaf from a bush to his left. Understanding what he wanted, I held the leaf to my forehead with chakra.

"Good, you're doing well."

And somehow, I felt proud of myself.

A month before the entrance to the academy, old Yataro had an empty chair next to him and a small table with a teapot and two cups. Without much thought, I sat down and poured both cups.

"In the left corner of the street," he said, "there is an old house, abandoned some years ago. It has a serious rat infestation problem. When I was young, we practiced our jutsu with what we found. Rats, birds, squirrels, insects… the best way to improve your skills is to test them against a living enemy."

"I think you have a lot of future, boy." He continued after exhaling a puff of smoke. "If your eyes show something, it's intelligence and sparkle. But remember, shinobi are weapons of war first, and protectors, second."

Ding!

Quest Created:It's all in a mouse's night.

Clear the rat infestation.

Rewards:200 Exp, leveled loot.Accept?

Of course, I accepted. I was not going to pass 200 experience points and leveled loot. This quest was the first one to include some killing and it was an opportunity to check the reward system of this game.

I drank my tea and said my goodbyes to old man Yataro, I had things to prepare.

The next afternoon, I was ready. Black pants, my blue shirt, my blue shoes, black coat and scarf, and 10 kunai and 10 shuriken in my inventory. After 5 very productive months, my skills were now at an acceptable point. That much training and reading had also improved my stats too, STR and DEX went up by 2 points, INT by 3 and WIS and VIT by one point, this also increased my Chakra and Chakra Control. The Leaf concentration exercise leveled up to 5 so my Chakra Control was up to 29%, and the constant depletion and regeneration increased my chakra by additional 15 points. I felt confident about this quest.

Character Status:Select an item to view additional information.

Name: Kioshi Shirasu

Title: n/aAge: 4Gender: MaleLevel 2 (0/200)

HP: 60/60SP: 56/56Chakra: 200/200Chakra Control: 29%

STR: 5DEX: 5VIT: 4INT: 11WIS: 10CHA: 7/10Points: 2

Money: 0

Leaf Concentration Exercise. Lvl 5. (21%)- A staple of ninja training.Increases Chakra control percentage by 5 percent; number of leaves to hold: 3.Cost: 8 Chakra Points per minute.

Meditation. Lvl 12. (17%)- Achieving a mental state of self-awareness and emotional serenity.Increases HP, SP and Chakra regeneration by 61%.

Observe. Lvl 15. (73%)- Observing what's around you is a great way to obtain information. At higher levels, more information is revealed.

Beginner's Bukijutsu: Short Blades. Lvl 10. (47%)- The basics of any respectable blade style.Increases damage and accuracy by 10% when using kunai and other short blades.

Shurikenjutsu. Lvl 5. (81%)Increases shuriken damage and accuracy by 5%.

Beginner's Taijutsu. Lvl 12. (14%)- The foundation of any respectable style.Increases unarmed damage by 12%.

The house in question was similar to mine, but you could certainly tell it was abandoned. The doors and windows were boarded up, the outer paneling was deteriorating, the ceiling already had some holes and the grass in the small front garden was overgrown.

I jumped the small fence without much trouble and found a window, which overlooked the kitchen, that seemed wobbly enough to be forced. I had to try something first.

Mentally, I withdraw a kunai from my inventory. Without any noise or smoke a kunai materialized in my hand. 'This is going to be extremely useful.'

I forced the planks covering the window with another piece of wood that laid nearby and looked inside. The kitchen was dark, some light entered through the opened window, and some beams of light slipped through the other poorly covered ones. Stalled air entered my nostrils, the smell of humidity. There was also an easily recognizable scent there, the smell of rat feces.

In a single movement, I jumped inside the kitchen. A small orb of blue light suddenly materialized in front of me, bathing everything with an angelic halo.

Ding!

Dungeon Found!

Dungeon level: 1.Enemies: rats.

Enter?

'Well, let's go. Accept.'

The orb disappeared, the window I entered from now emitted a dim blue light. 'The exit from the dungeon?' I wondered.

I approached another kitchen window, between the wood planks you could see the street, the sun above and no clouds in the sky. The outside looked dead, neither birds nor the normal noise of an urban street could be heard. Nothing. There was a dome of blurred light surrounding the house, it looked like a barrier, like those that stop you from leaving an area in a game.

Before testing that theory, I heard the distinctive sound of small legs scurrying against the wooden floor. I turned to the source. A dirty gray rat with red-eyed, big as a small cat, had just come out of a crumbling cupboard in the middle of the kitchen.

'Observe.'

Big Rat.Level: 2.- A common dungeon rat.

'Oh, it's on.'

Instantly, I withdrew one shuriken from my inventory and flung it at the rat. It sliced its back and impaled in the wall behind.

Hit!5 DMG.

The rat shrieked loudly and jumped up to my neck showing its large front teeth.

Quickly, I withdrew two kunai from my inventory, one to each hand. Moving my right hand in an arc, I threw a kunai towards the incoming creature. My left hand held the other kunai in front of my body.

Hit!11 DMG.

The thrown kunai cut off the right front leg of the rat and stuck in its side in the middle of his jump. Bending my body to the left, the rat flew past me and slammed into one of the wooden planks covering the window behind me. It fell to the floor, still writhing and screaming.

I threw the kunai in my hand before it had the chance to get up.

Hit!11 DMG.

Rat Killed.5 Exp awarded.

I went over to check the rat's body. A faint beam of white light shone above the corpse. I moved the corpse with my foot to find some silver coins.

Yep, rats dropped coins. I had money! And just when I was thinking about stealing from dad. The little bastard dropped 200 ryo, which I gladly placed in my inventory.

I picked up my two kunai and my shuriken and cleaned them against my pants. The kitchen looked empty, so I opened the door to move into the dining room. It made a loud screeching noise, and two more rats emerged from below the dining room table, baring their fangs at me.

I swiftly threw one shuriken with each hand. One connected with the left rat, piercing its back and making it stop dead on its track.

Hit!5 DMG.

The other rat dashed towards me. I threw a kunai to its right, which made it dodge to the left. I was expecting that, so I violently kicked the rat on its side.

Hit!8 DMG.Stun applied.

That was nice, it crashed against the back wall with a nasty shriek and slumped down.

The first rat was coming for me, with the shuriken still lodged in its back. It leaped and tried to bite my right leg. I sidestepped and thrusted my kunai into its skull.

Hit! Critical x5.55 DMG.

Rat Killed.5 Exp awarded.

The stunned rat on the back was starting to get up, so I ran up to it. I stomped down at its skull with my foot, hard.

Hit! Critical x5.40 DMG.

Rat Killed.5 Exp awarded.

'Holy crap, that was awesome.' From the rats I killed so far, I estimated they had around 20 HP, which was rather low. I wouldn't want to get bitten by those huge teeth, anyway, so the faster they die...

Before I could celebrate, I heard movement under an empty bookshelf on the other side of the living room. 'Now is the time to try this jutsu.' My hands flashed through the required hand signs.

Snake, Rat: 'Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique.'

-68 Chakra.

The new rat, that had just come out from under the bookshelf, turned its head to the side, shivering and baring its fangs to some unknown entity. I ran to her and drove my kunai into its head.

Hit! Critical x5.55 DMG.

Rat Killed.5 Exp awarded.

'This genjutsu is nice', I though while recovering my weapons and collected more money from the rat bodies, I could still use it once before I had to wait for my chakra to replenish. I was down to 9 shuriken now, one of them broke when I missed the second rat in this room.

The next part of the house was the hallway that connected the bedrooms and bathrooms to the dining room. The moldy smell and the rat scent were getting stronger. The walls were covered with rodent scratches and moisture stains.

Behind the first door, the bathroom, a rat dropped from the ceiling, surprising me and biting my shoulder.

-5 HP!

I quickly punched it away and stab it in the head with a thrown kunai.

In the next room I killed two other rats, disabling one with my genjutsu and distracting them with shuriken, only to plunge kunai into their skulls.

Finally, only the main bedroom remained. Before moving on, I checked my shoulder. The rat's teeth punctured my shoulder somewhat deeply, the wound was bleeding a little. Putting pressure on it, I waited for about 10 minutes. I needed to recover some chakra to be able to cast the Hell Viewing jutsu once more. I was also a little winded and, in fact, my SP points dropped to about half with all the fighting. I needed to take into consideration my stamina in long fights.

In about 10 minutes, the bite stopped bleeding. It didn't hurt neither, Gamer's body must have eliminated any residual pain. My chakra was up to 78 points which was enough for a genjutsu and my SP recovered by 20 points. It was time to get back into the fight.

Without much thought, I slowly opened the moldy door of the last bedroom. The pungent smell of rat feces hit my nostrils. The room was a dirty and messy. There was a big old wooden bed at the center of the room and a sizeable hole in the mattress, bordered by what was left of the dirty bed linen.

Quest Updated:Great king rat was a dirty old man.

Kill the Rat Boss.

Rewards:100 Exp, leveled loot.Accept?

'A boss! Hell yeah! Accept.'

From the hole in the mattress a huge rat poked its black head, red eyes opened and big teeth displayed. Hissing, the creature crawled out of its hiding hole; it was the size of a fat medium dog, with unkept black fur and a revolting smell.

'Observe'

Rat Boss.Level: 3.- A chakra mutated black rat.

Gnarling, the rat boss jumped to me. I tried diving to the left but collided with a worn out dressing table.

-15 HP!

I got bitten hard in my right thigh. Quickly, I swung my kunai in the rat's direction.

It avoided the swing and sprung back snarling. Taking advantage of it, I casted my jutsu.

Snake, Rat: 'Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique.'

-68 Chakra.

The rat's eyes glazed over and it started to shiver.

I was slightly panting, that genjutsu used a big chunk of my chakra reserves. The wound on my leg wasn't hurting, but I could feel it stinging. I needed to finish this quickly.

I threw 2 shurikens and then withdrew two kunai. One shuriken missed, but the other went straight through the rat's eye.

Hit! Critical x5.25 DMG.

With a loud screech, the rat boss snarled at me and dashed. I flung a kunai ahead of its path and a little to the left, anticipating its dodging to the right, I threw the other. The rat boss was forced to jump at me or risk getting skewered by the kunai, so I roundhouse kicked it and sent it soaring to the other side of the room. The creature crashed head-first with the bedroom wall and fell to the floor.

Hit!8 DMG.Stun applied.

Before the rat boss could recover, I charged, withdrawing another kunai. I rammed it on its skull.

Hit! Critical x5.55 DMG.

The rat boss laid on the floor of the room, barely breathing, its single working eye glaring at me.

I pushed the kunai further into its skull.

Ding!

Dungeon Boss defeated.Quest Completed.

Rewards:100 Exp,1000 ryo,Rat pendant.

Ding!

Dungeon Cleared.

Rewards:200 Exp,2000 ryo,10 explosive notes.

Ding!

Level up!

Character Status:Select an item to view additional information.

Name: Kioshi Shirasu

Title: n/aAge: 4Gender: MaleLevel 3 (135/600)

HP: 50/70SP: 66/66Chakra: 212/212Chakra Control: 30%

STR: 6DEX: 6VIT: 5INT: 12WIS: 11CHA: 7/10Points: 4

Money: 4400

First thing first: leveling up healed everything but my HP. I took my scarf and tied it around the wound in my right thigh. It would have to do for now, because before I leave this place and get my shit together, I'm searching every damn corner for loot, RPG style.

Author's note:

Long chapter this time, expect the next one to be a little delayed.

The descent to a darker character will happen after graduating; for now, Kioshi is dealing with a day to day monotony and discovering this weird world.

Team, sensei and overall history are already decided, but I'm always open to suggestions. Please, tell me if you spot any typos or grammar issues.

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions!