I
Soft light, soft wind... and the soft bed behind his back was all he felt when he woke up. Slowly, he crawled out of his bed, still slightly blur the way everyone is just after waking up. A constant hum seems to forever to play on in the background, and then he bumped into a wall.
"When the hell was this wall here?" The blonde cursed slightly, opening his eyes to take a short look at the wall the denies him of his path. In a flash of surprise, he looked around and scanned the room. A foreign sight, one he knows nothing off. The room had a fresh smell that he wasn't familiar with, and although the room is not perfectly clean, it was still better than usual. "What... and where in the world am I? Kyubi...."
He called for the nine tailed fox, yet no answer. He repeated his call, only this time, for Kagizume, and once more, no answer.
"What happened?" He looked again, and quickly headed out of the door.
Instantly, he awakened all the senses he had honed for any sign, just in case the sudden change had something to do with enemies.
II
'He's getting smarter, don't you think? '
'We did train him.'
'Putting him into a fantasy world. Did you receive that training too?'
'I thought it was compulsory?'
'Nah. Some other spent more time in other dimensions.'
'The human mind can't endure long periods in the fantasy world, though, and they can only enter it once.'
'Doesn't matter. We'll squeeze maximum training mileage out of this.'
III
His ears picked all sounds and converted them into a three-dimensional sonar map inside his mind, then he reached out to withdraw any weapon, but alas, his small pack had no weapons. Down the stairs with stealth, one hand pressed to the wall and the other ready to react, his twin cerulean eyes examined the new terrain for potential benefits in combat.
A sweat rolled down, 'Damn. What the hell is going on? Why can't I detect Kyubi's presence? Dammit. Is he free?'
A small rattle on the wooden panels... seemed like footsteps.
"Naruto. What are you doing?" The voice surprised him and his fists flew quickly towards the source. The person, surprised by the punch, quickly blocked it, but he flew back somewhat. "What's that for? All tense before a mission?"
'Mission?' Naruto stared at the person, a boy of moderate size, but his left arm seemed covered in what appears to be scars of vicious bites. "Who are you?"
"Damn... No times for that stupid joke again. Come on, the beasts won't wait for us to begin their attack on the village."
"What?" Totally lost, Naruto quickly seached for clues... 'Wait... Reborns could give visions... Is this an....interactive vision?'
IV
'He figured it out.'
V
Naruto trailed this boy until they arrive under the shade of a big old tree, where they joined with two other people, one fat boy and one tall girl.
"There you are, Daisuke. I thought you got lost again." The girl replied to Naruto and the boy beside him, her eyes checking her weapon, needles. Most of the needles appear to be rusted, and in a way, rusted needles are more effective as weapons.
The fatter member of what appears to be a team, quickly answered. "No time. Move out." After those four simple words, he rushed off.
"Damn... The village can hold off a few beasts, so what's the worry?" Daisuke answered, and stared at the girl. "Right?"
The girl frowned, and she too rushed off. "The beasts are launching a big offensive today."
"Naruto. Let's go."
Trying to fit in with the strange workings of the situation and the new world, be it real or fake, Naruto obliged.
"What are we fighting?" Naruto asked for more details, athough from what he could gather out of the conversations, the enemies seem to be 'beasts.'
"Animals. Animals gone really really wild."
'Animals?' He wondered. "We aren't fighting people, then?"
"No." They sped off, through the woods that seem evergreen.
VI
'Animals, Kyubi? Why animals?'
'You created the world, I create the monsters. Animals are more.... flexible in design anyway.'
'Yeah, I suppose so.'
'The world you created for the dream don't really allow for much variation anyway.'
'Just maintain the world. We don't want it to collapse all the sudden. If it does, he'll wake up.'
VII
The fields of gold and yellow, planted with wheat, oat and corn. A peaceful sight and representation of the country, broken and shattered by the rising pile of smoke, the sign of war and battle. As the four of them approach the battle, they began to wonder whether the village survives... or doesn't. With that thought in their mind, they rushed faster, hopefully to save some and aid those who remain.
Close, and Naruto suddenly realized the range of his detection has shrunk. 'Damn. Did they make it harder to detect the surroundings on purpose?' But regardless, the constant chime of blades and the haunting roars of beasts offered hope. Some are still alive to do battle. Some still are...
They were welcomed by the thick stench of smoke and blood, the sight of corpses of both man and beast.
"There still some left, let's fight them. Split up, people." The larger built boy said, and he led the separation of the teams.
Naruto was then in front of a large bull, an auroch that stands like a minotaur, and it wields a large axe to boot.
'Oh my, They're creative too. Bulls with axes....' The bull itself was well damaged, it's thick skin covered in many cuts, some deep and some shallow. It's simple crude axe was covered in blood and it's left horn was broken. This bull wasn't one that was going to last very long, but it's still standing. When the bull caught sight of Naruto, it slammed it's large hoofs on the floor, creating a shockwave that breaks up the earth beneath.
Then, the bull charged right at Naruto, it's large arms swinging it's axe with incredible strength.
"Damn." Naruto jumped over the bull and to it's back, and quickly gathered chakra. But the chakra responded slower, 'What? They made chakra concentration difficult.' Yet, the bull already sent another swipe towards the blonde, and Naruto had barely ducked the attack.
Naruto sent a punch at the opening that appeared after the swipe, and it landed right on target.
"Darned thick hide." Another attack at the bull, and this time, it managed to unbalance the large beast, therefore it fell to the floor with a loud thud. That moment, he landed another attack at the neck of the bull, killing it. In the beast's last moments, it let out a harsh growl. Yet the moment of recovery was short, as another bull came towards Naruto, and the beast was fuming.
The bull growled, and it thumped it's hoofs on the ground. Naruto quickly entered a defensive stance that he had trained, taking a short breath to refill his energy. The bull charged, horns first at Naruto and the sight of a charging bull right at him was somewhat frightening. When the beast was close, he ducked and pressed his palms toward the bull's neck and body, with a quick burst of chakra strengthened energy, threw it up into the air. He took another breath of air, and then crushed the beast's neck.
"Shit. Why bulls? Heavy as hell." He sighed, somewhat tired.
The fire across the village continued to burn, and more sounds of war raged on. Thus, he rejoined the battle, taking down more and more bulls on the way.
Naruto sidestepped the charge of a bull, and slammed a kick at the beast's legs. The fallen beast's life was then ended with a punch to the neck, the most vulnerable part of the beast.
"Nice work, Naruto..." The blonde turned to see the fat boy, covered in blood and wounded. Then, he collapsed.
He walked over to his comrade, whom he have yet to know the name. "Wake up." He called franticly, and yet each call was unanswered. "Dead..." He spoke silently. He then ran off to find the other two. "Hope they ain't dead too."
VIII
Naruto found Daisuke alive by a tree, accompanied by the corpses of a few bullmens. The sky was dark, preparing to rain while the howling wind rustled the tree's leaves.
"Don't stay near corpses. They can bring disease." Naruto replied.
"Hey... how's Maki?"
"The fat guy?" He asked, with slight sorrow. After all, he had not known the fat parson, so no sorrow for him, but he could feel the sorrow of those who were close to him.
"Yeah."
"He's..... dead." Fear of breaking the news about a person's death swept him.
Daisuke looked remorseful, staring at the corpses, and he moved his hands to wipe away a small tear. "The cost of war.... Check on Ari too."
"I will. You better not stay here. Blood, corpses and rain is a bad combination."
Naruto turned away, and he began searching the village for the girl. Most of the streets were undamaged, as the beasts failed to get past a line of fighters, but those that wasn't protected by the fighters were destroyed. Naruto's eyes scanned every area with sight, and still haven't found the last member of the team.
Rain. It came as a drizzle, but got stronger as it continued, and the fire stopped.
When Naruto found her, she was lying on the dirt.
"Damn. Not another dead person." He ran to her, checking for any signs of life. Thankfully, she still breathed, and Naruto let out a sigh of relief. "Good, you're alive."
She answered with a slight smile, "Yeah... Just need some sleep."
IX
What is this was about? The question arised after they returned to rest under a small hall in the village, only with one less member.
"Naruto. Have you not been told?" Daisuke answered, while the nurse checked on his wounds.
"No." A simple answer to prevent suspicion, but the topic itself would have led to suspicion.
"The war between beast and man. The beasts began attacking us out of the wilderness of the north few hundred years ago, and since then, it had remained. It's a battle for power, that will ultimately decide who have the right to live on this place. Survival."
'That damned justification again.' Naruto looked at the girl, now asleep on the bed.
"Tomorrow, we will fight again. No one knows when the war will end. Nobody expects it to end. We may have won, but many lives were lost too. It's a stalemate."
IIIII
How long this story in a story will last? Quite a few chapters. A lot of fighting next chapter, I think.
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