Ch. 1 - Crossing Over With A System

Ugh. For fuck's sake, my head is a mess.

A twelve-year-old boy with blonde hair, sapphire crystal eyes, and whisker marks on his face, wearing an orange shirt with a swirl on its back and black shorts, thought as he reached up to his head and ruffled his hair, only to pause.

What the hell? I don't remember my hair being this long...

He couldn't help but open his tired and heavy eyelids, as the headache only seemed to intensify. Looking at his finger that held a few strands of his hair in his line of sight, he remembered that his blonde hair had been in a buzz cut after shaving and becoming a mercenary almost two months ago.

He also remembered having drunk so much last night that he had passed out with his two pals, laughing and chuckling about perverted stuff. It even got to the point where some of his other friends started a strip dance just for laughs.

"What the hell?" His face froze for a second as his eyes took in the environment behind his hand. Dropping his hand, he stared at the wooden floor of what appeared to be a rundown apartment, ramen cups strewn about, clothes left on the floor, and stains that marred the floor, giving off a weird stench that made one wrinkle their nose instinctively.

He almost threw up, but he didn't—or more precisely, he couldn't. Before he could even start to hyperventilate, or even freak out at his situation—like any normal and sane human being would—a sudden bell chime along with cold and robotic words, said by what seemed like a male, shifted his attention.

«Ding!»

«System activation has initiated!»

«1%... 4%... 7%...»

"What the fuck?!" He instantly cursed out loud, shivering and jumping back at the sudden appearance of a dark red hologram directly in front of him.

This, however, didn't stop the hologram from moving along with him, following and remaining twenty inches away from him, blinking with a flash of golden light every time its percentage increased.

Wait. Don't tell me I have crossed over?

He suddenly froze as his mind caught up to the series of events up to this moment.

NOOOO!! I couldn't even finish the last volume of 'My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute'!

He suddenly dropped to the dirty floor as tears threatened to fall from his eyes, an expression of regret and longing crossing his face.

"Sigh~ Forget it, there's nothing much I can do now," he sighed after a few seconds of sulking, getting up and walking over to the only window of his apartment, gazing out into the world outside.

I wonder which anime I crossed over to...

He thought as his gaze wandered across a few streets below, before his eyes locked onto four face statues carved into the side of a large mountain.

"So, Naruto?" he muttered, not that surprised. After all, he had been a fan of web novels and fanfiction, so he had come across more Naruto fanfiction than any other type of anime fanfiction ever.

Then, he unfocused his eyes slightly and gazed at his reflection in the window, only to widen his eyes slightly.

"Tsk, tsk. Naruto? Couldn't I have been, I don't know, transmigrated as Sasuke or an Uchiha clan member during the Second Shinobi War?" He clicked his tongue, but despite that, he couldn't hide the satisfaction of a small smile forming on his dry lips.

"Though transmigrating into Naruto isn't all that bad either. He is the main character, after all," he continued, only for his thoughts to be interrupted at that moment.

«Ding!»

«System activation successful! Beginning memory acquisition of [Naruto Uzumaki]»

Instead of the usual pain often described in numerous fanfictions when one obtained the memories of their original bodies after crossing over, the boy simply closed his eyes and seemed to be watching all twelve years of Naruto's life as if it were a movie.

I see, so today is the day after Mizuki is arrested by Hiruzen after having manipulated the old Naruto into stealing the Scroll of Seals. This also means there are only two more days until team selection. Such a troublesome thing.

Naruto couldn't help but sigh as he rubbed his head and thought about things. Only after a few seconds of long silence did he let out a frustrated "Tsk."

It's too late to have any clear impact on things. I also have to act carefully so that old man doesn't notice anything strange about me, along with that damned one-eyed bastard who has a long stick stuck up his ass.

"Not much I can do," he muttered, as if reaffirming his thoughts into words, rubbing his chin that no longer had the short stubble from his previous life.

If I start trying to train now and use my knowledge of advanced training from the Naruto anime, I would definitely attract attention. Seems my only safe bet is to simply wait to land on Kakashi's team and win things over like in the original, then proceed with asking him to teach me a few things like chakra control training and the like.

Though, I doubt he will tell me much considering his lazy personality.

He suddenly paused in his train of thought before gaining a small grin with narrowed eyes.

Nah. No way I'm doing that. So what if they start growing suspicious of me? I just have to come up with bullshit reasons and keep them at bay long enough for me to defect and go along with something else, or maybe long enough for that old man to die and for Tsunade to take over.

As a fanfiction lover, especially those of the Naruto anime, he had a bunch of ideas and excuses for almost any question they might throw at him.

Why did he become so smart? He simply acted dumb and decided to finally drop the mask after officially becoming a genin, as he wasn't sure what civilians or even some shinobi would do if they found out that the "Demon Brat" is smart.

How did he learn about tree climbing and water walking? The fact that the shinobi who came after him when he painted the Hokage faces could walk on walls or even water would be more than enough.

Keke. Without enough proof of anything, they won't be able to do much to me, especially considering that I am the Kyūbi Jinchūriki, along with the "last" Uzumaki who could contain it.

All they would do is simply wait for me to show any big abnormalities and then sweep me up and place some seals on me, before using me as a breeding cow to produce a few more Uzumaki and thus more kids who could potentially hold the Nine Tails after they extract it from me.

But all that would simply be delayed for a while, and I'll use that time to grow a little stronger—though not so much that they would bring up their plans to control me—along with forming and growing bonds with most of the clan heirs so they would back me up once Hiruzen dies and Tsunade takes over.

«Due to formulating a small plan, you have gained +1 intelligence»

This notification instantly took him out of his musings and planning, as he smiled at the notification.

Status.

Naruto said in his mind. Then, a new red hologram appeared, replacing the former one, as it took shape, its words in black, showing his overall status.

«STATUS»

Name: Naruto Uzumaki

Level: 1

Exp: 0%

Health: Malnourished

Status Condition: Hungry

CP (Chakra Points): 789

CC (Chakra Control): 0%

STR (Strength): 13

PER (Perception): 27

END (Endurance): 18

CHA (Charisma): 7/100

INT (Intelligence): 22

AGI (Agility): 14

LUC (Luck): 67/100

Rank: Genin

Affinity:

- Fire (2%)

- Wind (100%)

- Lightning (2%)

- Earth (0%)

- Water (2%)

SP (Status Points): 0

Special Point: 0

———

So, a status similar to that of the Fallout series, containing the [SPECIAL] stats. Noice.

He inwardly joked. Then, he focused his attention on trying to see the meaning of each stat, only to fail miserably as the hologram didn't change even after a full minute of staring intently at it.

Forget it.

He sighed before moving on. As a person from Earth, he knew a lot about gaming and web novels, and as such, he had a few theories as to what each stat meant.

This, of course, didn't mean he would blindly believe in his knowledge, as he could be wrong about one thing or even the entirety of it.

As such, he proposed to himself to find out what each stat meant by training, along with experimenting with the stats that couldn't be trained normally.

«New Quest!»

Description - Find out the meaning of each attribute!

Time Limit - Indefinite

Reward - 5% exp / 1 Special Point

———

I guess this is one way to make me more motivated.

Naruto inwardly grinned as he didn't waste time and got to work on some of his plans. With a simple Tiger hand sign, he created seven clones that looked exactly like him, down to the most minute detail.

"My chakra control really is trash," he said with a sour expression, looking at the seven clones he created instead of the five he wanted.

"Alright, four of you go and practice tree-climbing chakra exercises in separate training grounds that don't have anyone in them. Make sure to henge into someone who looks normal. The last three of you henge into normal civilians and go to the library to gather as much information as possible about anything that might be useful." He finished decisively, as the clones simply nodded, followed his orders, and left the small apartment.

Good, they aren't like the previous Naruto's clones that didn't follow orders and could even end up rebelling against him.

He could instantly notice this from the fact that the clones made no complaints when he ordered them.

As for the reason he didn't start with the leaf concentration practice? It was simply because of his large amount of chakra.

Right now, he wouldn't be able to concentrate the small amount of chakra needed to accomplish the leaf concentration practice, so he did the next best thing: tree walking.

It was funny to start with complex stuff, only to then regress to the simpler stuff later on. For others, the way to upgrade their chakra control would be based on going from leaf concentration to tree climbing and, lastly, water walking.

But for him, with jaw-dropping amounts of chakra for his age, he had to go about it from the middle, then the top, and finally end up at the beginning.

Such a roundabout way to do things.

He chuckled before remembering something.

Right, this apartment does need some cleaning.

He then proceeded to make four more clones, ordering them to clean the apartment, wash the dirty clothes, and clean any stains on the floor or around the house as well as they could.

Such a task was easy for him, as he had previously been cleaning houses, toilets, and other stuff when he was a teen to make ends meet every week.

And so, he delayed no further, proceeding to walk out of his apartment and head over to another training ground, where he would test the limits of his new body.