A Strange Gameplay For a Ninja

Chapter 1

Games.

I love them. I invest all my free time in games. Each time I return from the academy, I go to the TV, turn on the game console, and I play. Most of the time it's RPG. You know, Role Playing Games. In RPGs, you can do anything, play like a fucking badass warrior, or a mysterious wizard, or a dark assassin, or a... ninja. My dream is to become one of those. Pretty silly, huh?

That's why I go to the academy. I want to become a ninja, like my father. He's a chunin specialist in fire jutsu, and when he demonstrated one of those, I knew that I had found what to do in my life.

I want to learn how to breathe fire, to walk on water, all that cool stuff!

But... it's not going well. The graduation exam is in two weeks, and I can barely do the jutsu required to pass. It's not that I'm bad at it, it's just... I don't train, nor study, in my free time : I'm too busy playing games. And I have no friends: too busy playing games... Every time, it's always : "Tomorrow... Tomorrow, I'll start train seriously...", and every time I end up continuing playing. Why can't I be a genius and learn everything in no time?

However, today is different. Because when I woke up to go to the academy, I found a blue rectangle floating in front of my head.

You have slept in your bed. HP, CP & Mp fully restored and all status effects removed.

Ugh... I'm really going crazy, huh? I spent way to much time on those games.

I slowly waved away the box that my sick mind had created and sat up on my bed. Clearly I'd been up far too late beating the last boss on my latest RPG...

I went to the bathroom, splashed some water on my face and looked at the mirror. Here I am: Kurota Farazuke, a twelve year old boy with brown, spiky hair down to the shoulders, green eyes, average face, average height, really, really white skin, and very thin, almost skinny. Now, there's something wrong with me today... First: I don't have the usual bags of shadows under my eyes. Huh. Whatever. Second: I don't feel tired. Nor sleepy. And last but not least: those words above my head!

The Gamer

Lv1 Kurota Farazuke

What the hell... This must be a genjutsu. They told me what a genjutsu is at the academy. Some sort of illusion, if I remember correctly. My father must be playing a prank on me or something. Wait... My father is on mission outside the village for a few days... But then why? Am I really crazy?

I shrugged, and dismissed the problem for later. Maybe I'm just sleepy and imaginating things. Gotta take breakfast. So I walked to the kitchen and put some cereals in a bowl. I like cereals: It's quick to prepare, quick to eat, and taste all right. I ate while thinking, what the hell is wrong with me today?

"Hi! You're pretty early, today."

That's mom. She's a civilian, and she handles our clothes shop. She has long brown hair and green eyes, like me. I inherited most of her physical features, except for the spikyness of my hair. Thanks dad.

I turned my head to see her. My eyes narrowed at the words above her.

Legendary Tailor

Lv3 Sachiko Farazuke

Legendary...? Yeah, mom is pretty good at tailoring, so it makes sense. We're not popular because of the location of our house, and if mom wasn't here, our shop would fall down in dust... Why am I trying to make sense of these meaningless words...?

I sighed.

"Good morning. Yeah, I feel great today." I replied.

"Really?" she seemed surprised. After all, I 'm pretty much always tired. "Enough to begin your training?" She asked while joining me eating.

"... I'll think about it."I replied.

"You better. Your father asked me to remind you, after all."

"Um... Is there something above my head?" I asked suddenly.

She looked at me, an eyebrow raised, and her eyes turned up, searching for something. She smiled.

"Nothing except your beautiful spiky hair, Kuro-chan!"

I groaned.

"Ugh. Don't call me that."

So she don't see it. It's me and only me. Great.

She giggled slightly, and got up. Yeah my mother eats fast, very fast.

"Anyway," she said, and suddenly, a yellow question mark appeared above her, "Since you're up already, you might as well wash all the dishes, okay?"

A quest has been created.

Quest alert: Wash the dishes!

Your mother wants you to wash the dishes.

Dishes washed: 0/10

Completion reward: 50 XP, increased closeness with mother

Completion failure: Disappointment of mother

YES/NO

My eyes widened.