The Protagonist System

It was about a month later that I realized the Naruto World I was in had become something like a reward world. I had woken up this morning and my life was perfect. I had several beautiful women as my bed partners, had a couple of other prospects if I wanted to pursue them, and the several companies I had built were making the entire world a much better place.

What was surprising was the world didn't pause when I made that realization. Usually if I reached a certain point where everything was going too well, Fate or someone else would step in and give me the chance to move on and gain the memories I would have had if I stayed. This time, that didn't happen.

So, I waited until I was alone and paused the world myself. Everything went grey and I was back in the non-space where my usual transitions happened.

You know what I'm going to ask, don't you? I thought into the ether.

Fate's little blue box popped up. You haven't been given the option to move on because you gave up the choice for the next world you'll appear in. If you left now, you will miss out on living a long and happy life firsthand and will be thrust into an unknown situation for however long that will take to resolve.

I thought about that. Well, I suppose experiencing it all firsthand right now instead of as memories, or coming back to it later and going through the motions, wouldn't be that much of a hardship.

The word 'giggle' appeared in Fate's popup.

Then again, there really isn't much left for me to do, except to finish building a better infrastructure that connects the people more than what they already have. I thought and then chuckled. I'm going to settle into a purely administrative role after that, aren't I?

After you decided not to restore the Uzumaki Clan's reputation or their ancestral lands, you didn't gain the ire or ignite any more hatred against you or your people. They don't associate your various companies with their memories of what the Uzumaki Clan was like, even though they share the same name. Fate answered.

That's good. I was a little worried about that, especially after Tsuru adopted the Uzumaki name for me. I thought and then realized that was the difference. Oh! That's why! Tsuru made it a point to tell everyone she adopted the name, because she doesn't have the telltale red hair that's usually associated with the Uzumaki Clan. Since I'm a blond as well, and the Uzumaki name was given to me by the Third Hokage, I'm not considered one of the clan, either.

You never admit that you are the Fourth Hokage's son, so none of Minato's enemies come after you. You also never use his technique and are never associated with him in any way. Fate responded. You also never go back to Konoha, because you would have to use illusions or transformations to appear as your younger self again to fit in.

Yeah, it's not worth the effort. I thought. I also doubt Sasuke Uchiha would be the same as he was in canon, because he never lost his family, wasn't traumatized by his brother, and wasn't left all alone. He also isn't the focus of all the girls of similar age because of it.

He meets a girl from the Hyuga Clan and eventually marries her and has a family of his own. Fate told me. Before you ask, it's Hinata's little sister, Hanabi.

Really? What happened to Hinata? I asked.

She takes over the Hyuga Clan and runs it like it was supposed to be run, as if it was a huge family and not a dictatorship with marked servants if they aren't a member of the main family. She abolished the seal and hopes to hear from the man who saved her mother's life someday.

That made me laugh. I couldn't in good conscience abuse her good nature. As soon as she saw me and knew it was me that saved her and her mother, she would obsess over me and wouldn't fulfill her duties as the clan heir. I thought. It's another reason to never go back to Konoha.

Besides the unreasonable hate and never getting your inheritance? Fate asked.

I was never getting that money or any properties, even if Hiruzen had kept them aside. It was for the good of Konoha that they get the money instead, because a foolish and impulsive boy would have squandered it all, according to his thoughts. He justified everything rationally instead of admitting the truth. He hated me just as much as everyone else, because he associated me with the death of his wife, my parents, and causing so much destruction.

That's true. I've peeked into a few dozen alternate worlds and Naruto never gets any of his inheritance. A few times he finds journals from his parents, Kushina and Minato, only they cause more death and destruction to happen around him, because he becomes either the embodiment of the Uzumaki Clan or the Yellow Flash, someone everyone in the world was afraid of.

Yeah, that would suck. I thought and then laughed. All right, I think I've made my choice.

I'm glad. Fate responded. I'll see you again when you finish...

I'm ready to move on. I interrupted her and her popup went blank. I can always come back and relive the memories whenever I want, so I'm not missing out on anything. In fact, I'm sure I can always return and spend the rest of my life here as many times as I want.

Three dots appeared on Fate's popup and blinked a few times.

Don't misunderstand. I love Tsuru, Yui, and Anko's getting there. I'm also sure Temari isn't going to look for anyone for herself and will wait for me to see her as a woman when she's physically old enough. I won't deny her feelings and we'll all be a big happy family, living the best life we ever could.

Fate's box changed to show the word 'sigh'.

But, you must want me to deal with something important if you want to send me somewhere without giving me a choice to. So, let's go. You don't have to wait for however long it would have taken for me to live out my life here. The memories will keep my heart warm and I'll add the Naruto Universe to my list of vacation destinations where I can relax and enjoy a nice sedentary lifestyle whenever I want to.

If that is your decision. Fate responded.

It is. I thought. I also assume you're not going to warn me about where I'm going or what I need to do.

You can't be previously biased before receiving the new memories. Whatever happens, good or bad, it's the reason you are being sent there at that particular time.

Understood. I thought and closed my eyes. I'm ready.

I doubt that. Fate's popup showed and I could still see it with my eyes closed. Good luck.

Thank you. I thought with gratitude. I could have sworn I felt her blush as everything faded to black.

*

I woke up laying on the floor and the memories of my new life played through my mind. I was disappointed that I had pretty much raised myself since I was a toddler. My father worked as an actuary, or someone that manages risk assessments, for different businesses and insurance companies around the world.

My mother always went with him, so they were gone all the time and only returned once or twice a year for a week or two to visit and then they would be gone again. I had a generous allowance and all the bills were paid at the house; but, if it wasn't for my naked mole rat pet and best buddy, I would have been all alone.

That wasn't saying I didn't have any friends, because I did. Just one. She had been my best friend since kindergarten and we had a lot of fun times hanging out. She was a nice enough girl, except she was completely shallow.

As soon as we entered high school, she always fell in love with the next pretty face that showed up at school and ignored me completely, which she never notices until I point it out that she's ignoring me and she claims I'm jealous. She also acts like a brainless bimbo when anyone else is around, despite having red hair and being the head cheerleader.

Oh, damn. She's a cliche. I thought with a sigh. Kimberly was smart and hid it so well that she believed her normal life was how she is always supposed to act and she plays the role to the max. None of her other friends understood why she was still friends with me, with how I'm a useless waste of space and far below her social circle.

Yeah, that's right. I'm constantly being bullied at school by both her friends and the jocks, and no one does anything about it, not even her. She's too far above getting petty revenge over something she thought didn't matter and that it wasn't worth the trouble I would get into if I ever retaliated, even though I knew how to fight and defend myself.

That wasn't the icing on the cake of my life, though. I was the sidekick to an elite spy, the aforementioned head cheerleader named Kimberly, and we were currently on a mission to infiltrate a secret supervillain convention to find out what our usual nemesis was up to.

Which leads up to now, where some villain's equipment had blown up after being shot by a green energy blast that was fired at Kimberly and she had dodged. I was caught in the explosion and thrown into our nemesis, Dr. Drakken, and cracked that weird helmet thing on his head.

“Nice try, Kim Possible! But, you're too late! Pure evil flows through my veins! Maybe next time you'll think twice before wrecking someone's atmospheric disruptor! NEEAAH! Come, Shego!”

There's a sound of rockets igniting and I feel a whoosh of air as whatever it was flew by and scooped up Dr. Drakken. It smashed through the roof and the dust and debris landed on and around me. I coughed a bit and pushed it off of me before opening my eyes.

A svelte young woman in a skintight leopard catsuit hopped off of a crane arm and landed near me. “Ron! Are you okay?”

I sat up and wiped the dust off of my costume's goggles to look at her. I recognized her voice and knew this was my best friend Kim; but, I also saw how tight the suit was and dozens of memories went through my head that confirmed the small-chested girl never wore a bra.

She apparently didn't need it. Her breasts were too perky to benefit from being secured with extra cloth and she didn't want to waste the money for something she thought was unnecessary. I wasn't going to complain about the free show, either.

“What happened?” I asked and put a hand over my mouth and coughed again, just to cover up how I had obviously checked her out.

She was in great shape and I admired her for everything she did to protect the world. It was just too bad her personality was severely lacking and she saw nothing wrong with how I was treated by everyone, especially by her many boyfriends.

“Drakken and Shego took off after the Attitudinator helmet broke.” Kim said and bent down to pick the ugly thing up. “I just hope we got to him in time.”

I didn't comment that we hadn't, because I was now Ron Stoppable, the pathetic and undervalued sidekick to Kim Possible. We were both agents in good standing with the Global Justice Network, a worldwide espionage organization that handled various threats from supervillains all over the world.

“I'm sure we did.” I agreed and looked around at the completely empty convention center. “We totally crashed this event. Everybody fled.”

Kim smiled at me and turned to look as well. “We totally did! High five!”

I held my hand up and she clapped it. “Let's call it in and get out of here.”

Kim nodded and pulled out her Kimunicator. She called our tech guy Wade and told him about all the evil equipment that was left behind as we walked to the exit. I carried the broken helmet and thought about what the thing did. If it worked, then both the good and bad energies of Drakken had been removed and only the bad returned to him.

I doubted it was that simple; but, this was kind of a super-science world. It could actually be that way, or was something like good and bad chi, giving the user only the bad back and collecting the good. If that was true, then where did the good energy go?

We stayed out of sight as we waited for the Global Justice Network to send in the tech retrieval teams and hopped into one of the vehicles to change and be taken home. We lived next door to each other, always had, and Kim said goodbye to me before we stopped and was out and inside her house before I could say the same thing. She always did that, so I sighed and turned to front of the van.

“Thanks for the lift, guys.” I said to the two men, one a driver and the other a guard. “I appreciate it.”

“You always do, Stoppable.” The driver said with a smile. “Have a good night.”

“You, too.” I said and hopped out, closed the side of the van, and stood there and watched it drive away. I didn't want to go into the empty house, not with how my new memories saw the place. It was little more than a place to sleep and had never been a home.

I turned around and my eyes caught a glimpse through a window at Kim and her family sitting down to a nice home cooked meal. I let out another sigh and shook my head, took a deep breath, and walked over to mt front door. I reached for my keys in my pocket and they weren't there. I closed my eyes and used my clairvoyance power to search for them.

They were on the floor of the van and I hadn't noticed them slipping out of the pocket when I was sitting down. I had to wait for the van to come to a stop at a traffic light before I used a portal under the keys to drop them into my hand. I unlocked the door and stepped inside the dark house, as depressing as that was, and locked the door again.

I put the keys into a bowl near the door, just so I didn't have to worry about them again, and went up the stairs. I entered my room and Rufus, my naked mole rat best buddy, was sound asleep on my pillow. There were also crumbs all over and I decided I didn't want to deal with it. I walked back out of the room, making sure to close the door silently, and went to the guest room to strip off and go to bed.

When I looked into the mirror, I shook my head. I was 17 again, back in high school, and my looks and hairstyle had changed. I didn't like the forward comb-over, and neither did Ron, except he did it to not stand out and thought the bullies wouldn't notice him if he slouched his back and looked weaker.

“That never works.” I said to my reflection and used my powers to alter my hair to be my normal shade of blonde, fixed how it sat and tried several hairstyles, then chose to try the one John had when he visited. I had a fade from the middle of my head down to my neck and styled the top to be wavy and eye-catching. I also tweaked my face to be more appealing and closer to my normal face.

Ron already had muscles, only not as bulging as mine, and he always wore baggy clothes to hide everything. He also didn't want any extra attention, because it always worked out negatively. I did not have the same mindset and tried to figure out how to explain that to people, then my mind jumped right back to the broken Attitudinator.

I let a smile appear on my face as I thought about using that as an excuse for my change in behavior. “Yeah, that's right people. Say hello to the new Ron Stoppable.”