Believer's Ambition
Based off the idea by TheTurk95
Chapter 1: The Games Begin
Something always bugged me about today. Was it the idiots at school who only go there to do drugs, chat with friends, and possibly get laid in the bathroom? No. Was it the teachers who only cared about whether or not you showed up to class to get credit? No. Those things bug me on a regular basis. Was it the weird guy with the swirly mask and the Akatsuki cloak? Yes.
I didn't think anything of him when I first saw him. I just thought he was a cosplayer. But the way he kept looking at me throughout the day was creeping me out. It started this morning when I was on my way to the bus stop. I saw him across the street just staring at me. I thought, Wow, he must good at cosplaying Tobi. I looked back down the driveway to see if any of my friends were coming, but none were. So I turned back to the street only to find him gone.
Then while I was walking to get my stuff out of my locker for second period, I saw him again just in the hallway, but it was like nobody but me could see him. I instead shook it off and grabbed my stuff. When I looked back, he was gone once again.
Later, when I was doing PE outside, I saw him yet again. I tried to walk up to him, to ask him why I was being followed. A whole lot of good that did; as I was about to reach him, I was called back into the group by my gym teacher. What happened when I looked back to where the guy was standing? You guessed it. He was gone.
So yeah, I was very happy for school to finally be over, because after that, I never saw him except for a few glimpses of him out of the corner of my eye.
When I got home, I immediately hopped onto my computer and began playing Audiosurf. After hearing of a game that actually doesn't use a BS import process to use, I had to try it, and very quickly got addicted. The songs I liked playing most were "Move Your Body" by Eiffel 65, "Rise" by Skillet, and the main theme of Skyrim by Peter Hollens…right getting off topic here.
I had been playing for about two hours when my mom called me for dinner. I closed the game and went down to the dining room where my mom and sister were waiting for me. After saying a quick prayer, we dug into our food consisting of Scalloped Potatoes with ham, and peas. After a while, my mom broke the silence.
"Now, I'm going to be going back to Memphis tomorrow to work for the next 3 weeks. While I'm gone I want you two to behave yourselves. Got that?"
I nodded. "Yeah, and I'll be making sure sis here stays out of trouble."
"Hey!" my little sister protested. "I'm not nearly as bad as you when it comes to your anime or video games." I scratched the back of my head sheepishly and kept my mouth shut. Surprising how my 13 year old sister was able to make me, her 16 year old brother, shut up.
"Alright that enough," my mom chuckled. "I want you two to clean up around here a bit. You know, vacuum, dust, steam mop the floors."
"Yes mom." I sighed. "What time do you leave tomorrow?"
"I leave at 8:00 in the morning."
"Alright. I'll be in my room if anyone needs me." With that, I loaded my plate and walked right up to my room. I closed my door as soon as I entered and flopped onto my bed. I freaking hate my life here. Why can't I just go to an anime world like Dragonball Z or Naruto and live life there? That'd be better than here because at least I'd be somebody. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, interrupting my brooding. I reached in and flipped it open, reading a message that made my eyes narrow in confusion and suspicion.
If you want to live your dream, reply with the phrase "Ninja Art: Link Start". I looked at the contact info to find there wasn't a number, but a name that I didn't recognize.
Madara Uchiha? I thought. I probably shouldn't, since it looks like spam. Not only that, but if it were real and this were really the same one I'm thinking of, I know I'd only get screwed over. I hopped back on my computer, reading fanfiction online while trying to get my mind off the crappy day of school. The message kept filling my thoughts however, making my curiosity all the more tempting. After about 2 hours, my curiosity got the best of me.
…Meh screw it. I opened my phone, typed the phrase and pressed send, placing my phone on its charger and getting ready for bed. I got out of my shirt, and changed from jeans into blue flannel fleece pajama pants. After I finished brushing my teeth, my phone went off again. I moved to open it again, to find another strange message.
Your dream starts at midnight. Prepare yourself. I looked at my clock, reading 10:57 pm. I shrugged and turned out my light, settling into bed and sacking out almost immediately.
When I woke up an hour later, I went downstairs to get myself a drink of water. Once I got down there, I almost couldn't believe my eyes. There in my kitchen was the masked man from earlier, still in the same costume, staring at me. I was about to yell when a hand clasped over my mouth.
"Now, now," his deep voice toned, "That wouldn't do for you to call out right now." I felt something hit the back of my neck before darkness swallowed me up.
When I woke back up again, I saw a field of grass with various animals that I couldn't identify spread out in small groups. A banner made itself known across the bottom of my vision saying Field of Beginnings and fading. I looked down where the banner was and caught a glimpse of what I was wearing…which turned out to be exactly what I went to bed in, the same pair of fleece flannel pants and no shirt.
Am I dreaming? I slapped myself as hard as I could and it hurt…a lot. I opened my eyes again, and I was still in the field. Well, I don't think I'm dreaming. So that just leaves one question. "Where the hell am I?"
"A good question," a quiet, deep voice answered. I stiffened as I thought I recognized the voice. Turning around, I saw the exact person I didn't want to see. His cloak black with red clouds almost overshadowing his feet and Sharingan shining through his swirly mask, there stood a character I thought to be fictional, Tobi, aka Madara Uchiha. "One that I would be able to answer."
"What the crap is going on here?! Why are you of all people here?!" I yelled. He simply chuckled while smirking, though I couldn't see it.
"Call it an experiment of sorts," he explained. "I'm seeing how people from your universe fair in a different universe. You are going to test yourself in the universe of Sword Art Online by Reki Kawahara."
I looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You're kidding, right?" I deadpanned. "You're using me as a freaking guinea pig in what's supposed to be a fictional world?"
"You're not the only one. I have many others participating in different universes from this. You've seen this universe in action, right?"
"If you're asking if I've seen the anime, I only saw the first season on Netflix and I was only four episodes into the second season."
"Then you're aware of how things play out in this game."
I hesitated for a second. "Yeah, I know the most important parts."
"Then you're mission will be simple. Help the main character complete his objective while he's trapped here."
My eyes narrowed in suspicion and defiance. "Why should I? What's in it for me? I know that you've got an ulterior motive, and that somehow involves the 9 tailed beasts."
Tobi chuckled again "A few reasons, actually. The first being you replied to the message I sent to your phone. The second being that I had some interesting results the last time I warped someone to an alternate dimension."
Naruto and Sakura, I thought, remembering the 6th shippuden movie.
"The third," Tobi continued, "You seemed like the best candidate, seeing as you hated your life in your universe and I had been watching you for a while. The fourth and final reason I'm willing to give," he paused, though I could tell he was grinning underneath the mask, "pure amusement."
I grit my teeth as I how powerless I was against this guy. Being one of the most powerful ninja in the Naruto universe, I knew for a fact that I could barely hold my own against a genin, let alone a missing nin that could warp through dimensions via his Sharingan.
"Are you really that surprised? Why would be unexpected for me to do something like this?" I sighed as he continued. "Of course you would get your own unique set of abilities."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked cautiously.
"I take it you're familiar with the mechanics of Chakra from my universe?"
"A combination of physical and spiritual energy to make attacks or illusions? Yeah I'm familiar with it." My eyes widened as I connected the dots. "You didn't…"
"I did. It wouldn't do if my experiment were to fail. And what better way to ensure success by giving my subject a small boost. Though there are some small repercussions to using it too much."
I immediately paled at that. "What kind of repercussions?"
"Nothing too major, your health bar would just go down to zero. Of course it's to be expected."
"Isn't that kind of a major problem here?!" I yelled. "Because I distinctly remember that dying in this game means dying for real and there is no way to revive someone in here!"
"Well then, you'll just have to make sure to use your ability sparingly, now won't you?" He turned his back to me then. "Oh and one more thing," he said, dropping something on the ground. "It wouldn't help if you stood out in a crowd because you don't wear standard armor."
I looked down at the bundle and touched it. A small screen appeared in front of me, saying,
You have obtained: Beginner's Armor, Beginner's Sword. Equip now?
I tapped the accept icon and felt a small tingle. When the tingle stopped, I looked at myself and found myself wearing a purple long sleeve shirt with iron torso armor strapping over my left shoulder and tan pants. A sword was strapped over my right shoulder, giving me a way to defend myself from the monsters, but it looked kinda crappy. But that was to be expected from a starter sword.
I looked over where Tobi was, but found the space completely empty. Sighing, I pinched the bridge of my nose. That freaking dick, I thought bitterly, sticking somewhere as dangerous as this. Oh well, might as well get used to this. I should probably try to level up a little while I'm out here.
A boar shattered into a flurry of polygons as another screen popped up showing my new EXP gain. Before I began hunting, I decided I better check my profile to see what my account looked like, and I was pretty surprised.
Profile Name: Hiruzen
Level: 1
Str: 10
Def: 15
Mana: 25
Whoa, I thought, I got named after the Third Hokage...okay then. I scrolled down the screen to see what else I had in my skill set.
Sword Skills
Horizontal: 0/100
Vertical: 0/100
Chakra Skills
Chakra Control: 0/100
Original Skills: ?
I looked at the stats screen for a little longer before closing it down and beginning my grinding. During that time, I'd gained a level and a half before trying to find the closest town so I could get some extra potions. Said town happened to be the Town of Beginnings.
Seeing it off in the distance, I began to run toward it. It wasn't until I felt something ram into me from the side that I began to pay attention to my surroundings. A Level 2 boar had tackled me to the ground as I heard someone coming up behind me.
"Wow," he deadpanned. "Congrats. You got defeated by a pig." He was a tall boy, possibly 23 or 24, with jet black hair falling past his chin wearing the same kind of armor I was, only his shirt was blue instead of purple. His sword was also strapped to his back. I knew exactly who it was from the sound of his voice. It was the main character of the show, Kirito.
"F**k you, man," I responded, the game's profanity filter taking effect. "That's like the pig from hell!"
"Oh really?" he remarked, picking up a small rock. As I got up, I noticed the rock turn pink before he threw it, shattering the boar and taking the EXP. "My god," he gasped mockingly, "I've stumbled across the most powerful weapon in the game!"
"Please don't." I deadpanned, only to get ignored.
"The Mithril Pebble of Pig Smiting!"
"Don't even think about it." He inhaled deeply, ready to continue before I stopped him. "If you start going on about how the rock is awesome, I'm going to freaking stab you." He waved his hand dismissively.
"Alright, I'll save it for some other noob if I run into them."
"So anyway," I began, trying to forget the bit of rudeness he showed, "nice to meet you," I paused for a moment, looking up at the name above his head to make myself seem like a normal player, "Kirito."
"I guess it's nice to meet you too…Hiruzen?"
"Yeah, it's my alias whenever I go on the internet. It kinda stuck with me since I was a kid."
"Oh, I see." A long awkward pause filled the air.
"So," I hesitantly began, "since you're here, will you help me with the sword skills? I can't figure out how to use them." I sheepishly scratched the back of my head.
Kirito sighed before taking out his own sword. "Alright, here's the deal. Every skill has its own position. It's just a matter of figuring it out. If you can do that, you can cause major damage. For the horizontal skill, you need to position your sword like so," he placed the sword by his hip, causing it to light up, "Then, you simply release the slice." He did so, causing a light arc to appear where his reach was. "Same thing for the Vertical, except the starting position is above your head. But the main thing you should be aware of is that each skill has a cooldown time where you won't be able to move for a few seconds."
I nodded as I remembered this info from the show. "Ok I think I got it." I placed my sword at the horizontal ready position, watching it light up in a blue hue before swinging at a boar that was nearby. The boar shattered instantly, giving me extra EXP and Col. "Now that's cool. Thanks for the tips, Kirito."
"You're welcome. I'll talk to you later." He turned to leave.
"Oh, before you go, can I add you to my friends list?"
Kirito looked surprised for a second before nodding and opening his menu.
The user "Kirito" would like to add you as a friend. Do you wish to add them?
I pressed the accept button and found Kirito's name on my list of Friends. He waved at me and headed off in the opposite direction of the town. I continued down the path toward the town, thinking about how I was going to help Kirito accomplish this game with the skills I held when I don't even know how to use them. This is going to be complicated…
"That'll be 2500 Col," the NPC at the basic shop said to me. I sighed as I gave the money over in exchange for 50 health potions. As soon as I had my potions, I thanked the NPC and went back to the plaza in the Town of Beginnings. After looking at the sky and seeing the sunset, I figured the big announcement would be soon and I'd rather not be teleported by force there.
As it turns out, I didn't make it fast enough and I started to feel a little tingle. I soon noticed a blue flash cover my body before it went just as quickly as it came and I found myself in the main plaza with more blue flashes appearing around me.
So it begins, I thought, Kirito and Klein should be popping up soon if not already. As if on cue, the two of them appeared right next to me. Klein was a man dressed in a white shirt with a headband of red and gold material, the same armor and a sword at his hip. His hair was a deep shade of red stopping just between his shoulder blades.
"Hey, Kirito, what's that?" he asked, pointing at the sky. A red polygon was blinking between the phrases "WARNING" and "System Announcement".
"Well," Kirito began sarcastically, "I believe the locals call it a Hex-a-gon? I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that correctly, I'll have to get back to you on that."
Klein's intelligent response was a simple, "F**k off." By this time, the hexegons had spread across the entire sky. Over the plaza, red ooze began dripping in between the hexegons, pooling into a shape in midair.
"And the sky's bleeding," Kirito observed.
"Wow, they're really pushing for that M rating." Klein replied. The ooze had taken the shape of a robed figure and solidified, keeping the face hidden in shadow.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the figure's voice greeted, "I am Kayaba Akihiko, Head Programmer. Welcome to the unparalleled online experience that is Sword Art Online." The crowd began murmuring, panicked because of their current predicament of not being able to log out. "Hello? Hello! Guys, kinda talking here. *sigh* I'd better just disable the chat." A small beep and a speaker with an "X" appeared over his head.
"Do you think he realizes he just muted himself?" Klein asked.
"Give it a minute," I replied. The speaker disappeared and the admin started talking again.
"Alright I saw what happened there and it was funny. Anyway, it's serious time. How many of you have seen 'Tron'?"
Silence.
"What seriously? None of you have seen 'Tron'?"
I raised my hand in the air. "I've seen bits and pieces of it, but not enough to know the general plot."
"S**t I was really banking on that. Oh well. That's fine, I can wing this." He cleared his throat before continuing. "It's like the World of Warcraft, none of you are here by choice anymore. Unlike WoW, however, you're being held here by me. Not because of your need to escape your empty f**king lives." He drew his hand down, opening the menu. "There is no longer any way to log out of SAO. If anyone outside attempts to log you out by removing your NervGear, well…has anyone seen 'Scanners'?" More silence. After stuttering trying to jog anyone's nonexistent memory of the movie, he sighed as a bunch of screens came into existence. "Alright here we go. Watch this." A screen popped out beside him showing someone's head exploding. "See that? That was from 'Scanners'. Basically that." The crowd gasped collectively. "Okay, finally, now we're seeing some gears turning. We're making some progress."
"Why would you do such a thing?" someone in the crowd yelled out.
"Steven? Steven is that you?" He immediately switched personas from business to social. "Steven, how are you enjoying that advanced copy of the game?"
"I'm playing with my family!" the same guy yelled out.
"Oh that's right," the programmer laughed, "Happy Birthday, Timmy!" A small boy giggled in the crowd. "Ah, they grow up so fast. Cherish these moments, Steven. Cherish these moments." He immediately switched back to his business persona. "So as I was saying, the only way to keep your NervGear from going all Gallagher on your grey matter is to make your way through Castle Aincrad and beat Sword Art Online."
"So," another voice in the crowd called out, "you want us to beat an MMO?"
"Essentially."
"F**k you!"
"Whoa, getting a lot of hostility here, and don't appreciate it."
"Well honestly, when was the last time you heard of someone beating 'Everquest'?"
"When was the last time you heard of someone playing 'Everquest'?"
The voice paused. "Okay, that's fair."
"Anywho, for all you guys that wanted to play as girls, and you know who you are, I got a surprise for you. Check your inventory." Everyone opened their inventory to find a mirror in their hand. Soon the entire plaza was filled with a bright light, blinding everyone. When the light faded, everyone looked completely different, except for me.
Not surprising that Tobi makes me take my true form from the beginning, I thought.
"Kirito?" Klein's voice got my attention. I turned to see him looking almost the same, except for shorter red hair on his head and a few whiskers on his face. "You look so…young." Kirito looked younger than his avatar let on, with shorter hair barely passing his cheek bones and a smaller height.
"And look a little older, Klein," he responded.
"So that's your true form, huh Kirito?" I said catching his attention. His eyes widened when he saw I looked exactly the same as when he first met me.
"Is that your true face, Hiruzen?" he asked, surprised. I stood at about 6'2" with brown curly hair and brown eyes.
"Yeah, I figured if I met some friends on here that I wouldn't want to confuse them if we agreed to meet up IRL. Guess it would've been pointless either way now."
Kayaba's voice got our attention again. "As you can see, I've peeled away your facades and revealed you for what you truly are; barely attractive twenty-somethings …apparently. Good for you. It undermines the whole 'cruel light of day' thing I had going, but we need to bring down stereotypes. Except you, fatty. Gotta bring down the curve." That last part was directed at one player in the back. "Oh, one more thing, one more thing. I should probably mention that if your health points reach zero, your real bodies perish as well."
"What?" yet another person yelled out.
"Erm, if you die in the game, you die for real."
"What?"
"Really? Okay, sometimes, things are born. They live…and then they stop. Forever."
Wow, I thought after a few seconds of silence, I think he got through-
"What?"
Groaning, he brought up the exploding head clip again.
"Oh my god!" another person yelled. "If we die in the game, we die for real!"
"I'm just gonna keep that tabbed," Kayaba muttered. "And with that, I bid you all adieu." He started to dissipate in to smoke and code. "Oh, last thing, I promise. I disabled the profanity filter. Have fun with that." When he finally dispersed, the sky went back to its original setting, leaving a stunned crowd. Silence reigned once again for a minute before someone yelled again.
"We're screwed!" (1)
After leaving the plaza, I decided it would be best for me to head out to the next town before traffic became too crowded. I figured that was also Kirito's plan since it was my job to help him complete his own task. I began walking down an alley, when I heard footsteps and crying coming from behind me fairly fast. I went against the wall just as I saw Kirito's figure run past me, crying what sounded like "He called me an asshole!"
"That…is quite possibly the saddest thing I've ever seen." I thought out loud.
"I have to agree." A calm voice behind me replied. I jumped and turned around to find Tobi staring right back at me.
"Oh, it you," I deadpanned. "What do you want?"
"Just came for a progress report."
"So far, I got Kirito to teach me how to do sword skills, and got him to gape at my lack of change in appearance when the announcement was made. Also, I'm going to need a guide on how to use my Chakra attacks, because I have no prior experience with this kind of thing." His eye swirled for a second before a small scroll appeared in my hand.
"That will be your guide on how to use the basic abilities of Chakra. How are you liking this world?"
"I just have one question. Did you screw up in your transportation jutsu? Because based on my experience so far, I can safely say this is the universe of SAO Abridged."
"You're not wrong in your assumption. It's actually a mixture between the two worlds. The characters may sometimes flip between their personalities from both halves, but they will still be the same. This is only a temporary side effect. It should be gone before the first year is up."
"Alright then, I guess. Now there's the one question of why you got me to stay in my real face while everyone else had their avatar for a while."
Tobi's tone became even more serious. "That was because you aren't a real player in this game. You have to make sure that fact stays hidden."
"Shouldn't be too hard. I've been able to keep it up so far, and the excuse I had for not changing my appearance was that I didn't want to make it hard for people I'd want to meet outside the game."
Tobi grinned under his mask. "Then you should have no problems. Though there are some characters to watch out for."
"I know. I'll think about that when the time comes." My face then became serious. "Now as for actual chakra techniques go, what would you have in store for me?"
"I don't control that. It's all based on your own actions and morals. Though if I did have control over it, you'd be surprised at what I'd pick out."
I looked back in the direction Kirito ran. "I don't know how bad this will be, but I'll find out soon." I looked in Tobi's direction only to find an empty space where he stood. And I better prepare for the worst if Tobi's the cause of my being here. Time to start working.
(1): Sorry, kids, but I try not to cuss too much in my stories. So even though the profanity filer was turned off in there, it wasn't turned off here.
Of course the unique abilities of chakra mentioned by Tobi will have their major drawbacks, making the use of them very limited, but they will become known later on. I will have a poll on my profile seeing what kind of move set you want this guy to have for his chakra attacks.
While it may not look like it now, Naruto Characters will make an appearance throughout the story, but not for a while.
So As I close this chapter, I ask for reviews and constructive criticism. Flames will be used to heat up my ramen. Above all, keep it appropriate.
