The group swapped stories about their day, but the theme remained consistent—disappointment.
It turned out they had been assigned a random Jōnin none of them recognized.
Jada sighed. "Our sensei was this nondescript guy who kept trying to teach us the values of being a ninja. William and I basically sat back and watched Marge handle it."
Margaret puffed out her chest. "Yeah, well, I kept telling you guys I could mop the floor with anyone."
She had revealed one of her hidden techniques: Tsunade's Chakra-Enhanced Strength. Arthur listened closely, filing away the information just in case he ever had to fight her like he had Jasper.
William chuckled sheepishly. "I thought she was gonna send him to the hospital."
Margaret nudged Alex. "Your turn, guys... Wait! Lemme guess: Your instructor was just as boring as ours?"
Alex straightened up on the couch with a mischievous grin. "Well, ours wasn't exactly boring."
"Come on," Margaret urged, "spill it out already!"
"Alice, Jasper, and I took the dude down in like five minutes."
The room erupted in gasps and impressed whistles. Jada leaned forward, eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Five minutes? How'd you manage that?"
Alex shrugged cryptically. "Let's just say teamwork makes the dream work."
The conversation soon shifted to Naruto, with excitement regarding his progress bubbling over. William, who had developed a bit of a soft spot for the character, explained that Naruto had passed his 'bell test,' a timed trial where the team had to secure two bells from Kakashi.
Arthur nodded along. He knew exactly what awaited that team once they passed.
They would embark on their first C-rank mission: escorting Tazuna, a bridge builder, to the Land of Mist. Naruto, eager to prove himself, had pushed for a more exciting mission but was assigned the seemingly basic task of guarding Tazuna.
During that journey in the story, they were ambushed by two Chūnin-level ninjas. While Sasuke and Sakura bravely defended Tazuna, Naruto froze in fear. This encounter exposed the truth: Tazuna was being targeted by a powerful businessman named Gatō, who had hired Zabuza to eliminate him.
Furious at being misled about the mission's difficulty, Kakashi threatened to abandon it, but Tazuna confessed that he couldn't afford a higher-ranked mission due to Gatō's stranglehold on the economy.
Despite the increased risk, Naruto, determined to keep his oath to never back down, convinced the team to stay. Their journey took a turn for the worse when they finally encountered Zabuza.
A fierce battle then ensues, highlighting Kakashi's Sharingan.
Naruto, initially paralyzed by fear, remembered his oath and devised a plan with Sasuke. They used teamwork to distract and deceive Zabuza, allowing Kakashi to break free from a Water Prison technique and defeat the enemy.
However, before Kakashi could deliver the final blow, Zabuza was seemingly killed by Haku, who was disguised as an Anbu from the Mist Village. They would later fight on the bridge Tazuna was constructing, where another pivotal battle would unfold.
Regarding Sakura, she basically contributed nothing.
Finally, the big question arose: How could they, as unlikely heroes, intervene and change that story?
"We can't just let Zabuza and Haku die!" William said impulsively. Arthur recalled that the duo was later backstabbed by Gatō, leading to their inevitable deaths. "I say we just go on that mission with them to help."
Jasper rolled his eyes. "Don't you get it, fool? If we join them, there'll be consequences to our actions."
Margaret chimed in. "Jasper's right, Will. Besides, Naruto and Sasuke seem distant lately. If we get involved, Sasuke might not reawaken his Sharingan. We shouldn't mess with things so early on."
William opened his mouth to argue. "Naruto's not the same weakling he was in the story."
"What makes you say that?" Arthur wondered.
"Him and I have been training taijutsu together, and he's gotten a lot stronger. We can make a difference if I at least tag along with him."
Arthur speculated that William, usually the nerdiest of the group, had likely been building up his character during these supposed training sessions with Naruto. Otherwise, he wouldn't be acting this confident right now.
Alex, ever the mediator, raised a hand to interject. "Hold on, everyone. Let's not get carried away. Here's what I propose. We have three options: one, we let things play out as they did in the story. Two, some of us here intervene. Or three, everyone here intervenes."
He looked around the room to gather the votes.
Margaret, Alice, and Jasper favoured option one, while William vehemently pushed for option two. Jada and Alex, believing it would be fair to help the main cast rather than let them suffer, sided with William.
It was a tie.
Arthur was the last to vote. And quite honestly, he didn't care that much; he preferred to remain a passive observer, gathering strength in the shadows until the end. This was, however, going to be the first real choice that would impact this world forever.
"Two," he finally said.
A mix of surprise, denial, and cheers filled the room.
Once everyone calmed down, Alex grinned. "Cool. Will, Alice… You two will go with them."
William immediately started jotting down supplies and strategies in a notebook. Alice, however, looked apprehensive.
As the men were escorted out, Alex delivered the final instructions: the two selected were to travel to the Land of Mist with Team 7, ensure Sasuke reawakens the Sharingan, and find a way to save Zabuza and Haku. Any changes they made would be permanent.
William pumped his fist in the air. "Don't worry, guys! We won't let you down!"
Alice simply nodded, wishing she had actually watched Shippuden like the others. That would have at least allowed her to know how to better handle the situation.
Stepping into the elevator, William seemed ready to leave right then and there, acting as if the mission were taking place tomorrow. He was too busy daydreaming to notice Jasper stopping Arthur.
Arthur just watched the elevator doors slide shut with a sigh as Jasper approached. "Trying to ask me for another fight?"
Jasper rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Come on, man. We're past that now, aren't we?"
"I was only teasing you."
Jasper was taken aback by the joke. He scratched his head and said, "I just wanted to know... Why option two?"
Arthur had anticipated this question. With a shrug, he offered a slick answer: "I'm here to help, remember? If some intervention is necessary, then there's no need for us to hold back."
Jasper studied him for a moment. To Arthur, it seemed like Jasper was analyzing how calm and poised the answer was. Ultimately, he seemed to accept it.
"Fine," Jasper said with conviction. "Just don't go off doing anything stupid like William."
Arthur nodded. With a final glance at Jasper, he turned and headed for the elevator. William was already long gone by the time he descended.
Under the cloudy night sky, Arthur avoided heading home, navigating the streets through back alleys until he reached one of the village's general stores. Using his smoke jutsu, he dissolved into swirling vapor and slipped past the locked doors.
Only he was there.
Inside, he gathered everything he needed: three large bottles of ink, a paintbrush, a cloth, a vial labeled 'rat poison,' eight wooden sticks, a lighter, and a sharp kitchen knife.
He then slipped out of the store and navigated the deserted streets toward a secluded training ground. Now he was at a clearing obscured by trees with a wide, flat surface.
He removed his shirt, feeling the cool breeze on his spine, and unpacked his supplies. Dipping the brush into the ink, he replicated the formula from the medical book across his stomach. It wasn't difficult to recall.
Then he transferred the design onto the center of the cleared ground, placed two sticks in each cardinal direction, and ignited them.
The stage was set, but he remained outside the symbol.
This was going to be the most painful part as he tied the cloth around his mouth.
Grimacing, he steeled himself and picked up the kitchen knife. A quick stab to his arm sent a tremour through his entire body. He followed up with a series of brutal jabs, inflicting more wounds across his arms and legs, the blood threatening to wash away the formula.
The pain was sharp, but he bit down hard on the cloth to keep himself from screaming. Sweat and blood trickled down his body, forcing him to take a knee.
Finally, he unwrapped the cloth, popped the vial of rat poison open, and drank it.
Taking a deep breath, Arthur stood up, feeling every sting. He then barely stepped into the center of the symbol to ready himself.
The reason he was doing all of this was because he was training a certain technique. It was known as the "Regenerative Healing Jutsu."
Sakura had been shown using it, channeling the jutsu without the usual prerequisites. For Arthur, though, this was inhumane. His vitality hung by a thread. If he failed due to this desperate gamble for survival, he would surely die.
But he had something Sakura didn't: a trait that allowed him to easily learn support techniques.
Vision blurring at the edges, he fought the urge to collapse and activated the jutsu, channeling chakra into the swirling symbol on the ground.
An eerie emerald light glowed beneath him. He felt a prickling sensation all over his body, intensifying with each passing second. He expected a breakthrough, but the green light sputtered and died, leaving him panting in the darkness.
'Why now of all times?' he thought in pain.
The wounds marred his flesh; dejection threatened to engulf him, but he refused to surrender.
Wiping cold sweat from his brow, he repeated the process, focusing all his chakra on the activation sequence. This time, as the green light formed, he felt a different sensation—one within his very cells.
It was as if his body was yearning for change, for the wounds to close.
However, instead of allowing the technique to run its course, Arthur did something unexpected: he paused the jutsu to observe his cells.
He felt them not just as his body but as individual entities, each pulsating with a faint force of its own. Suddenly, he hacked up blood. The rat poison had taken effect.
That also made him lose control, causing the green light to first flicker before dying. The wounds on his skin were still raw and angry. So he forced himself to concentrate, restarting the technique with shaking hands.
This time, he wasn't just focusing on healing. He remembered the Poison Extraction technique from the book, a technique in which the user identifies a foreign element within the body and coaxes it out.
He managed to perceive the disruption within his cells—a dark stain spreading through his veins. With a delicate touch, he performed the technique in tandem to isolate the foreign agent.
Carefully, he drew the poison out and saw it as a black goo leaving his body. Content but not satisfied, he willed it all out, expelling it onto the ground.
Exhausted, he finally turned his attention to the wounds on his skin. This was nothing new to him, as he had already learned and applied the Healing technique to himself hundreds of times.
Channeling his chakra, he converted the damaged tissue, mending the torn flesh. Each cell knitted itself back together. The process felt almost effortless. One by one, he closed the wounds as the fresh pain gave way to a dull ache.
And once the last cut sealed shut, the light dimmed and then vanished entirely.
Arthur collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath. His body was healed, but his mind still remembered the pain.
Perhaps he had managed to learn these new techniques, but he was by no means satisfied with the results due to how slow both the extraction and healing were.
So with a straight face, he rose to grab the knife and repeat the process.