I woke up to the early murmur of birds outside the window and the soft light of dawn bleeding through the curtains. The room was quiet — warmth from the body heat lingering in the sheets, and the room was still thick with the scent of last night's escapades. My thoughts drifted, uninvited, to the memory of Kushina hovering over me.
Fleeting images flickered behind my closed eyelids — her flushed cheeks, trembling hands, the weight of her breath on my cock, and her warm, wet mouth. Yesterday hadn't been a dream from a fantasy. I was here, in Konoha, as Naruto. My mind replayed every moment with the clarity only reality could bring.
After reminiscing for a moment, I shook myself awake.
It was tempting to lose myself in those thoughts of excitement and dread. But if I wanted to fully enjoy myself in this world with the women I was familiar with, I needed to do more than just enjoy its… perks. I needed to carry the burdens, too. That was the price of stepping into the shoes of the main character.
I sat up and stretched, groaning as a satisfying crack traveled up my spine. My thoughts reflexively pulled open the system window, checking the progress I'd made last night before ... well before Kushina happened.
[Leaf Sticking Exercise leveled up: Lv8]
EXP to next level: 357/400
Current bonus: +8% increase to chakra control.
'Still a few dozen EXP left.' I could finish that before the day really began.
I peeked out the window. The sun was just starting to break through the rooftops, bathing Konoha's quiet streets in a sleepy orange hue. The house was silent, it looked like no one was awake yet. So I had time to get to level 9. I closed my eyes, drew in a slow, deep breath, and focused.
It didn't take as long this time to visualize the chakra flowing from my pathways, trailing into my fingertips. I maneuvered the tenketsu with practiced ease. Pressing my fingers against the bedsheet — eight, same fingers as last time — and felt the fabric cling with that familiar tension. As I maintained the grip, I let my thoughts drift.
'What kind of shinobi do I want to be?' I thought.
It was a question I'd been avoiding, which needed to be answered quickly. The original Naruto was… loud, brash, impossible to ignore. He powered through battles with stubbornness and overwhelming numbers — a sea of shadow clones and one oversized Rasengan after another. That kind of strategy worked, sure. But it didn't resonate with me, especially without Kurama, my chakra reserve, which was massive but finite.
If I were being honest, the essence of a shinobi — my idea of it — came down to speed. Swift, clean movements with the sole purpose of outmaneuvering the enemy before being overwhelmed by power, and in case things go wrong, there was always an option of tactical retreat. But my problem is that this broken system didn't even have a dedicated speed stat. Which made things… well, complicated.
I opened the full status window once again.
...
[Name: Uzumaki Naruto]
[Age: 18]
[Level: 1 (0/100){+}]
[Chakra: 1600/1600]
[Physical Stats:]
Phy: 9 {F+} (3/300){+}
Agi: 9 {F+} (1/300){+}
Dex: 10 {F+} (0/300){+}
[Mental Stats:]
Ref: 10 {F+} (0/300){+}
Spa: 11 {E-} (0/400){+}
Cog: 23 {E-} (0/400){+}
[LP: 910]
...
Physique governed raw strength and, more importantly, chakra capacity, at least from what I could see and from my understanding of chakra from the show. It, along with Cognition, made up what I could assume was the maximum limit of my chakra reserves. Further experimentation is needed to confirm this, but I'm assuming it's correct. That made it an obvious long-term investment. Reflex boosted my reaction time —another important aspect of the speed conundrum.
The problem was that I had ways to train Physique, yesterday's short spar with Ino, and the training before had increased the Exp required to level up by a bit. Similarly, agility seemed to govern my movement ability and flexibility. Dexterity helped with fine motor control — extremely useful, but not critical as of yet, unless jutsu aiming would depend on it as well, though it shouldn't, but maybe it would, considering dexterity could mean control of external chakra as well.
Still, I had training to increase Physique, Agility, and even Dexterity by practicing with shuriken and kunai. The problem was with mental stats. How should I even go about training them? Another problem was that I didn't know the upper limits of these stats or how their scaling compared in real combat. A 10 in Reflex might be decent, maybe, for now, but would it matter when facing someone like Neji? Or Kakashi? Or, hell, Madara?
I made a mental note to test these increases with practical sparring later. I should at least see if this shit works.
...
[LP Spent: -300]
[+1 Reflex]
I chose the best option that I had. A burst of warmth flowed through me as the LP converted, and I felt my nerves spark — the world becoming just a tiny bit sharper. I was interrupted by another notification as the effort to hold the sheet floating decreased.
[Leaf Sticking Exercise leveled up: Lv9]
There it was. I pulled my hands away and exhaled slowly, trying to feel a difference but coming up blank. Progress, bit by bit though was a good thing. A sudden voice broke the silence.
"Oi, golden boy! You're not planning on skipping the academy again today, are you?"
Narumi's head poked in through the crack in the door. Her hair was still messy from sleep, but her expression was full of smug energy. She leaned in, crossing her arms against the frame, eyes scanning the room.
"You do remember classes start in an hour, right?"
"I'm up," I said, rubbing my face.
She narrowed her eyes at me. "You sure? Because it looked like you were dead to the world. What are you dreaming about anyway?"
"Let's call it training."
She smirked. "Right. Training to be the best at napping."
With a playful flick of her fingers, she vanished from view. I rolled my eyes, but the tension that had seeped in thinking about the future eased from my shoulders. I still had time before shit hit the fan. As the sound of her footsteps faded down the hall, I stretched again and made my way to the bathroom.
The mirror caught my reflection — shirt clinging to sweat. No matter how much this body felt like mine now, I wasn't completely used to it yet. I still caught myself comparing it to what I remembered from the old world. Taller. Stronger. More defined muscles. I turned on the shower, letting the water heat up.
I washed quickly and stepped out, drying off with a towel before heading back to my room. I had to get to the academy quickly. And today… I had some things to figure out.
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AN - The next few chapters will focus on world-building, training, and stats basics before we move back to smut.
P.S - 8+ chapters on P.atreon - p.atreon.com/SmutWriter001!