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 — warm from the lingering body heat in the sheets, and still thick with the scent of last night. 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 mouth. The last day hadn't been a dream. I was here. 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. 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 drifting off.
[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. I had time. I closed my eyes, drew in a slow breath, and focused.
Chakra flowed from my pathways, trailing into my fingertips with practiced ease. I pressed them against the bedsheet — eight fingers as last time — and felt the fabric cling with that familiar tension. The trick wasn't raw strength. It was finesse. Precision.
As I maintained the grip, I let my thoughts drift.
'What kind of shinobi do I want to be?'
It was a question I'd been avoiding and needed to answer quickly. The original Naruto was… loud. Brash. 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.
If I were honest, the essence of a shinobi — my idea of it — came down to speed. Swift movements. Clean execution. Outmaneuvering before overwhelming. But the system didn't even have a dedicated Speed stat. Which made things… complicated.
I opened the full status window.
...
[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; it, along with Cognition, combined to make up the chakra; further experiment needed to confirm this. 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 — useful, but not critical 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 if I practice with my shuriken and kunai. The problem was with mental stats. How would 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 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.
For now…
[LP Spent: -300]
[+1 Reflex]
It was 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. Progress, bit by bit.
A sudden voice broke the silence.
"Oi, golden boy! You're not planning on skipping the academy again, 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 napping so hard you forgot time existed."
"Call it training."
She smirked. "Right. Training to nap."
With a playful flick of her fingers, she vanished from view. I rolled my eyes, but the tension 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 used to it yet. Not fully. 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.
My thoughts drifted again — The way this system was set up didn't seem real. There was power in this system — power I could leverage to get stronger, faster, sharper. But also… more dangerous. If I wasn't careful, the indulgence would become the goal, not the tool.
I washed quickly and stepped out, drying off with a towel before heading back to my room.
Uniform ready. Mind clearer.
The academy awaited.
And today… I had some things to figure out.
---
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!