Chapter 2: The Program

The strange man stood smiling with his soldiers around him. He seemed like a very sadistic dictator/mad scientist. I didn't like nor trust him at all.

"Good morning everyone." The man in the front said with a smile that seemed very sadistic. "All of you have been selected to be the subjects in a special experimental new way of Entertainment."

"What kind of Enertainment? Who the Hell are you?" the blond interrupted.

"If you calm down…Naruto… I can explain." He said with his smiled widening.

"HEY! MY NAME ISN'T NARUTO IT'S…" The girl was not able to finish her sentence because a soldier shoved a gun threatening in her face.

The rest of the room started freaking out but the soldiers held their guns at the ready.

"Now now… Settle down." The man said calmly… too calmly. Everyone…out of fear… sat back down and listened to what this man had to say. "Now… this special experiment… is to turn the most special of you cosplayers…into your characters…"

"What are you getting at?" The short black haired girl asked. "That's impossible... We aren't real ninja and we don't have Chakra."

"Oh on the contrary… Sasuke..." he said smiling. "Have you noticed that you feel… different? That new feeling that all you have… is a special injection we have created. It's still experimental so we are using all of you as our test subjects. You see as long as the experiment works… you will all be able to use Chakra in the specific way that your character does. For instance…" he said grabbing the arm of a scared redheaded girl who must cosplay Karin because of her outfit. He then used a sword to stab the short black-haired girl. "Bit her. See what it does."

The Karin girl was scared but the girl who cosplayed Sasuke did as she was told simply because she was terrified and didn't want to die. Strangely his wound really did heal… just as if she was the real Karin.

"This is crazy!" I said standing up. I couldn't take this anymore. "What do you think you're doing? You're using real people as science experiments! What do you mean by taking us and making us become the characters? What…" I suddenly stopped talking because I was having a coughing fit. What was going on with me? When the fit stopped I looked at my hand… it was bloody… I had just coughed up blood.

The man at the front laughed. "Well… It looks like I've struck a nerve haven't I Itachi?" he said looking at me.

Itachi. He called me Itachi. There were many reasons why I cosplayed him… could it be he knew my reasons? Why was I selected to "play" Itachi?

"Sit down Itachi so I can explain the rest." He said smirking at me while I slowly sat down next to 'Sasuke.'

"Now… As you have seen Karin here can heal when someone bites and sucks on her Chakra and Itachi is now sick with an illness just as in the story. You will all find many different things that have changed in your bodies as well. In two years there will be a special TV program that will be shown 24/7 until the whole series is over. It will be real, live-action entertainment for those who wish to watch it. What none of the viewers will know… is that the actions happening in the program will be real."

The whole room gasped. Real? What did that mean?

"Yes you heard me. Every action, every injury… every death…" the man paused looking evilly to me, "…will be real. You all may have heard about Battle Royale or The Hunger Games Trilogy correct? Well… in this instance… it will almost be a combination of both. The only difference is that everyone will know who is supposed to live and who is supposed to die. For the next two years you will train and wait as your bodies literally become who you will soon be. Whether it is to change your sex or change your nationality… you will be going through changes physically and mentally. You will be trained to learn how to use your newly found powers and to make it accurate you will even grow younger if needed."

"Grow…younger?" I asked slowly. "What does that mean? When in the series are we beginning?"

The man grinned again. "Excellent question Itachi. You will all start… a year before the Uchiha Massacre."

Sasuke's and my eyes widened. The Uchiha Massacre… If this means what he says it means… I will have to kill them… the entire group of people… an entire group of innocent people who are only "acting" as the members of the Uchiha Clan. How could I do that? I could never do it!

"How…Why… I…can't do that… I can't…kill all those people…" I said in shock.

"You can and you will." The man said to me sadistically. "If you don't I will find another cosplayer of Itachi and kill you anyway. So what will it be? You wait until your brother is supposed to kill you… or die now?"

I looked at him upset but I refused to show my fear. I had to do this. I had no choice.

"N…No! You can't do this… We're…" Sasuke began…but I held her back. I had to start getting into characters sometime…

"It's ok… we can get through this…" I said to her.

"But… you… I don't want to…" I stopped her sentence by poking her in the forehead and giving a kind smile.

"I know… don't worry…" I said sadly and started glaring at the man. "It's ok little brother…"

Sasuke started crying and held onto me as the man started smiling again and clapped. "Now this is what you all need to do! Remember who you're character is and become them! Wonderful display of brotherly love with the Uchiha clan!" he said now walking to his desk. "Now, as of now, you will all be going through injections to change your bodies into the person you are going to become and you will no longer be called by the name you were born with. I have taken the liberty of legally changing all of your names so you are all the person I call you as. If any of you try to escape, resist, or refuse to be called as such in any way you will be executed and replaced. Now, any questions?"

"Yea I do!" the blond, who is now obviously Naruto, said standing up. "What about the nine-tailed beast hosts? You don't expect me to believe I actually have a Kyuubi inside me do you?"

The man smirked again. "No. You do not…yet… At the moment the Kyuubi is in a special sealed room along with the other beasts. Once you obtain all the chakra you are supposed to have he will be forced inside you. Any others?"

"I got one…" Sasuke said with her voice shaking. "Are… are you Danzo? Or Obito?"

The man laughed. "Oh no Sasuke. I am not part of this little program. I am simply the host and creator! I am the one who overseas the training and technology to ensure you are all doing well. I will also take care of the natural weather, and a lot of environmental things."

"Like in the Hunger Games…" I confirmed.

"Yes. You know you are really catching on Itachi." He said smiling at me. I glared at him but held my "little brother" close. I didn't like what was going on… I didn't like where any of this was heading. This man was going to control all of our lives from now on… We were now in Hell…