Our group continued on for some time. The 5 remaining of group one began to lag behind their instructor. The forest was dark, besides our panting only the sounds of owls and other creatures hidden amongst the brush could be heard. Suddenly we heard a monstrous howl. It resonated throughout the forest coming from every direction. Kit stopped; catching us off guard.

We all stood behind him not making a sound as he continued to look forward. Finally he broke the silence, "Lesson two: Water divided is nothing more than rain drops, but floods can destroy nations." He then continued walking.

We looked at each other confused, "I don't know if its because I'm tired or what, but I have no idea what he meant." Styx said. He was hunched over, breathing deeply as the palms of his hands were on his thighs.

I looked around and found that all of the others had succumbed to similar positions. I too found myself exhausted and out of breathe. "This world is real." I thought, as my group continued on.

Sweat poured down our faces as the air got more humid. The only thing that kept us moving was the fear of the giant rat creature catching up with us. We all wanted to be closer to the safest thing possible, our instructor.

"Kai, I'm tired" The other girl shinobi said. She was talking to the other male shinobi. Her pink eyes stared up at him. As the two lagged a few paces behind the group. He said nothing, but picked her up and let her sit on his shoulders.

For the first time I noticed his size. He was the tallest of the group, but his silent demeanor acted as a distraction. It was easy to forget he was even there. Not to mention that he never spoke.

Styx noticed that I was deep in thought as my pace was beginning to get slower.

"What, can't keep up anymore?" He smirked.

I looked at him and ignored his comment. His smile turned to a frown as he realized that I would not feed into his strategy to provoke me.

He now looked back at the other two and his eyes widened. "Yo, who's that" he pointed. Everybody stopped and turned around to find nothing in the direction that he was pointing.

"You're so annoying" the girl that looked like Anko said as she rolled her eyes.

"I'm not playing I saw something, I mean someone standing their next to that tree." Everyone continued to look behind. Nothing was impossible in this new world. Kit stopped for a moment to look back, then continued walking again.

We continued on, assuming that if a threat were to appear our sensi would protect us. The density of the forest around us began to thin. A little ways up ahead we saw a whole in the forest path that let the moonlight shine in. More holes like this one soon appeared until we were no longer in the forest.

We were now in a wide open meadow that was enclosed by forest all around it. The cool breeze brushed against my face. I closed my eyes letting it refresh me a little. A cloud moved over the moon for an instant as we continued to walk towards the center of the meadow.

"What's that Kai?" The other girl in our group said as she pointed to the center of the meadow. The cloud that was covering the mood had now moved. Letting the moonlight illuminate a two story house that stood boldly in front of us.

We continued to approach it, following our sensi. The house looked old and battered. It appeared to have been there for a long time as the paint was peeling off of it. Something about the house gave off an foreboding aura.

As we got closer to the house I could feel the anxiousness of everyone around me. I figured they too felt some form of mistrust about it.

"Kai, I don't like this" the second girl shinobi said. She had spoken the minds of everyone in the group. I wondered what Kit was planning; Was this another test?

The wind picked up, and then I noticed something odd about the one of the windows, There was someone standing in the top left one. I stared for a minute making sure my exhaustion wasn't deceiving me. Unaware of my position I continued to walk until I ran into the back of my sensei.

*Smack* He had paused abruptly again.

"What is it sensei" the girl that looked like Anko questioned.

"We're here" He said without turning around. Everyone looked ahead of him at the house.

"We're where?" Styx asked.

"Mauro" Styx said ignoring his question.

The confusion continued as we looked at our sensei.

He repeated what he had said again, "Mauro."

We looked around as nothing seemed to happen.

"uhh sensei what are you saying?" The girl that looked like Anko walked up closer to him now.

Once again, he spoke, his voice always low, as if he was whispering to the wind.

"Mauro."

"Alright guys I feel like this is another test, be on guard." I said, unstrapping my kunai pouch.

The wind picked up again.

The door to the house began to move slowly until it was completely open. Although the moon continued to illuminate everything in the meadow. The entrance to the house was pitch black.

A figure started to appear from deep within the open door. As it got closer it got smaller until it was completely outside of the house.

"Hey there sonny" it said in a dry old voice. What now stood in front of us was an old lady. She was hunched over and carried a wooden cane. She smiled as she walked forward to Kit.

"Sonny, do you remember that time when I used to feed you milk and berries? They were your favorite." She said now reaching out her hand to touch him.

As if she did not exist, Kit walked around her and continued to the house.

"Sonny, it's me sonny, don't you recognize your dear Grandma?" She questioned, tears now beginning to pour from her eyes. Kit continued to ignore her.

"Kitsune, Kitsune listen to me." more tears began to roll down her eyes as she tried to pursue him to the best of her ability. She tried to increase her speed, but fell down face first, hitting the ground.

The girl that looked like Anko immediately dashed over to help the elderly women.

"Thank you there sweety, now what is your name." The old lady squinted as she dusted herself off.

"My name is Umrika, but you can call me Umi" the girl said handing the old lady her cane.

"Ah ha. So that's your name." Styx smiled as he approach them. Umi rolled her eyes.

"Mauro, we'll be staying here for the next few days for their training." Kit only turned his head to the side as he walked into the house. He then disappeared into the darkness.

"Ahh fooey. You've always been an emotionless bastard. I wonder how you act in that other world." The voice of the old lady now turned raspy and deep. We all jumped back startled.

"Relax ya bunch of pansies, You guys really didn't think I was an old lady right?" the old women paused and looked at our faces as if waiting for an answer, but we all stood there emotionless. "Ahh well, looks like we've got a lot of work to do." the old women continued.

*poof*

A large white cloud of smoke appeared around the old women. As it began to clear a taller figure now stood in the place of the old lady. When the smoke cleared a white fox stood on two legs in front of us. It wore an all white Kimono with a black paw imprinted on the back of it.

It looked at all of our faces again and then slapped its face with the palm of its paw. "You guys are hopeless." It then held out its paw to Umi. "Well at least you were kind enough to help me sweetheart, the names Mauro."

Umi hesitated before grabbing his paw. "Hey" she said shyly.

He then approached and asked us to introduce ourselves; we gingerly gave him our names.

Alrighty, so we have the beautiful Umi, Styx, Nile, Kai, and the pure of heart Lilly," he smiled squinting his eyes, "I know you guys must be tired I'm not like that heartless Kit so you guys can rest and eat in my place." He then started walking to the house that the moon still illuminated.

None of us moved. The fox continued forward until he realized that no one was following him.

"Guys, I know this world is new to you, but if you don't grow some balls you will be killed." This assured us a little as we had already seen how gruesome this world could be so we started to walk forward. This new world was not for the fearful, weak hearted, or ball-less for that matter.

The fox laughed, "There we go, it's not like I'm going to eat you guys..." It paused, its eyes moving back and forth between all of our faces "At least not yet." It burst out into hysterical laughter.

We stopped immediately and braced ourselves. "Is this guy serious or?" I whispered to Styx.

"Ok guys I was just playing. You don't really think I'd eat you right?" None of us moved. "Ok whatever, suit yourselves, you can stay out there if you want." The fox then disappeared into the darkness.

"I think its ok guys." Lilly said now hopping off of Kai's shoulder.

"I mean Kit did walk into the house unafraid?" Umi chimed in.

"We should still be on guard though, this could be another test." I said taking the first step towards the house. We all moved towards the entrance before gingerly walking inside. The air in the house was cool and relaxing, unlike the humid hell we had just left. We found ourselves in a long corridor which had massive pillars that were definitely larger than the house itself.

"How the hell are these so big?" Styx said touching a pillar to make sure it was real.

"Grrr Boo!" Mauro popped out from behind the pillar bearing all of its teeth in Styx's face, he fell backwards startled to death.

*Shhhwoosh* four kunai came flying in the direction of the fox. It dodge in a cartoon like manner.

"Guys guys, relax" It started to laugh again.

"Where's Kit." Umi said angrily.

"Kit probably went to sleep, I don't know, do you see how big this house is?" Maura now continued to walk deeper into the house as we followed.

"Ya see this house is really powerful, it looks small on the outside, but it's a palace on the inside. Ya see I used to work at the company that made this game and this house was like a secret training ground for the select few that would be bold enough to come inside." it paused and turned around to make sure that it still had our attention, "Then Kit popped up and I became his mentor and we trained and he became blessed by the fox spirit, me."

"So fox spirit, you're a real person?" Lilly questioned now walking side by side with Mauro.

We walked into a room with tile floors. Everything else in the room was marble. A savory smell filled our noses.

"Well of course. There are no computer characters in this game, didn't you read the game promo?" it questioned now beckoning us to take a seat at a large marble table. It then went to a large stove furnace and removed a massive cauldron. "Shit.. oww.. this is hot." It said placing it on the center of the marble table. It then went back to the kitchen and got bowls and spoons and placed one on the table in front of each of us.

Mauro poured a soupy substance into each of our bowls and continued talking, "Well you see Madara was the team lead at the time, by the way have you noticed you can't say names from that other world in this world?" The fox continued talking without giving us the option to test his statement. "Madara was always a creeping guy in my opinion. Anyway we made the game perfect as you can see. My colleagues and I were appointed to different positions and what not, our lives would be the game for 1 year, then we could switch with someone else in the company if we wanted."

It placed the spoon back in the cauldron and went back into the kitchen now grabbing cup bowls.

"So you knew this Madara in real life?" I asked as the fox came back to the table with a large canteen.

"Well of course, he was a weird one that guy. I asked him to make me a feudal lord, but nooo, I was more like a riddle character he said."

"No shit," Styx said under his breathe. Mauro squinted his eyes in his direction.

"Anyway, Madara would get carried away spending hours on the game after we would leave the office. We didn't think anything of it, he was a weird guy. It wasn't until the beta testers arrived that we started to question him. Then poof two weeks after, every employee was trapped in the game. At first I was pissed. I had an escort reserved for that night ya know, but then I realized, being Mauro is kinda cool I mean, this world isn't really that bad."

Mauro put his face into his paws and started to sob violently.

"Mauro are you ok?" Umi said concerned.

"bahahahaha" Mauro said laughing hysterically, "You guys are so gullible."

"Anyway, that's that story. Now lemme tell you guys about your sensei. He was the only beta tester to come in this house let alone the meadow. People are scared of the forest and our rat neighbors ya know. Anyway, so here comes this white haired kid with blood on his face walking into the meadow. "How did a kid get to the meadow" I was confused. But anyway, At the time I'm thinking I'm going to get this kid good. So I transform into a naked girl, right with like big ta'tas and a curvy physique, kind of like you Umi, although your ta'tas could be bigger"

Umi's face turned red as Styx, Kai, and myself all looked in her direction with big eyes.

"I walk out the house as if I'd been hurt, and you know what Kit does? He throws a kunai at me, a fucking kunai! So then I have to transform back to normal because I'm thinking this kid is here to kill me, but eventually we fought a little and he passed out right in front of me. He looked so cute and innocent, cold, but still cute and innocent. So I decided to take him in and train him. 4 whole months and poof, that's why he's so strong.

"So you're Kit's master then?" I asked as the fox was licking his bowl.

"I guess you can say that, even though Kit doesn't show it, I'm probably his only friend, and he appreciates me."

The fox started to sob again. His face covered by the bowl, " I really hope he appreciates me because he's my only friend." The sobs turn into full blown cries as the fox continues to burry his face inside the bowl.

"Umm are you ok, Mauro?" Umi asked.

The fox continues to make sounds with his face in the bowl. Until finally his cries turn into squeaking laughter.

"gotcha again!" He starts laughing more loudly now.

Our faces turn blank. "That's it i've had it with your little jokes." Styx says now standing from his chair.

The fox raises one eyebrow, "Oh yea? and what are you going to do about my jokes while in my house huh?"

Styx reaches for a kunai.

"Relax, Styx, it's not like you can beat him, plus he gave us food and shelter." Umi chimes in.

"Well said by the young goddess Umi" Mauro says crossing his arms in order to mock Styx.

Styx face turns more aggressive and he throws the kunai at Mauro, but before it can reach him, another kunai comes and changes its trajectory.

"Thank you, Lilly, that might have killed me" The fox says dramatically.

Lilly reaches in her kunai pouch preparing another one.

"Everyone stop throwing kunai, we're just tired" I try to lighten the mood before the situation gets worse.

Styx prepares to throw another one in the direction of Lilly this time, the fox smiles.

Suddenly Kai stands up aggressively, "If you throw a kunai at Lilly, I'll kill you."

Everyone's face drops except Styx who throws a kunai in the direction of Kai.

He lifts his bowl up to shield himself from the kunai, but in the same motion throws a kunai in Styx direction with his other hand.

*ca'ching* the trajectory of his kunai changes direction as I throw a kunai to protect Styx.

"Guys! stop it. Don't you realize that if you die here you die foreal!"

Everyone lowers their guard, remembering the cruel deaths that we not too long ago have seen.

The silence of the room stretches for a long time. The air still thick with tension however.

"OK guys, you've all had a long eventful couple of days, how about you get some rest." Everyone stands up from the table as the fox motions for us to follow him again.

Once we leave the kitchen we head down another long dimly lit corridor until we come across two huge double doors. Mauro walks up to them and pushes hard until they finally open.

"OK rookies, the boys rooms is the second door on the left and the girls rooms if the forth door on the right. I'll see you guys bright and early for your training tomorrow."

The fox the turns around to leave the room.

"Wait what's in the other doors?" I asked.

The fox turns around slyly and smiles, "Well I wouldn't go in those if I were you."

The two big double doors close loudly as the fox walks through them.

We all look at each other. Styx is the first to start moving to the room that the fox has designated for us.

"Are you guys going to be ok?" I asked before entering into the room.

"If you two don't throw any kunai's at us anymore then maybe we'd be safe." Umi replies aggressively.

"Look it wasn't like that..." I was about to say when she interrupts me, "It isn't like what? As of now I trust that sneaky fox more than I trust you two idiots." She goes into the room.

Deathly silence fills the hall way.

"Kai, can you walk me to the room?"

Kai and Lilly then walk into the direction of the girls room.

I sigh before finally walking into the room.

Inside of the room I find three cot like beds spaced evenly away from each other. Cobwebs fill every wall of the windowless room. On the cot closest to the right wall, Styx was already knocked out buried beneath the itchy looking covers. His sword and all of his clothes laid against the wall in front of him.

I went to the bed against the wall on the opposite side of the room from Styx and followed suit. When I got in the bed I found it to be more comfortable then it looked, but I was right about the covers, they were as itchy as can be. A testimony to the once again established realness of this world. "Sheesh we really tried to kill each other, it had to be because we were so tired" I said out loud as if talking to someone. I rolled over to look at Styx who was now snoring loudly. I let my thoughts wander about what training would take place tomorrow and my exhausted body let sleep take it.