2 Tobirama System
From side to side, he turned his head, watching as the blue panel moved to remain within his field of view. Reiko had not interacted with it since it appeared in front of him. It was only when much of the hospital had gone dark and the patients were expected to sleep that he had the piece of mind to interact with it. He doubted he was being watched — he was no one so important — but he closed the curtains of his window anyway.
He lifted one bandaged finger and gently pressed the message that hovered in front of him. It blinked out of existence and another one took its place.
[Welcome, Reiko, to the Tobirama System. View status?]
He pressed the new message as well, but nothing happened.
'Yes?' He answered mentally, and a new panel promptly appeared.
>—————————————<
Name: Reiko Kaneko | Info
Level: 1 (0/100 XP) | Evaluation?
Chakra: 4 | Strength: 3
Agility: 3 | Dexterity: 4
Vitality: 2 | Perception: 2
Attribute Points: 0
Skills | Jutsu | Releases
>—————————————<
Reiko scanned over the information displayed before him. By all rights, he should be dumbfounded by the system's appearance, but the shock of its appearance rung hollow. He had been shoved into the world of Naruto without explanation, and his reality had been redrawn in many shades of crazy. The system was just another shade.
He had watched Naruto when he was younger and was aware of most of the show's broader strokes. Though, he had forgotten some of the less important characters, details, and plot points.
Seeing his attributes laid out before him was interesting, but he had nothing to compare them to. As it stood, he didn't know how he stacked up against other shinobi, but considering the low values, he was probably pretty weak.
'Shinobi, huh…'
It was an odd thing to even consider, but he knew it to be reality. The doctor had mentioned that he would be able to return to the field as a shinobi, which meant he was already at least genin. A mission gone wrong was likely behind his hospitalization.
Reiko pressed the Skills tab and a list of skills appeared beside the Status window.
[Chakra Control: Level 1 (90/100)]
[Konoha-Style Taijutsu: Level 2 (65/100)]
[Shurikenjutsu: Level 2 (93/100)]
[Stealth: Level 2 (7/100)]
Looking at his skills, Reiko did not find it surprising that he ended up in the hospital.
'Are these skills the bare minimum?' He wondered, before quickly moving on to the Jutsu tab.
[Clone Jutsu: Level 2 (3/100)]
[Substitution Jutsu: Level 2 (49/100)]
[Transformation Jutsu: Level 2 (33/100)]
From what Reiko recalled, these three jutsu were required to be learned in order to graduate from the shinobi academy. Either the previous Reiko had only recently graduated or had simply not bothered learning new jutsu.
He moved to open the Releases tab, but it did not respond. He pressed it again and still nothing happened.
'He's— I've not even begun training my nature transformation.'
From what little he had gathered so far, Reiko understood that his strength was far from satisfactory. Of course, he could always simply abandon the idea of being a shinobi, retire, and become an ordinary citizen instead. And he may have done just that had the system not made itself known to him.
'The Tobirama System. It did mention something about him being my predecessor, but as far as the functionality of the system goes, what does that entail?' Reiko opened the Info tab at that thought.
[Reiko Kaneko, the son of civilian parents (deceased), and a freshly graduated genin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He is the spiritual successor to the Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju.]
Reiko looked to the final tab, Evaluation. Wondering what it meant, he quickly tapped it.
[Evaluating Reiko Kaneko— Result: Low-Genin. The lowest form of shinobi, stronger only than civilians and most academy students (might lose to stronger clan children). Recommended to increase Level immediately.]
It was more or less what he expected — a literal evaluation courtesy of the system.
Before he could think about ways of increasing his level, a new panel materialized.
[Congratulations on fully exploring your Status. You have received a starter Gift to set you on the path to becoming the heir apparent to Tobirama Senju. Would you like to open it?]
'A gift? Yes, open it.'
[Opening Gift— [Konoha-Style Taijutsu: Level 2] has been converted to [Senju-Style Taijutsu: Level 1], [Water Release: Level 1] has been added to Releases—]
'A spiritual successor to Tobirama… so this is what it meant.' For the first time in this world and in this body, Reiko smiled.
[—essential memories to be integrated.]
"What?"
It felt as though a bolt of energy had been injected into his brain, and he collapsed on the bed, unconscious.
~~~
Medical ninjutsu was truly a wondrous thing. In the span of a few days, his left leg went from essentially nonfunctional to somewhat usable. It remained a shame, however, that for all its wonders, medical ninjutsu could still not regrow his lost finger, but it did not bother Reiko much. After all, he had finally learned what put him in the hospital to begin with.
It was as Reiko concluded, a mission had gone awry. The memories he received from the system's gift contained basic information like where he lived, who he was acquainted with, and the details of his shinobi life thus far, including the events that led to his recent hospitalization. More personal and emotional memories — the ones that would have dictated the bulk of the original Reiko's character — were pointedly left out. It was more like he had received an outline of the kid's life, as opposed to an intimate recollection of it. It was a good thing too; the last thing he needed was an identity crisis on his hands.
At the very least, if he was asked to deliver a report on the events of his most recent mission, he would be able to answer with some confidence.
It was his very first C-rank mission. A chunin-led squad of some eight shinobi was tasked with delivering a sensitive missive to an important figure in the Land of Grass. Reiko wasn't even a member of the original unit; rather, he was a last second fill-in.
Shortly after crossing the border into the Land of Grass, they were ambushed by hostile shinobi — shinobi whose headbands were conveniently left unmarked and clothes left ambiguous.
Reiko was the first to be caught in the attack. A kunai wrapped in explosive tags was lobbed into the path directly at his feet. He lived only because he reacted fast enough to jump away at the last second. It didn't stop his leg from nearly being crippled in the explosion though. He didn't know when, but a passing shuriken was to blame for the loss of his finger. Sometime thereafter, he was jumped by a man with a sword, gutted, and left to bleed out some ways away from the road.
He doesn't recall anything beyond that. Though, he can safely assume that his unit came out victorious considering his safe return to Konoha. Whether the missive was delivered or not, he had no clue — and frankly speaking, he didn't care.
"Please take it easy for the next couple weeks," the nurse said as she led him to the front desk, "Take each of these pills twice a day — once in the morning and again before bed. Just make sure to take them on a full stomach, or you'll feel nauseous."
Reiko nodded in understanding, and she handed him a couple bottles of pills and pointed him to the exit.
"Have a great day, and be more careful on future missions," she added.
"I will. Thank you for everything."
Reiko stepped out of the main entrance and into the outside world for the first time. He gazed upward at the sky devoid of clouds and let the sunshine envelop his face.
[New Mission: "Settling In." Return to your apartment and familiarize yourself with your living quarters. Reward: 10 XP, 1 Attribute Point]
Reiko glanced at the panel that appeared in the bottom of his vision and shook his head; he would never get used to the system's presence.
~~~
Reiko pushed open the thin wood door to his apartment. It would not do much to prevent someone from trying to break in, but he doubted that anyone would be dumb enough to try and burglarize a shinobi.
The apartment was as ramshackle as his new memories suggested it to be. The paint on the walls was chipped, the furniture was old and musty, and it was large enough to house only a couple of people. The rent was cheap though.
A rookie genin with zero financial support had a rather unimpressive income. Of course, he could increase it by taking on more missions, but his rank limited the type of missions he had access to. The ones he could accept — the D-ranks — did not pay much, and they were not infinite. It was a stroke of luck that he was able to tag along on a chunin's C-rank mission, but even then, the pay would be split among the unit.
'Now that I think about it, I've not received any payment for the mission. Did it really fail, or are they waiting for me to retrieve it from the mission desk?'
As Reiko understood it, his financial situation was less than ideal. With sparse savings and bills due monthly, he really did need that mission paycheck.
'I'll go check tomorrow.'
Reiko set the pill bottles down on the kitchen counter and rinsed off in the tiny shower crammed in the equally tiny bathroom. After showering and getting dressed, he familiarized himself with his apartment, which didn't take even a few minutes.
The apartment, though cheap, was well taken care of. The kitchen sink was empty, the counters and tables were clean, and the floor was stainless. If not a shinobi, the previous Reiko would have made for a phenomenal maid.
[You have completed Mission: "Settling In." Reward: 10 XP, 1 Attribute Point.]
