Chapter 3: Home Alone
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, The Gamer or any other familiar characters.
Chapter 3 - Home Alone
I realized I didn't need to sleep, but I certainly could. I fell asleep around 2 am while trying to meditate, with my head full of loss and remorse, and woke up at about 6 am, just in time to bump into dad.
For the first time in a long time, he said "I love you" when leaving to his city patrols. He didn't look much hangover nor drunk. He didn't leave me breakfast, though.
Sadako came only for a few minutes as she was late for school, but I was able to ask her for a book to learn how to read. With her beautiful smile, she agreed on looking for one in the library before dropping here on the afternoon.
Sitting alone on the dining room cushions, I started my meditation, again trying to get a feel of my chakra.
'Five seconds in, hold it for three more, release your breath in seven seconds, then repeat.' I tensed every muscle before releasing them, from my toes to my head, focusing on the sound of my breathing.
Ever so slowly, I fell to the deepest part of my mind, ignoring all my senses in the way, my closed eyes dancing to non-existent music. I focused on my center, trying to find anything unusual.
There it was, a soft hum like an opera song, discretely frolicking inside me. I joined its rhythm and let it roam around my body. It felt vast, endless and somehow happy; like a wave, it crashed against my skin.
I opened my eyes slowly, determined to keep my chakra in my grasp. I directed it to my hands, feet, shoulders, back, to my head, to my eyes and around my skin. There was no blue glow nor any external indication, but it was there.
It was astounding! I felt tranquil and at the same time exhilarating and eager. Chakra felt wonderful, it made me feel delighted, vigorous and connected with my body.
Ding!
A small icon on the lower right of my vision range pulsated, selecting it opened a new window.
Quest Completed!Everything we need is within us.
Unlock your Chakra.
Rewards:+50 Exp, +1 WIS.
I got a point to WIS, increasing it to 8.
'Menu, Status'
Character Status:Select an item to view additional information.
Name: Kioshi Shirasu
Title: n/aAge: 4Gender: MaleLevel 1 (50/100)
HP: 40/40SP: 30/30Chakra: 156/156Chakra Control: 21%
STR: 2DEX: 2VIT: 2INT: 7WIS: 8CHA: 7/10Points: 0
Money: 0
Huh? My Chakra and Chakra Control went up because of the one point increase in WIS?
Chakra Control indicates your overall control over your chakra. It's measured in percentage, with 100% meaning perfect chakra control. Chakra Control depends on your Intelligence and Wisdom, and can be trained and augmented.
Yes, it did, 'I'll get to 100% in no time!'
The small icon at the right continued to pulsate.
Skill Created:
Meditation. Lvl 1. (1%)- Achieving a mental state of self-awareness and emotional serenity.Increases HP, SP and Chakra regeneration by 50%.
There wasn't much else to do at home apart from chakra related training, so I planned my next actions.
I can't -or shouldn't- train my body too much yet, or it could stunt my growth. My training should focus on skills and mental aptitudes, I should read and play mental games; however, I can't read yet.
From what I remembered about the manga, chakra capacity could be increased by depleting your reserves, waiting for them to fill up and repeat. Namely the 'spam-jutsu-until-you-pass-out' method.
Chakra Control, on the other hand, was trained with the renowned leaf concentration exercise, the tree climbing exercise and the water walking exercise.
All things considered, I decided to focus on Chakra Control as the old soul perk already gave me 2/3 of my total chakra capacity and improved its growth. It was safe to assume I had a lot of chakra for a four years old kid.
A semi-dry potted plant in the kitchen gave me a leaf, so I began.
'Concentrate chakra on your forehead,' I repeated to myself, 'focus!'
After several attempts, the leaf stuck.
"Oh yeah!"
Ding!
Skill Created:
Leaf Concentration Exercise. Lvl 0. (1%)- A staple of shinobi training.Increases Chakra control percentage by [Lvl] percent; number of leaves to hold: 1.Cost: 8 Chakra Points per minute.
'Nice!'
Given my 150 Chakra points, I should be able to hold the leaf for a little less than 20 minutes.
'Well then, no time like the present.'
Keeping a close eye on my Chakra, I stuck the leaf to my forehead and three and a half minutes later, I was panting, feeling a mixture of hunger, weakness and tiredness. My chakra went down to 3 points before I cut the flow to my forehead.
'Holy cow, this feels horrible.'
I forgot to consider my Chakra Control, those 8 points per minute were really about 40.
'At least I'll now know my Chakra regeneration rate.'
I had to wait about 10 minutes before seeing my Chakra go up to 12 points, and about an hour until it reached 60. According to the Meditation skill, regeneration was increased by 50% while meditating, so that was something.
Going into a meditative state, I kept an eye in my chakra. This time, my chakra increased by more or less 14 points at the 10 minutes mark. Hence, it will take me approximately 2 hours and 50 minutes of rest for my chakra to fill up, and one hour less if I was to meditate continuously.
I had to see if it was possible now to meditate without falling asleep.
It wasn't possible, I fell asleep over the table and woke up after lunch. Maybe I was relaxing my body too much. Anyhow, at least my chakra was full again.
I stuck the leaf to my forehead and repeated the process. Three minutes and something later, I was panting again.
I meditated again for about 10 minutes when I remembered to have lunch. Did I really need to eat or did the gamer's body take care of that? Did I feel hunger?
The fridge only had old take away food, some moldy rice and about thirty medium bottles of beer. I got a small sachet of miso paste and had a cup of cold soup. I'm too short to turn on the stove yet.
I decided then to train my observation skills while waiting for my chakra to fill up, though I really wanted something new to observe.
The house wasn't big. We didn't have a back yard, but we had a small front yard with some plants. The only problem was that the entrance door was always locked. 'I'll lose my mind if I stay here, I'll need to get a copy of the keys soon.'
Dragging the dinner table to the window, I peeked my head. The sun was shining bright outside, but it was a rather chilly afternoon. I loved it.
Ours was a narrow street, crammed with small houses from what I could see. We appeared to be in a small valley between some stony mountains. In the background, you could see the peaks of the highest mountains, some of them covered by snow, some had round buildings attached and, one in particular, had a big blue one. The Raikage tower.
An old lady strolled in front of my house. 'Observe.'
Name: Masami Ibuka.Title: n/a.Level: 5Age: 71Masami is an old Civilian.Relationship level: Neutral.
'So, that's the level of an old civilian.'
People kept walking in front of my window and I even spotted a chunin running on the roofs, but my observation level might have been too low to discern anything useful.
Name: Motoichi Onoe.Title: ?Level: ?Age: 18Motoichi is a Kumo chunin.Relationship level: Neutral.
After 3 hours of observing people -and a notably fat cat- from my window, the skill increased 4 levels:
Observe increased by four.
Observe. Lvl 6. (28%)- Observing what's around you is a great way to obtain information. At higher levels, more information is revealed.
Now that my chakra was back to full, it was time to stick a leaf to my forehead and try to meditate again.
If meditating for more than 20 minutes was hard, doing so with chakra depletion was horrible.
That afternoon dad came home early, went straight to the kitchen and left the house with three bottles of beer in his hands. He didn't say hello when he woke me up with the sound of his footsteps.
Sadako did show up later.
"Hey chipmunk!" she shouted, "I got what you asked!"
'Holy crap, this girl is loud as hell.'
"Hello," I responded, "how was the academy?"
She pinched my cheeks, hard.
"Nice sunny day, boring teachers, nice lunch. That bitch of a genjutsu instructor made us hold a leaf to our foreheads -not everyone can, mind you- supposedly to improve our illusions and then-"
I blocked the next minute or so of her rambling about girl stuff... you know, what that other girl said, what that other boy thinks of the other girl. It was just too much.
Academy students were learning the leaf sticking exercise at age 11, which gave me a comparison point.
Finishing her rambling, Sadako took a regular looking book out of her backpack and handed it to me.
"This is the book I got from mom. I used it last year to teach my little sister," she said, "and I believe it will help you. She was older than you then, but we both know you are a smart cookie"
She brought her face inches away from mine and poked my nose, "I can see it in your eyes!"
The book cover had a lot of colors and drawings.
"It goes through vocalizations, sounds, people, basic verbs, different types of writing, the whole thing! It's actually quite thorough."
I looked at her.
"Sorry, chipmunk! I can't really help you, you'll have to ask your dad, I train with my mom after checking up on you and I can't miss it."
I smiled, genuinely. This little girl was sweet. Loud and boisterous, yes, but sweet as honey spread over muffins. Anyhow, I'm not asking dad anything.
"Now I'm gonna make snacks and some tea!" she exclaimed skipping to the kitchen.
She talked a lot about simple things before leaving.
The first part of the book was mostly a collection of pictures regarding animals and actions next to their corresponding symbols and then went on different types of writing, vocalizations, and so on. After I finished reading it, my mind was abruptly filled with information, and, out of the blue, I was able to read and write Japanese.
Ding!
Quest Completed!A reading rainbow.
Learn how to read.
Rewards:+50 Exp, one random scrollSmall scroll placed in inventory
"Wow, I feel dizzy."
The rewarded scroll was in fact a jutsu, the "Rope Escape Jutsu – E rank." I selected it and the scroll disappeared from the inventory..
Ding!
Learn jutsu?
'Yes.'
Again, my mind was stuffed with information, and the small icon to the right flashed.
Ding!
Rope Escape Jutsu Learned!
Rope Escape Jutsu. Lvl Max.E rank- A jutsu to escape bindings.50% chance of escaping simple bindings.Cost: 10 Chakra Points per try.
Ding!
You leveled up!
Character Status:Select an item to view additional information.
Name: Kioshi Shirasu
Title: n/aAge: 4Gender: MaleLevel 2 (0/200)
HP: 50/50SP: 40/40Chakra: 166/166Chakra Control: 21%
STR: 3DEX: 3VIT: 3INT: 8WIS: 9CHA: 7/10Points: 2
Money: 0
'Hell yeah!' I exclaimed looking at my new stats, a reward system like that really gets you motivated to go on. Also, from my perspective, the most logical decision was to save those extra points for when I had more information about the whole stats system.
Now that I knew how to read, I could finally start devouring my parent's books. One big bookshelf adorned the wall of the dining room, whilst a second one was in my dad's room. 'Some of those books must contain shinobi information.'
The routine was simple, I would perform the leaf sticking exercise, then meditate until I felt sleepy, and then read a book waiting for my chakra reserves to recover. In time, it would increase my observation and meditation skills and give me more time with the latter before falling asleep.
I took the leaf and some books, mostly on ninja regulations and history, and went to my room.
I had plans for tomorrow. I was going to get out of this house.
Xxx
Morning came with me sitting on my futon reading the core rules of Kumo shinobi It was a bunch on comments about honor, protection and duty. Honor! For Shinobi! 'Bunch of hypocrites the lot of them.'
The leaf sticking exercise was progressing slowly; it was sitting at 68% before gaining a level, only 32% more to go! My meditation skill went up a level, now increasing regeneration rates by 51%.
Dad arrived at some point around midnight, made a bunch of noise and went to his room. He left when the sun came out in full ninja gear, his white jonin vest strapped tightly and his leg pouches full of kunai, a harsh stare on his eyes.
Sadako came to check on me and made me a small breakfast. She rushed to the academy, a worried expression on her face. She also had a full pouch strapped to her right leg.
'Something is definitely happening.'
I went to my dad's room after breakfast and found an extra key chain in my mother's bedside table. It was time to get out of this house and explore the neighborhood.
I took my black coat, which was short and a little tight on the chest, and went out into the street. The cold air kissed with my cheeks; the morning sunlight still cast orange lights on the roofs of the houses. Without thinking too much, I started walking west.
The houses in the neighborhood were all similar, with only slight differences. They all had a small garden in front, in different conditions and one had a second floor improvisedly built.
Already past morning rush hour, the street was fairly clear. Some people -civilians- rushed to their destination while others seemed to be enjoying a morning walk; a mother with her baby wrapped in blankets and some elderly people strolled down the road.
Almost at the end of the street, a local shop boasted the food it offered. Taiyaki, said the sign: fish-shaped bread with different sweet flavors. If I had any money on me, I would have tried one. Two noticeably pregnant women were sitting, whispering between them. The owner must have seen me, as he simply questioned me with an eye smile.
"Hey boy, are you new here? I haven't seen you before."
I smiled "Good morning."
"Where's your mother?"
I just shrugged.
"Do you live here or are you lost?" He asked more worriedly.
"I live five houses back," I pointed with my hand to my house.
Nodding and smiling, he went grabbed something under the counter and handed me a small brown paper bag.
"The first try is free! When you want any type of tea, come around too. The best in the area."
I gave him a big smile.
"No go back home boy, is too early in the morning to be walking outside on your own."
"Thank you, sir."
On my way back home, I saw an old man sitting on a small chair at the front garden of a house. Our eyes met and he greeted me with his hand, smiling serenely.
'Observe.'
Name: Yataro Sada.Title: ?Level: ?Age: 72Yataro is a former ninja.Relationship level: Good.
'A former ninja?'
He looked like a regular old man yet held observant eyes and an inquisitive look. He was lounging in his chair reading a very thick book, a pipe lying on a small table next to him. He was wearing a gray flannel jacket and black pants, a blue scarf around his neck.
I approached him cautiously.
"Are you Kioshi?"
I looked at him surprised.
"I knew your mother; she was a loving albeit solemn person. I'm sorry for your loss," he continued.
My gaze was fixed to the ground, I never knew how to react to this kind of thing. I didn't know this mother enough to have any kind of feelings for her.
"I'm sorry about your father too," he said, staring at me sternly, "if you're ever hungry, you can always knock on my door. I'm a superb cook, I must say."
It was obvious, wasn't it?
After giving him a appreciative nod, I sat on the grass beside him and opened the paper bag. Inside, there were two taiyaki. I passed one to the old man, I could feel he was a kind soul.
We ate wordlessly. The taiyaki was something odd, but enjoyable. It was stuffed with some sweet paste that I couldn't recognize.
When he finished, he lit his pipe with a snap of his fingers. He caught me staring.
"I am -no, I was- a shinobi." he corrected himself, "I may be far from my prime, but I can still do simple stuff."
He was interrupted by a ninja running over the roofs in the direction of the Raikage's tower.
"Do you know what has been going on?" I asked, "people have been acting... strange."
He looked at me contemplatively sucking the smoke from his pipe.
"Apparently, our peace envoy to Konoha was killed by a Hyuga a few nights ago. The Raikage will demand compensation for it, and until that happens, the village is on alert in case of conflict."
'The Hyuga affair!'
There was no doubt, Hinata, the heiress of the Hyuga clan in Konoha, had been kidnapped. The culprit, a Kumo ninja posing as a peace envoy, was caught and killed by Hinata's father. The Raikage was going to deny any accusation and demand compensations for the murder of one of his envoys.
The compensation: the body of Hiashi Hyuga, Hinata's father and head of the clan, and, thus, Kumo would have his hands on the precious Byakugan, the all-seeing eye, the dojutsu of the Hyuga.
Konoha, however, would send them a surprise. Hiashi's twin brother, Hizashi, would sacrifice himself in his brother's place. Since Hizashi was not a member of the clan's main family, his cursed seal would, well, seal the byakugan. The clan's head and their dojutsu would be safe and Kumo, humiliated.
This event further clarified where the hell I was timeline wise.
Hinata was three years old, I think, when Kumo attempted to kidnap her. The Kyubi then had already been released from Kushina and Naruto was his new jinchuriki. The Uchiha clan was not yet killed by Itachi, although there was little time left for that to happen. I would believe about two more years. This also meant I was about a year older than Naruto's generation.
I would have to enter the academy as soon as possible; I need to get strong quick. If I want to survive this clusterfuck called Naruto, I'll have to be a beast, a monster. I need to plan all the way up to the fourth shinobi war.
Ding!
Quest Created:Dust away the cobwebs of your mind.
Get accepted into the Shinobi Academy.
Rewards:300 Exp, scrolls.
Accept?
'Accept.'
I still wanted to keep my magnet release a secret, it would be a huge target over my head for my age. In fact, I still had to unlock the kekkei genkai altogether.
'But first things first,' I thought holding the leaf to my forehead back at my room, 'concentrate and meditate.'
Author's note:
I finished the gross outline of this story, it's looking great, especially when Kioshi goes gray. He's still perplexed by the situation, taking everything one day at a time, but starting to plan ahead.
Next chapter: The long way to school.
Tried to make this chapter a little longer. I'm still playing with the pace of the writing; I don't want it to be a quick scan story nor I want to make it too dense and be boring.Man, editing fiction in english is hard! Preposition usage is horrible. I miss scientific writing.Any corrections or grammatical errors or tips you have, I'll be happy to hear/read them.
Thank you all for your comments and suggestions!