1-
Naruto walked along the streets of his favorite city, Konoha. It was a clear day; blue skies, small clouds drifting by, and a slight cool breeze. Walking along the streets, the blond boy noticed the people outside staring at their computer screen. I wonder what's so interesting on the computer? Naruto thought. He continued to walk to his favorite ramen place, Ichikaru, whistling along the way. But he couldn't help but notice more people having their eyes glued to the computer screen. Groaning in annoyance, he went inside the small bar and sat up front. Teuchi, the owner and chef of the small shop, took a glance at Naruto and smiled, already thinking of his order.
"Naruto! Back for more, huh?" Teuchi joked.
The said boy gave a wide grin. "You bet!"
"The usual?"
Naruto nodded his head in reply. Teuchi turned around and went to work to make Naruto's usual ramen. Ayame came by and greeted Naruto with a warm smile.
"Naruto, how are you doing?" she asked.
"Pretty good," Naruto replied. "But I'm wondering why so many people can't take their eyes off their computers. I mean, sure, they're new to Konoha and all but I just don't get it."
"Oh, well, why don't you go home and find out," Ayame suggested. She went away without a single word and left Naruto to think about her words. Huh, maybe I will. At some point, Ayame came back with Naruto's bowl and placed it right in front of him. Distracted by the smell and sight, Naruto looked happily at his ramen and instantly took the chopsticks, ready to dig in.
"Itadakimasu!"
Kiba came inside the shop just as Naruto began to eat his ramen. He saw Naruto sitting by the bar and rushed towards him. Too busy stuffing his face with Ramen, Naruto didn't recognize Kiba's chakra or presense until he felt a hand on his arm. He turned to face Kiba and swallowed his mouthful of ramen.
"Kiba? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked.
"You were supposed to meet at my house, remember!" Kiba said looking a little irritated.
"Your house? Since when!"
"I just reminded you yesterday, baka!" Kiba, who was obviously annoyed, dragged Naruto out of the store immediately, ignoring Naruto's protests and complaints about his ramen. Teuchi watched as Naruto disappeared, leaving his ramen to get cold. His face looked sad once he realized that not only did Naruto leave, but he also forgot to pay.
"Well, at least it's only one bowl," Teuchi said. With that, he went back to work.
Meanwhile, Naruto walked alongside Kiba once he finally surrendered. He wondered why Kiba wanted to meet at his house again. Taking a chance, Naruto turned towards Kiba and asked him,
"Ne, why was I supposed to go to your house again?"
Kiba looked at Naruto, not even surprised that he forgot, and replied to him,
"You'll have to wait until we get there. The rest are already there. We were going to wait for you until Shikamaru reminded us that you probably already forgot. So, I went to go get you."
"How did you know where I was?" Naruto questioned.
"You always go there every Saturday."
It took a few moments to register that in Naruto's brain before he yelled back at Kiba in protest, saying,
"I don't go there every Saturday!"
Kiba just sighed and walked faster to get to his house. Naruto followed after him, thinking about his past Saturdays, and realized Kiba was right. Like I'll ever admit that. Once they reached their destination, they quickly went upstairs to his bedroom where the others were waiting.
Inside Kiba's bedroom were the rest of the guys; Shikamaru laid on Kiba's bed, staring at the ceiling as if he was looking at the clouds, Choji was on the floor, happily munching on his bag of chips, Neji and Sasuke stood as they leaned on the walls, opposite from each other, Shino sat on the floor, leaning on the bed, and finally, Lee with his hands on the ground as he did push-ups until no end. The door opened to reveal Kiba with Naruto trailing behind him. All eyes were on them as they watched Kiba quickly close the door and turn to look at them. Naruto settled on the ground, just a few feet away from Kiba, to hear what Kiba had to say.
"Now that everyone's here, I gathered everyone to tell you all something very important!" Kiba said excitedly.
"What could be so important that every one of us had to come here immediately especially on a Saturday?" Shikamaru asked, sitting upright on the bed now facing Kiba.
"Trust me! It's important!" Kiba said. He went towards his desk and grabbed his laptop to start turn it on. After a few minutes have gone by, the boy clicked on the mouse pad various times with the occasional clicking of the keyboard keys. Finally, he went near the door again and turned his laptop around. His screen was dark, with the words "MINECRAFT" written across the top with three boxes right below it. Questions raised in the other boys' heads as eye brows arched with confusion.
"It's Minecraft!" Kiba cheered.
Neji and Sasuke looked at him in annoyance, thinking they were spending their precious Saturday talking about some stupid thing called "Minecraft". Shikamaru didn't even seemed surprise at the news while the others, besides Shino, simply gawked at the idea.
"What?" Naruto spoke. "What the heck is "Minecraft!"
"Minecraft," Shino began, "is the game he's been obsessing about since he first found it."
"And what's that got to do with us?" Sasuke said.
At first, the guys stared at the two since that was the first word they've said when they first got there. Kiba broke his stare and shook his head to think of an explanation when he realized he didn't have to.
"Everything," he replied instantly. Most looked at him with confused faces while some (Neji, Shino, Sasuke, and Shikamaru) arched one eyebrow. Kiba found it weird that the room was nearly divided evenly by the facial expressions. Letting go of the thought, he opened his mouth to speak and clear up their confusion.
"It will have everything to do with you guys because you're all going to play it! Starting today! That's why I called all of you and told you guys to bring an Ipad, Ipod touch, Iphone, or laptop. You're all going to get the app and play it because I'm making you!"
"And if we don't want to do that?" Sasuke challenged.
"Then I'll get Sakura and make sure you do it, Uchiha," Kiba retorted.
The said Uchiha scowled and said nothing more. Sakura Haruno was the daughter of the Haruno Company, one of his family's enemy. Recently, however, they've been getting on better terms than they before when they first met in their first year of High School. Now in their second year, they formed a good friendship that neither Sasuke nor Sakura want to jeopardize. Kiba, as well as Lee, Shino, and Choji, weren't on the same social status as the two, or Naruto, Neji, and Shikamaru, but he and the Uchiha were childhood friends along with the others. Knowing that Sakura can have control of the Uchiha sometimes, by gaining her friendship, he had the upper hand of threatening the Uchiha to do what he wanted; to play Minecraft.
Naruto snickered as Sasuke didn't say anything in reply, only scowled. He heard him mutter something like 'stupid Kiba for using Sakura against me'. Upon hearing that made him laugh a little audibly. Kiba continued his speech, talking about how to play Minecraft and what you actually do in it.
"It's like a game of survival!" he said, "you have to build your own homes, make your own things out of materials that you have to find, and defend yourself from the dangerous creatures outside during the dark!"
"Then we shall fight for ourselves and protect us with our youth!" Lee cheered on. Ignoring his random cheer, he looked at the rest to see their reactions. Most of them, in fact maybe all, looked dumbfounded and had no interest. Cutting his little "speech" short, he encouraged the guys to get the app right now. Before the guys arrived to his house, he told them to bring some sort of apple product or laptop so that they can get the app when he starts talking about it. But because Naruto forgot to even meet at Kiba's house, he was the only one empty handed. The rest turned on their electronic, with no choice but to follow Kiba's instructions, and proceeded to download the game. Naruto didn't know what to do while the rest were currently busy finding it.
"Wait, so what do I do?" Naruto asked. "I don't have my computer with me."
"That's because you forgot, you idiot!" Kiba chided. Sighing, he turned on the other computer in his room and handed Naruto the laptop that was still in his hands.
"Here, you use this. Trust me, once you all try it, you'll be happy that I made you get this app," Kiba said proudly.
"How can you be so sure?" Shikamaru asked lazily. He sat on his bed, one arm placed on his crisscrossed leg with one of his hands holding his face, staring at his small, miniature laptop.
"Oh, you'll see."
Saying no more, the rest got the app and was about to press the start button when Kiba interrupted them.
"Wait! First go to the settings and change your names so that when we connect, we can tell who's in the game and who's not. Then press the join game button."
Doing what they've been told, they all changed their names and then joining in the game that Kiba already had out. At first, nearly everyone was confused on what to do.
"Huh? What do we do? How do we move?" Naruto asked as he moved around, crashing into trees and falling off hills.
"Naruto, you're already moving. Besides, watch where you're going. You just fell nine times already," Shikamaru pointed out.
"Yeah, I know how to move now. But, what's the purpose of this- OH MY GOSH KIBA! What did I do! I just cut of a part of a tree stump and the tree is still up! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!"
"Naruto!" An annoyed Kiba hit his head. "Quiet down would you! Everyone can't stand your loud voice."
"Hey! What do you mean by- never mind. Just tell me how this-" Naruto pointed to the screen with the disconnected tree that's still up. "Is possible!"
"It's obviously because the game isn't realistic. It doesn't even follow the laws of gravity for objects like the trees. Apparently, only people, like you and the rest of us, are able to fall," Shikamaru explained.
"Oh, that makes sense." Naruto quieted down and went on to explore the game.
"Well, technically, Shikamaru you're right about the gravity part," Kiba said. "But some parts of the game are realistic. I mean, it's a game of survival so-"
"Actually Kiba," Shino interrupted. "Not to break your little fantasy of proving someone like Shikamaru wrong but he's right. This game isn't that realistic."
"Shino! I thought you were on my side!" Kiba whined.
Meanwhile at the other side of the room, Sasuke went around the game digging up the ground and collecting wood from the tree stumps. This game is so stupid, Sasuke thought. He found a chicken and started to hit it. Oh, look. It's a chicken. Come on chicken, die. Die, die, die, die, damnit would you die already! After hitting the poor chicken 6 times, it finally died. In its place was raw chicken. HAHA! I got you! Hm, I wonder... I should build a base. It looks like its getting dark. Sasuke found the perfect place for his base and started to create it. By the time he had finished, it was already night. Walking around, he found no one in sight. Over by the hills, however, he saw something green and it was moving. What the heck is that? Going closer to it, the creature's features became more clear and visible. It started to move towards Sasuke. Sasuke saw its eyes were red and its skin was green. It walked on all four.
"What the-" Sasuke began.
"OH MY GOSH KIBA! WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING!" Naruto yelled.
"Naruto! What did I say about yelling!" Kiba retorted.
At that moment, Sasuke went closer to the mysterious creature. Within a couple of seconds, the thing noticed Sasuke and started to bloat; it then exploded in his face.
Sasuke's eyes twitched as the words You died were written in front screen.
"Did I just die?" Sasuke asked aloud, unable to accept what just happened.
Naruto's head shot up as the words reached his ears.
"You died Sasuke! AHAHAHAHA!" Naruto laughed.
"Sasuke, you died?" Neji asked, looking up from his Ipad 2. He stopped digging underground that he was going to make his base. Naruto's laugh was still audible.
"Did I just die?" Sasuke repeated, still flabbergasted.
"Yes, Sasuke, you did," Neji stated bluntly. He carried on with his activity, focusing back to his own game. Naruto's laugh began to die down as he tried to say something to Sasuke.
"Wait, Sasuke," He said between laughs. "How did you die?"
"Something blew up in my face," the Uchiha grumbled. He finally took the fact that he just died and respawned to join the game again. Naruto cracked up again, falling back on to the floor. Kiba's ears perked up at what he heard.
"Something blew up in your face? Was it green with red eyes?" Kiba asked.
"Yeah," Sasuke replied, his attention focused back on the game.
"That was a creeper!"
"A what?" Naruto asked. He stopped laughing a while ago.
"A creeper. Based on what Kiba said, creepers are apparently green with red eyes. From what I've seen, they walk on four legs and if you get too close to them, they start to blow up and eventually explode. Just like what happened to Sasuke," Shikamaru explained.
"Oh, so we have to watch out for those things then," Naruto said. "Got it."
Everyone was so busy with their game that they didn't realize hours had already passed and the sun had just set. It was around 7:00 when the room got too dark and their screens were too bright. No one bothered to say anything even though they all knew it was late.
A knock was heard by the door followed by a voice saying, "Kiba dear, it's late. I think your friends should head home now."
Kiba, who was busy fighting monsters, simply ignored what his mom said and continued on with his game. Sasuke and Neji were alongside him in the game, fighting with him. Naruto was currently out mining with Shikamaru while Choji and Lee were killing animals and collecting food. Shino was trying to collect more wood from the "forest" for later use. All the boys finally got the hang of Minecraft.
Another knock was heard, this time louder. The voice on the other side sounded annoyed as she said, "Kiba! Stop doing whatever you boys are doing and tell your friends to go home!"
"We're a bit busy mom!" Kiba finally answered back. A monster hit him within the game leaving him with 6 out of the 10 hearts he had.
"That's it," Kiba's mother whispered from the other side of the door. She opened the door rather fiercely and saw the boys all over his room with their eyes glued to their screens.
"What are you boys doing?" She asked irritably.
"Playing," Naruto replied.
"This game," Kiba said after time.
"Called Minecraft," Shikamaru finished.
"Well stop whatever you're doing and go home. It's late already, boys. Kiba you head downstairs and eat your dinner," His mom ordered.
"Hold on mom, I'm a bit-"
"Don't you dare say you're a bit busy to me. You may be teenager but I am still the boss of you young man."
"Can't you wait a little-"
"Now."
"Fine, fine," Kiba said. "I'll be down there soon."
"Alright. Be there in ten minutes or else I'll ground you." With that, she left.
"Okay guys, I think we have to stop now. Go to the pause button find the one that says save and quit. Name it 'Shinobi'," Kiba instructed.
The boys did what he said and saved the world. They all got up and stretched their sleepy legs and soar bodies.
"So, can we meet up tomorrow?" Kiba asked.
"Can't. I have plans," Sasuke replied.
"Same here," Neji and Shikamaru said.
"I don't think I can make it either, Kiba," Naruto said.
Kiba sighed. "Alright, I guess we'll plan this some other time. Well, see you guys I guess."
"Yeah, bye," they replied.
One by one they left the room and headed back to their homes. On the way, some thought of their plans for tomorrow but there was one thought that they all shared: when could I possibly play Minecraft again? One thing was for sure, they were all addicted.