Chapter 2 :First Impressions

Itachi's eyes snapped open as the light from the rising sun infiltrated his room. It was yet another side effect of his odd power. He slept a set number of hours, and was greeted with a floating message box that informed him that, "You have slept in a bed. HP and MP fully restored; all status effects removed." With practiced motions, he left his bed. He'd lost track of how long he'd had his power, but it still surprised him to feel so… normal in the mornings.

He called up his inventory, pulling out his new ANBU uniform from its slot, and placing his neatly folded pajamas within their respective slot. It wasn't necessary to fold them, as his inventory handled that for him, but he found some pleasure from it.

"Folding's level goes up by one." proclaimed a text box that appeared with a happy ding. Itachi gave a bemused smirk. Right as he'd predicted. He found it much more comforting to keep most of his belongings in his inventory, with the exception of the things that'd be easy to notice if they weren't there. He doubted that his family would be so brash as to search his room, but still.

After putting on his uniform and eating a light breakfast, Itachi headed out, pausing only to check up on Sasuke, who was tangled up in his bedding. He couldn't afford to be late though, and he slipped out the front door. A cheery voice called out to him.

"Hey, Itachi, I've been waiting!" There was only one person who'd be so remarkably Un-Uchiha-like. Shisui Uchiha, level 17. While the level difference was great, their stats were remarkably similar. Itachi had known the reason for a while, but kept it to himself. Shisui had confided in him, and it would be dishonorable to share that information so freely.

"Shisui, loud as ever." Itachi remarked. He just laughed.

"And you're still as proper as ever. Anyway, what's this about becoming an ANBU member?" Itachi could do very little to deny it. Even if Shisui had somehow missed the celebration of yesterday, Itachi was in full ANBU attire, with the mask clutched at his side.

"It was my father's wish. He'd said he'd hate to see such talent doing police work." It was best to appease Shisui when one was in a rush.

"Couldn't settle for just fieldwork, eh? So you go for ANBU and here you are." Shisui tussled Itachi's hair. "You've grown up so fast." It was no secret that Itachi was less than fond of that particular brand of affection showing. He removed Shisui's hand from his hair.

"Yes, now if you'll excuse me I need to be on my way." There was only so much Shisui you could handle while still maintaining the Uchiha facade.

"Well then, I'd hate to keep you from your work." Shisui said. "Remember to tell me all of the village's secrets when you come back." And with that, Shisui was off, presumably to go train. Itachi took a deep breath, and began walking towards the Hokage tower.

There was nothing particularly of note on his journey, although he did use Observe on a few things. He wasn't sure of what else he could learn with higher levels of it, but it didn't hurt to get some experience in whenever he could.

Failed Test: A test from the academy marked with an "F," presumably discarded by a child who didn't want their parents to see it.

Candy Wrapper: A wrapper from a popular candy. Appears to have come from the shop down the street. Why does it interest you?

It was about what Itachi had expected. Whatever had given him his power delighted in inserting its own commentary into the text boxes. He got no happy ding, as expected. It'd take about another week before he got another level for Observe.

And as with most things done while Itachi's mind was elsewhere, he found himself at his destination in much less time than he'd expected. He placed his mask onto his face, and headed to the Hokage's office.

"Lord Hokage, I come to you for my assignment." Itachi took to one knee, putting forth every effort into addressing the hokage in the proper manner. He had seen him enough times to know that his level was also three question marks. He'd yet to figure out what it meant though.

"Itachi Uchiha," Hiruzen responded, "I've been waiting for you to end up in my office." He was staring out the window, pipe in his mouth. It was hard for Itachi to peg what his tone was. He was speaking the truth, but Itachi couldn't help but notice there was something else in his voice.

"Lord Hokage?" he asked.

"Don't mind me," he said, turning his full attention to Itachi. "I've thought about it, and I've decided to assign you to work with Kakashi." Itachi's mask kept his slight shock from being revealed. He'd heard stories about Kakashi, particularly ones about the Third Shinobi War. "The team you'll be a part of reports directly to me. It is all I can do to extend my goodwill towards the Uchiha clan."

"I thank you on behalf of the Uchiha clan for your thoughtfulness." Itachi wasn't going to drop the formalities. This is how he addressed the Hokage now. "I hope that they see this as a step forward for both of us."

"Lord Hokage, I am ready for my new team member." A new voice joined the conversation. Itachi spared a glance over towards the owner of the voice. It was a member of ANBU wearing a distinctly dog-like mask; Hatake Kakashi, level 30. No doubt it was the result of his past.

"Right on time," Hiruzen smiled. "Itachi, Kakashi will be teaching you the basics today." If Kakashi had anything to say about the usage of his real name, he didn't bring it up. Itachi stood up and bowed towards him.

"I look forward to working with you, Kakashi." His posture and mannerisms came easily, mostly from the amount of time he'd used them within the Uchiha Clan.

"And I, too, Itachi." Kakashi returned the gesture. "Now let us depart, Lord Hokage is busy." Itachi nodded and the two left after addressing Hiruzen one last time.

"Today will be a basic patrol of the village. I have no doubt of your capabilities, but things are done by the book for a reason." Kakashi said once they were outside. "The main purpose is to evaluate your stealth performance. We are not to be seen. Are you ready?" Before Itachi responded, a text box appeared before him.

Quest Alert

ANBU Evaluation: First Impressions

Complete a basic patrol of Konoha, staying completely out of sight.

Completion Award: 3000 XP

More Quests as ANBU

Completion Failure: Increased doubt from ANBU members

Assigned to more training

Itachi was familiar with quests, and pushed the Yes button that had accompanied it. 3000 XP was decent enough, and Itachi guessed it had to do with the importance of the quest that it was worth so much.

"All right then, let's get going." Kakashi replied before heading up to a vantage point. Itachi followed. He was not worried in the slightest. When he had first acquired his power, he'd spent a great deal of his spare time comparing himself to others statwise.

He'd started off with a decent Stealth level thanks to his background, and it'd only grown since then. He'd figured out that someone would need a detection mastery level of at least 40 to discover him, which was far beyond the average shinobi.

Kakashi lead and Itachi followed. He had been truthful in how basic it was. In the now very much alive marketplace of Konoha, they could've blended in with minimal effort among the crowd. Itachi couldn't help but feel the irony of the mission though. A patrol like this was exactly the type of work the police force did. He became an ANBU to escape that life, and yet it still insisted on being in his life anyways.

Itachi's thoughts were interrupted by Kakashi stopping and motioning to him. He caught up and was about to ask what the issue was when some yelling down below answered the question for him.

"I wouldn't call on the Uchiha if my life depended on it! I don't need them!" A man red in the face was yelling at someone, who looked only mildly more restrained. Another text box popped up.

Quest Alert

Peace Keeper

Intervene and resolve the conflict in the marketplace.

Completion Award: 200 XP

Increased trust among civilians

Completion Failure: Increased distrust among civilians

Decreased reputation within ANBU.

Itachi poked the Yes button as before and headed towards the dispute. He knew that the XP was a general indicator of the difficulty, so this couldn't be anything more than a triviality. Kakashi sort of hung back, and Itachi guessed he was going to evaluate his performance in resolving the dispute.

"Greetings, sir, what is the problem you are experiencing with this man?" Itachi decided it was best to start with the man who had a tomato coloured face, but he only got more aggravated with the sudden interruption.

"I thought I said I didn't need the Uchiha to solve my problems!" He yelled.

"I am an ANBU operative, not a part of the police force." Itachi calmly replied. The man's face dropped a few shades of red at these words.

"Well if that's the case, could you inform that man that he needs to pay his bill for the food." It was a request, not a question.

"Hey, I've just forgotten my wallet at my house!" The other man interjected.

"I've heard that story too many times. How naive do you think I am?" The tomato-faced man snapped back. Itachi remained silent for several moments before responding.

"If that's the case, then my partner can watch him as he returns to his home. Don't worry, he wouldn't be able to run even if he wanted to." The man went into deep thought, trying to find some problem with the solution presented. He eventually conceded.

"Alright, I guess as long as I get my money, I'll be satisfied." And so it was. Itachi watched as Kakashi escorted the other man out of sight. About ten minutes later, they returned, and the shop owner was paid. The crowd that had gathered dispersed as Itachi and Kakashi left. Itachi got another ding and box telling him the quest had been completed, but dismissed it for now.

"It gets worse every day with people and the Uchiha." Kakashi said after they'd resumed their patrol. "I'm sorry about that." Itachi wasn't at all surprised by the turn of events. He'd heard a lot about it from his father.

"Not to worry. That was not going to get solved with the man's refusal to accept help from the Uchiha." Itachi replied. Kakashi looked at him for a moment, his face unreadable on account of the mask. Without another word, they resumed the patrol.

Nothing else of note occurred as they made their way around the village, and they were soon back in front of the Hokage tower. Kakashi gave Itachi a few remarks before dismissing him and leaving to go complete another mission. Itachi ignored the happy ding and text box from completing the quest.

Even though he knew he shouldn't be able to feel fatigue anymore, the day had still felt draining to him. It'd been a simple mission, and nothing new about Konoha had been presented to him. It was simple, he was just imagining things. And with that, Itachi headed towards the training grounds. He had no desire to talk to Fugaku just yet.

A/N: So I pushed this up a bit to talk about stuff in this story. This is probably going to be the longest A/N I write in this story, so just bear with me for a bit. If you're looking for a gamer fic with lots of numbers and stats and details about skills, this isn't for you. The goal here is to write a gamer type story close to the original, wherein the gamer power almost takes a backseat to the narrative. And I don't really consider this a true Gamer crossover since there's a lack of anything else from the gamer (hence the gamer!Itachi tag and not a crossover tag)

This is not to say that there won't be any at all, it's just that they'll be fairly light throughout. Like this chapter here, this chapter is representative of about as much of the gamer power will be present in any given chapter. Of course there'll be ones with more, and ones with less, but this is the general amount. I am doing this because I find it a bit irritating to just see the general plot of 'person gets powersperson learns about powerinitiate grindingwin' Not to mention the parade of numbers for everything.

Now Itachi will get new skills, and for the most part I'll be doing the general rundown of said skills as is the norm. And there will be general stat sheets for Itachi, most likely towards the end of part one, and the beginning of part two, to show his growth during this time. But other than that, there's not really going to be many numeric values assigned definitively to characters, stats, skills, etc. if that makes sense.

Lastly is some stuff for the story itself. Itachi is basically Sun-il at this point in time. His level is low due to, well, him not going out and killing people and doing tons of missions compared to others (which is going to change soon). However, he's been spending a lot of time training, which makes his stats higher than what they should be at his level. Most of the older shinobi of Konoha however, are war veterans, and most of them have racked up lots of xp from the Third War, hence why most of them are going to be much higher levels than Itachi.

I think that's everything I wanted to address for now, and so, thanks for reading this little explanation of stuff.