"Where the hell am I, brat?" Zabuza growled in his ghostly form.
Naruto briefly flinched in fear before rearing back. It was insanely jarring to see the dead body of Zabuza, a body which he helped bury, back in real life. It only showed the insane capabilities of his system, and just how much power was in his hands…
"I said, where the hell am I?" The shadow asked again, irritatingly.
[Active Skill: Shadow Extraction - Lvl 1]
[Info: Shadows drain 50 MP every minute, a value which will decrease as level of skill increases. Initial extraction takes 20 MP.]
50 MP?! That's insane! That means…only two minutes? Naruto thought incredulously, doing the math in his head.
The skill, for now anyways, was insanely underpowered. A mere two minutes could decide the difference between a win and a loss in the toughest of times—he understood that. But two minutes was still too little. Regardless, Zabuza was a Jonin-level ninja, meaning the two minutes would certainly be worth it for now.
And it wasn't like he was going to be this low level, if Naruto upgraded his level in Shadow Extraction, he could certainly decrease the MP drain, which would make the ability a monster to deal with.
Naruto waved at the shadow with a trademark grin. "Zabuza-san, this is Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki. You know, the blond kid from earlier."
Zabuza glared back. "Yeah, I can tell. Now tell me, Naruto Uzumaki, why am I still alive? And more importantly, how?"
He's a shadow as of now, so there wouldn't be any reason not to tell him of my ability, right? I could also pass it off as a special jutsu of my own…what did Kakashi sensei call it? A Kekkei Genkai?
"It's my ability, a Kekkei Genkai, like Haku had. I can summon the dead in the form of shadows, or something—to be honest, it's still a work in progress, like many other things," Naruto deadpanned.
Zabuza's eyes widened. "You're telling me you can summon the dead, is this a joke, brat?"
"You're alive right now, so what more proof do you want? How is the afterlife, anyways?"
"Don't make a mockery of this situation—this isn't a normal Kekkei Genkai! The amount of things I could do if I had something like this…" Zabuza chuckled dangerously. "Why did you 'summon' me?"
"Uhm…I wanted to test the ability on someone, and you happened to die recently. So I did it for you to gauge my current ability," Naruto said.
"You're telling me…this was all a test? A test to see whether you could summon me or not? Why didn't you summon Haku first?" The Demon of the Mist asked, his deep voice taking on a tone of inquiry.
I can't give a reason without revealing the levels, can I? What should I do here…
"You're a lot stronger than Haku, so I wanted to see whether I could summon you or not, pretty much."
There, that wasn't too bad.
Zabuza nodded in acceptance, before looking at his muscles strangely, before looking at his surroundings curiously. A look of denial spread along his eyes.
Naruto observed his behavior. "Wha—"
Zabuza picked up the wide, black sword around his back before swinging it frantically in the air, cleaving through the atmosphere and sending gusts of wind across the fields, shaking the leaves of nearby trees. It was an impressive display of swordsmanship, but both Naruto and Zabuza could notice one thing.
Zabuza was weaker.
Much, much weaker.
"Why am I so goddamn slow?!" Zabuza yelled in frustration, his shadow muscles flexing as he continued his onslaught.
Naruto paled in realization of what had happened.
The system would never be so nice to him to give him such a promising ability. It would never give him direct access to Jonin-level shinobi with a flick of a wrist. No…the system made him work for that type of power. And in this case, it made the shadow itself work.
Shadow Zabuza was much, much weaker than the original. They shared the same appearance, same personality, but different stats all together. Shadow Zabuza was around…Haku's level, or so?
Thus, the two minutes became even more useless. Considering Shadow Zabuza was only level one as of now, he needed to level up his shadows AND his Shadow Extraction.
Naruto made haste to rectify his mistake.
"Zabuza, your form right now, is much weaker than what you were when you were alive. I'm not so sure as of now, but I believe you will have to train to become stronger again, or else…"
"I'm stuck like this for the rest of my life?" Zabuza questioned angrily, his eyes smoldering.
Naruto chuckled. "Technically speaking, you aren't actually alive, so yes—"
Zabuza lunged at Naruto.
Naruto sidestepped, dodging the attack entirely, before sweeping the shadow's legs from underneath him, dropping him to the floor. Naruto immediately unsheathed a kunai from his pocket, before placing it on Zabuza's neck.
"You aren't a Jonin anymore, just a shadow of mine.Remember that," Naruto whispered gravely, apply pressure on the solid surface of Zabuza's neck.
Naruto felt a giant sword slide to his jugular.
The body in front of him dispersed into water.
The same trick…
The deep, monotone voice of Zabuza rang through his ears. "You may not remember, but since you obviously forgot, let me remind you—one, last time. I'm Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Mist, and I have no master."
Naruto gulped as the gigantic sword left his throat.
"Now, summon Haku."
Naruto looked once last time at the shadow warily, before rubbing his throat to ease the soreness.
Note to self, don't piss off the psychopathic swordsmen.
[Ding!]
[30 MP remaining.]
Naruto calculated the math in his head again. One minute had passed, meaning fifty gone. And the cost of the initial summoning, which was twenty. He could still summon Haku.
Naruto nodded. "Alright."
Naruto walked up to the grave of Haku in a hurry, eager to get this over with. He probably didn't need to struggle as much as summoning Zabuza, considering the difference of levels between him and Haku wasn't very high in comparison to the difference between him and the Jonin-level shinobi. Maybe…one or two tries?
"Haku…arise!"
[Extracting…]
[Extraction successful!]
Similar to before, a dam of energy broke from Naruto's body, entering the air and going into Haku's grave. The soil seemed to eat up all of the energy as it dissipated into the grave. Shadows pooled once more, forming the body of Haku that Naruto came to recognize easily.
Haku, in all of his feminine grace, appeared fully fledged in his regular clothing, but this time everything was shaded a dark black, and his skin was a peculiar shade of blue.
"Where am I?" Haku asked, staring at Naruto with obvious surprise.
Naruto looked around for Zabuza. It would be easier for that man to explain this, after all. But no one was to be seen.
[Ding!]
[You currently cannot keep more than one shadow summoned at a time.]
Naruto groaned in annoyance. He barely had a minute left.
"Listen, Haku. So pretty much, here's a summary. I have the Kekkei Genkai to summon the dead from their graves, which I have already done with Zabuza and now you. The bad part is, you are now much weaker than normal, which I think you should be able to tell by now. Zabuza is currently around the level you were at when you were alive, meaning you would be somewhere around…Genin level? Probably higher. But yeah. That's it," Naruto finished, panting after the long monologue.
He looked at Haku hopefully.
"Again, where am I? I didn't expect the afterlife to be so colorful."
[Ding!]
[MP has been completely drained.]
[All MP related skills and abilities are deactivated.]
Naruto looked at the empty lands of grass before him.
"Okay."
[—]
Two weeks later…
[Ding!]
[Quest: "Protection of Tazuna" Completed!]
[Rewards: Exp. 3000, Class: "Necromancer" (Given), Title: "Messenger of the Dead"]
[Congratulations! You leveled up! Player is now LV8.]
[Two attribute points gained.]
[New Title: "Messenger of the Dead" Achieved!]
[Title: "Messenger of the Dead" increases the success rate of Shadow Extraction by 5%, and increases all stats by 3% while on missions.]
Woohoo! Another two attribute points for the future Hokage!
Naruto smiled happily as he looked through all of his notifications. Things were finally starting to look uphill. I'm the past few weeks, Naruto had spent most of his time training with Team 7 and helping finish the bridge Tazuna was so hellbent on.
And finally, the hard work actually paid off.
The bridge, in his honest opinion, looked beautiful. It wasn't too fancy, but managed to display a look of elegance which was fitting for the small town they were in. Tazuna had the look of a proud father as he observed his bridge from afar.
"I-I've spent so many decades dreaming about this moment…it-it's all thanks to you guys this is possible! I can't thank you enough…" Tazuna said, tears forming around his eyes.
"Like I said, Tazuna-san, your amazing hospitality was more than enough as thanks," Kakashi said, bowing.
Naruto smiled. It was always nice seeing people do nice things.
"And you!" Tazuna said, directing his smile at Naruto.
"Me?"
"I can't thank you enough, as well, Naruto. For protecting Tsunami and Inari when it mattered the most."
Naruto tried not to roll his eyes. The man has mentioned that same instance more than a hundred times by now, and had brought it up every single dinner and every time he was alone with him.
"Yeah! Big bro Naruto is too cool!" Inari mentioned from behind Tazuna.
Sakura snickered. "Big bro Naruto, huh? You've got fanboys now, Naruto?"
Hypocritical. Naruto wanted to say, but refrained from doing so.
"Grandpa, I think we should give a name for the bridge while the ninja are still here!"
Tazuna laughed. "You're right, Inari! How about…the Great Naruto Bridge!"
Naruto smiled as he heard the name, a strange swelling of pride in his heart erupting immediately. But…did he really deserve it as much as the others?
The Great Zabuza Bridge…
Naruto shook his head. The Shadow would probably kill him if he did something like that.
"Sounds great!"
Kakashi laughed. "If that's all, we will be taking our leave, Tazuna-san."
"Of course, I couldn't keep you guys here any longer, after all," Tazuna answered wholeheartedly.
Naruto raised a thumbs up to Inari. "I'll visit later on, Inari! By then, you better be a lot stronger!"
"You bet!" Inari grinned toothily.
"Have a safe trip!" Tsunami ushered out at last.
All of Team 7 felt a gentle tug on their hearts as they finally left the small town they've been in for the last month.
Naruto looked at the path ahead of him and groaned. This was going to be an incredibly long trip. Walking wasn't too hard, but the type of food they had to eat was the bare minimum, consisting of energy bars and most importantly, no ramen.
In the two weeks since the funeral, Naruto had resisted the urge to summon Zabuza and Haku again. For that, he had several reasons. Firstly, he was ninety percent sure Zabuza didn't even want to be summoned at this point. Second, he wasn't exactly sure how to deal with Haku. And lastly, the whole shadow business seriously creeped him out.
Sure, the Necromancy thing looked cool and all, but it was seriously weird when you thought of it from an outside point of view. Summoning the dead to be your companions? Yeah. Totally normal.
Naruto also felt like he would get a better idea of dealing with the issue back in his home village, Konoha. Wave was cool and all, but it didn't have Ichiraku's ramen, did it? A steamy bowl of soft, chewy noodles and the aroma of miso and pork…Naruto was already salivating.
A bowl of Teuchi's ramen will definitely bring me up to speed!
"Hey, Sasuke! Last one to the tree over there has to pay for ramen!"
Naruto began running at full speed.
[—-]
"One more miso ramen!" Naruto called out as he dropped another bowl onto the table before him.
Sasuke eyed his wallet with widened, disheartened eyes. How much does this guy eat?
Iruka was just glad he wasn't paying again.
"So yeah, Iruka sensei, where was I again? Oh right! So we were fighting—slurp—this guy called Zabuza, and we found out that he was actually just a nice guy in the end. I managed to defeat everyone with a super cool jutsu, blah blah blah, I saved the whole village. Then they named a bridge after me! Isn't that cool?"
Iruka nodded in acceptance, not believing half of the things coming from Naruto's throat.
Naruto finished another bowl, and patted his belly in appreciation.
That's enough for now!
"Okay, Sasuke! I'm done with eating."
Sasuke sighed with relief. "Oh, then I'll take my leave—"
"Now, you have to train me!" Naruto declared.
An awkward silence filled the ramen shop.
"Train?" Sasuke questioned.
"Remember the jutsu you owe me?"
"Hn."
Yes! Naruto cheered inwardly. A jutsu from Sasuke, and hopefully an effective one. Ever since the fight with Haku and Zabuza, Naruto had realized just how limited and short his jutsu range was, consisting primarily of the Shadow Clone, and the Academy Three. They were useful in their own subtle ways, but the blond needed something more flashy. Something that would do damage.
Naruto looked at Sasuke triumphantly. "Which jutsu will you be able to teach?"
Sasuke morphed his face into a thinking pose. I don't really want to teach him anything, but considering it was a bet, I'll guess I'll have to. How about…
"Fine, I'll teach you something. Come to Training Ground 46 by tomorrow morning, around six or so. It's normally empty by that time, I believe."
Naruto grinned. "You got it! Now, which jutsu…"
Sasuke was gone.
The blond waved goodbye to Teuchi, Ayame, and Iruka before going on the usual route to his apartment. The route which generally avoided most crowded areas, using the alleyways littered around Konoha.
The second Naruto reached his apartment, he jumped onto his couch tiredly.
It had been a long month, but certainly not without its own benefits.
Open.
Name: Naruto Uzumaki
Title: The Gamer
Occupation: Genin of Konoha
Level: LV8
HP: 100/100
MP: 100/100
Chakra: 2000/2000
STR: 7
VIT: 10
DEX: 6
INT: 5
WIS: 4
LUK: 1
Current Skills:
[Shadow Clone Jutsu Lvl 3]
[Shadow Extraction Lvl 1]
Class: Necromancer
Attribute Points: 2
I'm facing this dilemma a lot more these days, but I guess that's a good thing. What should I add? Naruto thought to himself.
The blond felt as if it was better to not stress over the specifics of each point for once and just add them where he thought it was best.
Add to Dexterity and Luck.
[Attribute Point has been used. Dexterity has been increased by one point.]
[Attribute Point has been used. Luck has been increased by one point.]
I'm bored. I guess it's time to…summon one of them. Who should it be?
Naruto thought of his previous encounter with Zabuza and shivered. Yep, it was best he went with Haku, maybe fill her in with where he was right now.
Uhm…summon Shadow Haku.
Darkness moved like water itself, the cohesive matter combining together to form the shadow.
"So it wasn't a dream?" Haku asked with a raised eyebrow.
Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Hello, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. The person who summoned you from the dead. You are currently in Konoha, the Hidden Leaf Village."
"Ah. So this is the land where the 'Hokage' resides. Interesting. And why have you summoned me, Naruto-san?" Haku asked, eyeing his surroundings.
Naruto put his legs on the top of his couch. "I was bored."
"So you summoned me, a dead shadow, to alleviate your boredom?"
"Something like that."
"That doesn't sound like such a great idea in afterthought, does it?"
Yeah, it doesn't. Naruto didn't like that he was being patronized by the dead.
"It was either you, or clones, and I prefer not talking to myself. Or Zabuza, of course, but I prefer not talking to him even more."
Haku nodded in understanding, before walking around trying to investigate the place. "This is quite the magnificent house, are you quite rich, Naruto-san?"
Naruto couldn't help it—he laughed out loud.
"Maybe it was the right decision to summon you."
Haku cocked his head.
Naruto shook his head. "Listen, I don't have much time at all to talk with you, considering a minute has already passed by now. But for now, this much is fine. Just so you know, I won't be summoning you or Zabuza too much, and only when you're really needed or during times like now. I actually can't have others knowing about your presence, you understand?"
Haku nodded, and then bowed. "I understand, Naruto-san. For now, I'll take my leave. How exactly do I do that?"
Please let this work. Dissipate, Haku.
Haku's body rapidly became smaller and smaller as the mass of shadows turned into nothingness.
Eh, quite an eventful day. Naruto thought, yawning.
The next morning, Naruto woke up to the ringing of his alarm right next to his ear, groaning and moaning in distress as the sound interrupted his precious sleep.
He was about to go to sleep again before his mind seemed to directly speak to him. Sasuke's going to train you a jutsu!
With that, his mind sparked into overdrive. Naruto quickly brushed his teeth, showered, wore a new jumpsuit, and put on his sandals. He double-checked his ninja gear, filled his utility bag with some protein bars as breakfast, and made his way towards the intended training ground.
The numerous open fields were hard to distinguish, but Naruto managed to make his way through.
Training ground 46…
The large, open expanse of grass was perfect for training, Naruto realized, as he made his way through the ground.
"Hey."
Naruto shrieked as he heard Sasuke's voice from behind him. He placed a hand on his heart in an effort to cool himself down.
"Yo," Naruto responded.
"I don't have too much time, so let's get this over with quickly. I'll give you the hand signs and some basic tips, but that's pretty much it," Sasuke said, unloading his bag onto the surface of the ground.
"What jutsu are we learning exactly?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Oh. I didn't tell you yet? You've probably seen me do this a lot during training or fights. Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu."
I take everything back. Sasuke is literally too cool. Naruto said with stargazed eyes.
"Do you need a demonstration?" Sasuke asked.
"No, no, no! I need to learn this as fast as possible, dattebayo! Are there any hand signs?"
Sasuke grunted in confirmation. "Of course. There are six hand signs normally, but others with higher chakra control like Kakashi sensei said can convert it into four or so. For now, we will just learn the six. The seals in succession are Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger."
Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger. Remember those, remember those.
Sasuke tossed him a scroll of sorts, the paper fluttering as it reached his hands.
"Here, all the hand formations are given in this. I don't really expect you to learn it in a week, since this jutsu is a bit of a speciality of the Uchiha clan. But try your best. And also, consider my debt finished."
"Of course!" Naruto yelled in appreciation. "Any tips?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Hn. First of all, do you know how this jutsu works?"
Obviously!
The shinobi using the jutsu just stirred up some chakra in their stomachs, and released it using…
"Not exactly," Naruto admitted ashamedly.
Sasuke frowned slightly, his eyebrows tensing. "How am I going to do this…fine. Think of it like this: a fireball jutsu isn't just made of fire, it's chakra that was turned into fire. And where does that chakra come from?"
"From us?"
"Hn. So the first step is to mould the chakra in your core into fire, and then release that chakra from your mouth."
Naruto nodded in understanding. "So why do you put your fingers in front of your mouth like that?"
"It's easier to direct the fire where you want it to go."
I see.
Naruto began going through the hand seals, his hands moving tremendously slow, but accurate nonetheless. He thanked his younger self for remembering each and every seal after failing to summon a clone for the thirtieth time.
Snake.
Ram.
Boar.
Horse.
Tiger.
Naruto felt the chakra in his stomach churn and tumble around like a wild animal stuck in a cage, and molded it to become hotter, and attain the aspects of fire. The expanded and expanded in his stomach, his tummy feeling quite warm internally.
Something's coming up!
Naruto opened his mouth wide as he placed bent fingers in front of his mouth.
"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!"
A small trickle of flame left his mouth.
Sasuke smirked. "It's not tree climbing to get it on the first try, dobe. You better believe it will take a lot longer than that."
Naruto chuckled inwardly. Truthfully, he didn't expect any spectacular result to begin with, but it was still disappointing regardless.
"Osu! Osu! Osu! Osu!"
Naruto's ears twitched as he heard a foreign sound. Sasuke looked around himself in a similar fashion.
"Do you hear that?" Naruto asked.
"Of course I can, dobe."
Naruto strained his ears even further. "What the hell is it? It sounds like a chipmunk or something."
The sound got even louder. It wasn't a chipmunk or any animal like that, it was…a person? Probably a teenager like them, considering the higher pitch of the voice.
"Yes, Lee! Allow the fountain of your youth to spill all over Konoha!"
"Yes, sensei!"
To be more exact, it was two people. One taller, and the other around their height. Most peculiarly, both of them seemed to be wearing some sort of green spandex. Naruto walked over to the spectacle, curious to see what exactly was happening. What he saw was more than shocking.
The kid of their size, presumably Lee, was walking with his fingers. With one hand crossed behind his back, and the other protruding only his thumb and pointer finger, did a walking handstand…were those weights on his legs?
"And who are you fine, young gentlemen?"
Naruto looked into the dazzling eyes of the older man, further shocked by how shiny his teeth were. Are they even real?
"Uh…I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and he's Sasuke Uchiha. We're part of Team 7."
"Oh, Kakashi's kids. As expected from my rival, making his team exercise this early in the morning!"
I don't think it's worth telling him the truth. Naruto sweatdropped.
The teen stopped doing his exercise. "Sasuke? Sasuke Uchiha?"
Sasuke dully looked at the other boy. "Yes…"
The boy, presumably the son of the other man, grinned in a way eerily familiar to his sensei. "I'm Rock Lee, and I must challenge the both of you to a duel!"