took one, giant, appreciative slurp.
I'm not that big a fan of ramen, but Ichiraku's was perfection. "Thank you, it's delicious!"
"You're welcome," Ayame replied with a smile. "So how's being a Genin?"
"It's about what I expected," I replied, looking up to maintain eye contact. "Just doing yard work and chores on behalf of Konoha to build up discipline and get used to the mission system. Nothing too fancy."
I even remembered to switch which eye I was looking into every couple of seconds.
This is awesome!
"Oh yeah?" Ayame asked, actually looking right back into my eyes. "I hear a lot of new Genin who come in here and they sound really disappointed."
"I think a lot of them were expecting to dive into the covert operations right away," I answered with a shrug. "You know, assassinate foreign Daimyo's, stealing scrolls of forbidden Jutsu from the other villages, that stuff?"
Ayame nodded. "I think it's the instructors fault. They just go on and on about how important Shinobi are to defending the Land of Fire and tell stories about missions they had to perform and it just gets their hopes up."
"They've got to be doing it on purpose," I replied.
"I know." Ayame shook her head in exasperation and then coming right back to that eye contact I was trying so hard to maintain. "Imagine my surprise when my old classmates came into the ramen stand and told me that their first mission was to hunt down a lost cat."
"The Daimyo's wife?" I asked with a grin.
"Yes!" She snapped. "I remember Hiroyasu was so mad because it scratched his face up really bad."
"That cat just hates being touched," I said with a smirk. Thankfully, I knew to pick it up by the scruff of its neck; induced paralysis in felines, so no scratches. "So what was that about your old classmates?"
"Oh," She immediately stopped, rubbing the back of her neck. "I had to drop out of the Academy to help with the stand."
"Really? I almost dropped out myself a couple of times," I replied truthfully. Those failed checks had a way of really grating on your nerves. "What happened?"
"Well," Ayame started, looking down. Then she looked back up to me and I resumed eye-contact. "My Mom passed. Illness. Doctors said they couldn't do anything, so when she didn't get better, Dad needed help."
"I'm so sorry," I said, as sympathetically as I could. "Losing someone like that has got to be hard."
"It was," Ayame said quietly. "My Dad and I are really close now, but I still miss her."
I nodded. This conversation was making me wonder how my family took my own death so long ago. Mom must've been heartbroken. "Tell me about her."
She got this fond, nostalgic smile on her face.
"Mom taught me how to cook while I was growing up," Ayame began. "She fell for Dad when he shared with her his secret recipe and they just hit it off from there. I remember she'd let me help stretch out the dough to make noodles and would let me stir the pot while I sat on her lap."
"That sounds awesome," I said with a smile of my own. "Must've been hard to stop you from burning yourself."
"I only burnt myself once," She said, her smile getting wider. "Mom and Dad would always tell me, 'don't touch the stove', 'the fires burning, don't touch it'...and then I touched it."
I just smirked.
"But I learned my lesson," Ayame finished with a nostalgic sigh. "Don't touch a hot stove."
"That's what ladles are for," I replied quickly.
"I know, right?" Ayame said, her smile turning enthusiastic.
I took another slurp of noodles and she broke eye contact to stir the pots she was nursing on the burners beneath the counter.
Ayame's awesome. I mean, really. What a girl! Such a shame about her Mom. Wait, I came here for a reason...oh, right.
"Ayame, can I get your advice on something?" I asked.
"Sure!" Ayame said, flashing me a bright smile. "What did you need?"
"A few weeks ago," I began, not actually sure how long ago it was but it was before I got assigned to a team. But that didn't matter. "Naruto came up to me and complained about how he couldn't get a hang of his Chakra control. We'd gone over it before, and I reminded him that I'd given him several exercises which would improve his control. He told me that I was no help and left."
"Okay," Ayame slowly nodded. "So you want me to help you understand what's going on with Naruto?"
"Yes," I said with a nod.
Ayame turned a burner off. "The first thing you need to understand is that Naruto does not want help. Your help, in particular."
I blinked and frowned. "I hope you're going to explain."
"I am," Ayame replied. "Naruto's biggest dream is to become Hokage. That way people will respect him and look up to him. In order to become Hokage, you need to be the strongest Ninja in the village."
I made a finger-tent and leaned forward as I processed her explanation.
"In his eyes, his biggest competition for the role of Hokage," Ayame began, pointing at me. "Is you."
"But I don't want the hat," I protested.
"Alright." Ayame nodded. "But does Naruto know that?"
"I've told him a couple times," I said. Whenever he brought up his dream of being Hokage, I told him to go for it because I sure as heck didn't want the position.
"That helps," Ayame said. "But I don't think it matters. See, you graduated three years early, acing the exam. Naruto tells me that you do everything you try perfectly the first time. He even tells me you cracked the tree-walking technique on your own. That's incredible."
"Thank you," I replied with a smirk. "But it's why Naruto sees me as competition?"
"Maybe not competition," Ayame amended, putting a finger to her lip in an oddly cute way. "More like a goal. A mountain to climb over and surpass. Does that make sense?"
"Well, this mountain wants to help him get his goal," I replied with a shrug.
"And that's really cool of you," Ayame said. "But the thing is, you suggested training. Naruto doesn't think training works."
"He doesn't," I said with a frown. "Why is that?"
"Because he never really saw you train," Ayame pointed out. "He said that the only thing you'd ever do when you got home from the Academy was curl up with a book."
...oh crap.
"Is that true?" Ayame asked.
"It's true," I answered. "I never really needed to train, I just understand things and can put them into practice."
"Well, he thinks that if you don't have to train, he doesn't have to train," Ayame explained. "And you telling him he needs to train rubs him the wrong way. He thinks you have some super special secret that lets you just get it right away."
"I mean, I do," I said with a shrug. "It's my Kekkei Genkai. But Naruto doesn't have my Kekkei Genkai."
Well, I can't just go saying I'm a video game character, the people in the Elemental Nations don't even have a context for what that is. But me having a Kekkei Genkai has to be on record now.
"Then you need to tell him that as soon as you can," Ayame said. "Because aside from being unable to cast the Duplication Jutsu, he passes all the other parts of his test."
...him becoming a Genin while thinking he doesn't need to train would be a really bad thing. Impossibly bad. Isn't Naruto supposed to be the Champion of Hard Work? I mean, he does have the Kyuubi inside him to provide him with endless endurance, great genetics by being the Son of the Fourth Hokage and...probably some other stuff that I don't know yet.
Okay, all of his talk in canon about hard work was nonsense, but at least his heart was in the right place. Unlike here, where he had me to show just how unnecessary hard work was if you've got the right tools in your corner.
"Yeah, I'll take care of that next time I see him," I said with a nod. "I haven't seen him since that talk, though."
"He comes here pretty often." Ayame looked around and, unfortunately, an orange-jump suited blonde did not magically appear like he was summoned. "Usually after the Academy lets out for the day."
"Oh, I'm late," I replied.
"He'll be here tomorrow," Ayame replied with a nod.
I finished my bowl in a single, large slurp. "Thanks, Ayame-san. You've been a big help."
"You're welcome," Ayame said with a smile. "Any time."
I stood up to leave.
"And Daisuke?" Ayame said. Turned and she had an odd smile. "Thank you. Not many people really ask about me."
"Well, they're missing out."
Charisma Check Success: 6/6.
She's been wanting to get that stuff about her mother off her chest for a while.
* * *
"Daisuke?" Hisako asked, rubbing her eyes. "Is that you?"
We had met in front of Training Ground 3, the sun having barely finished rising up over the horizon. It was early and I found the cool breeze of the forest really extremely refreshing. Hisako, to her credit, didn't even look tired.
"Yeah," I said with a nod, glad my teammate at least recognized me on sight. "I increased the strength of my henge."
"Your henge?" Hisako got confused for a second. Then her face lit up in understanding. "Oh, right. I forgot you wore that thing."
"That's a good thing. Still," I began, giving her a thumbs up. "You like it?"
"I do," Hisako replied with a smile. "You look good. Really blue, though."
Before I could answer, she got this odd startled expression on her face. "The blue's good, though! It looks good. I like it."
Charisma Check Failure: 6/7.
That's really annoying.
"I do too," I replied, trying to keep the irritation at my failed check from seeping into my voice. "But it is way too blue. I'm thinking of getting more stuff to add onto it just to break it up."
"You don't have too," Hisako said hurriedly. "I was just saying, it's a lot of blue. But it looks really good."
"And I was just saying, I need to break it up," I said with a frown, looking at the sandals which were a brighter shade of blue and clashed horribly with my outfit. "It doesn't look the way I want it to."
"Well okay," Hisako was nodding rapidly. "As long as you want to, that's good."
"Wait, Daisuke?" That was Nichiren showing up, just a minute late. He, on the other hand, looked tired, with light bags under his eyes. "That is you, wow! You look different."
"He increased the strength of his henge," Hisako immediately said.
"Increased the strength of what?" Nichiren asked. A yawn overcame him and he raised the back of his hand to cover his mouth.
"My henge," I replied with a frown. "I wear a henge to cover up looking like a statue."
"Wait, really?" Nichiren asked. "I had no idea. I mean, wait...yeah I did. But I forgot."
"I consider that a good thing," I said, deadpan. "How long do you think Kakashi-sensei is going to be late by this time?"
"That's very disrespectful, Daisuke," Hisako said, folding her arms.
"Yeah. But seriously, how long?"
"We've got two hours at least."
"Money's on five," Nichiren countered, yawning again. "He seemed kind of depressed before he took off."
"How can you tell?" I asked with bewilderment.
"You can see it in his eye," Nichiren replied. "It seemed kind of glazed over and it was half closed, looking down. That means he'll be a while."
"Do we even know why he's late all the time?" Hisako asked. "I don't care how much he insists, getting lost on the road of life does not mean being five hours late to a meeting. We've got things to do!"
He went to the memorial stone all the time and was late because of it. The death of his team really hit him hard. I wonder if there was a way to undo that, actually. I mean, chakra can pretty much do anything and I remember people being pissed because the end of a Shippuden arc involved a mass resurrection.
I had no details though, I was watching it from the outside as someone who couldn't get into Shippuden. I only watched the first season of the English dub. Thankfully, I kept my English skills sharp by writing all of my notes down in my old, forgotten language.
Also made decrypting my notes a nightmare for anyone who manages to get a hold of them.
Hisako groaned in irritation. "Do either of you have a way to pass the time?"
"You bring any poetry?" I asked. I had been curious ever since Kakashi-sensei had squeezed that little secret out of her.
Hisako immediately went pink. "What? No, no, no. Nope, uh-uh. It's not even that good, why would I bring any?"
"I just curious," I replied with a shrug. "I never got into poetry myself, so I was wondering if you'd share."
"Nope," Hisako shook her head. "Sorry, not sharing. It's just something dumb I do while I'm waiting at home. I'm not even all that passionate about it."
She really is down on her poetry. "Well, I'd still like to hear you read it."
"Never."
I blinked. "Okay."
As confusing as it was, I understood. You write something or you work on something for a long time, put your heart and soul into something and then you deliver it to something, someone that you care about and the idea that they hate it? It's easier to give it to the ghosts on the internet that know nothing about you and will never know. Then it's just message in a bottle drifting in an ocean of messages in bottles.
"What kind of poetry do you write?" Nichiren asked.
"Listen, Nichiren," Hisako began with a glare. "My poems are not that good. Stop asking for them!"
"Oh, haiku," I identified with a nod.
"That was on the spot too," Nichiren said with a happy smile. "Impressive!"
"It's not a Haiku!" Hisako snapped.
"The morae was on point, though," Nichiren responded with a frown.
"Getting Nichiren to stop and your claim of your poems lack of quality make up the Kiru," I added, thinking more on it. "Only thing missing is the Kigo."
She glared at both of us sputtering to get more words out, only to sit down and bring her knees up to her chest with a loud, embarrassed groan.
Nichiren and I kind of just kept going; teasing her was turning out to be kind of fun.
"Well, actually, getting to stop asking for her poems is like trying to – I don't know," Nichiren gave up with a shrug. "I forgot where I was going with that."
I was hopeless there too.
Charisma Check Failure: 6/7.
Shut up, game.
Hisako groaned and hid her face in her knees. Then she looked up. "You don't need a Kigo to make a Haiku anymore."
"Oh, so it was a Haiku," I replied with a nod.
Hisako took a breath. "Yes, you were correct. My poetry is private, so please just stop it."
Now she has to be doing it on purpose. But I can take a hint, even if it annoys me.
"Hey, another one!" Nichiren said with a grin.
Hisako face-palmed.
"Sorry," Nichiren said sheepishly.
After that, we kind of just fell into silence. Nichiren and I were smart, bringing books to read. Nichiren brought a battlefield tactics manual, which his eyes were glued too. I brought a cookbook. Because if I had to eat to restore my HP, I was going to make something delicious to take away from the pain of being injured.
I think dango were going to be my favorite dessert; they reminded me of doughnut holes. On a stick!
…
On a steek.
I chuckled at my little private reference. That jalapeno was funny.
As the sun rose higher and higher into the sky, Kakashi still had not shown. I had just gotten through this incredible recipe for Duck. I haven't actually had duck yet, most of my bird experience was with Chicken. The fried kind. From Kentucky.
I understand it's good though!
Eventually, though, my food-related musings came to an end as Kakashi finally showed up.
"Sorry I'm late, my cute little Genin," Kakashi said, pointing to the road behind him. "Someone turned the map in my apartment upside down so I was walking the wrong way for most of the morning."
"Was most of that time spent finding the guy who broke into your apartment?" I asked, standing up and putting my cookbook into the storage scrolls.
"Sensei, we know you're always going to be late," Hisako grumbled. "It's okay, just please just stop trying to give us dumb excuses."
"But I'm-" Kakashi's eye turned very sharp, looking me up and down as I walked up. "Daisuke? You look different."
"Yeah, I increased the power of my henge," I said automatically.
"You mean you put together a more natural disguise," Kakashi replied.
"Yeah, that's what I meant," I said with a nod.
"Well, it looks good," He said with an eye-smile. "Now, I've got a mission for us today. Another D-rank, but this time, we're cleaning a house."
"Oh, I thought we had already covered all the household chores with our D-ranks," Hisako said with a frown. "Guess I forgot one."
"Who are we cleaning it for?" Nichiren asked.
"That's a great question, Nichiren-kun," Kakashi eye-smiled. "There's a wealthy business man who lived in Konoha, he's moved out and is selling his mansion. But before he starts showing it to potential buyers, he wants it cleaned spotlessly."
"A mansion," I asked with a small, wistful smile. "I wonder if I could buy it…"
"I mean, you could," Kakashi began with an eye-smile, rubbing the top of my head. "We've done enough D-ranks by now, right?"
Not even close. "Right, it was a dumb question. So are we following you?"
"Yes you are," Kakashi said. "We might be there a while, though, so I hope you brought lunch. It's a big house."
"I brought snacks," Nichiren said, unzipping his fanny-pack and withdrawing a large pack of protein bars. "We'll be fine."
"Nice," Hisako said, standing up. "Let's get this done quick."
"Another day, another mission," I said with a smile.
Quest Added: Nevermore.
Follow Kakashi to the house.
...wait.
That's not a procedurally generated, random D-rank quest.
That is an actual quest. A quest with a story, characters and more importantly, enemies. As in, this D-rank which we have right here is going to be our first actual combat encounter. At least it's going to be really, really likely.
And that title is really ominous.
I thought this was supposed to be Naruto; things aren't supposed to go off the rails until C-rank missions, not D! This is madness! This is insanity! Hisako and Nichiren aren't ready for a real fight and in Konoha's own walls?
"Daisuke are you okay?" Kakashi asked, his eye growing narrow.
"Uh…" I froze. How exactly do I explain that I just got a quest update that told me that this mission is going to be much harder than advertised. "I've...just got a really bad feeling about this mission."
Speech Check Failure: 34/45.
Ah crap.
Kakashi actually looked kind of perturbed. "It's just a house. Are you afraid of abandoned mansions or something?"
"No," I said with a frown. "Just...I don't know, just forget it."
Kakashi glared down at me for half a second, then shrugged. "Alright. Just follow me."
Hisako looked at me oddly and muttered. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I think we'll be fine," I said, trying to force a smile. "Just a flash of nerves is all."
Charisma Check Success: 6/6.
"Well, don't worry," Hisako said kindly. "We'll be there the whole time. Promise."
"Yeah," Nichiren nodded quickly. "Besides, we've got Copy-Wheel Kakashi with us and we're in the middle of Konoha."
He's right, it can't be that bad.
"What could possibly go wrong?"
NICHIREN YOU FOOL!
* * *
Name: Shimoda Daisuke
HP: 225
Chakra: 85.
Strength: 4.
Perception: 5.
Endurance: 5.
Charisma: 6(+5).
Intelligence: 10.
Agility: 5.
Luck: 10.
Taijutsu: 80
Melee Weapons: 15
Ranged Weapons: 29
Genjutsu: 29
Ninjutsu: 29
Speech: 34 (+10)
Pick Lock: 17
Fuinjutsu: 30
Medicine: 27
Survival: 33
Chakra Control: 92.
Perks:
Taijutsu Enthusiast.
Comprehension.
Educated.
* * *
Author's Note: Chapter 4. I'm noticing that this is way more compressed than the first draft. I like it, less meandering around and I can just get into the nitty-gritty. I hope you all don't mind the brief detour I took with Ayame's mother, I wanted to show off how Daisuke's increased Charisma benefited him and help explain just how contrived the first drafts set-up with the Charisma was.
Another thing I noted was I was able to show off more of Hisako's added depth. In the first draft, I didn't even mention Hisako's love of poetry until the second act, here its a part of her character from the get-go. I hope that's not intrusive, I just think it adds a nice touch to have the Sasuke of the group to have such a lyrical hobby, while also letting it be subtle enough to actually fit such an archetype.
Shout out goes out too Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven, Handwran, Russel Beatrous and Richard Whereat. Your unwavering support makes this possible.
Until the next time!
~Fulcon
Nevermore - Room Full of Crazy
View in Thread

FulconWorking on it! Promise!
Joined:May 1, 2019Messages:564Likes Received:5,976
The Following is a fan based work of fiction: Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden are owned by Shueisha, Viz Entertainment and Masashi Kishimoto. Please support the official release.
* * *
The house blended in so well with Konoha's architecture that I never would've guessed it was a mansion. It had more in common with an apartment building, and maybe that's what it was at one point before getting bought and remodeled.
"I'm just saying," Nichiren-baka began, sounding pretty annoyed. "That's a stupid superstition and you all know it."
I know that you said the cursed phrase and this is a video game.
Well, I'm a video game. The rest of you are manga characters, which isn't any better.
"Normally I'd agree with you, Nichiren," Kakashi replied neutrally. "But I've seen, first hand, that superstition play out."
"Well, I haven't," Nichiren said crossly. "Well, except when I'm Mission Mastering for my friends."
"Mission what?" Hisako asked with a chuckle.
"It's a Shinobi and Shuriken thing," Nichiren answered enthusiastically. "I usually Mission Master and when they say something like that I try to punish them that session for it."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because it's a game and I enjoy making my players suffer."
"Is that why you have no friends?" I asked with a glare.
"Daisuke!" Hisako clapped me on the arm with the back of her fingers.
See, I prefer to PC in campaigns, and every single time I had a disagreement or bad time with the game, it was with the Dungeon Master. Because they seem to think my characters should be responsible for the apocolypse.
Nichiren glared. "Hey, I have friends! Lots of friends! Just none of them are Ninja."
Okay that was a little harsh. Sure, he probably doomed this mission and all our lives by invoking the raw, unfiltered power of Murphy who is cackling down at us and rubbing his hands together in anticipation, but I didn't need to exacerbate the issue.
I'll apologize once we make it out alive.
"Daisuke," Kakashi said with annoyance. "You need to watch your tongue. Especially on missions. If the team isn't working together because of unnecessary drama, it could cost lives."
I know that, you- "Yes, Sensei."
"Now apologize."
"Sorry, Nichiren."
Charisma Check Success: 6/4.
"Good," Kakashi nodded, sounding satisfied. He knocked on the mansion door and it was quickly opened.
At the door stood an older gentleman. His hair was done up in a top-knot and he wore a formal kimono. He was clean shaven. Beneath the kimono he was a really skinny man, but that didn't mean anything.
Basically, he was the picture of a stereotypical Land of Fire butler. Which is probably what he was.
"Ah, Hatake-san," the man said with a bow. "A pleasure to meet you."
We all bowed back.
"That's right," Kakashi replied. "You must be Nagahama-san."
"And this must be your Genin team," He said, looking at all of us with a smile. "Come in, come in."
The mansion was empty. We came to a massive great-room and there was nothing. No furniture, not even a chair. The carpet was a light gray, making the whole house seem like it was made of concrete. No, wait. Not completely empty, there were cleaning supplies piled up in that corner there.
"The house itself is mostly clean," The butler said. "The only things left are the windows and the master bedroom. The basement has some rats that need to be cleared out."
He handed Kakashi the key. "Once you're done, please leave and lock up. We have a team of Realtor's ready to sell the mansion back to Konoha in a few weeks."
"Why in a few weeks?" I immediately asked.
"I do not know," Nagahama replied. "He was also emphatic that I must not return once the mansion was clean. The master of the house was always very eccentric. I would finish the cleaning myself, but I must report to my new position in two hours."
Oh, scheduling conflict. Perfectly explains why he had to hire us.
I'm even more suspicious now.
"Do you know where he is living now?" Kakashi asked.
"He neglected to say." He turned to the door. "Please do not stay overlong. This house has always made me quite nervous and I am glad to be leaving it. Thank you for taking this mission."
Oh no.
"You're welcome," Kakashi said.
We bid the butler farewell and he left immediately without another word. Immediately, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up straight.
I'm going with my gut here and saying that something is wrong.
Quest Updated: Nevermore.
Completed: Follow Kakashi to the House.
Clear the basement of rats.
"Alright," Kakashi began, rubbing his hands together. "Nichiren and Hisako, you both go up to the master bedroom and clean it up. I'll wash the windows. Daisuke, take care of the rats in the basement."
Thank you, 10 Luck.
"Wait, do we have to clean the bathroom?" Hisako immediately asked.
"Yup!" Kakashi eye-smiled. "The sooner you get it done, the sooner you don't have to smell whatever atrocities have been left up there."
"Aw man," Nichiren replied, following Hisako with his shoulders slumped over to the cleaning supplies.
I looked around. "Where is the basement?"
Kakashi stopped. "Huh, that would've been good to ask him."
"He seemed like he was in a hurry," I said with a frown. "I blame the jinx."
"Daisuke," Kakashi rubbed his sole eye.
"I'm serious!" I said throwing my hands up in wild gestures. "There is something wrong with this house. Even the butler said so!"
And butlers are usually closet murderers, if you believe the movies.
"Look, Daisuke," Kakashi said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you. I can keep an eye on all three of you from here. The second anything happens, I'll be there. Okay?"
I took a breath. Kakashi was an awesome Sensei, even if all the training he had me do was ultimately useless. "Yes, Sensei."
"Good," Kakashi said with a smile.
"I guess I'll go find the basement, then," I said, walking toward a small hallway that went off into a shadow. Hisako and Nichiren were walking up the stairs.
"I think the master bedroom is the one with these massive double doors," Hisako said. I heard the click of a doorknob as she pushed the door open. "Yeah, here it is."
Nice.
The doorway to the basement didn't have a door, just a set of empty hinges and a long stairway to the concrete.
Huh, the basement wasn't finished. Well, okay then. You'd think a super wealthy individual would do that. Guess not, this time.
I slowly walked down the stairs, trying to avoid making sounds with my steps. My boots rested on the concrete when I came to the bottom and I looked around. The window wells let sunlight in through the windows.
My lips were pressed into a thin and anxious line as I looked both ways, trying to find the basement monster that surely lived here. To make it less nerve wracking that I went into the basement of a clearly haunted house, I flipped the light switch.
To my surprise, the lights worked, casting a yellow glow onto the empty room.
With that, I got to work.
The rats were all hidden in little tunnels they made in the insulation. To my dismay, killing them offered no EXP, of which I felt fairly starved. Sure, I was only a few weeks into my service as a Genin but I shouldn't still only be level 6.
Quest Updated: Nevermore.
Completed: Clear the basement of rats.
Reunite with your team.
It was at that very second that I heard a shrill, ear-piercing scream come from upstairs and I bolted. Hisako had apparently found something and if she dies, I'm never forgiving myself!
Hurriedly, I got to the top and wrapped around to the second stair case, going up three floors until I came to the massive double doors that lead to the master bedroom. Turning right through the last set of doors and I came to the bathroom, with a large stepladder having folded out from the ceiling that was way to high for a non-Ninja to get to.
I'm sensing that this was a monster in the attic, not a basement monster.
My final ascent and I joined my team in the attic. There was Hisako, Nichiren and Kakashi-sensei, all standing ahead of me and in the attic.
...oh boy.
Hanging from the rafters were bodies. Human bodies. Three of them on the left, two on the right. Hung from the rafters, they were naked and disemboweled, with blood having dripped and dried on the attic floor. The smell of death, a rancid and stomach churning miasma hung in the air and I had to suppress the urge to vomit.
On the support beams for the roof and on the floor, there was writing. The ravings of a madman, begging for forgiveness, saying that he had done grievous wrong...I had seen a couple of room full of crazies on TV, but experiencing them was something else.
I almost threw up.
Almost.
"What happened?" I asked once I swallowed my vomit, leaving a burning feeling in my throat.
"I smelled something disgusting in the bathroom," Nichiren, who did vomit, turned to tell us. "But it wasn't coming from the toilet and we couldn't get rid of it no matter how hard we scrubbed, so Hisako decided to look up here."
"This merchant guy is obviously an insane murderer," Hisako said with a gasp, she having been holding her breath.
Don't blame her, the smell is death.
Kakashi turned to me, not even phased by this display of death. "Daisuke, did you know something about this?"
"No, I didn't know anything," I replied, shaking my head rapidly. "This is all news to me."
Charisma Check Success: 6/3.
Kakashi closed his eye, and opened it again. "Okay, but what did you know?"
I make a questioning noise.
"After I told you about this mission, you went pale as a ghost," Kakashi explained. "So you might not have known about this, you did know something."
Hisako and Nichiren were both looking at me without saying anything.
...well...I mean, it had to come out sooner or later. I guess. Maybe I can just tell them some chunks.
"I didn't want to say anything because I wasn't sure you'd believe me," I began, shuffling uncomfortably where I stood. "Because it's weird."
"Well, let's get out of this attic to someplace we can talk," Kakashi started, looking back at the insanity Hisako found in the attic. "Daisuke, I can promise you, I won't let anything happen to you."
See, I believe you, but the Hokage's word is law and he might be more than a little freaked out by my quest notifications.
It was at that second, the stepladder that lead up to the attic snapped shut and then I heard movement. From down below. Not a little movement, not a medium amount of movement, but a lot of movement. As if the world itself shifted beneath the attic we were standing in.
"Sensei?" Hisako asked quietly.
Kakashi-sensei walked over to the door and stomped on it. It fell open and his eye started to bug out of it's socket.
I ran over and saw...oh.
That's not good.
Instead of a bathroom, it was a hallway. A concrete hallway with a blood trail across the floor, as if someone was being dragged across the floor.
Well, I'm annoyed. I thought I signed up to play Fallout, not Amnesia.
And I'm beyond terrified, but that goes without saying.
Kakashi pulled his Hitai-ate up, revealing his crimson Sharingan. He looked into my eyes, and crouched down. "Okay, change of plans. Daisuke, tell me everything you know."
"I don't know anything, that's the truth," I replied rapidly. "I only knew this mission was going to be really hard."
"Okay," Kakashi nodded. "How?"
"When I get missions, I get a text notification," I was full-on explaining at full speed and there was nothing I could do to stop it. "The mission gets a name and I get a to-do list on how to complete the mission."
Kakashi didn't say anything.
"So what made this mission different?" Nichiren asked quietly.
"Usually, the missions are labeled D-Rank: Weeding at Yoshimitsu's or something," I said. "You know, very bland names that don't say anything."
"But this one was different?" Kakashi asked, turning my head to look into my eye with the Sharingan again.
"Yeah," I nodded.
"What was it called?"
"Nevermore," I said, then froze.
I just used it's English name. Why do I even get quests in English? What's a good translation? Crap, crap, crap, craaaaaaaap…
Kakashi repeated the title, sounding confused with that thick accent I knew he'd have if he ever tried to pronounce an English word. "Is that some kind of code?"
"Yes!" I said with relief. "It's code. The code I get all my notifications in."
Because when you think about it, all language is code.
Charisma Check Success: 6/6.
Speech Check Failure: 34/40.
Oh come on, game.
"And what is it code for?" Kakashi asked, his eye narrowing.
I provided him with the direct translation for the expression 'never again'. Less poetic, but clarity was more important than panache. "I don't know why it's named the way it is."
"It's probably just a mission naming convention," Kakashi explained. "Broken Steel, Point Lookout, Wolf Queen? All names for actual missions and combat actions I've been on."
Wait, shoot. He's just providing me with a perfect explanation for everything. Thank you, Luck Stat!
"So what does your to-do list tell you to do right now?" Kakashi asked.
"It told me to reunite with my team," I told him with absolute honesty. "It hasn't updated yet."
"Why not?"
"Because we haven't finished with this conversation yet," I replied immediately. "It's finnicky like that."
Kakashi's single eye blinked. "Alright. Is there anything else about this mission we need to know?"
"Aside from the title, this mission is just as much a mystery to me as it is to you," I told. "That is the honest truth. I've got no idea what's waiting for us."
Kakashi sighed, then stood up. "Listen up. Normally, a team has to wait to leave the village for a mission to go completely sideways like this. I guess we're unlucky."
I was not going to point out that Nichiren jinxed us again; it wouldn't help.
But I wanted to.
"Just keep calm, follow orders and don't try to be a hero," Kakashi directed with the decisiveness of a veteran. "Once we leave the house, the ANBU is going to go over the whole place with toothbrush's to figure out how this place wound up in the middle of Konoha the way it is."
Ooh, making our escape seem guaranteed from the outset. He is good!
"We will make it out," Kakashi said. "I swore I wouldn't let anything happen to you, and I will keep that promise. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sensei!" We all chorused.
"Good," Kakashi said. He pointed down at the far wall. "Now, I need you to stand back, I'm going to try to break through there."
Smart. Just sequence break our way out of the level entirely and skip the quest inspired by Dunwich. Seriously, the theme of those places are great, but it is not 'first quest of the game' great. And they're only great when you're on the other side of the screen!
We all moved out of the way. Sensei flew through handseals so fast I couldn't even see them.
Perception Check Failure: 5/9.
Yes, game. I just covered that.
After Kakashi was done, he was holding a literal fist-full of lightning. Then he lowered it to the floor and charged forward.
"Chidori!"
Fun fact, the reason you shout the name of the technique you're doing is so your allies know what you're doing and if they need to get out of the way, in addition to it's help as a focus. According to the books, the fact that your enemies know what you're doing is an acceptable trade-off.
I hard disagree, but I can't deny that it looks cool.
He ran forward so fast that I could've blinked and missed him, thrusting the jutsu right into the wall.
Sadly, and I should've guessed this would've happened, the Chidori did not break through the wall. When the jutsu made impact, the entire attic lit up as previously unseen seals made themselves known by illuminating us with crimson light.
Kakashi looked around the attic and sighed. "Of course, that would be too easy."
"That should've worked," Hisako said, looking up at the seals as their light slowly dissipated. "I've read about that Jutsu. It cut a lightning bolt! It should've worked. Why didn't it work?"
"Kai!" Kakashi snapped harshly, cutting off Hisako's complaining, his fingers in a hand sign.
Nothing about our environment changed.
"We go the long way, then," Kakashi said. pointing toward the trap door. "Follow me."
Quest Updated: Nevermore.
Completed: Reunite with your team.
Find a way out of the house.
"Hold up, just got an update," I chimed with a raised finger.
"What does it say?" Kakashi asked.
"It's telling me to find a way out of the house," I replied with a nod.
"That's not helpful," Hisako remarked, completely deadpan.
"It's really not," I agreed with a nod.
"Does it tell you how to find a way out of the house?" Nichiren asked curiously, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"No." I shook my head.
"That's annoying," Nichiren said, looking over his head at the bodies. "Can we...leave the attic, please?"
"Let's go, everyone," Kakashi said, gesturing for us to follow him.
We dropped down into the hallway. Ahead of us was a door, made out of steel. Behind us was a wall, nothing there.
Kakashi took a spot next to the door and at Sensei's hand-sign, we lined up on the opposite wall. Before Kakashi could do anything, we heard a loud snap.
I turned my head just in time to see that the attic stairs had retracted into the ceiling and the door to the attic was swiftly covered by concrete that flowed like it was alive.
Okay then.
Hisako gulped. Nichiren huddled in on himself, trying to make himself small. I don't know what my nervous reaction was, but something inside me had gone very cold.
Kakashi snapped with his fingers, signed for us to keep focused on him and the mission.
Take a breath.
Everything is going to be okay.
I'm being escorted by one of the highest level npc's in the setting.
I mean, he's a person, not an NPC but...he's high level and can protect us. We'll be fine. Right?
Kakashi opened the door slowly and my ears were graced by the grating, piercing sound of steel grinding on steel. At that moment, Sensei threw the door open and jumped in with a kunai drawn. After an eternity of holding my breath…
"It's clear."
We walked in through the door, shutting it behind us. I saw that we had entered some kind of prison block, with cells of iron bars on both sides. At the end was another door.
"They used to keep people in here?" Hisako asked, sounding shaken.
"Looks like it." I don't know if it's better or worse that there's no skeletons in the cells. Better in that it means no one literally starved to death in here. Worse because...that means something happened to them.
Judging from the smears of black and red, they had definitely been occupied at one point.
"The real question is why," Nichiren said, his voice shaking.
"Focus on getting out," Kakashi-sensei immediately cut in.
At that second, something lunged out from one of the cells, an arm reaching out for Hisako. She screamed...but she also buried her kunai in her attacker.
Her attacker was a...blob. A gray, cement blob that that had arms and legs in the crude fascimile of a human. The featureless head which Hisako had buried her kunai in closed around the blade, and then her hand. With another scream, Hisako yanked her hand out and backed away as the thing, walked through the bars like a monster made out of mush.
It's movements were slow and erratic, even as Kakashi surged forward to put himself between us and it. With another jutsu, he threw a lightning bolt directly at the thing's torso and it exploded into a thousand pieces.
Ten Ryo says it pulls itself together.
...no?
Alright, I owe myself ten Ryo.
I whirled around as the sound of mud sliding across metal and found myself face to face with another one of those things, reaching for me and trying to attack me.
Uh...crap…
My heart was pounding in my ears. I could feel my eyes trying to escape their sockets as this thing lunged after me.
...wait…
I ducked, then ran around the cement thing as it tried to tackle me. I tripped over my shadow and found myself inching away on my butt, trying to get away from this thing.
...what was I supposed to do?
Then Kakashi made it explode with another lightning bolt.
Okay!
Life is okay.
I'm alive.
I'm safe.
We're good.
"Daisuke, are you okay?" Hisako immediately asked, running over to me and helping me up.
"Yeah," I said with a nod. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just kind of…"
"Froze?" Hisako asked kindly.
"Yeah," I nodded again, more rapidly.
"Mom and Dad both say that happens to everyone on their first mission," Hisako said quickly. "Don't worry about it, nothing to be ashamed of."
"Uh, guys?" Nichiren cut in, pointing down the hall. "We've got company."
I looked down the hall at the cells we passed and watched as a flash mob of cement facsimiles walked out of their cells and started quickly lumbering toward us.
"Everyone through the next door," Kakashi barked, pointing at the door we had been walking towards. "Hisako, keep your kunai ready and be ready to close the door behind me."
"Yes, sensei!" Hisako said.
We ran for the door, listening as lightning cracked and snapped behind us, destroying the things as they charged in on us. Hisako pulled over the door with great protest from the rusty hinges. Nichiren and I dove through the doorway.
A second later, I heard the door slam shut and Kakashi was standing in front of us. Nichiren and I quickly stood up.
We found ourselves in some kind of...concert hall. Yeah, it was a concert hall. There was a stage with music stands left on it, some knocked over, another missing it's top. Opposite the stage were chairs and way up near the roof was a booth. What was in there?
"Well, that was interesting," Kakashi said with an eye-smile. "They were basically harmless. Too slow."
"Uh, Sensei?" Hisako said, sounding a little panicked.
I turned to the door and saw that the concrete was leaking in through the edges of the doors.
Kakashi ran forward, going through seals faster than the eye could blink-
Perception Check Failed: 5/9.
-shut up, game! And slammed his hands on the ground. Then the room lit up in scarlet seals, much like in the attic.
"That's a little annoying," Kakashi muttered to himself. Then he paused, did another jutsu and this time, he placed his hands on the door.
Perception Check failed: 5/7.
Seriously, game?
But then this time, the jutsu went through, the door electrifying. On the other side, I could've sworn I heard an explosion, maybe a chain of them. Kakashi took slow, cautious steps away from the door, to make sure the monsters from the jail cells really stopped.
They weren't trying to eke in through the door cracks.
"Okay," Kakashi let out a breath.
"How did the jutsu go through?" I asked with confusion.
"The door didn't have any seals on it," Kakashi replied with an eye-smile. "Lucky for us."
It didn't? Must've been what I missed. Made sense, though.
"I wonder why," Hisako asked curiously, looking at the steel door with her fingers on her chin.
"I don't think we should question it," Kakashi chided lightly.
"I think we should explore the room before we leave," I suggested. "You know, because we don't want to miss anything important, like a key to the front door."
"I have the key," Kakashi replied, fishing the key out of his pocket and showing me with an 'eye-smile'.
"Oh, right." I felt kind of dumb. "But there could be other doors."
"That is true," Kakashi replied.
"Like that booth up there," Hisako said, pointing upward. "Let me take a look."
She placed her foot on the wall and tried to walk up. Tried, because when she did, the wall lit up in red seals and she couldn't stick, her foot slipping as she tried to take a step. Thankfully, she caught herself before falling straight on her back. "What is going on?"
"The walls eat chakra," Nichiren pointed out blandly.
"Yes, I can see that, Nichiren!" Hisako barked back in annoyance.
"Hey, hey," Kakashi cut them off. "Take a breath. We'll make it out. At least we're not dealing with an enemy Shinobi."
Yet.
"There is a door," Kakashi said, pointing to, well, one of three doors. One leading further on directly ahead of where we came out of, another just to the right of that door, a little further in and then the third door was in the right wall. I think that's the one he was talking about.
Charisma Check Success: 6/6.
Yes!
"That one might take us to the booth," Kakashi said. "We will go as a group."
The door was mercifully silent as it opened, and the stairs it led to did bring us to the booth. Inside was equipment, the kind that you'd see in musical production booth with it's buttons and knobs….I didn't know the name, though.
But on the top of the console was a tape player; something I had forgotten existed. But then, earpieces and walkies-talkie's existed, so why not a tape player?
"Nothing," Nichiren said, shaking his head. "Well, at least we checked."
"I'm keeping the tape player," I said, pointing to it.
"Why?" Hisako asked with confusion, nervously twirling her remaining kunai by the ring.
"Because it might be useful later," I replied, trying to smile in spite of everything. "Besides, I want one."
"Daisuke, lugging around a tape player is only going to slow us down," Kakashi admonished, sounding very tired all of a sudden.
"Storage scrolls."
Kakashi froze for a second, then shrugged. "Alright, but don't take it out until we leave."
"Yes, Sensei."
I put the player in my scroll and the scroll back on my belt.
"Can we go now?" Hisako asked with a frown, looking around the studio with an anxious edge in her eyes.
"Yup!"
* * *
Author's Note: The chapters are getting shorter and shorter as I'm finding it hard to keep up the gargantuan size of the first couple chapters. But, I am really happy with this chapter and I hope that, when you get the chance to read it, that you'll like the chapter too.
The first time around with the Monster House, I slapped Daisuke into a Genjutsu. I thought it'd be a cool mind-screw and that everyone would catch on immediately that Daisuke's mind was being messed with. Instead, it wound up being confusing and I never really talked about it again so it wasn't that important in the grand scheme of things.
This time around, I'm exploring the house as more of a living entity in its own right. It feels like the rules are established much more clearly here in this chapter; the house rearranges itself and spits out clay monsters. No Genjutsu because things like that don't really work without proper foreshadowing and I didn't feel it necessary this time.
Something new is the tape player. I wanted this thing to be a straighter, video game dungeon and in modern games, that includes 'apocalypse logs' or journals left by the people who came before. It's a pretty interesting device and with it, I'm going to be able to throw in some additional foreshadowing that I couldn't do in the first draft simply because I was trying to make my foreshadowing as subtle as possible; the problem with subtle is that most people miss it and then complain when the thing I was trying to build up slaps them in the face while they weren't paying attention. So I'm going to avoid that this time around by spoon-feeding it to you, by comparison.
...I needed to get that off my chest.
P.S: I had to delete the post when I realized that there was a formatting issue. Sorry for the inconvenience.
P.P.S: Wait, holy cow. There's a remove formatting button! I'm going to use that! Forever!
Shout out to Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven, Handwran, Russel Beatrous and Richard Whereat. You guys are amazing! Thank you for your continued support!
Until the next time!
~Fulcon
Following is a fan based work of fiction: Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden are owned by Shueisha, Viz Entertainment and Masashi Kishimoto. Please support the official release.
* * *
We checked both the other doors. One was a closet with nothing in it and the last door was a staircase, going downward, the curved in a spiral. The fact that there was enough room for a large spiral stair case unnerved me. How deep does it go?
Going to be honest, if this isn't a Genjutsu, and it isn't, we've all done Kai several times now, then it means that the house itself is rearranging it's insides and everything we've seen is stuff that already existed. Existed where? Going to say down in the foundation of the house, just floating in the concrete or whatever.
Didn't the butler guy say he wasn't supposed to come back? Pretty sure that him leaving was the trigger for the house to rearrange itself. Did the butler know? I'm going to guess not. Because if he did know, he'd have to have a reason to not tell us and there's no way he knew which team was going to pick this mission. So it's not like it was a trap or something for me.
Actually, that's kind of scary to think about. If someone that wasn't our team picked this mission, they'd be walking straight into this without even the game context to prepare them.
"Hisako, take up the rear," Kakashi ordered. "Nichiren and Daisuke, form up between her and I."
We did so with an acknowledgment of his order.
Actually, the house didn't rearrange itself until after we all got in the attic. But why was that? Was it because because everyone was in the attic? But that would make more sense if it was a game trigger instead of it being something that someone deliberately made to serve a purpose in the game world.
I think.
The staircase seemed to go down forever. It reminded me of that one staircase in The Sands of Time that was stupidly long just so you could listen to the amazing guitar solo they had prepared. I remembered that level being cool once. Then on replay it was just long and boring.
Though in real life, I'll take long and boring over dangerous and terrifying any day.
You think if my teammates and I shared some banter, it would make this easier? Maybe it would. But it didn't seem like any of us had anything to say. We were keeping our corners checked and our rears covered and that absorbed all our mental capacity.
Or in my case, it overwhelmed me and I kind of checked out.
Focus, Daisuke.
Don't get taken by surprise, your teammates are counting on you.
Eventually, we came to a door. Kakashi pulled it open and looked around inside. "Clear. Everyone inside."
We did.
This was a library. A giant, circular room with shelves going all the way up. I guess I can see why the staircase was so tall, it was only as tall as the library itself. The shelves were filled with books and scrolls, enough that my eyes wanted to cry at the sheer beauty. This was a repository of knowledge. I love knowledge.
"WHOA!" Hisako shreiked, pulling me out of my observations.
I found myself looking down and caught sight of the cement monster that had decided to grace us with it's presence. It was shambling after, slowly dragging it's feet, leaving a trail of mud with each step.
Kakashi-sensei was using lightning to take these things out permanently. I should be able to manufacture a similar jutsu. Right?
You do not know that jutsu.
Oh come on, it's an emergency!
You do not know that jutsu.
Crap...would an explosive note work?
I mean, I haven't written any yet and I don't have chakra seals…
A lightning bolt shot out from Kakashi-sensei's extended fingers and it exploded into inert cement. He went through the jutsu again, and fired at a second cement beast That had emerged behind us.
We had grouped up, looking around. I noticed that Kakashi's breathing was starting to sound ragged.
Medicine Check Success: 27/25.
It was the Sharingan. He was using it to analyze our environment to figure a way out and it was starting to drain him.
There were no more cement monsters.
"That's it?" Hisako asked with a suspicious frown.
"Let's not question it," Kakashi admonished. "We need to keep moving."
"Uh, sensei?" I started. "I think maybe we should take a brief rest."
"Daisuke-kun, we don't have time for that," Kakashi replied. "We need to keep moving if we're going to get out of here."
"But you're the only one with a reliable way of taking those things out," I rebutted. "And you having the Sharingan eye out is draining you fast. We need rest or you're going to be dragging your feet by the end, and I don't want to think about what else we might have to face without you being able to fight it."
Speech Check Success: 34/30.
Kakashi took a gulp of air and sighed. "Alright. Five minutes. But then we need to move."
"Great," I said with relief. Not only would he get a chance to catch his breath, I'd be able to peruse the library for a minute. Actually, wait. I've got a better idea. "Sensei, can you try teaching us a lightning jutsu? Just so you wouldn't be the only one who can depose of those cement monsters?"
Kakashi blinked as he covered his Sharingan. "Sure. But it's going to be really simple and if you get it right in the time we have to rest, I'll treat you to lunch."
"Awesome!" Hisako said, getting on her knees in preparation to learn.
Nichiren followed suit and...then so did I.
"This is called the Lightning Kunai," Kakashi said, starting the instruction. He showed us the handsigns. Bird. Rat. Dragon. "I obtained it from a Genin from Kumo. It fires a small blast of lightning directly ahead."
He told us how to redirect the chakra to make the jutsu, and then shape it to come out of our fingers.
Chakra Control Check Success: 92/25.
Ninjutsu Check Success:29/25.
Jutsu Added: Lightning Kunai!
There's nothing like holding a fist full of lightning! You now know how to use the Lightning Kunai.
The jutsu reminded me of Star Wars. Specifically, Attack of the Clones. You know how clones blasters show little blue bolts of laser or whatever it was at its target? Yeah, that's what this is doing. Except it was a bit more bright white instead of blue, but you get the picture. It fired a blaster bolt for three hand signs.
Come to think of it, I could use this jutsu as the basis for a blaster. Wasn't there even a lightsaber in this universe? Yeah, the Sword of the Thunder God. So there's even precedent for it.
But I pulled the jutsu off the first try.
"Okay," Kakashi said with a nod that seemed like it was part surprise part satisfaction. "Daisuke earned everyone lunch. So we're going to be relying on you to help fight them off."
"Okay then," Hisako blinked and frowned, going through the hand signs. She threw her fingers forward, causing only a minor electrical spark to flash out of her fingers. With a wince of pain, she withdrew those fingers back. "Ow!"
Nichiren tried the jutsu, and wound up holding his hand with a pained look in his face. He did not, however, cry out...though I could see that he really wanted too. The tear coming out of his eye said it all.
Charisma Check Success: 6/2.
Yes, I know, game.
"That's enough," Kakashi held his hands up to stop the other two from trying again. "I don't want your hands to be put out of commission."
"It's not like we're using them for much right now, anyway," Hisako grumbled, folding her arms and glaring off to the side.
You know, speaking of hands, I'm kind of annoyed I didn't get to test Tsunade's megaton punch out. Well, I did, but I choked at my only opportunity. Something told me that once I had splattered the cement monsters all over the wall, they'd just slowly reform and start coming after me. The only reason they stayed dead after getting hit with a Lightning Jutsu was because lightning counters Earth.
Still, if we're just taking a breather, I was going to look around the library.
"Alright, I'm rested up," Kakashi said, standing and looking a little bit more rested than last time.
"But it hasn't been five minutes yet," I said, utterly baffled. I didn't even get to see if there were any cool books here yet!
"Doesn't matter," Kakashi said, noticeably leaving the Sharingan covered. "We can't sit still for very long."
Fine, he has a point.
"Hey, wait. What's that?" Nichiren said, pointing to one of the shelves.
Kakashi zipped over to where Nichiren was pointing and picked up a cassette tape.
Neat!
"Hey, we can use the tape player," I said with a grin. "Might tell us a bit more about our situation here."
Kakashi stopped, then stood up straight. "Alright, we'll sit and listen. It's important to gather information when you're on a mission, especially when you're in a foreign country or otherwise incredibly dangerous situation."
"Like when you're in a house that spits monsters out of its walls," Nichiren surmised with a slow nod.
"When we get out, the Hokage is going to level this place to the ground," Kakashi assured us.
"Which is really a shame because I'd really like to get a look at the seal work on the walls," I said, taking the tape player out and opening it.
"Some things just aren't worth the hassle, Daisuke," Kakashi replied, sliding the tape into the player. "Always try to keep things to a good risk-reward ratio. If you don't, you'll wind up with a hollow victory at best."
A Pyrrhic Victory.
Kakashi pressed play and the tape started.
The microphone being used to record the tape was obviously either low quality or damaged in some way; it had a static-sounding underlay to the audio that was audible right from the start.
"Preparations have been made." The voice on the tape was clearly male. Older. He sounded very tired and weary. "Susumu has been told to leave the house and not return. It would not do for him to get tied into this."
Who? Is that the butler?
Interesting that the butler got exonerated in the first tape we collected.
"Once he leaves, the cage will be locked," The voice said. "Never again will the Avian be allowed to roam free."
It was at this moment, is sounded like something hit the desk the microphone was sitting on, and the voice was grunting and groaning in pain.
"It knows something is wrong," The voice gasped. "This accursed bird is clawing at the walls, trying to get free...but I must not let it go. It must not get out."
This reminds me of something, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
"Shimura-san and his minions have been invaluable in creating the cage, even if they will never truly know the extent of the cage's creation." He chuckled, then laughed a little too long, causing the sound to trail off into a wheeze. "They have no idea what I've built here in the center of Konoha, and it is just as well. So long as the boy in blue never enters the attic, the secrets of this house will never see the light of day."
The boy in what now?
I literally got this jumpsuit yesterday.
My entire team turned to look at me immediately with varying expressions of alarm.
I held up my finger and pointed to the tape player, just so I could figure out what I was going to say in response to this.
"And if he does, well," He took a deep breath. "I hope he brought friends."
With that, the tape ended.
"I bought this jumpsuit yesterday," I said quickly. "And I never met whoever was speaking before in my life."
"Daisuke, calm down," Kakashi admonished, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I believe you. But that doesn't explain why you're the reason the house decided to become a labyrinth on us."
"I don't have an explanation for you," I immediately interjected.
Well, not an in game explanation and this was supposed to be a simulator. Things weren't supposed to happen simply because I exist. Like this whole thing just doesn't make any sense.
"Okay, okay," Kakashi-sensei said. "Again, I believe you. You don't have anything to worry about. We're going to get out of this and then the Hokage is going to get to the bottom of it all. Don't worry."
"You sure the Hokage's not going to lock me up in T&I?" I asked him with the deepest frown.
Kakashi blinked, and rubbed his eye. "Look, you can trust the Hokage and you can trust ANBU. Whatever insane stories you heard in the Academy about people being locked up in T&I for the most asinine of things are just that; stories. He won't lock you up in T&I. Period."
Charisma Check Success: 6/4.
I believed him, which made me feel a little better. But only a little.
"The real question is why Daisuke would be the trigger," Nichiren said, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "If he wanted to keep all of this," he started gesturing to the room at large. "...secret, then why not disable the trigger entirely?"
"And why kill Daisuke?" Hisako asked incredulously. "Like...Daisuke? He's the nicest guy ever! What did he ever do to deserve this?"
"Well, I try," I said, going red in the face.
"They're not going to kill you," Hisako said with a viscous glare if I ever saw one. "Promise. We'll get out of this, just like Kakashi-sensei said."
"Let's move on," Kakashi ordered. "Daisuke, stow the tape and player in a storage scroll."
"Got it," I did so and we moved on.
There was another door and we went through it. Through it was a hallway, stretching out with a fork going to the left.
"We'll check the side path first," Kakashi said, slowly leading us forward. "Daisuke, take up the rear and try to take out the cement hostiles before they attack us."
"Got it."
I walked backwards part of the way, keeping an eye on our tail and looking forward only when it was time to turn. Right at that second, I saw a cement monster drip out from the ceiling with a plop before solidifying in a vaguely humanoid shape.
Lightning Kunai!
Three seals and the bolt shot forward, faster than any kunai I've ever seen before. The monster immediately recoiled as it hit the shoulder, the arm breaking off. But then it started forward again.
Lightning Kunai!
4,100 / 15,000 EXP.
On the one hand killing those things gives me EXP where's the rest of them I need to kill them all CEMENT MONSTER GENOCIDE RUN!
Ahem.
The second part...was that felt awful.
Not the committing murder part, but the fact that I had to go through three hand signs to cast a single blaster bolt. It goes fast, sure, but it's just one and with how fast Shinobi can go, a scatter-gun strat with Shuriken would be way more effective; or for Kunai, using explosive notes.
Unless your aim was just that good. And I guess mine could...but still. Three hand signs? No. I'm not using this thing in the future unless I can figure out a way to optimize it. Like create some weapon similar to the Sword of the Thunder God. Which I'll be able to do...so let's keep this in my tool belt for now.
"Good shooting, Daisuke," Kakashi said with approval.
"Thanks," I replied, walking along with them.
But I think I just hate casting jutsu in the middle of combat in general. You have to stop what you're doing, go through a bunch of hand signs and then cast some spell you think is going to turn the fight around; why go through the trouble when you can just walk up to them and hit them? I mean, sure, I'm speaking as someone who theoretically can splat someone across an entire room with one punch, so maybe I'm biased here, but...casting Jutsu in the middle of combat just doesn't feel fluid.
It goes against my style of play.
At least it does until I have Sealless Jutsu at level 40. Then I can literally do whatever I want with Chakra.
At the door, we took positions around it. I was next to the door where it opened to have a clear shot at anything we saw inside while Hisako and Nichiren were placed such that they could be covered by the door itself if anything came out.
I prepped a Lightning Kunai, feeling the electrical chakra pool together in the tips of my fingers, which I kept close like I was using a pistol.
We all nodded to each other and Kakashi threw open the door.
We came to an auditorium, seats built on a ramp going up that overlooked a large pit separated from us by a wall of completely transparent windows. On the seats were Cement monsters that I desperately needed to find a different name for.
Wally?
Because they come out of the wall?
Yeah, I'm calling them wallies. The name amuses me.
There were four wallies in the auditorium, all sitting in seats. I took a shot, then a second causing one to be blasted forward across the seats ahead of it in massive clumps of dust.
4,200 / 15,000 EXP.
I turned to try to take out more, but Kakashi-sensei had already taken them out.
Fie! Fie on you, overpowered companion! Stealing my kills!
I'm not that mad about it since there is obviously enough EXP to bring me to max level and then some but...still. It's really annoying, I haven't had the ability to really gain EXP without completing quests in a while.
"What's down there?" Nichiren asked, pointing toward the pit.
I flickered my way over there to look down. It was an operating theater, with a gurney, spotlights and lots of various tools hanging down from the ceiling. No wallies, but there was a tape down there.
"There's another tape down there," I said, pointing down.
"Okay, but how are we going to get it?" Hisako asked, cupping her hands on the glass like a pair of binoculars and looking down at them.
"Let me try something," I said, winding a punch up.
Hisako apparently figured out what I was going to do and leaped backward quickly.
I let the punch fly and...red seals lit up along the surface.
Because of course they would.
This dungeon is so railroad-y, I swear. Like, I can understand not wanting us to just break through the walls to get out, but come on, it's glass. I should be able to break out of it.
Good thing I held back on the physical power of the punch, I didn't want to lose any HP breaking my hand.
"That's so annoying," I groused.
"It was a good try," Hisako said with a nod.
Down in the pit, I saw another entrance, which I followed to find a mini-staircase going downward to a door. "Door's over there."
"I think we should let that tape go," Kakashi said. "It looks like a trap."
I almost said he had nothing to worry about, but the more I looked at it, the less it looked like an operating theater and more it looked like an arena. The kind where waves upon waves of enemies spawned while the door out was locked until either all they were dead, or you were.
"Yes, Sensei," I replied.
See, normally I'd be all over it, but my only real way to kill them, as far as I know, is extremely clunky and unreliable since I'm not built for ranged combat. I wonder if by increasing my Ninjutsu skill, the Lightning Kunai would do more damage? Probably. If I'm using a jutsu that requires a lot of precision to get any value out of it, I'd like to take them out in one shot instead of two.
We left the auditorium with my gaming instincts screaming at me that I wasn't going to get all of the story because I missed that one tape. The completionist is ranting and railing about how awful it was that I wouldn't be able to 100% my first dungeon and how everything was horrible and how dare Kakashi keep me on rails.
But my self preservation is busy stuffing the completionist into a tiny chest labeled 'do not open'. So we left the auditorium and while I was curious as to what kind of surgeries were performed in this house and who would be watching as an audience...oh, who am I kidding. I'm dying to know.
We took a left and proceeded to the next door. Inside here, however, was a lab.
There were chemistry tables, sinks, beakers, nozzles all over the place. On the tables themselves were actually what I would call predecessors to the wallies that I have gotten to know over the past few hours; vaguely humanoid shapes crumbled in concrete with ink running down along their skin in smeared seals.
Right in the center was a large, thick column of bookshelves and chalkboards. On the shelves, notes and data-sheets were hastily thrown together without a hint of organization, while chemical formulae were scrawled on the chalk-board. Even from here, it was clear he was trying to decipher some kind of genetic code.
Perception Check Success: 5/5.
Also on the tables of this large, round room, were tapes!
Four of them by my count and there's no enemies in this room. But I am noting some medical supplies, white boxes mounted on the wall.
Which told me that the next room was probably the boss room.
Oh boy.
"Sensei, can we take another break?" I asked, raising my hand. "I'd like to listen to these tapes."
"Sure," Kakashi said, sitting down with a bit more weight than I was expecting.
He must've been more tired than I thought.
"I can't keep waiting," This second tape started. "I can't keep it contained any longer. I haven't even seen this 'boy in blue' but he was supposed to at least come by the house once years ago. It...it's getting restless. I'm...I'm so...tired. Weary. Keeping it out from the eye of ANBU and Root is slowly becoming impossible. Eventually, the Avian will come out in public and then my shame will be complete."
Years ago?
Like when I graduated the academy?
Well, that's...lucky, I guess, that I didn't get on a team for so long.
But what's Root?
I saw that Kakashi's eye narrowed to an almost imperceptible slit.
Then he immediately cried out in pain. "Not now...not now...stop...he's not here. I know you're hungry...stop…"
The tape ended.
"Sensei, what's Root?" Hisako asked with a frown.
"It was a branch ANBU," Kakashi stated, his words slow and careful. "They were disbanded, I thought. If these tapes are telling the truth, then Root is still active, against the orders of the Hokage."
Oh. This is Shippuden stuff that just got blown open because of my game stuff.
"Next tape?" I asked.
Nichiren passed it to me and I put the one we just finished in a storage scroll.
This one didn't start immediately.
"...master…"
The voice was not human. It sounded like scratchy and high pitched, driving a pick through my eardrums. It was an animal mimicking human speech.
"...I can't find him, Master. I can't...I tried," The voice continued. "The mask people keep getting in the way. I can't find the boy in blue..."
Nichiren and Hisako looked as disturbed as I felt.
It was sobbing. "But...master...I made a friend. I met a man in green."
Man in Green.
That sent chills down my spine because I had met someone very similar to that years ago.
"He was so nice," The voice said, sounding oddly happy even through the tears. "He said I only needed to be patient...but it's hard, master."
Oh boy.
"...please help me, master...please help. I'm so hungry…"
Hisako gave me a hug. Slowly, I matched her, wrapping my arm around her waist as I stared at the recorder.
Nichiren pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose again. A nervous tick, not because he glasses didn't fit him. "This is terrifying."
"Yeah." I nodded. "Pretty terrifying."
"The more I think about it, though," Nichiren started. "I think the bodies we found in the attic were planted."
Hisako and I both looked at him.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"What was the first room we came to after the mansion rearranged itself?" Nichiren asked with a glare. "It was a cell block. Whoever lived in this house didn't need to store bodies in the attic. Not even a little bit. But we found them hanging there."
Wait, he's right. That doesn't make any sense.
"You think the butler killed those people?" I asked.
"He's our only suspect," Nichiren answered. "Because the butler, according to the tape we found in the library, didn't know about the house rearranging itself, so it made sense."
"Or maybe he did," Hisako said, her face taking a dark look. "And he was trying to lure Daisuke to the attic so the trap can spring."
"He didn't specifically hire us," Kakashi replied. "And there was no reaction to Daisuke's jumpsuit. No, I think Nichiren is right; the Butler was trying to plant the bodies and frame the master of the house for murder...only he didn't realize what else the owner was involved in."
"Third tape?" I asked, holding it up.
The tape started with the beast. Wonderful.
"No more," It rasped out. "No more hiding."
"We have to hide!" The normal voice demanded. "We can't just run out onto the streets of Konoha you stupid bird! You are no where near strong enough to fight an army!"
"But master said we have to devour the boy in blue."
"I don't care what that psychopath said." It was normal, and it was a snarl. "You are not throwing away everything I worked for just to fulfill your asinine purpose in life! Look what I built! Look what we get to enjoy because I was able to operate!"
"It doesn't matter," The bird replied, as disdainfully as it could with it's screeching voice. "Throw it all away. Hunt in the Leaf. Kill the people in masks. Find the boy. Fulfill our purpose."
How on Earth did it even leave the Mansion without getting immediately detected and deleted by ANBU?
"No! No, no! We talked about this. I am the one who hunts! I am the one who goes onto the streets so you don't get seen. I am..." The human sighed. "I-I can't do this anymore...I'm tired of this. Tired of you. Tired of being your minder. Tired of having to always fight to keep things together."
The bird was about to say something else, but the recording stopped.
So we are looking at a classic case of Jekyll and Hyde syndrome, a disease that, until today, I had assumed was complete fiction. Dissociative Personality Disorder was about as close as you get and that's really not close.
"Why would they want to kill you?" Hisako sniffed. Was she crying? No...but she was close. "This doesn't make any sense, you haven't done anything wrong!"
"I don't think the human guy wants me dead," I said, popping the tape out of the player. "It's just the bird and whoever its master is. For some reason."
There are RPG's, like Planescape, KotoR 2, New Vegas? That give the player character an entire past or something and the plot of the game is dealing with your characters past. I didn't like it then because it usually caused issues with the backstory I wanted to give my characters and I certainly don't like it now because there is no way I have a past of any kind that warrants this.
"Whatever the reason," Kakashi-sensei himself was oddly still. "We need to take them out."
10 Ryo said that the bird was right through that door over there. But I didn't say that because I had no idea what I could say without ruining my life for the rest of it.
"But the owner of the house left," Nichiren pointed out with a frown. "He's not here anymore. So he could have left Konoha to look for Daisuke in other villages."
"Good," Hisako snarled. "Let him look there."
"Let's...put in the last tape?" I suggested holding it up.
"Do it," Kakashi ordered.
I placed the last tape in the recorder.
Well, as far as video game plots went, this was acceptable. Contrived as all get out, but...it did it's job justifying the game play, even if that justification was as substantial as a shoe-string.
"The cage is finished." The human's voice was scratchy and rough. "I will lock myself within and let the Avian out. But he will be unable to leave. Since I will no longer feed him, he will starve. He will starve and I will be free."
Nichiren blinked. Hisako was gripping her kunai tight enough to make her knuckles turn white.
"If I somehow survive the birds death, it will be a stroke of good fortune," the voice continued. "If the boy in blue, whoever he is, reaches us before our death, the key to the front door is within the raven's stomach. Use it and the mansion's defenses will disengage. Be swift in dispatching the Crow. You cannot afford to make any mistakes, for your death at it's hands will not be a quick affair and it delights in causing pain. To the one who made the beast, I say this: I hope whatever abyss spawned you swallows you whole."
The tape ended.
Quest Updated: Nevermore.
Completed: Find a way out of the house.
Defeat the Avian.
So I have to kill the boss and loot the body.
A perfectly acceptable and time honored game mechanic. I approve.
I put the tapes and tape player in the scroll.
"So," I started, standing up and rolling my shoulders. "We've got a bird to go kill."
"You will not be joining the fight," Kakashi said flatly.
"Fair enough."
I mean, I don't want to die. It's a little disappointing to have to skip the boss fight but hey, it's better than dying because I screwed up somehow.
We ran over to the door and took our usual positions. Kakashi attempted to turn the knob...it was locked.
"Uh…" Nichiren started.
It was at that moment a steel portcullis dropped from the ceiling, barring the door off from us and behind us, things where sliding.
The column was sliding apart and slowly descending into the ground. On the back of the column walls, I could see bronze-looking bars. As the column finished descending, I saw a black, feathery thing curled up in the center of the podium.
It slowly stood up, it's bones creaking from stiffness, revealing a humanoid form. It's legs were claws, as were it's hands, with large feathers growing out under the arms. The head was all bird, its beak shining in the orange light of the lab.
The Crow spread it's wings and let out a massive screech that forced me, Hisako and Nichiren to cover our ears.
180/225 HP.
I felt my hands get wet as my ears began to bleed from the sheer screeching volume of this thing's cry.
Then it stopped.
It's head instantly snapped to look at me. Then it dropped to all fours.
Without a sound, the bird charged at full speed.
* * *
Author's Note: Being honest with you guys, I'm really happy I was able to turn the mansion into a proper dungeon, with railroading and all. It sets a better tone of what to expect in the future and really sells the video game part of Daisuke life, with all the insanity that comes with it.
I'm also pretty glad I was able to much more directly incorporate some plot elements into this draft that, previously, were extremely subtle. I like subtle as a creator, but a lot of people missed it last time, like I said, so I'm doing away with the subtlety so it doesn't blindside you.
Also, I'm really liking Hisako and Nichiren more here. They're really coming together to help their teammate and they make me happy. Also letting Kakashi teach Daisuke jutsu, something he never really had to do in the first draft, solidifying his role as Sensei as opposed to assistant conflict ball.
I think that's it!
Shout out goes out too Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven, Handwran, Russel Beatrous and Richard Whereat. Thank you all for your continued support!
Until the next time!
~Fulcon
View in Thread
Last edited: Mar 1, 2021
---My Stories---
SHINOBI: The RPG - New Game: Naruto. Video Games. Minmaxing. All things that demand a second playthrough (Rewrite of SHINOBI: The RPG).
View in Thread
Last edited: Mar 1, 2021
---My Stories---
View in Thread
Last edited: Mar 1, 2021
---My Stories---
SHINOBI: The RPG - New Game: Naruto. Video Games. Minmaxing. All things that demand a second