Chapter 1 : Graduation Day

Itachi collapsed into his bed, dropping all pretense of the Uchiha formality. His day hadn't been stressful per se, but there had still been his clan to deal with. Today had been an important day after all. Itachi had been inducted into ANBU. Fugaku's position in Konoha meant that he had learned that Itachi had passed before the results had been officially released.

The graduation itself had been a formal affair, as expected. There weren't many people in attendance, just some of the more important people of the village. The real draining experience had been after the ceremony. Itachi had shaken hands with what seemed like an endless stream of Uchiha that had all offered their congratulations.

Then came the celebration, if it could be called that. The Uchiha's stiff formal method of going through life carried into joyous occasions. Everyone had been eager to talk to him about his accomplishment, and no one did anything crazy. "It is not befitting of an Uchiha," Fugaku had told Itachi many years ago. But none of it really mattered, as Itachi was now safe within his own room.

But more than just the people, there'd been something Itachi had been waiting to check ever since he'd gone through the official ceremony. There'd been a happy ding, informing him of something, as it always had. It was part of a strange power that he'd awakened one day from doing nothing in particular. He'd just woken up one day to see "The Gamer" floating above his head with the line "Lv 8 Itachi Uchiha" underneath it.

It had taken Itachi not very long at all to figure out this new power, and an even shorter amount of time after that to see that it had very real limits. When he'd started out, his basic stats had been fairly easy to raise through repeated use. If he were to try and raise them now, it'd takes about a week maybe of continuous dedicated training to gain one point, and with Itachi's new position, his time would be very precious.

But for now, he was content with seeing what he'd been awarded. He brought up the text box, which showed that he'd been awarded some XP for officially graduating, and that he'd been awarded a new trait. A few moments later Itachi had his trait menu pulled up before him:

Sure enough, there was a perfect recreation of his ANBU mask now among the rest of his traits, which included the Gamer's Mind, Gamer's Body, Uchiha Heritage, Small Chakra Pool, Shinobi, Sharingan User, Prodigy, and Citizen of Konoha. He was about to take a closer look at the perks of being an ANBU member when a voice called out to him.

"Nii-san!" It was Sasuke. Itachi closed the window with a thought and got up with a smile to greet his little brother. He was level three, which was respectable for someone his age.

"Sasuke, what's taken you so long?" Itachi asked. It was a question he was genuinely curious about. Given his younger brother's admiration of him, he was surprised he hadn't seen him earlier.

"Otou-san shooed me off while the adults were all talking to you." Sasuke pouted. "It's not fair!"

"That does sound like him. After all, a young child such as yourself running about is not befitting of the Uchiha clan." Itachi had tried his best to do an impression of Fugaku. Sasuke tried to hold back his laughter.

"So, can you help me train so I can be in ANBU like you Nii-san?" Sasuke was looking up at him, his eyes all but sparkling with admiration. Before Itachi could respond, another voice came into the conversation.

"Itachi, Sasuke, dinner!" Their mom called out to them.

"Coming Oka-san!" They said back. Sasuke gave another look at Itachi, who looked towards the dining room. Sasuke took the hint and walked out with Itachi following behind.

They took their places at the table. Fugaku was already seated, back straight, eyes straight ahead, and knees folded perfectly beneath him. To Itachi, his level was 3 question marks. It was the image of perfection that had come to be expected from the Uchiha. Itachi copied his father's posture as he sat down. Sasuke had to adjust himself after sitting to get that image of perfection.

"Itachi, today is a great day for the Uchiha." Fugaku stated. "With any luck you will prove to the rest of the village that we are better than the rest, and should do more than police work for Konoha."

"Yes, Otou-san. I understand." Any other conversation was cut short by Mikoto, who also had 3 question marks for a level, bringing out the food. They had a quick thanks and ate in silence. Talking while eating was just another of the formalities of the Uchiha clan. Soon their plates were clean, and the table was cleared away.

"Come on, Nii-san, help me with my kunai training." Despite the lengthy interruption of dinner, Sasuke was not going to be distracted easily.

"I will help you, Itachi." Fugaku said. But all Sasuke gave him was a pout and some whining.

"But Nii-san is better than you. And he still owes me from yesterday." Fugaku recoiled ever so slightly before smoothly recovering.

"That is true, but your brother must be very tired from today. Let him be for today. I'm sure he can go with you tomorrow."

"It's okay, I can take him for a little bit." Itachi cut in. Fugaku looked at him, but Itachi left with Sasuke in tow before anything more could be said.

Truth be told, Itachi wanted to get away from it all, even if it was only for an hour or two. Sasuke walked beside him happily. Itachi let his eyes wander, looking at all the people and their levels. Even if the shinobi and civilians didn't dress differently, the gaps in their levels were a dead give away. The highest level he'd ever seen among them was a 4, whereas most adults had their level in the twenties at least. Soon the pair reached the training ground.

"Have you been training often, Sasuke?" Itachi asked.

"Of course, Nii-san! I come out here every day, even when you don't come with me." Even though Sasuke was just a kid, Itachi still found that the comment stung more than he wanted to admit.

"All right then, show me what you've got." Itachi needed to see where he was at. It'd been too long since he'd last seen Sasuke throw shuriken and kunai. Becoming an ANBU took up a lot of time. Sasuke took up a position and began flinging kunai with pinpoint accuracy, except when it came to the last one. It was the one in the blind spot behind the boulder in the middle of the field.

Sasuke leapt up, throwing the first kunai, but he was still too young and couldn't get the height to throw the second one out yet. Itachi caught him before he hit the ground.

"Not bad, Sasuke, but it looks like you'll have to wait a bit longer to get all of them." Itachi gave him a smile, just to let him know he was proud of him.

"It's not fair! You're older than me!" Sasuke shot back. Itachi had no rebuttal for that. Of course he knew that even if Sasuke was old enough, he wouldn't be able to pull it off quite yet. Itachi's Observe skill from his Gamer power had told him that Sasuke still had a number of levels before he'd be able to pull off that particular trick.

"Don't worry, you'll be older like me one day, and you'll be able to do it. You might even be able to do it better than me, even." Itachi was being sincere. He hoped that Sasuke would surpass him one day.

"You really think so? I'd better keep training then!" And with that, Sasuke redoubled his efforts. Itachi watched, making sure to point out his rare mistake while throwing. A few hours later, the sun began setting, and it was time for them to go home.

"I think that's enough for today, Sasuke." Itachi told him.

"All right. Thanks, Nii-san." he replied. But even at that, Itachi could tell something was up. So he just looked at him until he brought it up. "Can you show me your trick, before we go?"

"Of course, all you had to do was ask." Itachi picked up a handful of kunai. He took a deep breath, throwing himself into the air. He twisted around, flinging kunai after kunai. One, two, three, four, five, six hit successfully. He threw his penultimate one with his left hand, followed quickly by one from his right. The two collided in the air, and one was sent downward into the target in the blindspot. Itachi landed right where he had started.

"That was amazing, Nii-san!" It was always amazing. But Itachi couldn't help but feel a bit sad. He'd been able to do that trick since before he'd gotten his Gamer powers. Back then, each attempt was a success or failure, and he took a chance with every attempt. Now, his skills were dictated by levels. Once he reached a certain level for something, there was no more success or failure, only success.

"All right, let's go home now." Itachi said, bringing himself out of thought. Sasuke nodded, and the two of them began walking.

A/N: A different type of gamer story. This won't be quite as numbers oriented as others. Also gave the Gamer to Itachi, because the SI and Naruto usage of it tends to end in horrible things.