6
[Naruto][Fic Review] SHINOBI: THE RPG - Act 1 (Naruto SI) by Fulcon
(forums.spacebattles.com)
submitted
3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)
by
PumpkinDrama@reddthat.com
to
c/fanfiction@reddthat.com
Summary for SHINOBI: THE RPG - Act 1 (Naruto SI) by Fulcon
| Story Element | Summary |
|---|---|
| Core Premise | A man from Earth dies and is reincarnated into the world of Naruto as Shimoda Daisuke, a year before the series begins. He is governed by a full Fallout-style game system, complete with S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats, a leveling system, quests, and perks. |
| Character Build & Conflict | Daisuke min-maxes his character, dumping Charisma (CHA) to 1 and maximizing Intelligence and Luck. This cripples his social skills, making him emotionally oblivious and disturbing to others, while his high Luck grants him improbable Critical Hits. A major internal conflict is his adult mind in a child's body, preventing him from engaging with romantic interest from teenage peers like Ino and Hisako due to his moral stance. |
| Plot Progression | The story chronicles Daisuke's journey from the orphanage through the Ninja Academy, his genin team missions (with teammates Hisako and Nichiren), and the Chunin Exams. He becomes a Game-Breaker due to the RPG mechanics, quickly maxing skills like chakra control and inventing powerful new jutsu. His power growth outpaces his teammates, creating a "Can't Catch Up" dynamic. |
| Central Turning Point | Upon reaching Level 30, Daisuke acquires the "Almost Perfect" perk, which boosts all his stats to 9. For the first time, he gains the Charisma to fully understand social cues. This triggers a Heroic BSoD, as he realizes his power-gaming attitude has made him a sociopath who viewed the world and people as mere sources of EXP and loot. |
| Controversial Elements & Ending | After his epiphany, Daisuke experiences a Genre Shift. Believing the shinobi world is fundamentally broken, he decides it's his moral duty to use his now-godlike power (at Level 50) to reform it, embracing an "Uplift" mission. This leads to a Face–Heel Turn of sorts; he effectively deserts Konoha after revealing village secrets to Naruto, and Naruto leaves on a training trip to bring him back. The story ends with Daisuke in the Land of Iron, preparing to share his technological and jutsu knowledge with the world. |
Information Beyond Your Brief & Notes on Your Analysis
The search results confirm and expand upon the details in your brief:
- The Build: The story explicitly shows Daisuke choosing his stats. He puts his extra points into Intelligence and Luck, actively choosing Charisma as his dump stat and immediately lamenting the social consequences.
- Social & Moral Conflict: His adult consciousness causes significant distress, including an infant suicide attempt during the Kyuubi attack. His 1 Charisma is a constant plot driver, making him "Innocently Insensitive".
- The "Almost Perfect" Catalyst: This is the narrative's core event, fundamentally changing the character and the story's direction from personal power fantasy to societal reform.
Reader's Reason for Dropping:
The story was dropped at 70% after a scene where the MC refuses a mission reward.
The reader drew a parallel between this fictional act and a damaging real-world ideology. The act of refusing pay for work, even in a ninja context, resonated not as a character quirk but as an unconscious endorsement of exploitative labor practices:
- It mirrors the expectation in some industries (like Japanese animation) for workers to accept passion over pay, leading to brutal hours for miserable wages.
- It evokes the "hustle culture" propagated by media, which suggests that working for free or undervaluing one's labor is noble, thereby enabling capitalist systems to extract maximum value from workers.
- In the high-risk profession of a shinobi, where missions are life-threatening, the reward is not just money—it's the material recognition of risk, skill, and survival. Refusing it undermines the very economic reality of the world and normalizes the toxic idea that the "mission" (the work) is its own reward, and that shinobi (as employees) should risk life and limb without expecting or demanding proper compensation. This is a concept easily abused by those in power (the Kage as corporate lords or feudal patrons).
Thus, what might have been a character moment broke the reader's suspension of disbelief by implicitly supporting a value system that glorifies unpaid/underpaid labor, making the narrative feel ethically dissonant and unpalatable.
About the Series & Author
- Status: SHINOBI: THE RPG - Act 1 is a complete story with 70 chapters (threadmarks) and approximately 376,000 words. Its sequel, Act 2, is currently on hiatus.
- Availability: The story was originally posted on Spacebattles. Due to its mature thematic direction in Act 2, the author moved it to Questionable Questing.
- Author's Notes: The author, Fulcon, has also written a related "New Game" story, which is a reboot/alternate take also on hiatus.