Naruto: The Shadow Game System.

Naruto quickly nodded, "I promise!" he held out his pinky. I looked at the finger, what was he trying to do? Naruto blinked, "you don't know the pinkie promise?"

I shook my head, "no, what is it?"

Naruto grinned, "well it's a promise you make between to friends! You hold each other pinkies together and make a promise you can never break."

I chuckled, "alright fine," I bent my pinkie around his.

Naruto smiled, "I promise not to break my promise!"

I smiled, "thanks Naruto. Now, what's say you and I play on the slides?" Naruto's eyes went wide, "yes please dattebayo!" He jumped off the swing set and pulled me along towards the slide. We played for hours until the sun began to go down. I honestly forgot how it felt being a child, so carefree and full of joy. It was...a nice life.

Naruto and I found ourselves looking down on the park from atop the slide. Children were leaving with their parents, all of them looked happy and smiling. I noticed Naruto's eyes saden a little watching them leave.

He suddenly spoke up, "hey Yami...do you ever feel lonely sometimes? You know, without parents?"

I shrugged, "honestly Naruto? I don't really thought of it. I don't remember my parents," literally, "and right now...I'm more focused on staying alive."

Naruto blinked, "eh? What do you mean by that?" I sighed, "the world's a very scary place Naruto. There are people out there who can kill me in seconds. So right now my goal is staying alive."

Naruto snorted, "that's a horrible dream Yami!"

My left eye twitched, "yeah? And you got a better one?" I asked the question on impulse, but I already knew the answer that was coming.

"Yeah! I'm going to become Hokage!" Naruto cried out at the top of his lungs, the convection in his eyes spoke volumes to me, I can honestly see why so many people saw him as a charismatic leader when he grows up.

I looked at him, "you know, a Hokage needs to listen in class."

Naruto hung his head, "I know," he looked up at me, "so what? Do you have a dream like that?"

I smiled, "well…no, I don't. I honestly don't know what this world has to offer me. What do I want….well, I suppose I want to know just who I am."

Naruto blinked, "eh? What are you talking about ? You're Yami. Duh."

I rolled my eyes, "not that you dummy! I mean I don't know what kind of person I am!" "You're Yami! How hard is that for you to understand?!"

"You're the one who doesn't understand moron! There has to be more than just Yami! I need to know what kind of person I can be in such a world!"

Naruto blinked, "huh? What do you mean?" "I don't know if I'm a good man, and brave man, a honest man or even a greedy man," I shrugged, "I don't know who I even am."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "how many times do I have to tell you, you're Yami!" I grumbled, "Naruto that's not..." I paused and wondered, could I really be that? Yami...all this time I thought I was trapped here, but what if this isn't a trap, but a gift? What if….what if I was given a chance to live a better life? A happier life? Then….can I honestly say I shouldn't learn to enjoy it?

Who knows what kind of life I lived before this, whatever happened back then...that's gone now. I need to focus on what I can see and do, and that means this new world before me deserves my full attention.

I looked at Naruto, "what do you think I should be?"

Naruto blinked, "eh...well I don't know. You're pretty smart, maybe you can be like Iruka sensei."

I snorted, "yeah right, no way I'm going to become a teacher, I would go mad before I spend my life teaching people." "Hm...well...maybe you should be my assistant!" Naruto smiled with a broad grin, "yeah! When I become Hokage, you can be my assistant and help me run the village!"

I blinked. In the future that's Shikamaru's position, technically I would be taking his place. I snorted, "oh please Naruto, I'm sure you can find more qualified people than me to help you."

"No way! You're the best person I know Yami!" Naruto jumped to his feet, "you're the only one who didn't laugh at my dream!"

I blinked, "yeah but...I don't think I would be that…." I looked at his big blue eyes sparkling with hope. I couldn't help it, I smiled, "fine. The day you become Hokage I'll be your right hand man, okay?"

Ping!

Quest Alert! Become the Shadow's shadow!

Rewards:

?

?

?

?

Failure:

Death Do you accept?

Y/N?

I blinked, holy shit, that's a lot of question marks….ah what the hell. I clicked yes. Naruto smiled, "deal! This is awesome Dattebayo!" his REP score went from 10 to 20 in one leap. Guess he really took the promise to heart. I chuckled, "right right, anyway Naruto, it's time to go home, it's getting late."

Naruto looked around and suddenly realised the park was being emptied, "heh, yeah! Let's go!" He dragged me down the slide one last time before pulling me out of the park.

I allowed him to drag me along, looking around the emptying park all the while. But just then as we passed a large fire monument I spotted what looked like a glowing leaf symbol near the bottom of the monument.

I was taken back. The way the symbol glowed wasn't normal, it was almost supernatural. And if my life was like a videogame, this only meant one thing. Side quest. But I couldn't investigate it with Naruto around. So I would need to come here later.