Bethany Middleton was excited. A new VRMMORPG, or Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game called "Naruto: Ninja World Revolution" had recently been released to the public. There was also a competition online, and it seemed like everyone around the world had entered. Bethany, being the dedicated fan of the anime that she was, wasted no time entering the competition. What was so important about this, you ask? Well, to stop every man and his dog from choosing the main characters to play as, only the 26 highest scores could play as one of the main characters of the series, the rest would be able to customize their own characters.
The young woman made sure to have all the equipment needed to play the game, so as soon as she got the results, she would be able to enter the: Ninja world!
Bethany sat at her computer, looking through her E-mails. She still didn't know how to check them, so she had her Daddy show her again, then kept them open so she could check. She knew that if she'd won the competition, they'd send her an E-mail with a notification, and her new character. Suddenly something caught her eye. It was titled: NNWR. That was the abbreviated version of Naruto: Ninja World Revolution! Heart pounding with anticipation and excitement, she moved the curser to click on the message.
'Congratulations, you are one of only twenty-six players to have won our character competition, please see below for the character we have picked out for you, also, feel free to brush up on his or her stats before you begin the game. Thank you, and have fun in the "Ninja World"!'
Bethany gaped at the screen. She couldn't believe her luck. She'd really won, hadn't she? Grinning, the young woman scrolled down to see who'd been picked out for her. When she saw who it was, her grin turned 80-watts. She ran out of the room, "Daddy, Daddy, guess what?" she cried as she knocked on his bedroom door.
"Come in!" he called. Bethany opened her father's bedroom door. Paul Middleton was on his computer, but he looked up to see why she was so excited, "you remember that Naruto game with the character competition?" she asked. Paul nodded, "of course, I entered it too, and?" the young woman giggled, "I just got the results back, and I won!" she cried, jumping up and down with excitement. Paul looked slightly shocked, "really?" Bethany nodded happily. Her father looked back at his computer screen, "I just checked my E-mails, and I won too" he explained. Bethany gasped, "awesome! What character did you get?" She asked, curious. "Jiriya" he said, "and you?" she chuckled, "the most awesome girl character in the whole Naruto universe, Kushina Uzumaki, Dattebene!" she exclaimed enthusiastically, with a thumbs up.
ŅŴŔ
After plugging in, Bethany logged on. A female voice was heard through the headset. "Welcome to the Naruto world, please enter your User Name, Password and character name to start. If you need to create your own character, press down in the air and your starter menu will appear. Then just click on the create character option to customize your character" Bethany reached out to the virtual keypad and typed her User Name and password. When she got to character name, she giggled as she typed in: Kushina Uzumaki. A soft 'ding' was heard as she pressed enter, and a bright light blinded her.
When she opened her eyes again, Bethany found herself standing on a hill in the middle of a dirt road. Reaching down, she picked up a pinch of dirt and looked at it- it felt just like real dirt. "Wow," she breathed, "when they say Virtual reality, they mean Virtual 'reality'!" Letting the grains fall through her fingers, the young woman examined herself. (Not like that, for all you perverts out their) slender arms, legs, body, pale skin of course. Reaching behind her back, Bethany pulled some of her long hair forward. Yep, that's the Uzumaki vibrant red aright. But, did she seem a bit short for Kushina? Examining herself once again, Bethany found herself wearing the same outfit that Kushina wore to the academy, that is, a short yellow sleeveless dress with a green sash around her waist, a short sleeved fishnet under-shirt, black shorts that peeked out from under her dress and brown Shinobi sandals.
She sighed, and clenched her fist in frustration, something that "Kushina" would defiantly do. 'No, don't mention the fact that you start from the beginning, and have to enter the Academy, and are a kid, and basically everything you need to know before you start!' she thought. Bethany sighed again, and lowered her hand, relaxing and unclenching it. Well, better to make the most of it while she could. The young woman turned young girl walked down the path, softly singing a song from one of the Naruto movies. It was Hikari Ni Wa.
As she walked over a hill, she saw the Village Hidden in the Leaves spread out before her. Bethany smiled, "I'm going to be the best Shinobi ever, Dattebene!" she exclaimed, then walked down to the village. As she walked, Bethany had a thought, 'even though this is a game, Kushina did become Kurama's Jinchuriki host, does that mean that I, as Kushina Uzumaki will have to become a Jinchuriki?' this worried her slightly. She stopped at the gate, and the two guards looked at her. Ah! Did she have to have some kind of identification? Would they attack her if she didn't?! "um, I'm Kushina Uzumaki, I'm, uh, supposed to be here" she tried to sound as casual as possible.
To her relief the guards merely nodded and waved her through. The young woman released a sigh of relief that she didn't know she'd been holding and entered through the large structure. Looking around, Bethany was surprised by how deserted the village seemed to be. She decided to start searching for her father. He said his character was Jiriya, and the Toad sage shouldn't be too hard to find. Walking through the peaceful village, Bethany was relieved when she saw other characters walking around as well. She stopped as she saw the Hokage mountain. Three carved faces looked back at her. The first Hokage, looking powerful and kind, the second Hokage, looking decidedly stern and formal and the third Hokage with a gentle but protective gaze loomed over the village.
The young woman felt a strange sense of calm wash over her as she looked at the village hero's. She smiled happily, everything would be okay, she was sure of it. *Bong, bong, bong, bong*, the deep resonating sound of a klaxon broke through her thoughts, causing her to whirl around, along with everyone else in the street. The sound seemed to be everywhere at once, yet far away. Bethany began to run toward where the sound was coming from, the village centre. When she arrived, she found the other 25 winners all crowded around the giant tree of the Hidden Village. "Bethany, is that you?" called a familiar voice. Looking around, the young woman found herself face to face with a Seven year old Jiriya.
"Daddy?," she asked, "that's you, right?" Jiriya, or Paul nodded, "yeah, it's me alright, what's up with that klaxon though?" he wondered aloud. Bethany shook her head and looked around, "I don't know," she shivered violently, "but I have a bad feeling about this". Just then, the klaxon stopped. People began to talk quietly among themselves, wondering what was going on. Suddenly a clap of thunder louder and more ear-piercing than anything from the real world broke through the worried chatter. People gasped, one person screamed, and enormous billowing black storm clouds spread across the sky at an incredible pace. Thunder rumbled ominously through the air, and some of the clouds merged together to form a giant figure in the sky, a figure who was clad in a black and silver cloak.
Both Bethany and Paul stared up with fear, and could only watch, as the figure spoke. "Greetings 26, only you have gained the privilege of being the characters you are now. For this moment, you are the only ones who can protect your village, and protect it well. If the village is destroyed, you all die, and any who die will never live again, either in this, or any world," Bethany's eyes widened, that didn't mean that- "in case you haven't worked it out yet, that means that if anyone were to die in here, either you, or any civilian, you're bodies in the real world will perish as well" many people gasped with horror, this wasn't a game, this was suicide!
"To be released from this game alive, you all must reach level 1000 in skill, yes you may choose which skills you acquire, but you only get a certain number of points per skill, once you gain all points for that skill, your level will increase as per the number of points. Be wise in choosing skills, as you will become stronger far faster with the right combination of them, but you only get so many of them. And of course Jutsu don't count in your skills menu, so you can obtain an unlimited number of Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Taijutsu techniques. As for the civilians, if all 26 of you were to clear the game the others would all be freed along with you. By completing missions you will gain experience points that will help you learn more skills faster. These missions also allow you to earn money that will help you in gaining food, weapons, living quarters and more. Good luck young Shinobi and Kunoichi, you will need it".
With that, the black robed figure vanished, the sky returned to normal and suddenly the village was full of civilians, going about their daily activities. There was only one thought going through Bethany's mind at that moment, a thought which she decided to voice out loud: "oh, shit".
To Be Continued