AN: Well hello everybody! I'm back from the dead and here to give you more loveable fanfiction for you to enjoy. Sorry for the delay, exams were tough but I'm finally free for a while. During my absence i got hooked onto this new anime Sword Art Online and in fell in love with it on the get go. Don't worry about Guilt of a Shinobi I will be updating it soon but it will take time, 15000 words can take up a guy you know? Anyway this here is my new project and I'm hoping you all will love it! For now I'm just pulling the usual unexplained first chap and then will publish the lengthy second chap. This is just to let you all get a feel for Naruto's more human side since he is just a regular teenager in this world. Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 1: Innocence Loss

"Fuck…"

Who would have thought I would ever be stuck in a situation like this?

"Fuck."

This was a dream, more so a living nightmare.

"Fucking shit!"

Being stuck in a world where one wrong move would lead to death.

"Son of a fucking bitch!"

I dare not look behind when I could clearly hear their thundering footsteps.

"It's useless to run you little bitch!"

Their words were taunting but it held truth. I didn't know where I was running to, all I know was that if they ever caught up to me it would surely lead to one thing…

Death

I turned a corner hoping to shake my pursuers away but that turned out to be the worst move I could have possibly made as my foot got caught on a protruding root causing my body to tumble down a small hill. When my body finally stopped it took me a moment to get back on my uneasy feet but the familiar feeling of dread coursed through me as I took in my surroundings.

"No… this can't be happening…"

My body shook as I stared at the one thing that took all my hopes away. The towering rock wall's shadow ominously loomed over me as if signaling my impending doom. The only way out was to head back up the hill from whence I came but that notion was quickly thrown out of the window when three figures burst out from the foliage. All three look to be of no worse than I did as they heavily breathed to inhale back some much needed oxygen from our little death race.

"Hah… hah… hah… finally caught up to you, you little shit."

"Heheheh… didn't think you could have actually run away now huh brat?"

"You two are just wasting time; let's just kill the kid and take his stuff like we did the last one." I flinched and shook when he mentioned 'the last one'.

"Hahaha you upset about your friend back there? Don't worry, you'll meet him soon enough."

My eyes grew dark as I remembered the events that lead up to this point in time. Kayaba Akihiko, the game master and creator of this virtual reality called Sword Art Online or SAO for short had declared that all ten thousand players were now stuck in the game and that death in game would cause death to our real bodies. Several floating screens showed them proof of his words as news reports and videos dictate what was happening in the real world. As expected, mass hysteria had broken out as almost everyone refused to believe the unholy and ridiculous truth that they were all currently stuck in a game of death. I myself could not believe it and had hauled myself in an inn hoping that all this was just a terrible joke. It turned out to be no joke as two days passed by with no change in this hopeless situation. In the end I couldn't take the suffocating atmosphere of dread anymore and had promptly stocked up on potions before going out to wherever the wind took me.

The trip to the outer fields had done the trick of easing me as I hunted and trained on the local mobs of monsters. I had thought that with monsters as weak as these I could easily survive and had gotten overconfident when I brazenly marched into the forest. My stupidity had cost me as the monsters in the forest were on a whole different scale compared to their brethren out in the field. I had found myself surrounded by a pair of Large Bees and a Forest Sapling while suffering under the Paralyse status effect. My health bar was dangerously bordering the orange zone where just a few more hits would leave me empty and dead. Thankfully luck was on my side as another player had come to my rescue.

He was an oddball my savior; his happy go lucky attitude contradicted the outlook of despair that I had come to be familiar with in the past couple of days. It was… a refreshing sight to behold. He told me that he was a Beta-tester, that a village was nearby and that this forest was actually a good hunting spot for players to gather recourses and level up. He offered to escort me back to the village and I had gratefully accepted it. Along the way he told me many things about this world and how to survive in it. We had a great time together… until they came.

Three male players approached us and demanded us to give them all our items and money. Their eyes looked manic, as if the slightest thing could tip them over the edge and cause them to go crazy. The urge to just obey them took hold of me but my companion had other plans. He looked to me and the message was clear as day.

Run while I distract them

The brave man stepped up to the three and had promptly refused their orders. Obviously that wasn't the right answer as one of them snapped and attacked. My friend easily held him back… until the other two joined in. I stood there staring in shock as a spear pierced my friend from behind before the other two shoved their swords into him. My savior looked to me, smiled and mouthed out one word before dissipating into specks of light, his body shattering like glass.

Live

So I ran. I ran and ran until I came to the hopeless situation you see me now. Maybe if I had helped him he wouldn't have died. No… it wouldn't have made a difference. In real life I would have made an attempt to do something, heck anything. But in here my true persona came out. In this world my selflessness disappeared and my one true trait emerged.

I was a coward

"He was such an idiot thinking he could take us on. I did him a favor actually, a person as stupid as that wouldn't have survived in a world like this."

Something inside of me started to rise as I heard the man insulted my friend's breviary. My hand clenched the dinky dagger in my right, the weapon being the only thing that had kept me alive to this point.

"Though the guy didn't have anything of value on him, just a few hundred Coll. Wasn't even worth the trouble."

The rising feeling seemed to reach unbearable levels as a boiling heat coursed through my entire being. For the first time I lifted my head and gazed defiantly at them. The glare I produced managed to scare them into brief silence. Even a coward knew anger.

"Hey, hey, what's with that look? It's really starting to piss me off."

"Yeah, you want to end up like your stupid friend?"

No more could I stand there and take their insults. Slowly I took my first step forward before taking another. My opponents seemed to be frozen in surprise at my actions as I slowly but surely came closer and closer to them. One of them, the one that had attacked my friend first, had snapped and ran at me with his sword raised ready to cut me in two.

My eyes saw everything, the incoming blade looked so slow while the man's look of rage was almost comical. I didn't know when but my body had moved on its own as I twisted ever so slightly out of the blades range before bringing up my blade to stab the man in the neck. His HP was half way empty, purely in the yellow zone. My one single strike depleted it straight to zero. I didn't know it at the time but the neck of a player was a big weak point which allowed double the damage to be inflicted. Combined with the dagger weapon's sub-ability to increase the critical damage done it was a pure and clean instant kill.

The surprise on the man's face could be seen on not only his but on his other two compatriots. Without a word he had simply burst into sparkles of light and polygon. Silence spread as everyone stood stock still in shock.

"You… You killed him! You fucking killed him!"

"I'm gonna get you for this you fucking piece of shit!"

As one the two players ran at me with the intent to remove me from existence. I ran at them in return, blade ready to deliver the same judgment to them as it did their friend. Spear and sword glowed with bright lights of blue and green signaling the use of a skill. As like before the weapons moved as slow as a snail, my body dodging them expertly as if I had done this for years. I moved close to my target, the spear user. My dagger glowed red, the first skill I ever learned ready to be released. Double Strike was what it was called and as the name suggest two clean hits scored on my targets back, the critical bonus of attacking from behind taking its effect of depleting his health to a bare minimum. Pressing my luck I reached forward with my left and successfully grabbed the man's leather armor before shoving my blade back into him. The result was me getting a clean hit from the sword user but my objective fulfilled as the other broke and died. Looking at my remaining HP it was obvious that if I had gotten one more hit my death would be certain.

"You fucking murderer!"

How hypocritical. Wasn't it you that killed my one friend? Wasn't it you that started all this madness? No, this wasn't murder. This was pure self defence.

Though revenge wasn't too far off.

I didn't give him time to respond as I moved faster than I thought a newbie like me could actually perform. Launching another Double Strike the man barely dogged my first strike before pulling up his sword to parry. Instead of waiting for another opening I slashed his weapon arm, the hand holding his sword came flying off as a result. This was another unique special effect; the Missing Limb status as its name suggest was when a limb was cleanly removed from the body. The regeneration of said limb will be delayed until the status is worn off or cured.

Both of us stopped moving as we stared at the man's missing limb in morbid fascination before the man himself burst in fright.

"P-Please don't kill me! I-I beg of you! I'll give you all my items and money, just please don't kill me!" I stared at him, his desperate and pleading face made me want to vomit. The urge to simply kill him and take revenge was right there… but I held myself in. I had already stained myself of two kills, no use staining myself even further. Slowly I turned away from him before walking off. If I had eyes behind my back I would have noticed the cruel and deceiving grin on the man's face.

"You gullible little idiot!"

I turned around to see him almost on top of me, his blade raised with his left hand ready to strike me down. On instinct I rushed forward, the speed of my dagger out classing his sword before stabbing him in the chest. The both of us stood still for a moment before I made the hasty decision of looking at him straight in the eye. The man's haunted look of surprise will forever be etched into my brain before he burst into light.

Several minutes passed by as I stood stock still in the clearing just staring off into space. The adrenaline had worn off some time ago and my legs felt ready to give out but my body refused to simply relax. I looked down at my hands, they were clean as ever. No blood to note for the kills I had done. Slowly my body shook as the emotions finally surfaced out before I burst out in laughter. I laughed and laughed before my laughter turned to cries of anguish as tears rolled down my face.

No more was I an innocent boy, no more was I pure for I had committed the sin of taking a man's life. I had cried myself until I couldn't cry no more. My body finally gave in to exhaustion as my knees gave in from bellow me. I lay there on the ground without a care in the world, not bothered by the thought of some monster or killer appearing and taking my life. I didn't have the right to live anymore.

My vision grew cloudy and dim before it sank into darkness.

Is this it? Are you giving up already?

What does it matter? I'll never be able to survive in this world.

Never pegged you as a quitter, maybe I should have left you to die

Maybe you should have, I'm not worth the trouble.

What about the people waiting for you back home?

I'm a killer now; they shouldn't have to burden themselves with me anymore.

Is that what you really think? Or maybe it's just that they're not your real family that you're giving yourself an excuse to run away?

They ARE my family! Even if we aren't related by blood I will do anything for them!

Then don't quit now you big cry baby! They're all waiting for you back home! Don't make them wait in vain!

I gave you an order Uzumaki Naruto!

LIVE god damn it!

The minute I heard that last sentence my eyes snapped open. Night had fallen onto this virtual world and as I slowly got up I noted the number of monsters that surrounded me. Their eyes seem to glow red in the dark casting out a menacing sight of teeth and stingers. Looking to my health bar I knew that with the amount of HP that was left I wouldn't survive this encounter.

As if answering my unspoken prayer an item gleamed at my feet. Picking it up I couldn't help but grin at my luck, the crimson allure of the red Health Crystal spurring me to move on. Looking up to the mob of monsters in the dark, I smiled before pointing my dagger at them.

"I'm warning all of you, if you don't get out of my sight then be prepared to die. My name is Uzumaki Naruto… no… Kurama, and I'll be your executioner tonight!"

My words were met with beastly cries, as if the world itself was accepting my challenge. The Health Crystal shattered in my grip and my health bar returned to maximum. I charged, blade in hand glowing red with power.

I will survive this world

I will not die

I Will Live!

AN: So what did you all think? Were you surprised I gave Naruto a measly dagger instead of like the usual sword? Well he'll be more like a rouge class type of fighter focusing on quick and fatal strikes. He'll have more but like I said it will be more detailed next chap. Hope you all enjoyed the read! :3