Morning sunlight crept through the blinds of Naruto's apartment, thin golden lines slowly crawling across the floor and climbing the side of his bed. The village outside was already beginning to wake, but only faint sounds managed to reach his room. A distant shopkeeper raised a shutter, birds chirped somewhere outside his window, and a warm early-June breeze slipped through the small opening he'd forgotten to close the night before.
Naruto lay on his back beneath a tangled blanket, staring at the ceiling.
For once, he wasn't in a hurry to get up.
His body still ached from yesterday. Temari had hit considerably harder than a girl her size had any right to, and the fight against Orochimaru before that hadn't exactly left him fresh. Still, beneath all the bruises and soreness was a feeling Naruto couldn't quite suppress.
Pride.
A few months ago, he had graduated from the Academy as the dead-last. He'd barely understood what chakra control even meant, his taijutsu had been terrible, and most of his combat strategy consisted of making enough Shadow Clones to bury someone underneath orange jumpsuits. Even the system hadn't magically fixed that.
Naruto raised one hand toward the ceiling.
He'd fixed it.
Well...
Mostly.
The system had helped. A lot.
But Naruto had been the one training. He'd climbed the trees, walked on water, gotten his ass kicked, practiced his wind techniques until his arms went numb, studied sealing formulas until his eyes hurt, and fought people who would have flattened the Naruto who graduated from the Academy.
Yesterday had proven that.
Temari had been stronger than him in some ways. Her wind techniques were better, her range was ridiculous, and Orochimaru's stupid seal had turned Naruto's own Wind Release against him. He hadn't magically become stronger halfway through the fight.
He'd thought his way around it.
Naruto smiled.
That was new.
He turned his head toward the window, watching a beam of sunlight slowly move across his wall. He'd made it to the finals of the Chunin Exams, learned multiple elemental techniques, become a competent seal user, and survived a fight with someone so far above him that thinking about Orochimaru still made his stomach tighten.
But that was exactly why Naruto couldn't get comfortable.
One month.
Neji was waiting at the end of it.
Then there was Gaara.
And Orochimaru.
And whatever the hell his vision had been warning him about.
Naruto sighed.
"Being awesome is exhausting."
He sat up and stretched, several joints popping loudly enough to make him wince. His eyes drifted toward the orange jacket lying in a heap near the wall, covered in tears and cuts from yesterday's fight.
He needed to train.
His chakra control was the most obvious problem. Until he figured out what Orochimaru had done to him, anything involving delicate chakra manipulation was unreliable. His taijutsu needed improvement before fighting Neji, and yesterday had shown him that his Fūinjutsu had a lot more potential than simply throwing explosive paper at people.
Then there were Lee's weights.
Naruto grinned.
He definitely wanted to figure those out.
But before any of that...
There was something important he'd been saving.
Naruto pulled up his inventory. Some houskeeping was needed.
2 Small Skill experiences packs
Naruto's skill in utilizing his barrier and gravity seals upon Temari were still present in his mind. Fuinjutsu enabled the how, the why behind it he decided, ultimately fell down to trap making.
Trap Making LVL 5 (18/50) -> Trap Making LVL 5 (27/50)
Just like that his inventory started to clear.
12 Free Lottery Spins
His grin widened.
"Oh yeah."
He'd been stockpiling them for a while, mostly because every time he considered using them something else happened. Now, with an entire month before the finals, there wasn't much point in waiting.
Naruto cracked his knuckles.
"Alright."
A colorful wheel appeared in front of him.
Naruto leaned forward.
"Papa needs a legendary sword."
He spun.
The wheel blurred.
DING!
+1 Strength
Naruto stared.
"...Okay."
He spun again.
DING!
Basic Shinobi Wire — 20 Meters
Naruto's eyebrow twitched.
"Useful."
Another spin.
DING!
+1 Endurance
Naruto nodded slowly.
"Building momentum."
Spin.
DING!
5 Kunai
Naruto stared at the notification.
"I can buy those."
Spin.
DING!
+1 Charisma
Naruto paused.
His irritation disappeared.
"Never mind. Best system ever."
He immediately spun again.
DING!
Standard First-Aid Kit
Naruto's smile vanished.
"You're doing this on purpose."
Another spin.
DING!
+1 Agility
Spin.
DING!
10 Blank Sealing Tags
Naruto considered that one for a moment.
"...Actually, I'll take those."
Spin.
DING!
+1 Intelligence
Naruto nodded approvingly.
"Big brain."
Spin.
DING!
Military Ration Pack — 3 Meals
Naruto recoiled.
"What?!"
He inspected it suspiciously.
Three sealed packages appeared in his inventory.
Naruto's face twisted in disgust.
"That's not ramen."
The system offered no defense.
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
Two spins remained.
He rubbed his hands together.
"Alright. You've had your fun. Give me something good."
Spin.
DING!
+1 Endurance
Naruto's expression went flat.
"Last one."
He pointed threateningly toward the wheel.
"Don't screw me."
Naruto spun.
The wheel slowed.
His eyes followed the marker.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
DING!
Basic Smoke Bomb Bundle — 5
Silence filled the apartment.
Naruto stared at the wheel.
The wheel disappeared.
"...Coward."
Twelve spins.
Five stat points.
Some wire.
Kunai.
Sealing paper.
Medical supplies.
Food he didn't want.
And smoke bombs.
Naruto fell backward onto his bed.
"I've been robbed."
Still...
He looked at the rewards again.
None of them were actually useless.
The wire could work with his traps. The blank tags were always valuable. Smoke bombs had plenty of uses, and yesterday had proven that basic equipment could matter just as much as flashy techniques when used properly.
Naruto scratched his cheek.
Maybe that was the point.
Probably not.
The lottery was just cheap.
His eyes moved toward the final unopened reward.
Rare Item Box — 1
Naruto immediately sat upright.
Now this was different.
He'd earned the box by beating Temari. Unlike the lottery, it guaranteed something from a specific rarity.
Naruto rubbed his hands together.
"Okay."
The box appeared.
"Make up for the garbage."
Naruto opened it.
Golden light burst through his bedroom.
His eyes widened.
PING!
Rare Item Acquired!
Shinobi Mesh Undershirt
Rarity: Rare
Naruto's excitement immediately dropped.
"...A shirt?"
A folded black garment appeared on his lap.
Naruto stared at it.
Then the description appeared.
Shinobi Mesh Undershirt
A reinforced combat undershirt woven from chakra-conductive fibers and lightweight protective mesh. Designed to be worn beneath standard shinobi clothing.
Effects:
• Greatly reduces damage from slashes and piercing attacks on torso areas
• +10% physical and elemental damage resistance
• Chakra-conductive material allows sealing formulas to be applied directly to the garment
• Contains 4 concealed areas for seal formulae. Permanent/temporary
Naruto stopped reading.
His eyes returned to the shirt.
Then the description.
Then the shirt again.
"...Oh."
He picked it up.
The material was light. Much lighter than he'd expected, considering the protection it supposedly offered. Thin reinforced sections covered the chest, sides, and shoulders without restricting movement.
Naruto's eyes slowly widened.
Sealing formulas could be applied directly to it.
His mind immediately went to work.
Naruto held the shirt farther away.
Lee's weights flashed through his mind.
Adjustable gravity matrices.
His grin returned.
"Oh."
That could be interesting.
It wasn't some legendary sword.
It didn't double his chakra.
It wouldn't magically let him beat Neji.
It gave Naruto something else however;
Options.
He could place storage formulas directly onto his equipment instead of reaching for his pouch every time he needed something. Barrier seals could be built to spring a sudden defense. If he managed to understand the adjustable formulas he'd seen on Lee's weights, he might even create equipment that could increase resistance during training.
Naruto stared at the shirt.
Thirty days.
His excitement settled into something more focused.
There was a lot to do.
First, he needed to figure out what Orochimaru had done to his chakra. Training while his control was crippled would only make everything harder, especially his elemental techniques. After that came Neji.
Naruto knew enough about the Hyuga to understand that charging straight at him would be stupid.
Which unfortunately eliminated approximately seventy percent of Naruto's usual plans.
He needed information.
He needed better taijutsu.
He needed to experiment with his Fūinjutsu.
He needed to investigate the vision the system had shown him.
And somehow, between all of that, he needed to make sure the other rookies were ready for whatever was coming.
Naruto swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
Yesterday, that list would have sounded impossible.
Today?
Naruto looked toward the battered orange jacket on his floor, then down at the new black mesh shirt in his hands.
He smiled.
A few months ago, he'd been the dead-last.
Now he was worried about preparing for a Hyuga prodigy while reverse-engineering gravity seals and investigating a threat to the village.
Naruto stood.
"Man."
His grin widened.
"I'm getting pretty awesome."
His stomach growled.
Naruto's hand rubbed his stomach as he made his way to his shabby stovetop.
I'll give you three guesses as to what our protagonist set out to make.
Name: Naruto Uzumaki
Village: Konohagakure
Rank: Experienced Genin
Stats
Strength: 66
Agility: 79
Endurance: 77 (+10%)
Intelligence: 77
Charisma: 57
Luck: 12
System Points: 300
Inventoryxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Flash Anklet - 20% move speed buff for 60 seconds, 300 second cooldown
Shinobi Mesh Undershirt - Reduced damage against slashing/piercing attacks, +10% physical and elemental damage resistance. Contains 4 sealing formula locations
Damaged Uzumaki Record (Fragment)
Standard First Aid Kit
Basic Smoke Bombs x 5
Basic Shinobi Wire - 20 feet
Military Rations x 3
2 Soldier Pills - stamina/chakra boost at cost of extreme fatigue
Chakra Stabilization Band: +15% experience boost to Chakra Control training
Uzumaki Vital Surge Capsule: +50% END/AGI Special interaction. Massive chakra boost