With the clock ticking at its own pace and the screams ringing throughout the prison unending, Haruto 'calmly' thought of other things.
'The Dark God has given me the opportunity to serve him. And I shall do my utmost to earn his deserved respect!'
'But first! I must begin by learning about the world around me!'
As such, Haruto's attention turned to the register in front of him.
'Hmm…that name looks like someone from Kiri…and that one from Kumo…'
'Is this an ANBU holding cell?'
'Is that why Kakashi is here?'
'Hmm…I must pass my Author Assessment test quickly. I must become stronger! Stronger than anyone in this world to become free!'
The rest of the time passed in apparent silence that held beneath its covers the screams of a wailing prisoner, and the almost silent storm brewing inside Haruto's mind.
A short while later, Daichi showed up at Haruto's desk causing him to prop up.
"Good afternoon Daichi-san. Are you here to visit an 'old friend'?"
Haruto's play on words fell flat on Daichi's flat face but Haruto kept up his smile nonetheless and pushed the register towards him.
Daichi looked at Haruto with a sharp gaze for a few seconds before simply picking up his pen and filling in his ID number, the cell number he was visiting, and his signature and left silently, adding onto the screams in the corridor at whose end Haruto was relaxing.
Haruto quickly filled in the time of entry slot and signed in the signature column after which he continued mulling, planning what he was going to do next.
'To finish Megumin's mission, I need to demonstrate a suitable explosion.'
'But that isn't my focus anymore! No! I must create an explosion that can serve the Dark God! The One True God!'
'Should I trick a shinobi wares store into setting up an explosion demonstration as an advertising strategy to get more shinobi to buy their explosive tags and cause a gigantic explosion!?'
'Or perhaps I can set up a sacrificial ritual consisting of the bandits surrounding the village with the help of Kakashi!?!'
Haruto's mind leered at the thought of being able to please the imaginary higher entity that had given him the 'opportunity to serve him' in his second life.
The mission statement on the screen in his mind's eye was thoroughly ignored at this moment.
'A mere Arc Wizard dares to not be impressed by an explosion meant to appease the Dark God!?'
'Such a thing can never happen!'
'Even if this Arc Wizard has strength enough to blow up the whole hidden village by herself in a single explosion!'
'The glory of the Dark God can never be hidden! And all those that lay witness to it will find themselves impressed!!'
"Worried about something?" A sudden voice caused Haruto to look up, only to find Kakashi back in front of him. The teenager's hands were drenched in blood. They dripped casually from the tips of his fingers causing Haruto to wonder where they'd been pushed into.
He casually shook his head and spoke softly, "No Hatake-sama." Haruto said, not spotting the faint glimmer of reluctance in Kakashi's eyes when he was addressed that way, and continued speaking nonetheless.
"Is my shift finished now Hata-"
"Call me Kakashi." Kakashi interrupted with a seemingly peaceful smile on his face hidden behind his mask as his eyes crinkled up in a graceful arc.
Haruto nodded and reiterated, "Is my shift finished now Kakashi-san? Or do I have to wait for the Daichi-san who just went into one of the cells?"
Kakashi shook his head, his posture a little relaxed from before, "No. You don't have to wait. The next person will take over your shift. You only need to go back to the office and send someone in your place to take over."
Haruto nodded but paused for a second with some confusion on his face, "Erm…if I'm not overstepping my bounds here Kakashi-san…"
Kakashi nodded, indicating he could ask whatever he wanted to.
"Wouldn't that create a small blind spot where anyone could come in and go out as pleased?"
Kakashi chuckled at Haruto's innocence but instead of saying anything directly, he spoke around the true answer, "I can see why you failed at the ninja academy Haruto-kun."
"Eh…" Haruto blushed a little embarrassed.
'The hell! That wasn't me!'
'That was a worm unworthy of being blessed by the true Dark God!'
Even though external praise didn't mean much to Haruto, being 'teased' by a main character from the show left Haruto feeling a little off. Especially since he was worried that the Dark God would notice his embarrassment and might punish him.
But he quickly figured out what Kakashi meant.
'So I'm just a decoy? A bait? There are shinobi hidden around in this building keeping watch?'
'I see…I am such an insignificant pawn in the eyes of the Dark God that all I am suitable for is a bait.'
'Is it because I'm eight years old that I'm an insignificant pawn? Or is it because I'm weak?'
Haruto didn't have to think long when the person in front of him had graduated the academy and become a chunin at six.
Haruto's eyes gleamed with a passionate burning fire!
'I must grow stronger!'
'Strong enough to make these people my baits for my progression as a true 'Author'! The one who embodies his own fate and the fate of others around him!!!'
Haruto stood up and quickly walked to Kakashi who had pulled out wet tissues from somewhere and had cleanly wiped his hands.
Then they silently made their way back out of the holding area.
This time however, Haruto made sure to 'investigate' each cell they went across.
His body, still honest, caused his stomach to churn, but his face still had a goofy smile.
There were several shinobi around them. Some strung up like the one they'd seen at the beginning, others lying in pools of their own blood and other expulsions while a few just lay on benches, as if relaxing.
Haruto guessed these were the true 'guards' of the prison cell.
Eventually Haruto saw the prisoner he'd first seen on his way in.
There were no visible seals on him right now and he was completely still, almost definitely dead, but Haruto didn't really know.
"Were those things that appeared on his body back then seals?" Haruto asked Kakashi randomly as they walked out of the heavy gates guarded by someone other than Daichi right now and towards the office from where Haruto was picked up from.
Kakashi only nodded, not offering any other explanations.
Haruto left his questions there and kept silent for the rest of their journey where Kakashi left after he was dropped off and Haruto calmly entered his office without making any sound.
Most people stole a glance his way, some sneakily while hiding behind papers and files, others blatantly, trying to look for any signs of discomfort or sorrow for them to make fun of or cry about.
But Haruto maintained a smile throughout, as if whatever had just happened was a walk in the park.
What they thought of such a reaction? If they wondered that his handler had already consoled Haruto or if he was a coldblodded creature that thrived on human torture, only they truly knew.
As such, Haruto ignored them all and simply walked up to Shinakawa's desk where the woman in question was looking at him as he spoke quietly, "Shinakawa-san, my replacement?"
She nodded and turned towards a random employee before asking him to leave as Haruto went back to his desk and buried himself in copying the data in the papers that had finished being scanned.
***
"So he's a spy from another village?" Sakumo asked with a weird expression as he looked at Tobirama and then at Haruto who was calmly working through the files he had been given.
It was clear that Haruto was going above and beyond to study all the receipts in those scanned documents, making connections and studying the economic burdens of the village but he felt like it was stretching it a little thin.
But Tobirama seemed adamant.
"I've seen even the strongest of people break when they see someone die for the first time." Tobirama said, his eyes still on Haruto's files, studying the state of the village himself as he continued explaining.
"From a purely logical standpoint, even if he could hold back in the heat of the moment, the hour-long session after that should've at least made him unsettled."
"Even if he didn't display any conscious reaction of rejection, shock or surprise, he should've felt nervous or afraid simply being in the vicinity of someone being tortured. He should've nervously tapped his legs, his fingers, fidgeted with the items on his desk, anything, just about anything would've worked to prove that he hasn't been exposed to something like this before."
Most in the room agreed at the rather 'sound' reasoning as their gazes hardened while they stared at the screen.
Izuna too since he felt a little attachment to the peaceful village he'd seen through Haruto's eyes, a peace that everyone in the Warring states longed for. And even though he didn't consciously admit it, he was beginning to feel that his brother was a little stupid to have left it and gone away.
But Hashirama, Mito and Kushina looked at Haruto with pity. Almost saddened that such a young child was pushed into such a delicate position.
'Is my Naruto also like this?'
Kushina turned to look at Minato and he seemed to understand her worries so he pat her cheek softly and spoke clearly, "Don't worry, I'm sure the Third will take care of Naruto just as well as he took care of us."
"But Kakashi…" Minato whispered as he thought back to what Kakashi was doing, how he looked and then at how he flinched when Haruto mentioned his surname.
He then looked at Sakumo and saw the old man also sighing with worry causing him to feel even worse.
'It seems I've failed my job as a teacher completely.' Minato thought.
The last member of Team Seven was Kakashi and even if he hadn't been ripped away from him like the other two members, he ultimately felt that he had doomed Kakashi to a fate even worse than death.
***
'Hmm..' Haruto frowned slightly as he studied the screen in front of him.
Having copied and verified that everything was dutifully copied into the Logger program which neatly tabularized all the expenses of the village for about the past three weeks, Haruto finally leaned back on his chair as he moved the mouse cursor to click on his final action for today.
'Print!'
With nothing else to do but 'falling into the eternal turmoil of having to do something since your boss might come to breathe down your neck at any time and you don't want to be caught doing nothing', Haruto opened the thick book detailing all the ins and outs of the excel-like software he was using.
'Hmm…the Dark Lord has given me a book about the secrets of this magical machine, I should at the very least study it thoroughly and not disappoint him immediately.'
Although old, the book seemed to have been well kept, almost untouched.
Haruto chalked it up to the fact that perhaps this book had been left in the drawer specifically for him by the Dark God.
And so he continued reading.
His expression completely blank as he read through it all, not betraying the slightest hint of his thoughts.
'Let's begin from the first chapter, 'How to use a personal computer.''
***
"By the way…what is this strange contraption? How does it work? Did you make it using your skills in sealing Mito?" Hashirama asked confused, his head peered around the screen a few times trying to get a good look at what was on its other side but quickly paused when Tobirama reminded him-
'Brother…you can't see around a picture being projected by bending around it.'
'Ah..!' Hashirama nodded as if understanding exactly what Tobirama was talking about before going back to continuing his actions, at least until Mito spoke-
"No. I didn't make that. But I remember Tsuna talking about it during the peace talks that were concluded with the Land of Rain after the Second Shinobi War."
"Hmm…what is it?" Tobirama asked, although he had a faint idea as to what it could do after seeing Haruto using it before.
"It's a Computer?" Mito said slightly perplexed as if remembering something vague. "Tsunade was extremely happy that she'd been able to secure these things, she said they'd help Medicine improve by leaps and bounds if they could be improved."
"Oh! Is that true!?" Hashirama perked up instantly, improving Medical ninjutsu wasn't a simple dream, in some of the more complex aspects his wood release fell short to pure medical ninjutsu.
Mito nodded but then sighed, "Unfortunately after Hanzo was killed by a few rouge shinobi in his own country, their technological development was plunged into chaos. This item also suffered as a result. And as such it mustn't have improved by much over the years."
Hashirama's excited face fell, like someone had kicked a puppy in the stomach as he looked back at the screen, looking at the PC in front of Haruto.
Kushina too chimed up at this point, "I did try to look into it at the village since Hokage-sama told me that as long as I could improve it in some way or use it to improve sealing jutsus I could leave the village for a while, but I could never really figured it out. There was a new 'language' to learn, but that was the easy part. The 'hardware' was extremely complicated."
"Hmm…I see…" Tobirama said as his eyes gleamed, "If it is as you and Kushina said, then these items aren't commonplace?"
Kushina quickly shook her head. "Not for as long as me and Minato were there." As Minato expanded, "I remember they were treated as high value products for a while and were locked up securely in the ANBU base meant to be used only by them, but slowly once their limitations became clear they were relegated to the 'lesser' important departments."
Minato paused for a second before revealing something even deeper.
"Even ROOT gave up if I recall correctly after they realised that simply using lightning release around it seemed to break it down completely without even having to destroy it."
Tobirama noticed the unfamiliar expression 'Root' and put it at the back of his mind for now while also noticing Kushina's apparent dislike towards the organisation as he asked another, more important, question.
"Mito, you said Hanzo and the Rain village right? The boy clearly has a lot of familiarity with this complicated device, even without reading the book…"
A proverbial light bulb flickered on in everyone's minds, except Hashirama's who was hung up on a mere kid being a spy, as they connected the dots Tobirama had so clearly laid out for them.
Their eyes widened as Kushina finally mumbled…
"Then perhaps…could this boy be a spy from the Rain Village?"
***
'Hmm…the programming is pretty much the same as the one in my previous universe.'
'But the explanations about the hardware are pretty much all wrong…!'
'I was a fool to have thought that this book belonged to the Dark God!'
'This book was written by a mere mortal trying to comprehend a part of a fraction of the Dark God's vast technological prowess!'
'I must surpass it!'
Other thoughts however lingered at the back of Haruto's mind about why such a precious book with such in depth knowledge about how the system worked seemed to be open and free knowledge.
Were the authors of this book proponents of FOSS? Or was this book valued so little because of the misplaced and misunderstood knowledge within it?
As such, Haruto began to earnestly study the book, brushing up on the low level programming knowledge in the book by studying how the code behind the operating system itself functioned.
And Haruto had one thing to say-
'WHO WROTE THIS SHIT!!! YOU LITTLE BASTARD HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME INSULT THE DARK GOD'S INTELLIGENCE!!! EVEN HIS FLUSHED TOILET ROLLS ARE MORE INTELLIGENT!!!!! WHO SAID YOU COULD DOWNLOAD RAM FOR FREE!!!!!'
Haruto was pissed because there was literally a section in the book about the legendary treasure of Computer Software, being able to download more ram and more storage space.
***
Kakashi thought back to the little kid he'd just 'oriented' to the job before looking at the name that was carved on the Memorial stone.
'Obito…'
'I found a boy that's somewhat like you, wanting to keep going ahead no matter what it costs.'
'I bet if he was an Uchiha he'd have awakened the Sharingan today with how much he was holding back the pain.'
'He didn't even cry when he saw the killing and torture of a shinobi. He did his best to hold on and managed to keep himself calm even though he almost puked quite a few times as we walked through the outer holding area of the Konoha prison.'
'Rin…'
'If you were here I bet you'd have calmly embraced the boy with your warmth to make him feel alright and come to terms with what he just saw.'
'...I'm sorry I couldn't do something like that…'
'Minato-sensei…Kushina nee-san…'
'The Hokage has put a pause to my missions for now after I exposed 'Lord' Danzo's attempted assassination towards him when he last visited the Daimyo to procure funds for the village…'
'He said it wasn't very safe for me to go out yet since 'someone' had placed a bounty on me.'
'But since I still haven't gotten over my suspicions about Lord Third's involvement in your….in my failure to protect you when you most needed me, I have withheld information about a ROOT agent who has obtained a premature form of Wood Release.'
The wind blew silently after that as Kakashi stood in front of the monolith for a while longer, reminiscing about the past while feeling hollow about the present.
'I wonder when I'll see you all again…'
***
Haruto finally sighed after looking at the papers that had printed perfectly after he had to get finicky with a few settings since the names of the setting didn't match what they did.
For example, the setting, font size didn't reflect the font size of the Logger program he had filled the data in. It was created as an arbitrary scale of measurement based on some calligraphy artist that had long since perished in the land of rain.
There were several other things too, like line spacing which for some reason changed the spacing between letters too, or line thickness which wasn't consistent at all and could be thick in some places while nearly invisible at others at the same setting, like someone was painting the letters using a brush.
But after finicking around for a while and making a few test prints, Haruto finally managed to complete his quota for the day.
As such, with all the papers in his hand, sorted according to what Shinakawa had told him before, Haruto walked up to her with his file in hand.
"Shinakawa-san. I'm done."
"Oh?"
As if hearing their conversation, everyone's heads perked up.
They seemed to be surprised that Haruto had even gotten anything done at all. And within moments they began whispering amongst themselves like a new 'hot' pairing had been dropped in a high school class.
Shinakawa too was surprised, but she got over it quickly before taking the file from Haruto's hands and examining it for any faults.
After about five minutes of Haruto standing silently, Shinkawa looked back up and she smiled, mildly, for the first time since Haruto had seen her.
It truly eased up the frown lines on her face and even her eyes seemed a bit more lively.
But a dead fish still looks like one no matter how much you shook it and pretended it could still swim.
"Just for today, you may leave. Your work is done. And you don't need to do anything else today."
Haruto nodded softly before turning around, picking up a few things he decided to take from his cubicle, a few pens, who could say no to free pens after all, the book that contained 'important' software knowledge and a few scrap papers that he'd used to summarize what he'd 'learnt' from the book.
He showed Shinakawa the things he was taking back and she simply nodded, "You don't need to show me this stuff. We don't have anything confidential here. And if you blabber about sensitive things you've seen, the ANBU will visit your bedside at night."
Haruto nodded calmly before placing everything in a small cover he borrowed and walked back to his home which was only a few dozen minutes away.
As soon as Haruto arrived at his home, he dropped his things at the gate and calmly walked to the bathroom where he turned on the tap to fill a bucket with cold water as he got naked and stuffed his clothes into the washing machine.
Once the bucket was full, Haruto simply doused himself with it.
He felt cold.
But Haruto also felt cleansed.
As if the weight he had been polluted with had suddenly been washed away from his head.
'To serve the Dark Lord…I must prepare a befitting sacrifice…'
'And to find a sacrifice, I must study the transactions in the village every day, find those that reject his benevolent rights and sacrifice them to gain his wrath.'
***
Megumin looked at Haruto with a dazed expression. Her eyes filled with sorrow as her lips morphed into a shadow of worry and hesitation.
She could see quite clearly that he was hurting as he tried to fall asleep for the tenth time that night, but failed to and simply ended up entering the Template Inventory to pace around for a while before returning to his body in hopes that his mind had fallen tired enough for him to rest.
But even after his body remained perfectly still with his mind inside the Template Inventory, and even after Haruto spent the last hour describing to Megumin the various things about this world called 'Naruto' that he knew, Haruto still couldn't fall asleep.
"So you're saying, there's a filial son that wants to resurrect his mother whose prison is the moon which was created by her children to prevent her from turning everyone in the world into dumb white people?"
Haruto's brows twitched a little.
"While putting it that way sounds a little suspicious, yes." Haruto said completely normally, absolutely ignoring Megumin's sorrow filled eyes that kept staring at him like he owed them something.
Seeing him ignoring the matter at hand, Megumin paused for a second to gather herself before she continued speaking with a normal focused expression.
"But if those two kids that are going to come around soon are going to seal her back anyway, what's the point of your interference?"
"My interference?" Haruto paused, his eyes glazed over as if searching for an answer within himself, but not even a moment passed before Haruto spoke firmly.
"My interference is for me to prove to the Dark God that I am someone that can conquer my own fears and bend fate to my will!! That I can pass all the tribulations of the world to become a true 'Author'!"
"I don't want to spend my trial being a coward! I want the power to change the world and mold it to my will!"
The confidence with which Haruto said those words stunned Megumin for a second too before her mind fell into a short disarray of confusion.
Being a Crimson Demon herself and having spent most of her childhood with them, Megumin had always used grand words like 'Come forth from the abyss' and 'Send all creation to its source.' in her spell incantations.
And although to her those words were embellishments, she could see they meant a lot more to Haruto. They were his way of coping with the world he had been thrust into.
And as such, looking at the firm mettle reflected in Haruto's eyes that had turned glossy as they glimmered with the 'moisture' in the air-
It was clear to her.
That the Haruto in front of her was not as fragile as she had assumed.
In fact from the moment he had first taken the Dark God's name in his mind, Haruto's goal was set.
Now, Megumin didn't know where that goal began or even where it ended, but she did know that Haruto had something to look forward to in spite of being sent to this accursed world to face his 'tribulations to become an 'Author'' as he said it.
A genuine smile blossomed on Megumin's lips as she realised that.
'Ah…he reminds me a little of Kazuma…they're reliable even though they have their own delusions…well Kazutrash's delusions are definitely worse…glad there's no 'steal' magic in this world.'
Megumin quickly struck a harsh pose.
Her left hand hid her visible eye as her right hand reached out for the sun that hung up high in the sky of the Inventory Template.
"Ah~ the power that courses through your veins as you aim to conquer your fears!"
"Ah~ the courage you gain while conquering your tribulations!"
"Ah~ the joy you get when you conquer all that you fear!"
"Haruto Hayashi!" Megumin exclaimed, her pose shifting, her right hand moving down from the sun to his direction in a sharp swift movement as she continued.
"I! Megumin! The proud owner of the Dark Goddess Chomusuke! A True Crimson Demon! And the proud master of the hardest magic! The I, who has attained the status of an Arch Wizard through a single spell! Explosion!!! I! Proclaim you to be my disciple!"
Haruto waited on no accounts.
He knelt almost instantly.
Falling to his knees as he bowed deeply enough to slam his forehead on the dirt floor and leave an impression on it.
"Yes sensei!!"
A smile showed up on Megumin's face as she heard the word Sensei before she spoke deeply in the tone of a sage once again.
"I! Your sensei, officially offers you your first mission! Go disciple! Show me! That even without my teachings, you deserve to walk the path of the highest magic there is! Explosion Magic!!!!"
"Show me the grandest explosion to have ever existed!!!"
"YYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~!!!!!!!!!!!!" Haruto screamed.
Haruto fell asleep not long after.
***
Tobirama frowned as he looked at the dark screen that indicated Haruto 'sleeping' on his bed.
"He's sleeping so peacefully….not even a hint of any nightmares. He truly is someone that has been raised to kill and betray others at a moment's notice… nothing like a true Konoha shinobi."
***
Having woken up after a fresh night of sleep, Haruto looked down at his ramen bowl during breakfast, one that he'd made himself after following a simple cookbook recipe that he'd found in a few belongings his mother had left behind.
The floating chunks of vegetables in the broth made him think of all the floating chunks of meat he'd seen yesterday.
The world almost started to spin again as Haruto stared at the broth slowly turning around in the bowl after he'd finished all the noodles.
But this time, Haruto quickly supported himself, he had a mission to accomplish and to do so, he'd have to be strong.
And so with no further delay, Haruto set off to his second new day at work after he downed all the broth.