Naruto: The Life Changer

"On your marks…." Iruka said as he pulled a stopwatch from his pocket. Naruto tensed up and prepared to run when Iruka gave the word.

"GO!"

Naruto exploded into motion, running straight down the centre of the course, eyes darting left and right to search for the first obstacle. A few seconds later, a flurry of shuriken were sent flying at him. The blond boy threw himself into a forward roll, narrowly avoiding the wooden projectiles, as well as leaping over a tripwire.

The rest of the course was pretty standard and by the time Naruto came to the end of it, he had built up a small amount of sweat.

"Iruka-sensei, what was my time?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"3.43." Iruka replied, "You beat the time Naruto. Well done."

"Let me go again!" Naruto practically begged.

"OK." Iruka said, and hit a button that reset the traps and reloaded the shuriken launchers, "On your marks."

Naruto was practically vibrating in place as he waited for the go from Iruka-sensei.

"GO!" Iruka called.

Naruto raced across the course much faster than before. Now that he knew where most of the traps and shuriken launchers were, he was much better at dodging them. At the end of the course, he threw an imploring look at Iruka-sensei.

"3.21" Iruka announced with a proud smile, "You beat the record by a single second. Well done, Naruto."

"Hell yeah!" Naruto cheered.

[Objective Complete!]

Personal Best Time Beaten: + 100 EXP, + 2 Stat Points.

Course Record Beaten: Mystery Prize from Iruka at the end of the quest.

"Ne, Iruka-sensei, who was this Nobusaki Tomoya guy anyway?" Naruto asked, noting the fact that his teacher didn't seem to see the blue box floating in midair as he surreptitiously closed it.

"Hmm? Oh, he was a genin from my class." Iruka replied, "He washed out of the Shinobi Program because of a health problem in his last year. He was arrogant, but he set the standard for the obstacle courses that few manage to come near. He barely tried with the basic course, but got a good score anyway."

"Didn't the Densetsu no Sannin or that Itachi guy get better scores?" Naruto queried. It seemed odd to him that a washout had a better time than some of the most famous (and infamous) ninja ever produced by Konoha.

"The Sannin were before the Academy built the three obstacle courses in their current forms, so they don't count." Iruka replied, "And yes, if he had taken this course, Itachi would have broken the time with ease, but his father requested he be put through accelerated training, so the only obstacle course he ever used was the advanced course. Obviously he now holds the top time for that particular course now."

"Huh." Naruto didn't know what to say about that, so he decided to move past it, "So what's next?"

"Shurikenjutsu." Iruka replied, "First, I'll go over the actions, then inspect your gear, then you will have time to practice it. Okay?"

"Gotcha." Naruto nodded. As he expected, another blue box opened up.

[Quest Update]

Training Montage: The Rain of Steel: Listen to Iruka's lecture on Shurikenjutsu, then show him your shuriken. Once he either approves or replaces your shuriken, you have ten throws.

Second Objective: Attain a 80% successful hit ratio.

Bonus objective: Hit three vital spots on at least one targets.

Objective Completion reward: +100 EXP, + 1 DEX

Naruto endured the rather boring lecture on correct posture, strength, etc, etc that Iruka gave. He already knew everything that the man was talking about already. The two reasons that he was a two time failure at the Academy were because of his inability to create a Bunshin and his abysmal written work. He could throw shuriken and kunai just fine.

"Right then Naruto. Show me your shuriken." Iruka said once he (finally) finished his lecture. Naruto brought out his shuriken, most of which were fairly old. He had only been able to buy the damn things because the Academy shop wasn't allowed to refuse to serve a student.

Iruka frowned after he examined them. "Naruto, these aren't real shuriken. They are imitation shuriken."

"What?!" Naruto yelped and then quickly used the {Observe} skill on the shuriken Iruka was holding.

[Display Shuriken]

They look like the real deal, but they ain't. Twice as heavy as a real shuriken and horribly unbalanced, you would have more luck spitting against the wind than hit a target with these things. - 30 to accuracy when used as a thrown weapon.

Thrown Weapon

LV1

2 Damage

"Dammit!" Naruto cursed.

"Naruto, have you been using these all year?" Iruka asked carefully.

"Ever since I bought them at the Academy shop in my first year here." Naruto replied furiously, "I couldn't replace them because every time I try, the damn shop is 'mysteriously' out of stock."

"You do realise that you've been scoring just below average with these things." Iruka gestured at the fake shuriken, "I'm looking forward to how you do with actual Academy Shuriken. Here you go."

With that, Iruka pulled a shuriken holster from his pouch and gave it to Naruto who took it gleefully.

"Thanks Iruka-sensei!" he said happily, "Whoa, this is much lighter than my old one."

"Check your holster." Iruka said with a sigh, "I think it's weighted as well."

"EH!?" Naruto practically ripped off his old kunai and shuriken holder and emptied it out onto the ground. Weighing it in one hand against the new one, which was full of new shuriken, his old holster weighed far more than his new one. A feeling of hopeless anger welled up in him.

"What the hell have I ever done that's made every sorry son-of-a-bitch in this damn village want to get in my way all the time?!" Naruto growled, "I mean, seriously! Who goes to all this effort for a twelve year old kid!?"