From a young age, everyone's parents try to teach them valuable lessons that they take with them...
Game of the Year: A Naruto Quest
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1. New Game!
Vesvius
The Wicked God
From a young age, everyone's parents try to teach them valuable lessons that they take with them for the rest of their lives. They range from the basic- "Don't put a fork in an electrical socket"- to the slightly more complex- "If you're going to get drunk the night before a job interview make sure the gum you chew the next morning isn't all that minty". But no piece of parental wisdom is as simple and widespread as "look both ways before crossing the street".
You don't know about anyone else but that was the first thing you really remember your Mother telling you back when you were only as tall as her knee. She had looked down at you, smiled, and said "Make sure to look both ways before going! Even if the green man is there on the light, make sure to check that no one is coming."
And so you did. And so you continued to do all throughout your life. You looked both ways before crossing the road each and every time you went across one. But it wasn't just the roads. You checked both ways before you crossed anything. A path. A creek. A room. No matter what it was, you looked both ways before you went across them.
Which is why it sucks so much when you're standing in line for your morning coffee and you're hit by a bus.
Well- one of the reasons it sucks so much.
The other is that you've been hit by a fucking bus!
A scream rips it's way from your throat as the metal death machine smashes into you at top speed. You scream long and loud, longer and louder than you thought was possible. For what seems like forever you bellow your pain to the world. But as you inhale to keep going, you realize that something's a bit off. After all, if you're hurt as bad as you thought you would be, you likely wouldn't have been able to scream for that long.
Yeah. You're probably fine. It probably just grazed you. You'll need to go to the hospital, sure, but you'll be fine. A feeling a relief sweeps through you, making you feel like a weight as heavy as the Statue of Liberty has been removed from your shoulders. You stop your screaming. No need to add to the scene that's going on-
Wait. Why can't you hear anything?
You strain your ears. Sure enough, there's no sound. No chaos like you would expect to hear after the L plowed through the front of a quaint local coffee place. No screaming. At least, no screaming that isn't coming from you. You can't even hear that gimmicky 'muzak' that coffee shops insist on playing to appear ahead of the times.
And why can't you see anything either?! There're no walls around you, no people, no artwork, no fiery wreckage. After straining your eyes, you can barely make out two things: a heavy cover of clouds above you where a ceiling should be, and a small crumpled thing far below you. You squint and peer down, trying as hard as you can to see what that little thing is and- huh.
Okay, you might be wrong, but you're pretty sure that twisted thing down there is you.
And that feeling of lightness in your head and body isn't relief.
As you struggle to comprehend that you're far down below you and somehow up here at the same time- WHAT. WHAT IS THIS. HOW. WHY.- you feel yourself rising closer and close to the clouds above you. You try to drop back down, first by trying to just fall over to no avail. You just continue to rise through the air as if you're on an invisible elevator. Flipping around and trying to swim back down towards yourself works no better. All it does is mean you don't see it when you enter the clouds.
You give up your freestyle stroke as you break through the barrier. Now that you can't see yourself, getting back to the twisted mess of flesh and bone that looks like it was you seems far less important. Instead you stand back up on your invisible platform that encompasses your entire body and look around. Below you are the clouds. Above and around you is nothing.
Nothing except a small twinkling light above your head. As you notice it, the light flickers and grows, forming into letters.
...the hell?
That just seems unnecessarily cruel.
Also, very strange. And confusing.
It only gets more confusing as the giant Game Over above you scrolls up as if it's the opening crawl of Star Wars. It's replaced by what can only be a scoreboard that seems to be chronicling every aspect of your life. 1,000 points for learning to walk. 1 point every time you successfully used the toilet. Minus 5 points for getting caught cheating on a math test in third grade. Minus 1,500 points for being quote a 'blank slate of a person'.
You can only gape as your life score scrolls by. Finally it ends with -200 points for a violent death, leaving only the emptiness once more. Until new glowing letters emerge.
So. It seems your life is- was- a video game? That's the meaning of life? The question people have puzzled over since the dawn of time? The meaning of life is… to get a high score.
And now your game is over. And the universe is asking if you want to start a new game. Before you realize it your mouth is moving. "Yeah! Yes. Yeah! New game!"
You really don't want to find out what happens to 'pointless' people when they say no.
The light flickers and shimmers, lurching in place like a bad TV picture. The new game prompt vanishes, replaced by another message.
SCANNING. SCANNING. SCANNING. SCANNING. SCANNING. SCAN- SUBSTITUTION FOUND
The light resolves itself once again into a full picture, unfurling in front of you like a scroll. Music begins to play in your head, taiko drums and woodwind instruments. A map of a large continent unveils itself. Smoke rises off different parts of the map and forms solid letters before your eyes.
Elemental? But you want to relive your own life! Go back, not get killed by a bus this time! Maybe make something of yourself instead of just moseying along through life and taking things as they come! You know everything that happens in the future too! If you could just go back to your old life, you could be the richest and most powerful man in the world!
"I don't want a different game!" you protest at the universe. "I want my old life back!"
"The Humdrum Life of Average Joe" CANNOT BE FOUND. NEW GAME SUBSTITUTED. MATCH WITH PREVIOUS LOADED FILE: 85%
"But-"
"I-"
WOULD YOU LIKE TO START A NEW GAME? REFUSAL SHUTS DOWN THE SYSTEM.
Okay, the universe knows you're arguing with you. And you're pretty sure that's a threat. You don't like the way that that last thing was menacingly spelled out, slower than the letters before it.
It looks like you have no choice. "Fine. Yes, I'll start a new game of whatever this is."
The words vanish like the vapor they were made from and turn into icons that hang over different parts of the map. You peer at them closely. They're all fairly simple, a line or a series of lines. They're almost like abstract art. Very familiar abstract art. The one in the middle is the one that catches your eye the most:
"WHAT IN THE ABSOLUTE FUCK?!" you roar out.
"Like fuck it is! I think the goddamn Naruto world, with Ninjas and apocalypse cults and throwing fucking dragons made of fire out of mouth hands or whatever the hell they do there, is a little more than 15% different from my life!"
No new words appear. The universe seems to be tired of arguing with you. The prompts have also all vanished. There's no way to go back to what you're going to guess is the title screen, and no way to quit if you wanted to.
So you're stuck here. About to go into the Naruto World.
...you might as well pick your starting location.
Where do you start your game?
[] Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, located in the Land of Fire.
[] Kirigakure, the Village Hidden in the Mist, located in the Land of Water.
[] Kumogakure, the Village Hidden by the Clouds, located in the Land of Lightning.
[] Iwagakure, the Village Hidden by the Rocks, located in the Land of Earth.
[] Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand, located in the Land of Wind.
[] Shukufuku, a humble village with no Shinobi presence, located north of the Land of Fire.
You don't know about anyone else but that was the first thing you really remember your Mother telling you back when you were only as tall as her knee. She had looked down at you, smiled, and said "Make sure to look both ways before going! Even if the green man is there on the light, make sure to check that no one is coming."
And so you did. And so you continued to do all throughout your life. You looked both ways before crossing the road each and every time you went across one. But it wasn't just the roads. You checked both ways before you crossed anything. A path. A creek. A room. No matter what it was, you looked both ways before you went across them.
Which is why it sucks so much when you're standing in line for your morning coffee and you're hit by a bus.
Well- one of the reasons it sucks so much.
The other is that you've been hit by a fucking bus!
A scream rips it's way from your throat as the metal death machine smashes into you at top speed. You scream long and loud, longer and louder than you thought was possible. For what seems like forever you bellow your pain to the world. But as you inhale to keep going, you realize that something's a bit off. After all, if you're hurt as bad as you thought you would be, you likely wouldn't have been able to scream for that long.
Yeah. You're probably fine. It probably just grazed you. You'll need to go to the hospital, sure, but you'll be fine. A feeling a relief sweeps through you, making you feel like a weight as heavy as the Statue of Liberty has been removed from your shoulders. You stop your screaming. No need to add to the scene that's going on-
Wait. Why can't you hear anything?
You strain your ears. Sure enough, there's no sound. No chaos like you would expect to hear after the L plowed through the front of a quaint local coffee place. No screaming. At least, no screaming that isn't coming from you. You can't even hear that gimmicky 'muzak' that coffee shops insist on playing to appear ahead of the times.
And why can't you see anything either?! There're no walls around you, no people, no artwork, no fiery wreckage. After straining your eyes, you can barely make out two things: a heavy cover of clouds above you where a ceiling should be, and a small crumpled thing far below you. You squint and peer down, trying as hard as you can to see what that little thing is and- huh.
Okay, you might be wrong, but you're pretty sure that twisted thing down there is you.
And that feeling of lightness in your head and body isn't relief.
As you struggle to comprehend that you're far down below you and somehow up here at the same time- WHAT. WHAT IS THIS. HOW. WHY.- you feel yourself rising closer and close to the clouds above you. You try to drop back down, first by trying to just fall over to no avail. You just continue to rise through the air as if you're on an invisible elevator. Flipping around and trying to swim back down towards yourself works no better. All it does is mean you don't see it when you enter the clouds.
You give up your freestyle stroke as you break through the barrier. Now that you can't see yourself, getting back to the twisted mess of flesh and bone that looks like it was you seems far less important. Instead you stand back up on your invisible platform that encompasses your entire body and look around. Below you are the clouds. Above and around you is nothing.
Nothing except a small twinkling light above your head. As you notice it, the light flickers and grows, forming into letters.
GAME OVER
...the hell?
Final Score: 124,533
Final Rank: Pointless
Final Rank: Pointless
That just seems unnecessarily cruel.
Also, very strange. And confusing.
It only gets more confusing as the giant Game Over above you scrolls up as if it's the opening crawl of Star Wars. It's replaced by what can only be a scoreboard that seems to be chronicling every aspect of your life. 1,000 points for learning to walk. 1 point every time you successfully used the toilet. Minus 5 points for getting caught cheating on a math test in third grade. Minus 1,500 points for being quote a 'blank slate of a person'.
You can only gape as your life score scrolls by. Finally it ends with -200 points for a violent death, leaving only the emptiness once more. Until new glowing letters emerge.
NEW GAME?
So. It seems your life is- was- a video game? That's the meaning of life? The question people have puzzled over since the dawn of time? The meaning of life is… to get a high score.
And now your game is over. And the universe is asking if you want to start a new game. Before you realize it your mouth is moving. "Yeah! Yes. Yeah! New game!"
You really don't want to find out what happens to 'pointless' people when they say no.
The light flickers and shimmers, lurching in place like a bad TV picture. The new game prompt vanishes, replaced by another message.
RESPONSE ACCEPTED. NEW GAME INITIATED.
ERROR. ERROR. DATA CORRUPTION. PREVIOUS GAME: "The Humdrum Life of Average Joe" NOT FOUND. SCANNING FOR POSSIBLE REPLACEMENTS.
Uhhh…ERROR. ERROR. DATA CORRUPTION. PREVIOUS GAME: "The Humdrum Life of Average Joe" NOT FOUND. SCANNING FOR POSSIBLE REPLACEMENTS.
SCANNING. SCANNING. SCANNING. SCANNING. SCANNING. SCAN- SUBSTITUTION FOUND
The light resolves itself once again into a full picture, unfurling in front of you like a scroll. Music begins to play in your head, taiko drums and woodwind instruments. A map of a large continent unveils itself. Smoke rises off different parts of the map and forms solid letters before your eyes.
WELCOME TO NEW GAME: ELEMENTAL!
Elemental? But you want to relive your own life! Go back, not get killed by a bus this time! Maybe make something of yourself instead of just moseying along through life and taking things as they come! You know everything that happens in the future too! If you could just go back to your old life, you could be the richest and most powerful man in the world!
"I don't want a different game!" you protest at the universe. "I want my old life back!"
"The Humdrum Life of Average Joe" CANNOT BE FOUND. NEW GAME SUBSTITUTED. MATCH WITH PREVIOUS LOADED FILE: 85%
"But-"
WOULD YOU LIKE TO START A NEW GAME?
"I-"
WOULD YOU LIKE TO START A NEW GAME?
"I just want-"
WOULD YOU LIKE TO START A NEW GAME? REFUSAL SHUTS DOWN THE SYSTEM.
Okay, the universe knows you're arguing with you. And you're pretty sure that's a threat. You don't like the way that that last thing was menacingly spelled out, slower than the letters before it.
It looks like you have no choice. "Fine. Yes, I'll start a new game of whatever this is."
WELCOME TO "Elemental"! PLEASE SELECT STARTING LOCATION!"
The words vanish like the vapor they were made from and turn into icons that hang over different parts of the map. You peer at them closely. They're all fairly simple, a line or a series of lines. They're almost like abstract art. Very familiar abstract art. The one in the middle is the one that catches your eye the most:
"WHAT IN THE ABSOLUTE FUCK?!" you roar out.
MATCH PERCENTAGE WITH OLD GAME: 85%
"Like fuck it is! I think the goddamn Naruto world, with Ninjas and apocalypse cults and throwing fucking dragons made of fire out of mouth hands or whatever the hell they do there, is a little more than 15% different from my life!"
No new words appear. The universe seems to be tired of arguing with you. The prompts have also all vanished. There's no way to go back to what you're going to guess is the title screen, and no way to quit if you wanted to.
So you're stuck here. About to go into the Naruto World.
...you might as well pick your starting location.
Where do you start your game?
[] Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, located in the Land of Fire.
[] Kirigakure, the Village Hidden in the Mist, located in the Land of Water.
[] Kumogakure, the Village Hidden by the Clouds, located in the Land of Lightning.
[] Iwagakure, the Village Hidden by the Rocks, located in the Land of Earth.
[] Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand, located in the Land of Wind.
[] Shukufuku, a humble village with no Shinobi presence, located north of the Land of Fire.
2. Choose Your Character!
Vesvius
The Wicked God
For long moments you stand frozen, staring at the map in front of you. Your eyes dart from location to location as you try to decide which one to press. Some are easy to eliminate- what's even in Suna anyway? And Iwa… from what you remember of the manga, Iwa existed mostly to get killed and be led by a tiny old man. You think you can give that a pass for now.
Kiri is more interesting. You stare at the icon for the Village Hidden in the Mist for quite some time. There's just something so quentisentially awesome about throwing around a sword twice the size of the person holding it that just the thought makes you pause. But some faint memories involving the Graduation Exam tickle the back of your mind. You don't remember exactly what it was about the Kiri Exam that's making the hair on the back of your neck rise up, but you'll listen to that instinct. You're going to avoid Kiri for now.
You spend just as much time contemplating Kumogakure. Learning how to throw around lightning! More swording! Hanging out with Killer B- or at least, trying to hang out with Killer B! What's not to love? You don't know- and that's the problem. You have almost no knowledge of Kumo, and that's a problem. You'll skip it.
That leaves you with two options: Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, or Shukufuku, a small village north of Fire Country with no known Shinobi presence. That last part sounds kind of wonderful. Despite what the universe is saying to you about how similar the Naruto world and your old world are, the fact that people can spit acid and crap thunder is… concerning.
Yeah. That sounds good. You could head to Shukufuku and start off in a place so minor it never appeared in the anime or manga. You'll learn this world from the ground up and play it safe. If you're lucky, you'll make it to whatever passes as a ripe old age here without ever seeing a ninja. You'll be a normal person and…
Your eyes slip off of the icon for Shukufuku and look up, straight at the inky blackness that still surrounds you. It wasn't long ago that your life's score was passing through that dark space. A score that was headed by your rank: pointless.
You don't want to be pointless again.
And in Konoha, you'd at least have a chance to not be pointless. Say what you will about characters in Naruto that came from Konoha: they were memorable. They had a reason to exist, even if it was just for a one note joke. They each had big moments.
Your finger jams down on the Konohagakure icon before you can give it another moment's thought.
YOU HAVE SELECTED KONHAGAKURE: THE VILLAGE HIDDEN IN THE LEAVES. PLEASE SELECT IT AGAIN TO CONFIRM-
Again, your finger presses down. And just like that, you're no long surrounded by emptiness. There is no flash of light. There's no transition at all. One second, you're in the middle of a void. The next you're above a bustling village. Sounds, sights, and smells assault you at once, sending you reeling with your eyes watering.
Once you're able to clear the tears from your eyes, the first thing you see is the enormous mountain in front of you, with four faces carved into the front of it. Hokage Rock. And with that sight die the last thoughts you had that this might be a joke.
WELCOME TO KONOHAGAKURE, THE VILLAGE HIDDEN IN THE LEAVES. THE FIRST OF THE GREAT SHINOBI VILLAGES, KONOHAGAKURE HAS RECENTLY PROVEN IT'S STRENGTH ONCE MORE IN THE THIRD GREAT SHINOBI WAR. THOUGH IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE WAR, THE THIRD HOKAGE STEPPED DOWN, HIS REPLACEMENT HAS PROVEN TO BE A BURGEONING LEGEND IN HIS OWN RIGHT. BUT DANGER EVER LURKS ON THE HORIZON…
The text continues to scroll in front of your eyes, listing notable facts about what looks like present day Konoha. Under the scrawl is a red button, marked continue. On either side of the scroll is an arrow.
Out of curiousity, you reach out and press one of the arrows.
WELCOME TO KONOHAGAKURE, THE VILLAGE HIDDEN IN THE LEAVES. THE FIRST OF THE GREAT SHINOBI VILLAGES, KONOHAGAKURE STANDS ON THE PRECIPICE OF WAR. TENSION WITH THE POWERFUL IWAGAKURE IS COMING TO A HEAD. CHILDREN OF YOUNGER AND YOUNGER AGES ARE BEING CONSCRIPTED INTO THE SHINOBI FORCES AS THE THIRD HOKAGE DOES EVERYTHING HE CAN TO STRENGTHEN THE VILLAGE BEFORE WAR BREAKS OUT…
The village around you looks the same but the text is definitely different. It's describing events from before the series proper actually started. Is this some kind of time selector? Can you pick when you start to exist?
Before you get excited, your eyes drop to the continue button. It's still there but unlike the last one, it's grey. Your heart sinks. Something being greyed out is never a good sign in any game.
You press it anyway.
THIS OPTION IS LOCKED! IT CAN BE UNLOCKED BY GAINING THE ACHIEVEMENT "Student of the Past".
Well. That's inconvenient.
You press another arrow. Another text scroll comes up, and the village below you starts to look a lot less put together and a lot more like an actual village. Again, the continue button is greyed out. Another arrow press, more of the same. It looks like the only continue button you can actually hit is the first one.
With nothing else to do, you press it. The village around you seems to lose resolution and gets fuzzy, as if you're suddenly looking at it with much worse eyes. Directly between you and Hokage Rock the air shimmers. Four silhouettes warp and twist into being. Below each of them is a small placard.
CHOOSE YOUR CHARACTER.
"Um, what?" you ask. "I thought I was just going to, you know, be me. Or at least be someone on the show!"
The universe is unhelpfully silent. You're starting to get the feeling that that's going to be the norm.
Well. You should probably do what you're being told to.
CHOOSE YOUR CHARACTER.
[] The Scion. You were born to a family of wealth and privilege, growing up wanting for nothing.
[] The Street Rat. You grew up on the streets, using your wits and cunning to eke out an existence.
[] Son of the Shops. You come from a long line of peddlers, and have been haggling with anyone and everyone since the moment you learned to talk.
[] New In Town. You're not from around here. Your family is a new arrival in Konoha, and it definitely shows.
Kiri is more interesting. You stare at the icon for the Village Hidden in the Mist for quite some time. There's just something so quentisentially awesome about throwing around a sword twice the size of the person holding it that just the thought makes you pause. But some faint memories involving the Graduation Exam tickle the back of your mind. You don't remember exactly what it was about the Kiri Exam that's making the hair on the back of your neck rise up, but you'll listen to that instinct. You're going to avoid Kiri for now.
You spend just as much time contemplating Kumogakure. Learning how to throw around lightning! More swording! Hanging out with Killer B- or at least, trying to hang out with Killer B! What's not to love? You don't know- and that's the problem. You have almost no knowledge of Kumo, and that's a problem. You'll skip it.
That leaves you with two options: Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, or Shukufuku, a small village north of Fire Country with no known Shinobi presence. That last part sounds kind of wonderful. Despite what the universe is saying to you about how similar the Naruto world and your old world are, the fact that people can spit acid and crap thunder is… concerning.
Yeah. That sounds good. You could head to Shukufuku and start off in a place so minor it never appeared in the anime or manga. You'll learn this world from the ground up and play it safe. If you're lucky, you'll make it to whatever passes as a ripe old age here without ever seeing a ninja. You'll be a normal person and…
Your eyes slip off of the icon for Shukufuku and look up, straight at the inky blackness that still surrounds you. It wasn't long ago that your life's score was passing through that dark space. A score that was headed by your rank: pointless.
You don't want to be pointless again.
And in Konoha, you'd at least have a chance to not be pointless. Say what you will about characters in Naruto that came from Konoha: they were memorable. They had a reason to exist, even if it was just for a one note joke. They each had big moments.
Your finger jams down on the Konohagakure icon before you can give it another moment's thought.
YOU HAVE SELECTED KONHAGAKURE: THE VILLAGE HIDDEN IN THE LEAVES. PLEASE SELECT IT AGAIN TO CONFIRM-
Again, your finger presses down. And just like that, you're no long surrounded by emptiness. There is no flash of light. There's no transition at all. One second, you're in the middle of a void. The next you're above a bustling village. Sounds, sights, and smells assault you at once, sending you reeling with your eyes watering.
Once you're able to clear the tears from your eyes, the first thing you see is the enormous mountain in front of you, with four faces carved into the front of it. Hokage Rock. And with that sight die the last thoughts you had that this might be a joke.
WELCOME TO KONOHAGAKURE, THE VILLAGE HIDDEN IN THE LEAVES. THE FIRST OF THE GREAT SHINOBI VILLAGES, KONOHAGAKURE HAS RECENTLY PROVEN IT'S STRENGTH ONCE MORE IN THE THIRD GREAT SHINOBI WAR. THOUGH IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE WAR, THE THIRD HOKAGE STEPPED DOWN, HIS REPLACEMENT HAS PROVEN TO BE A BURGEONING LEGEND IN HIS OWN RIGHT. BUT DANGER EVER LURKS ON THE HORIZON…
The text continues to scroll in front of your eyes, listing notable facts about what looks like present day Konoha. Under the scrawl is a red button, marked continue. On either side of the scroll is an arrow.
Out of curiousity, you reach out and press one of the arrows.
WELCOME TO KONOHAGAKURE, THE VILLAGE HIDDEN IN THE LEAVES. THE FIRST OF THE GREAT SHINOBI VILLAGES, KONOHAGAKURE STANDS ON THE PRECIPICE OF WAR. TENSION WITH THE POWERFUL IWAGAKURE IS COMING TO A HEAD. CHILDREN OF YOUNGER AND YOUNGER AGES ARE BEING CONSCRIPTED INTO THE SHINOBI FORCES AS THE THIRD HOKAGE DOES EVERYTHING HE CAN TO STRENGTHEN THE VILLAGE BEFORE WAR BREAKS OUT…
The village around you looks the same but the text is definitely different. It's describing events from before the series proper actually started. Is this some kind of time selector? Can you pick when you start to exist?
Before you get excited, your eyes drop to the continue button. It's still there but unlike the last one, it's grey. Your heart sinks. Something being greyed out is never a good sign in any game.
You press it anyway.
THIS OPTION IS LOCKED! IT CAN BE UNLOCKED BY GAINING THE ACHIEVEMENT "Student of the Past".
Well. That's inconvenient.
You press another arrow. Another text scroll comes up, and the village below you starts to look a lot less put together and a lot more like an actual village. Again, the continue button is greyed out. Another arrow press, more of the same. It looks like the only continue button you can actually hit is the first one.
With nothing else to do, you press it. The village around you seems to lose resolution and gets fuzzy, as if you're suddenly looking at it with much worse eyes. Directly between you and Hokage Rock the air shimmers. Four silhouettes warp and twist into being. Below each of them is a small placard.
CHOOSE YOUR CHARACTER.
"Um, what?" you ask. "I thought I was just going to, you know, be me. Or at least be someone on the show!"
The universe is unhelpfully silent. You're starting to get the feeling that that's going to be the norm.
Well. You should probably do what you're being told to.
CHOOSE YOUR CHARACTER.
[] The Scion. You were born to a family of wealth and privilege, growing up wanting for nothing.
[] The Street Rat. You grew up on the streets, using your wits and cunning to eke out an existence.
[] Son of the Shops. You come from a long line of peddlers, and have been haggling with anyone and everyone since the moment you learned to talk.
[] New In Town. You're not from around here. Your family is a new arrival in Konoha, and it definitely shows.
3. Select Difficulty!
Vesvius
The Wicked God
It doesn't take you nearly as long to make up your mind here. You don't want to grow up on the streets, no matter how appealing Aladdin made it look, and you hated working retail- you don't want to do that as a family tradition. That just leaves two choices: being new in town, and being the scion of a well-connected clan. It's a tough choice between the two but in the end, you select the newcomer. There's something about having a background different from everyone else around you that appeals to you.
Done and done.
As your finger leaves the button, you tense up for the next change. Every time you hit one of these buttons, the entire world around you warps and twists into something even more bizarre. In the last… however long it's been, you've gone from scoreboard to empty void to looking over a continent like a god to floating in the middle of the village. You can only imagine what it's going to be like when you're actually sent into your character. Maybe everything will blur even more? Or will you get a zooming effect as you pop into your character? Or will everything fade out and-
The wheels beneath you hit a divot in the road, jerking you out of your thoughts.
Your head snaps around. The hell just happened?! The fuzzy Konoha you stood in is gone. Now, you can barely see anything. One either side of you is a dark wall that also stretches out above you. You can only see a little bit of the world outside your new confines- a sliver of blue sky and a blurry shape in front of you. New smells and sensations hit you in a wave. The odor of some kind of animal, the feeling of warm air on your face… after who knows how long in an empty void, it's surprising.
"The hell!" you call out.
At least, that's what you want to say. What comes out is more a "Waaaaah!"
You stop. Blink once. Twice. And try again. "What's happening?!" is what you think. But again, a raspy baby's cry comes from your mouth.
The blurry shape in front of you turns around and reaches for you. It's hands get closer, looming large in your vision. You flinch back as they reach for you. But the wall all around you extends there too- you can't get away! The giant's hands scoop you up and pull you forward. You try and scream, but only more cries come out.
The blurry shape doesn't do anything bad though. They certainly don't try to rip your bones out to make their bread like you were expecting. Instead, the shape pulls you close and cradles you against their shoulder. It starts making soothing noises, and you start rocking back and forth in their arms.
"Oh, it's okay!" a soothing woman's voice croons. "We're almost there. You've been being so good this entire trip! It'll all be over soon!" She keeps talking, her words trailing off into vaguely comforting gibberish.
Two thoughts click into place in your mind.
One: this blurry thing holding you is your Mother. You know that deep in your bones as one of the universal truths of the universe. The sky is blue. Water is wet. This woman is your Mother.
Two: you are a baby. Judging by how your eyes don't seem to be done developing quite yet and how hard it is to lift your head of Mom's shoulder, you can't be that old. Less than a year definitely.
"Rats."
"Goo ga bluh!"
"That's right sweetie! Just a few more minutes! Then we'll find you something to eat! I've got some peaches with your name on them!"
"Blurble!"
Another voice breaks into your conversation. "Ma'am?" it calls out in a bored monotone. "Today, please? You're holding up the line."
"It sounds like you've never had to handle a fussy child," Mom replies in the same soothing tone. "Your line has made me wait long enough; it can do some of it's own while I make sure everything is alright."
The other voice grumbles, but doesn't protest further. Mom bounces you up and down a few more times, as if she's doing it just because she can, before resting you in the crook of her arm. "Go ahead," she prompts the other voice.
"Thank you for your permission," it- he- replies, voice dripping with sarcasm. You crane your neck around to see who's speaking as much as possible, but all you can see is another blurry shape standing in front of an enormous blurry shape. Is that the walls of Konoha? That'd make sense… damn, you hope your eyes hurry up and develop soon. "Could I see your papers please?"
There's a rustling sound as Mom digs around in a bag with her free hand and passes something to the other voice. The voice takes what she's offering and makes thoughtful sounds as they look it over. "Declare yourself," it orders.
Mom makes an exasperated noise. "It's right there on the papers. Can't you read?"
"Ma'am, I am just following procedure. Please declare yourself and any parties that are accompanying you."
You move up and down as Mom shrugs. "Satomura Manami," she sighs out. "No other people here, except for my son, Daisuke."
"Your reason for coming to Konohagakure?"
"We're moving here."
The gate guard- that's the only thing the other voice could be- makes a vague sound of agreement as he half listens to Mom and half peruses her papers. "Land of origin?"
Mom sighs again. What he's asking is clearly in front of him and it sounds like she wants nothing more than to remind him of that. But to her credit she does not. Instead, she inhales-
And two menus pop up in front of you.
Select your initial difficulty! (Please vote for all options individually. No plan voting.)
What is your Land of Origin?
[] [HOMELAND] Elsewhere in Fire Country (Very Easy)
[] [HOMELAND] Land of Rivers (Easy)
[] [HOMELAND] Land of Grass (Medium)
[] [HOMELAND] Land of Iron (Hard)
[] [HOMELAND] Land of Earth (Insane)
What is your reason for Immigration?
[] [REASON] Your Parents are skilled craftsmen who were recruited by Konoha. (Very Easy).
[] [REASON] You have family in the village, and you're coming to live with them. (Easy)
[] [REASON] There was a disaster at home, and you've been granted asylum. (Medium)
[] [REASON] Mom fell in love with a Konoha Shinobi and has come to live with them. (Hard)
[] [REASON] ??? (Insane)
YOU HAVE SELECTED 'New In Town'. PLEASE SELECT IT AGAIN TO CONFIRM-
Done and done.
As your finger leaves the button, you tense up for the next change. Every time you hit one of these buttons, the entire world around you warps and twists into something even more bizarre. In the last… however long it's been, you've gone from scoreboard to empty void to looking over a continent like a god to floating in the middle of the village. You can only imagine what it's going to be like when you're actually sent into your character. Maybe everything will blur even more? Or will you get a zooming effect as you pop into your character? Or will everything fade out and-
The wheels beneath you hit a divot in the road, jerking you out of your thoughts.
Your head snaps around. The hell just happened?! The fuzzy Konoha you stood in is gone. Now, you can barely see anything. One either side of you is a dark wall that also stretches out above you. You can only see a little bit of the world outside your new confines- a sliver of blue sky and a blurry shape in front of you. New smells and sensations hit you in a wave. The odor of some kind of animal, the feeling of warm air on your face… after who knows how long in an empty void, it's surprising.
"The hell!" you call out.
At least, that's what you want to say. What comes out is more a "Waaaaah!"
You stop. Blink once. Twice. And try again. "What's happening?!" is what you think. But again, a raspy baby's cry comes from your mouth.
The blurry shape in front of you turns around and reaches for you. It's hands get closer, looming large in your vision. You flinch back as they reach for you. But the wall all around you extends there too- you can't get away! The giant's hands scoop you up and pull you forward. You try and scream, but only more cries come out.
The blurry shape doesn't do anything bad though. They certainly don't try to rip your bones out to make their bread like you were expecting. Instead, the shape pulls you close and cradles you against their shoulder. It starts making soothing noises, and you start rocking back and forth in their arms.
"Oh, it's okay!" a soothing woman's voice croons. "We're almost there. You've been being so good this entire trip! It'll all be over soon!" She keeps talking, her words trailing off into vaguely comforting gibberish.
Two thoughts click into place in your mind.
One: this blurry thing holding you is your Mother. You know that deep in your bones as one of the universal truths of the universe. The sky is blue. Water is wet. This woman is your Mother.
Two: you are a baby. Judging by how your eyes don't seem to be done developing quite yet and how hard it is to lift your head of Mom's shoulder, you can't be that old. Less than a year definitely.
"Rats."
"Goo ga bluh!"
"That's right sweetie! Just a few more minutes! Then we'll find you something to eat! I've got some peaches with your name on them!"
"Blurble!"
Another voice breaks into your conversation. "Ma'am?" it calls out in a bored monotone. "Today, please? You're holding up the line."
"It sounds like you've never had to handle a fussy child," Mom replies in the same soothing tone. "Your line has made me wait long enough; it can do some of it's own while I make sure everything is alright."
The other voice grumbles, but doesn't protest further. Mom bounces you up and down a few more times, as if she's doing it just because she can, before resting you in the crook of her arm. "Go ahead," she prompts the other voice.
"Thank you for your permission," it- he- replies, voice dripping with sarcasm. You crane your neck around to see who's speaking as much as possible, but all you can see is another blurry shape standing in front of an enormous blurry shape. Is that the walls of Konoha? That'd make sense… damn, you hope your eyes hurry up and develop soon. "Could I see your papers please?"
There's a rustling sound as Mom digs around in a bag with her free hand and passes something to the other voice. The voice takes what she's offering and makes thoughtful sounds as they look it over. "Declare yourself," it orders.
Mom makes an exasperated noise. "It's right there on the papers. Can't you read?"
"Ma'am, I am just following procedure. Please declare yourself and any parties that are accompanying you."
You move up and down as Mom shrugs. "Satomura Manami," she sighs out. "No other people here, except for my son, Daisuke."
"Your reason for coming to Konohagakure?"
"We're moving here."
The gate guard- that's the only thing the other voice could be- makes a vague sound of agreement as he half listens to Mom and half peruses her papers. "Land of origin?"
Mom sighs again. What he's asking is clearly in front of him and it sounds like she wants nothing more than to remind him of that. But to her credit she does not. Instead, she inhales-
And two menus pop up in front of you.
Select your initial difficulty! (Please vote for all options individually. No plan voting.)
What is your Land of Origin?
[] [HOMELAND] Elsewhere in Fire Country (Very Easy)
[] [HOMELAND] Land of Rivers (Easy)
[] [HOMELAND] Land of Grass (Medium)
[] [HOMELAND] Land of Iron (Hard)
[] [HOMELAND] Land of Earth (Insane)
What is your reason for Immigration?
[] [REASON] Your Parents are skilled craftsmen who were recruited by Konoha. (Very Easy).
[] [REASON] You have family in the village, and you're coming to live with them. (Easy)
[] [REASON] There was a disaster at home, and you've been granted asylum. (Medium)
[] [REASON] Mom fell in love with a Konoha Shinobi and has come to live with them. (Hard)
[] [REASON] ??? (Insane)
4. Satomura Daisuke
Vesvius
The Wicked God
"The Land of Iron," Mom replies slowly, with the air of someone long suffering.
The guard doesn't pay her attitude any attention. "Reason for immigration?" he asks.
From the way you feel yourself rise up slightly as Mom takes in the question, you're pretty sure she's just puffed herself up. "I hardly see how that's any of your business," she spits out. "All my paperwork is in order and has been cleared and approved by people far above your pay grade."
"Ma'am, these are routine questions that I have to ask anyone," the guard replies in the exact same tone he's been using. "I'm not seeing a reason for your emigration from the Land of Iron on these papers, and while I do see you have clearance from the border outposts, you'll need to-"
Mom makes a noise that's low and threatening, and the guard stops talking instantly. The air around you changes. Before it was laid back and boring, now it's tense and full of danger. Something is happening around you, and you can't see it.
"Sir," Mom utters. From her tone, she might as well have called him a worthless maggot. "I understand that people in menial positions such as yourself enjoy exercising whatever power you can. No doubt you had larger dreams that were ended when you offended one of your superiors or proved that your skills had reached their ceiling, and now you have to make us all feel your pain. I respect that, and in other circumstances I would no doubt applaud your goonery."
"But I have had enough. You have your answers. You have your paperwork. Either stamp it and stand aside or turn us away- and face the consequences."
Whatever the consequences are go unsaid, lingering in the air like the smell of donkeys and feeling of danger before them. But whatever they may be the reminder of them is enough to for the guard. There's some shuffling sounds, a stamp is applied, and the guard hands the paper back to Mom. "Welcome to Konohagakure," he grates out between clenched teeth. "May your new life here be pleasant and trouble free."
You don't like the way he stresses that last part and try to say as much. "Goo ga rumba!" you call loudly.
Mom sniffs, though in response to the guard or your well chosen words you're not certain. But whatever the case, she takes back her papers and nods to someone at her side. There's a crack of the reins and the cart below you wheels into motion. You pass through the giant blurry thing that you're sure is a gate in a wall and into Konoha proper.
The first thing that hits you as you emerge onto the streets of the village is the smell. Outside the walls, the smells were pretty normal. There was greenery, animal scents, and the ever present smell of people that pops up whenever a bunch of them gather. But inside the village, everything just seems… more. There are more of them, and different kinds. They're more potent, and they last longer. They're so strong that just a whiff of someone's wood smoke causes you to sneeze, and sneeze again.
Mom produces a cloth from somewhere and rubs it against your nose. But she's barely done before you're sneezing rapid fire, like a machine gun, as if your nose is trying to fight off a foreign invader. Mom wipes you again and looks over at whoever's driving the cart. "Is this normal?" she asks, a note of concern in her voice.
"Yes'm," he drawls back. The voice is distinctly different from Mom's. Where her words are sharp and precise and tend to stress the vowels, his are more like the guard's; laid back and drawn out. He's likely a native of, if not Konoha, at least the Land of Fire. "It's all that energy in the air. Really makes the senses go crazy. He'll get used to it quickly."
The driver isn't wrong- it's not just your sense of smell that seems stronger. The blanket you're swaddled with seems heavier and itchier, your tiny hat is practically molded to your scalp, Mom's skin somehow feels more real than anything you've touched before, in this life or…
Or…
Ok, this is troubling.
You know what's going on. You can still remember everything, from getting hit by the bus to standing in the void. But before that? Your parents? Your family? It's all fuzzy; like you were there for all those moments, but they happened to someone else.
The realization bothers you. Your parents weren't perfect, but fuck, they were your parents, and you loved them. And there was all your schooling, your friends, all the stupid video games you wasted a life playing? All more distant than before. Already you struggle to remember the fine details that once came readily. At this rate, it won't be long before all specifics are lost to you.
Your thoughts distract you as the driver takes you and Mom through the streets of Konoha. Before you know it, the cart is stopping. "Ma'am," the driver says, "if you would like to go ahead and alert the gentleman that we've arrived, I'll start unpacking your belongings."
"Thank you," Mom allows. "I shall." She hops down from the cart, pauses for a moment to stretch out her back, and takes the two of you to your destination. Which is… a house. You think. Fuck dammit, you want to be able to see right!
The finer points of what you're going to guess is your new home might escape you, but what does not is when Mom finds the 'gentleman' that the driver spoke of. You hear him arrive with a heavy set of footsteps, but more than that, you feel Mom stiffen beneath your head. You twist around as best you can to take a look at the newcomer, but she holds you still.
"We have arrived," Mom says without preamble.
"I've noticed," the newcomer replies. His voice carries the same Land of Iron accent as Mom's does. "Was there any unexpected difficulty to your journey?"
Mom shakes her head. "Just a particularly persistent gate guard."
The newcomer doesn't sigh, but his voice is frustrated when he speaks again. "What did you say to him, Manami?"
Again, Mom puffs up. "You do not have the right to address me by my-"
"I do," the man says, voice low. "I can call you by your given name. It might be rude, Manami, but I have the right. As does everyone else you meet. You had best become accustomed to this new reality quickly, lest you break the terms of your agreement."
"I-"
"Now by your leave, Manami, I must go soothe whatever feathers you ruffled in your attempt to assert yourself above your station. I suggest you make yourself at home."
His footsteps signal his exit. Mom waits for a long moment, as if to make sure he's really gone, before dropping into a chair. She holds you up in front of her, and for the first time you see her clearly. Mom is a beautiful woman. Fine features, long, well-maintained hair, just a dusting of makeup. But more than that, looking at her, you feel a deep contentment settle over you. This is Mom. She'll take care of you.
...is that a feeling the Game is putting in you? Or is this just something new from being stuck in a baby? Is-
You're broken from your burgeoning existential crisis by Mom placing a gentle kiss on your forehead. She smiles warmly at you as she looks you over again. "It was worth it," she says with the air of a mantra oft repeated. "It was all worth it for you, Daisuke. There was no amount of comfort, no amount of riches, that would make me regret my decision, my little gleam, because my decision brought me you."
"Gurgle!" you proclaim.
"That's right!" she chirps. "We may not have your father, and we may not have his palace or servants, and we may have to deal with that brute for only the gods know how long. But it was worth it."
You want to say something reassuring, because Mom certainly looks like she needs it. But your eyelids are growing heavy and a yawn escapes your tiny mouth. Mom giggles and cradles you once more. "Tired, Daisuke? Then sleep. We're in our new home now. Sleep without worry."
She begins to rock you back and forth, strengthening your drowsiness even further. As she does, she begins to sing in in a low, soothing voice.
"Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles await you when you rise.
Sleep my prince and do not cry,
I will sing you a lullaby."
With her words ringing in your ears, sleep overcomes you, and the blackness of unconsciousness reaches up for you-
Only to be interrupted by a prompt.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY THE LEVEL 'Daisuke's Childhood (Land of Iron Bastard Tutorial)'?
[] Yes. You'll play the Tutorial and try to get your feet under you.
[] No. You'll skip the tutorial and go right to the good part.
The guard doesn't pay her attitude any attention. "Reason for immigration?" he asks.
From the way you feel yourself rise up slightly as Mom takes in the question, you're pretty sure she's just puffed herself up. "I hardly see how that's any of your business," she spits out. "All my paperwork is in order and has been cleared and approved by people far above your pay grade."
"Ma'am, these are routine questions that I have to ask anyone," the guard replies in the exact same tone he's been using. "I'm not seeing a reason for your emigration from the Land of Iron on these papers, and while I do see you have clearance from the border outposts, you'll need to-"
Mom makes a noise that's low and threatening, and the guard stops talking instantly. The air around you changes. Before it was laid back and boring, now it's tense and full of danger. Something is happening around you, and you can't see it.
"Sir," Mom utters. From her tone, she might as well have called him a worthless maggot. "I understand that people in menial positions such as yourself enjoy exercising whatever power you can. No doubt you had larger dreams that were ended when you offended one of your superiors or proved that your skills had reached their ceiling, and now you have to make us all feel your pain. I respect that, and in other circumstances I would no doubt applaud your goonery."
"But I have had enough. You have your answers. You have your paperwork. Either stamp it and stand aside or turn us away- and face the consequences."
Whatever the consequences are go unsaid, lingering in the air like the smell of donkeys and feeling of danger before them. But whatever they may be the reminder of them is enough to for the guard. There's some shuffling sounds, a stamp is applied, and the guard hands the paper back to Mom. "Welcome to Konohagakure," he grates out between clenched teeth. "May your new life here be pleasant and trouble free."
You don't like the way he stresses that last part and try to say as much. "Goo ga rumba!" you call loudly.
Mom sniffs, though in response to the guard or your well chosen words you're not certain. But whatever the case, she takes back her papers and nods to someone at her side. There's a crack of the reins and the cart below you wheels into motion. You pass through the giant blurry thing that you're sure is a gate in a wall and into Konoha proper.
The first thing that hits you as you emerge onto the streets of the village is the smell. Outside the walls, the smells were pretty normal. There was greenery, animal scents, and the ever present smell of people that pops up whenever a bunch of them gather. But inside the village, everything just seems… more. There are more of them, and different kinds. They're more potent, and they last longer. They're so strong that just a whiff of someone's wood smoke causes you to sneeze, and sneeze again.
Mom produces a cloth from somewhere and rubs it against your nose. But she's barely done before you're sneezing rapid fire, like a machine gun, as if your nose is trying to fight off a foreign invader. Mom wipes you again and looks over at whoever's driving the cart. "Is this normal?" she asks, a note of concern in her voice.
"Yes'm," he drawls back. The voice is distinctly different from Mom's. Where her words are sharp and precise and tend to stress the vowels, his are more like the guard's; laid back and drawn out. He's likely a native of, if not Konoha, at least the Land of Fire. "It's all that energy in the air. Really makes the senses go crazy. He'll get used to it quickly."
The driver isn't wrong- it's not just your sense of smell that seems stronger. The blanket you're swaddled with seems heavier and itchier, your tiny hat is practically molded to your scalp, Mom's skin somehow feels more real than anything you've touched before, in this life or…
Or…
Ok, this is troubling.
You know what's going on. You can still remember everything, from getting hit by the bus to standing in the void. But before that? Your parents? Your family? It's all fuzzy; like you were there for all those moments, but they happened to someone else.
The realization bothers you. Your parents weren't perfect, but fuck, they were your parents, and you loved them. And there was all your schooling, your friends, all the stupid video games you wasted a life playing? All more distant than before. Already you struggle to remember the fine details that once came readily. At this rate, it won't be long before all specifics are lost to you.
Your thoughts distract you as the driver takes you and Mom through the streets of Konoha. Before you know it, the cart is stopping. "Ma'am," the driver says, "if you would like to go ahead and alert the gentleman that we've arrived, I'll start unpacking your belongings."
"Thank you," Mom allows. "I shall." She hops down from the cart, pauses for a moment to stretch out her back, and takes the two of you to your destination. Which is… a house. You think. Fuck dammit, you want to be able to see right!
The finer points of what you're going to guess is your new home might escape you, but what does not is when Mom finds the 'gentleman' that the driver spoke of. You hear him arrive with a heavy set of footsteps, but more than that, you feel Mom stiffen beneath your head. You twist around as best you can to take a look at the newcomer, but she holds you still.
"We have arrived," Mom says without preamble.
"I've noticed," the newcomer replies. His voice carries the same Land of Iron accent as Mom's does. "Was there any unexpected difficulty to your journey?"
Mom shakes her head. "Just a particularly persistent gate guard."
The newcomer doesn't sigh, but his voice is frustrated when he speaks again. "What did you say to him, Manami?"
Again, Mom puffs up. "You do not have the right to address me by my-"
"I do," the man says, voice low. "I can call you by your given name. It might be rude, Manami, but I have the right. As does everyone else you meet. You had best become accustomed to this new reality quickly, lest you break the terms of your agreement."
"I-"
"Now by your leave, Manami, I must go soothe whatever feathers you ruffled in your attempt to assert yourself above your station. I suggest you make yourself at home."
His footsteps signal his exit. Mom waits for a long moment, as if to make sure he's really gone, before dropping into a chair. She holds you up in front of her, and for the first time you see her clearly. Mom is a beautiful woman. Fine features, long, well-maintained hair, just a dusting of makeup. But more than that, looking at her, you feel a deep contentment settle over you. This is Mom. She'll take care of you.
...is that a feeling the Game is putting in you? Or is this just something new from being stuck in a baby? Is-
You're broken from your burgeoning existential crisis by Mom placing a gentle kiss on your forehead. She smiles warmly at you as she looks you over again. "It was worth it," she says with the air of a mantra oft repeated. "It was all worth it for you, Daisuke. There was no amount of comfort, no amount of riches, that would make me regret my decision, my little gleam, because my decision brought me you."
"Gurgle!" you proclaim.
"That's right!" she chirps. "We may not have your father, and we may not have his palace or servants, and we may have to deal with that brute for only the gods know how long. But it was worth it."
You want to say something reassuring, because Mom certainly looks like she needs it. But your eyelids are growing heavy and a yawn escapes your tiny mouth. Mom giggles and cradles you once more. "Tired, Daisuke? Then sleep. We're in our new home now. Sleep without worry."
She begins to rock you back and forth, strengthening your drowsiness even further. As she does, she begins to sing in in a low, soothing voice.
"Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles await you when you rise.
Sleep my prince and do not cry,
I will sing you a lullaby."
With her words ringing in your ears, sleep overcomes you, and the blackness of unconsciousness reaches up for you-
Only to be interrupted by a prompt.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY THE LEVEL 'Daisuke's Childhood (Land of Iron Bastard Tutorial)'?
[] Yes. You'll play the Tutorial and try to get your feet under you.
[] No. You'll skip the tutorial and go right to the good part.
Last edited:
5. Tutorial: START!
Vesvius
The Wicked God
You've been thrown into a world that was only fiction in your last life. You're living in a village chock full of ninjas who, if you're remembering things right, can raise the dead and destroy cities with hand-mouths. And to top it all off: you are a baby.
Yeah, you think playing through the tutorial is a good move. You reach out with your tiny, chubby hands and press the 'Yes' button beneath the prompt. The golden letters promptly disappear, leaving you with only the sight of the inside of your eyelids for moments before you drop deep into proper sleep.
The next morning, you wake to find yourself no longer being cradled by Mom. Instead, you're in a crib. It's quite the crib honestly; the bars are painted to look like swords and the headboard is painted with some kind of mural that you have to imagine is impressive. But it's still a crib. A tiny baby jail. You want out of this thing.
But there's nothing you can do to get out- fuck, rolling over is a struggle for your undeveloped limbs. Grasping the bars is easy but doing anything else is impossible. So with no other option, you take a deep breath and let out a mighty wail-
Only to stop as tiny bars appear in the corner of your vision. Lots of tiny bars. Frankly, an insane amount of tiny bars. You can't count how many there are. The hell?
As if in answer to your question, large letters begin to scroll in front of you once more.
One of the bars flash. It's a tiny blue one that's dropping as you look at it. At the rate it's going, it won't be long until it vanishes completely.
Another, larger bar pulses. This one is dropping much slower.
"I know how to eat!" you try to yell. And though only gurgles and gaa's escape your mouth, the tutorial seems to get your meaning. The scrawl hurries through it's explanation on what food is and how to consume it in a fraction of a second.
The scrawl vanishes, and in it's place appears what looks like a small paper scroll. It's only in your mind though; a quick flail through the space it appears to be occupying reveals nothing but air. But touching it has a side-effect. As your fingers pass through it, the scroll unfurls with a small jangling noise. You read the revealed text quickly.
...did the universe just give you a quest to fucking eat? The hell even is this game?!
Once you get over your surprise at the hell is happening, the quest is easy enough to complete. A loud wail alerts Mom that you're awake, and she bustles in with a jar full of something that smells kind of like peaches. It only takes half the jar for your stomach to stop it's annoying growling and your hunger motive to climb to it's ceiling.
There's a sound like a chorus of trumpets in your ear as you down the last mouthful.
The new tab is glowing. You tap it, revealing the scroll for the eating quest. Only now it's marked 'COMPLETE'.
QUESTS OF ALL STATUSES (ACTIVE, COMPLETED, FAILED) MAY BE REVIEWED BY ACCESSING YOUR JOURNAL.
...you have a journal?
***
As it turns out, yes, you do have a journal, one that appears if you think 'journal' really loudly. It has a whole variety of things, ranging from your stats (all terrible right now) to your quests to brief summations of important events. But the discovery of the journal isn't the biggest thing to you; no, it's the discovery that thinking things loudly can bring up different screens.
Your favorite so far is the 'settings' screen, which you immediately use to shift your motives from 'always appear' to 'only negative appear', reducing the amount of dancing light in the corner of your eye. Prompts are turned from visual to verbal, so you don't have to read giant text blocks anymore, instead hearing them whispered in your ear. And 'interface' is shifted from 'touch' to 'thought'- no more pressing invisible buttons for you anymore!
The next screen you try to pull up is 'pause'. When you activate that one, a menu pops up in front of you, listing each of the other major screens you can bring up. But to your surprise, the world doesn't freeze around you. Which seems odd. Isn't the point of a pause screen to, you know, pause the game?
"'Elemental' is an open-world RPG," the tutorial whispers, "that functions in real time to prevent interruption."
You try to ask it for more information, but it only repeats the same sentence over and over again. In the end, you have no choice but to accept it. No time freezing for you.
Experimenting with the game's functions is tiring work. You do it until dusk, when Mom puts you down to sleep again, and then again the next day. Days pass as you become more accustomed to living in this world and dealing with your body. Days turn into weeks, which turn into a month.
Over the course of the month, you're not idle. You can't seem to walk but crawling is no big deal, and you use your tiny legs to motor you around your hours like a swaddled dynamo. It really lets you get a feel for your new home. It's a large place; definitely larger than your old apartment. It has two floors, large rooms, and feels entirely too big for just the three of you living there. Maybe it will feel more comfortable as you grow into it.
Your explorations also take you into the path of the house's third occupant. You get your first good look at him a few weeks after your game start, as your eyes have finally started to focus. He's a burly man, short and squat with his arms thick with muscle. His eyebrows are heavy and dominate his face, merging into one monstrosity that make him look like some kind of simpleton. But you'd guess from the watchful ways his eyes dart around the house at all times and the way he speaks with Mom that that impression couldn't be further from the truth.
It's during one of those conversations with Mom that you finally learn his name: Tokei. You're not sure if that's his first name or family name; from the way Mom growls it when he's not around, it could be either.
He and Mom don't exactly seem to get along. It's an impression that's verified by another one of your screens: relationships. Pulling that one up produces a large open screen with a tiny web chart in the middle of it. His arrow towards Mom is 'watchful disdain'. Mom's toward him is 'scorn'.
You can also pull up another tab on your relationships screen: people's feelings towards you. Mom is 'loving devotion'. Reading that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Meanwhile, Tokei's is 'watchful disdain', same as his towards your Mom's. What's his deal?
After your discoveries in the relationship screen, you're eager to explore more and learn more about what you can do. But you're cut off the next morning. Instead of the usual peace and quiet you have on waking, you're interrupted by a trio of scroll appearing in your vision. They all unfurl into new quests.
...huh.
Well, you're going to do all of these quests. Not being able to talk, read, or walk would be hell. But it looks like there are bonuses for each of them that you only get if you do them first. Which means you should probably focus on one for now.
Which of your three new quests do you focus on?
[] These Feet are Made for Walking
[] Silence is Golden but Talking is Priceless
[] The Art of the Word
Yeah, you think playing through the tutorial is a good move. You reach out with your tiny, chubby hands and press the 'Yes' button beneath the prompt. The golden letters promptly disappear, leaving you with only the sight of the inside of your eyelids for moments before you drop deep into proper sleep.
The next morning, you wake to find yourself no longer being cradled by Mom. Instead, you're in a crib. It's quite the crib honestly; the bars are painted to look like swords and the headboard is painted with some kind of mural that you have to imagine is impressive. But it's still a crib. A tiny baby jail. You want out of this thing.
But there's nothing you can do to get out- fuck, rolling over is a struggle for your undeveloped limbs. Grasping the bars is easy but doing anything else is impossible. So with no other option, you take a deep breath and let out a mighty wail-
Only to stop as tiny bars appear in the corner of your vision. Lots of tiny bars. Frankly, an insane amount of tiny bars. You can't count how many there are. The hell?
As if in answer to your question, large letters begin to scroll in front of you once more.
WELCOME TO 'Elemental', THE GAME OF SHINOBI. SHINOBI IS AN OPEN WORLD RPG WHERE YOUR ONLY LIMITS ARE YOUR IMAGINATION. BUT EVEN A MIGHTY SHINOBI, WARRIOR, OR SPICE MERCHANT MUST START SOMEWHERE- WELCOME TO THAT SOMEWHERE.
YOU ARE CURRENTLY A BABY AGED 'Seven Months'. FOR NOW, YOUR OPTIONS ARE LIMITED. YOUR OPTIONS WILL GREATLY EXPAND WHEN YOU REACH THE END OF THIS TUTORIAL.
FOR NOW, LET US INTRODUCE SOME BASIC FEATURES.
YOU WILL HAVE NOTICED THAT IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT OF YOUR VISION, YOU HAVE GAINED ACCESS TO YOUR MOTIVES BAR. MOTIVES ARE YOUR BASIC PHYSICAL AND MENTAL NEEDS. THEY RANGE FROM HUNGER-
YOU ARE CURRENTLY A BABY AGED 'Seven Months'. FOR NOW, YOUR OPTIONS ARE LIMITED. YOUR OPTIONS WILL GREATLY EXPAND WHEN YOU REACH THE END OF THIS TUTORIAL.
FOR NOW, LET US INTRODUCE SOME BASIC FEATURES.
YOU WILL HAVE NOTICED THAT IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT OF YOUR VISION, YOU HAVE GAINED ACCESS TO YOUR MOTIVES BAR. MOTIVES ARE YOUR BASIC PHYSICAL AND MENTAL NEEDS. THEY RANGE FROM HUNGER-
One of the bars flash. It's a tiny blue one that's dropping as you look at it. At the rate it's going, it won't be long until it vanishes completely.
-TO ENERGY-
Another, larger bar pulses. This one is dropping much slower.
-TO MANY MORE. PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR MOTIVES. SOME MAY BE EXPENDED WITHOUT PENALTY, BUT SHOULD ANY OF THE MAJOR ONES EMPTY FOR A PROLONGED PERIOD OF TIME, THE CONSEQUENCES ON YOUR HEALTH CAN PROVE DIRE.
FOR NOW, LET US DEAL WITH YOUR HUNGER MOTIVE. HUNGER MAY BE SATIATED BY-
FOR NOW, LET US DEAL WITH YOUR HUNGER MOTIVE. HUNGER MAY BE SATIATED BY-
"I know how to eat!" you try to yell. And though only gurgles and gaa's escape your mouth, the tutorial seems to get your meaning. The scrawl hurries through it's explanation on what food is and how to consume it in a fraction of a second.
NOW, IT IS TIME TO FULFILL THAT MOTIVE.
The scrawl vanishes, and in it's place appears what looks like a small paper scroll. It's only in your mind though; a quick flail through the space it appears to be occupying reveals nothing but air. But touching it has a side-effect. As your fingers pass through it, the scroll unfurls with a small jangling noise. You read the revealed text quickly.
Quest Acquired! Hungry Like The Wolf!
Your hunger motive is getting dangerously low. You should get that taken care of as soon as possible.
Success Condition: Hunger Motive = 100%
On Success: You will have learned how to eat!
On Failure: You will be dead.
The scroll vanishes as soon as you're done reading it. A small chime sounds in your ear and a new tab warps into existence in the corner of your vision opposite your motives. You move to touch it, but before you do, the text scrawl begins again.Your hunger motive is getting dangerously low. You should get that taken care of as soon as possible.
Success Condition: Hunger Motive = 100%
On Success: You will have learned how to eat!
On Failure: You will be dead.
YOU HAVE JUST RECEIVED YOUR FIRST QUEST! QUESTS ARE THE PRIMARY WAY OF GAINING PROGRESSING IN 'Elemental'. THEY MAY BE ACQUIRED WHEN YOUR MOTIVES REACH CERTAIN THRESHOLDS, FROM VARIOUS CHARACTERS AROUND YOU, OR IN ANY NUMBER OF OTHER WAYS.
QUESTS MAY REWARD YOU WITH SEVERAL BENEFITS. THE FIRST IS EXPERIENCE, WHICH WE'LL TALK ABOUT IN A FEW MOMENTS. THEY MAY ALSO REWARD YOU WITH CURRENCY, RARE ITEMS, NEW ABILITIES, AND THE MOST CHALLENGING QUESTS MAY EVEN AWARD YOU ACHIEVEMENTS THAT WILL UNLOCK SPECIAL BENEFITS. EACH OF THESE REWARDS WILL BE EXPLAINED AS YOU ATTAIN THEM.
FOR NOW, ATTEMPT TO COMPLETE YOUR FIRST QUEST.
QUESTS MAY REWARD YOU WITH SEVERAL BENEFITS. THE FIRST IS EXPERIENCE, WHICH WE'LL TALK ABOUT IN A FEW MOMENTS. THEY MAY ALSO REWARD YOU WITH CURRENCY, RARE ITEMS, NEW ABILITIES, AND THE MOST CHALLENGING QUESTS MAY EVEN AWARD YOU ACHIEVEMENTS THAT WILL UNLOCK SPECIAL BENEFITS. EACH OF THESE REWARDS WILL BE EXPLAINED AS YOU ATTAIN THEM.
FOR NOW, ATTEMPT TO COMPLETE YOUR FIRST QUEST.
...did the universe just give you a quest to fucking eat? The hell even is this game?!
Once you get over your surprise at the hell is happening, the quest is easy enough to complete. A loud wail alerts Mom that you're awake, and she bustles in with a jar full of something that smells kind of like peaches. It only takes half the jar for your stomach to stop it's annoying growling and your hunger motive to climb to it's ceiling.
There's a sound like a chorus of trumpets in your ear as you down the last mouthful.
YOU HAVE COMPLETED A QUEST!
The new tab is glowing. You tap it, revealing the scroll for the eating quest. Only now it's marked 'COMPLETE'.
QUESTS OF ALL STATUSES (ACTIVE, COMPLETED, FAILED) MAY BE REVIEWED BY ACCESSING YOUR JOURNAL.
...you have a journal?
***
As it turns out, yes, you do have a journal, one that appears if you think 'journal' really loudly. It has a whole variety of things, ranging from your stats (all terrible right now) to your quests to brief summations of important events. But the discovery of the journal isn't the biggest thing to you; no, it's the discovery that thinking things loudly can bring up different screens.
Your favorite so far is the 'settings' screen, which you immediately use to shift your motives from 'always appear' to 'only negative appear', reducing the amount of dancing light in the corner of your eye. Prompts are turned from visual to verbal, so you don't have to read giant text blocks anymore, instead hearing them whispered in your ear. And 'interface' is shifted from 'touch' to 'thought'- no more pressing invisible buttons for you anymore!
The next screen you try to pull up is 'pause'. When you activate that one, a menu pops up in front of you, listing each of the other major screens you can bring up. But to your surprise, the world doesn't freeze around you. Which seems odd. Isn't the point of a pause screen to, you know, pause the game?
"'Elemental' is an open-world RPG," the tutorial whispers, "that functions in real time to prevent interruption."
You try to ask it for more information, but it only repeats the same sentence over and over again. In the end, you have no choice but to accept it. No time freezing for you.
Experimenting with the game's functions is tiring work. You do it until dusk, when Mom puts you down to sleep again, and then again the next day. Days pass as you become more accustomed to living in this world and dealing with your body. Days turn into weeks, which turn into a month.
Over the course of the month, you're not idle. You can't seem to walk but crawling is no big deal, and you use your tiny legs to motor you around your hours like a swaddled dynamo. It really lets you get a feel for your new home. It's a large place; definitely larger than your old apartment. It has two floors, large rooms, and feels entirely too big for just the three of you living there. Maybe it will feel more comfortable as you grow into it.
Your explorations also take you into the path of the house's third occupant. You get your first good look at him a few weeks after your game start, as your eyes have finally started to focus. He's a burly man, short and squat with his arms thick with muscle. His eyebrows are heavy and dominate his face, merging into one monstrosity that make him look like some kind of simpleton. But you'd guess from the watchful ways his eyes dart around the house at all times and the way he speaks with Mom that that impression couldn't be further from the truth.
It's during one of those conversations with Mom that you finally learn his name: Tokei. You're not sure if that's his first name or family name; from the way Mom growls it when he's not around, it could be either.
He and Mom don't exactly seem to get along. It's an impression that's verified by another one of your screens: relationships. Pulling that one up produces a large open screen with a tiny web chart in the middle of it. His arrow towards Mom is 'watchful disdain'. Mom's toward him is 'scorn'.
You can also pull up another tab on your relationships screen: people's feelings towards you. Mom is 'loving devotion'. Reading that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Meanwhile, Tokei's is 'watchful disdain', same as his towards your Mom's. What's his deal?
After your discoveries in the relationship screen, you're eager to explore more and learn more about what you can do. But you're cut off the next morning. Instead of the usual peace and quiet you have on waking, you're interrupted by a trio of scroll appearing in your vision. They all unfurl into new quests.
Quest Acquired! These Feet are Made for Walking!
You've had enough of this whole crawling thing. You have two feet, you have two legs. It's time to use them as nature intended and get to walking!
Success Condition: Mastery of the Walking Skill
On Success: You will have learned to walk and will no longer have to crawl everywhere. Physical stats may be upgraded!
On Failure: This quest cannot be failed.
Bonus: Bonuses to physical stats! Relationship gain with Tokei! (may only be acquired by fulfilling this Quest before Silence is Golden but Talking is Priceless and The Art of the Word)
Quest Acquired! Silence is Golden but Talking is Priceless!
You can grunt and command people with goos and gaas, but Mom can get way more meaning across with a lot less effort. Talking… yeah, you've gotta get some of that!
Success Condition: Mastery of the Talking Skill
On Success: You will have learned how to talk! Gain language: Elemental (childish)
On Failure: This quest cannot be failed.
Bonus: Bonuses to social stats! Relationship gain with Satomura Manami! (may only be acquired by fulfilling this Quest before These Feet are Made for Walking and The Art of the Word)
Quest Acquired! The Art of the Word!
Mom stares at paper and learns something from it. Tokei stares at paper and learns something from it. Even you can get something from scrolls- in your head. But if you want to read in real life, you'll need to put in some work.
Success Condition: Mastery of the Reading Skill (Language: Elemental)
On Success: You will have learned how to read!
On Failure: This quest cannot be failed.
Bonus: Bonuses to intelligence stats! Reputation gain with the Konoha Public Library!(may only be acquired by fulfilling this Quest before These Feet are Made for Walking and Silence is Golden but Talking is Priceless.)
You've had enough of this whole crawling thing. You have two feet, you have two legs. It's time to use them as nature intended and get to walking!
Success Condition: Mastery of the Walking Skill
On Success: You will have learned to walk and will no longer have to crawl everywhere. Physical stats may be upgraded!
On Failure: This quest cannot be failed.
Bonus: Bonuses to physical stats! Relationship gain with Tokei! (may only be acquired by fulfilling this Quest before Silence is Golden but Talking is Priceless and The Art of the Word)
Quest Acquired! Silence is Golden but Talking is Priceless!
You can grunt and command people with goos and gaas, but Mom can get way more meaning across with a lot less effort. Talking… yeah, you've gotta get some of that!
Success Condition: Mastery of the Talking Skill
On Success: You will have learned how to talk! Gain language: Elemental (childish)
On Failure: This quest cannot be failed.
Bonus: Bonuses to social stats! Relationship gain with Satomura Manami! (may only be acquired by fulfilling this Quest before These Feet are Made for Walking and The Art of the Word)
Quest Acquired! The Art of the Word!
Mom stares at paper and learns something from it. Tokei stares at paper and learns something from it. Even you can get something from scrolls- in your head. But if you want to read in real life, you'll need to put in some work.
Success Condition: Mastery of the Reading Skill (Language: Elemental)
On Success: You will have learned how to read!
On Failure: This quest cannot be failed.
Bonus: Bonuses to intelligence stats! Reputation gain with the Konoha Public Library!(may only be acquired by fulfilling this Quest before These Feet are Made for Walking and Silence is Golden but Talking is Priceless.)
...huh.
Well, you're going to do all of these quests. Not being able to talk, read, or walk would be hell. But it looks like there are bonuses for each of them that you only get if you do them first. Which means you should probably focus on one for now.
Which of your three new quests do you focus on?
[] These Feet are Made for Walking
[] Silence is Golden but Talking is Priceless
[] The Art of the Word
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6. Overwhelming Presence
Vesvius
The Wicked God
It only takes you a few moments to make up your mind. Talking is wonderful and you're going to have to get on that soon, but it can wait. You're only… seven months old, according to your journal. Same with reading. Reading without talking would be a little strange honestly. But walking? There's a whole bunch of stuff you can do once you remaster the art of walking. You can get to things on higher shelves. You can move without scraping through your comfortable footie pajamas. You can finally climb the stairs!
Yeah, walking can't wait. You decide to put all your time and focus behind relearning how to walk. It is… not as easy as you expected.
For one thing, there's standing upright. Your tiny body isn't used to the routine move, and at first every attempt you make to force yourself up on your legs winds with you falling over on your ass- hilariously, if Mom's stifled giggles and Tokei's twitching mouth are anything to go by. But that doesn't stop you. You force yourself to your feet over and over, using walls to keep you upright when you can. Within days of receiving your quests, you're able to stand proudly on your own two feet.
But even after you're able to stand your trials aren't over quite yet. Standing up on its own is useless; you actually have to figure out how to take a step. Again, it's harder than it should be. You know how to do it in theory- you even have increasingly vague memories of doing it before- but putting that knowledge into practice is a bumpy process. You fall over time and time again as you struggle to put one foot in front of the other.
Compounding the difficulty is your own tiny baby stamina. You can't be awake for more than a couple of hours without feeling drowsy and needing a nap, or getting cranky and needing something to eat. Multiple time you're stopped from taking that next big leap in walking by the urge to curl up in Mom's lap and let yourself drowse.
As the days pass though, the urge gets weaker and weaker. And on the three week anniversary of getting the quest, you're able to take your first tentative steps in your new body.
Just because you can take a few steps doesn't mean you've mastered it though. You need to be able to do more than a few before falling over, and rely more on your own muscles than momentum. You start setting yourself little goalpoints that you have to walk to. From the stairs to the family room. From the comfortable couch to the little go board set up near the front awning. From the kitchen to wherever Mom happens to be.
And then finally, you go an entire day on your feet without falling down once. The bugles sound in your ears.
The suddenness of the prompt almost knocks you over. Only a nearby Tokei putting a steadying hand on your shoulder keeps you upright. You glance up at him, confused. The man's barely interacted with you at all since you met him. The closest he's come to it before right now is not-laughing at your failures. Catching you is a touch out of character for him.
Wait. Didn't the quest reward for 'These Feet Are Made For Walking' promise a relationship boost with Tokei?
You hurriedly pull up your journal and consult your relationship web. Sure enough, the line leading from Tokei to you has changed from 'watchful disdain' to 'amused disdain/bare tolerance'.
...huh. That's not a huge change. But you'll take it.
The other interesting part is the quest reward: a boost to your physical attributes and the ability to upgrade them further- once you figure out how to do that, of course. A glance at your journal shows that indeed, your physical attributes have climbed to the enormous level of… two. Your others remain at one.
You wonder if that's good. What's the ceiling on these attributes? Do they go up to ten? Twenty? Higher? And-
You want to puzzle over your attributes more. You want to figure out more about your character sheet in general. You want to learn why your skills are empty, what feats are, glance over the seemingly gargantuan achievement list, and do the dozens of other things that you're sure are going to get tutorialized soon.
But you can't.
Because at that instant, a presence presses down on you.
It is drives the air from your lungs simply by existing, sending you crumbling to the floor. It makes tears stream from your eyes, snot run from your nose, and your heart beat loudly in your ears. Your fingers claw at the hardwood below you as you scratch for something, anything to make it stop. It is overwhelming. It is horrifying. It is terror incarnate and it makes you want to swallow your own tongue.
You're barely able to turn your head towards the house's front. In the beautiful floor to ceiling windows, you see people panicking on the streets, running for their homes. Men and women dash every which way, trying to get away. A few, scarred and clad in green, run the other direction, towards what you can only assume is the source of the terror.
Off in the distance, you hear a bestial roar, and the sound of explosions. And in a part of your mind that is too terrified to be scared, you realize what is happening:
Kyuubi.
You don't know how long you lay on the floor, trembling, but it feels like an eternity. After who knows how long, Tokei finds you and scoops you up in arms that feel like they're made of iron. He carries you up the stairs in three large steps, depositing you on Mom's lap. Mom clutches you close, hugging you in a tight grip that's as much for her as it is for you.
Tokei doesn't move for a long moment. Finally, he nods deeply. "I must go assist," he gravels out. "As per Lord Imagawa's contract with Konoha."
Mom stiffens beneath you. "No," she commands. "You cannot. I know your orders, and you are directed to protect us first and foremost-"
"-and to aid the village against any threat that may also endanger the two of you. This certainly counts. I will lock the door behind me."
And that is the end of the discussion. Tokei turns and leaves, strapping a sword to his belt and slamming the door behind him in one fluid motion.
Mom doesn't let you go the entire night- and you're grateful for it. Your stomach, your sleep, your plans, they're all forgotten as Kyuubi's overwhelming aura pounds into the village like a cloud of noxious rage.
But hours and a year later, the aura cuts off, as if it was darkness that's been banished with the flick of a light switch. Mom finally lets you go, her arms turning boneless with the release of stress. It's over. Finally, blessedly over.
Tokei returns with the light of dawn. His armor is scarred, his face is soot-stained, and his eyebrows singed, but he is whole. And for some reason, though he's a hardass who doesn't like you or your mother for reasons you can only guess at, you're relieved.
With the Kyuubi attack over you had thought that everything would just proceed as normal; like a video game interrupted by a cut scene. Sure, after the scene is over you're pressed to deal with it immediately, but everyone knows you should look around the room first, eat some food, and break every pot in the area just in case. That's kind of what you expected. But no. The weirdness has only just begun.
The weirdness takes the form of a carriage that pulls up in front of your house days later. It is no simple traveler's vehicle like the wagon you and Mom rode in on; it's a thing of art. Every aspect of it, from the carpentry on the beams to the fabric of the canopy, is immaculate. Even the horses that pull it look practically royal, like creatures out of a fable.
Tokei takes one look at the carriage and drops to a knee. He doesn't rise until the door opens itself, revealing four armored samurai with faces of stone. They survey the entrance room as if it's going to attack them at any moment. When the blank walls and shoe racks do nothing outwardly hostile, one gives a nod and glances over his shoulder.
Two more people walk back into your home. One is a smaller woman, rounded around the stomach, with tiny glasses perched on her nose. Behind her fat and gray hair, her face is covered in smile lines, and she looks like she would be the greatest grandmother in the world. The other is a man, tall, handsome, with long hair held back via ornate combs. His face is angular, his features sharp, and his aura that of a man used to being obeyed.
It's not an impression that's broken by Tokei. Your… guardian?... doesn't move, but somehow manages to convey his kneeling directly at the man. The newcomer nods, and continues his surveillance. His eyes land on you and widen slightly.
"Is this," he asks, voice a rumbling baritone, "the child?"
Tokei nods instantly. "Yes, my lord. This is Manami's issue."
The newcomer's eyes fix on you. You get the sense that you are being studied and dissected, weighed and measured. "Does he speak yet?"
"No, my lord. He walks, but there is not speech yet."
A nod from the newcomer is the response. "Very well. Where is Manami?"
"She is taking her afternoon respite in one of the bedrooms on the upper story. I would be happy to guide you if you so-"
"Unnecessary," the man says. "Take the child from the house. We should not be more than a couple hours. Afterwards, you will return, and give me a full briefing."
"Yes sir," Tokei replies without a shred of hesitation. He reaches down and scoops you up again. "We will be on our way."
The old woman looks at the two of you. "Oh, I should come too!" she coos. "Babies are so cute!"
The man considers this for a second. "Very well. Take Umo with you. Give her a tour of what you can. I will send a runner to you when we are ready for you."
As the words leave his mouth, a scrawl begins to sound in your ears.
"In 'Elemental', there are some paths that are exclusive. It is impossible to see everything at once- taking some actions render others impossible to attain. These can lead to entire quest lines, relationships, or abilities being locked off. Please keep that in mind when making branching choices."
...the game wouldn't have said that right now, unless this was one of those choices.
What choice do you make?
[] Allow yourself to be taken by Tokei. You'll see parts of Konoha besides your house for the first time! Who knows what you'll run into!
[] Wriggle until you're free. You don't know who this guy is, but you'll be damned if you just leave him alone with Mom because he says so!
[] Write-In (Must be approved in thread by GM)
Yeah, walking can't wait. You decide to put all your time and focus behind relearning how to walk. It is… not as easy as you expected.
For one thing, there's standing upright. Your tiny body isn't used to the routine move, and at first every attempt you make to force yourself up on your legs winds with you falling over on your ass- hilariously, if Mom's stifled giggles and Tokei's twitching mouth are anything to go by. But that doesn't stop you. You force yourself to your feet over and over, using walls to keep you upright when you can. Within days of receiving your quests, you're able to stand proudly on your own two feet.
But even after you're able to stand your trials aren't over quite yet. Standing up on its own is useless; you actually have to figure out how to take a step. Again, it's harder than it should be. You know how to do it in theory- you even have increasingly vague memories of doing it before- but putting that knowledge into practice is a bumpy process. You fall over time and time again as you struggle to put one foot in front of the other.
Compounding the difficulty is your own tiny baby stamina. You can't be awake for more than a couple of hours without feeling drowsy and needing a nap, or getting cranky and needing something to eat. Multiple time you're stopped from taking that next big leap in walking by the urge to curl up in Mom's lap and let yourself drowse.
As the days pass though, the urge gets weaker and weaker. And on the three week anniversary of getting the quest, you're able to take your first tentative steps in your new body.
Just because you can take a few steps doesn't mean you've mastered it though. You need to be able to do more than a few before falling over, and rely more on your own muscles than momentum. You start setting yourself little goalpoints that you have to walk to. From the stairs to the family room. From the comfortable couch to the little go board set up near the front awning. From the kitchen to wherever Mom happens to be.
And then finally, you go an entire day on your feet without falling down once. The bugles sound in your ears.
YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE QUEST THESE FEET ARE MADE FOR WALKING! WALKING SKILL MASTERED! YOU MAY NOW UPGRADE YOUR PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES BY CONSULTING YOUR JOURNAL!
The suddenness of the prompt almost knocks you over. Only a nearby Tokei putting a steadying hand on your shoulder keeps you upright. You glance up at him, confused. The man's barely interacted with you at all since you met him. The closest he's come to it before right now is not-laughing at your failures. Catching you is a touch out of character for him.
Wait. Didn't the quest reward for 'These Feet Are Made For Walking' promise a relationship boost with Tokei?
You hurriedly pull up your journal and consult your relationship web. Sure enough, the line leading from Tokei to you has changed from 'watchful disdain' to 'amused disdain/bare tolerance'.
...huh. That's not a huge change. But you'll take it.
The other interesting part is the quest reward: a boost to your physical attributes and the ability to upgrade them further- once you figure out how to do that, of course. A glance at your journal shows that indeed, your physical attributes have climbed to the enormous level of… two. Your others remain at one.
You wonder if that's good. What's the ceiling on these attributes? Do they go up to ten? Twenty? Higher? And-
You want to puzzle over your attributes more. You want to figure out more about your character sheet in general. You want to learn why your skills are empty, what feats are, glance over the seemingly gargantuan achievement list, and do the dozens of other things that you're sure are going to get tutorialized soon.
But you can't.
Because at that instant, a presence presses down on you.
It is drives the air from your lungs simply by existing, sending you crumbling to the floor. It makes tears stream from your eyes, snot run from your nose, and your heart beat loudly in your ears. Your fingers claw at the hardwood below you as you scratch for something, anything to make it stop. It is overwhelming. It is horrifying. It is terror incarnate and it makes you want to swallow your own tongue.
You're barely able to turn your head towards the house's front. In the beautiful floor to ceiling windows, you see people panicking on the streets, running for their homes. Men and women dash every which way, trying to get away. A few, scarred and clad in green, run the other direction, towards what you can only assume is the source of the terror.
Off in the distance, you hear a bestial roar, and the sound of explosions. And in a part of your mind that is too terrified to be scared, you realize what is happening:
Kyuubi.
You don't know how long you lay on the floor, trembling, but it feels like an eternity. After who knows how long, Tokei finds you and scoops you up in arms that feel like they're made of iron. He carries you up the stairs in three large steps, depositing you on Mom's lap. Mom clutches you close, hugging you in a tight grip that's as much for her as it is for you.
Tokei doesn't move for a long moment. Finally, he nods deeply. "I must go assist," he gravels out. "As per Lord Imagawa's contract with Konoha."
Mom stiffens beneath you. "No," she commands. "You cannot. I know your orders, and you are directed to protect us first and foremost-"
"-and to aid the village against any threat that may also endanger the two of you. This certainly counts. I will lock the door behind me."
And that is the end of the discussion. Tokei turns and leaves, strapping a sword to his belt and slamming the door behind him in one fluid motion.
Mom doesn't let you go the entire night- and you're grateful for it. Your stomach, your sleep, your plans, they're all forgotten as Kyuubi's overwhelming aura pounds into the village like a cloud of noxious rage.
But hours and a year later, the aura cuts off, as if it was darkness that's been banished with the flick of a light switch. Mom finally lets you go, her arms turning boneless with the release of stress. It's over. Finally, blessedly over.
Tokei returns with the light of dawn. His armor is scarred, his face is soot-stained, and his eyebrows singed, but he is whole. And for some reason, though he's a hardass who doesn't like you or your mother for reasons you can only guess at, you're relieved.
With the Kyuubi attack over you had thought that everything would just proceed as normal; like a video game interrupted by a cut scene. Sure, after the scene is over you're pressed to deal with it immediately, but everyone knows you should look around the room first, eat some food, and break every pot in the area just in case. That's kind of what you expected. But no. The weirdness has only just begun.
The weirdness takes the form of a carriage that pulls up in front of your house days later. It is no simple traveler's vehicle like the wagon you and Mom rode in on; it's a thing of art. Every aspect of it, from the carpentry on the beams to the fabric of the canopy, is immaculate. Even the horses that pull it look practically royal, like creatures out of a fable.
Tokei takes one look at the carriage and drops to a knee. He doesn't rise until the door opens itself, revealing four armored samurai with faces of stone. They survey the entrance room as if it's going to attack them at any moment. When the blank walls and shoe racks do nothing outwardly hostile, one gives a nod and glances over his shoulder.
Two more people walk back into your home. One is a smaller woman, rounded around the stomach, with tiny glasses perched on her nose. Behind her fat and gray hair, her face is covered in smile lines, and she looks like she would be the greatest grandmother in the world. The other is a man, tall, handsome, with long hair held back via ornate combs. His face is angular, his features sharp, and his aura that of a man used to being obeyed.
It's not an impression that's broken by Tokei. Your… guardian?... doesn't move, but somehow manages to convey his kneeling directly at the man. The newcomer nods, and continues his surveillance. His eyes land on you and widen slightly.
"Is this," he asks, voice a rumbling baritone, "the child?"
Tokei nods instantly. "Yes, my lord. This is Manami's issue."
The newcomer's eyes fix on you. You get the sense that you are being studied and dissected, weighed and measured. "Does he speak yet?"
"No, my lord. He walks, but there is not speech yet."
A nod from the newcomer is the response. "Very well. Where is Manami?"
"She is taking her afternoon respite in one of the bedrooms on the upper story. I would be happy to guide you if you so-"
"Unnecessary," the man says. "Take the child from the house. We should not be more than a couple hours. Afterwards, you will return, and give me a full briefing."
"Yes sir," Tokei replies without a shred of hesitation. He reaches down and scoops you up again. "We will be on our way."
The old woman looks at the two of you. "Oh, I should come too!" she coos. "Babies are so cute!"
The man considers this for a second. "Very well. Take Umo with you. Give her a tour of what you can. I will send a runner to you when we are ready for you."
As the words leave his mouth, a scrawl begins to sound in your ears.
"In 'Elemental', there are some paths that are exclusive. It is impossible to see everything at once- taking some actions render others impossible to attain. These can lead to entire quest lines, relationships, or abilities being locked off. Please keep that in mind when making branching choices."
...the game wouldn't have said that right now, unless this was one of those choices.
What choice do you make?
[] Allow yourself to be taken by Tokei. You'll see parts of Konoha besides your house for the first time! Who knows what you'll run into!
[] Wriggle until you're free. You don't know who this guy is, but you'll be damned if you just leave him alone with Mom because he says so!
[] Write-In (Must be approved in thread by GM)
7. Walking Through The Rubble
Vesvius
The Wicked God
As Tokei holds you over his shoulder not unlike a sack of potatoes you have a long moment to make a choice. A few seconds where you could wriggle and act, attract attention, and see what would happen. Your thoughts race… and you decide to do nothing. It's not like you could really do anything after all; you're half a year old. So not making waves is probably the smart choice.
Tokei spins at the newcomers orders and nods at the old lady- Umo, you think it was- and marches out of the house like a soldier on parade. The samurai take up positions throughout your home, two by the door, two by the stairs. Your last view of the newcomer is him walking up the stairs- presumably towards Mom's room.
The front door closes behind you, letting you into the village outside your house for the first time since your arrival. Where before Konoha bustled with life and activity, it now feels like the husk of a once bustling metropolis. There's no one on the street in either direction whatsoever. Sounds of life persist, but you can't see what's causing them.
Even the air feels strange. While it isn't as heavy and infused with terror as it was during Kyuubi's attack some traces of the Bijuu's wrath linger. It's like a heavy blanket that's pushing down on you at all times.
One thing that hasn't changed is the energy that thrums in the air. It still heightens your senses just by stepping into it. And while you've grown more accustomed to it as the weeks have passed you're still not completely used to the way every smell is a dozen times sharper, from the smoke to the dust in the air. The way your eyes can pick out details that you never would have been able to before. From the way your ears hear a still crackling blaze somewhere in the distance and a woman letting out a squeal of delight from much closer.
Wait- you didn't need any help to hear that last one. You glance up to see both Tokei and Umo eyeing Mom's bedroom window. "Ah, puppy love," Umo muses fondly. "One day they'll out grow it, but it's good to see while it lasts, neh?"
Tokei doesn't seem to agree. He growls and puts you down, letting you walk on your own two feet while he holds you by the wrist. Your… guard?... starts down the street without another word, dragging you in his wake and forcing Umo to hustle to catch up.
The further you get from your home the more apparent the battle scars become. Here a broken down building, there a pile of stone that used to be a statue, over there a suspiciously dark stain that Tokei takes care to keep you away from. The foul energy grows stronger the more destruction there there is, making your senses go haywire.
You hack out a cough against the dark air, a wracking thing that feels like it's going to take your lungs with it. Umo eyes you steadily. "Is that normal?" she asks.
"He's still growing accustomed to the chakra rich air of the environment," Tokei growls out. "It is to be expected."
"That is all?" Umo presses. "No weak constitution? No health issues? I've read that an inferior immune system is not at all uncommon when a child is relocated so suddenly. And-"
"No," Tokei utters again. "He is growing more accustomed to it. That is all." The words are heavy and final sounding, like they're punctuating the end of a sentence that will accept nothing else after it. Umo certainly takes it as such; she drops the line of questioning entirely.
Instead she changes the subject by gesturing as the rubble you're walking around. "Were you here for this?" she asks.
Tokei shakes his head. "No. I was utilized differently. The Jonin Commander seemed eager to keep me out of direct confrontation with the beast. It was no surprise; my skill were not the proper fit for that kind of conflict."
"Oh? And how were you 'utilized'?"
"Primarily in evacuation and damage control," he continues. Your tiny legs, still not used to so much walking, start to flag. Tokei scoops you up absentmindedly and resumes carrying you half over his shoulder. "I was tasked with seeking out noncombatants who were unable or unwilling to flee their homes and removing them from the theatre."
"People were," Umo says slowly, "unwilling to leave their homes during the incident?"
"Some were. They tended to be those who had dwelled within the same walls for generations. I had several that believed that as long as they were within their walls, nothing would cause them harm, and still others who believed that if their home was destroyed that they should go with it. They were irritating, but provided no difficulty."
"Aside from that I put out fires, stopped unauthorized combatants from joining the fray, and made things as easy as I could for the shinobi who were doing battle."
Umo accepts the report with a dignified nod as she lifts the hem of her dress to keep it away from the dust. "Which reminds me… where are the Shinobi? From the tales in Inkuru, one should be able to walk through Konoha without stumbling into a dozen of them."
"Then the stories from the capital are correct," Tokei replies. "On a normal day I would expect to have already seen at least one Shinobi if not a gaggle of them. But as I'm certain you can understand, these are not normal days. You have, I presume, heard the stories of what happened to the Hokage?"
"Indeed. He used a forbidden technique to destroy the Bijuu if I recall, and paid for it with his own life."
Tokei snorts. "If that's all there is to the story then I will be quite surprised. But the one kernel of truth I'm sure is there is that the man is dead. A shame; he seemed quite personable the few times I had reason to meet with him. But with their leader deceased there is likely chaos in the shinobi ranks as his possible successors quibble over the seat. I suspect that those who aren't handling the damage directly in the streets are handling the void left in the bureaucracy as best they can. Those that are doing neither are likely abroad, projecting the village's strength as best they can."
Umo looks like she wants to ask more questions but stops short as the three of you pass another pair of people walking in the opposite direction. As you press on down the street, the air starts to lighten and the normal chakra gets thicker, holding back Kyuubi's remnants. People start to get more common; not as many as before, but more than the ghost town you were in before.
Your guard takes the opportunity to change the subject. "So, is there news from home?"
"Nothing pressing," the older woman answers. "Lady Imagawa is attempting to settle the court after the unpleasantness of last year. The rumors and gossip have been beyond imagination but she's finally grasping the reins. But I do bring word from your sister."
"Oh?" Tokei prompts delicately.
"She sends congratulations on your new posting even though she will miss you terribly. And she is pregnant with her third- if it is a boy, it will likely be named in your honor."
"She has given me more than enough honor," Tokei answers. "I need not the gesture."
"She suspected you would say as such, which is why she also told me to tell you, and I quote, 'It is done, and not up for debate'."
Tokei seems moved by the gesture. He doesn't talk for a long moment. Umo walks steadily by his side as he recollects himself, breaking the silence only to exchange pleasantries with other people on the side of the road. It takes minutes for him to be able to talk without his voice being choked up with pride. "That sounds like her."
"It should," Umo answer primly. "As I said, it was a direct quote. Now, enough of that. We've been walking for quite some time. That might be well for a strapping young warrior such as yourself but these weary bones require rest. Is there a place we could sit?"
"Of course." Tokei leads the way a few blocks further before turning. The buildings around you grow smaller, going from multiple story complexes to one floor dwellings before finally ceasing to exist entirely. A green, lush meadow takes their place, stretching out for at least a mile. Small benches dot it, on which people are sitting and relaxing.
Tokei leads you into it, and a gong sounds in your mind. The scrawl begins to sound in your ears. "You have discovered the Oasis: Three League Park! Oasis' are special areas that are scattered throughout 'Elemental'. Combat may not be initiated inside of an Oasis. Relationship changes within an Oasis are doubled. Experience gained within an Oasis is multiplied by 1.5. You may not enter an Oasis if you are already engaged in combat. This Oasis has been marked on your map!"
That certainly seems useful.
Tokei and Umo go straight for one of the benches, and the older woman settles herself down on the wood gratefully. You squirm a little and Tokei obligingly lets you down. You plop down and don't move as you take the Oasis in. The air in here feels different, welcoming, refreshing. You can see how it got it's name.
But you can't let your mind linger on that for now. Instead you let it linger on the mechanical explanation you just got. Lack of combat seems great, and so does boosted experience and relationship changes- but is that last one both positive and negative? You'd have to assume so.
You should test that out. There are people surrounding Umo's new resting spot, people you won't have to see every day. You should go up to one of them and introduce yourself as best you can. Make a new friend or enemy, and quickly; Umo won't want to rest here forever.
Please select the following in Plan Format!
Who do you go up to?
[] A pair of new mothers sitting with their strollers on a bench. From the markings that covers the strollers, you'd guess there're a couple of newborn clan heirs in there.
[] The boy and girl genin that are clearing debris from the edge of the Oasis. The girl has red eyes and long hair getting in her way, and the boy seems to have lung issues, but both of them are working hard.
[] The genin aged girl sitting on her own, playing a game with a stick on her knuckles. She's focusing on it to the extent of everything else; even the snake coiling around her arm is barely acknowledged.
[] The… pack of dogs? There's a pack of dogs. They're just… roaming. And being dogs. And is that one talking?! You gotta get in on this.
How do you approach them?
[] You'll walk up and smile. You're a toddler after all. It's your strong suit.
[] You'll point and laugh at whatever it is they're doing.
[] You'll try and help with whatever it is they're doing.
[] Write-In
Tokei spins at the newcomers orders and nods at the old lady- Umo, you think it was- and marches out of the house like a soldier on parade. The samurai take up positions throughout your home, two by the door, two by the stairs. Your last view of the newcomer is him walking up the stairs- presumably towards Mom's room.
The front door closes behind you, letting you into the village outside your house for the first time since your arrival. Where before Konoha bustled with life and activity, it now feels like the husk of a once bustling metropolis. There's no one on the street in either direction whatsoever. Sounds of life persist, but you can't see what's causing them.
Even the air feels strange. While it isn't as heavy and infused with terror as it was during Kyuubi's attack some traces of the Bijuu's wrath linger. It's like a heavy blanket that's pushing down on you at all times.
One thing that hasn't changed is the energy that thrums in the air. It still heightens your senses just by stepping into it. And while you've grown more accustomed to it as the weeks have passed you're still not completely used to the way every smell is a dozen times sharper, from the smoke to the dust in the air. The way your eyes can pick out details that you never would have been able to before. From the way your ears hear a still crackling blaze somewhere in the distance and a woman letting out a squeal of delight from much closer.
Wait- you didn't need any help to hear that last one. You glance up to see both Tokei and Umo eyeing Mom's bedroom window. "Ah, puppy love," Umo muses fondly. "One day they'll out grow it, but it's good to see while it lasts, neh?"
Tokei doesn't seem to agree. He growls and puts you down, letting you walk on your own two feet while he holds you by the wrist. Your… guard?... starts down the street without another word, dragging you in his wake and forcing Umo to hustle to catch up.
The further you get from your home the more apparent the battle scars become. Here a broken down building, there a pile of stone that used to be a statue, over there a suspiciously dark stain that Tokei takes care to keep you away from. The foul energy grows stronger the more destruction there there is, making your senses go haywire.
You hack out a cough against the dark air, a wracking thing that feels like it's going to take your lungs with it. Umo eyes you steadily. "Is that normal?" she asks.
"He's still growing accustomed to the chakra rich air of the environment," Tokei growls out. "It is to be expected."
"That is all?" Umo presses. "No weak constitution? No health issues? I've read that an inferior immune system is not at all uncommon when a child is relocated so suddenly. And-"
"No," Tokei utters again. "He is growing more accustomed to it. That is all." The words are heavy and final sounding, like they're punctuating the end of a sentence that will accept nothing else after it. Umo certainly takes it as such; she drops the line of questioning entirely.
Instead she changes the subject by gesturing as the rubble you're walking around. "Were you here for this?" she asks.
Tokei shakes his head. "No. I was utilized differently. The Jonin Commander seemed eager to keep me out of direct confrontation with the beast. It was no surprise; my skill were not the proper fit for that kind of conflict."
"Oh? And how were you 'utilized'?"
"Primarily in evacuation and damage control," he continues. Your tiny legs, still not used to so much walking, start to flag. Tokei scoops you up absentmindedly and resumes carrying you half over his shoulder. "I was tasked with seeking out noncombatants who were unable or unwilling to flee their homes and removing them from the theatre."
"People were," Umo says slowly, "unwilling to leave their homes during the incident?"
"Some were. They tended to be those who had dwelled within the same walls for generations. I had several that believed that as long as they were within their walls, nothing would cause them harm, and still others who believed that if their home was destroyed that they should go with it. They were irritating, but provided no difficulty."
"Aside from that I put out fires, stopped unauthorized combatants from joining the fray, and made things as easy as I could for the shinobi who were doing battle."
Umo accepts the report with a dignified nod as she lifts the hem of her dress to keep it away from the dust. "Which reminds me… where are the Shinobi? From the tales in Inkuru, one should be able to walk through Konoha without stumbling into a dozen of them."
"Then the stories from the capital are correct," Tokei replies. "On a normal day I would expect to have already seen at least one Shinobi if not a gaggle of them. But as I'm certain you can understand, these are not normal days. You have, I presume, heard the stories of what happened to the Hokage?"
"Indeed. He used a forbidden technique to destroy the Bijuu if I recall, and paid for it with his own life."
Tokei snorts. "If that's all there is to the story then I will be quite surprised. But the one kernel of truth I'm sure is there is that the man is dead. A shame; he seemed quite personable the few times I had reason to meet with him. But with their leader deceased there is likely chaos in the shinobi ranks as his possible successors quibble over the seat. I suspect that those who aren't handling the damage directly in the streets are handling the void left in the bureaucracy as best they can. Those that are doing neither are likely abroad, projecting the village's strength as best they can."
Umo looks like she wants to ask more questions but stops short as the three of you pass another pair of people walking in the opposite direction. As you press on down the street, the air starts to lighten and the normal chakra gets thicker, holding back Kyuubi's remnants. People start to get more common; not as many as before, but more than the ghost town you were in before.
Your guard takes the opportunity to change the subject. "So, is there news from home?"
"Nothing pressing," the older woman answers. "Lady Imagawa is attempting to settle the court after the unpleasantness of last year. The rumors and gossip have been beyond imagination but she's finally grasping the reins. But I do bring word from your sister."
"Oh?" Tokei prompts delicately.
"She sends congratulations on your new posting even though she will miss you terribly. And she is pregnant with her third- if it is a boy, it will likely be named in your honor."
"She has given me more than enough honor," Tokei answers. "I need not the gesture."
"She suspected you would say as such, which is why she also told me to tell you, and I quote, 'It is done, and not up for debate'."
Tokei seems moved by the gesture. He doesn't talk for a long moment. Umo walks steadily by his side as he recollects himself, breaking the silence only to exchange pleasantries with other people on the side of the road. It takes minutes for him to be able to talk without his voice being choked up with pride. "That sounds like her."
"It should," Umo answer primly. "As I said, it was a direct quote. Now, enough of that. We've been walking for quite some time. That might be well for a strapping young warrior such as yourself but these weary bones require rest. Is there a place we could sit?"
"Of course." Tokei leads the way a few blocks further before turning. The buildings around you grow smaller, going from multiple story complexes to one floor dwellings before finally ceasing to exist entirely. A green, lush meadow takes their place, stretching out for at least a mile. Small benches dot it, on which people are sitting and relaxing.
Tokei leads you into it, and a gong sounds in your mind. The scrawl begins to sound in your ears. "You have discovered the Oasis: Three League Park! Oasis' are special areas that are scattered throughout 'Elemental'. Combat may not be initiated inside of an Oasis. Relationship changes within an Oasis are doubled. Experience gained within an Oasis is multiplied by 1.5. You may not enter an Oasis if you are already engaged in combat. This Oasis has been marked on your map!"
That certainly seems useful.
Tokei and Umo go straight for one of the benches, and the older woman settles herself down on the wood gratefully. You squirm a little and Tokei obligingly lets you down. You plop down and don't move as you take the Oasis in. The air in here feels different, welcoming, refreshing. You can see how it got it's name.
But you can't let your mind linger on that for now. Instead you let it linger on the mechanical explanation you just got. Lack of combat seems great, and so does boosted experience and relationship changes- but is that last one both positive and negative? You'd have to assume so.
You should test that out. There are people surrounding Umo's new resting spot, people you won't have to see every day. You should go up to one of them and introduce yourself as best you can. Make a new friend or enemy, and quickly; Umo won't want to rest here forever.
Please select the following in Plan Format!
Who do you go up to?
[] A pair of new mothers sitting with their strollers on a bench. From the markings that covers the strollers, you'd guess there're a couple of newborn clan heirs in there.
[] The boy and girl genin that are clearing debris from the edge of the Oasis. The girl has red eyes and long hair getting in her way, and the boy seems to have lung issues, but both of them are working hard.
[] The genin aged girl sitting on her own, playing a game with a stick on her knuckles. She's focusing on it to the extent of everything else; even the snake coiling around her arm is barely acknowledged.
[] The… pack of dogs? There's a pack of dogs. They're just… roaming. And being dogs. And is that one talking?! You gotta get in on this.
How do you approach them?
[] You'll walk up and smile. You're a toddler after all. It's your strong suit.
[] You'll point and laugh at whatever it is they're doing.
[] You'll try and help with whatever it is they're doing.
[] Write-In
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8. Helpful Boy
Vesvius
The Wicked God
After a few moments of careful consideration you turn towards the women and strollers. The genin are tempting but you'd probably just get in the way, and you have no idea how you'd even start to approach a pack of dogs. And as for the girl with the snake… well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that that's Mitarashi Anko, most likely current apprentice of Orochimaru.
...you're going to avoid Orochimaru.
It takes you a few long moments to toddle over to the mothers. Walking is still new to you, and between the unleveled ground below you and the unexpected wind hitting you from the side you have to do it with two outstretched arms for balance. You hear laughter from behind you and a few cooing noises from other parents. You ignore the laughter and focus on the coos. Even if you're not dignified, at least you're adorable.
Your targets aren't among the laughing or the cooing. They don't seem to be paying you any attention at all. Instead they're talking with each other in hushed voices that come into focus as you get closer. "...is he holding up?" one woman asks the other.
"About as well as can be expected," her friend answers. "He's running himself ragged holding everything together. Every night he manages to make it home he seems even more exhausted than he did the night before. But how can I be upset?"
The first woman shakes her head, her brown bun shaking slightly from the motion. "I understand completely."
The other woman frowns but reaches over to give her friend a small, one armed embrace. "And how is your home? Inoichi can't be any less busy than Shikaku!"
"I don't think anyone is as busy as Shikaku right now," is the response, "But yes, putting together the pieces of what happened is taking it's toll. I doubt he's he's slept more than a handful of hours since the attack. He works at the tower, he works in the field, and the only times he's home he insists on giving me a rest so he can take care of Ino."
The names mentioned click in your head. These two women are married to Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi, no doubt two of the most important shinobi in the post-Kyuubi village right now. That would make them Nara Yoshino and… huh. You don't think you ever learned the name of the other one. And that would mean that the two bundles of joy down there are Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino.
Huh. This is… weird. Really weird. You've never met any of these people before but you already feel like you sort of know them. A little. Kind of? You have vague memories of them at least. Or rather, you used to and…
You're so distracted by your contemplation that you almost miss Ino's mom pull a small rattle out of a satchel on her side. She holds it over the babies and begins to shake it, much to her friend's amusement. "Don't you think it's a little early for them to be playing?" Yoshino asks.
"For them to play, yes, but all the child development books I've read agree that very young children need mental stimulation to thrive. See? Look at how she's responding to the- augh!" Her words end with a yelp of pain as the rattle falls from her hand. As you watch, she opens and closes her hand quickly, stretching it out.
"It's still bothering you?" Yoshino asks. "Have you been putting the cream on it?"
"Yes, but it takes time to work. And it doesn't bother me all the time. It comes and goes."
The chatter about what appears to be an old injury but you don't pay much attention. You decided before coming over here that you were going to try and be helpful and you've just gotten a golden opportunity. You toddle towards the rattle and grab it's handle with both hands. The moms conversation cuts off as you step close, offering the rattle back to Mrs. Yamanaka.
Their eyes rake over you for a second and you almost shiver under the glances. Mothers who've just given birth they may be, but there's no doubt that these two are still trained shinobi. They judge and weigh you in a fraction of a second as you stand with the rattle outstretched.
You won't let them just make up their mind about you without saying your piece! You square your shoulders, meet Yoshino's eyes, and proudly proclaim, "Gaa!"
Instantly, the judging vanishes, replaced by a more normal reaction. "Awwwww!" Mrs. Yamanaka coos. "So precious!"
"Wow!" Yoshino joins in, voice set in the higher pitched 'talking to babies' voice that parents always use. "You're such a helpful boy! Did you come all the way over here just to give that back to us! Thank you so much!"
Part of you wants to roll your eyes at being praised in such an over the top manner. But a bigger part of you, the part that's been growing ever since you were plopped down in this baby's body, puffs out it's chest. Of course they're reacting like this! You're the most helpful boy!
Mrs. Yamanaka takes the rattle back and reaches down to ruffle your hair. "Thank you for all your help! It's good to know that there's such a big strong man around if we ever need anything!"
The last word is half out of her mouth when you become aware of a presence behind you. A glance over your shoulder reveals Tokei. He's not quite glowering down at you but it's close. "My apologies," he gravels to the women. "Is he bothering you?"
Yoshino's head move side to side slightly. "Not at all," is the pleasant answer. "He's being very helpful actually."
Tokei pauses. "Good," he offers before giving a little bow, a small incline of his head that doesn't take his eyes off of any of the people in front of them. "Please let me know if that changes."
"We will certainly do that, Mr….?"
"Tokei, of the Land of Iron. It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Nara, Lady Yamanaka."
At the name, a light goes off behind Yoshino's eyes. "Ah, yes! You're the samurai! It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance! I hope you're finding Konohagakure to be to your liking. Recent unpleasantness aside, of course."
"The climate is certainly different," he answers tactfully. "But I'm certain that I shall grow accustomed to it in time."
Your guardian makes small talk with the two matriarchs for a few moments before walking back over to where Umo is watching the scene with keen eyes. You're left to your own devices with the two women and babies- and you're quickly put back into service helping them when baby Ino launches a small fuzzy toy directly at your face. You pick it up and give it back, drawing another coo from the mothers and a little gaa from the newborn.
As she launches it again, smiling at the new game, you keep an ear on the mother's conversation. "So that's…?" Mrs. Yamanaka asks.
"Yes, the Iron Damiyo's… nephew. He caused quite a stir when he was born from what I hear. You can see a little bit of the man in his chin and eyes, but he looks more like his mother from what I can tell."
Mrs. Yamanaka lets out a cluck of her tongue. "Maybe I should get him away from little Ino then? I've seen portraits of Satomura Manami. If she's even half as beautiful as the artists say then he should be a little heartbreaker!"
The two giggle like older women do, and you determinedly shut them out of your ears. You can't focus on whatever nonsense they're saying now- you have a new quest!
Quest Acquired! Toy Retrieval!
Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru have a lot of toys and they keep scattering them all over Three League Park! Go find them all and bring them back to get even more praise!
Success Condition: Retrieve all 8 of the baby toys!
Grade: Untrained (Repeatable)
Skill: Perception
On Success: Relationship gain with Nara Yoshino, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Kasai, Yamanaka Ino! Reputation gain with Clan Nara and Clan Yamanaka!
On Failure: Nothing.
...you'll guess that Kasai is Mrs. Yamanaka's first name.
But that's the least important thing you've just found out. What's grade? And skill? And… you'll have to do the quest to find out, won't you. You mentally tap the accept button, and at once hear an annoyed noise from Yoshino. You glance over and see that she's rummaging through the base of her stroller as Shikamaru starts to stir. "Where is Mr. Kage? I know I had him before we came here!"
You'll guess that Mr. Kage is the tiny stuffed deer you see near the park's entrance. You toddle towards it as fast as your tiny legs will go, scooping it up. The deer vanishes the moment it's in your arms. More rattles, tiny colored blocks, stuffed animals, and a flute for some reason all wind up joining him before you toddle back towards the group.
As the toys leave your arms, the fanfare goes off again. "Quest completed!"
As you click the 'finish' button on the quest scroll, something changes in the posture of the mothers. Though they had been cooing over you before there was still some distance in how they were holding themselves. That vanishes as Kasai ruffles your hair once again. "Wow! You've been such a helpful boy! Do you…"
She scans the park, looking for Tokei, and finds him drawing close again. "Is he old enough for sweets?" she asks.
Tokei minutely shakes his head, not saying no, but indicating unsurity. "I will have to ask his mother," he replies.
Kasai presses a small square item into his hand. "Please, if she says that it's alright, give him this. Our friend Setsuko makes them herself and swears by them."
"I will," he answers. He takes the item and scoops you back up again. Good. Your legs are really tired after all that walking. "Thank you very much for your kindness."
"No, thank you for letting such a big strong boy help us out!"
Yoshino nods her agreement. "Will we be seeing you here often?"
Tokei looks unsure, but you let out a proud 'Goo!'. You helped, you finished a quest, and you made new… you check your relationship web.
Nara Yoshino: Motherly Pity.
Yamanaka Kasai: Motherly Concern.
Nara Shikamaru: Grateful Amusement.
Yamanaka Ino: Grateful Amusement.
Ok, you haven't made new friends, but you're on your way!
With that last bit, Tokei carries you from the oasis and falls into step with Umo and a smaller man with beady eyes that you have to guess is the runner that the nobleman sent. The three converse as they walk, but you don't pay them any attention. Instead you lay back in the crook of Tokei's arm and listen to the new scrawl that's reading as you go.
"You have just completed your first repeatable quest! Repeatable quests do not disappear like normal quests do once you have completed them! Instead, they remain in your journal, and can be done many times! Some can even be completed multiple times per day! Repeatable quests normally will not give you a large reward but give incremental progress towards a larger achievement! Try doing the same quest over and over again! You might get different results! As things change!"
"You have used your first skill! Skills represent some of the most basic and fundamental abilities you possess. You use your skills to complete every day challenges and tasks, and they grow stronger through repeated use! Right now, all of your skills are rated Untrained. That is the lowest they can go. Someone with an Untrained ranked skill can barely use it. But skills can be improved through completing quests, all the way up to the rank of Divine! Try to improve your skills whenever possible!"
"You have just completed your first quest with a skill improvement! To improve a skill, complete a quest with a subtype of that skill to gain experience towards it! Higher graded quests provide even more improvement even if they offer greater difficulty!"
The soothing voice that reads you the scrawl peters out as Tokei carries you through the front door of your home. The two of you are the only ones that enter the house. Umo and the runner remain outside, entering the handsome carriage instead of coming in. The two are barely in the vehicle before the driver cracks his reins. The carriage is on it's way in seconds.
You stare after it, nonplussed. Are they done already? Is the newcomer gone that quick?
Your thoughts are echoed by Tokei. "Has Lord Imagawa departed already?" he asks your mother.
Mom is lounging on the couch like a decadent cat, lazily scanning a scroll. She glances up at the two of you like she's just gotten the canary. "Hmmm? Yes, Toishi has already departed. The capital waits for no man. And what about you? Did my special boy have a good afternoon?"
She reaches out for you and Tokei drops you into her grasp immediately. Mom cuddles you like a large stuffed animal. "He should be tired," Tokei replies. "He walked a great deal today. And he made the acquaintances of Lady Nara and Lady Yamanaka. They may call on you later."
"Oh, who's the best boy!" Mom coos. "Making friends at such a young age! You are! You are!"
You'd like to stay up for Mom's praise but Tokei isn't wrong; you've spent a lot of energy today. You start to doze in her arms. She notices and immediately starts rocking you back and forth, soothing you to sleep. You're out like a light before you can even think about doing anything else.
But tomorrow is another day.
The tutorial rolls on, and the world is starting to open up! As you age, you'll find more and more opportunities. What would you like to focus on for the remained of your toddlerhood?
[] Exploration. The oasis is an invaluable asset; what else will you find around Konoha?
[] Socialization (Ino-Shika-Cho). You're known to two of the three families that make up that make up the noble trio, and the third is sure to come soon. You could do far worse than make friends with them.
[] Socialization (Mother and Tokei). You love your mother, and you're curious about Tokei. You're going to be living with them for a while; better to be close with them.
[] Socialization (Unknown). Konoha is a large village with thousands of people in it! Surely you can make a new friend!
[] Questing (Skills). Your skills are all terrible. The faster you improve them, the better.
[] Questing (New). There are many things in Konoha to do! You're going to find them!
[] Other (Write-In). Must be approved by QM.
***
A/N: We're going to have a little timeskim during the next update, and get out of the toddler years! So look out for that!
...you're going to avoid Orochimaru.
It takes you a few long moments to toddle over to the mothers. Walking is still new to you, and between the unleveled ground below you and the unexpected wind hitting you from the side you have to do it with two outstretched arms for balance. You hear laughter from behind you and a few cooing noises from other parents. You ignore the laughter and focus on the coos. Even if you're not dignified, at least you're adorable.
Your targets aren't among the laughing or the cooing. They don't seem to be paying you any attention at all. Instead they're talking with each other in hushed voices that come into focus as you get closer. "...is he holding up?" one woman asks the other.
"About as well as can be expected," her friend answers. "He's running himself ragged holding everything together. Every night he manages to make it home he seems even more exhausted than he did the night before. But how can I be upset?"
The first woman shakes her head, her brown bun shaking slightly from the motion. "I understand completely."
The other woman frowns but reaches over to give her friend a small, one armed embrace. "And how is your home? Inoichi can't be any less busy than Shikaku!"
"I don't think anyone is as busy as Shikaku right now," is the response, "But yes, putting together the pieces of what happened is taking it's toll. I doubt he's he's slept more than a handful of hours since the attack. He works at the tower, he works in the field, and the only times he's home he insists on giving me a rest so he can take care of Ino."
The names mentioned click in your head. These two women are married to Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi, no doubt two of the most important shinobi in the post-Kyuubi village right now. That would make them Nara Yoshino and… huh. You don't think you ever learned the name of the other one. And that would mean that the two bundles of joy down there are Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino.
Huh. This is… weird. Really weird. You've never met any of these people before but you already feel like you sort of know them. A little. Kind of? You have vague memories of them at least. Or rather, you used to and…
You're so distracted by your contemplation that you almost miss Ino's mom pull a small rattle out of a satchel on her side. She holds it over the babies and begins to shake it, much to her friend's amusement. "Don't you think it's a little early for them to be playing?" Yoshino asks.
"For them to play, yes, but all the child development books I've read agree that very young children need mental stimulation to thrive. See? Look at how she's responding to the- augh!" Her words end with a yelp of pain as the rattle falls from her hand. As you watch, she opens and closes her hand quickly, stretching it out.
"It's still bothering you?" Yoshino asks. "Have you been putting the cream on it?"
"Yes, but it takes time to work. And it doesn't bother me all the time. It comes and goes."
The chatter about what appears to be an old injury but you don't pay much attention. You decided before coming over here that you were going to try and be helpful and you've just gotten a golden opportunity. You toddle towards the rattle and grab it's handle with both hands. The moms conversation cuts off as you step close, offering the rattle back to Mrs. Yamanaka.
Their eyes rake over you for a second and you almost shiver under the glances. Mothers who've just given birth they may be, but there's no doubt that these two are still trained shinobi. They judge and weigh you in a fraction of a second as you stand with the rattle outstretched.
You won't let them just make up their mind about you without saying your piece! You square your shoulders, meet Yoshino's eyes, and proudly proclaim, "Gaa!"
Instantly, the judging vanishes, replaced by a more normal reaction. "Awwwww!" Mrs. Yamanaka coos. "So precious!"
"Wow!" Yoshino joins in, voice set in the higher pitched 'talking to babies' voice that parents always use. "You're such a helpful boy! Did you come all the way over here just to give that back to us! Thank you so much!"
Part of you wants to roll your eyes at being praised in such an over the top manner. But a bigger part of you, the part that's been growing ever since you were plopped down in this baby's body, puffs out it's chest. Of course they're reacting like this! You're the most helpful boy!
Mrs. Yamanaka takes the rattle back and reaches down to ruffle your hair. "Thank you for all your help! It's good to know that there's such a big strong man around if we ever need anything!"
The last word is half out of her mouth when you become aware of a presence behind you. A glance over your shoulder reveals Tokei. He's not quite glowering down at you but it's close. "My apologies," he gravels to the women. "Is he bothering you?"
Yoshino's head move side to side slightly. "Not at all," is the pleasant answer. "He's being very helpful actually."
Tokei pauses. "Good," he offers before giving a little bow, a small incline of his head that doesn't take his eyes off of any of the people in front of them. "Please let me know if that changes."
"We will certainly do that, Mr….?"
"Tokei, of the Land of Iron. It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Nara, Lady Yamanaka."
At the name, a light goes off behind Yoshino's eyes. "Ah, yes! You're the samurai! It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance! I hope you're finding Konohagakure to be to your liking. Recent unpleasantness aside, of course."
"The climate is certainly different," he answers tactfully. "But I'm certain that I shall grow accustomed to it in time."
Your guardian makes small talk with the two matriarchs for a few moments before walking back over to where Umo is watching the scene with keen eyes. You're left to your own devices with the two women and babies- and you're quickly put back into service helping them when baby Ino launches a small fuzzy toy directly at your face. You pick it up and give it back, drawing another coo from the mothers and a little gaa from the newborn.
As she launches it again, smiling at the new game, you keep an ear on the mother's conversation. "So that's…?" Mrs. Yamanaka asks.
"Yes, the Iron Damiyo's… nephew. He caused quite a stir when he was born from what I hear. You can see a little bit of the man in his chin and eyes, but he looks more like his mother from what I can tell."
Mrs. Yamanaka lets out a cluck of her tongue. "Maybe I should get him away from little Ino then? I've seen portraits of Satomura Manami. If she's even half as beautiful as the artists say then he should be a little heartbreaker!"
The two giggle like older women do, and you determinedly shut them out of your ears. You can't focus on whatever nonsense they're saying now- you have a new quest!
Quest Acquired! Toy Retrieval!
Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru have a lot of toys and they keep scattering them all over Three League Park! Go find them all and bring them back to get even more praise!
Success Condition: Retrieve all 8 of the baby toys!
Grade: Untrained (Repeatable)
Skill: Perception
On Success: Relationship gain with Nara Yoshino, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Kasai, Yamanaka Ino! Reputation gain with Clan Nara and Clan Yamanaka!
On Failure: Nothing.
...you'll guess that Kasai is Mrs. Yamanaka's first name.
But that's the least important thing you've just found out. What's grade? And skill? And… you'll have to do the quest to find out, won't you. You mentally tap the accept button, and at once hear an annoyed noise from Yoshino. You glance over and see that she's rummaging through the base of her stroller as Shikamaru starts to stir. "Where is Mr. Kage? I know I had him before we came here!"
You'll guess that Mr. Kage is the tiny stuffed deer you see near the park's entrance. You toddle towards it as fast as your tiny legs will go, scooping it up. The deer vanishes the moment it's in your arms. More rattles, tiny colored blocks, stuffed animals, and a flute for some reason all wind up joining him before you toddle back towards the group.
As the toys leave your arms, the fanfare goes off again. "Quest completed!"
As you click the 'finish' button on the quest scroll, something changes in the posture of the mothers. Though they had been cooing over you before there was still some distance in how they were holding themselves. That vanishes as Kasai ruffles your hair once again. "Wow! You've been such a helpful boy! Do you…"
She scans the park, looking for Tokei, and finds him drawing close again. "Is he old enough for sweets?" she asks.
Tokei minutely shakes his head, not saying no, but indicating unsurity. "I will have to ask his mother," he replies.
Kasai presses a small square item into his hand. "Please, if she says that it's alright, give him this. Our friend Setsuko makes them herself and swears by them."
"I will," he answers. He takes the item and scoops you back up again. Good. Your legs are really tired after all that walking. "Thank you very much for your kindness."
"No, thank you for letting such a big strong boy help us out!"
Yoshino nods her agreement. "Will we be seeing you here often?"
Tokei looks unsure, but you let out a proud 'Goo!'. You helped, you finished a quest, and you made new… you check your relationship web.
Nara Yoshino: Motherly Pity.
Yamanaka Kasai: Motherly Concern.
Nara Shikamaru: Grateful Amusement.
Yamanaka Ino: Grateful Amusement.
Ok, you haven't made new friends, but you're on your way!
With that last bit, Tokei carries you from the oasis and falls into step with Umo and a smaller man with beady eyes that you have to guess is the runner that the nobleman sent. The three converse as they walk, but you don't pay them any attention. Instead you lay back in the crook of Tokei's arm and listen to the new scrawl that's reading as you go.
"You have just completed your first repeatable quest! Repeatable quests do not disappear like normal quests do once you have completed them! Instead, they remain in your journal, and can be done many times! Some can even be completed multiple times per day! Repeatable quests normally will not give you a large reward but give incremental progress towards a larger achievement! Try doing the same quest over and over again! You might get different results! As things change!"
"You have used your first skill! Skills represent some of the most basic and fundamental abilities you possess. You use your skills to complete every day challenges and tasks, and they grow stronger through repeated use! Right now, all of your skills are rated Untrained. That is the lowest they can go. Someone with an Untrained ranked skill can barely use it. But skills can be improved through completing quests, all the way up to the rank of Divine! Try to improve your skills whenever possible!"
"You have just completed your first quest with a skill improvement! To improve a skill, complete a quest with a subtype of that skill to gain experience towards it! Higher graded quests provide even more improvement even if they offer greater difficulty!"
The soothing voice that reads you the scrawl peters out as Tokei carries you through the front door of your home. The two of you are the only ones that enter the house. Umo and the runner remain outside, entering the handsome carriage instead of coming in. The two are barely in the vehicle before the driver cracks his reins. The carriage is on it's way in seconds.
You stare after it, nonplussed. Are they done already? Is the newcomer gone that quick?
Your thoughts are echoed by Tokei. "Has Lord Imagawa departed already?" he asks your mother.
Mom is lounging on the couch like a decadent cat, lazily scanning a scroll. She glances up at the two of you like she's just gotten the canary. "Hmmm? Yes, Toishi has already departed. The capital waits for no man. And what about you? Did my special boy have a good afternoon?"
She reaches out for you and Tokei drops you into her grasp immediately. Mom cuddles you like a large stuffed animal. "He should be tired," Tokei replies. "He walked a great deal today. And he made the acquaintances of Lady Nara and Lady Yamanaka. They may call on you later."
"Oh, who's the best boy!" Mom coos. "Making friends at such a young age! You are! You are!"
You'd like to stay up for Mom's praise but Tokei isn't wrong; you've spent a lot of energy today. You start to doze in her arms. She notices and immediately starts rocking you back and forth, soothing you to sleep. You're out like a light before you can even think about doing anything else.
But tomorrow is another day.
The tutorial rolls on, and the world is starting to open up! As you age, you'll find more and more opportunities. What would you like to focus on for the remained of your toddlerhood?
[] Exploration. The oasis is an invaluable asset; what else will you find around Konoha?
[] Socialization (Ino-Shika-Cho). You're known to two of the three families that make up that make up the noble trio, and the third is sure to come soon. You could do far worse than make friends with them.
[] Socialization (Mother and Tokei). You love your mother, and you're curious about Tokei. You're going to be living with them for a while; better to be close with them.
[] Socialization (Unknown). Konoha is a large village with thousands of people in it! Surely you can make a new friend!
[] Questing (Skills). Your skills are all terrible. The faster you improve them, the better.
[] Questing (New). There are many things in Konoha to do! You're going to find them!
[] Other (Write-In). Must be approved by QM.
***
A/N: We're going to have a little timeskim during the next update, and get out of the toddler years! So look out for that!
Last edited:
9. Achievement Unlocked!
Vesvius
The Wicked God
A/N: Had some unexpected time. Here you go.
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You wake the next morning with a decision firm in your mind. One of the key mechanics in this 'game' seems to be your skills. Skills govern how well you do… well, everything. As you scan through the skills menu there seems to be one for every conceivable thing. A skill for flipping? You have Acrobatics. A skill for sewing someone's wounds closed? That seems to be governed by heal. A skill for playing the bagpipes while doing high kicks as part of a chorus line?
...you'll guess that that one's 'perform'.
But no matter what it is that you want to do, it'll help to have the skill to do it. So when you wake up the next day you decide that you've been loafing around figuring out that walking thing for long enough. You need to work on your skills.
It starts easily enough. Mom's still blissed out after her visit from the noble and wants to mostly lounge around and eat grapes, but Tokei isn't the grape eating kind. You're able to bother him enough to let you go back to the park and do some more exploring. It takes time to find another quest, but when you do…
Quest Acquired! Squirrel Hunter!
Those pesky squirrels have had it for too good for too long! They've become bolder in recent days, and they've begun stealing any shiny object that they can get their greedy little paws on! Find out where they've been keeping their ill-gotten loot to start putting an end to their reign of terror!
Success Condition: Track a squirrel back to it's den without being spotted!
Grade: Practiced
Skill: Stealth
On Success: 'Squirrel's Den' added to your map!
On Failure: Reputation decrease (Konoha Squirrels)
...it's not exactly what you thought you would find. It's two grades higher than you are and it's not repeatable so you can't farm it, but it's a quest! And really, what's the worst thing that can happen if your reputation decreases with the Squirrels? How do they even have their own reputation bar?!
But you don't do it right away. Instead you keep looking for more. There have to be some good quests in Three League Park- ones that aren't just finding baby toys. You'll find them all, and then you'll start doing them.
After the Squirrel quest comes a repeatable one involving playing in a sandbox. Then one about swimming down a creek. After that you find one about birdwatching, and the one about making people laugh by smiling at them. You'll guess you're only going to have access to that one while you're a toddler.
Before you can find anything else to do, you're distracted by the Yamanaka and Nara Matriarchs rolling their strollers into the park once more. You leap on the opportunity as fast as you can; unlike the others, this one requires other people to be here! You've got to take it while you can.
Again you find Shikamaru's toys, and again you're told how helpful you are. With that taken care of you move on, trying and failing to swim in the creek, walking through the large forest looking for bugs, flailing away in a sandbox, and doing everything you can. It's dusk before Tokei finally drags you home.
The next day is more of the same. And the next. The one after that interrupts your pattern, but you're right back to it the day after that. You don't hit Three League Park every single day, but you do every chance you get.
Even when you're not at the park, you're looking for quests. Mom's frequent walks around the village are a cornucopia of opportunities that you just can't find on your own. They don't benefit from the boost from the Oasis, but each new opportunity still provides a trickle of XP towards your skills- especially after you find out you still get some XP if you fail the quest.
...which you find out after failing another squirrel related quest. Fucking squirrels. Why are they so common?!
Days turn into weeks, which turn into months. Talking is the next major obstacle to fall. You can't spit out complete sentences, but you can say words and get your meaning across- thank all that is holy. It was maddening being unable to make yourself understood. And as a bonus, the day you say your first word, Mom buys you cake! Cake is still awesome, no matter how old you are!
Talking opens up whole new quests where none were before. You lose the 'smile at them' quest, but you get the 'cheer up with innocent words' quest and it's counterpart 'make people feel like shit with innocent words' to make up for it. You can now say your name and introduce yourself to people, and you can tell people what their own name is, which seems to entertain them to no end. You've never seen anyone laugh as hard as Kasai did when you pointed at tiny toddler Ino and proudly yelled "NO!" at the top of your lungs.
Speaking of the Yamanakas, they and their companions the Naras become regular companions of yours. Not the Akimichi for some reason; you're unclear as to why Setsuko Akimichi doesn't bring her own child to the park, but she never does. But you get to know Shikamaru and Ino fairly well. You're not bound at the hip by any means and you're not honestly sure if they know your name, but they recognize you.
They've also stopped throwing their toys. Which sucks for your questing. But they've started playing with them instead which opens new branches. The whole thing is kind of a wash.
The two heirs aren't the only people you get to know as you grow older. When you're not questing and seeking to level your skills, you spend most of your time with Mom. Or 'Mother' as she insists on once you start being able to call her things. Mother is never anything less than doting, but from observation you get to learn of her less kind side. She mostly exercises that side with her sharp, cutting tongue, verbally flaying people who've displeased her and those she considers beneath her almost every day.
The subject for most of those tirades is of course Tokei, but the samurai takes the broad side of Mother's tongue with a glower that could curdle cheese. Aside from that, he doesn't show much reaction to her at all. She might as well be a piece of furniture for all the attention he usually pays her. It's an attitude that is passed on to you. He still walks you to the park when Mother can't, but aside from that you seem to just be an object to him. It's an impression reinforced by your relationship web- it's lost the 'amused disdain' modifier, and now he just tolerates you.
Bizarre. You're not sure how anyone can just 'tolerate' you. You're fucking adorable, and you know it.
But you put aside the mystery of Tokei as the days go by and start to regard him in much the same way he does you. He's just a part of the house. There's the Go Board. There's the bonsai. There's Mother's vanity mirror. There's Tokei. There's the oven. All just things you see around the house.
Instead of giving him more attention, you redouble your focus on your skills. And it starts to pay off.
By the time you hit five years old your skills, while not incredible, are at least passable. Every skill on your character sheet has some XP in it. Eight of them even got to the next level, with two of those eight reaching to the level above that! Finding toys and singing songs for the win!
But it isn't until you finally hunker down and finish your Reading quest that you get your next breakthrough.
You're pouring over a scroll of kanji, desperately trying to match pictures with meanings in your head before looking at a simple piece of folklore to read it when something clicks. You don't know what every kanji here means, but you know enough of them that you think you've got this. You can use context to fill in any blanks and read the whole story all by yourself without bothering Mother!
The bugles sound in your head.
YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE QUEST 'ART OF THE WORD'! READING SKILL ATTAINED! YOU MAY NOW UPGRADE YOUR MENTAL ATTRIBUTES BY VISITING YOUR JOURNAL!
That message barely gets your attention. You've gotten used to it as you've gotten older. Where before phantom trumpets and invisible scrolls may have caused you to freak out, now they're just another part of life. No, the one that really draws your focus pops up next. Golden text forms in front of your eyes.
YOU HAVE ATTAINED THE ACHIEVEMENT 'A WHOLE NEW WORLD'! CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT!
Huh. That's a new one.
The golden text fades, but the scrawl speaking in your ears doesn't let you forget it. "Congratulations! You've just received your very first achievement! Achievements are how 'Elemental' keeps track of your progress and milestones while you play the game. Let's take a look at them now! Open up your main menu and select 'Achievements'."
You do so quickly, pressing the new button that's just appeared. An enormous list unfurls in front of you. There have to be thousands of entries on here! Most of them are blacked out- you can't even read what they say. But some stand in stark, clear relief to the darkness, and one glows gold.
"This is your Achievements screen. Don't get too disheartened that you don't have many unlocked- that's sure to change as you grow and advance through the world of Elemental. For now, let's focus on the one you just unlocked. Press it now!"
A tap on the golden one brings it up in a larger size. You scan it quickly. 'A Whole New World'. A brief description blurb. Unlock condition: attain walking, talking, and reading skills. Status: unlocked. Reward: None. Knowledge is it's own reward. "Well, that sucks," you mutter to yourself.
"As you can see, this Achievement is not one that offers a reward, but most of them do! They can be as large as new techniques or as small as a new outfit! Try and get as many achievements as you can! You'll find that pursuing them opens up new paths in the game that you would never have thought of on your own. If you're ever struggling to find something to do, pick an Achievement you can clear and start working towards it!"
"For now, let's continue the tutorial by getting an achievement on your own. Pick one! The tutorial will resume once you have attained One (1) additional achievement!"
With that, the voice finally stops talking, and you're free to peruse the achievement list on your own. At first it's a pain, with so many spots you can't even see, but that's cleared up once you find a button that removes all 'undiscovered' Achivements from the list. What you're left with is still sizable, but not nearly as overwhelming.
Some of the entries are glowing slightly. Those, you presume, are the ones the game is recommending you clear to push on with the tutorial. But nothing in the scrawl said you had to choose one of those. After all, you're a big boy now! You can walk, you can talk, and you can read, all before you hit the tender age of five!
You can do anything.
What achievement do you pursue to continue the game? (consult Achievement threadmark for full list of available achievements)
[] A Drink in the Desert
[] Well Rested
[] A Friend in Need
-[] Specify who you want to befriend
[] Armed in a Battle of Wits
[] Other (Select from the list)
-----------
You wake the next morning with a decision firm in your mind. One of the key mechanics in this 'game' seems to be your skills. Skills govern how well you do… well, everything. As you scan through the skills menu there seems to be one for every conceivable thing. A skill for flipping? You have Acrobatics. A skill for sewing someone's wounds closed? That seems to be governed by heal. A skill for playing the bagpipes while doing high kicks as part of a chorus line?
...you'll guess that that one's 'perform'.
But no matter what it is that you want to do, it'll help to have the skill to do it. So when you wake up the next day you decide that you've been loafing around figuring out that walking thing for long enough. You need to work on your skills.
It starts easily enough. Mom's still blissed out after her visit from the noble and wants to mostly lounge around and eat grapes, but Tokei isn't the grape eating kind. You're able to bother him enough to let you go back to the park and do some more exploring. It takes time to find another quest, but when you do…
Quest Acquired! Squirrel Hunter!
Those pesky squirrels have had it for too good for too long! They've become bolder in recent days, and they've begun stealing any shiny object that they can get their greedy little paws on! Find out where they've been keeping their ill-gotten loot to start putting an end to their reign of terror!
Success Condition: Track a squirrel back to it's den without being spotted!
Grade: Practiced
Skill: Stealth
On Success: 'Squirrel's Den' added to your map!
On Failure: Reputation decrease (Konoha Squirrels)
...it's not exactly what you thought you would find. It's two grades higher than you are and it's not repeatable so you can't farm it, but it's a quest! And really, what's the worst thing that can happen if your reputation decreases with the Squirrels? How do they even have their own reputation bar?!
But you don't do it right away. Instead you keep looking for more. There have to be some good quests in Three League Park- ones that aren't just finding baby toys. You'll find them all, and then you'll start doing them.
After the Squirrel quest comes a repeatable one involving playing in a sandbox. Then one about swimming down a creek. After that you find one about birdwatching, and the one about making people laugh by smiling at them. You'll guess you're only going to have access to that one while you're a toddler.
Before you can find anything else to do, you're distracted by the Yamanaka and Nara Matriarchs rolling their strollers into the park once more. You leap on the opportunity as fast as you can; unlike the others, this one requires other people to be here! You've got to take it while you can.
Again you find Shikamaru's toys, and again you're told how helpful you are. With that taken care of you move on, trying and failing to swim in the creek, walking through the large forest looking for bugs, flailing away in a sandbox, and doing everything you can. It's dusk before Tokei finally drags you home.
The next day is more of the same. And the next. The one after that interrupts your pattern, but you're right back to it the day after that. You don't hit Three League Park every single day, but you do every chance you get.
Even when you're not at the park, you're looking for quests. Mom's frequent walks around the village are a cornucopia of opportunities that you just can't find on your own. They don't benefit from the boost from the Oasis, but each new opportunity still provides a trickle of XP towards your skills- especially after you find out you still get some XP if you fail the quest.
...which you find out after failing another squirrel related quest. Fucking squirrels. Why are they so common?!
Days turn into weeks, which turn into months. Talking is the next major obstacle to fall. You can't spit out complete sentences, but you can say words and get your meaning across- thank all that is holy. It was maddening being unable to make yourself understood. And as a bonus, the day you say your first word, Mom buys you cake! Cake is still awesome, no matter how old you are!
Talking opens up whole new quests where none were before. You lose the 'smile at them' quest, but you get the 'cheer up with innocent words' quest and it's counterpart 'make people feel like shit with innocent words' to make up for it. You can now say your name and introduce yourself to people, and you can tell people what their own name is, which seems to entertain them to no end. You've never seen anyone laugh as hard as Kasai did when you pointed at tiny toddler Ino and proudly yelled "NO!" at the top of your lungs.
Speaking of the Yamanakas, they and their companions the Naras become regular companions of yours. Not the Akimichi for some reason; you're unclear as to why Setsuko Akimichi doesn't bring her own child to the park, but she never does. But you get to know Shikamaru and Ino fairly well. You're not bound at the hip by any means and you're not honestly sure if they know your name, but they recognize you.
They've also stopped throwing their toys. Which sucks for your questing. But they've started playing with them instead which opens new branches. The whole thing is kind of a wash.
The two heirs aren't the only people you get to know as you grow older. When you're not questing and seeking to level your skills, you spend most of your time with Mom. Or 'Mother' as she insists on once you start being able to call her things. Mother is never anything less than doting, but from observation you get to learn of her less kind side. She mostly exercises that side with her sharp, cutting tongue, verbally flaying people who've displeased her and those she considers beneath her almost every day.
The subject for most of those tirades is of course Tokei, but the samurai takes the broad side of Mother's tongue with a glower that could curdle cheese. Aside from that, he doesn't show much reaction to her at all. She might as well be a piece of furniture for all the attention he usually pays her. It's an attitude that is passed on to you. He still walks you to the park when Mother can't, but aside from that you seem to just be an object to him. It's an impression reinforced by your relationship web- it's lost the 'amused disdain' modifier, and now he just tolerates you.
Bizarre. You're not sure how anyone can just 'tolerate' you. You're fucking adorable, and you know it.
But you put aside the mystery of Tokei as the days go by and start to regard him in much the same way he does you. He's just a part of the house. There's the Go Board. There's the bonsai. There's Mother's vanity mirror. There's Tokei. There's the oven. All just things you see around the house.
Instead of giving him more attention, you redouble your focus on your skills. And it starts to pay off.
By the time you hit five years old your skills, while not incredible, are at least passable. Every skill on your character sheet has some XP in it. Eight of them even got to the next level, with two of those eight reaching to the level above that! Finding toys and singing songs for the win!
But it isn't until you finally hunker down and finish your Reading quest that you get your next breakthrough.
You're pouring over a scroll of kanji, desperately trying to match pictures with meanings in your head before looking at a simple piece of folklore to read it when something clicks. You don't know what every kanji here means, but you know enough of them that you think you've got this. You can use context to fill in any blanks and read the whole story all by yourself without bothering Mother!
The bugles sound in your head.
YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE QUEST 'ART OF THE WORD'! READING SKILL ATTAINED! YOU MAY NOW UPGRADE YOUR MENTAL ATTRIBUTES BY VISITING YOUR JOURNAL!
That message barely gets your attention. You've gotten used to it as you've gotten older. Where before phantom trumpets and invisible scrolls may have caused you to freak out, now they're just another part of life. No, the one that really draws your focus pops up next. Golden text forms in front of your eyes.
YOU HAVE ATTAINED THE ACHIEVEMENT 'A WHOLE NEW WORLD'! CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT!
Huh. That's a new one.
The golden text fades, but the scrawl speaking in your ears doesn't let you forget it. "Congratulations! You've just received your very first achievement! Achievements are how 'Elemental' keeps track of your progress and milestones while you play the game. Let's take a look at them now! Open up your main menu and select 'Achievements'."
You do so quickly, pressing the new button that's just appeared. An enormous list unfurls in front of you. There have to be thousands of entries on here! Most of them are blacked out- you can't even read what they say. But some stand in stark, clear relief to the darkness, and one glows gold.
"This is your Achievements screen. Don't get too disheartened that you don't have many unlocked- that's sure to change as you grow and advance through the world of Elemental. For now, let's focus on the one you just unlocked. Press it now!"
A tap on the golden one brings it up in a larger size. You scan it quickly. 'A Whole New World'. A brief description blurb. Unlock condition: attain walking, talking, and reading skills. Status: unlocked. Reward: None. Knowledge is it's own reward. "Well, that sucks," you mutter to yourself.
"As you can see, this Achievement is not one that offers a reward, but most of them do! They can be as large as new techniques or as small as a new outfit! Try and get as many achievements as you can! You'll find that pursuing them opens up new paths in the game that you would never have thought of on your own. If you're ever struggling to find something to do, pick an Achievement you can clear and start working towards it!"
"For now, let's continue the tutorial by getting an achievement on your own. Pick one! The tutorial will resume once you have attained One (1) additional achievement!"
With that, the voice finally stops talking, and you're free to peruse the achievement list on your own. At first it's a pain, with so many spots you can't even see, but that's cleared up once you find a button that removes all 'undiscovered' Achivements from the list. What you're left with is still sizable, but not nearly as overwhelming.
Some of the entries are glowing slightly. Those, you presume, are the ones the game is recommending you clear to push on with the tutorial. But nothing in the scrawl said you had to choose one of those. After all, you're a big boy now! You can walk, you can talk, and you can read, all before you hit the tender age of five!
You can do anything.
What achievement do you pursue to continue the game? (consult Achievement threadmark for full list of available achievements)
[] A Drink in the Desert
[] Well Rested
[] A Friend in Need
-[] Specify who you want to befriend
[] Armed in a Battle of Wits
[] Other (Select from the list)
10. Mr. Straw
Vesvius
The Wicked God
There's just something about Mr. Straw.
You don't know exactly what it is, but as you scan the list of available achievements that's the one that jumps out. Maybe it's because it seems reasonably simple. Maybe it's because you should be able to do it fairly quickly. Maybe it's just that you don't want to pee on any walls. But whatever the reason, you ignore the suggested achievements and gravitate towards Mr. Straw.
"Mr. Straw," you read quietly to yourself later that night, when you're supposed to be sleeping. "Combat achievement. 'Friends and training partners come and go, but Mr. Straw is eternal. He stands waiting for you in the training ground, longing for your return and desperate to feel your blows once more. Why are you waiting? Why are you torturing Mr. Straw so? Just punch him. It's what he really wants.' Unlock Condition: land a thousand clean blows on 'Training Dummy: Mr. Straw'. Reward: unknown. Status: locked."
That all seems pretty straight forward. And so the next morning, after you've filled your hunger motive at breakfast, you go wandering out the door on your own.
Leaving the house by yourself isn't exactly a new occurrence. You've been doing it since you turned four. It must be because you live in a shinobi village; otherwise, you doubt Mother would let you off unattended. But Konoha is just that kind of place. Roving gangs of tiny children wander the dirt roads during all hours of sunrise, searching for people to play with and adventures to get up to. And if there's any trouble, there's always a shinobi somewhere within earshot. You're fairly sure that if you ever do something wrong there'll be a full report on it attached to the refrigerator before you're even done doing it.
Still, you've never left this early before, and rarely have you gone anywhere besides Three League Park on your own. Mother might not be the most pleased with you. But you doubt she'd accept "Going to find a training dummy!" as an explanation for where you're headed. Better to just say sorry later. She won't be that mad; she always seems thrilled when you act independent.
With your freedom secured, the second order of business is a little more complicated: finding this 'Mr. Straw'. A shinobi village Konoha might be, but they don't just leave training equipment laying everywhere. There's definitely not one in the Park, and you can't think of any place you've seen them for sale. You've got to think logically about this. You can't afford to spend the entire day poking your head around everywhere just trying to find a straw dummy to hit; with the size of Konoha, that could take years!
And logic dictates that a training dummy would be in a place where training happens. Two locations spring to mind: the Academy and the Training Grounds.
The Academy is your first stop for one simple reason. Namely, you know where it is. It's honestly hard to miss. Though it might be a simple looking building of older design, it's built into the heart of the village. On one side is the Hokage Tower. On the other is the Hospital. Which makes sense in a tactical way; you only want to have to defend so much area if battle breaks out. Having all the core buildings in one small niche would allow defenders to focus their efforts. And with it's surroundings, the simplicity of the Academy that might make it blend in somewhere else in the village makes it stand out like a sore thumb against the pure ivory of the Hokage Tower and the grey stone of the Hospital.
It takes almost no time at all for you to trot across the village from your home to the Academy. Unfortunately, the little time you took is still time wasted. You're not allowed into the building proper- you're not a shinobi after all- and the few dummies you can see are all wood. There's even a little nameplate hanging over each of their heads: Mr. Plank. No Mr. Straws here.
Which is annoying. Finding Mr. Straw at the academy would have made this a piece of cake. But now you'll have to go looking through the Training Grounds.
That is, if you can find them.
You know they exist. You've read the manga. You've watched the anime. There's an achievement for clearing one in your list for god's sake! You know that there are places in Konoha that shinobi use to hone their skills. But this is a shinobi village. The locations of the training grounds aren't marked on any map. There's no guidebook listing their locations.
You can assume two things. One: the training grounds are fairly far away from any concentrations of civilians. It'd be hard to keep the location of your training ground secret if anyone can hear the explosions from your practice anymore. Two: they're inside the walls somewhere, at least most of them. It wouldn't be practical to train away from the village; shinobi have to be ready to accept mission at any time.
So far away from the predominantly civilian areas, but still in the village. That at least cuts down your search area. You set your jaw, make sure your shoes are tightly laced, and set out into the hunt.
***
Seven hours later, you're hungry. You're tired. Your comfort motive is dropping dangerously towards the red. Your shoes are too tight and you're pretty sure you're going to have a blister in the morning.
But you found it. You found Mr. Straw. He's sitting on a post in the middle of Training Ground 18. At least, that's where you are according to your map.
Not only did you find Training Ground 18, it isn't even the first training ground you located! It's your third. The first was Training Ground 4, a small meadow in the forest between the walls and the village proper that was set up for target practice. The other was Training Ground 12, a small grotto set into the far side of Hokage Rock. You're not entirely sure what that one is for but walking near it made your stomach queasy. It had been an easy decision to leave it after five seconds spent in it.
By contrast, Training Ground 18 doesn't make you sick at all. Nor does it seem occupied. It's located far from the village, as far as you can go and not run smack into the walls. The ground beneath you is hilly and uneven. Brief plateaus dot the marked area, but for the most part this entire area is a pain to stand on. Various Mr. Straw's dot the field, hanging limply, arms barely moving against the breeze. If you had to guess this training area is for melee combat on difficult terrain.
But you don't need to worry about that. You just need to punch the dummy.
You stagger through the uneven ground at a slow but steady pace. As you go, you keep your eyes peeled for a Mr. Straw that isn't set in the side of a hill or wobbling back and forth. You need something you can stand on and swing at. You find one a few minutes into your search, set almost in the dead center of what your map says the training ground boundaries are.
Target selected, you stand before it, rear back, and swing.
It is… less than ideal.
The details of your old life are almost completely sanded away by this point. You're more familiar with the children's plays that Mother takes you to than any thoughts of who you used to be. But from what vague things you can dredge up, you were never a fighter. Sure, you may have taken some karate or Tae Kwon Do when you were young, but you never really swung at someone, even a dummy. And even if you did and you just don't remember it… you're five.
Your first strike is pathetic. You swing overhand, the bottom of your flailing fist- thumb inside of course- limply brushing against one of Mr. Straw's arms. You groan, and try again. No better.
But do your strikes need to actually do anything? Maybe you can just poke at the thing and you'll be done. Hurriedly, you pull up your achievement's menu-
-and your face falls. The counter under 'Mr. Straw' hasn't changed at all. It still reads '0/1000 clean strikes landed'. Looks like you're actually going to need to punch the thing.
You try again. This time your arms swings wildly to the side, like it's a rope with a rock attached to it. It's just as effective as your first shot.
Maybe a kick would work better? The thing doesn't say you need to punch it per say, just strike it. You rear back, plant your left foot, and kick out with your right-
And fall over.
Well. This might be more difficult than you had thought it would be.
You push yourself back to your feet and glare at Mr. Straw. The target on his face is wrinkled slightly near where the mouth would be on a person. It looks almost like the dummy is mocking you. You can't have that! You need to wipe the smirk from this fucker's face and your fist is just the thing you need to use!
You swing again- and miss completely.
But this time, it isn't because of your own incompetence or child body.
It's because the sound of someone clearing their throat behind you startles you. Your fist goes wide, and your head smashes into the dummy as you trip over your own feet.
The clean strike counter goes up one. Joy. You can't pay it any attention. You whip your head around and stare at the source of the noise.
You've never seen the throat clearer before. Not in your daily life, not in the pages from your life before. If you had, you doubt you would've forgotten her. She is… well, you don't want to say beautiful. Mother is beautiful. Mother is probably the most gorgeous woman you've ever laid eyes on in two lives. Poets seek Mother out for inspiration. You've seen a woodcut depicting her during tea ceremony that looks like something out a fairy tale. This newcomer is certainly not beautiful. Her jaw is too square, her eyes are set too close together, her eyes are too wrinkled in the corners. What you would call her is 'handsome'. And possibly 'striking'.
Though that last one might be because you've been struck mute by her appraising gaze.
The kunoichi- because of course she's a kunoichi, who else would be at a training ground at this hour- strolls toward you slowly, completely unbothered by the uneven ground. Her sedate pace gives you time to fully look her over. Brown hair, worn in a braid that hangs to the crook of her neck. A hitai-ate tightly bound around one arm. A forest green vest over brown pants and a black shirt, emblazoned with a red spiral on the back. Thick eyebrows. And… is she chewing something? No idea what it is, but she's not swallowing. It's definitely not food.
As you inspect her, she's inspecting you. Finally she strides up next to you. "So, that was some work you did there," she says amiably.
You scowl and stare at the ground. "That's one way to put it," you definitely do not pout.
She chuckles, but her eyes show no laughter. "I never said it was good work," she adds. "Just work." Before you can say anything else, she continues. "So, what's your name little buddy?"
"Um…" you hedge. Sure, Konoha is safe, but even here you're taught the dangers of strangers.
The kunoichi senses your hesitancy. She squats down, meeting your eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry! I don't want to be rude. I should introduce myself first. I'm Okimi." She offers your hand, and you take it on reflex-
Only to flinch away a second later. With her face this close to you, you can smell whatever it is she's chewing, and it's foul.
She frowns for a moment before realizing what's causing your watering eyes. "Oh, sorry," she says. She frowns in effort, and just like that, the smell vanishes, being replaced by a cool minty aroma not unlike gum.
"It's okay," you manage. "I'm Daisuke." What's the worst she can do with just your first name?
"It's nice to meet you Daisuke," she replies. "And what brings you here?"
You open your mouth to answer-
And your jaw hangs there for a moment.
Oh.
Oh shit.
How are you supposed to answer this?!
Let's review. You are standing in the middle of a shinobi training ground. One that isn't anywhere close to the actual village. You can't be here by accident. And you're clearly not someone's kid or a taijutsu prodigy from your display a second ago.
You… you might seem a little suspicious here.
Okimi studies you carefully with blank eyes. You've got to say something! But what?
What do you tell Okimi? What brings you to Training Ground 18?
[] You were walking around the village and found a dummy. You just wanted to punch it. Nothing suspicious about this, honest!
[] You were dared to come out and here and punch the dummy by some other kids! Just a simple childish dare. Nothing out of the ordinary at all!
[] Who is she to question you?! Mother wouldn't tolerate someone suspecting her for anything, and neither will you! Tell her off!
[] You came out here because you've been challenged by an invisible game system to punch Mr. Straw a thousand times in exchange for a shiny badge and a vague reward. Hey, she might think you're crazy, but it's the truth.
[] You'll tell her nothing! Run!
[] Write-In
-------------
A/N: Think very carefully about this one. Remember, you wanted the Very Hard/Insane track.
You don't know exactly what it is, but as you scan the list of available achievements that's the one that jumps out. Maybe it's because it seems reasonably simple. Maybe it's because you should be able to do it fairly quickly. Maybe it's just that you don't want to pee on any walls. But whatever the reason, you ignore the suggested achievements and gravitate towards Mr. Straw.
"Mr. Straw," you read quietly to yourself later that night, when you're supposed to be sleeping. "Combat achievement. 'Friends and training partners come and go, but Mr. Straw is eternal. He stands waiting for you in the training ground, longing for your return and desperate to feel your blows once more. Why are you waiting? Why are you torturing Mr. Straw so? Just punch him. It's what he really wants.' Unlock Condition: land a thousand clean blows on 'Training Dummy: Mr. Straw'. Reward: unknown. Status: locked."
That all seems pretty straight forward. And so the next morning, after you've filled your hunger motive at breakfast, you go wandering out the door on your own.
Leaving the house by yourself isn't exactly a new occurrence. You've been doing it since you turned four. It must be because you live in a shinobi village; otherwise, you doubt Mother would let you off unattended. But Konoha is just that kind of place. Roving gangs of tiny children wander the dirt roads during all hours of sunrise, searching for people to play with and adventures to get up to. And if there's any trouble, there's always a shinobi somewhere within earshot. You're fairly sure that if you ever do something wrong there'll be a full report on it attached to the refrigerator before you're even done doing it.
Still, you've never left this early before, and rarely have you gone anywhere besides Three League Park on your own. Mother might not be the most pleased with you. But you doubt she'd accept "Going to find a training dummy!" as an explanation for where you're headed. Better to just say sorry later. She won't be that mad; she always seems thrilled when you act independent.
With your freedom secured, the second order of business is a little more complicated: finding this 'Mr. Straw'. A shinobi village Konoha might be, but they don't just leave training equipment laying everywhere. There's definitely not one in the Park, and you can't think of any place you've seen them for sale. You've got to think logically about this. You can't afford to spend the entire day poking your head around everywhere just trying to find a straw dummy to hit; with the size of Konoha, that could take years!
And logic dictates that a training dummy would be in a place where training happens. Two locations spring to mind: the Academy and the Training Grounds.
The Academy is your first stop for one simple reason. Namely, you know where it is. It's honestly hard to miss. Though it might be a simple looking building of older design, it's built into the heart of the village. On one side is the Hokage Tower. On the other is the Hospital. Which makes sense in a tactical way; you only want to have to defend so much area if battle breaks out. Having all the core buildings in one small niche would allow defenders to focus their efforts. And with it's surroundings, the simplicity of the Academy that might make it blend in somewhere else in the village makes it stand out like a sore thumb against the pure ivory of the Hokage Tower and the grey stone of the Hospital.
It takes almost no time at all for you to trot across the village from your home to the Academy. Unfortunately, the little time you took is still time wasted. You're not allowed into the building proper- you're not a shinobi after all- and the few dummies you can see are all wood. There's even a little nameplate hanging over each of their heads: Mr. Plank. No Mr. Straws here.
Which is annoying. Finding Mr. Straw at the academy would have made this a piece of cake. But now you'll have to go looking through the Training Grounds.
That is, if you can find them.
You know they exist. You've read the manga. You've watched the anime. There's an achievement for clearing one in your list for god's sake! You know that there are places in Konoha that shinobi use to hone their skills. But this is a shinobi village. The locations of the training grounds aren't marked on any map. There's no guidebook listing their locations.
You can assume two things. One: the training grounds are fairly far away from any concentrations of civilians. It'd be hard to keep the location of your training ground secret if anyone can hear the explosions from your practice anymore. Two: they're inside the walls somewhere, at least most of them. It wouldn't be practical to train away from the village; shinobi have to be ready to accept mission at any time.
So far away from the predominantly civilian areas, but still in the village. That at least cuts down your search area. You set your jaw, make sure your shoes are tightly laced, and set out into the hunt.
***
Seven hours later, you're hungry. You're tired. Your comfort motive is dropping dangerously towards the red. Your shoes are too tight and you're pretty sure you're going to have a blister in the morning.
But you found it. You found Mr. Straw. He's sitting on a post in the middle of Training Ground 18. At least, that's where you are according to your map.
Not only did you find Training Ground 18, it isn't even the first training ground you located! It's your third. The first was Training Ground 4, a small meadow in the forest between the walls and the village proper that was set up for target practice. The other was Training Ground 12, a small grotto set into the far side of Hokage Rock. You're not entirely sure what that one is for but walking near it made your stomach queasy. It had been an easy decision to leave it after five seconds spent in it.
By contrast, Training Ground 18 doesn't make you sick at all. Nor does it seem occupied. It's located far from the village, as far as you can go and not run smack into the walls. The ground beneath you is hilly and uneven. Brief plateaus dot the marked area, but for the most part this entire area is a pain to stand on. Various Mr. Straw's dot the field, hanging limply, arms barely moving against the breeze. If you had to guess this training area is for melee combat on difficult terrain.
But you don't need to worry about that. You just need to punch the dummy.
You stagger through the uneven ground at a slow but steady pace. As you go, you keep your eyes peeled for a Mr. Straw that isn't set in the side of a hill or wobbling back and forth. You need something you can stand on and swing at. You find one a few minutes into your search, set almost in the dead center of what your map says the training ground boundaries are.
Target selected, you stand before it, rear back, and swing.
It is… less than ideal.
The details of your old life are almost completely sanded away by this point. You're more familiar with the children's plays that Mother takes you to than any thoughts of who you used to be. But from what vague things you can dredge up, you were never a fighter. Sure, you may have taken some karate or Tae Kwon Do when you were young, but you never really swung at someone, even a dummy. And even if you did and you just don't remember it… you're five.
Your first strike is pathetic. You swing overhand, the bottom of your flailing fist- thumb inside of course- limply brushing against one of Mr. Straw's arms. You groan, and try again. No better.
But do your strikes need to actually do anything? Maybe you can just poke at the thing and you'll be done. Hurriedly, you pull up your achievement's menu-
-and your face falls. The counter under 'Mr. Straw' hasn't changed at all. It still reads '0/1000 clean strikes landed'. Looks like you're actually going to need to punch the thing.
You try again. This time your arms swings wildly to the side, like it's a rope with a rock attached to it. It's just as effective as your first shot.
Maybe a kick would work better? The thing doesn't say you need to punch it per say, just strike it. You rear back, plant your left foot, and kick out with your right-
And fall over.
Well. This might be more difficult than you had thought it would be.
You push yourself back to your feet and glare at Mr. Straw. The target on his face is wrinkled slightly near where the mouth would be on a person. It looks almost like the dummy is mocking you. You can't have that! You need to wipe the smirk from this fucker's face and your fist is just the thing you need to use!
You swing again- and miss completely.
But this time, it isn't because of your own incompetence or child body.
It's because the sound of someone clearing their throat behind you startles you. Your fist goes wide, and your head smashes into the dummy as you trip over your own feet.
The clean strike counter goes up one. Joy. You can't pay it any attention. You whip your head around and stare at the source of the noise.
You've never seen the throat clearer before. Not in your daily life, not in the pages from your life before. If you had, you doubt you would've forgotten her. She is… well, you don't want to say beautiful. Mother is beautiful. Mother is probably the most gorgeous woman you've ever laid eyes on in two lives. Poets seek Mother out for inspiration. You've seen a woodcut depicting her during tea ceremony that looks like something out a fairy tale. This newcomer is certainly not beautiful. Her jaw is too square, her eyes are set too close together, her eyes are too wrinkled in the corners. What you would call her is 'handsome'. And possibly 'striking'.
Though that last one might be because you've been struck mute by her appraising gaze.
The kunoichi- because of course she's a kunoichi, who else would be at a training ground at this hour- strolls toward you slowly, completely unbothered by the uneven ground. Her sedate pace gives you time to fully look her over. Brown hair, worn in a braid that hangs to the crook of her neck. A hitai-ate tightly bound around one arm. A forest green vest over brown pants and a black shirt, emblazoned with a red spiral on the back. Thick eyebrows. And… is she chewing something? No idea what it is, but she's not swallowing. It's definitely not food.
As you inspect her, she's inspecting you. Finally she strides up next to you. "So, that was some work you did there," she says amiably.
You scowl and stare at the ground. "That's one way to put it," you definitely do not pout.
She chuckles, but her eyes show no laughter. "I never said it was good work," she adds. "Just work." Before you can say anything else, she continues. "So, what's your name little buddy?"
"Um…" you hedge. Sure, Konoha is safe, but even here you're taught the dangers of strangers.
The kunoichi senses your hesitancy. She squats down, meeting your eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry! I don't want to be rude. I should introduce myself first. I'm Okimi." She offers your hand, and you take it on reflex-
Only to flinch away a second later. With her face this close to you, you can smell whatever it is she's chewing, and it's foul.
She frowns for a moment before realizing what's causing your watering eyes. "Oh, sorry," she says. She frowns in effort, and just like that, the smell vanishes, being replaced by a cool minty aroma not unlike gum.
"It's okay," you manage. "I'm Daisuke." What's the worst she can do with just your first name?
"It's nice to meet you Daisuke," she replies. "And what brings you here?"
You open your mouth to answer-
And your jaw hangs there for a moment.
Oh.
Oh shit.
How are you supposed to answer this?!
Let's review. You are standing in the middle of a shinobi training ground. One that isn't anywhere close to the actual village. You can't be here by accident. And you're clearly not someone's kid or a taijutsu prodigy from your display a second ago.
You… you might seem a little suspicious here.
Okimi studies you carefully with blank eyes. You've got to say something! But what?
What do you tell Okimi? What brings you to Training Ground 18?
[] You were walking around the village and found a dummy. You just wanted to punch it. Nothing suspicious about this, honest!
[] You were dared to come out and here and punch the dummy by some other kids! Just a simple childish dare. Nothing out of the ordinary at all!
[] Who is she to question you?! Mother wouldn't tolerate someone suspecting her for anything, and neither will you! Tell her off!
[] You came out here because you've been challenged by an invisible game system to punch Mr. Straw a thousand times in exchange for a shiny badge and a vague reward. Hey, she might think you're crazy, but it's the truth.
[] You'll tell her nothing! Run!
[] Write-In
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A/N: Think very carefully about this one. Remember, you wanted the Very Hard/Insane track.
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