Chapter 3

"Are you sure she-"

"Naruto, for the third time. Yes, I'm sure. She will just continue hitting you. Just… give her some space." I said exasperatedly. I had spent the rest of our time after the meal telling Naruto to let Sakura be. I was sure, or at least hoped, that the pink-haired girl wouldn't be that bad once he stopped pestering her. "Annoying her until she gives you a chance won't work."

"Ok…" He said looking down. I sighed.

"I heard you are good pranking people." I said trying to keep a smirk as he perked up instantly.

"I'm not good." He said in a low voice. "I'm the best, believe it!" He said giving me a big grin and a peace sign. I chuckled.

"So, that should mean you are good sneaking around…" I whispered as if I didn't want others to hear. He nodded quickly with a serious face. "Do you think you can teach me? As shinobi we'll need that particular skill." I had had this idea just now. Would having instruction affect the levels of the skills?

"I can do that, but you have to help me with my pranks." He said grinning at me. I hesitated. I didn't want to become undesirable number two… To hell with it. Stealth training for the win. I just hoped my theory was right.

"Deal." He swung an arm around my shoulders and started shaking me.

"We are going to be great friends, Eiji." He exclaimed and couldn't stop an amused half-smile.

"Of course, Godaime." I said and he chuckled shyly. He obviously wasn't used to people takin him even half-seriously. By that time, we had arrived at the classroom.

"Godaime. What a joke, hahaha." We stopped walking as Kiba's voice reached us. "He is better than you, Weakling, but he is still not good at all." He pointed out with a smirk.

"Careful who you are mocking, Kiba." Naruto said still grinning. "You are talking with the future Shinobi no Kami, believe it." He said pointing at me, I just shook my head at him while Kiba couldn't even retort because of the fit of laughter he was in.

"Ignore him, Naruto. Dogs are attention seekers like that." I smirked at the blonde that let out a laugh at that.

"Yeah, you're right." Naruto said taking his seat.

"I would shut my mouth if I were you, Weakling." Kiba threatened, not pleased at all with my comeback. I just looked for my things and took them to the seat next to Naruto.

"Whatever you say, Dog breath." I waved my hand in the air. I heard a growl but it was interrupted by Iruka-sensei coming in.

"Let's go outside then, shall we?" He said and we did. Meanwhile I looked at the screen I had summoned this time.

[Shurikenjutsu

Shuriken Throwing – Lvl 4

Increases accuracy against a stationary target with a shuriken by 40%.

Kunai Throwing – Lvl 3

Increases accuracy against a stationary target with a kunai by 30%.

Senbon Throwing – Lvl 1

Increases accuracy against a stationary target with a senbon by 10%.]

Yeah, I had been progressing well enough in target practice. I just hoped it was better in this world than it was in canon where you either were a ninjutsu specialist or you were cannon fodder. People like Guy aside, obviously.

I blinked in confusion. Iruka had stopped in the open area where we usually did the physical conditioning.

"Today we'll start with some Taijutsu training to prepare you for the spars that we'll start having in a few weeks." He said. I gulped and decided to turn serious mode on. I wasn't going to get my ass handed to me by Kiba if I could help it. For some reason he had me in his shit list ever since the first day. I wondered if it had something to do with my little running stunt back then. Anyway, I wasn't going to be bullied. I hadn't been reincarnated or whatever just to be the guy everyone picked on, nu huh.

So, as I copied Iruka-sensei's movement as he explained the katas, I also started planning a new training routine. I would use my free time once the academy finished to train more with Physical Conditioning and the Taijutsu skill that I was sure to-

[New Skill Acquired: Basic Taijutsu – Lvl 1]

There it was. It was surprising though, that I was just Taijutsu and not the particular style, Basic Konoha Style. Who would have guessed that name, huh? Anyway, I wasn't going to complain. Reading the description though, was a bit disappointing. It didn't give any real buffs or anything. I had hoped to get a little boost even if it needed Energy. But no, there was nothing except the increase in my skill according to level, kind of like the Stealth skill. 'Here's hoping that there's something like that at a higher level.'

Shaking my head to brush those thoughts aside I concentrated in the class. I would need to know how to practice the katas at home. It would have been better if I could practice with Naruto or something like that but we didn't have the space for that in the building. It was a shame, really. But I would have to make do with classes and training by myself. Maybe I could get a wooden post to practice on? Could I even install that on the apartment? Things to check later.

Unfortunately for me, the classes ended without me being able to gain another level in Taijutsu. But that would change soon. I had three weeks until we started having spars. I had to bring it and my Physical Stats to a good enough level so that Kiba wouldn't beat me. Which sucked, because I was sure he was the best Taijutsu user in the class aside from Sasuke and maybe Chouji… And Hinata if we were having spars between genders. The last two didn't worry me too much though, they were too gentle to truly dominate in a spar. Kiba and Sasuke were my competition. Naruto was a bit of a wildcard. He had strength and stamina, but he didn't have technique at all, or at least he was portrayed like that. I better be on the safe side and put him up there in the list too. Shino too… shit, I was truly a weakling.

"Eiji, do you want to go pranking?" The voice of the wildcard interrupted my thoughts.

"Sorry, Naruto." I said, and I was truly apologetic. I had just made plans with him but I really wanted to beat Kiba. "Kiba has been getting on my nerves lately. I want to beat him when we start having spars." I explained. "So, I'll head home and train some more."

"Oh…" His grin faded a little before he got a hold of himself. I felt terrible. "Then we'll start after you get there." He gave me a peace sign.

"Believe it." I replied to which his grin turned a bit more… genuine. I gave him a half-smile. "See you tomorrow, Naruto. Try to study something." I said waving at him.

"I have better things to do, believe it!" I just shook my head at him before my expression turned serious. Activating Stealth to spend the recovered Energy, I made my way to the apartment. I could almost hear the training montage music in the background.

[}-o-{]

So, there I was, three weeks since my friendship with Main Protagonist-kun started. I had indulged him and gone pranking a couple of times during the weekends. It was a good way to distract myself from all the training I was doing. I didn't want to burn myself out after all. As a result of our little escapades and what little I could do in my way back home, Stealth had improved a lot.

[Stealth (Active) – Lvl 8

Hides your presence according to the level of the skill and the awareness level of others.

Consumption 8 Energy Points per second.]

Having someone to teach me definitely made the difference. Even though I was barely able to train it compared with the others, it had progressed nicely. And that it had the same reduction on the Energy cost every 4 levels that Running seemed to have was nice too. Talking about Running.

[Running (Active) – Lvl 10

When used increases the speed of the user while running by 100%.

Consumption 8 Energy Points per second.]

I was so damn proud of that skill. Sensei had been truly pleased with my progress and the speed of my 'initial sprint' as he called it. But the pride came from something completely different. I was slowly catching up to the speed demons as my stats and skill progressed. I was starting to get on Kiba's nerves. He had it coming the mangy mutt. And now that I mentioned my stats.

[Eiji Satou

Title: Academy Student

Energy Points: 200/200

Chakra Points: 70/70

Strength: 9

Dexterity: 7

Constitution: 10

Chakra: 7

Chakra control: E]

Yes, Physical Conditioning's effects were starting to show and Strength and Constitution were starting to get ahead of Dexterity. I didn't like it much really. I would have preferred for all my stats to be the same level. But there's nothing I could do. It would only get worse with Physical Conditioning like this:

[Physical Conditioning (Passive) – Lvl 10

Improves the rate at which your Strength and Constitution increase during training by 50%.]

Now, many must be thinking 'wow, how did you get your chakra to level up?' and the truth is… I don't really know. Just a few days ago I was using Meditation to organize my head a bit and go over the theorical classes, or that was the idea. But I had slowly started to get a better feeling of my chakra somehow and I latched onto it. Carefully I tried to draw it towards me, even though it was inside me, and then it felt like a dam breaking. A rush of energy ran through my body and the feeling that usually made me feel warm and my hairs stand intensified. I felt a smile involuntarily take over my face just by how amazing it felt. When I opened my eyes, I received a pleasant surprise.

[Meditation has gone up a level.]

[You have unlocked your Chakra.]

'It was locked?!' Was my first thought. Blinking rapidly, I summoned my Status screen. Apparently, my Chakra was equivalent to my lowest Physical stat for some reason. I would have to research on that. For the moment I made a mental note to check the library that I was sure was somewhere and see what I could find, not only on chakra but in everything else I could possibly need. Oh, and before I forgot, I decided to check Meditation just in case.

[Meditation (Active) – Lvl 5

Increases the recovery rate of Energy Points and Chakra Points by 25% when active.]

Now, onto the good stuff. My true shinobi skills aside from Stealth. Shurikenjutsu Skills were starting to be a pain to level. The last level of Shuriken Throwing had taken me the whole last week to get and I was still waiting for the Kunai level that I was sure was around the corner. I had knowing it would happen eventually, but it was still annoying to be so limited.

[Shurikenjutsu

Shuriken Throwing – Lvl 7

Increases accuracy against a stationary target with a shuriken by 70%.

Kunai Throwing – Lvl 6

Increases accuracy against a stationary target with a kunai by 60%.

Senbon Throwing – Lvl 1

Increases accuracy against a stationary target with a senbon by 10%.]

Still, 60-70% was pretty good. Good enough to earn me nice comments from Iruka-sensei. I dreaded how difficult it would get to hit moving targets though… Anyway, onto Taijutsu. I seriously hopped it was good enough because even if I didn't get paired against Kiba in the first Taijutsu spar, it would happen soon enough. And I doubted I would get another level before I got to fight against him.

[Basic Taijutsu – Lvl 7

Increases the skill of the user in hand to hand combat according to skill level.]

If that level represented the same skill that Shuriken Throwing gave me on the same level then it wasn't that impressive really. Not when you thought that the mutt would probably have been trained all his life by his clan that was known for their Taijutsu aside from their Ninken. With some luck my stats would be higher than his… Yeah, nah, I was screwed. So, to distract myself, why not look at the rest of my skills?

[Cooking – Lvl 5

Improves the quality of cooked goods by 50%.]

[Cartography – Lvl 5

Improves the quality of maps drawn by 25%.]

Yep, they looked nice. The food I prepared was starting to get good. I had even gotten Naruto to eat some of my food for lunch instead of going to Ichiraku's. Can you imagine? I was truly moved. That's the power of friendship right there.

Kiba was going to kick my ass though… Oh well, I could only hope I would get stronger than him eventually. I didn't fancy the rest of my Academy life being bullied by the mutt.

[}-o-{]

"Now, let's start with the laps!" And with the now extremely familiar call from Sensei I activated Running. By now nobody was surprised by my speed at the starts. Naruto was convinced that it was a 'cool jutsu' even though Iruka had told him that there didn't seem to be any chakra involved after checking with his sensing skills. Honestly, there's no trust here. Although… it was a ninja village so… never mind.

The thing is. I wanted a win today. Even if I got my ass handed to me in the Taijutsu spar, I would get a win today. So, I ran with all I had as soon as I ran out of Energy Points for Running.

"Come back here, Weakling!" I heard behind me.

'Keep talking, stupid mutt.' I thought to myself as I forced my legs to continue running. Just one more lap. I could do it. Even if Kiba got to beat me in Taijutsu, I would still be able to hold this over him. Just a little more…

And then Sasuke passed me. I started cursing in my mind. Then Naruto ran by me. The idiot even turned a little to give me a thumbs up. 'Someday, Naruto, someday I'll be able to kick your ass. Mark my words, you hyperactive knuckle-head!'

They reached the end of the lap. I was still ahead of Kiba. I could hear the Inuzuka cursing behind me. He was close. He was so close…

I finished before him.

Stopping abruptly and tripping over myself doing so, I fell to the ground. My chest moved up and down trying desperately to give my body the oxygen it craved. My legs trembling and sore, as if admonishing me for my stupidity. With my eyes closed and my mouth forming a wide smile I started laughing.

"Good job, Eiji!" Naruto's voice reached me even though I could barely hear over the pulse of my accelerated heart rate sent to my ears. "You definitely beat him, believe it!" He exclaimed. I chuckled and opened my eyes.

"He can start getting used to eating my dust, Naruto." I said barely able to recover my breath. I was going to continue beating him. I was sure of it. Why? Simple.

[Quest Complete: Finish the running exercise in third place.

Rewards:

+1 Running Level]

'So, I do have Quests? But I can't see them? That's bullshit.' My pride was replaced by annoyance for a second. However, at this point I was already used to the Game stupid system. I was just happy for the free skill level. I pulled myself up tiredly and still panting.

"Good job, Eiji." Iruka-sensei gave me a thumbs up. I looked over the class and everyone seemed pretty surprised. Those faces were worth risking the use of Skills. Specially Kiba's, he looked absolutely livid. And Sasuke looked intrigued. I just hoped this wasn't one of those Sasukes that was so obsessed with power that he would start pestering me for my secrets and all that shit.

I tuned everyone out when Sakura and Ino started shouting about how Sasuke was still the best. Instead I called for the Running skill's description.

[Running (Active) – Lvl 11

When used increases the speed of the user while running by 100%.

Consumption 8 Energy Points per second.]

'I knew it. I just knew you would find a way to screw with me, Game.' I thought bitterly as I looked at the unchanged speed boost. It seemed that it wouldn't go past 100%. But the level up meant something. I guessed I would still get the reduce in costs every 4 levels. Or at least I hoped so. I paled as I realized that I would have to almost kill my legs every day from now on to keep myself in front of Kiba. Until my stats went up a level or Running did. And considering that the latter had just leveled, those stats points better come soon.

"I think that's enough resting, Eiji. Start with the physical conditioning." Iruka said over my thoughts and I groaned before starting with the push-ups. From the corner of my eyes, I saw a fuming Kiba. That got the smile back on my face and helped motivate me. 'That's what you get for trying to use me for your superiority complex, mutt.'

"Eiji, let's go to Ichiraku's to celebrate!" Naruto called as we finished the exercises. I chuckled tiredly.

"Sorry, Naruto." I apologized from where I was sitting on the ground, already taking out my meal. "I'm beat after that stunt. Maybe for dinner or tomorrow." I said tiredly munching on my sandwich. He looked at me with his grin fading before starting to scratch the back of his neck.

"Then… em…" He hesitated and I raised an eyebrow. "Would you mind if I… you know… took one of those? Your food is not that bad." He said looking away. I gulped and took one snack to offer him.

"Sure, go ahead." I said and the sandwich seemed to vanish from my hand. I blinked. "Geez, you know I won't just take my words back, don't you?" I said shaking my head at him. He chuckled awkwardly.

"I know. It's just really good." He said grinning at me.

"Ichiraku level of good?" I asked jokingly.

"Never!" He denied immediately crossing his arms for emphasis. "That's the food of the Gods you are talking about, believe it! Sorry, but yours can't compare."

"Well, it got you to stay instead of going, so that has to count for something." I said smirking.

"I also wanted to be with you." He blurted out. "I mean…" He continued quickly seemingly getting nervous. "I mean, to celebrate your third place and all." I blinked before a smile appeared in my face.

"Thanks, Naruto. I appreciate it." I told him honestly. He was an idiot for sure, but you just couldn't hate him.

"That's what friends are for, believe it!" He said as if I was the idiot.

"Right. Thanks anyway, Godaime."

"No problem, Shinobi no Kami." He gave me a peace sign and then we focused on the food again.

"Naruto," I started cautiously. He looked at me. "Why do you like Ichiraku so much?" I asked. He looked at me as if he didn't understand the question.

"Because it's the best." He said simply.

"No other reason?" I pressed on. He frowned before looking at the floor.

"You know people don't like me much. I know you saw them." He said. I sat up with my back straight. I knew what was coming. We had never talked about how people hated him but I didn't need to, after all. "Everywhere else is really expensive… or they won't sell me at all." His voice getting lower and lower until it was just a whisper.

"Naruto." I said firmly and he looked up at me. "If you give me some of your money, I'll buy food for you. I'll even bring you something of your own for lunch." I said with a half-smile. He didn't return it though.

"You… You won't get into trouble because of that?" He asked unsure.

"Maybe." I said shrugging. "But if they don't see me pranking with you, they shouldn't have a reason to give me trouble. I'll have to stop doing that though." I explained. Maybe one of the kids from our class would start telling, but I wanted to believe it wouldn't be enough to ruin the both of us. And if that happened… I would have a talk with the Hokage. As much as I dreaded that option, it was the best.

I wouldn't let Naruto starve himself and as good as Ichiraku's Ramen was, it wouldn't do the blonde well to eat just that. No, he was too good a guy to be left alone like that. I could risk it for a friend. I had noticed that life since I had been reincarnated was pretty dull without anyone in it. I needed friends. And as far as friends went, it was difficult to do better than Naruto Uzumaki. Even with all the drawbacks, he more than made up for them.

"Thanks." He said softly looking at the sandwich in his hand. "But I still think Ichiraku's the best, believe it!" He exclaimed and I chuckled.

"Obviously, Naruto." I said with a smirk.

[}-o-{]

"Eiji Satou vs Shikamaru Nara." I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or cry as Iruka called our names. If Shikamaru did what I thought he was going to do. It would suck. At least I wanted to get some experience for Basic Taijutsu, damnit. "Do the Seal of Confrontation." Suppressing a sigh, I did so.

"I give up." The sigh escaped my lips instantly. It was soon followed by a groan.

"Come on." I all but shouted. "Would it kill you to at least have a light spar?" I complained.

"It's too troublesome." He said indifferently before shrugging. I facepalmed. I just knew it…

"Do the Seal of Reconciliation." Said Iruka-sensei while sweat dropping. I did so together with the Nara and we went to the side so that the others could have their turn.

[Quest Complete: Win your first spar.

Reward:

+1 Basic Taijutsu Level]

'I take that back. Thanks, Shikamaru.' I thought to myself trying to suppress a grin.

"Is there anything you enjoy doing?" I asked Shikamaru trying to sound annoyed.

"Cloud watching." He said with his usual bored tone and I resisted the need to facepalm.

"Anything else?" I asked. I was truly curious though. Did he have any different hobbies from canon or fanfics? That question came up sometimes when thinking about some things. After all, there were several times that made this look like an AU of sorts. Anything could be different.

"Shogi." He answered. Same Shikamaru, it seemed.

"You don't have a board here, do you? I'll be bored out of my mind waiting for them all to finish their fights." I said. There were far too many civilians for me to care and watch all their fights. There were some clan members too but no one really close to the canon groups. I would still watch their fights though, maybe pick up on clan styles' weaknesses or maybe even stances and katas. If the Uchihas could go around stealing techniques I could try too.

"I have one." Shikamaru said sitting up from where he had laid down to watch the clouds. "Interested?"

"Yeah, why not?" I shrugged and he stood up and walked inside. I followed him with my eyes. Maybe he wasn't so lazy. Or maybe my group of friends would grow from now on. I smiled.

Yes, being friends with a Nara may not be the smartest decision. But I would have to live here. Shikamaru was a pretty important character too. I would have to deal with him eventually. Avoiding him would only end up looking more suspicious than anything else I could do.

I looked as he set up the board.

"Do you know how to play?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. I shook my head.

"I know nothing." I smirked and he groaned.

"Ok… this is the King…" He started explaining. Five minutes and two very lame civilian spars later I had a screen in front of me.

[Shogi – Lvl 1

Increases your strategic thinking while playing Shogi according to skill level.]

I grinned. I was sure the game wouldn't give me a combat equivalent for that. But it was ok. The possibility of beating a Nara in Shogi sounded pretty awesome by itself.