I found myself sitting in an office chair in front of a desk. Across from me behind the desk was another chair, it was empty. I looked around finding myself in what looked like a random office a manager would have. Where the hell am I? Looking around didn't help me and I couldn't remember how I got here. As far as I know this isn't an office I'm familiar with. I tried peering out through the window but that only gave me more trouble. When I stood up from the seat I was in moving towards it there was this awful glare that came from it. Whatever was on the other side was bright and I had trouble looking directly at it.
I stared out at the view outside and I was shocked. There was nothing as far as I could see. It was just a white space and the only thing stopping me from being in it was being confined in this office. The phone on the desk started ringing interrupting my thoughts. I walked over to the desk and hoping that maybe the caller ID could tell me something. I saw the name Mischief on the phone with no number present. Great, a god damn practical joke. I pressed the answer button connecting the call on speakerphone. "Good Morning, glad to see you're being polite even in this situation." A feminine voice came from the speaker in front of me.
"Ah, hello. Can you tell me where I am?" I asked not really expecting an honest answer.
"Where do you think you are?"
"Somewhere I don't understand." Looking around left me with only one thing that came to mind and that's what I told the voice on the phone. Laughter could heard over the phone. It wasn't being faked as the voice sound like it was having trouble to breathe. I guess I'm amusing to whoever is on the other side of the phone. After calming down a bit the voice came back
"I knew I was right in choosing you. I think you can serve my purpose well if given enough time."
"That sounds like I don't get much of a choice in the matter." Again the voice laughed at me and once more it took a bit to calm down.
"Yes, you're right on that. You don't have much of a choice as there are only two of them. Accept my offer and work for me when I call for you or be sent back to where you came from to reincarnate."
"What happens if I accept your offer. I'm pretty sure the other option means I get another chance at life but I won't be me?"
"We could debate all day on the philosophy of me but I'd rather not waste my time with that. If you accept my offer I can reincarnate you into any kind of world you'd like. Your soul will be linked to me and I'll be sending you to do my bidding when I need it done. I can use you for a whim, a purpose or even sacrifice you. I hold total control over your life if you choose my offer."
"If I choose to accept how often am I going to be treated like your dog?"
"Honestly not that often, it's not like your the only one I've ever offered this to. Some of the other gods call them champions and send them out to spread their name"
"Great. I'm going to become a prophet for a goddamn lunatic. What kind of room do I have to negotiate with you?" I asked hoping that maybe I can control even a little bit of my own fate.
"You really are an interesting one. You don't even know what I have planned and you already want to negotiate? You have nothing to offer me and I have everything to offer you." The voice was speaking with a much more authoritative tone.
"You said that I have a choice where I can reincarnate to right?" I may not hold any cards but if I can create something from nothing there is a chance.
"That is correct"
"Then I have something to offer in a negotiation. You gave me some help earlier with what you said. I'd like to use that to make my negotiation. If I might be so bold to say I'm assuming that you are a Goddess of Mischief in some world?"
"Yes you could say that is close to being correct. I'm interested in where you're going with this as the others that have accepted this offer usually just ask me for things. I'm much more interested in seeing something unexpected."
I only have one chance at this. If she accepts my offer and I have an idea of where I am going to then maybe I can negotiate for some benefits when I get there. "I leave everything up to you Ms. Mischief. Wouldn't it be much more interesting to see someone flailing about getting into trouble because of the unexpected. I'm sure you're much more interested in entertainment than watching someone be born with everything already in their possession. Am I right?"
The line went silent for an uncomfortably long time. My stomach felt like millions of butterflies were ready to explode out of me and engulf this cramped office. A creaking sound could be heard as a crack suddenly flashed across the ceiling. In a moment the whole thing disintegrated right in front of me. The walls then fell down around me revealing the white empty space in all directions. I was panicking at this point, turning around looking for any signs of danger.
My first thought was to escape. Run away as fast as I possibly could because I don't want to die yet. I was trying to think of anything that could bolster my chances of surviving this. I watched as the office supplies and furniture disappeared one after the other. Like their very existence was being erased right in front of me. The only thing still standing was the desk, the chair and the beautiful woman who was now sitting on it. Seeing her sitting there only one thought crossed my mind. The voice on the phone had come to see me.
Holding her stomach she couldn't stop laughing. Tears were running down one side of her face and she had a beautiful smile that could enchant almost anyone. She looked at me and wiped her tears away. "I will accept your offer. It's been a long time since I've had someone try to pull a fast one on me. I like you kid so let's see what I want to do with you. Hmm, I think that might be right and if I shake that up a bit then this could be fun." The Goddess went on like that for quite a bit. I think she might have forgotten about me so I took a seat in the chair I was originally in. I mean it's not like I have anywhere else to go at this point. I felt pretty stupid because at one point I tried to look for a clock to see what time it was. After what seemed like an eternity to me Ms. Mischief was out of her thought process. I guess she has finished deciding on where I will go. I mean at this point I've basically accepted her offer.
"Have you heard of the anime Naruto?"
"I have. Is that where I will be going?"
"Correct. You will be born a few years before Naruto is. I will be giving you a quest/reward gift that will only be available to you. This way you can receive my instructions without me needing to interfere in your world. The thing your version will not always go along the same path as the one you know as I've put in some rather strange surprises in. Also beware there are times when I'll call you to send you to other worlds. Now that I've decided this for you what can you possibly offer me?"
"Am I retaining my memory for this? If so am I able to barter my memory for something? Can I barter some years of my lifespan? What are you willing to take from me?" I needed to know as much as I can to get the most out of this time. I won't have a second chance so let's be thorough here.
"You truly are wonderful. I haven't even told you what hell I set up for you and you're already trying to give things away instead of asking for them." A smile crept along her face as she continued "I will allow you to trade your lifespan for something of equal value in my view. I will allow you trade or give up your memories for perks if you so choose. However choose wisely as this will be your only chance."
"You said you will be sending me into other worlds. Do those worlds also include works of fiction that I have read?"
"You are correct in saying that. I already have your first true trial planned out. I'm sure you'll love it."
"I don't know how much you will want to take for this but I wish for a few things. Can you tell me what it will take to be able to do this?" I asked hoping that this will make it easier than just throwing things at a wall and see what sticks.
"Sure go ahead and ask away. I'll tell you what I think its worth and we can go from there." The smirk on her face made me think she really was enjoying this. I sighed and then gave out my wishlist.
"I wish to save Minato and Kushina from dying and not just in the way of having them die soon after. I mean so they can live a longer life. I don't need them to be protected by plot armor or anything like that. I wish for the leaf to know about Danzo before he can do any real harm to the village. The last one is more of a whim as I think you it might entertain you. I wish for the leaf to intervene in the civil war of the Mist. I'm sure Obito is already in control of the three tailed beast so it might shake up the plot I know considerably if that's the case. How much do I need to pay for this?"
"Hmm, it will be a steep price. I'll take all of your memories of your previous life as payment for the three wishes you have. You will still have your instincts and personality but essentially you'll be my doll. You'd be no different than just an extra character in a story you threw off the rails. Is that what you want?" She asked me with a curiosity in her eyes.
"No the last thing I want to be is someone's doll or toy or whatever you want to call it. I wouldn't take that deal if it means I lose my sense of self. I don't mind giving up my memories because they will probably end up holding me back in a world where I'll need to fight. What will it take for me to keep the memories of the stories I've read? How much of my life do I have to give? How about starting in a worse situation?"
"I think I can take that deal. Let's see Three years of your life for the memories of the story but you can not choose how I take those years."
"Make it four years of being in a coma and I do it as a child? It'll stunt my growth and will give me an early challenge to find a place to accept a child in a coma. It's not like this world is known for its charity." I was hoping that if I could take my time at the beginning of what I know of that world it would be better than losing three years when it matters. I don't know how she'd take the three years so I decided a coma was best hoping I'd just wake up and things would be different.
The Goddess was stunned by my quick counter with no hesitation. "I'll allow it as long as you spend a year as a lab rat of Orochimaru. This is my final offer on this negotiation. If you don't accept this then we will go back to square one and I will have complete control over your fate again."
"I accept. Can I know if there is anything special you want to see me accomplish? If not then I am in your care." I didn't want to have a sour relationship with the owner of my soul so I decided to accept.
"The gift will let you know when I wish for something personally. Now let's get you ready for your trip." The Goddess got up from the desk she was sitting. She walked towards me placing her hand on my chest and then she pulled something out of me. I look down in horror to see something being dragged out of me. I was too shocked to speak but I looked at the goddess only to see her smile. She whispered in my ear before pushing me backwards. "See you soon" was the last thing I remember before everything went dark.
The next time I was conscious I was in a room lit only by a candle. I was in a crib? A cage? I didn't really know. Think back to what I can remember, come on I can do this. I remember being in a room and making a deal. Everything before that just seemed hazy to me. I tried to get up but my body wouldn't let me. Looking around me I couldn't tell much but I was shocked when I looked down as I saw little stubby limbs. I was a baby so I guess a crib would be the best term for what I'm in now. I haven't panicked yet so at least I have that going for me. I tried moving my stubby limbs but I couldn't use them well at all. It sucked as I could only lay here hoping that I wasn't in danger. Maybe my parents would come soon if I cried. I thought about it but I was tired. My body needed sleep but I didn't want to fall asleep without figuring out what's going on.
It took a week for me to figure out I was dropped pretty much straight into being Orochimaru's lab rat. I only realized where I was once he held me in his arms looking at me like I was the grand prize in a fair. I still had no idea what he wanted with me as I didn't get a chance to see my parents. I also couldn't understand a word they were saying as they spoke in Japanese. I'm going to blame this on the goddess since I probably should have thought about this earlier. Time passed and it took me a while to figure out why they wanted me and treated me so well. I was a Senju as I heard that word a few times from the mouths around me. The day I found that out I was shocked to find out what the gift the goddess left me. A prompt was floating in the middle of the air in front of me. I looked at it and found that it was a prompt for a quest. [Learn how to feel Chakra. Rewards: Better quality food Failure: Extra set of experiments. Do you accept Yes/No]
I accepted as the baby food here was miserable. I was spoon fed some weird mush that I couldn't Identify and the milk I had was awful. I mean there isn't any reason to not feel chakra in this world unless your name is Lee. If I remember right almost any person in this world could feel chakra. Hold on if I fail these quests is there a chance I could lose the ability to use chakra? My worries quickly overtook my idealistic thinking and I began trying everything I could to feel chakra. It took me over three weeks to finally feel a bit of the chakra inside of me. It was faint at first but soon I could feel it throughout my body. It seemed like this excited my caretakers as I was taken better care of. The reward came too but I wasn't exactly happy about it as a lady came in to try and breastfeed me. I'm sure somewhere there is a goddess holding her stomach in laughter.
Over the next couple of months I completed a few more quests given to me. [Escape from your crib] [Learn your first jutsu] [Learn to speak before the age of 1] [Find information about yourself] [Befriend a caretaker] [Piss on Orochimaru]. The last one was my favorite as it's about the only thing I can do to him. The reward for it was being taught my first wood style jutsu by one of his henchmen. It was amazing, I learned how to make a little flower in a flower pot. I know its not much to brag about but to me it was the world. That pot was the only thing that belonged to me in this life. I started carrying it everywhere with me. A caretaker had tried taking it away from me but I yelled at him as much as I could. I'm a toddler how else am I supposed to force an adult to stop doing something. I made sure to shut up as soon as he gave it back so he'd learn not to mess with my flower. Some of the other caretakers thought I was adorable with my little potted plant waddling in between experiment rooms.
I failed my first quest almost 9 months into my time here. I did it on purpose to see how the effects of a failure would be handled. I don't think I want to do this again. The failure for this was an extra set of experiments personally performed by Orochimaru. I don't know what he was planning on trying but it ended up being torture to me. Genjutsu is terrifying, I never want to have this done to me again. I originally wanted to fail this because genjutsu didn't seem that bad compared to the other experiments that were listed in the failure section of recent quests. I was scared of him after that, I didn't want to be in the same room. Fear soon turned into trauma for me as I would always think I'd be put under another genjutsu. My fear overran my decision making as I'd try to run away whenever caretakers tried to take me out of my room.
One of the caretakers seemed to have a particularly nasty habit of using me to relieve his stress. He knew I was scared of Orochimaru so he used his snake summons to terrorize me into going where he wanted me to go. Sometimes when he was on duty I would wake up to a loud hissing sound beneath my bed. I was no longer a cute kid with a potted plant, I was a terrified toddler with a loaded diaper. I had trouble sleeping, I had trouble believing any of the adults around me. Then I found my last shred of hope as a quest came [Help the intruder. Reward: Being Kidnapped Failure: Left for dead or permanent confinement. Do you accept? Yes/No]
I have no idea how I could help someone strong enough to get through here by themselves. The only thing I can offer is the floor plan but I don't know if that would work. What kind of ninja would break into Orochimaru's base without knowing the floor plan? Eventually my door was kicked open and a figure I had never seen before came in. I was hoping it was a person I could identify but I had no idea who they were. Well there goes plan A of negotiating my way out. Let's try plan B then, maybe if I can find anything helpful they might help me out. I scrambled out of my open door and went straight towards the research center. I had an idea of where their main records were kept and where most of the people spent their time here. I have been here for over a year at this point. I grabbed as many scrolls as I could and tried to find the ninja who was going through the place. I passed numerous dead bodies including most of my caretakers. I was crying at this point since they were the only people I knew in this world. I found the snake guy dead in the hallway, I didn't feel bad about him dying. I made sure to kick his dead decapitated head on the way by.
I found the ninja in the great hall. I was hoping that the scrolls in my hand would work as a trade to get me out of here. I tried running to him but eventually tripped over my own stubby legs causing the scrolls to fly out of my hands. Tears started falling down harder as I thought I just blew my one chance to get out of here. I cried out to him to help when he noticed all the scrolls nearby. He picked up a few and then a few more. He seemed interested before asking me where I found them. I finally made the deal I wanted.
I don't know what kind of mission he was on but I was saved and dropped off in a village. He did nothing more nothing less for me, probably hoping some villager takes me in. I was hoping he'd take pity on a kid like me and bring me to someplace safer but this was all he was willing to do I guess. I had freedom but I'm still a toddler I can't take care of myself. My vision was obstructed by the all too familiar prompt of a new quest. [Find safe haven before entering a coma. Rewards: Continue living Failure: Death or divine punishment. Do you accept? Yes/No] This certainly didn't help me either.
The Senju Clan was one of the founding members of the Hidden Leaf Village. I think if I can manage to get to Konoha I might be able to find some sort of safe haven, an orphanage maybe? Maybe they'll take pity on me if I show them what I can use. Other than Konoha I don't know any other village that I can talk my way into let alone survive in. If I end up in some other village I have no idea what I'd be forced to do. There was too much danger and risk in going to other villages so I only had one choice I could make.
Whatever I do I need to do it quick before other people start checking out the research base I came from. I walked around the village the ninja left me in but there wasn't much I could do. I don't know where I am and I don't know where I need to go. I don't know anyone and I have no money to feed myself. I'm sure I can find some food to steal but what about a warm place to sleep. If I get sick I'm most likely going to die. I don't know how to solve any of these problems. That night sucked in a lot of ways. It was early spring so the nights got cold rather quick. The only food I managed to find was rotting garbage next to the one inn in the village. I snuck into their stables and slept in the pile of hay they had. The smell was horrible but at least I might be warm tonight. I closed my eyes hoping that maybe tomorrow would be better.
I thought I was in a dream when I woke up as I was no longer in a stable. I was in a house somewhere sleeping on a bed. I was scared, I was praying that none of Orochimaru's men found me in the hay. I didn't want to go back there. I only had a little time left before I lost control of my life. My surroundings were something I've never seen before. I looked all around the room making as little noise as possible I didn't want to alert who ever took me. If they knew that I was awake I'd lose my ability to move freely. I was trying to be as quiet as I could but let's be honest I can't even walk fifty feet without falling over myself and it's even worse if I try to run. I could probably waddle ten feet before my face met the floor.
After falling a few times the door opened and a woman stepped in with a smile on her face. I'm not falling for this again. I ran straight by her as fast as my little legs would let me. Surprisingly she got out of my way and I tried to find some sort of exit. I know it's pointless, I can't outrun a full grown adult let alone a ninja but I'm not going back there without trying to run away. I couldn't reach the door handle and everytime I tried the woman started to walk closer to me so I gave up and ran through any obstacle that could put distance between us. I ran under things, went behind others. I'd hide in cabinets if I knew there would be a way out other than being a captive. Eventually I met an obstacle that I couldn't run through. A set of legs that I ran face first into knocking me on my rear. Knowing that only being caught was left I couldn't hold it in anymore. All the emotions that I hadn't let out burst forward at once and I started crying. Once it started it just wouldn't stop, I felt so pathetic sitting there.
The two people started yelling at each other but I couldn't hear what they were saying. The man tried to talk to me face to face but I still couldn't hear him. Suddenly I felt some hands grab me from behind and I lost it. I'd do anything I can to make sure I wasn't going back and the only thing I knew that worked was struggling. Once I started struggling I didn't stop until the woman put me back down. I ran as far away as possible. I stumbled my way through while the two didn't follow me right away. Another dead end was in front of me as it turned out I'm back right where I started. After everything I did I hid under the bed hoping they wouldn't find me. I know they could easily find me but thinking they couldn't made me at least feel a little safer. I don't know when it happened but I completed a quest and the reward was food.
Another voice was speaking outside of the room but I couldn't hear what they were talking about. I could smell food being made and my stomach growled telling me to find a way to steal some of it. I was curious as to what was making the smell so I thought I'd try looking out of the doorway only to meet with 3 pairs of eyes. I got scared and ran right back to my spot under the bed hoping that they'd just leave me alone. From under the bed I could see a plate of food being left in front of the door. I wasn't sure if this was a trap for me but I couldn't refuse it so I waited a little bit. I crawled over to the doorway hoping I wouldn't see anyone trying to grab me. I didn't see anyone nearby so I grabbed and ate the toast I saw as quickly as possible. It was probably the best meal I've had in this world. A thought started to cross my mind that maybe they weren't trying to take me back. Could a random couple have found me while I was sleeping?
[Find a unique place to sleep. Reward: Clothing Failure: Nothing. Do you accept? Yes/No?] The new quest pop up helped me think that maybe they really weren't trying to experiment on me again. Maybe this might be the safe haven I needed? The gift I had allowed me to look at all available quest that were given to me. It said I only had two weeks until my coma. How did so much time pass? I was confused but I was too tired to think anymore. I decided to sleep in one of the drawers in a dresser as my unique place hoping that this might be accepted for the quest. I put the linens inside over me and slowly tried to wiggle myself back into the dresser so only a sliver was sticking out for air. I think I did a pretty good job and with that thought I fell asleep again.
The next thing I knew I was jolted awake. Some blonde lady was holding me with her face right next to me. I was so used to screaming and struggling when this happened that it just naturally kicked in. This happened a lot in the research center that it was now second nature to me. In the middle of my struggle I finally realized who was holding me. It was a face I remember but I don't know why. Just like with everything else I know these things but I don't know why. They seem like stories but how do I know that? I can think about those things later. I'll have time soon and besides I finally recognized someone. The person holding me was Tsunade and the other person was Minato Namikaze, The Fourth Hokage. I was in Konoha and I couldn't be happier which is why I accidentally let myself go. I swear I didn't mean to but I was happy that I might finally be safe. A few other people appeared in the door and I recognized them as well.