[~0o ! o0~]

You slept well!

HP fully recovered

CP fully recovered

[~0o ! o0~]

Sasuke blinked groggily at the screen hovering above his head. What.. is that? It certainly wasn't normal at the very least. He swatted at it, still half asleep. It made a weird shoop sound before sliding away.

'Huh,' Sasuke thought, 'that was weird.'

The strange occurrence was put out of his mind as he got ready for the day. He forgot it as one forgets a dream.

He slid on his khaki shorts, one out of his 10 pairs. He tightened the soles of his sandals, making sure they were good for training.

And finally, he tied off his headband, opening the door to his (too empty) house to the village. He took his customary silent walk out of the compound (It was too quiet). It always renewed his flame of hatred for Ita- That man. He didn't even deserve to be called by name.

Sasuke scowled, a familiar expression on his face. Today was the first day Team 7 would be meeting up after the Wave mission.

Sasuke had trained mercilessly with his sharingan over the week long break. It was strange to be thinking about his Sharingan.

They always seemed like a large pedestal to reach as fast as humanly possible, always thinking, He got them faster than me. He was already at 3 tomoes at this age. He was better.

Sasuke's scowl deepened. A few store owners gave their customary wave at him. He was too lost in thought to notice.

He walked through the gates to training ground 3, first as always.

He paid respect to the memorial stone, as he did everyday. Stretching into a kata, Sasuke let loose a breath he had been holding. He flowed easily through the katas, counting down the time until Sakura showed up. She always appeared at the exact time, right on the dot.

Unless something changed her during the wave, which Sasuke doubted. Thinking about the mission brought back a wave of unpleasant memories. Feeling so weak was an eye opener for him. If someone who probably wouldn't even be a challenge to that man was able to nearly kill him, only sparing Sasuke because of their weak mentality, Sasuke needed to step it up.

So that's what he did, over the week he was supposed to rest.

Relentlessly training his Sharingan, one eye had 2 tomoe, strangely. He wasn't complaining, it was more powerful. (maybe it would help him beat that man)

His thoughts were interrupted as Sakura arrived, the same time as every time. She did seem a bit more serious compared to before, so Sasuke counted that as a win.

She did still sneak glances at him though, that would never change.

Naruto got there, following his erratic schedule. The blonde grumbled something about Kakashi being late again. He shouldn't even be surprised. It was basically one of his personality traits.

Sasuke turned on his Sharingan for a few seconds, finally seeing how the Uchiha style was made for the sharingan. The eyes pulled at his chakra for the scant amount of time he had them on, tiring Sasuke out slightly.

The same went on for a few hours before Sasuke blinked at another box that appeared in front of him.

[~0o ! o0~]

Due to hard work at training,

You have leveled up!

-5 skill points-

[~0o ! o0~]

Sasuke was much more awake now, and stared at the unexplainable box in front of him. His heart stopped

'Genjutsu?'

He breathed in heavily in and out, clearing his emotions. It wouldn't do to have a panic attack every time he was put under a genjutsu. It wouldn't help when he fought him.

He formed a quick release sign and whispered "Kai" when the box refused to disappear, Sasuke got a bit more serious. He flashed his Sharingan, remembering from a clan scroll that they can see through all genjutsus.

The box remained.

Naruto looked at him curiously. Sasuke bit his thumb, drawing a small amount of blood, and most importantly pain.

The box was still there

The Uchiha only knew one genjutsu user that could keep a genjutsu, even when the victim caused themself pain.

Itachi.

Sasuke breathed heavily. Why would he be here? Why would he make this a genjutsu, and not just torture him.. Again..

What would that seemingly innocent box do? Sasuke was mulling over asking Naruto to pinch him or something before Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Yo!" Kakashi eye-smiled. Naruto and Sakura shouted the same words as every day before. Kakashi placated them, like every other day.

"Alright, my cute little Genin. Today we will be doing a D-rank!" Naruto shouted something about having another epic mission. Sasuke was still staring at the box warily, before taking a dive and touching it.

It made an odd sound before showing him another box with a spinning picture of him with a bunch of numbers. Sasuke jumped.

[~0o ! o0~]

Sasuke Uchiha- LVL 12

HP- 1200/1200

CP- 550/600

XP- 125/400

[~STATS~]

Strength- 11 [+]

Stamina- 7 [+]

Agility- 12 [+]

Defence- 5 [+]

Dexterity- 9 [+]

CC- 60%

Points- 5

[~0o ! o0~]

He blinked 'what does this mean? Why is there a genjutsu like this?' Sasuke put it out of mind and decided to ignore the strange stat screen and follow his team. They had to pick up litter in a river, apparently.

He grumbled secretly, D-ranks were such a waste of time. He already had money because of his inheritance (and he'd rather not think of how he has it). D-ranks were paid chores, they didn't even train anything too.

Naruto seemed to share his same opinion, not that Sasuke would voice his.

The client gave them pokers and bags to clean up the litter more effectively. Naruto enthusiastically shouted that he would get the most litter. Sasuke sighed.

The box made another appearance.

[~0o ! o0~]

!-NEW MISSION-!

Pick up litter for community service

Make sure not to leave any!

~!~

[Mission rewards]

-300 XP

-3 shuriken

[?]

[~0o ! o0~]

Sasuke wondered if the genjutsu was based on greed or something, maybe if he got the rewards they would burn his skin off somehow. Sasuke bit another finger to see if he could break out.

Kakashi looked at him weirdly from his comfortable perch on top of a bunch of rocks. Sasuke glared at him, spearing an empty can and putting it in his trash basket.

He sulked, thinking of different explanations for this weird genjutsu. Maybe it wasn't even a genjutsu, and a side effect from overuse of the Sharingan. Maybe he was hallucinating. Maybe it really was a genjutsu Itachi made, just to confuse him.

He got more aggressive with his trash, ripping a poor paper bag.

"You aren't trying to burn that trash with your glare, are you, Sasuke?" Kakashi jokes. Sasuke glares at him again, not deigning to answer him.

Naruto barked out a laugh, hurriedly picking up trash in the river.

Soon the mission was over, mostly thanks to Naruto's competitiveness. He seemed very full of himself, now that he's beaten Sasuke Uchiha in picking up the most garbage. Sasuke carefully decided not to antagonize the blonde, not wanting a distraction.

Another pop up appeared in front of him, telling him that he 'succeeded in the mission' and that the items were in his 'inventory'. He also got another 'level up', apparently. Sasuke would experiment more with it at his house despite how risky it would be.

It hadn't hurt him yet, at least.

The client, an old woman, gave Kakashi the reward to split up among the students. Sasuke felt a spark of annoyance when his sensei took a fourth of the cut as his own, even though he hadn't done anything.

Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the rest of team 7 together. Naruto stomped home, dejected as Sakura declined another one of his date offers. Sakura, surprisingly, didn't try to ask him out for the first time ever. It seemed like the wave mission made her a bit more mature. Sasuke was glad for it.

After a few minutes of fighting with himself, Sasuke decided to investigate more into this strange genjutsu or hallucination he was under. He brought up the boxes he had ignored from the corner of his vision, reading them carefully.

[~0o ! o0~]

Sasuke Uchiha- LVL 13

HP- 1300/1300

CP- 600/600

XP- 25/500

[~STATS~]

Strength- 11 [+]

Stamina- 7 [+]

Agility- 12 [+]

Defence- 5 [+]

Dexterity- 9 [+]

CC- 60%

Points- 10

[~0o ! o0~]

He squinted at the plus signs next to his 'stats'. His lowest seemed to be defence, which was oddly accurate. He decided to click the plus button next to it, seeing his point counter go down, and his defence go up. He felt oddly stronger in some sense.

Maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him.. Seeing as the screen hadn't shocked him to death when he touched it, Sasuke decided to put the rest of his 'points' in stamina, reliving unpleasant memories from the tree climbing training.

Naruto had still seemed full of energy after it, while he was just barely putting up a facade of being the same. In reality, he was just about ready to keel over.

After that, he was feeling much more energized, he honestly felt as if he could run a mile and not sweat. Was this affecting his body?

Before he checked his hypothesis out, he decided to check the second window he had pushed aside.

[~0o ! o0~]

!-MISSION COMPLETE-!

Pick up litter for community service

Make sure not to leave any!

~!~

[Mission rewards]

-300 XP

-3 shuriken

-1 game tutorial

Click here to look in inventory

[~0o ! o0~]

Sasuke squinted at his rewards. The one that was a question mark before was different. Maybe it would help him understand whatever was going on better.

He pressed the inventory thing with his finger, bringing up a screen similar to the stats screen.

It had another spinning picture of himself (Did his hair really look like that from the back?) and a screen with 2 pictures of a book and shuriken. He hesitantly clicked the book, bringing up a description popup.

[~0o ! o0~]

[Tutorial book]

A reward from your first mission as a gamer!

Inside is a key to help gamers across the world learn how

to access and control all the abilities the player can do!

Open:

[~0o ! o0~]

Sasuke felt a bit more bold with whatever was going on. Not being killed by accessing it did wonders for its reputation. Sasuke clicked the 'open' button, jumping as a large book appeared in his hands. His eyes widened. That proved that it wasn't some strange hallucination.

He cautiously opened it, flipping to the first page.

-If you are reading this, you are the one of the billion galaxies selected for The Game. Consider yourself lucky. If you are sound of mind, you are most likely wondering what the everloving hell is going on.

Lucky for you, this book is a guide for everything you need to know to be able to play the game, control the mechanics, and make yourself more powerful than you could ever dream!

Did that peak your interest?

Read on!-

Sasuke creased his brows at the slightly unprofessional beginning page. It did clear a few things out, though. There still was a bit of doubt in his brain about this, but it was much smaller than before. Sasuke couldn't help but be intrigued.

Maybe it could help him kill that man. It was as if he were chosen by fate. He smirked, turning to the second page. It seemed to describe the profile feature, making him aware to a new thing that appeared in the corner of his vision.

The book told him to focus on it to open his 'profile'. A screen came up with the basic information, different tabs showing his inventory and stats. The picture of himself he was now used to turned around, but with a few different slots around it showing his clothes.

[~0o ! o0~]

[Basic Uchiha Shirt]

Bravo for having the most basic clothing taste for an Uchiha,

with a large collar and short sleeves.

[~Stats~]

-Def +2

-Mild fire resistance

Unequip

[~0o ! o0~]

Sasuke felt attacked. The fire resistance part made quite a bit of sense, the Uchiha used to be pyromaniacs, setting fire to everything. Sasuke cringed at the sudden emptiness that panged his heart. He couldn't help but be suddenly aware of how empty his house was. He shook his head out, exterminating the thoughts.

The rest of his normal clothes had no extra stats or interesting descriptions other than his headband, which had a few things that peaked his interest.

[~0o ! o0~]

[Konoha Headband]

A headband with the symbol of the proud Konoha

etched onto its surface. It notifies other people about

the wearer's ninja status.

[~Stats~]

-+5 teamwork with other Konoha Ninja

-Makes rival ninja hostile

-Def +3

Scratch out?

Unequip

[~0o ! o0~]

There were quite a few interesting things about that. Sasuke was surprised at the option to scratch out the symbol, marking himself as a missing-nin. It seemed like the game was thorough.

He was getting tired, the electronic clock on his table read 2 am, so Sasuke decided to sleep and deal with the rest tomorrow.

Hi! Thanks for reading, let me know if there's anything you want me to change or any ideas for the story in the reviews!