Rebirth (3)

Eventually, as all things must, summer came to an end and I shed tears of joy as the single most boring period of my life came to a close. I was so happy, my backpack was full of lunch and I was heading to the academy for throwing fireballs and being awesome.

Basically being a Shinobi.

I am ready. I AM SO FREAKING READY I CAN'T STAND IT.

I MEAN REALLY.

"Bye Naruto," I said, waving at him over my shoulder as I left.

"Bye Daisuke!" Naruto called out from behind me.

What a great kid. He'll definitely grow up to be the hero the story needs. And me? Well, I'm going to learn how to…well, first I'm going to learn the Academy three, level up a bunch of times and hopefully be able to learn cool stuff from whoever my Jounin Sensei is. Then I'm going to roflstomp pretty much everything that stands in my way and…I actually don't know. Maybe I'll travel?

Barring any railroading, this is going to be great.

Quest Update: The First Step

Attend your first day of school.

FINALLY! YES! THE FIRST QUEST OF THE GAME! WITH BIG REWARDS AND BIGGER PAYOFFS! HALLELEUJA!

I approached the front gate of the academy. Parents, teachers and new students were gathered together, standing before the podium to watch the Hokage give his speech to further indoctrinate the impressionable young youths before him to help bolster Konoha's mercenary force.

Don't get me wrong, I like Konoha. Their policies make my old world morals cringe and scream in agony and outrage. But they don't apply right now. Not in the slightest. Not until I can back them up with a giant fireball. Or a million.

…by hook or by crook, I am stealing a fire jutsu from the Uchiha. Those are awesome. Also, irony points. Those are always good.

Is the speech still going on?

"…you will learn what the Will of Fire…"

It's still going on. Anyway, I'm trying to decide whether it's worth it, in this world, to do what I've always done and put all my points into one skill every level until it's maxed or to split them evenly. On one hand, it guarantees that I WILL be able to handle anything involving that skill. If it involves, say stealth or Taijutsu, where an error could mean death, I won't fail barring obscene penalties. With the right perks, even those won't be so bad I can't maneuver around.

But if I need a certain skill at a certain time and I haven't trained it, which has happened in my games, it could go badly. Very badly. We could be in a fight without needing too, like in the case of Stealth when I decided to max out Guns first.

Though maxing out Guns first was worth it to delete the first Legion Patrol I saw.

Hmmmm…let's think about this and decide when I level up.

How's the speech coming?

"…thank you."

Perfect timing.

With that, we were lead into the academy to begin orientation. Didn't see Iruka, which makes sense, there's more teachers than just him. My sensei was an older guy. Grey hair. Had an eyepatch, which looked intimidating.

"Good morning students," He said, writing Kanji on the board. "My name is Okawa Yuko. I'll be your Sensei for the duration of your time here."

I look around the class and see literally no one I should be able to recognize. Nope. No Konoha 11 for me. I am on my own. Which could be a good thing. I don't want to get mad at Neji this early. Because I would get mad.

"Now, before we begin with the rest of orientation, I'm going to pass out a quiz."

Groans passed through the class, only for the whole class, including me, to get sent straight to seated-attention when the room shook and lightning strikes a little birdy outside on a clear day. At least I think it struck a little birdy.

"It's just a survey to see what your preferences for specialization are," Sensei Okawa snapped, handing a pile to a kid on the end of each row.

Eventually I got mine. I looked at it and mentally sighed. It was the G.O.A.T from Fallout 3, only modified to fit the Naruto universe. It was stupid. Really stupid. It was the one thing I remember disliking from Fallout 3. I did not spend fifty bucks to sit in a classroom to take a written exam.

So, I looked at all the questions and filled out the bubbles at random. I don't really care what it said, but If they're going to subject me to a meaningless test, especially when I get to just pick the results of the test later, I'mma doodle a smiley face with little dots.

Sure enough, the moment I finished the test, a screen with all the skills showed up with. With three tagged skills. In the Fallout games, when you tag a skill, you picked what you were supposed to be good at. In Fallout 3, it added 15 skill points to the skills themselves, to give you a boost. The three skills currently tagged were Melee Weapons, Ranged Weapons and Barter.

The only one I thought was good was Barter, since that made supplies cheaper. However, the other two were Melee Weapons, which I already decided I don't want and ranged weapons, where the whole point was to toss them at the enemy and end up restocking at the end of a successful mission. Since we have jutsu, which is like ranged weaponry but with infinite ammo, that just makes it an impractical money sink. So, I untagged all three and put them where I thought they should go.

That would be Taijutsu, Chakra Control and Speech. Taijutsu because that's going to get me a lot of experience in the short run, Chakra Control because it's just that valuable in learning jutsu (which I suppose will be around levels 20 to 40 before seals take over) and Speech to compensate for my crappy charisma. Hopefully, that'll make for an…at least bearable time at school. This brought Taijutsu to 32, Chakra Control to 42 and Speech to 24.

Pressing 'done', I watched as the dots on my test skipped and rearranged themselves on the test by magic. I snorted.

"Shimoda," Sensei called to me. "Is there something funny?"

"Uh…sorry, Sensei," I said, sheepishly. "I just got a joke that got told to me this morning."

He groaned in annoyance. "Very well."

There is no way he bought that.

*cha-ching!*

I saw the EXP bar go from 100 to 200, and then another message popped up. Charisma Check Failed: 1/6.

Nope. Did not buy that at all. Then where'd did all the EXP come fr-oh, right. The G.O.A.T.

After the test was passed, we were told to report to the training fields outside the academy. On my way out, I could feel Sensei Okawa's eyes on me. Eugh that's creepy. Like the feeling of my nonexistent sins crawling on my back.

So, we were escorted by another Chunin whose name I don't know yet. We were in lines the whole time, boys on one side, girls on the other. I briefly considered goose stepping out of audacity but decided against it when I realized I would accidentally kick the person in front of me. And the fact that no one around me would get the joke.

In the training room, we were greeted by a silver haired Chunin, complete with official flak jacket. I always thought those were really cool. I want one.

"Hello everyone," He waved at us. "I'm Mizuki and I'll be your Taijutsu instructor."

Hey, someone else I recognized! Cool! I wonder if he's a complete jerk right now or if that comes later. I hope it's later. I haven't actually seen too much about Mizuki aside from him getting mauled by a mountain of clones. Which, admittedly was pretty funny when he tried to kill Naruto just before.

Anyway, that was before, this is now.

"So, who here has some Taijutsu training?" Mizuki asked.

Hands went up, but mine wasn't one of them. I guess I did technically have training now, with the skill tags, I don't think it's worth to tip my hand just yet. There was a potential traitor in the midst, after all.

"So about half of you?" Mizuki said with a sniff. "Alright, we can work with that. Everyone that raised their hand step over here. Everyone that did not, over here."

I moved over with the group who did not raise their hands. When we were in place, Mizuki started matching us up in pairs. My sparring partner was a prospective Kunoichi, with long black hair with locks going down her shoulders. She wore a green shirt with a white stripe going down the center, with black pants and ninja-sandal's.

"Hi, I'm Daisuke," I said with a smile. "What's your name?"

She let out an exasperated sigh. "Hisako."

"Bow to your partners!" Mizuki ordered and I followed. Upon coming back up, I saw that she had returned it.

"Now, you each will spar with each other until the bell rings. Then you will take a quick water break and we will head over to the target range," Mizuki said. "No permanent injury. No broken bones. This is just to see where everyone stands. We'll be watching. Ready? Set!"

The bell rung.

Hisako wasted no time in rushing me with a fist directed at my face. I slapped it out of the way with a hand to her forearm, before retaliating with a kick to the stomach, which sent her back a couple feet. She blinked, holding her stomach, looking at me with a risen eyebrow.

I offered a small smile.

She assumed an actual stance and started to circle.

This time, I went in for the attack, going for a fist to the face which disguised another punch to the stomach. She crossed her wrists and caught the punch, sending it upward over her head, then she counter attacked by bringing her elbow down on my shoulder-OW THE PAIN!

I went down with a yelp and saw my health bar for the first time, and it was going down by forty-five points, yowza. That spelled the end of my feint and I got up and quickly moved back before she could hit my face for real.

I brought up my fists in a pseudo boxing stance. Okay, clearly this girl knew what she was doing. And this is literally the first fist fight I've ever been in either my lives. She moved forward in a zigzag, before she went in for a circle kick to knock my feet out from under me. I simply jumped over it and brought my fist down on her face on the way down.

She was knocked to the floor only to jump back up and away from me.

You know, if I could go for a permanent injury, this fight would've been over much more quickly. This is getting a little bor-ohcrapdodge!

She came back in with a fist to the face, which I dodged. I tried my own punch to the chest, but she dodged to the side and kicked at my stomach, which I dropped to the floor to dodge, hopping right back up to kick her in the stomach again.

The kick landed and she was knocked back onto her rear.

"Why do you keep-" She breathed heavily. "Kicking me in the stomach?"

"I dunno, obvious target," I said, shrugging.

She looked up and glared, rising sharply to her feet, about to say something.

The bell dinged. She glared at me and simply walked off with a huff.

Cha-ching!

I will never get used to that. Another 100 EXP and suddenly, I'm now 30% of the way to level 2. Whoo! I'm on the highway to l33tness now!

Okay, not really. But still. I'm guessing radiant quests will be a thing aren't there.

Another settlement needs your-

PRESTON I SWEAR TO-oh, the class is leaving. Whoops.

I hurried over to the group and kept pace with the back. I didn't see Hisako again which I will count as a blessing because I do not want to get jumped by a bunch of students who may, in fact, be as good or better as I am. At least not until I can be sure that non-lethal K. O's actually get me experience. I hope they do. Or this is going to be a long school year.

Long four years, actually.

So, there were five targets.

"Okay!" Mizuki called out. "So, you have five kunai in the little bucket to your right. You must throw them all and try to hit the center of the target as close and or as often as you can! When everyone is finished and we give the all clear, you will go and collect your kunai and deposit them in the bucket for the next student. Is that clear?"

There were scattered 'Hai, Sensei's' scattered throughout the group.

"I said," Mizuki cleared his throat. "IS THAT CLEAR!"

"HAI, SENSEI!" I certainly shouted at the top of my lungs.

"Much better!" Mizuki nodded with approval. "But seriously, wait until we give the all clear. People with bad aim become really good at hitting people when they don't want to be."

Ooh. That can't happen to me, right? A critical miss? My high luck makes me less likely to critically miss. Actually if I remember correctly, it makes enemies less likely to critically hit but more likely to critically miss. Hmmm. The rule is important and must be followed.

So, I wait patiently for my turn, watching some amazing shots, some terrible shots, one that hit a bird nesting ten feet above the target. I guess it was whistling a little loud.

…if I did that, would it give me EXP?

Eventually, it came around to my turn. I took hold of the Kunai. My ranged weapons was only 17. Only one thing for it.

LEROOOOOOOOOOOY JENKINS!

I missed 1, 2, hit the target with the third, missed again with the forth and with the fifth…the fifth buried itself in the bullseye, becoming completely invisible.

The all clear was given and I went to retrieve my Kunai. Well, numbers one through four were easy enough, but as I dug into the straw of the target, I took hold of the handle and pulled. It wouldn't budge.

Strength Check Failed: 5/7.

Oh boy. "Uhhh…can I get some help?"

Mizuki was by my side in an instant. Kind of creepy, actually. "What'd you do?"

"Somehow my Kunai got stuck Mizuki-sensei," I explained, still pulling futilely.

He scoffed. "Seriously? Here, watch me."

He took hold of the handle. "You just have to put your back into it-hng!"

He pulled with everything he had, but the kunai refused to budge. Mizuki looked at it with frustrated confusion. "Kid, how hard did you throw this thing?"

"About as hard as the others," I said, rubbing the back of my head.

Mizuki's string of cusswords under his breath as he tried to dislodge the kunai became increasingly comical as he strained. Eventually, he did get it out, and pulled a large chunk of wood which was stuck on the bent end of the Kunai.

"Whatever, we have spares," He said, pocketing the kunai. "Try not to do that again."

"I'll do my best, Sensei," I said, rubbing the back of my head again with an uneasy chuckle.

With that, I stuck to the back of the group of students as it was now time to head to another class.

Cha-ching!

Only 60 EXP? Not even a bonus from my high INT? Oh whatever. Now I just need 640 To level. Whatever. The lines were back up, with Mizuki facing us. "Now that we've had a chance to see how each of you handle Taijutsu and Bukijutsu-"

Wait, what? Oh, right. Weapons.

"We'll take a break for lunch. The little park outside is open, feel free to sit under the shade, play on the swings, whatever," Mizuki gestured. "We'll be back to class in an hour so make sure you eat fast and get your energy out. More than you already have, that is."

Welp, I had my backpack, so off I went!

I separated from the main group, walking around the wall and out of sight from the main compound. I…had a fabulous idea.

I dug out my black book. The thing never seemed to leave my possession for long. I flipped over the inventory screen and…yup! There it was. In my inventory, was my lunch of rice balls, sauce and delicious sushi. I always loved sushi.

So in Fallout 3, you ate food and stuff through the inventory screen. I wonder if I can do the same thing here with the book. So…I tapped the food item to select it…then I tapped it again and it disappeared from my inventory and I was graced with rice-ball taste on my tongue.

Wow. Huh. Well, let's go for the packets of soy sauce…huh. Okay, that was way too strong. Didn't mix well at all way. Okay, I tap a sushi roll and it's delicious. I almost tap a wasabi packet, but decide I'm not crazy. So, I simply dig out the remaining sushi roll and enjoy it like a normal person.

Due to eating literally half of my lunch via assimilation, I was done fairly early.

With that, I stood up and looked at the concrete wall.

There was another experiment I wanted to try. So, tree-walking. Apparently, you needed to utilize your chakra to stick to the surface of a wall. Too little, you fall off. Too much, and you break the tree. Though in the case of concrete walls, I might just go flying off. Although…breaking stuff like that might have been the basis for Tsunade's megaton punch jutsu.

I know that's not what it's called but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was. Anyway, back to tree-walking.

I want to try it. So, I lift up my foot, channel chakra to my foot and try to stick. Anchor.

Cha-ching!

Chakra Control Check Passed: 42/25.

10 EXP? Seriously?

Alright, whatever. My foot is stuck to the wall in glorious fashion! Excellent! Now for the other foot.

With more than a little bit of trepidation, I pull my other foot off the ground, keeping the other foot stuck to the wall. With some focus, I channel some chakra to the other foot as well and…

Cha-ching!

Chakra Control Check Passed: 42/40.

25 EXP. Okay. 605 to go.

Cha-ching!

What'd I do that time?

Perk Unlocked: Tree Walker

Using your chakra, you can walk up and down walls with ease!

150 EXP! NOW WE'RE TALKING!

Wait, how's my Chakra?

The little bar underneath my magically refilled health bar, wasn't budging. Huh. I guess it's because I'm not using it up or getting rid of it? I guess? Whatever, it's awesome. I get to act like Spider-Man and I got the biggest EXP boost I've seen in ever! See, this is cool.

How much do I need to level again? 455. Okay.

Maybe I should try walking on water next? Eh, there's nothing nearby. Darn. Oh well, this is great. Rasengan? Nah. I can see that having an arbitrarily high skill check simply because of what it is.

I dropped to the floor and sat on the ground.

Think I should try using the 'wait' command?

Nah. I don't want to miss the bell by accident. Okay. Ummmmmm…darn.

So, skill points? Dump them in one spot or shift them around? Speech needs help. But maxing Taijutsu as fast as I can…agh. It's the same arguments I keep sifting in my head. Not going to get anything done.

You know what, whatever. Let's try the Rasengan. How'd it go again?

So, I held out my hand, started to pool chakra, to spin the air into a ball, then another ball going the other way then I felt a sting as the chakra in my hand disappeared. Waving away the pain in my hand, I read the inevitable message that I knew was coming.

Chakra Control Check Failed: 42/80.

80?! Then how did Naruto…? He used a shadow clone to give himself a boost. Derp.

Then the bell rang. My chakra was slowly replenishing at any rate, so I wasn't worried as I shouldered my bag again and ran to step in line.

We were lead back into the classroom we first started in, with Okawa-sensei standing at the blackboard. "Welcome back, class. So, now, we're going to talk about Chakra. Can I have a volunteer to describe what chakra is."

My hand shot straight up because I have 10 INT. This will be a breeze.

"Yes, Shimoda?"

Nice.

"Chakra is a mix of physical and spiritual energies, generated by Chakra Coils," I rattled off. "It is what fuels all Jutsu and is the foundation of everything Shinobi do."

"Very good," Okawa nodded.

Cha-ching! 100 EXP. That leaves me with 355 more until I, finally, hit level 2.

Luckily I was able to keep my victory dance in my head and Okawa continued to go on with a lecture about all of the ways chakra could be used and how seals were the basis of shaping and molding chakra, and how we use those in conjunction with moving the chakra to where it needed to go.

Fascinating stuff. I know that in my old world there were lots of people who believed in similar practices, though the effect was nowhere near as pronounced as it is here; it was more thought of as a spiritual pursuit anyway.

But this also brought to mind something I've usually considered. When I was growing up, I used to play Neverwinter Nights and Dungeons and Dragons. I always, always rolled a sorcerer and built him around one, simple, thing: Metamagic.

I hate casting animations.

They take too long, announce your presence to the enemy and if you're paralyzed you can't do anything. Specializing in Taijutsu can go a long way in helping me avoid little things like interruptions, especially if I obtain some sort of 'evasive' style but I'm not sure such a style exists in the game world and it doesn't actually solve the problem that's really starting to irk me: I will end up with casting animations. Or, hand seals. I might also have to at least say the name of my jutsu if the world is as similar to the one from the Anime.

…wow, that line of thinking is bizarre. I'm in a cartoon. I violent, bloody cartoon about a crapsack world. But still a cartoon.

Anyway. I do have a list of perks in my book, so I should really take a look at what I have available to me. Shame I don't have a walkthrough to get the best perks, but no use crying over what-ifs. Though, the question of what if springs another thought. Are there any jutsu that didn't require hand seals?

Besides the Rasengan…which is far and away one of the best jutsu's in the world, which I take as a sign that I'm on the right track…there was Tsunade's megaton-punch thing. Which was gathering your chakra up and releasing it at the time of impact. Didn't seem to be any hand seals involved.

Huh. Well, that jutsu fits into two of my tagged skills; Taijutsu and Chakra control. Probably be a reasonably high requirement for both, but it's something to shoot for. I wonder if I can just figure it out like I did tree-walking and presumably, the Rasengan if that failed Chakra Control check is anything to go on, or if I need to be taught by Tsunade herself. Hmmm…

By the way, speaking of tree walking, what would have happened if I failed that check? Put too little in it, I just fall off. Put too much, the tree explodes…wait. I just thought about this! And it's the perfect cover story! I learn Tsunade's megaton punch and if someone asks me about it, I could just say I thought about weaponizing the side effects of putting too much chakra in a tree-walking jutsu! Perfect!

"Shimoda!"

"Huh?" I sprang to attention as the room shook and lightning struck outside the windows.

"Care to answer the question?"

"…I'm terribly sorry, Sensei, I dosed off," He looked mad. "Please repeat the question?"

Cha-ching!

Speech Check Success: 24/20.

Whew! Enhanced speech is already saving my butt! With 10 EXP to boot.

"Do you know what seals we use in our jutsu," He asked levelly.

Cha-ching!

Intelligence Check Success: 10/9.

50 EXP. Awesome.

"There's Ram, Boar, Tiger, Bird, Rat, Monkey, Dragon, Ox, Snake, Hare, Horse, and Ox," I recited from memory.

"…that's very good, Shimoda," Okawa said, somewhat surprised. The class, dull though it is, becomes somewhat interesting when Okawa demonstrates a chakra-control exercise to stick a leaf to his finger and make it dance across his hand.

I wonder if he can make it do that can-can. I probably could.

"Students!" Sensei Okawa called over the sound of the bell. "Your homework is to practice the leaf exercise and you will be required to demonstrate it when you come in tomorrow."

So I'm required to make a leaf do the can-can? Awesome! I will train my leaf to be the best can-can dancing leaf in the entire elemental countries! The fact that it will be the only can-can dancing leaf in the entire elemental countries is superfluous and unimportant!

Also, 295 EXP until level. Sweet.

I stood up and left the building, feeling Okawa's eye still looking at me. Part of me would appreciate it if he had a preference for dishonesty, but that would be bad for everyone else in the long run. He already seemed to be willing to let me off easily, especially since he caught me lying.

…that is bad. Lying is bad and I should feel bad and…no, lying's a fact of life of the Elemental Countries. I need to accept it and make the best of-oh who am I kidding. This place is king crapsack world on crapsack mountain.

I'm just glad I didn't land in 40K. This place has NOTHING on that nutty universe.

Quest Updated: The First Step.

Completed: Attend your first day of school.

Return to the orphanage.

On my way, mystical dialogue boxes!

Wait…I'm not Deadpool. I need my own gimmick.

So I quickly made my way back to the Orphanage and opened the door. I had expected Naruto would be waiting for me with baited breath. What I got was a look at nothing.

"Ummm...Naruto?" I called after.

"He stepped out," The Matron replied, stepping around a corner. "How was your first day at the academy?"

"Awesome!" I said, gushing like the eight-year-old I supposedly was. "We got to fight each other and throw kunai and I got every question right and-"

"Okay, okay," The Matron smiled, patting me on the head. "I'm glad you had a good day. Go ahead and wash up for dinner."

…stupid level 1 charisma. I really need to fix that one of these days. Whatever. Wonder where Naruto went off too. Hope he's okay.

I heard a door slam to the right.

"What was that?" I asked the Matron, who had turned around to head to the kitchen.

"I don't know," She said over her shoulder at me.

Quest Update: The First Step

Completed: Return to the orphanage.

Investigate the noise.

"I'll be right there," I said, turning to go check it out.

I turned a corner and there, at the door to the orphanages cellar, were two of my fellow orphans; Santo Naora and Ashida Rikyu. They were students too, apparently. They had slammed it shut and were holding the door shut with their backs as they braced themselves with their legs against the opposite wall.

"So, what's up?" I asked.

They looked at me, looking rather panicked.

"Nothing!" Naora said.

"Yeah, go mind your own business!" Rikyu added.

Okay, I may have 1 charisma but there's more than one way to skin a cat.

"Okay, Obasaan just asked me to wash up," I replied. "Sorry to bother you."

I walked past them, clearly going to the washroom. I shut the door and turned on the sink. Then I opened the door as quietly as I could.

Sneak Check Success: 17/15.

10 EXP.

Perception Check Success: 5/5.

+20 EXP.

Ooh, another one I might need to upgrade at some point in the future. That was close.

"How long until you think they'll go away?" Naora asked Rikyu.

"I don't know," he replied in a whisper. "I've didn't think rats could get that big."

"Why did you even feed them soldier pills?" Naora asked. She sounded like she was close to crying.

Oh crap.

See, I'm scared of rats. Not in the 'I was traumatized when a rat yelled at me then ran away when I was a kid' sort of scared, but in the 'I know those things have iron in their teeth, will eat through anything, are incredibly smart and can develop an insatiable taste for human blood upon getting a taste'. If they've mutated to be even more dangerous, and if that mutation was any sort of permanent, then kids were going to die unless something is done about them now. Especially the babies in the nursery, who were very vulnerable and that could start a horrible chain reaction.

"It was your idea!" Rikyu returned hotly. "So you get to tell Obaasan!"

"You're the one who said it was a good idea," Naora snapped back. "…we should get out of here. Daisuke's already been by here and if we're still here, we'll look suspicious."

"So then what do we do?" Rikyu asked, sounding pretty scared.

"Hope the soldier pills wear off?" Naora offered weakly.

Ooh, good point. The rats are still a problem, though.

"We'll tell Obaasan about the rats after dinner," Naora nodded, some semblance of calm restored. "We can be sure the pills will have worn off about then. Then she can clean them up and no-one will be the wiser!"

Hmmm…if they fed them whole soldier pills, to a body of their size and density, I don't think they'll wear off for a while. Possibly not for another few hours if not clear until tomorrow.

They stood up and ran off toward the kitchen and I shut off the Water.

Quest Updated: The First Step

Completed: Investigate the Noise

Clear the cellar of soldier-rats.

'Soldier-rats'? I guess it's more creative than simply 'giant rats'.

I opened the door to the basement, the darkness not being inviting at all. Then at the bottom of the steps, I saw a pair of glistening eyes.

Oh no. You are not getting upstairs. I swiftly closed the door behind me and leapt down the stairs. It squealed at me, revealing those darkened teeth that frankly freaked me out, but it wasn't fast enough to dodge the two feet which stomped down on its head, breaking its neck instantly.

+5 EXP.

I heard squeals and I turned around, seeing rats feasting on the various stores of food down here. Yeah, none of that's edible anymore. It wasn't that dark in here, though that's because of the torches lit and mounted on the walls.

The rats rushed forward. Two of them went for my legs but I jumped and tried to stomp on one again, though the rat simply dodged and bit me in the calf why?!

-15 HP.

I slammed a one-handed haymaker down on its head and it still wasn't dead.

One jumped and clawed at my arm, pain shooting out from the scratches in my skin and blood started to trickle, I punched that one back down to the ground and kicked it in the face.

-10 HP.

+5 EXP.

Nice. But how many are left-AHHOW!

The back of my knee got slashed open, putting me on my knee in shock, and the rat then tackled me in the back, sending me back to the ground. Suddenly, I was getting double teamed and sliced up.

-10 HP.

-15 HP.

-10 HP.

Yeah. I'm in deep $#$ here.

I span on my back, putting an elbow to a rats face and bashing it away from me with the entirety of my forearm. I leapt back up, but the rat that was slicing up my back was now clinging to my back with razor claws and a chunk of my shoulder in its mouth for good measure.

-1HP .

-1HP.

-1HP…

My health was depleting continuously because the rat on my back was applying a damage over time with his bite and it was super painful! GEEZE!

I jumped up and fell on my back, once, twice until the DOT stopped and the rat dropped limply from my back.

+5 EXP

It was worth more than that you piece of crap game system.

This was bad. I was down to 129 HP from the DOT plus all the other attacks. I'm fairly sure my arm was close to being crippled, which was really bad in of itself. Not only that, but my quest journal hadn't updated yet, meaning there's another rat around her somewhere.

I was breathing haggardly and blood seeped from the wounds I had acquired. Where's the rat? Where's the rat?

Seriously, where?

Enemies don't usually use stealth like this.

Not in any of the RPG's I used to play.

A squeal had me looking up to see themissingratdivingformyfaceohCRAP!

It started to slice and claw at my face and I was beating it with my fists to get it off.

-20HP.

-25HP.

-25HP.

FREAKING EXTRA HEADSHOT DAMAGE!

Then I forced it off through excessive use of force. It tried to bite me on the nose but he was flung off with as much gusto as I could muster. Blood leaked in my eyes making strain to keep them open through the sting.

Then the game graced me with another message.

Your head has been crippled! Use a medical jutsu or sleep in a bed to heal the damage!

Well, good to know using a bed still heals me.

In my swimming vision, I was having a bad time trying to pick out the rat from the shadows, which seemed to be blurring into one another, with the torchlight.

Oh crap.

Oh crap oh crap oh crap.

This is very bad.

Then, I saw it.

Rushing toward me, I saw the distinct blur of the rat rushing for my legs.

Luck, don't fail me now!

The kick to its head connected, sending it sprawling.

+5EXP.

Quest Updated: The First Step

Completed: Clear the cellar of soldier-rats

Talk to Matron Kumiko.

Whoopee.

Well, I guess…ooh, this vision thing is annoying. Okay, well, the Matron, Obasaan or Kumiko or whatever I'm supposed to call her is going to want proof so…where are those corpses?

With more than a little disgust, I grabbed each rat corpse by the tail and held them in my fist like a perverse bushel. I slowly ascended the steps because I didn't want to fall and endanger the 59 hit points I had left.

I got to the top and opened the door.

"Daisuke, what happened?!"

I wiped my eyes with my forearm and saw the Matron looking down at me in shock and worry. Behind her were Naora and Rikyu who were white as sheets and staring at me. Or the bushel of enlarged rodents. Maybe a little of both.

"Oh, I found out that someone fed the rats in the cellar some Soldier Pills," I explained, hoisting the bushel for them to see. "I went in and wiped 'em out for you."

"I…yes, I can see that!" the Matron was, naturally, very worried for my health. Awww. She does care! "We need to get you to the hospital immediately."

I'm not even going to argue. Trying to convince her of the truthfulness of being okay with just a nights-sleep is a completely futile exercise with my stats. "Good idea, Obaachan."

Quest Update: The First Step

Completed: Talk to Matron Kumiko

Sleep at the hospital.

Well, that was straight forward.

Well, Kumiko simply scooped me up in her arms and rushed me with NINJA SPEED to Konoha General. One look at my wounds, and I was admitted straight to the ER where they doped me up on pain killers, which I appreciated.

I didn't say a word. Didn't really have too with my legal guardian taking care of all my stuff. I got my wounds cleaned up pretty quickly and put into a room. When I was put into a bed, I decided that it was time to go to sleep. For about about…five hours.

When I woke up, it was 10:29, so the old sleep function from Fallout still worked.

Quest Completed: The First Step

+300 EXP.

NICE.

Bum-bum-bum-Bum!

You leveled up!

Level Achieved: 2

Down below that was a list of my skills.

For Tsunade's Megaton Punch, I dumped all twenty skill points into Chakra Control. That jutsu was going to be so incredibly useful, plus the idea of getting Rasengan which was good enough to become Naruto's Signature Technique except for the clones. That brought Chakra Control up to 62. Nice.

Next was Perks.

On that list was the perks Intensive Training, Taijutsu Enthusiast, Swift Learner and Wall Crawler.

Intensive training let me raise any one of my S.P.E.C.I.A.L points by one. This could easily fix my charisma problem, which has been…really bad, but at the same time, I've gotten used to not getting much social attention. It's not like I'm dying for social contact and there are other things that are more pertinent to my early game survival. So, increasing my charisma is on my to-do list, but it falls behind increasing luck.

Taijutsu Enthusiast was an interesting one. It increased my damage and magnitude of special moves by 10%. So my strikes would do more damage and my grapples and suplexs would be more effective at throwing people. Excellent perk.

Swift Learner made it so that I gained 10% more EXP whenever I gained EXP. I always passed by it on the rationalization that there was enough EXP to get to max level even if you penalized me %10 EXP per EXP gain. Now, I might get it to make things faster. Then again, I'm also a year away from the plot, when all the major crap happens so I think I can hold off. For now.

Wall Crawler makes my Tree-walking Jutsu 15% more powerful, which would be exactly what it says on the tin: I am now 15% harder to dislodge from vertical and upside-down surfaces.

Hmmm…I'm torn. I really want to bring Luck to 10 to give me that sweet 10% critical hit chance. That's actually what happened earlier with the target practice, now that I think about it. I hit a critical on the target, causing the kunai to get stuck. A guaranteed attack with extra damage is nothing to sneeze at. Then there's Taijutsu Enthusiast which is amazing for combat. Swift Learner is on probation for now and I don't feel the need to get Wall Crawler at this moment.

Ummmm…well, Luck made me friends with Naruto, as cliché as that is. That's amazing. So I know it works wonders when it wants too. But Taijutsu Enthusiast was an amazing perk, more consistently reliable, too. Hmmm…

Honestly, Luck seems to be pulling double duty in providing amazing benefits and compensating for my biggest weakness. So, yeah. I picked intensive training, then increased my Luck to 10.

The game was paused during level-up, which is darn nice for convenience. As the world faded back into color, I noted that it was, indeed, nighttime. I wasn't hurting anymore and my hit points were at full. My vision wasn't swimming so my head was obviously fixed up. Pretty sure it's because I decided to take a nap, though Ninja doctors are nothing to sneeze at. Maybe it's a mix of both.

Well, questions for later. Right now, I'm going to feel amazing with the knowledge that I just completed my first quest. As well as understand that any attempt to leave early will result in being detained by irate nursing staff. So, back to sleep for me. This time, I'm sleeping until morning.