And so, walking down the street after another training session, I decided to cut through the park.
As I passed by a small clearing, I heard some scuffling on the other side of the bushes.
Needless to say, the System reacted instantly.
[Quest Alert: Novice Rescuer] [You heard strange sounds coming from the bushes.
There is, of course, the possibility that a new ninja is being conceived there, but the shinobi of this world aren’t quite unhinged enough to do that in a public park.
Therefore, there is a high chance that someone is in trouble.
Save the poor soul and raise your reputation in the eyes of the villagers!
Conditions: Help the victim.
Reward: +200 EXP, increased reputation with the rescued victim, System upgrade to a new version as a karmic bonus.
Failure/Rejection Penalty: -2,000 Reputation with all factions in Konohagakure.
Accept Quest?
Yes / No] This is outright blackmail!
Look, considering that most factions here already hate me, I really don’t want to find out what they’ll do to me if my reputation tanks even further.
With a drop like that, I wouldn’t even have neutral parties left!
So, I accepted the quest and marched in to smash the faces of whatever thugs were waiting.
Judging by canon, I should be meeting Hinata here, right?
She wasn’t exactly my type, but it would do.
I carefully pushed through the bushes, and…
honestly, I almost yelled, “Where’s Hinata?!” The scene unfolding before me clashed so violently with my expectations and future prospects that my brain misfired.
A very recognizable little Sasuke was beating the absolute stuffing out of someone I barely recognized in his child form—Kiba Inuzuka!
Honestly, if it weren’t for the floating nameplate, I wouldn’t have known who he was!
As a kid, he didn’t have any of his feral features yet, and he looked quite different from his manga and anime counterparts.
He didn’t even have the red fang markings on his face yet.
So seriously, without the nameplate and his half-depleted HP bar…
wait, half-depleted?
I had to intervene.
I didn’t want to turn Sasuke against me, but completing this quest was more important.
Man, it was going to suck double if it turned out Kiba actually deserved this beating!
“Hey, bug-eyes, leave him alone!” I boldly declared, stepping out of the bushes.
“Keep walking,” the young Uchiha said, glaring at me menacingly—or at least, he thought it was menacing.
Which immediately earned him a punch to the face from Kiba.
That’s what you get for taking your eyes off your opponent, buddy!
Kiba didn’t press his advantage, though.
While his opponent was disoriented, the future dog breeder gave me a sharp nod and bolted out of there as fast as his legs could carry him.
I thought his fighting instincts would be better developed.
But in a way, he was damn right.
Turn around and make a beautiful (and fast) exit into the sunset.
Tangling with the heir of a powerful clan was a losing game!
I’d be the one who took the fall.
Right now, this was just a squabble between clan kids.
I hadn’t laid a finger on anyone; I just perfectly timed my vocal distraction.
They couldn’t pin anything on me!
But if I actually hit Sasuke even once, things would escalate fast, and it would end very, very badly for a certain orphan.
So, distancing myself from the scene, I nearly collided with Kiba, who was leaning heavily against a tree.
Damn, Sasuke’s punch must be seriously conditioned to mess up an Inuzuka like that.
“Did you see how I got him?” Kiba asked, tilting his head back in an attempt to stop a bloody nose.
“Yeah, absolutely perfect, right out of a textbook!” I encouraged him.
See, this was the difference between normal kids—who would have just sat there crying after taking a beating like that—and clan kids.
“Heh, you’re funny!
My name’s Kiba.
What’s yours?” He gave me a closer look and…
sniffed the air.
The dog-boy actually sniffed the air.
And right then, I got the completion notification!
[Quest Complete!
Congratulations!] [As a result of this quest, you have acquired a new pe…
friend!
Reputation with Inuzuka Kiba +3,000 (Friendly).
Reputation with the Inuzuka Clan +300.
Reputation with Uchiha Sasuke -250.
Received: 200 EXP.] [Quest Alert: Transporting a Wounded Soldier] [Help your new friend reach his clan compound.
Conditions: Reach the entrance of the Inuzuka clan territory before the end of the day.
Time Remaining: 6:34:59 Reward: +150 EXP, improved relations with your first friend and his clan, ability to subsequently visit the Inuzuka clan territory without repercussions.
Unlocks three event chains with the Inuzuka Clan.
Improved relations with the faction “Citizens of Konohagakure no Sato”.
Failure/Rejection Penalty: Decreased reputation with the Inuzuka Clan and a loss of relationship points with your first friend.
Variable.
Accept?
Yes / No] Whatever, accepted!
Free EXP is free EXP.
Besides, I only needed sixty more mosquit…
EXP points, I meant to say, to hit Level 4!
And fully securing friendly relations with an entire clan and cementing a bond with its heir sounded downright fantastic.
“I’m Uzumaki Naruto!” I declared proudly.
“Let me help you get home.” Seeing the kid immediately start puffing his chest out to prove his independence and toughness, I decided to lean on him.
“I know you can handle yourself, but what if that Uchiha decides to finish what he started, and brings his clanmates this time?
You know how those Uchiha are!
It’ll be a lot easier to handle if there are two of us!” Ignore the notification about unlocking the “Rhetoric” skill and “Talk no Jutsu” leveling up!
I wasn’t brainwashing anyone, and I wasn’t lying.
I was just slightly exaggerating and keeping all possibilities open in this crazy life—the same life that completely screwed me out of my first love, but finally handed me my first friend.
“Yeah, alright.
It really is easier with two,” Kiba agreed.
Kids really are easy to convince; I was starting to forget that during my isolation.
Despite my grand declaration, I basically had to carry Kiba on my back all the way to the clan compound.
How the hell did he even manage to run away from that clearing in the first place?
On the bright side, the notification stating that our relationship had increased by +5 popped up twice during the walk.
My friendly gesture was fully appreciated.
At the gates, I handed Kiba over to a massive, one-eyed dog—if I remembered correctly, his mother’s ninken.
Trying not to look at the suddenly pale kid, who was clearly about to get the lecture of a lifetime from his mom, I walked away.
I was busy reading the beautiful lines of text informing me that, on top of the EXP for finishing the quest, I had received all the promised rewards plus an extra 200 reputation with both Kiba and his clan.
Honestly, getting there before sunset had been a bit of a struggle.
My Stamina still wasn’t great, it was a long walk, and Kiba was heavy!
But whatever, I managed it.
The new quest chains, however, deeply unsettled me.
The first one—Friendship with the Clan—looked perfectly normal and was the only one currently available.
The second one—Training the Young Hounds—was a little nerve-wracking, but I severely lacked the levels and stat requirements for it, so it was locked for now.
But the third one was terrifying!
[Taming the Lone Wolf (Locked until Player’s physical body reaches sixteen years of age)] How am I supposed to react to that?!
Look, I remember the quest about a certain rabbit, and I understand that the System is going to try and train me in all directions through its quests…
but I’m not even half as scared of Tsunade as I am of Inuzuka Tsume!
Long story short, I walked back home in a state of quiet shock, completely losing any desire to grow up!
No, I mean, sure, things could change three hundred times before then, but that kind of future still terrifies me.
Somehow, without realizing it, I wandered back into that same park and heard rustling from the exact same bushes.
Damn it, this was some kind of twisted fate!
And confirming my worst fears, I received the exact same quest I had three hours ago, just with a little “II” next to it!
Jumping ahead a bit, I can safely say that I will soon start avoiding this park entirely!
…and cursing the “Talk no Jutsu” skill!