A/N: Alright! After being pestered for so long I've finally dug my claws into this idea, into Sword Art Online. Now y'see, I didn't know where or when to place it at first, didn't want to alter too much. But then it hit me. What does it have no short of? Ideas! Almost anything can happen in this game ya know? Now, screwing around with canon is one thing. But messing with it as a whole...
...now that's a whole new can of worms. Off we go! This is also my first attempt to write a first person story. There will, of course, be third-person increments as well, but Naruto's perspective will mostly be told in the first for this story after this chapter, unless I get a massive outpouring saying it should be otherwise. So...
...please be nice! On another note, there might be a few .Hack references characters in this!
"You just HAD to say yes, didn't you?"
~?
Trapped
It all started with a game.
But before all that, before we delved into the story-and what story it is!-I want to state, for the record, that immortality is a bitch and a half to live through. You do not want it, you do not need, and, most certainly, you do not want to live with it. Take it from someone whose learned the hard way, folks. You do not want to live forever. It sucks.
There, I've said it.
Still, when you've lived as long as I have, you do what you can to pass the time. You know, entertain yourself, and the like. I don't think of myself as broken, but then again, I'd be lying if I said my views on life were not signifigantly skewed compared to what they'd once been. You don't take the chakras of nine bijuu, shove it in a human body, and expect to have a short life. Then again, when you're forced to take all that chakra and forge it back into the beast known as the Ten-Tails; then use it to slaughter your best friend?
Shit gets a liiiiiittle skewed.
But that's in the past. This strange, painful, wonderful story started with a game.
Contrary to popular belief, I haven't done much with my immortality since the year two thousand. When you're Undying-as I've taken to calling myself-casual things like going out swiftly lose their meaning. I'd fought in a few wars, saved a few lives, but by the time 2022 rolled around, I really wasn't doing all that much with my life outside of work.
Yup. Total workaholic. I ran one of the most successful bussiness firms in the world, won a few Gold medals for Japan in the Olympics, and was currently contemplating whether I should marry my longtime supermodel girlfriend of three years. I know what you're thinking; if you're going to live forever, why bother getting married? You'll just outlive her, right? Yeah, but mind-blowing sex has a way of influencing your opinion. Leaving was always an option but I loathed the idea of being alone. Saki was a nice enough girl; sadly, she didn't have much of a brain under those ebon tresses.
Ignore the ugly reality I needed to use henge-which I abused the hell out of-to disguise the fact that I was eternally trapped at the unpleasant age of twenty, and life was basically roses for me.
Yeah, that's the life, am I right?
Wrong.
On the outside, I was just going through the motions, smiling for the people and the cameras. Inwardly, I felt dettached. Disconnected. I wasn't in love; I just told myself I was. The capacity to feel for someone was all but buried by the pain of the last two thousand years. I'd watched villages burn, stood helpless as innocents were put to the torch during the Inquisition. Stood at ground zero, as the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They didn't kill my body, but they killed something else. My heart.
I suppose you could say games were a way to escape the painful reality in which I found myself. I, once someone who focused solely on work, gradually began to devote more and more time to it.
I'd play the occassional MMORPG-that is, Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game- from time to time, so when I saw Sword Art Online I figured what the hell? I was wealthy, a workaholic and a total recluse even at the best of times, wholly disenfranchised with the world after having seen it at is very worst, and having no hope to see its best. When someone offered me a free pass to the beta I played it, if not wholy out of sheer boredom. It was made by some bigshot, Akihiko Kayaba, I think his name was.
Playing his game was like stepping into another world.
All thanks to alittle something called the Nervegear.
It's the name of the hardware that runs Sword Art Online, this VRMMORPG-A Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Onlin Role Playing Game. This machine is fundamentally different from your average TV gaming console in every way.
I suppose I could bore you with the tech; but I'll just summarize it. Its basically a single interface that takes all five of your senses out of this world, and plugs them into the game itself. You didn't just play the game-it had no controller to play with. You were the controller.
You leapt into the game.
The sheer impact of this experience profoundly enchanted many gamers, but it made me anxious.
Curiosity played a major part in taking that first, tentative step into the online world. I wasn't exactly keen on surrendering my senses to some interface; it reminded me far too much of the Infinite Tsukiyomi. Call me skittish if you will, but hey, after what I'd been through, I was justifiably nervous. No sooner had I logged on than I logged off again, yanking the Nervegear off just to make certain I could. That I wasn't trapped in the game, locked in a world with no escape.
Oh, the irony.
I often wonder what might've happened if destroyed my Nervegear back then, after that first fateful dive. Just taken it in my hands and crushed it into a ball of scrap. I certainly wouldn't be the same person I am today at any rate. My heart certainly wouldnt hurt as it did now. But I wouldn't have met them. My life wouldn't have changed. Ah, but I digress.
As my fears of being trapped in a virtual reality began to recede, I actually enjoyed the beta, which was amusing enough. But what hooked me -eerie as it might sound- was the class system. Shinobi. There was a class system based on...well, me. Okay, not me per se, but chakra. It was all there. Techniques, skills, the way I'd seen others fight. You could build your character from the ground up, which I did, but, from there it was left to you to play. I was summarily freaked out. The shinobi class was...different than others. The skills you could use were limitless. You could even be part of a clan and inherit all the unique abilities that came with.
Uchiha. Kaguya. Hyuuga. Uzumaki. And more. All unlockable.
I should have realized something was wrong then, but like a fool, I plowed onward in pursuit of my new goal. My only lead. The game. I knew it was likely a trap, but I persisted. Even after all those years, my stubborn streak persisted.
Either someone had done a helluva lot of research into the past-or I wasn't the only one who'd survived into this era. I was consumed by the idea. Possessed. Maybe I wasn't the only one. There might be others. It was like a spectre, haunting my every thought. But there were no leads. I even met Akihiko Kayaba in person through the company; he was just a normal guy. Nothing special or unique about him beyond the way that he'd skyrocketed to fame. I grilled him relentlessly under the guise of an FBI agent-gotta love henge-but he insisted he had no idea what I was talking about. Funny thing...he was telling the truth. In a sense.
Inquiry after inquiry fell flat; my attempts to search through other sources failed miserably.
Eventually, the trail went cold. Once more, my only lead was the game.
Eventually I met someone who seemed to take an avid interest in the game as well, though not for the history nor the idea that there was a shinobi class. A boy named Kirito. Eventually, we started sharing our opinions on what we thought of it. Perhaps it was the fact that he was also a recluse, but I found myself growing to enjoy his company. I knew that, unllike me, he probably didn't look at thing like his avatar, few did. Regardless of the fact, I allowed him to get close. I exchanged the occasional mail with him, complained about the bugs in the beta, reveled when we conquered a boss.
Eventually, I made a friend. For the first time in almost two thousand years, an actual friend. Then another. And another.
We played Sword Art Online through the beta, and were practically the first to log in once it was opened to the public.
Then everything changed.
"Ow!"
Kirito twisted aside as a warning message opened before his eyes, momentarily blinding him. Presenting an opening. His opponent was quick to captilaze on this brief distraction; their tri-pronged blade flashing like an irate bolt of lightning, leaving him hissing softly, as they got a free hit in against him, raking across his left arm. Just a scratch. It was just a scratch. So why...am I...so damaged?! His eyes tracked his depleting health bar and grimaced, as it shrank even further, green turning to yellow to orange, before his very eyes. It hovered just over red, mocking him.
Staggering backward he found his legs swept, the savage sweep sending him sprawling to the ground. His head rang from the blow, stars spangling before his vision. Ouch...
"What's the matter, Kirito?" A black boot entered the field of his vision, nudging at his cheek. "You can do better than that!"
Growling, the blackette launched himself up at his opressor-
-and landed on his ass.
"Looks like someone's getting rusty~!" Naruto stood over him resplendent in bright orange armor, the thin ablative plate glistening an eerie mercury color in the fading light. For someone so lightly armored, he seemed to possess an inhumanely high defense attribute; not to mention dexterity. Damn but he was hard to hit!
"Alright, alright," he groaned, picking himself up and forfeiting the duel. "I give. I don't want to die and lose all my experience again...
"That's my tenth win, then!" the blond crowed, patting himself on the back. "All hail me!"
The field around them was brilliantly illuminated by sunlight just beginning to take on a bloody tinge of red. Far to the north lay the silhouette of a forest, while a lake sparkled to the south, and the walls of a town couldbe faintly glimpsed to the east. To the west was nothing but endless sky and clouds.
They were standing in a field to the west of the Town of Beginnings, the starting area at the south edge of the very first floor of Aincrad. Countless other players were no doubt fighting each other or monsters of their own in the vicinity, but the scale of this space was so vast that none were within eyeshot. It was an all-encompassing isolation from reality, more than worthy of the term.
Finally satisfied, Naruto returned his kunai to the holsters on his arms and approached, scanning the horizion with him.
"Nice, ain't it?" he said. "Hard to believe this is all in a game."
"Just because we're inside doesn't mean our brains are actually seeing-
"Bah, don't ruin it with science!"
"You're ridiculous, you know that?" Kirito spoke through pursed lips like a pouting child, his shoulders hunched. Naruto grinned cheekily.
"Don't I know it?"
When he maintaned a serious expression, he could have been the lead actor in a period piece, but somehow Kirito doubted this was his real life appearance. While Naruto swore up and down that this really was his face IRL, the swordsman suspected it was nothing more than a virtual avatar created from scratch out of a robust list of finely tuned parameters.
Naruto continued in a strong and clear voice, also likely to be falsified. "You know, I'm really glad I met you-
"NARUTO!"
"What in the-ooommph!" Whatever else he might've said ended in a strangled grunt as someone tackled him from behind, sending the ninja tumbling head over heels in a mighty heap. Kirito sweatdropped. He'd almost forgotten about the third member of their little group. The ghost of a smile tugged at his face as he recognized her; that scarlet bob of hair and ponytail, body wrapped in dark outfit concealing to a lean figure most girls would would've killed for. A chuckle forced its way past his lips Ah. Energetic as ever, it seemed.
Naruto didn't share his enthusiasm.
You'd think I'd have grown used to being swarmed by now.
Ladies and gentlmen, meet Alkaid. She's a twinblade, hothead, a regular tomboy, all wrapped up in an energetic avaar. She's also my best friend and a fellow beta-tester, just like Kirito. Welll, as close as one can come to having friends in this digital world. Its funny really. I'm pretty sure she's a hardcore tsundere; she usually doesn't go for outward expressions of emotions like this. Which leaves me wonder why she's just pinned me to the ground and why she's shouting at me and shaking my body like a ragdoll; as though the world's about to end or worse.
"Alkaid, what're you doing?!"
"There's no logout button!"
Oh. Well, I suppose that would qualify.
My eyes shoot across the screen, taking in the time, the date, my recently acquired equiptment. Everything's there. But something's missing. Something that should be there.
That was when I saw it. Or rather, didn't see it. There, at the bottom right of my screen, mocking me. There was no log out button. No option to leave the game. A cold sweat breaks across my face, a snake of dread all but coiling inside of my stomach. No log out button.
None.
There was a silence as my brain struggled to proccess what was happening. In the end, only one word emerged.
"Fuck."
Then a pillar of blue light consumed the three of us.
It was that moment.
That was when my world changed forever.
A/N: Its been awhile, hasn't it? I've been pestered for ages, to do this, haven't I? And yes, for those of you familiar with .Hack GU, Alkaid is in this story. I sincerely hope that isn't a problem? As a another note, if you're wondering about Naruto's armor, for now, its a variation of the Anbu attire, only orange. He'll get better equiptment-and plenty of girls!-as time drags on. I want to try and make this as real as possible, no leaping into relationships straight away. Naruto's essentialy forgotten what it means to love; and he'll be forced to relearn that emotion as he goes on...
...and ah, what a story this'll be!
Just in case ya'll are wondering about my intentions to update this story, rest assured I plan to stick to this and them all! I'm sure many of you have seen my most recent update for the Crimson Prince, after all. That's right, baby! I'm back, all healed up, and ready to update my fics to your heart's content. If there are any particular ones ya'll want update, feel free to give me a shout! So that now its been said...
So...in the immortal words of Atlas...
...Review...Would You Kindly...? Should Naruto work with others, or be forced to slog all the way through on his own? And of course, enjoy the preview! Remember, if you're not at least familiar with Sword Art Online, you'll be hopelessly confused! The preview is in third person for now!
(Preview)
"You're that Undying guy, right?"
"That seems to be my moniker of late, yes." Naruto answered, frowning. Blue eyes roamed the cavernous building, taking in the battlements, the guild members arrayed against him. "Nice setup ya got here," he mused aloud, stroking his chin. "Shame I have ta wreck it, but then again, I can't stand pretentious little shits like you. I mean, Laughing Coffin? Seriously? Its bad enough that you're going around PK'ing innocents, but would ya at least come up with a better name?"
There was an awful silence.
"Ah, boss? I think he was making fun of-
That awful scythe cut across his throat, ending him before he could finish.
"I KNOW WHAT HE SAID, DIPSHIT!"
"Say, I've got a better idea." the guildmaster tittered suddenly, rising from his crooked throne. "How about we make a trade?"
Naruto stiffened, palming another knife. "And that would be?"
"Your life for that bitch you came here to rescue."
"Lemme thing about tha-no."
A kunai flew from his wrist, slamming into the forehead of the nearest individual. His body snapped into a thousand pixels, gone before he hit the ground.
"THEN YOU CAN DIE FOR ME!"
Naruto tilted his head aside.
Just a fraction of an inch, but it was enough to send the scythe skill shooting harmlessly over his head in a streak of red. Slow. He scoffed. In that instant, his knife flashed out mercilessly, the high-level skill shooting up into the chest of the Laughing Coffin guildmaster with a dull thud. Combo. The system carried his next strike flawlessly forwards - his kunai ramming down into the man's exposed neck in a flurry of pixels, carving another smile there in his throat. His free hand shoved forward, sphere in hand. Rasengan. He didn't need to speak the technique to summon it, feeling his hit points dipping as the spiraling sphere took his health in exchange for smashing a gaping hole in the man's chest.
The guildmaster-Kawahara-watched in disbelief as his health dropped down to zero. His body flickered, form trembling as the blond ripped his hand away. He tumbled forwards with a gasp, fumbling onto his hands and knees. A low laugh leapt from his masked face.
"Why...you...murderer...
Naruto's only response was to shove another kunai into his neck.
"I'd gladly kill a thousand like you if it means bringing peace back to this world."
Kawahara didn't answer that; he simply laughed and vanished into a thousand fractiles. Naruto turned his attention to the remaining members of Laughing Coffin, smiling. It was not a pleasant smile she thought; nor was the savage slaughter that followed. From there he flowed like water-all but rippling around the furry of shouts and arrows that followed his sudden assault. His knives carved red pixels into their bodies, each hit a death-dealing blow to whomever they touched. The man holding her tried to draw back, but shuriken ended him.
The rest died like pigs. Slowly.
She wasn't sure when she'd closed her eyes against their screams only that she did. A tap on her shoulder roused her.
"Yo."
Lisbeth started, opening her eyes to the now empty room. He'd killed them. An entire guild, all by himself...
Naruto stared down at the smith he'd just rescued, frowning at her. Funny, how someone could remind him so much of Sakura. She was stubborn, selfish, and got under his skin like no other. Yet despite his refusal to help others, at the end of the day he'd still come back for her, walked into the trap anyway. Women...
His grin grew. "Come with me if you want to live."
Terminator? Her mind balked. Seriously?
"Why?" The pinkette stared back at him in disbelief, blinking as he severed the ropes binding her. "Why did you come back with me?" He looked at her for a long moment. Finally, he smiled.
"Well, you still have to forge that sword for me." Her glare was telling, so he continued:
"Meh, guess I still have a conscience after all."
Lisbeth frowned. Slowly, gingerly, she accepted his hand.
"You're still an ass."
Naruto cackled. "So true!"
R&R! =D