SHINOBI: The RPG - New Game

The Following is a fan based work of fiction: Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden are owned by Shueisha, Viz Entertainment and Masashi Kishimoto. Please support the official release.

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Fuinjutsu 48 / 100.

Ranged Weapons 33 / 100.

As far as armed insurrections go, this one stunk. I was expecting to be bouncing from safe house to safe house while Anko ran herself ragged trying to keep me safe, but it was over in about a day and a half.

I’m offended by how little attention I was given.

Not from Anko, she was great, but Danzo couldn’t have been bothered to sneak a few more agents my way? Come on, man.

It didn’t take long for everything to go back to normal. Konoha’s a tough city and it’ll take more than crazy super soldiers with magic to leave anything short of a minor scar. That much was evident from the heavy and swift construction. In particular, team’s three and four were assisting with the repair of some of the taller buildings in the Village, using tree-walking to walk up walls in lieu of any form of scaffolding to help repair shattered window frames.

As far as D-ranks go, it was a pretty good one. Wouldn’t mind a mission like it.

I was on my way to the Hokage’s office for an emergency meeting. Anko followed behind me like a welcome shadow. Not entirely sure what it was, but thinking she was back there made me smile. It’d make me happier if she was beside me but that’ll have to wait until after her mission is over, if she even wanted to hang out with me anymore.

Up the stairs, past the academy, where I caught sight of Naruto’s class walking down the hall to what I assume was Taijutsu practice in a line. Catching the backs of Ino, Hinata and of course, Naruto was kind of...surreal but hey. It’s kind of cool.

Wish I watched more of the anime, though by the time Shippuden had finally made its way to an English dub, I had grown very sick of it.

Came to the landing for the office, where the Secretary waited, typing away at her typewriter, a device which made me blink. Both because the world I lived in was such a schizoid mess that I was still trying to figure out where we were on the Civilization Tech Tree, and because I had only seen a typewriter once before.

In my old life.

Yeah.

I walked up to the desk. The secretary was a red number with thin-framed glasses...the ring of a kunai strapped under her chair gave her away as ANBU. She was cute, I guess, but redheads never really did it for me. “Shimoda Daisuke, here to meet the Hokage?”

She looked up at me without so much as changing her expression. “Go ahead, he’s expecting you.”

As we passed, I heard the secretary acknowledge my bodyguard.

Charisma Check Passed: 7 / 5.

With barely concealed venom? “Anko.”

“Miyoshi,” Anko replied politely, yet stiffly.

Wonder if I can ask about that later without seeming nosy?

Charisma Check Success: 7 / 7.

Eh, if I do it delicately, sure.

We walked up the stair and I knocked on the door.

“Enter.”

Walked inside and there was...everyone. Kakashi, Hisako and Nichiren. Are we getting a C-rank mission?

I greeted the Hokage with a bow. “Hokage-sama. Everyone.”

“Shimoda-kun,” The Hokage said. “Mitarashi-san. I’m glad everyone got here in a timely manner.”

“Hokage-sama,” Anko bowed.

“Now, the reason I called you all here is because Nakamura-kun reported a sighting,” The Hokage began.

“Of?” I asked, feeling very out of the loop.

“The man who brought you to Konoha,” Hiruzen explained, puffing his pipe.

I was thunderstruck.

“A man two-meters tall,” he continued keeping an intent gaze on my expression. “Neatly groomed brown hair and glasses reflecting a sun-glare no matter the angle or the lighting level. Wearing a white lab-coat with a black button up shirt and crimson neck-tie. Does that ring any bells?”

My eyes were wide and I think I was hyperventilating. Because he sounded familiar alright, but I couldn’t remember a thing about him. “...no, Hokage-sama. He seems familiar, but beyond being very angry for some reason, I can’t tell you why. I have no memory of him, that’s the truth.”

The Hokage hummed, his hat casting a dark shadow across his features.

“I believe him,” Hisako immediately piped up. “I’ve known him for years, I know when he’s lying. He’s not.”

“Yamada-chan, if you’d please hold your comments until I have finished with my questions?” The Hokage asked with a grandfatherly smile. At her nod and bow, he shifted his ‘Gaze of the Fire Shadow’ back onto me. “Nakamura-kun, if you’d quote, word for word, what he said?”

Nichiren then quoted back to me, in heavily accented but still audibly correct English ‘I’m a hostile foreign infiltrator’ and ‘I’ll be back when its time to end the world’, which both increased my rage and forced my throat shut.

English.

English in Naruto.

Whoever you are? What ever you did to piss me off this much? I swear, even if I have to carve a bloody swathe through the streets of Konoha and burn down the entire Land of Fire, I will find you and kill you.

“Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s the same code that you get your premonitions, is it not?” The Hokage asked neutrally.

I gulped down the bile that had filled the back of my throat. “Yes sir.”

The Hokage hummed, tapping his pipe and looking down in thought. “Shimoda Daisuke, are you loyal to Konoha?”

I am not. It is just the village I was dumped in to live with this hellish world. But… “No sir. But I am loyal to my friends and they’re all in Konoha, and that’s always been good enough for me.”

Charisma Check Failure: 7 / 10.

Speech Check Failure: 36 / 85.

SCREW YOU GAME I WILL HUNT DOWN WHOEVER WROTE YOUR DESIGN DOCUMENT AND FORCE FEED HIM HIS OWN-

“Look, you have to believe me,” I quickly cut in, sputtering as many arguments and defenses as I could think of out of my mouth. “I swear, I am not a sleeper agent or a spy or anything. Hokage-sama-”

“Shimoda-kun,” Hiruzen held up a hand to stop me. He leaned backward in his chair, the squeak of which may as well have been the sound of a cannon going off for how tense the room was. He turned to Hisako. “Yamada-chan, you have known him the longest. Can we trust him?”

She gulped, her gaze rapidly switching between me and Hiruzen. “Yes, Hokage-sama. We can trust him. I have known him since we were in the Academy. After he graduated, he’d always come find me during lunch so we could spar or compare notes or talk. Someone who wasn’t loyal wouldn’t do that.”

...thank you. Thank you so, so much, Hisako. I will never forget this.

“Nakamura-kun?” The Hokage asked.

“He figured out the bell test and did everything he could to help us pass,” Nichiren said, taking his glasses off. “Even me. When he learned I cheated, he didn’t stop trying to help me. He and Hisako-chan both believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. I admit I don’t know him that well. But the man, the one in the white lab coat? He said he planted ‘magical beasties’ in random places for entertainment. That sounds an awful lot like that bird-monster in the House. And if he’s trying to kill Daisuke, as in actually kill him, then I can’t see how they’d be working together.”

Wow.

...I’m speechless.

“Hatake-san?”

“Daisuke is, at his heart, an introvert,” Kakashi started levelly. “He is a genius who prefers to be on his own most days. In Konoha, we’ve had a history of introverted geniuses turning into monsters. But with Daisuke? From what I’ve seen, how helpful he tries to be and how considerate he is in general? I think he is the exception.”

Kakashi’s visible eye narrowed in the Hokage’s direction. “I am willing to stake my life on him being completely trustworthy.”

Oh my gosh.

I...thank you, Sensei. I won’t let you down.

My team is saving my life in a very literal way right now. I will return the favor as often as needed.

“And Mitarashi-san?” The Hokage looked past me to my bodyguard.

“I haven’t known him very long,” Anko said. “But I haven’t seen him do anything suspicious and he’s great company. So...I’ll cast my vote for him.”

Thank you so much.

The Hokage sighed, and puffed his pipe. After what felt like an eternity, he spoke. “Shimoda-kun, I thank you for your honesty today. An admission like the one you made might have gotten you killed in other circles. Circles that I am working to close. I swear an oath to you, today, that whoever this is will die.”

“Hokage-sama,” I cut in.

“Yes?”

“He’s my mark, sir,” I said. “I will be the one to kill him.”

Hiruzen smirked. “And Konoha will support you. Now, final question.”

I stiffened.

“A man in a green kimono came to see you several years ago,” Hiruzen began. “Do you know who he is?”

Who is he…? Oh. That guy. I remember those red eyes. “I don’t. I only know that he scared me.”

“He scared you?” Hiruzen asked, his eyebrows raising up.

“He was very creepy,” I replied. “Naruto seemed to like him, though.”

...wait, where is Naruto? Oh, right. He’s in class.

“I will have to speak to him once the Academy gets out,” Hiruzen said. “Now what is on the docket for Team 13?”

“We were going to do some Taijutsu training by the Memorial stone,” Kakashi replied easily, shrugging his arms like he was the epitome of chill.

“Excellent. Shimoda, Yamada and Nakamura? If you’d wait outside while I spoke with Hatake and Mitarashi?”

“Uh…” Anko looked really hesitant and I turned to leave.

“I assure you he will be safe in the lobby,” Hiruzen cut her off with an amused smile. “It is well guarded.”

“If you say so, Hokage-sama,” Anko didn’t look convinced, giving me a wave goodbye with a smile that was tinged with worry.

Charisma Check Success: 7 / 6.

Worry born of more than just failing a mission and losing a giant stream of income. That’s...that makes me happy. I mean, I don’t want her to worry, but her worrying is a sign that she actually cares so maybe we could keep hanging out after her mission is done?

We walked down the stairs, shutting the door behind us. No one spoke as we took seats up against the wall. The only sound was the typewriter clacking.

Nichiren was the one to finally break the silence. “So that guy helped a bunch of rats get into our stock of soldier pills.”

“Wait, seriously?” I asked, turning to face him.

“Those things must’ve been massive,” Hisako said. Then she paled and shivered in disgust.

“Yeah, they were like this big,” Nichiren continued, giving an approximation of their size with his hands. “And I’m pretty sure they would’ve bit through my arm if I touched them.”

“You know, rats are the only animal I know of that can develop a craving for human blood,” I mused, stroking my chin in thought. You know, in my old world, with that being true, I’m surprised that rats weren’t the patron animal of Vampires.

...that idea is mine. I’m taking it and I’m going to write a book about vampires that transformed into rats instead of bats.

“I did not know that,” Nichiren said, his face paling.

“I didn’t need to know that,” Hisako added, her face twisting with revulsion.

“Anyway, how’d you kill them?” I asked, smiling with interest.

Nichiren strung up some ninja wire between his fingers.

“Nice.” I nodded approvingly.

“I hope you diced them,” Hisako added with a vicious gleam in her eyes that...did interesting things to my insides.

“By the time I was done? They were unrecognizable,” Nichiren replied with a proud look in his eyes. “The guy even complimented my wire work, which...I’m not sure how I feel about.”

I shrugged. “A compliment is a compliment.”

After that, we fell to silence. Hisako looked like she wanted to say something, but I think she’s...trying to become accustomed to silence? We can’t talk on stealth missions, so that’s a good habit to get into.

After a few minutes of waiting, the receptionist spoke. “You know that body guard of yours is a snake.”

I blinked. I wasn’t about to let someone talk badly of Anko. Not after today. “She’s a pretty snake.”

She glared at me. “I’m being serious.”

“And it’s really none of my business,” I replied diplomatically.

Speech Check Success: 36 / 30.

She meant to continue, but Anko coming down the stairs stopped her, and she went back to typing. Anko was wearing a really satisfied smile on her face. “Hey, we’re ready to go.”

“Anko’s accompanying us to keep an eye on Daisuke-kun,” Kakashi said with an eye-smile. “I could keep you all in line by myself, but two heads are better than one.”

“Besides, Daisuke can be a real handful,” Anko added with a mischievous wink. “Can’t you?”

“I’m the worst,” I admitted with a smile.

Anko chortled as we all stood up to leave. Hisako glared at her before sharply turning away, walking forward faster than was strictly necessary.

What’s her problem?

Charisma Check Failure: 7 / 8.

...you always show up at the worst times, game.
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* * *​

Training was, well, training. Entirely for my teammates benefit, something I was completely okay with. Especially now. Me, I just needed to find a few good books and I’d get better that way.

Speaking of training, it appears that Nichiren really just needed a break. In the past few days, during the lock down, it appears that everything he’d been taught had some time to settle in his brain. His physical conditioning was still, well, not great, but his proficiency took a great leap forward!

He wasn’t having spacing issues anymore, at least.

Like now, he just jumped backward to avoid a leg-sweep I purposely did slowly so he’d actually be able to dodge. Then he came in while my back was turned to throw a punch to the back of my head.

Progress!

I rolled forward to get away from the fist and spun around as I got to my feet, reasserting my stance. Nichiren was breathing heavily, his black hair stained with sweat.

During training, I tried to actively avoid sliding around like a greased Pikachu. Most enemies won’t fight like me so in the name of effectiveness, I fought like anyone else. Honestly, it was a good exercise in restraint though sometimes it chafed.

Nichiren charged forward, throwing two light kicks aimed at my shoulder and chest. I ducked beneath his leg and grabbed it, pulling him off of his feet. His cry of astonishment rapidly turned to one of fear as I slammed him into the ground.

“Daisuke is the winner!” Kakashi called neutrally.

Down chest-first on the ground, Nichiren groaned in frustration. He adjusted his glasses and took my offered hand to stand up. “What’d I do wrong this time?”

I shrugged. “That was really just me being faster and stronger than you, not necessarily any mistake you made.”

“Aw,” Nichiren frowned, folding his arms in annoyance.

You know, if I don’t find a way to increase my strength score, he’s going to pass me soon. 4 Strength is below average and the way he’s working?

“Hey, you’re getting the hang of it,” Hisako said with a supportive smile. “Seriously, you just need to get properly conditioned and you’ll be a terror!”

“Thanks,” Nichiren replied.

“Yeah, after all the progress you’ve made, you aren’t allowed to be a downer,” I said with a smirk.

Nichiren scoffed but shook his head with a bemused smile.

“KAKASHI!”

I looked over and...yeah. Figures he’d show up eventually.

Maito Gai! Haven’t seen him since Team’s were assigned, and he was carrying his own in tow. I recognized Neji, Tenten and Lee immediately and they looked indifferent, exasperated and enthusiastic, respectively. I was glad they seemed healthy. No disaster mission to take either of Neji’s eyes, for instance.

Watching from her spot beneath the shade of a tree, Anko looked amused.

“It’s good to see you, my eternal rival!” Gai beamed at Kakashi-sensei. “Where’ve you been? Heard you had a rough mission!”

“Oh, I’ve been keeping busy,” Kakashi replied with an eye-smile. “Lot of paperwork, you know how that is.”

“Well, if you’ve been cooped up doing paperwork that must mean you’re ready to stretch your legs!” Gai shouted. Then he pointed directly in the center of Kakashi’s mask. “I challenge you!”

Kakashi sighed. “Gai…”

“You’re in the lead at Forty Nine since you won that Rock-Paper-Scissors game,” Gai stated, fist clenched dramatically before him like he were swearing vengeance upon his mortal enemy. “And I am here to even the score!”

Intelligence Check Success: 10 / 6.

Rivalries are actually quite common in Konoha. In the latest census I read, nearly 45% of the Village’s citizenry, civilian and Shinobi, had a rival. Of the split, 63% of rivalries were Ninja. Just part of the culture. Reading!

Seemed fun, but not my cup of tea.

“Gai, can we do this later?” Kakashi asked, gesturing to us. “We’re in the middle of training.”

Gai blinked owlishly. Then he grinned. “Then I’ve got it! It’ll be my students vs yours! Three Taijutsu matches! One of your students against one of my students! The Sensei with the most wins at the end wins the challenge! That way we can all get training in and we’ll know who the better Sensei is!”

Kakashi blinked and sighed. “You have a good point. Alright, I accept.”

Quest Added: Youthful Competition!

Watch your teammates compete: (0 / 2).

Win your match.

I’m down!

“Yosh!” Gai cried. He pointed. “Let’s go!”

“Team?” Kakashi asked, looking at us...well, looking at me. “Don’t kill them.”

Right. No Megaton Punch.

“Ohohohoho!” Gai laughed. “You’re confident! This is going to be amazing and shall bask us in the fires of youth!”

...youth.

Right.

We all walked down to a small Taijutsu arena that had been built into the training area, just a dirt-pit circled by a stone border. We took our seats opposite each other, respectfully.

“Alright, Kakashi! Call your first student.” Gai enthusiastically gave a thumbs up, his teeth blinding me...wait, no. Teeth don’t normally shine like that, how is he doing that?

Perception Check Failure: 7 / 8.

Shut up, game.

“Hisako? You’re up,” Kakashi instructed.

“Yes, Sensei,” Hisako replied, standing up and walking into the center of the ring.

“Lee!” Gai called and his mini-clone stood up in a smooth motion.

“Yosh!” Lee chirped cheerfully, walking into the ring. He popped his knuckled with anticipation.

“Begin!” Kakashi threw his hand down and stepped back.

Lee threw the first punch, which Hisako dodged by tilting her head barely in time.

I got the feeling I was about to watch someone who outmatched me in strength and speed go up against my favorite teammate. But Hisako’s got skill and a lot of it.

She kneed Lee in the stomach and brought and elbow down on his neck. Lee retaliated, elbowing her in the stomach and shoving her off into the air. Lee charged as Hisako landed, throwing a kick at her head. Hisako ducked beneath and Lee hurriedly spun and backpedaled away to avoid her attempted nut shot.

Geeze, Hisako. I thought Sensei said to not kill them.

Hisako was on the offensive now, throwing two punches that were both blocked and she took a counter punch to the gut. She responded with a punch to Lee’s nose and jumped backward to dodge his leg-sweep. Lee’s nose was bleeding, but the resolve of steel he wore on his face looked undaunted.

Lee charged forward, feinting a kick before slamming Hisako in the face with an exaggerated right cross.

Ow.

Hisako was almost knocked down, but she landed on her hands and she sprung back into the action, slamming both her feet into Lee’s stomach and knocking him into the dirt. Contrasting the massive swollen lip she was going to be sporting, she was grinning like an idiot, wiping blood off her chin.

Well, I’m glad she’s having fun.

Lee had managed to recover on his landing and assumed a defensive stance. That was the rule, you were down when you stayed down...within reason. But our Sensei’s honor was at stake here so we were going to try a lot harder than normal.

Hisako charged and managed to his a face-shot with her fist, but Lee powered through it, slugging her across the cheek, then hit her twice more, causing her to go out like a light. Hisako looked disoriented and she was probably going to be feeling that over the next few days.

I had some medical supplies in a storage scroll. Need to figure out how to make Stim-Paks for my teammates; an injury in the field could cascade into multiple fatalities and Stim-Paks would make them way less dangerous.

“Lee is the winner,” Kakashi called impartially.

Quest Updated: Youthful Competition!

Watch your teammates compete: (1 / 2).

Lee offered a hand of assistance to Hisako, who took it while rubbing her cheek. “That was very youthful, Hisako-chan! You were a worthy opponent and I am honored to have sparred with you.”

“Yeah,” Hisako nodded, seeming a little light headed. “You weren’t so bad yourself. We should do this again.”

“Yosh!” Lee said happily, blood from his nose dripping around his smiling lips. “We have a lot to learn from each other!”

“You fought great, Lee!” Gai called happily. “Next up, Neji!”

Intelligence Check Success: 10 / 6.

Wait, isn’t Nichiren wanting to be a medic-nin?

“Nichiren, you have any medical supplies?” I asked as Hisako walked back over to us. “Because Hisako looks…”

“Daisuke, you’re up,” Kakashi said.

I stood up and looked at Hisako.

“I got her, Daisuke,” Nichiren assured me, digging into his pack for some bandages.

“Thanks Nichiren,” Hisako replied tiredly. “Thanks Daisuke.”

“You’re welcome,” I said with a smile, stepping into the ring.

“Be careful, Daisuke!” Anko called, walking up next to Hisako and Nichiren. “Hate to see you hurt!”

“Always,” I replied, turning to face my opponent.

Neji looked stoic. The appearance of stoicism is not actual stoicism, though, and if I remember correctly, Neji was a ball of anger, pain and sadness. He was also a jerk, which made it harder to feel sympathetic for him.

I mean, I did.

“Byakugan.”

But not enough to make this a fair fight.

His eyes narrowed. “You’re in my trigrams.”

“I can see you too.” I folded my hands behind my back.

Neji assumed a gentle-fist stance. “You do not know what I mean. I will show you.”

Self Imposed Challenge time!

The Gentle Fist style closes tenketsu by shocking the chakra points with carefully injected chakra, which causes damage to the internal organs due to their proximity. The swelling interrupts chakra flow through the tenketsu, causing the paralysis that is often associated with the Gentle Fist style.

The Byakugan lets you see tenketsu if it’s developed enough.

But you don’t need to see a tenketsu to close it.

So, that’s my challenge: Before this match is over, I’m going to close one of Neji’s tenketsu.

He attacked and I dodged, walking around him.

Perception Check Failed: 7 / 9.

Taijutsu Check Success: 80 / 75.

Intelligence Check Success: 10 / 7.

I couldn’t just see where he was attacking, I just didn’t have the eyes, heh, for it. I did, however, have the Taijutsu experience and Intelligence to make up for it. That attack was meant for my right breast. Good to know.

My challenge here was three-fold. First, I needed to figure out where my tenketsu points were by reverse engineering Neji’s attack pattern since he could see my points. Then, I needed transpose my network of tenketsu onto Neji to figure out where his chakra points were. Finally, I needed to strike a point with enough chakra to close the tenketsu.

He swiftly adapted to my dodge, chasing after me, throwing chakra-enveloped strikes at my neck, shoulders and arms. But I dodged side to side, swept beneath a strike, then slid behind him.

The Gentle Fist style had so many ways to attack you. Honestly, if I need to take someone alive, I could use it as a substitute for Tsunade’s Megaton Punch. Well, I could, if I could see chakra or knew enough about chakra networks to get a rough estimate.

Neji looked confused. With his defensive stance, he started orbiting me, while I kept myself facing him by sliding on the dirt beneath my feet. He charged forward, feinting a strike with his left palm while his right wrapped around to hit my leg. My response was to slide backwards out of his reach, then circle around him.

Actually, come to think about it, wouldn’t someone have mapped out a general picture of a person’s chakra network?

Medicine Check Failed: 27 / 85.

Yeah, figures. I only know the general details of anatomy and I’d need the finer points.

Still, Neji was feeding me valuable data. I don’t think he’s tried to attack the same point once and he is slow enough that I can get a good look at his form. A little disappointed that he’s so easy to read, but it’s understandable. He hasn’t had the years of training under Gai-sensei that would turn him into the monster genin Naruto had to fight during the exams.

“Are you going to attack me?” Neji asked irritably.

“Maybe someday,” I replied flatly.

“This is supposed to be a sparring match,” Neji pointed out.

“You have to hit someone before you can call it a sparring match,” I replied, keeping a straight face getting more challenging by the second.

Medicine Check Success: 27 / 20.

I knew for a fact that the human body had 361 tenketsu. By watching his attacks, I was getting information on where they were clumped up the tightest, since he clearly wasn’t a master of gentle fist. Yet.

He attacked again, his frustration making him sloppy. I got to one knee and slid past him once again. From my new vantage point, I could see Gai-sensei, who was watching me. Surprisingly, he didn’t look offended or confused. He was pensive, like he had figured out I was trying something and didn’t know what.

Kakashi and Anko as well. Kakashi tried to hide it behind a cool meter of indifference, but Anko’s eyes were narrowed in careful analysis.

Perception Check Success: 7 / 7.

Slide to the left! Slide to the right!

Cha-cha now, y’all.

...not really. But dodging Neji was fun, if only to watch him grow more and more frustrated.

Taijutsu Check Success: 80 / 80.

Intelligence Check Success: 10 / 9.

Okay, I think I’ve worked out where one of his points are. On his forearm, in the mid-point between his Radius and Ulna bones. Just need an opportunity to hit it and I’ve only got one shot at it or this’ll go on forever.

He reached out to hit my left shoulder with a palm strike, the rest of his body primed to chase after me when I dodged this attack as well.

I grabbed his wrist with my right hand and with my left, I plunged two fingers where I thought the tenketsu point was.

Chakra Control Check Success: 92 / 45.

Taijutsu Check Success: 80 / 80.

Intelligence Check Success: 10 / 10.

...did I do it?

Because those checks are making me think I did, but if there’s a hidden Perception check happening, I am going to be so tilted.

He stumbled backward, holding his arm, his eyes wide. He looked up at me, then back to his arm, then back at me, his Byakugan had deactivated as his eyes were blinking in rapid succession.

“You shut my tenketsu!” His eyes may as well have popped out of their sockets.

All around the arena, there were gasps. Not even normal gasps, either. These were proper anime grunts of absolute shock.

I threw up my hands. “Woo! Self-Imposed challenge completed!”

“How?” Neji asked, looking thoroughly creeped out. “How did you do that?”

“Well, I had to sit back and watch you try to hit me to figure out where the points were,” I began to explain, taking my hands out from behind my back. “Because the Gentle Fist style is all about hitting these points, I used you as a measuring stick to figure out where my points were. Then I transposed this imaginary network onto you to figure out where your points were...and then I just had to hit you.”

“But how?” Neji demanded. I swear, he looked like he was going to cry. “How did you do that?”

“I have a very large brain,” I said with a satisfied smile.

“You...you,” Neji was gritting his teeth. The veins around his eyes started to swell up and he brought his palms back up. “It doesn’t matter.”

I just shrugged. “I’m going to win the match now.”

Then I charged. Wasn’t holding back this time, so Neji’s end was swift. Knee to the stomach, hook to the right temple. Twist on the dirt, trip him and send him down face first. Then, with a hand on the back of his head, I looked up. “I think that’s game.”

Quest Updated: Youthful Competition!

Completed: Win your match.

“Shimoda Daisuke wins!” Gai threw his hand up to call it. “I’ve never seen such fine Taijutsu in all my life!”

Charisma Check Success: 7 / 5.

That was just exuberant hyperbole, but I appreciated the compliment. Neji ignored my offered hand as he stood up. I went to sit with my team.

“Daisuke,” Hisako sounded that awestruck, holding her hands together like a school-girl. “That was...that was amazing!”

“I didn’t know you could do that,” Nichiren said, alternated between rapidly pointing at the field and looking at me.

“That makes two of us,” Anko added, looking down at me from her standing position. “That really was some of the best Taijutsu I’ve ever seen and I am not kidding.”

Charisma Check Success: 7 / 6.

She meant it.

That made me kind of warm. “Thanks!”

I turned to Hisako and Nichiren. “All of you.”

“Tenten, show them the fires of your youth!” Gai cried.

“Nichiren, you’re up,” Kakashi said, looking down at me with confusion. A little pride, sure, but he knows for a fact that he didn’t teach me that.

Eh, that’s fine. I’m learning plenty just being on the team and he is teaching me stuff. Though I do want him to teach me more jutsu. I’ll ask at the start of our next training meet.

Nichiren squared off against Tenten. I knew he was still a little tired from training, but Tenten was looking really apprehensive. Once Kakashi started the spar, she went over zealous. Punch to the cheek, leg sweep and bounced back on her feet away from him.

My teammate in the ring got back up slowly, but he didn’t last long. Tenten got more confident and after a few minutes of trading blows, Nichiren was sent to the ground, and he couldn’t get up.

“The winner is Tenten!” Gai called. “Two to one means we win the challenge! The score is now 49 to 49!”

Quest Completed: Youthful Competition!

5,200 / 18,000 to level 8.

Nice!

“Good old Gai,” Anko muttered, shaking her head in amusement.

“Is he always like that?” Hisako asked with a frown.

“Absolutely,” Anko answered, her smile getting wider with every word. “And since he and your Sensei are such close friends, you’re going to be seeing a lot of him.”

“Really?” Hisako’s nose scrunched up. “I mean, it was fun, I guess, but…”

“You guess?” I asked with a smirk standing up with her to give Nichiren a hand when he didn’t get up immediately. “You were smiling up a storm before you got knocked out.”

“Hey, I really enjoy a good fight,” Hisako pointed at me. “But there’s too much of a good thing.”

“I’ll agree to that.”
​

* * *​

With the competition ended, the training meet was called to a close. Kakashi-sensei gave us two days off in order to recover from our intensive inter-team training exercise, which is to say, Hisako and Nichiren needed time to mend their wounds since we went a little harder than we necessarily should have. Kind of a shame. I would’ve liked some more missions to get to level 8 faster.

Now, then! I had 48 Fuinjutsu, which meant that I could take a look at my Mixing Seal to understand why it wouldn’t mix my Chocolate Milk properly!

Back at the apartment, I walked in and Anko took her usual post by my window outside.

...you know, I keep debating whether I should get a TV or not. I don’t know if there’s a lot of signals being broadcast so I don’t know if it’d be worth it.

Whatever, that can wait.

I got everything together for my chocolate milk experiment.

“You think you got it figured out?” Anko asked with apparent interest.

“I guarantee it,” I said with a grin, bringing up my old, failed seal array that I had nearly given myself a conniption trying solve, then force a solution, a few days ago.

Fuinjutsu Check Success: 48 / 45.

Immediately, I saw the problem. Just a small part of the framework that actually inhibited the items from mixing properly. It’s there on regular storage seals to prevent items from getting jumbled together, but I’m overwriting its function with the mixing seal, so it literally doesn’t need to exist.

So I created the seal, obtained some blood from my knuckles and started the mix. The glass of milk and bowl of chocolate syrup disappeared, then reappeared on the output circle. Well, the bowl with the syrup was empty and the milk was a healthy chocolate brown. I grabbed it and took a swig.

Ah...delicious.

“Nice work!” Anko said approvingly. “See, you just needed a few days to sleep on it.”

...you know what, she’s right in spirit. Needed a little boost. “Yeah. Thanks for your help.”

“No problem!” Anko replied with a grin.

“Anyway, let me get you a glass,” I said, standing up and running to the kitchen.

“Oh you don’t have to-” But I want too, so I ignored her.

Got the glass and more syrup, used the mixing seal and handed the glass to Anko. She looked down at it, and smiled. “Thank you. But you didn’t have too.”

“You’re right,” I nodded. “But I wanted to, so...cheers.”

“To future success,” Anko toasted with a grin and clinked our glasses and drank up.

I placed the milk down on a side table and got to work replacing the coffee table. Once that was done, I sat in my recliner. “Why don’t you sit down? Seriously, you can watch the door and window from that spot on the couch.”

Anko thought about it for a second. “Alright. But seriously, I have a job to do.”

“And I appreciate that you’re doing it,” I said with a smile. “So, how long have you been a Jounin?”

“Special Jounin,” Anko corrected. “But...three years now?”

“What kind of missions do Special Jounin get to do?” I asked.

“Well,” Anko started. “Body Guarding is one, obviously. Usually, though, I’m sent on stealth and recon in hostile countries when I’m not hunting down missing nin.”

“I get the feeling you’ve been all over,” I said, swirling the chocolate milk with my chakra to get a swirl in my glass.

“Oh yeah. Mostly the Land of Earth,” Anko replied. She took a sip before continuing. “Lots of rolling hills and high plateaus. Trying to attack the place would be difficult because of the terrain alone. I mean, you might not think it because we can climb walls, but they build traps and scout nests into the walls to catch Shinobi doing just that.”

“Like trap-door spiders,” I said.

Anko shrugged. “If you say so.”

“How do you counter them?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

“You just watch as their little foxholes spontaneously develop snake infestations for no reason at all,” Anko said, shaking her head in mock-confusion. “I just don’t seem to understand how it keeps happening, but it does.”

She grinned.

“Man, they sound like real menaces,” I said with mock sympathy. “If only they’d stop trying, am I right?”

Charisma Check Success: 7 / 7.

“You are right,” Anko nodded. “Of course...if you’ve got good aim...”

Before I could blink, a kunai ripped through the air, flying right past my ear and embedding itself in the wall behind me.

I looked at it and noted that she had gotten a single one of my hairs that was floating on the breeze down on the couch.

With a whistle of appreciation, I turned back to her. “I imagine you’ve taken out your fair share of snipers.”

“That I have,” Anko said, balancing her head on her hand, swirling her drink in the other. It was odd, like her entire demeanor was shifting somehow. Her eyes were gently narrowing and she maintained eye contact as her smile curled up in a feline grin.

Charisma Check Success: 7 / 7.

I think I just passed some kind of test.

Works for me.

Then her eyes got wide and she cleared her throat, sitting up straight and leaning forward. “I’m sorry, I really shouldn’t be throwing kunai at my clients. I just, uh...wow. Um. Sorry. Really.”

“Anko,” I held up a hand. “It’s fine. To be perfectly honest, even if you hit me, it wouldn’t have mattered.”

Anko blinked owlishly. “Getting hit with a kunai doesn’t matter? Really?”

“Healing factor,” I explained helpfully. “Only thing I need is a bed and a nap.”

“...right,” Anko said, looking confused and analytical. “That’s another part of your Kekkei Genkai?”

“It is,” I answered with a grin. “But if you want to ask questions about that, you’ll need to answer questions of mine.”

Charisma Check Success: 7 / 6.

Speech Check Success: 36 / 25.

Anko blinked and gave a grin that was much shakier than it appeared. “That’s okay. It’s totally fine, I was just curious.”

Well, so was I.
​

* * *​

Fuinjutsu 48 / 100.

Ranged Weapons 33 / 100.
​

* * *​

Author’s Note: Here you go. I think I got everything I was supposed too. Another thing I wound up having trouble with, even aside from the numbers, was remembering the game notifications. Those are very important for Daisuke’s internal narrative so I hope I got the important ones, at least. It’s been a while, so if you notice any jarring changes please let me know and I’ll get too them.

Eventually.

Seriously, this fic was full of typos and I just went through the day before posting this and fixed as many as I could.

Now...as to why this is back, and I think it is back.

As you all know, I had a deep, deep dissatisfaction with Daisuke as a character. It actually stemmed from his character build. How he played at the start of the game and how he wound up playing later in the game were vastly different. The reason for this is that I have a favorite PC archetype.

The Gunslinger.

My problem was that Daisuke was not this at all and I was trying to figure out how to shoehorn him into being my favorite PC archetype. Well, that’s just not what Daisuke was. Daisuke was a brawler, at home in the center of a massive, bloody fight with gore flying everywhere. He’s not this and he’s certainly not this. He’s THIS. Accepting what Daisuke was enabled me to get over my issues with his character and write him correctly.

I had to accept Daisuke for who he was and not what I wanted him to be.

Secondly, and more importantly, I was just sick of this thing. Sick to my stomach. I couldn’t even look at Naruto memes. This was due to Patreon, which I have removed myself from. I just had to keep updating and updating because that’s what people wanted to read. I needed to keep my audience and I had no confidence that anything I wrote would ever be as popular and impactful as SHINOBI: The RPG. Then I started failing and I had a giant pot of resentment that boiled over. It wasn’t good.

I blamed everyone when I really was just mad at myself.

Thirdly, I had an issue. The most compelling part of the original fic was the Charisma deficit and the problems it caused. When I was writing it, I wrote essays. Entire essays. To myself. About how to scheme to keep that a problem, but we’ve been over this. The main thing I wanted to talk about was that, given how utterly hollow a dilemma it was in the first fic, I couldn't keep it around for the rewrite. But I wanted to maintain the charisma deficit as a problem and source of strife, I just wasn’t sure how.

Now, I’ve got an idea, but it’s going to be a lot less dramatic of an issue as it was.

So there you are. It’s back. I think. Updates aren’t going to be weekly, or if they are, it won’t be for long. Either way, thanks for the encouragement and well wishes, everyone. I’m happy to see all of you back and I’m happy to be writing again.

Until the next time!

~Fulcon​