Shinobi:The RPG

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You know, I'd thought that running up it would be harder to do; much more strenuous, difficult and probably better for training chakra control. Probably why Kakashi had Naruto and Sasuke do that the first time around. But…wait, Kakashi didn't do that. He simply taught them the jutsu and Naruto and Sasuke made it a competition. That's right. I think.

You know, the only thing that's stopped me from writing down what I remember is the fact that I live in a village of spies and that I'd have to burn anything I wrote when I was done. Writing the future would get me in trouble and writing in English would raise eyebrows at my non-existent cryptography training and would get me in the same kind of trouble. Actually, worse.

"It was just an idea," I shrugged. "I mean, you'd only have to have chakra in your foot as long as you were stepping off and it would accustom you to moving around while using the jutsu faster."

"Maybe," Nichiren allowed. "But I'd rather just be able to stick and learn to move first."

I shrugged. I actually would prefer that method myself if I were him. "Alright, go ahead."

It took a while. Nichiren would make a step or two, before falling off. I caught him every time-

--3 HP-

-sometimes at my own expense, but eventually, as the sun rose to high noon, he got it. He started walking around the tree trunk, cheering louder with each passing step. I was pretty grateful I was able to circumvent my low Charisma by not saying a lot and letting him teach himself for the majority of this.

I munched on a candy-bar to bring back my lost health. "Nice work up there!"

"So, how's the tree walking jutsu?" Kakashi appeared right next to me.

"Nichiren's great," I replied, swallowing my candy. "His chakra control is pretty good."

"Well," Kakashi eye-smiled at me. "I'm pleasantly surprised by this turn of events."

I shrugged. "I didn't have to say much, which is probably for the best. I just gave him an example and he taught himself."

"He is fairly intelligent," Kakashi nodded. "So, are you going to dinner with the Nakamura's?"

"I was thinking not," I replied, a cold shiver going down my spine. "Again, I work best when I don't have to say much."

"Well we might want to start working on that," Kakashi eye smiled. "I think you should come with us."

"Why?" I asked with a deep frown. "I don't see why this is something I need to work on."

"Because as a shinobi, you might be hired to escort someone like a merchant or even the Diamyo," Kakashi answered, becoming much more serious. "We can't have a shinobi as socially inept as you messing things up for clients."

"So I just won't take any escort missions," I shrugged. No love lost there, really. Escort missions were the worst and it didn't matter what game it was. Reverse escort missions, naturally, were the best thing ever. Nearly every mission involving Liberty Prime was a reverse escort mission. They were glorious. "I don't see the big deal."

"Okay," Kakashi started switching tactics in his head, I can tell. "But you're also going to be a future clan leader with your bloodline. You don't want to mess up your posterities chances because you never trained to be a better diplomat, right?"

He had me. I knew it and I think he knew it. But I wasn't going to go down without a fight. "The Aburame's seem to be doing fine."

"They are also a fully established and respected clan," Kakashi replied. I could hear him getting exasperated. "You, by yourself, are not."

I didn't want to go. Nichiren was scared of me and I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of his folks. I mostly tried to avoid socializing for a reason, after all. And I respected what Kakashi was trying to do. The question was if I was really willing to humor him and my team and spend a few hours trying to pointlessly increase my social skills. Especially since I can be inventing jutsu or looking for skill-checks to pass to increase my level and actually improve my social skills with my scaling Charisma.

…my life is really weird right now.

"Think of it this way," Kakashi said. "You'll be showing support for your teammate."

Why did I hear a bit of doubt in his voice? Whatever. "Fine, I'll go."

"You will?" Kakashi blinked in disbelief. Then he eye-smiled. "That's good to hear! I look forward to seeing you there."

---

I made sure to buy new clothes. Biggest charisma bonus I could find, which was +4. So, I was currently rocking an 8 charisma with no armor, with my belt sticking around my waist like the irremovable pip-boys of yore. I considered bringing them with me on missions, but whether changing into them manually or fishing through my book, switching would take time.

The new suit should, at least, make this dinner bearable for all involved. Hisako, Nichiren, Kakashi, Nichiren's parents. I'll admit that I only brought it along because…well, it might be fun to actually make a good first impression and have a couple people like me without being compelled to spend time with me. Even if they will just go back to ignoring me once I revert back to my armor and I was still mad about being strongly encouraged to come.

It was a simple set with a black tunic and grey pants. I seriously doubted this was a black-tie occasion, so the kimono was out. I was kind of proud of myself for figuring that out, but I figured that mostly came from my knowledge from before.

I, of course, was early. I wasn't expected until 8:00 so I got here at 7:30. Punctuality is one of the things I'm an absolute stickler for and I guess it helps counter balance Kakashi-sensei's lateness. Or it simply causes my temper to come to a boil.

Much like coming to this dinner. I mean, I may be humoring my team here, but that doesn't mean I like it. Actually, I really should keep quiet during this dinner. Things like raging frustration came out really strongly in my voice and mannerisms in my old life, and I can only assume it's going to be worse now.

And like clockwork, Hisako showed up about twenty minutes later. She was dressed how she always dressed, since her outfit was acceptable by civilian standards, as opposed to my 'armored and ready for battle' look.

"Hey Hisako," I waved at her, putting on my best smile to avoid showing how much I didn't want to be here.

She looked at me in disbelief. "Daisuke? Is that you?"

"Afraid so," I replied with a nod. "Kakashi-sensei roped me into coming, so here I am."

"Wow," She tilted her head to get a better look at me. "I barely recognized you."

Bonus charisma can do that. "Must be the outfit."

"Yeah," Hisako then frowned. "Okay, so what'd you do?"

"What do you mean?" I frowned.

"You don't just look good, you sound good," Hisako frowned, giving me a once-over. "Like you're socially competent. What gives?"

Ooh. That's right, inexplicable rises in competence gets eyeballed. Maybe I shouldn't have bothered with the suit. "Oh, uh...I can be socially competent. It's just difficult. Very, very difficult."

It's better than the actual explanation; that I'm only competent when I'm wearing expensive clothing.

"Oh-kay," Hisako frowned. "How is it difficult?"

Crap. "It's like a super-charged Henge. I use the Henge to make me not look like a statue and give the appearance of not being a quirky, social mess. This one just goes several steps further. I just can't maintain it all the time."

Hisako smirked, but I could feel just a twinge of annoyance in her words, "Well, it makes sense that you pull a jutsu out of nowhere to solve your problem."

Thank you, 8 Charisma. Seriously, if this is what I have to look forward to when I have an actually high charisma, then Almost Perfect can't come soon enough. You know, it just occurred to me that she may be slightly over appreciative of my ability to invent jutsu.

As in downright envious.

It would make sense, considering what I know of her.

…I'm digging the high charisma.

Maybe I can help her learn some extra jutsu? Smooth things over? Would be a good idea. Though I might need to find an alternative other than this outfit in order to do it right since I just told her my bonus charisma was incredibly difficult to hold, so…maybe I really will pull a jutsu out of nowhere to do so?

"Yeah, I guess it does," I replied with a small smile. "Do you know if Kakashi's already here or if he's going to be late?"

"Probably will be late," Hisako said with a frown. "You want to go knock on the door now?"

"I think maybe we should wait a few more minutes," I looked down the street for any sign of our Sensei. The street was bare of any ninja cyclops. "Just to say we actually waited for him."

"Good point," Hisako said. "I like the outfit by the way."

"Thanks," I replied, looking at the sleeves. "I figured that the armored look was a little much for civilians."

"Right," Hisako blinked. "I didn't think you could be so thoughtful."

"I can be considerate," I countered. "It just takes a lot of work. Like, I'm seriously wondering if tonight's going to kill me or not."

Hisako snickered. "Who knows, it might not."

"I hope not," I frowned. Sadly, this outfit was actually too bulky to be worn with everything else I wore, so no permanent CHA bonus for me. I need it, though.

The minutes passed and we made idle chatter until it was exactly 8:00. I did the knocking and not even a second later, Nichiren answered the door. "Hey, you're just in…Daisuke, is that you?"

I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment. "Yeah, it's me."

"You look good," Nichiren said. "How'd that happen?"

I almost said that I pulled out some extra stops, but that saying is actually a reference to the pipe organ, an instrument I don't think exists in this world. So, instead I said; "I came up with a super-charged Henge. Can't maintain it for long but I…didn't want to embarrass myself tonight."

"Hey it's okay," Nichiren said with a frown. "My parents know you have some trouble normally. They're completely fine with it. You didn't need to invent a new jutsu just for this occasion."

Being able to lie is actually really nice, now that I think about it. "That's okay. I wanted to invent a new jutsu anyway."

"Well if you're sure," Nichiren frowned, moving aside so we could see in. "Come on in."

We entered. The house was really nice. There was a table, a kitchen, a place where my shoes came off for safe keeping and...ah. Two adults, late thirties at least. They both had glasses, and they were the same height, at least a couple of inches shorter than Kakashi-sensei, though that might Kakashi's hair talking. They both had glasses and black hair. While Mrs. Nakamura had let her hair down for the occasion, Mr. Nakamura's hair was cut short. Dark eyes, dark hair. They were so clearly Nichiren's parents I might've actually picked them out from a crowd if I cared for that sort of thing.

They were standing, ready to greet us as we walked in. I went for a bow, of course. "Nakamura-otachisan, thank you for inviting me."

"We really appreciate it," Hisako bowed beside me.

"Mom, Dad," Nichiren took the lead. "These are my teammates Shimoda Daisuke and Yamada Hisako."

"It's so great to meet you both," Mrs. Nakamura said with cheer as Hisako and I came back up. "Nichiren's told us both a lot about you."

"Welcome to our home," Mr. Nakamura said. "Nichiren, do you know if your sensei is running late."

I just barely avoided answering this alongside Nichiren. Don't want to talk over him, I'm in his house. "Yes, he's probably running late. I told him the dinner was at six to try and counter act it, but…"

"I think he knew you were lying," Hisako spoke up with folded arms. "Good try though, I should've thought of that."

"Ah no," Nichiren frowned, his eyes going to his mother.

"You lied to your sensei?" Mrs. Nakamura got very stern. "What have we said about lying and cheating?"

"Don't do it unless I'm on a mission?" Nichiren put on his best innocent smile.

"Yes," Mrs. Nakamura said. "Why lie this time?"

"Because I was on a mission to invite my friends to dinner," Nichiren nodded sagely. "Yes indeed."

"That doesn't count!" Mrs. Nakamura had a horrible temper. "We talked about this-"

"Ai, Ai," Mr. Nakamura rose and hand and calmed down his wife, who was actually starting to get scary. "We can talk about this later. Not in front of guests."

"Yes, I suppose you're right Hiro," Nakamura Ai had calmed down with a sigh. "Anyway, please have a seat. Nichiren, you were going to help me in the kitchen."

"Uh…yes, Mother," Nichiren's shoulders sagged.

"If it makes any difference," I spoke up. "Our Sensei is always late. Infuriatingly so."

"Yes," Nakamura Hiro nodded. "But we've raised our son to be honest…within reason, anyway. Being a shinobi often requires deceit I'm told."

"It can be life or death," Hisako confirmed with a nod.

"But your sensei being late is not a matter of life or death," Hiro explained. "It's merely a matter of convenience."

Well, Ma and Pa Kent clearly had their moral center's in the right spot. With the kind of ninja the world has, they might even be in the right genre, too. I still feel bad Nichiren got in trouble over it though. Hopefully it's no too severe. Actually, he's technically an adult now by Konoha law, so they can't really do a thing to him.

…Konoha Law suddenly became a little infuriating. But not too much. It let me live on my own, after all.

"Please, sit down," Hiro motioned for us to sit at the table. "I didn't invite you here to lecture you, I apologize. Dinner will be here soon."

We did so, Hisako sitting across from me.

"So," Hisako started, looking at me. "What'd you do over the past two weeks?"

"Mostly working on my jutsu," I replied, shrugging. "You?"

"My parents came home for a week," Hisako smiled thinking about it. "Mom taught me a little about how to use senbon. I've been working on it whenever I got the chance."

"That's awesome," I nodded. "So, throwing senbon has got to be a lot harder than just throwing a shuriken. Right?"

Hisako smiled. "Definitely. First, the way you hold them is completely different…"

She went on about how to hold senbon and throw senbon, to which I nodded and maybe asked a question or two to keep the ball rolling, which was much easier with a higher charisma. Eventually, the Nakamura's brought out the main course, which was Chicken Katsu with Tonkatsu sauce on the side.

They each took a seat and then there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Nichiren quickly stood, running toward the door. "Kakashi-sensei, come in."

"Thank you," Kakashi said from the door, walking inside, sans shoes.

"Come in, Kakashi-san," Mr. Nakamura called after our Sensei as he arrived. "We were just about to eat. Please have a seat."

Kakashi approached the table, but stopped for a second. "Oh, hello Daisuke! I'm glad to see you here."

He didn't recognize me for a second and now he's saving face. I'm okay with this. "I'm glad to see you."

He took a seat right across from Mrs. Nakamura. I'm trying my best to remember that Mr. and Mrs. aren't a thing in this world, and only how I'm differentiating them in my head. Don't want to let something slip on my tongue, after all.

"Itadakimasu," We said as a group, picking up our chop-sticks and digging in.

I tried to keep quiet, let everyone else talk around themselves. Hisako's parents were home for a week before heading out on other long-term assignments. What kind of relationship is that? Are they Anbu and can't see their daughter often? Or do they really go outside of the Village for whatever reason?

Of course, I should've known I couldn't just stay quiet, now could I?

"So Daisuke," Hisako happily involved me in the conversation. "What exactly did you do for your two weeks besides training?"

I shrugged. "Mostly just working on my jutsu. But I also worked out how to make explosive seals."

Kakashi started choking. I didn't even see him move his mask, but his meal was almost gone.

"Breathe, Kakashi-sensei," Resisting the grin tugging at my lips. "Breathe."

"You," Kakashi-sensei coughed out with his lung. "You worked out how to make explosive tags? How?"

"I bought an explosive tag," I shrugged nonchalantly. "Analyzed it and figured out how it works. I know they can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, but I know what I'm doing."

Now Kakashi-sensei really was looking at me like a grew a second head. Well, maybe like I had grown three. I don't know, but he seemed shocked that…I had been messing with a suicide-jutsu. Well, that would explain his reaction.

Eventually he came to. "I was hoping you simply made your own jutsu. So you know everything about the jutsu used to make explosive notes?"

"Yeah. I was somewhat surprised to learn about it, actually," Upon seeing Kakashi-sensei's eye-expression, I quickly back-tracked. "I didn't get hurt if that's what you're wondering."

"Okay good," Kakashi sighed in relief. "Do you think you could…not mess with seals until we've had a chance to talk about it later?"

"Sure," I shrugged. I was going to need to re-think what I wanted to do with them anyway. Focusing on Ninjutsu seemed to be much more profitable right now.

Mrs. Nakamura frowned. "So how long have you three been a team now?"

I looked at Hisako.

"About 4 or 5 weeks?" Hisako guessed.

"I thought it was closer to six," I countered.

"Five weeks and three days," Kakashi came in with the exact number. "It's been great teaching them."

"We're so glad you have you teaching our son," Ai smiled. "Thank you for all your hard work."

Kakashi just waved it off. "It's nothing. I was happy to do it."

Of course, the parents would mostly care about how they're little boy was doing. Just like how my parents would've cared were they here.

…home. I hadn't really thought about it for a while. Mom and Dad were awesome. I still remember how Mom was trying to get her 'all natural skin-care' business off of the ground and she'd come to me to proofread her labels. Then I'd go to her for some advice…I was such a mama's boy back then.

Dad and I got into Skyrim together. I don't think he ever touched Fallout 4, though. He and I would talk for hours about various quests we'd do. He's brag about being able to down a dragon with a dagger and sneak attack damage, and I'd tell him about that one quest where I went on a drunken rampage across all of Skyrim and had to retrace my steps to find out how I wound up naked in the temple of Dibella, and married a Hagraven.

Good times. I miss them.

Then I had a brother who was crazy about League-

"Daisuke?" Nichiren asked.

I snapped back to reality. "Sorry, I zoned out for a second."

"It's okay," Nichiren said. "We were just talking about how to taught me the tree-walking jutsu."

"I didn't do a lot of teaching," I replied. "I just put you on the tree and you learned on your own."

"How many times did you catch him?" Kakashi asked with an eye-smile.

"Kakashi-sensei," Nichiren moaned in annoyance.

"Six," I replied. "How did teaching Hisako water-walking go?"

"You can walk on water?" Hiro asked with some awe in his voice.

Oh, Civilian. That's right. "It's a mid-rank chakra control exercise. Not everyone can do it…Kakashi-sensei can do it."

"So can you," Nichiren reminded.

"That's mostly due to my bloodline," I shrugged. "As such it is cheating and doesn't count."

Hisako laughed out loud and got herself back under control relatively quickly with a light blush. "Excuse me."

"So, Water-walking?" I asked again.

She looked at me with her lips in a firm line and fire in her eyes. "I can do it now. Thanks for asking."

"How many-" I began.

"Eight," Kakashi sensei answered without missing a beat.

Nichiren started chuckling and Hisako gave him a dirty look, folding her arms and looking away, muttering with that blush still on her cheeks.

"Eh, the fact that she can it at all is impressive," I said with a frown. "Right?"

"That's very true," Kakashi eye-smiled. "Very few learn it while they're this early in training."

"Thanks sensei," Hisako muttered as she came back up.

"So Nichiren will be able to learn it himself?" Ai asked with a wide smile.

"Absolutely," Kakashi replied. "Not for a while still, but absolutely."

"That's amazing," Hiro smiled wide. "Truly, our son is fortunate to have such a team."

---

After the surprisingly entertaining dinner party, we all went our separate ways. I thanked the Nakamura's profusely for the meal, ensuring they knew that I appreciated their cooking. The fact that it was delicious only helped that particular case. Kakashi disappeared a few minutes ago, and Hisako and bid her farewells before leaving.

"Have a good night!" I waved goodbye to my teammates family and walked off.

…in the distance I saw Hisako walking away. She doesn't really have anyone waiting for her at home, does she? Maybe I should walk her home. Since I'm her teammate. But what if she takes it the wrong way? Well, then I can correct it later. Besides, I seriously doubt she could take it the wrong way. I'm just her teammate, right?

I shunshin'd and caught up to her. "Hey."

Hisako turned to me and blinked. "Hey."

"Mind if I walk you home?" I asked with a shrug. "I mean, I heard you say your parents were gone, I thought you might appreciate the company."

Hisako blinked and, much like Kakashi had done, looked at me like I had grown a second head. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with Daisuke?"

She was partially being sarcastic, but something in my gut twisted wrong regardless. "I am Daisuke. Really. We can go to the hospital, they've taken my blood around half a dozen times, they can confirm it."

"I was mostly kidding," Hisako smirked, but there was something else in her eyes. "But you've been acting different all evening."

"Must be the outfit," I repeated the line for the second time tonight. "Makes me more comfortable."

"Yeah," She said, sounding distracted as she looked at said outfit. "Must be. But yeah, I'd love the company."

"Awesome," I said, putting my hands in my pockets. We started walking. "So, you can walk on water."

"I know," Hisako said excitedly. "It's awesome, I can't wait to tell my parents when they get back."

"They go on a lot of long-term assignments, huh?" I asked with a thoughtful frown.

"Yeah," Hisako looked down cast. "It's not really that big of a deal. They've been gone constantly since I could go to the Academy."

"I'm sorry," I replied.

"Like I said, it's not that bad," Hisako shrugged. "I don't know what I would do without them."

"Must be nice," I replied, thinking of how my parents were, to me, nothing more than a memory. "Knowing that you can see them sometimes."

"I guess it is," Hisako said. "Sorry, I know you're an orphan. It slipped my mind."

"It's fine," I shrugged, the line bothering me a little bit more than I wanted it to. "It's just something I've had to live with."

We were quiet for a few minutes, just walking in silence.

"So," I broke the new layer of ice. "Got any plans for training?"

"I want to keep training with senbon," Hisako replied. "They're great for delivering poison and other nasty stuff."

"You know a lot about poison?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"No," Hisako admitted. "But my Mom does. I'll have to figure out how to throw them properly, though. I've always preferred getting up close and personal with Kunai."

"Have you thought about poisoning the Kunai?" I offered. "I mean, learn to run real fast, cut them with a poisoned kunai and get out of there before they even know what hit them?"

Hisako looked up in thought. "That's…an idea."

"I'm full of them," I replied as we came to a stop in front of a three story house with a reasonably large house. Two shinobi parents meant wealth. Especially if they were Anbu, I got to say. "My jutsu collection can prove it."

She snickered and brushed one of her locks behind her ear. "Thanks for walking me home."

"No problem," I answered. "Have a good night!"

"You too," She bade me and I shunshin'd away.

I made it to my apartment took off the outfit, and dispelled my Henge. I collapsed on my bed with a sigh. The Nakamura's were great. Upstanding people, I really like them. It was good to spend the evening with a family. Get a reminder of the good times from before. Before the car crash. Before I died.

...

…I miss my family.