I always stunk at goals. Looking beyond the low-hanging fruit was something I've always been terrible at. It didn't change when I died and came back.

It nearly killed me and my team.

But then it comes down to a point where I have to change or this game was going to kill me and my friends around me. Adapt or die.

Friends.

They're a treasure to have, for sure. Life..sucked, without Cell 13. It sucked without Naruto. It sucked without Kakashi-sensei and it sucked without Nichiren or Hisako.

I need to treat them better. Protect them better. I'm the one with overpowered abilities, it's my job to make sure they live through everything. This isn't a Bioware RPG where everyone magically gets back up at the end of the fight. This is a Bethesda game without an essential tag.

Protecting them doesn't involve coasting on some rather impressive B-rank techniques.

But how to improve?

Goals were always what was suggested. Set manageable goals, achieve them, set further goals, achieve them, work toward greatness.

Except I never tried to make the goals, really. I was always horrible at setting them, even worse at trying to reach them. But now the lives of my friends and I are at stake. So that leaves me with the only thing I can really do.

Set goals and try to follow them this time.

That ultimately comes to the question; what do I want?

Well, I want to go home and get away from the obscene danger. But I can't think that way; down that path is the path of depression, madness and suicide in an attempt to fix what went wrong. It's nowhere I really want to be.

So what do I want if I can't have the former?

Well, I want to protect my friends.

My 'precious people', if I had to go with local vernacular.

How do I want to do that?

Well..I've got a maxed Intelligence, if not the motivation to use it fully. I also have maxed chakra control, nearly maxed Taijutsu and the ability to improve rapidly. I also seem to be rather gifted at reverse-engineering jutsu.

So, the idea of a Magic Knight is well within my possibility, but how do I help the rest of my team? Well, Kakashi doesn't need that much help if I were honest. Nichiren and Hisako, on the other hand, do.

The thought entered my head of teaching them shadow-clone jutsu to help them train, but I seriously doubted that would even help them train all that much. Too fragile, too much chakra. Waste of time and effort.

I was consciously aware of 'Chasing Shadows' burning a hole in my quest log.

I'll have to figure how to help them later. Right now, I need to help myself. So, in my ultimate philosophy in character building, a good character needs four things to be successful. Offense, Defense, Maneuverability, and Sustainability.

I've got plenty of Offense, though I could always use more, and my Maneuverability is fairly good, though I'll need to learn Shunshin soon, as well as figure out if I can take a long fall. After that, it's more or less taken care of until I learn how to fly. It should be possible, but I don't remember anyone besides that one guy who flew on the back of a giant bird who pulled it off. That bird exploded? I think?

Sorry, getting off topic.

My defense was laughable. Barely anything against physical harm, nothing to be said against Ninjutsu and my lack of defense against Genjutsu is downright horrifying. On top of that, I have no sustain. My chakra reserves deplete like crazy, which leads me to believe there's something odd going on there with how fast it regenerates. I have no real means of healing HP for myself or my team.

This is a very sad state of affairs.

Would a planned out build path help that much? Well, yes. If I've got enough abilities with enough utility, I shouldn't be kicking myself for failing to account for something that happened, which is primarily the field of jutsu known, not so much perks. Skills I'm going to max out anyway, so there's not much point in worrying about wasting them, per se.

I've used perks 2, 4 and 6. I have 22 more perks to go before I run out. I have an increase in Luck, Silent Jutsu and Educated. The perks I want are Almost Perfect, Taijutsu Enthusiast, Ninja, Paralyzing Palm, Chakra Siphon, and Toughness.

Almost Perfect because it's broken, Taijutsu Enthusiast because it makes my unarmed damage scale better, Ninja to make my punches go through someone a quarter of the time rather than a tenth, Paralyzing Palm to make Neji feel short-man's envy, Chakra Siphon because most ninja without chakra are hopeless and toughness because that could easily save my life.

Another good perk I could get would be Stone Wall as a defensive measure against people who toss their enemies around to help win fights. That would have to be after I get Almost Perfect to raise both my strength and endurance above the appropriate levels.

Now for the other 15 perks to use.

Sealless Jutsu was a thing. It took 85 Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Chakra Control, as well as a level of 40. It also had the prerequisite perk of One Handed Jutsu, which did exactly what I thought it should: Do hand signs with one hand. Being able to use jutsu with only the slightest possible warning for anyone is something that fills me with joy. This surprisingly had a level restriction of level 16, as well has 60 Chakra Control, Ninjutsu and Genjutsu.

Another perk One Handed Jutsu unlocked was A Jutsu on Each Hand, which meant I could do separate jutsu on each hand, with 100 Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Chakra Control along with a level restriction of 46. This meant that I could do two jutsu at once, without seals.

I thought the image for that perk being a Vault-Ninja doing jutsu with a third arm that grew out of his stomach to be hilarious. And possibly foreshadowing.

Okay, that's three more perks I can get. Twelve more to go.

Another perk to get is Adamantium Skeleton, which according to the description, makes my bones unbreakable and increases unarmed damage because I'm hitting them without any fear of breaking my bones (in other words; harder). I'm surprised it doesn't simply reduce my limb damage, but I guess there's more ways to cripple a limb than just breaking a bone. Like severing tendons.

The only requirement is level 14, so I've got seven levels to go before I grab that.

Ninjutsu and Genjutsu Enthusiast do what Taijutsu Enthusiast does and increase their effectiveness by 10%. I actually really like these perks and will probably get them when I see nothing else to get. I need 25 of Ninjutsu and Genjutsu to get their respective perks, so I qualify for Taijutsu Enthusiast and Ninjutsu Enthusiast, but not for Genjutsu.

That can be fixed.

Now, for the Fuinjutsu Perks.

Fuinjutsu is so insanely overpowered I thought it would mostly be saved for late game. That was really just my own laziness talking, looking back on it. So naturally, there's perks for it. Chakra Seals allows me to create and/or use seals without blood. It has a Fuinjutsu requirement of 50 and a level requirement of 10.

I don't have a Fuinjutsu of 50, that would take another level and almost all of my skill points. Not sure focusing like that would be worth it, though if it would be worth it for any skill, it would be Fuinjutsu.

Another Fuinjutsu perk is Mail Bomber, which increases the explosion radius of explosive notes, but that one seems underwhelming. So I won't be getting that one.

Tattooed Armory was an interesting perk. Fuinjutsu requirement of 45, but it made the effects of seals placed on weapons and armor 15% more effective. So I'll be getting that. I have a pretty good idea of how to use it, too.

So, how many perks is that? 16? Alright. 6 more to go before I've got myself a good build path. How many perks am I going to get after 30? 5? I've got room for 5 more. Let's see if there's a good perk or two for Charisma..

Ferocious Loyalty's a pretty good one. I go beneath half health like I did yesterday and my current team gets massive boosts to their defenses. 50%, actually. Great way to make sure my team doesn't die if I go down.

Then..heh. There's a perk called The Will of Fire.

Level 50. Requires 10 charisma, 100 Medicine and grants all nearby allies moderate health regeneration.

..

..HOLY # %!

That..that doesn't say 'team' or 'companions' or anything else. Just 'Allies'. That..I..can sustain an ARMY with that perk! Or at very least a large task force. I... wow! This turns me into a literal heal-bus! Or Heal-tank, actually.

No one will die on my watch.

It's perfect.

Shame its way up there on level 50. With a requirement of 10 Charisma, there's not a lot of room for Intensive training. Thankfully, I can probably use Fuinjutsu to make some pseudo-cybernetics for a permanent stat boost to qualify. That worked in the games, right?

Right.

Okay. Let's go back to Fuinjutsu-related perks..

Whitewash..YES. HECK YES. Whitewash allows me to erase seals, depending on my skill level. While I doubt it's an instantaneous process unless it's way beneath my skill level, that would've made the previous mission a cake walk. Level 32, 100 Fuinjutsu. Makes sense for that kind of requirement, but removing someone else's seal, like a curse seal from existence is worth it.

And finally, there's the elemental jutsu. It's surprisingly bare bones, actually.

Elemental Training: Allows for the use of one additional element without penalty.

Which means..elemental jutsu is more tied up with my skills and affinities than actual perks. However, the first rank has a unique requirement, Unlock First Element, alongside 20 Ninjutsu. The second rank has forty Ninjutsu and the first rank of the perk as prerequisite.

So..putting them in order. Taijutsu Enthusiast, Chakra Seals, Toughness, Tattooed Armory, One Handed Jutsu, Paralyzing Palm, Ninja, Adamantium Skeleton, Ninjutsu Enthusiast, Two ranks of Elemental training in a row over levels 26 and 28, Almost Perfect, Stone Wall, Chakra Siphon, Ferocious Loyalty, Whitewash, Sealless Jutsu, The last two ranks of Elemental Training, A Jutsu in Each Hand, Genjutsu Enthusiast as a tentative place holder, then finally Will of Fire.

I got my skill increase mapped out, too. Over the next few levels, I'll focus on getting my Ninjutsu and Genjutsu up to sixty to get One Handed Jutsu, then focus on getting Melee Weapons and Sneak up for Ninja. I already have the Taijutsu for Paralyzing Palm so I don't need to worry about that for now.

After that, I'll grab Adamantium Skeleton and the two ranks of Elemental Training since I will undoubtedly have the prerequisites for it by then. Surely. At that point, I'll have the requisites for everything except for Will of Fire and I hope I'll be able to improvise with Seals to give me the perfect 10 Charisma for the perk.

Gosh, having 10 Charisma is going to be so strange after a life of having it be my dump stat.

Focus.

Okay, that's the perks. The list might change as I go on my play through, but the core remains the same. Now what's my plan for getting new Jutsu? Ask Kakashi and go to Konoha's Library. As a Genin, I have access to additional training material and jutsu, so I will probably either get new jutsu from there or failing that, some skill books so I don't have to focus so heavily on various areas.

As my Ninjutsu and Genjutsu get higher, I'll need to start reverse-engineering jutsu I know exist as well as come up with defenses, not just for myself, but for my team.

Final question, what to do with Fuinjutsu? Well as my last mission showed me, creating seals that can absorb chakra is possible, so there's some defensive options against Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. I'll need to work on that. Also from that mission, it's possible to replicate the effects of Bijuu and jutsu. So if I'm right, it can pull off modified effects.

I had this idea. I'd put seals on my gloves and what they would do is they would create miniature constructs, using shadow clones as an example. They wouldn't be very intelligent, only capable to following three instructions.

These instructions being: First, come into being. Second, Shunshin their way to the organs of my enemies. Third, explode. Basically homing bullets, but since I think they might just pierce their way through without transmitting a lot of the stopping power to the enemy, they'll explode on impact. Or maybe a little after impact. I'd need to test it.

Basically, I'd turn my gloves into twin Uzi's that spit rockets. Not entirely sure how effective it would be, but it'd give me a ranged option since I'm terrible at kunai.

As for jutsu, besides needing to figure out Shadow Clones, I need the Mystical Palm technique, either for myself or for my teammates, depending on the situation to add some sustain. Also some form of defensive technique, either water or earth wall, perhaps using fire to make a smoke screen or make a wind wall or something.

As for maneuverability, I wonder if I can adjust Kawarimi to substitute me with air as opposed to a random log? It wouldn't be the Flying Thunder God since that thing's got pure distance, but for short-range tactics, it might work. Assuming it's even possible. Maybe substitute with a wind-clone?

..actually, I'm still trying to figure out how the Kawarimi even works and why it's an E-rank. Probably shouldn't touch it until I can figure it out.

Okay. First things first, what am I going to do today?

Well, first the meeting with Kakashi in less than an hour. I'll ask Kakashi for jutsu at the meeting and see what he says, then I'll head over to the hot springs and crack water-walking for some quick EXP, then it's off to the library for me.

Surprisingly, I wasn't the first one to the Memorial Stone. Kakashi had me beat even though I arrived a solid ten minutes early. But then, I guess since the Memorial Stone was where he spent all his time, it's not that surprising.

"Kakashi-sensei," I said in greeting.

"Daisuke-kun," Kakashi eye-smiled at my approach. "You're early."

"So are you," I replied. I felt a little awkward, since he was most likely mourning his friend Obito's death and I was intruding. "..don't let me interrupt. I'll go take a nap in a tree or something."

I could ask for jutsu later.

"Okay," Kakashi went back to what he was doing.

I walked up a tree and..hey! There's a lake over there. Shoot, I'll just crack water-walking right now.

I jumped off the tree with everything I had and ran fast. I got ready to throw chakra in my feet as I approached the shore. I leaped up as high as I could and got ready for a feet-first landing.

Chakra Control Check Success: 100/45.

+300 EXP.

Stuck it.

Haha, this is awesome!

I did a back-flip from my hands, laughing like a maniac as I bounced, leaped and otherwise enjoyed being able to run and slide across the water. I briefly posed like a guy on water-skis while I slid before stopping.

Because once you got over the novelty, it was just bouncing on a flat surface. Kind of a shame.

You know, if I could spread out the impact over a wider surface or strengthened the surface tension beneath me, I might be able to turn this body of water into a wicked trampoline.

But as it stands, I might need a jutsu to do that and..hold on, snake-dragon-dog..

Ninjutsu Check Failed: 30/75.

Ah, darn it. Oh well.

I looked to the shore. Nichiren and Hisako were both standing there. Nichiren was waving his arms, Hisako was kind of just standing there. I imagine they were fairly shocked. I sped over to them like a speedboat. "Hey."

"That was incredible!" Nichiren shouted in glee.

"Thanks," I said, walking ashore.

"You figure that out by yourself too?" Hisako asked with a frown.

"Yes. Yes, I did," I nodded. Wait, was she mad?

Perception Check Success: 8/7.

She's not just mad. She's..envious? Of me? Huh. "Is there a problem?"

"No, just.." Hisako looked away, her gaze wandering before finally settling on Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, you had training for us?"

"Yes I did," Kakashi responded without missing a beat. He withdrew several sheets of paper from who knows where and handed them to us. We walked over to the memorial stone, and sat down. Kakashi was in front of the stone, and the three of us were across from him in a line.

This was clearly a report form. Lines for where my name was to go, where the name of the mission and a large box where we were meant to describe what happened. Kakashi was going through an explanation about each part of the sheet I only partially paid attention too.

When he finished, my hand went up.

"Yes, Daisuke?" Kakashi asked me.

"Where it asks for a mission report, does that include what we saw in the cells?" I asked with a frown.

"Not necessarily," Kakashi answered with a shrug. "You could just put that you were trapped in a hell viewing jutsu. But if any of you need someone to talk too, you can always rely on your team. Me especially."

Oh. Whew. Okay, I was really paranoid there for a second that I would have to come up with a story that didn't involve Vertibirds or Liberty Prime but was true enough to not set off anyone's lie detection senses.

But that raised other questions. Is there no psychological care in Konoha? Probably not, now that I think about it. The various quirks and stuff that arise in everyone's personality imply a 'take care of it yourself' approach. And given how much death they see and the mere presence of Genjutsu, that kind of care might not be feasibly possible, what with ninja's sheer paranoid mistrust of someone like that and the kind of target a therapist would be painting on their back.

Seriously, you want to break a shinobi? Kidnap his therapist.

That was just disheartening, though. There had to be something that could be done..heck, maybe that could be my shtick later in life when I'm maximum level, bored and impossible to kill. That'd be really cool actually.

I wouldn't be at Naruto's level of therapy no jutsu, but the more practitioners on the side of good, the better, right?

I just realized everyone was really quiet.

Kakashi was waiting for one of us to break the silence, burst the dam and get everyone talking. I could see it easily. As much as I like getting the first word in, I didn't want to say anything right now. But-

"I was got transported to an entrance to a maze," Hisako started, not looking at any of us. "I..saw my parents get dragged in there by something, I don't remember what it was, and it..was my job to rescue them."

Ooh. She got plopped in a survival horror game. Yikes. It was times like this that I remembered that my teammates were kids. Twelve year olds. Child soldiers. I was an adult...even if I didn't look like it. My job to protect them just took on another dimension.

I already feel terrible.

"The maze was filled with..monsters," Hisako gulped and..yeah, she had tears rolling down her cheeks. "They were like walking corpses..stabbing them or slicing them didn't do anything since they were already dead and I didn't know anything else."

She devolved into sobs. Kakashi was there in a second, comforting and reassuring her.

"I can't just pull jutsu out of nowhere," She said in between heaves. "I'm not D-a genius. I can't pull jutsu from nowhere."

I am a massive $#%#$. An unforgivably lazy $# % that nearly got these kids killed.

She eventually settled down, wiping tears away on her arm.

Nichiren decided to start. "I found myself in a ruined Konoha. It was in complete shambles and everyone was just fending for themselves. I got assigned to..requisition supplies."

He was holding tears back too. My hearts breaking for my team.

"I went into a ruined store and there, huddling behind the counters were my parents," Nichiren said, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. "I..was being asked to steal from my parents for the good of the village."

Ooh. He was really feeling this divide between the village and his family, wasn't he?

"I couldn't do it," He said, blanching something awesome. "I fought against the team I was with to protect my mom and dad. I..failed. I couldn't protect my precious people."

There were those words again.

"They were executed for treason," Nichiren was starting to lose it. "I was next, and then.."

He lost it. Hisako took his hand. Kakashi wrapped an arm around his shoulders and this time-

-Perception Check Success: 8/8-

-I could hear what was being said.

"Nichiren," Kakashi intoned. "I know you've been under a lot of pressure from both sides..but those who abandon their precious people for the mission are worse than trash. If that had happened..you would have done the right thing and I would've been right beside you."

Nichiren took a breath. "R-really?"

"Really," Kakashi eye-smiled.

In another life, I would've rolled my eyes at how touchy-feely this all was.

To that I say; shut up other me. You don't know anything.

Naturally, they turned toward me. I..suppose sharing would be the appropriate thing to do. But I'm a terrible liar and my speech is still not high enough for me to feel comfortable lying about it. It wouldn't help me anyway if I did lie about it.

The thought to come clean arrived and was viciously strangled upon birth. So..I just finished my report in as bare terms as I could conceivably do so and stood up.

"I'm sorry," I said to my team as I handed Kakashi my report. "But I don't feel like talking about what happened right now."

"Daisuke.." Nichiren looked worried.

"This isn't the time to be anti-social!" Hisako snapped, her voice still hoarse from her cry. "You can't just crawl into your shell again! Not after what we went through!"

"Sorry," I replied with a shrug. "But I like my shell."

The thing about having such a high Taijutsu skill was that attacks from people with an obviously lower skill from you were painfully telegraphed. Hisako, of course, like all good women from anime, wanted to punch me for being stupid. I probably deserved it, to boot. But alas, I didn't feel like losing a tooth.

So, I caught the punch and threw her onto the ground as gently as I could have managed. With that, I started to walk away.

"Daisuke," Kakashi said, and I turned. I saw that he had Hisako, who had gotten up for another attack, by the shoulder. "When you're ready to talk, we'll all be here. Alright?"

"Sure," I said, with a bow. "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei."

First things first, check the library.

I headed over there first, marching through the academy doors. I checked the academy level, and found that there were no new books. Considering that books were much harder to produce than in my old world, I wasn't that surprised.

Marching up the stairs to the level reserved for Genin was a different story. The shelves were lined with books and scrolls and a pre-eminent examination revealed what were likely skill books, as well as some very interesting scrolls filled with jutsu.

I showed my ID card to the Chunin on duty, a bored shinobi who I didn't recognize, or care to learn about..maybe later.

Of skill books, there were 5. 4 of them were for Chakra Control. I face palmed with each one, each louder than the last, until I finally got a shush. The last one was for Sneak, bringing it up to 18.

The real treasures, of course were the jutsu. The first one was Demonic Illusion: Hellviewing Technique, which was a chakra control requirement of 20 and a Genjutsu requirement of 15.

I barely held in my manic, dark laughter, biting my knuckle to avoid getting thrown out of the library. Out of all the techniques I could've learned, it had to be this one.

+150 EXP.

1,920 EXP until I level.

The shelves held surprisingly few secrets. Most of the good jutsu, like fireballs or electrical jutsu were either in the C-rank section further up the stairs, or the property of other villages, and thus were either simply not available, even higher than C-rank, or locked away in the Uchiha compound.

..would I really risk raiding the Uchiha compound for a fireball? A place probably watched like a hawk by Anbu, guarded by ancient defenses and probably pilfered clean by enterprising shinobi that were given a happy fun-time tour of T&I for their lack of respect?

Probably. Would need a higher Sneak skill though.

I haven't even seen Sasuke yet. But maybe that's for the best.

The next jutsu that I did find, though? Shunshin.

+150 EXP.

1770 EXP.

YES. This will come in handy, I didn't even have to do the minor amount of work to figure it out for myself!

..

Suddenly, this seems much less okay than before.

Whatever, this just means I need to come up with some of the better jutsu for myself.

This talk of jutsu brings to mind elemental chakra.

What was the test for it, some chakra-sensitive paper that you funneled chakra into? I wonder what it'll do when I funnel chakra into it. Find my element? Is that something I can decide or something decided by the RNG? Maybe I don't have an element.

I had this amusing image of the paper simply sitting in my hand, doing nothing but in its mind asking in horror exactly what I was. This turned less amusing when I figured that Kakashi or someone else might be watching and questions might be asked.

So, that made my next objective clear.

Get some chakra-paper and get my affinity tested. Figure out contingencies if something bizarre happens. Obtain some drugs and alcohol and break my double-lifetime prohibition on both of these things for the additional charisma to lie since my life would literally depend on it.

I hope that won't be necessary, though.

I thanked the librarian on my way out and headed into market. Using my newfound Shunshin, I was off like a rocket, flying over rooftops with a loud whoop at the top of my lungs. I momentarily got distracted by what I was supposed to do, but since I knew I could soften my landings now, I landed without a fuss.

Sadly, I knew that seeing things while using the Shunshin wasn't really possible until I slowed down. Wasn't the Sharingan required for that? It was. I hope that my stats getting more powerful as I level will eventually be a good substitute.

But in any case, I needed to focus.

Using Shunshin judiciously, I was able to visit stores meant for shinobi fairly quickly, until at last I found a store that possessed chakra paper. Having cashed in the A-rank mission vouchers earlier, I had more than enough to buy this priceless commodity.

The sheet I purchased was about the size of a regular sheet of paper, but I knew upon contact that it was different. It seemed to want suck chakra into it, grasping at the thin wisps that danced their way from my fingers.

But I needed to be smart about this.

I stowed it away and headed home, using a Shunshin to leap more than half-way there in a single bound. I ran up the apartment building, said hi to the landlord on my way, and closed my apartment door behind me.

First things first, I don't need to use all of my paper at once. Small dent in my wallet or no, it was expensive. I used a shuriken to cut it into evenly spaced strips for storage. I grasped one between my index finger and thumb and, to its delight, I channeled my chakra into it.

The world around me grayed out as the paper started to glow. A green window appeared.

Choose an Element it said, with a menu for lightning, fire, wind, earth and water below it.

Ah, well. That's convenient. Absurdly broken to boot.

My first instinct was to pick Fire. But I held off on it, as I needed to think about it. This was a decision that was both remarkably large and significantly more forgiving than my SPECIAL allocation. I needed something that I could picture myself using in more ways than one, was easily taken advantage of and I would be happy with.

Well, I had Kakashi as a sensei, so anything was probably easily taken advantage of. As for happy with, the decision really came down to fire and lightning. I loved both of those quite a bit. As for its usage, that was harder. Fire meant smoke screens, explosions, burning things and jet engines, in theory. Lightning meant freaking lightning, absurdly high temperature, shockwave inducing death rays from the heavens above. It also meant magnetism, paralysis to the point of instant death in some cases, and all of this applicable though touch, making it the deadliest static electricity imaginable.

And even if I choose one or the other, it's not like jutsu from one is locked from me forever. Just penalized until the appropriate perks.

What to decide.

There's also the various combinations to consider. Combine fire with, say, air and I can create firestorms. Combine lightning with water, and I wouldn't be sur-->>

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