The Game of Freedom and Sorrow
Naruto Fanfiction
Game 1: Welcome Uzumaki Naruto
Author's notes: I always wanted to make a story about a first person point of view, and not the usual dominate third person we get on the site. For those readers that liked the story; comment about your thoughts on the story as a whole.
My name's Uzumaki Naruto. I don't care to explain the purpose to the role of this story. All you need to know was that this happened to me during my childhood.
It started when I breached the village walls by using an existing cracked wall. It led me outside to the forest surrounding our village. I had never seen the outside before and was excited by the possibilities that the forest contained.
That excitement increased when I heard someone fighting in the distance. This was the first ever ninja fight that I had seen, and it was certainly not my last. I watched the fight between leaf ninjas. It was nearing the climax of the battle, and the two ninjas used their most powerful techniques.
Possibly if I was a bit older, I would have known that jutsus were incredibly powerful. And this may be the reason why these two nameless ninjas were training so far away from the village. The techniques collided and a powerful backlash resulted.
In the end, the two jutsu killed me in the backlash. Yes, that was what I said. The jutsu killed me. But it wasn't the end, no. It was far from it. The next events changed my views on life.
Well, do you want to hear my story now? It's up to you, I guess.
I remembered a bright powerful light blind my vision for a second before everything turned completely dark. I was anxious to see who won the fight, but more importantly I wondered where I was.
"Where am I?" My voice echoed in the eternal darkness. Fear attacked my heart, and my eyes moistened. I wasn't crying, no, it was because I couldn't see where I was. That's right; it wasn't the dark that affected me but my current location.
Was that a beam of light? Then I heard rustling from somewhere, but I couldn't pinpoint the exact source. Then the beam of light opened into long square shaped rectangle.
"Hey! We have a little boy here!" The loud voice startled me.
I felt foolish when that beam of light turned out to be a closed door. And I was in a closet in a house. I noticed many torn rags but I paid them no mind.
I watched the man come closer, and noticed the man was a ninja, a Kumogakure ninja. I froze to the spot when he neared me but I couldn't detect malicious in his actions, and his aura was opposite to the villager's oblivious hatred of me.
"Hey! You're a Konohagakure child!" I wondered what Konoha attributes did for my body for the ninja to figure out my birth of place so easily. It was possibility my blond hair, or the whiskers like scars on each of my cheek.
"Umm… Ninja-san? Where am I?" The man looked slightly sad when I stated my question.
"You're dead kiddo," he replied.
"Dead? How?" I was confused. If I was dead, then that means I was killed in the blast of the technique's radius.
"Yes you're right. I'm not going to sugar coat this, but you have to face facts. You died, and I don't know how."
I don't believe this, it can't be. This must be a dream right? I ran pass the Kumo ninja and found myself in a hallway. The same condition as the closet remained. Red faded painted walls, glass from the broken windows littered the floor.
A slight wind blew inside from the opened windows and I felt cold. A white t-shirt and black shorts would do that to you, as my clothes were meant for Konoha's warm climate.
I looked outside the window, and my frown deepened. An ocean of sand and the sun's orange glow on the horizon awaited my vision.
"I told you Konoha child. Follow me, we have to regroup with the others," the Kumo ninja said.
I followed the kumo ninja down the corridor and down the stair. I found myself in on the main floor with seven other people. I noticed the main floor was tattered as the rest of the house. Shattered chips of wood fragments from the main door lay across the maroon carpet floor. A draft continued to flow in from the shattered windows. Debris that I couldn't make out joined with the chipped woods.
The seven people were ninjas. The same as the Kumo Ninja, but unlike the Kumo ninja's forehead protector, the people in the room wear a different protector from each different village. One was from Kumo (plus my guide); two from Kiri, one from Suna, and the last three were from Konoha that I didn't recognize. I was relieved when I noticed my village's ninja on the scene, but confused why Konoha's ninja were chatting among the enemy.
"Kumogakure Ninja, you seem to have an idea to what is happening. Care to explain?" The Suna ninja said. A glare escaped from the Suna Ninja when the other Kumo Ninja glared at him first.
My guide seemed slightly relieved when he was questioned. I wondered why. Did my guide, the Kumo ninja have an idea to what was happening?
"I think that's all of us. Let me say this. Everyone in this room has died." I noticed the ninjas nearly burst out arguments but quieted when the speaker silenced them with a glare.
"I don't care how, or why-" he was interrupted.
"Blah! Damn Kumogakure Ninja. Silence, I can't be dead yet. I have to return to my team," the Suna ninja said.
"But before you leave Suna Ninja, check your pockets for a card," he countered.
I reached into my short's pocket and found a square shaped item. Weird, I don't remember putting anything into my pockets before. I took whatever was in my pocket and found the Kumo ninja's words true. A red card remained in my hands. A picture of a dark silhouette of a lion's roaring was on the corner of the front side, the number one hundred in black bold numbers stood in the center, and my name underneath it.
"This card is our point system. Mine is the number sixty nine, and I bet every person in the room is at one hundred."
"Point system..?" One of the Konoha ninja said. "What is this? Some sort of game?" I noticed a hint of anger in his voice.
"You are correct, Konoha Ninja. This is a game, but the question that remained since I started the game is who created this game, and why. I am a player. Just like the rest of you. Now then, does anyone have anymore questions?" He said. No one said a thing, and I was curious what type of game it could be. I was good at games, I even won the ninja game once.
"The point system works by killing the most monsters. The stronger the monsters, the better the points, get it?" Another nod of agreement settled amongst the different ninja, and I wondered how long this truce would last.
"So our goal is to make the numbers on the card zero," the Kumo Ninja said. I wondered why one of the Kumo Ninja knew this, while the other didn't. Something didn't act up.
"That is correct, Brethren. Our main goal is to make the numbers on the card zero, but there are optional goals too. I know two optional goals; one is reach the check point, and the other is stay here until you have zero points left."
I seen a fracture of a grin settled between the Kirigakure Ninja. I knew they were going to settle with option number two. Those two ninjas frightened me, and it was in my best interest to avoid them at all costs.
"But let me warn you if you chose to remain here. The cards hide our chakra's signature. These monsters are attracted to chakra, and once you kill certain number of monster before reaching the check point. The card's power to hide our chakra fades," the Kumo ninja said.
"Then that means…" The same Konoha ninja replied.
I still didn't get it, what will happen once the power fades?
"Yes, I'm sure you know this by now. The monsters will follow you until you are dead. It'll be an endless battle of endless monsters."
"What will happen when we reach the check point?" The Kumogakure ninja said.
"We'll return to our original place before we died. Then wait until the next batch of humans to appear in the game, and then we will be forced to return here. At least until the number on your card turns zero and you'll be free of this place."
"Shit man! That's bullshit!" The Suna Ninja said.
The Kumo ninja speaker nodded in agreement. "I'll like to make this clear that this house is considered as a safe point. Monsters can't enter, and I don't know how, but it works."
"How do we know that this is a safe point, and which direction is the check point at?" One of the three Konoha Ninja said.
"That's a good question Konoha Ninja. Channel chakra into your card and an image of a map will appear in front of you," the speaker replied.
I eyed my card with suspicion but decided to give it a shot. I couldn't channel chakra properly. The card absorbed my chakra easier and it didn't even require constant chakra flow to maintain the image of the map in my eyes. The image was translucent that I could still see the ninjas in the room.
I saw an image of an S in the center of the map, and I guessed it means that it's a Safe Point. I noticed that the S was surrounded by barren plains, and wastelands. A little further up north contained a C and this was the Check Point the Kumo Ninja meant.
"The C is our destination. Do you see a dark circle on the west side of our location at S?" The Speaker said.
"I see it!" I blurted out. One of the Konoha Ninja saw me and I knew he recognized me right away. It was oblivious when his eyes widen to saucers.
"Yes," the Kumo ninja coughed. "It means that it's a danger zone. I haven't been there yet, but one member of my old group mentioned it before. He was shaking when he recollected the memory and its best to avoid that place."
"Old group? You mean there was others before us?" The Suna ninja grunted.
"Yes... The last round's monster was... Frightening..." I noticed the Kumo ninja was shaking, and his hands clutched into fists. "The only option was to run... Two of us survived, out of twenty men and women."
Chapter end