1
9th
January 2010
World war III? It happened two years ago, but you have been mistaken…you may think that it is the same old thing as world war I & II but you got it all wrong…this war was out of the world, let me give you a clue. It consisted of two different worlds and the mastermind was…."Akatsuki"…. does this ring a bell? If you say "Naruto" you are correct…. I, myself was involved in the war. My friends and I WERE involved….
"Good morning, class! Today we have a new transferred student…." Mister Thia motioned for him to come in. He strolled calmly into the class without looking at us, as he wrote his name on the board, I pronounced it softly, "Cri…m…son…Shad...ows?"
I looked away from the board to see what he really looked like. For the first time, I saw his real face and he was breathtakingly handsome…He had slightly dark yellow eyes, distant, yet beautiful. His smooth but spiky auburn hair shined under the light and his skin was a light- copper tone.
I stared at him for what seemed for hours until someone called my name, "Makoto, Crimson shall sit with you, is that okay with you?" I gave a little smile at Mr. Thia and did a thumbs-up.
"HI! Welcome to our humble but funky class!!!!" I gave him a huge welcoming grin but he just nodded at me and sat down.
What is with him? I raised my eyebrow and started twirling my pen. I felt a tap on the shoulder and spun around to see who it was.
"Er…. Who was the previous owner of this table and chair?" he whispered softly and pointed onto the table with his index finger.
"Her name was Amirah….and she was my best friend….but she migrated to Paris, last year…." I looked at the table and started recalling all the memories we had together…all the fanfics and the laughter we shared….I turned away from him knowing that I was going to burst into tears….Loneliness was terrifying… I blinked back my tears and forced a little smile at him. Crimson looked concerned but just turned away pretending that nothing happened as he knew I was going to be okay…
As time went by, this was surprisingly slow today, I thought to myself. I stared at the big classroom clock…yes! Recess is almost here!!! 10…..9…..8…..5….4….3…..2….1….
"BRRRIINNNGGG!!!!!" all of us cheered and waved goodbye to the teacher. I was extremely bored… and a thought popped up in my mind.
"Hey Crimson!!! Want me to show you around?" The new student stared at me, amused, and then sighed,"Ok…."
I grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the class. "This is the home ec room and this is the………." As we walked around the whole school side by side.
"Oi!! What are you guys doing? Dating? And on your first day school?!" Harold shouted inconsiderably, as if he wanted the WHOLE school to know. That's it, Harold…. I dashed towards him and smacked him on the head. "Hey! You're a prefect, y'know?!!" Harold rubbed his bruised forehead.
I stuck out my tongue at him and I grabbed Crimson's hand and we started running away from that irritating squat. We stopped and rested for awhile as we were a fair distance from Harold.
"BBBBRRRRIINNNGGG!!!!" recess was over.
"Oh? Recess is over already?" I whined.
"Let's go and settle down…" Crimson spoke calmly. Next period is SFL…. And Mr. Thia handed out some purple files with the school logo and a label named, "PROJECT WORK."
"Alright! I want all of you to form into groups of four…" My form teacher chose the members for us and I ended up with Crimson, Shi Chen and Firdauz.
We discussed what to do, the solutions and the problems and soon, school was over….
"Hey! What about coming to my house today to finish the rough draft?" Everyone nodded in agreement.
At 3.30p.m., everyone had gathered at my house. "Hey Makoto? Where are your parents?"
Oh yeah. I had forgotten that my parents had left for Japan to do business; they are only going to be back after 2 months…. I felt sad and missed my parents now even though they are gone for only one day….
We continued doing the project for hours until Shi Chen and Firdauz bid goodbye to us as they had something on.
Crimson and I were the only ones left and we did our work separately and silently.
I was reaching out for my glass of water when it suddenly dropped onto the floor, shattered and soon we heard screaming and running footsteps outside as we peered through the glass window. The whole Tampines was in chaos and the ground was splitting apart. All of our electrical appliances blacked out and soon we were engulfed with darkness. We were as good as blind in the house that we had to feel our way through it, all I could hear were the screaming and Crimson and my breathing. I could hear my heartbeat in my temples….
Suddenly, I felt something clutching my hand and Crimson's breath was soon near my ear, "You're shivering…." And he gripped my hand firmly, "Come on…" his silky voice said as he pulled me out of my home door.
As we stepped out of the house, we stared at our surroundings….Is this….really Tampines?...
The HDB flats were replaced with old buildings and there was a lane and the shops aligned in a straight row.
"Is this….really Konoha?" I whispered to myself.
"Ichiraku Ramen….." another unsteady voice said.
I tilted my head to the side with curiosity…. Ichiraku Ramen? Wasn't that the ramen shop in the anime Naruto? Does that mean that Crimson watches Naruto too?
"Hey…Crimson…." Crimson looked at me as I said his name, " Let's go check it out!!" I flashed a let's-go-see-if-we-get-to-meet-the-Naruto-characters smile….Crimson replied with a smile too.
We strolled down the street of Naruto's world and soon we arrived at our favorite shop….Ichiraku Ramen….
I stepped into the shop and to my utter bliss; I found Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi-sensei. Kakashi-sensei was, in the meanwhile, flirting with the Ramen counter girl, cute Ayano Miwa, my classmate. I realized that I was gaping and quickly gained back my composure and shouted "Hey Ayano! Wat'cha doin' with that ero-sennin ojiya?" After saying that, I immediately heard Naruto laughing out like a blown-up balloon without it being tied up.
"Hardyharhar, Makoto…" Ayano blushed as she said that. "Yo! And who do we have here? A friend of yours, Ayano?" Kakashi-sensei asked as he looked at me up and down. "Hell yeah I am!" I replied engraving a confident first impression. She's being like Naruto, this Makoto…Ayano thought to herself. "Anyway, what are you all doing here for? Did you guys receive another mission?" I asked, remembering that they only go out in groups during missions.
"Nah…we just in for some tasty, yummy ramen!!!" Naruto rubbed his stomach as it started to growl.
Everyone settled down for some ramen and we chatted…..
"Hey! Hey! Big- sis uh…."
"The name's Kenta Makoto and this here is Shadows Crimson…" I pointed at Crimson with a thumb and he frowned a little at my introduction….
"Oh so…big-sis Makoto! Which village are you from?" Naruto continued his unfinished sentence.
Crimson, Ayano and I took a brief glance at one another; we knew we had to tell them the truth NOW.
"Well, y'see….you all are from the anime world and we are from the human world….which means you guys aren't suppose to exist…."Ayano started.
"Something happened when Makoto and I were doing a project…" Crimson continued.
I nodded with agreement, "Yeah! The ground split apart and when I got out of the house…BAM! It was Konohagakure…." I moved my hand, wanting to put it in my pocket, and then suddenly I felt something familiar.
It was my bag, I have not taken it out since I came home?? I slapped my head with my hand…I knew I could not be more forgetful… I ruffled through my bag and found a Naruto manga.
"Oh! I can show them this!" I thought to myself.
"I have got evidence!!!" and I flashed the manga in front of their faces and within a second, the book was out of my hand.
Everyone stared at the book and flipped through the pages. The astounded looks on their faces were really hilarious but their small little remarks made me hard to suppress my laughter.
They returned my manga unwillingly as we stepped out of the shop, "Er…if all of the Naruto characters are here…Has Orochimaru appeared too?" Crimson popped up a question suddenly and for the first time, he blushed.
"Oh yes, Orochimaru-sama is at the Hokage's office, if not somewhere else….let's go ask Tsunade-sama…" Kakashi nodded.
We reached the Ninja Academy when I thought that this place felt familiar….It was like going to school…wait a minute…where is East Spring Secondary School? I stared up at the building which no longer looks like ESSS. It had transformed into the Ninja Academy…..
"ESSS is gone…" Ayano whispered under her breath then I heard her muttered some hoorays…
The Hokage's tower was right behind the academy so we took a short time to reach there.
"Hokage-sama….Some visitors want to discuss something with you…" Kakashi said in a clear voice.
"ENTER!" A loud, booming voice came from behind the door.
We stepped in and saw a beautiful blonde lady with a blue diamond shape imprinted on her forehead and…she has big bo….
"Tsunade Baa-chan!" Naruto shouted loudly and that made me stop staring.
Tsunade argued back, "I AM…not old!" She flicked her finger at Naruto.
"B-but you are old, you're 50, y'know!" Naruto pouted as he rubbed his bruised forehead.
"DO NOT…..CALL ME…..OLD!!!!!" Tsunade dashed towards Naruto and pinched his cheeks on both sides.
"OK ok….Tsunade-nee chan!!!I-is that o-ok now??" and I saw Tsunade's mouth turned up into a grin.
"That's more like it!" she folded her arms then settled down on her seat.
"Tsunade-sama….One of them wants to see Orochimaru-sama…."Kakashi pointed out. Tsunade nodded and asked, "Who is the one who wants to see Orochimaru?"
Crimson rose up his hand and she nodded, "Orochimaru is in the basement trying some healing formulas...Sakura! Escort him…" Sakura smiled happily as she skipped off after Crimson.
"Now…sit down then shoot…" Tsunade motioned us to the sofa and we settled down quickly.
"Well….Your whole world is an anime world while the world we come from is the real human world…." I explained.
"Yes…and when we were doing our normal stuff, the ground came splitting apart and it became Konohagakure…." And we both nodded at each other.
"So…what you mean is that your world and our world are mixed together?" Tsunade raised her eyebrow and then closed her eyes…it looked like she was thinking of an idea, and finally, her eyes opened," Right…I'll think over it…there are empty rooms here, so…you'll stay here for the time-being…"
"Yes….Tsunade-sama…." We bowed and then left. On our way there, Naruto and Sasuke bid us farewell and Kakashi led us to our apartments….as we strolled I wondered, hey…where did Crimson go?
"MAKOTO! AYANO!" speaking of the devil…
Crimson caught up with us and rattled about how Orochimaru let him try some experiments. I have never seen him so happy before… I stared at his dazzling smile and his beautiful face… I knew that this was his real smile. As we stopped at our apartments, Kakashi briefed us on a meeting at 8.30a.m., in front of the Konoha Academy. We said goodnight to each other and went in.
I stepped into the humble room…it had a bed, a bathroom and a kitchen…The bed was sitting beside the big glass window…I took a quick shower and decided to jump onto the bed. I realized that a package was lying on the bed; it had a pair of short skirt, a black shirt that you had to wear it like a kimono, nettings, a Konoha headband and a pair of ninja sandals beside the bed. I giggled to myself and put it away. I'll wear it tomorrow!
I collapsed onto the bed and laid my head on the fluffy, white pillow…I stared out of the window. The sky looked really gentle tonight, there were no clouds but it had lots of shiny stars twinkling in the dark blue sky….I admired it until I dozed off into my sleep.
"Mm…" The sun rays penetrated the window and shined onto my skin. I looked at my clock with one eye. 8.10a.m. ….. I sat up on my bed for awhile then got up to dress and to brush my teeth.
As I closed the door, Ayano and Crimson were already waiting for us. "Come on, Makoto…Let's go!"
I realized that Ayano and Crimson were wearing the ninja clothes that were placed on the bed. Ayano had a yellow singlet with another black one inside, a short skirt and she wore netting on her right hand. Crimson on the other hand…wore a black t-shirt and white jeans. I had a black for the shirt and light blue for the shirt….
"Hi people! Kakashi-sensei is late again! We'll wait for him as Tsunade-sama wants to see you all in her office!" Sakura informed us and we made our way up as team 7 waved to us.
"Oh…you all are here…" Tsunade looked and put her paperwork down then sighed, "Paperwork should burn in hell…"
"Anyway, I want to inform you that the three of you will be training under us, the legendary three sannins, for seven months…. Ayano, you will be with me…Makoto and Jiraiya, Crimson and Orochimaru…after this, you all will gather at my office and I will discuss with you something else…" Tsunade finished her long briefing and we smiled at each other.
We left the room except for Ayano since her sensei was already there, "I'll….see you in seven months huh?" Crimson spoke as he knew he was going to miss them.
"Uh-huh…" I nodded and Crimson patted me on the head, in return, I did the same thing too. We smiled at each other and Crimson bid me farewell as he went down the stairs to the basement. Where was I supposed to meet my sensei? Well, I had to walk a VERY LONG distance until I could meet my sensei at the sake house.
"Oh ho? Shall we go and do this and that and this?" Some familiar shadow appeared at the entrance of the sake house, there were two heads…"Oh…JIRAIYA-SAMA….you're such a pervert…" a woman's voice…Hai…I knew that this would happen…
I sneaked up to his back and smacked it, "WHACK!" and Jiraiya fell over with, "THUMP!!"
"WHAT THE…?" Jiraiya got up and rubbed his bruised forehead.
"Ero-sennin….I came here to train!!!" I stomped my feet on the ground and after that I wondered if I sounded like a spoilt child.
"Eh? Ero-sennin? Only Naruto, that squat calls me that! Cheh! Am I really THAT perverted? ...anyway, let's start training!" Jiraiya smiled and said.
"YEAH!" I punched the air with my fists.
AT TSUNADE'S
"Well, Ayano…are you ready?
"Uh-huh..."Ayano nodded confidently.
AT OROCHIMARU'S
"Ready to start…? My dear student…"
"Yes…Orochimaru-sama…"
As the days went by….three of them grew stronger, faster than expected…and soon seven months were over…
"MAKOTO! CRIMSON! You guys have changed sooo much!!!" Ayano grabbed us by our shoulders and pulled us into a bear hug.
"Tsunade wants to see us in her office….again!" She finally let go us.
"Oh? You guys sit down first…" Tsunade looked up from her usual pile of paperwork then got up from her chair to sit on the sofa opposite us, "Since the 7 months of training with us is complete, you each will be divided to teams to gain experience….after these seven months, your "mysterious" sensei will be waiting for you at the main entrance of Konoha."
