The young blond boy, sleeping on the mat in the cold, empty room, began tossing and turning. His dreams were haunted by flashes of orange hair, and purple, ringed eyes. Contrasting these images were visions of a pale, blue haired woman with hard, orange eyes gazing as though they could pierce his soul.

"Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push)!"

The boy bolted awake, his cerulean eyes opening as he sat up in a flash.

"Agh, why didn't anybody wake me up?" He shouted, as he glanced at the clock resting on a nearby table.

The room was rather simple, albeit slightly rustic. Three sleeping rolls were splayed out on the floor, all in relative proximity. Another sleeping roll was haphazardly tossed on the couch, as though the man who slept in it had fallen off, then decided to throw the bedding on the couch, forgoing a return to the land of dreams.

A small table rested in the corner of the room, with a rather squat analog clock atop it, displaying the time of 8:37 A.M.

Quickly taking stock of himself and his surroundings, the boy rushed downstairs, golden hair flying in a self-made breeze as he flung himself to the bottom of the staircase. Barging into the kitchen, he found a young brunette woman, hardly in her thirties, washing the last dishes from what was obviously breakfast.

"Where is everybody?" He demanded. "Where'd they all go?"

Smiling, she replied. "Oh, Naruto! Your sensei wanted to let you rest, you got the day off."

Naruto sped into the adjacent room, shedding his sleep clothing and donning his ninja gear.

"I knew it! They ditched me! See ya!" He shouted, sprinting out of the building.

He promptly took to the trees in favour of running along the road. The people would only get in the way. Though, considering the state of the small island, there wasn't much worry about people being out and about. As he leapt through the trees, looking around and griping about being forgotten, he spotted a dead boar, slashed up on one of the paths.

Taking a more attentive look around, he noticed something odd. The trees were also cut apart, barely remaining standing due to the beating they received at the hands of some poor sword, wielded by someone who clearly did not understand how to properly care for a weapon.

The thing that stood out most in Naruto's mind though, was the fact that the trees leading back the way he came were also cut-up. Putting two and two together, Naruto realized that it must have been goons sent by Gato to take out the family of the bridge builder, as retribution for escaping the missing-ninja sent after him a week ago.

Realizing this, he began sprinting back to Tazuna's house, praying to all the gods that he could make it in time.

As he got closer to the house, he could hear shouting. But as he tried to approach, he bumped into something in the road.

'Huh? What's this?' He thought.

Glancing all around, he tried to see what was blocking his path. Seeing nothing, he decided to begin running again, suspecting it to just be a lapse in motor skills from exhaustion. As he got closer to the spot he had stopped, he slammed face-first into some sort of invisible barrier.

"Ack, shit! That really hurt!" He shouted, trying to stop the bleeding of his nose.

He slammed his fist against the barrier in frustration, knowing that he was running out of time.

As the blood coating his hand splashed against the barrier, the most peculiar thing happened.

The world began bled into shades of black, white, and gray, removing all colour from his surroundings.

Then, as suddenly as the world became colourless, bright blue words began to appear, shining like fireworks from the Hokage Monument back in Konohagakure.

Welcome to Naruto: The Video Game!

Now, we all know what you're thinking. 'What the fuck? A video game named after me? How do these words know what I'm thinking, and how are they appearing as I think them? Ramen! Hokage hat! Uhhhhhhh pumpkin-spice menma pastry. Ugh, that would be gross.'

All kidding aside though, yes! This is a video game, made directly from your life. You may be wondering if this is a genjutsu, or if you're still asleep. The answer to both of those, is no.

From the point you were born up until now we, the Developers, have been observing you. We have determined that you are going to save the world from a crisis that will happen in the near-future. As such, we have chosen you, the Child of Prophecy, to bear our wills upon your shoulders. We are gifting to you a very powerful, uh… Power. You will, of course, need to learn all the nuances of this ability on your own, but allow me to break it down for you:

You are a video game character now. You will gain experience, levels, skill points, attribute points, karma points, reputation points, etcetera etcetera.

How you spend these points, or the points you get in regards to karma and reputation, will depend solely on you and your actions.

Once you get started on your journey, simply say "Menu" to pause the world and take a look at all of the, well, menus you have access to.

You're on your own now, kid. Good luck!

"Wait, I have some questions!" Naruto shouted, as he finished reading the words.

At the bottom of the 'page', two very simple words appeared in a dark red.

Too bad.

xXxXx

A/N: Okay, so that was the prologue to my new story. Obviously, it's a VideoGame!Naruto story. I'd just like to say that VideoGame!Naruto is one of my absolute favourite story premises on this entire website.

Anyways, I'm not going to give some stupid monologue about how sorry I am about not posting updates. Yeah, I'm kinda sorry, but it's my time.

That said, I hope you all look forward to reading this as it progresses, considering I look forward to writing it.

Favourite, follow, or review at your leisure!

-RahvinsCage