Getting my Stuff Together

SONOFA-

…I hit the wrong note again.

Come on, learning an instrument shouldn't be this hard!

Strum…adjust fingers…E… G… E…DANGIT!

Try again. I can get this.

E to G to – AUGH!

The guitar all but shattered in my hands and I sighed. Second time today. I think, what time is it?

7:33 in the morning?

Yeah, second time today. This is ticking me off. Absolutely maddening.

I sighed and stood up, leaving the pieces on the floor. I'll fix it later. Anything in the fridge…I need a snack. For my sanity.

Just milk? That's fine, I'll just pour myself a glass.

There was a loud knock at the door.

If it's the Hokage or Sensei…remember, you can't explode their heads until level 30 or so.

I opened the door…and here was Naruto. He put on a smile and said. "Hey, Daisuke!"

"Good morning," I replied. "You're up early."

"Yeah, uh…" Naruto replied, grinning even wider now with a nervous chuckle. "I…uh, decided to get some fresh air this morning!"

"Really?" I asked. This was unlike him, he liked to sleep in. At least I thought…maybe the sewer thing hit him harder than I thought… "So. You want to come in, or…inviting people in is something you do, right?"

"Y-yeah," Naruto nodded, walking inside. "That's something you do…wow. You…don't have a couch or something?"

"Nope," Furniture still seemed superfluous. I don't need to sit…if I do, I sit on the floor. "Personally, I don't see the point – sitting is mostly superfluous and I don't ever have company. Usually."

"Oh-kay," Naruto said with a blink. "…what's with the guitar?"

I looked at the pieces and grunted. "I've been trying to learn an instrument. It hasn't gone that well."

"I see," Naruto replied. "So, were you going to get a new one?"

"Nah, I said with a frown. "Find a spot on the floor and sit down, yeesh."

Naruto sat down and I sat across from him and picked up the pieces. I fixed it with my jutsu and started trying to play again. "So…what'd you come to talk about?"

"Well," Naruto paused for a moment. "I wanted to see if you were okay."

"I'm uninjured," I frowned as I messed up another cord.

"Not that," Naruto said. "Daisuke, we all know you didn't take losing the game very well."

I stopped 'playing' and looked at Naruto. "Can we discuss this later?"

"No," Naruto folded his arms and squinted his eyes in annoyance.

"Why not?" I asked, setting the guitar to the side.

"Because," Naruto answered with emphasis. "I don't like making one of my only friends mad."

"I don't see why you'd be that concerned," I replied. "You won a competition fair and square – it just so happened that was the first time I've lost in a…long time."

"That doesn't mean I'm okay with that," Naruto frowned. "I…do you see what Nichiren and I were trying to say?"

"Loud and clear," I replied. "The Hokage and Kakashi-sensei were louder, though."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I got pulled off missions for being stupid and foolhardy," I shrugged…and fixed my guitar after accidentally crushing it again. "Being rash has its consequences, I suppose."

"Oh. Uh…" Naruto looked uncertain. "Right…so, are you going to the afterparty?"

"The what party?" I blinked.

"The afterparty," Naruto repeated. He sighed at my confused look. "The party the Akimichi's are throwing since you couldn't make it to the last one?"

I crushed my guitar again. "Oh. Yeah…I don't have a choice about that one, do I?"

"You don't want to go?" Naruto asked with a frown. "Everyone was so disappointed when you didn't come to the last one."

"Afraid I don't," I replied. Finding some formal clothes that didn't offer a charisma boost was going to be a challenge, but I remember seeing some that offered an Int boost instead, which was fine with me, if not more than a little useless.

"Why not?" Naruto whined.

"Because I got you, Hisako and Nichiren and that's all the social life I need," I listed each friend I had. Kakashi wasn't on the list because he was denying me levels. Alongside the Hokage. "Any more and I might actually have to buy furniture for all the people that'll come see me."

"Come on," Naruto put his hand on my shoulder. "Everyone could use more friends. Friends are a good thing!"

I sighed. He had a point – the extra friends were what let me get the Nakama perk. "Yeah, I guess."

"So don't worry, everyone there's a friend," Naruto smiled wide. "Really…and maybe we can talk with the old man and get him to let you on missions again."

"If you can convince him of that, you'll be the village miracle worker," I shook my head. "I've been pulled of missions because I keep separating myself from the team and emerging almost dead. Tunnel vision, like you two pointed out."

Naruto chuckled uneasily. "Well, in that case, think of it more like an extended vacation."

"I don't need those," I frowned.

"But they're good for you," Naruto whined.

"So are foods besides ramen," I retorted.

"Hey!" Naruto folded his arms again and glared. "That was uncalled for!"

"Doesn't mean it's not true," I replied, then sighed. "Look, Naruto…yes, I'll be there. Meet at the clan home at 6 tonight, right?"

"Yup!" Naruto smiled.

"Cool," I replied. Then the thought occurred to me that I might want to help Naruto out. While he's here. "So, got anything you're working on? As far as your training goes?"

"Well," Naruto dragged the word out. "I, uh…so, I saw the way you took out Hisako and Sasuke yesterday and I was thinking you could…check on my Taijutsu?"

I shrugged and stood up. "Alright. Give me the Academy stance."

It was awful. His feet were placed wrong, his arms were too loose, and his balance was off center. It had all the hallmarks of someone who didn't practice long enough.

Or didn't level their Taijutsu much, but I had so that was irrelevant.

"Give me a kata," I said with an impartial face.

He gave me the first kata we were taught in the academy. It…was sloppy. Yeah, Naruto had not practiced a lot.

"Okay," I said, trying to figure out how to word this. Well, strait and to the point always works for me. "Your Taijutsu is awful."

"Aw man," Naruto slumped.

"You're gonna have to work hard to fix it," I continued. "First, assume your stance."

He did with a grumble or two under his breath.

"Okay, lemme fix it," I said, using chakra-strings to position his arms and fix his footing. "Good. Now hold that for five minutes."

"Alright," Naruto groaned. After a minute, his stance started to loosen.

I adjusted his stance again. "Hold it."

He groaned and glared forward…then his stance started to loosen again. "Hold your stance."

"Hold it."

"Naruto."

"Hold your stance."

"Naruto!"

"I'm not a first-year," Naruto pouted, but did as he was told.

I sighed. Okay, maybe it wasn't working as well as I'd like. "You know what, never mind. Let's save it for later, we can all get better as a group."

"No, no," Naruto said. "I…why is my stance so important anyway?"

"It directly affects how much power you can put behind your attacks," I replied matter-of-factly. "It also affects how easily you can defend from enemy attacks. The right stance is, in fact, the most important part of a ninja's Taijutsu."

"What kind of stance do you use?" Naruto asked with a frown.

"It varies," I answered. "I switch stances all the time when I'm fighting – whatever lets me put my fist in their face is usually what I use. Chakra slide is insanely helpful in that regard."

I demonstrated a kata, which was just a bunch of random moves strung together, and I allowed my chakra-slide to help me switch and stuck to the ground when I needed traction. It's something I've done for a long time…this was just the first time I've really explained it. It's part of why fighting me is…difficult, to say the least – predicting me is a pain.

"Woah," Naruto said, eyes wide.

"But in order to get to that point, you need to work on holding a basic stance first," I continued with a shrug. "You get it now?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I get it. Okay…holding my stance…"

He got into the stance and, while it was closer to accurate, I still had to adjust his footwork.

…

"Naruto…"

The exercise yesterday, a disaster though it might have been, was still exciting. Actually training these three green-horns now that we know what they're capable of? I was relegated to glorified sparring partner and they were bad. Like…okay, the best was obviously Sasuke. He had the academy style down to a science but he fell apart as I exploited the flaws inherent in that particular style.

Then came Sakura. Well, everything I said earlier about her lack of physical conditioning was true and I made sure she knew it. I went on the defensive, only attacking so she'd dodge and wear herself out faster, before planting her face in the dirt.

Last…of course…was Naruto.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair.

I had no words.

Naruto was bad. No, not just bad, he was the worst I've ever seen. The only thing he had was stamina comparable to mine, but even that didn't help when your opponent was dancing metaphorical circles around you. I was supremely annoyed about this, because I thought I had a decent picture from our meeting earlier that morning. But…you can't fix slacking off in a day.

I'm pretty sure he knew about how annoyed I was, and while I felt bad, I also hoped it pushed him to practice harder. Because this level of skill-less-ness was inexcusable. He was dead last for a reason, apparently, and every fanfic I had ever read said he was being sabotaged. I could see that this was not the case, but rather a failure to power through his boredom.

I didn't say this, but I sure thought it pretty hard.

Once we were done, of course, I high-tailed it back to my apartment, fixed the scattered pieces of my guitar and started working the strings again. It wasn't long before I broke the guitar into a thousand pieces. Again.

I took a deep breath.

Calm down, Daisuke. It's okay, Daisuke. You don't need to get infuriated with a musical instrument you can't seem to learn and end up breaking every half an hour or so. Just take a deep breath and SCREW THIS THING!

I just tossed my hands in the air stood up and put my head through the wall in sheer frustration.

This should not be this hard! I mean, even if I am having trouble moving my fingers the right way, I should at least have made some progress! I can see the song I'm trying to play in my head, it's just not coming out for some reason!

I stepped up the wall, taking a brief moment to repair the damage before I started pacing.

Does the fact that I didn't have a check mean what I was trying to do was impossible for me because, since I live in a game system, is this something outside of its prevue and thus, impossible for me? Or is it just that my capacity for learning the old fashioned degraded so much that the trouble's I'm having is causing me undue distress?

…in the interest of protecting my sanity, I'm going with the latter.

I just need a break. From the mission ban, from the guitar, from helping Team 7 become what they want to be, from…everything. I need a book. Well, a movie would be better. In my old life, I'd have killed for a game, but if I ever so much as lay eyes on one right now, especially an RPG, I'm going to puke.

I moved to my bedroom, where my futon was propped up amidst a sea of disorganized works of literature, strewn about like someone had simply not cared where they went. Which, I didn't, I ceased to care about their existence after I read them.

Let's see…old skill book, surprisingly well written novel, disappointing novel, old skill book...new skill book? I never bought this.

+1 Ranged Weapons.

Alright then.

Aaaand…The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja. By Jiraiya of the Sannin. I haven't read this yet and I've been meaning too. Just…never found the time. Since the party, I was being press-ganged into attending by Naruto and Chōza's persistence, I still didn't have time. But…I'll have time after the party. I'll just stick it to the living room well, where I'm bound to notice it.

A quick seal on the back and the book was hanging on the wall just opposite the apartment entrance. Then another seal to keep it shut so the pages didn't go flapping around when the cover opened.

Now that that's taken care of…let's take a look at my chart.

I took out my notebook and opened it to the fourteenth page of the notes section, where I had drawn an eight-part chart, which had been separated into 4 sections – Offense, Defense, Sustain and Maneuverability, my four pillars of character strength. Each had two parts per section, which were labeled Melee and Ranged for Offense, Tank and Evasion for Defense, Health and Chakra were placed under sustain and Maneuverability had Stealth and Speed for its categories.

I had a…disappointing number of holes in my chart. In my offense, my melee section was handled entirely by explosion and chakra-slide so that was covered. The ranged portion was handled by my jutsu, specifically Force Lightning and Mjolnir. However, both of these options were also listed as negatives in the sustain section, since they were chakra-hogs. Honestly, these would be great if I could act like a traditional mage, where I stick to the back-lines and hurl nukes at the enemy but that would both require that I place my teammates in-between me and the enemy, which is where they don't belong and frankly being a tank is way too much fun.

So…I needed an alternative. Or at least, a better way of using these jutsu; unwieldly though they may be, they are the lifeblood of the world I live in and for good reason. Perhaps using Zeus, a thunder-spear jutsu I developed during the furlough between The Organ Trail and What's in The Water? It didn't do nearly as much damage as Mjolnir, but it did take less chakra…so maybe it's the more economical choice. At least when I'm fighting more than one enemy, anyway.

Mjolnir literally took my whole bar to cast...now it only leaves one point of chakra left, which is nice. Zeus takes less than a third of my chakra and only does a little less than half the damage Mjolnir does so…yeah, more economical.

Probably should have thought of this before. But I was used to things like that not mattering at all. Force Lightning's cool, but honestly, it's not worth it unless I'm fighting a literal mob of enemies and don't care about who I kill.

You know, now that I think about it, I think I might have the brain of a twelve-year-old. What with the lack of considering the consequences of my actions, lack of the ability to think things through…which is a horrifying thing to consider since, I have the memories and reasoning ability of an adult, I have some clue as to what could possibly go wrong.

Back on topic. I need something economical for the ranged category. Were this my old world, my immediate response would be 'buy a gun' but most likely, that meant kunai and shuriken. Which made my brain go bleh. I mean, Tenten does amazing things with both of those, but…bleh. They're too easily countered – a skilled ninja could apparently snipe a shuriken out of the air with their own projectile. Or they could dodge, because no matter how fast you get that projectile going, there is always the chance of that projectile being stepped around. Or going wide if you fail to lead the target properly.

You know, it's funny. Ninja summon animals from another dimension, substitute ourselves for logs…or someone else on the battlefield and in the case of the fourth, teleport. Yet, we still use thrown objects for our primary ranged weaponry. I…I almost think there should be a way to simply remove projectiles as a factor and apply the kinetic energy directly to the enemy.

I…you know, now that I think about it, that should definitely be possible. The most rudimentary form of seals store chakra…a fact that just went into the chakra section of the Sustain block; yup, brain of a twelve-year-old. That's disheartening. The most basic jutsu we have swaps the places of two objects – which doesn't necessarily mean log, I've found out. There's just quite a few logs and fallen trees from shinobi who go a little too crazy during training. It…really should be possible.

Fuinjutsu Check Failure: 76/90.

…I could fix that in one level. Heck, I could almost max it out in one level. I'd just be one point off, assuming I don't find a skill book at some point in the future. Then I could figure out the Flying Thunder God, a thing held to mythic status by those who revered the second…then the fourth when he figured it out. I didn't even need metaknowledge to know about the Flying Thunder God, it was in our history books. Not the specifics, of course, but the general idea.

Let's see…both Adamantium Skeleton and Elemental Training don't take skills to get and I'm putting off Ninja and Paralyzing Palm to get them so…yeah, I can afford it. It won't be disruptive to my overall scheme, anyway. So…yeah. Max Fuinjutsu next level, then start making seals for my gear…and make a weapon that applies kinetic energy over a distance instantly, like a teleporting bullet but more likely to be just chakra. Might style it after a revolver too, because those are cool and I haven't seen one in over a decade.

Okay so…that's ranged offense taken care of. In defense, I've got Adamantium Skeleton in the tank column and the various sealing shenanigans that'll apply its indestructibility to my whole body. In the Evasion column, I had nothing.

The obvious answer was Shunshin. The problem was that I had problems using it. I had this irritating tendency to overshoot or undershoot my target in getting close to them, which ruined the various plays I was trying to make…though, that was probably due to my Ninjutsu score being rather low when I tried and thus was unskilled in using my jutsu properly.

I wonder if that's changed at all…I'll have to head to a training ground after the part and figure it out. Actually, with this hypothetical revolver I'm going to make, that would be significantly less of a problem…though I would have to invest points in ranged weaponry. You know, so my aims not utter crap. Seriously, even with a bonus, it's barely acceptable for a Genin. But…I do have 4 levels until I get back on schedule with Ninja and Paralyzing Palm…do I even need those anymore? Questions for later.

For sustain, a hypothetical water-release that made super-nutritious water and was worth a crap ton of HP for me, but would be patently useless for anyone else lined my health column. I had the plans for it, I just wasn't entirely sure about the fine details, which manifested in my failing a Ninjutsu check. This would be fixed when I got Elemental Training and gained the bonus. If not, I can allocate skill points. For chakra, the new chakra-storage seals are now there. The extra reserves will be quite welcome.

In fact…horse, snake, dragon, horse…

Fuinjutsu Check Success: 76/65.

+150 EXP.

The seal wrote itself on the underside of my belt-buckle and I gleefully noted on my stats screen that I had +50 to Chakra, which would make it significantly easier to use jutsu in combat. The jutsu took up all the room on my belt, though, so I didn't apply it to any other part at the moment, instead waiting for max Fuinjutsu so I could make full use of all the space.

4945 EXP until level 17.

Finally, there was maneuverability. Under speed there was Shunshin, which was really all I actually needed. Anything else was just dressing or hidden OP. Including flight, which I've had more than one dream about doing. Which was probably hidden OP…my luck in figuring out how to do so…well, it was locked behind a Ninjutsu of 70 and I had plans that needed filling before I got it.

I had another eight months before I was in danger of losing Chasing Shadows, actually, but I should still get this figured out since I learned that I can totally lose quests and the EXP they'd bring!

…let's just fix the new hole in the wall…

I had nothing for stealth aside for the Sneak skill, and that needed to change. I had a sneaking suspicion that Water release was actually the gateway to a lot of stealth jutsu, what with the Angler's giving everyone such a hard time with how they were able to hide. Even the Behemoth gave the Hokage a bad time…even if it was only for…what? Two minutes?

That should be a record, honestly.

If anything, it helps me respect the sheer power the Hokage has even more, because something I literally stood no chance against only gave Sarutobi Hiruzen trouble for two minutes. Granted, he had backup, but he also had civilians to worry about…

Whatever.

Hypothetical stealth jutsu in the stealth section.

I don't like the number of Hypotheticals here, actually.

And, finally…my biggest problem. My EXP's been corked for a couple weeks and I'm not happy. I need to find a solution. Going around town looking for problems to solve doesn't sound very effective and it didn't work when I was in the academy. Best way to prevent this from happening again is…too be…tactically efficient.

…that might be another thing I need to learn on a metal level, just like that freaking guitar over there. But that doesn't help the fact that I need EXP to come in…I need it. I almost think I'm going into withdrawal symptoms from not getting it. Or more likely it was a security blanket that I cuddled up to at night to keep the monsters at bay.

Whatever. I want my EXP.

But I can't just do training exercises every other day, that would be bad for Team 7 – as much as I want to just plunge it for all the EXP I can, they asked for help and I'm going to keep my word to them. No matter how difficult it becomes.

However, that just puts me back to square one – I need a source of EXP, one that's independent of the village and the Hokage so they can't stop me or my power spikes if I screw up like before. Training exercises are one such source, but it's hardly…reliable. It requires someone else to be there. That's not really an option, as far as I know.

Well, maybe my team would be willing to do a training exercise with me on the days we're not helping Team 7. Maybe. I don't want to wear them out with excessive training…I'll have to ask. Though I'll have to be careful…if the Hokage gets even a wiff that I'm finding ways to get around his mission ban, it won't be good. Insubordination is not tolerated.

I don't know, I'll probably need to establish a pattern or something of…willingly hanging out with my team. But doing that just so they don't see I'm gaining EXP feels wrong. They're my friends, I think, not something to be exploited.

Right?

Well, I showed up at the Akimichi clan-residence, wearing a formal outfit that boosted my Intelligence instead of my Charisma, which was basically a wasted bonus. Can't go above 10, after all. I kind of wish it was like Fallout 4, where you could go over 10 and in fact, it made sense with the awesomeness they brought when they revamped power armor.

But whatever. I was ushered in through the front gate and guided to the small park where they had strung up paper lanterns. I was greeted by Chouji and his father, Chōza. Chōza was a big man, both in height and in girth. His long red hair draped over his shoulders he looked at me with a warm smile.

"Akimichi-san," I bowed. "Thank you for going to all this trouble. I apologize again for not making it to the last one."

"Shimoda-kun," He replied. "Considering you saved my son, it's the least I can do."

"I think Kakashi-sensei and my team had more to do with that," I replied. "I just handled his kidnappers."

"Perhaps they did," Chōza nodded with a thoughtful look. "But you were still there first and prevented them from getting anywhere closer to their giant leader."

"I…thank you for your kind words," I dropped the attempt at modesty, because it wasn't working.

"Think nothing of it!" Chōza smiled. "Go ahead! Eat, drink…socialize. All your friends are here. "

Uncharacteristically, I was late. I spent the better part of an hour mustering up the will to head on over and try to socialize because I really did not like socializing. Even if they were all technically friends.

I sucked it up and walked over to the snack bar and poured myself some of their elixir…which is basically soda. Delicious soda, but soda nonetheless.

"Daisuke!" Naruto smiled, waving me over.

Oh, good to see he's not mad about earlier today. That actually makes me feel better.

"Hey buddy," I replied, walking up to him. "Nice to see you made it."

They had all made it, actually. Cells 7-13 were here. So were the Clan Heads. Hisako was sitting between Sakura and Ino and they were likely talking about…well, I don't know. Either how to use shuriken effectively or girl stuff. Then they started giggling uncontrollably and I knew the answer – girl stuff.

"You too," Naruto smiled happily. "Seriously! I actually thought you weren't going to make it again."

"No, I was definitely going to make it," I nodded to him. "After he went through all this trouble to set it up, not coming would've been insulting."

"It's okay Senpai," Chouji came up from behind me with a smile, bag of chips in hand. "We're just glad you made it."

I smiled. "Thanks, Chouji!"

I said that a little too enthusiastically, crap.

"Hey, Daisuke-senpai!" Ino waved to me with a smile, managing before Hisako was attempting a similar greeting. "Glad you could make it!"

I waved back. "Nice to see you too, Ino."

Hisako gave Ino a sidelong glare before she piped up. "So, you're going to be here for the whole party, right?"

I don't wanna. "Probably, why?"

"No reason," Hisako smiled. "I'm just glad you're here."

Everyone else gave me greetings. Rock Lee was enthusiastic, Neji was…cordial, actually. I was surprised. As was Hinata, Shikamaru. Kiba looked happy to see me, actually, and Akamaru attempted to lick my face. Attempted. I never liked dogs licking my face – I think he was annoyed. I gave a brief wave to Kakashi-sensei, who waved back…I didn't want to talk to him, and he seemed to understand and respect that, oddly. Finally, Sasuke came up to me and after giving a greeting, he dove right into a conversation I was actually interested in.

"So earlier, when you were talking about analyzing fighting styles," Sasuke said, bringing up a point I made when talking about Taijutsu during our training exercise. "Is it easier to do if you know more than one?"

"Certainly," I replied, turning my full attention on him…after making sure Naruto and Nichiren were both thoroughly engrossed in conversation. "It gives you more than one vantage point with which to judge a style and find it's weak points."

"Then what would you recommend I start learning?" Sasuke asked. "And how?"

"Well…honestly, I'd try to learn the strong fist style, since it's the most readily available," I answered. There were several books in the academy detailing the strong-fist style. They weren't skill books, for some reason, probably because they weren't long enough or detailed enough. "After that…I don't know. I think there's some books about other styles in the Konoha library as well, you could try them and see where they get you."

Sasuke nodded. "Okay…you also talked about how you invent jutsu?"

"Yeah, well," I took a breath. "Stop me if you when I go over your head. So…"

Pretty soon, I had an audience. It wasn't just the academy students, but they started listening closely…the various Akimichi clansmen and the Clan Heads were all listening. I didn't mind, this was all stuff you could learn if you were dedicated enough to learning the fundamentals of hand signs and chakra control, something I'm discovering to be rare, I'm sad to say.

"And when you understand that, you can more or less make jutsu as you please," I finished up with a nod. Sasuke hadn't moved at all, I admired his dedication…most of the academy students had glazed out and got bored. Naruto was actually sleeping. "…you got all of that?"

Sasuke took a breath. "No, I didn't…I'll try those exercises you mentioned, though."

"They work," Sakura nodded. "I mean, I still don't understand everything, but paying attention to the way chakra flows when you make a hand sign is…interesting."

"Thank you, Sakura," I said with a frown.

"So, Daisuke-senpai," Ino began with half-lidded eyes. "I've been wondering…what happened to you after you saved all of us?"

"You mean after I got stabbed and yanked into the sewage like a chump?" I asked for clarification.

Ino blinked and the side of her mouth twitched. "…yes, that's what I meant."

"Well," I said, sitting down in one of the chairs they had set up. "They had coated their trident with a paralytic, so I couldn't move as they dragged me into what I assume is a reservoir, made by the fish behemoth since pipes had to be broken to get in."

"Behemoth?" Ino asked with a frown.

"It's Senpai's name for the giant fish-man at the end," Sakura clarified.

"That's a weird name," Shikamaru commented from his spot underneath a tree, which Chōza had moved our circle to include.

"I'm a weird person," I replied. "Anyway, so…"

I continued and…left out the details about the syringes. Thankfully, it wasn't as hard as I thought as it could've, since the detail was actually irrelevant to the rest of the story, which was mainly about how utterly jazzed I was to be exploding fish-men.

"Then you guys showed up and the rest is history," I wrapped it up. It wasn't the best delivery of a story, not by a longshot. I used to be so much better at it before I died and came back. "So yeah, the story of Daisuke's happy fun time in the sewers."

"Cool," Chouji nodded, taking the last potato chip out of his bag and then producing another one. I guess he knows about storage seals.

"So, what happened on your end?" I asked, actually kind of curious.

"Well," Naruto cleared his throat. "After you got stabbed, Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei both jumped after you…"

The story was significantly better from Naruto's mouth than mine, if a little bit scattered as Sakura, Kiba and Shikamaru all chimed in to make corrections or explain something. Apparently, Sensei got kind of upset with Naruto's claims that he'll be Hokage during a crisis and got him to shut it. That's…unfortunate. Naruto was quiet when talking about it…there was a bit of discussion which Hisako jumped in and shut down before things got to heated and insults started being thrown at our Sensei.

Which I agreed with because, while I was mad at him, he was still my Sensei and I did deeply respect the man.

But they mentioned a detail I couldn't stop thinking about once it was brought up.

Summoning.

Gai had summoned turtles to look for me. I hadn't realized, since I was so focused on staying out of the water. Might've been good if I spotted them, rendezvous with the group…at least not if I wasn't looking for Perfection Syringes.

But that thought became another thought. Kakashi could summon dogs. Gai could summon turtles. Hiruzen could summon monkeys. Jiraiya and eventually Naruto could summon toads. Tsunade could summon slugs, Orochimaru; snakes.

Summons apparently had a social order, kingdoms, civilization.

And…that meant…they might have things they need doing.

Like quests.

I blinked as I thought.

Naruto may have started the story, but it was Sakura that finished it.

We kept talking, but I slowly started to go into my own thoughts and disconnect from the conversation.

If I remember correctly, using the summoning jutsu took you to the realm of the summons most suited to you. If that's the case, something with that kind of tunnel vision and lack of problem solving skills might need some things done. Then they'd be giving me things to do, like killing things would be giving me quests. Which means more EXP.

…and it's completely independent of Konoha as a whole, which is a plus.

I…

Quest Added: A Stranger in a Strange Land.

Learn the Summoning Jutsu.

Go to the summons realm.

Well, I'm not going to make the mistake of assuming I've automatically got this in the bag just because I have the quest. Also, I need to figure out a way to cover for myself while I'm gone, I am being watched, after all.

But what to use…

"So, Daisuke, question," Naruto grabbed my attention. "How useful are clones in a real situation, anyway?"

I blinked. Of course!

"Why do you ask?" I asked in response. "Sorry, I zoned out."

"It's okay," Naruto shrugged. "We were just talking and we ended up talking about how I only learned how to make clones recently and I don't think they're very useful."

I almost choked on the irony. "It depends. The Academy Clones are really only useful as distractions or to cover your retreat. But other clones, like water clones, earth clones can be used in other ways."

They also all have a Ninjutsu check of 65, which strikes me as bizarre. Then again, I guess you do need a certain level of competency to make them, in spite of their various strengths and weaknesses."

I think I can find another item that gives me enough of an END bonus to bring my Ninjutsu skill up to compensate so I don't need to wait for a level up.

Like a breastplate from Tenten.

"Other ways like what?" Naruto asked.

"Combat," I said, breaking out into a smile. "Nothing's really quite like rushing an enemy with superior numbers of you, I think."