My entire life I've tried to do what's right. To help feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and work for the widows.
From Mr. And Mrs. Johnson down the street to ex girlfriends who cheated but needed help. I always helped.
Now I look around the streets at 2 in the morning as people walk by while I slowly bleed out at the mouth of an alley. Everyone who sees me just keeps walking, not even breaking stride.
I feel the cold coming in. The slow breathing of death down your neck. My hair stands on end and I get goosebumps, this is what lets me know I'm fading. That and keeping my eyes open has become a monumental task.
"I wish to never be helpless again. To never NEED anyone's help again.
I wish I was strong. Able to do something, anything about the fucked up world I find myself in.
If anyone's listening to me, make this come true. I beg of you." I finish my last sentence with a wheeze as my blood pressure plummets. I feel it then. The embrace of darkness.
The sensation creeps up on me without my knowledge. As soon as I found out it was here it was too late. My eyes close of their own volition and I fade away.
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After who knows how long I'm awakened. It felt as if I'd just gone to sleep and not physically died. I open my eyes, but it takes the strength of a hundred men to do so. It felt as if my eyelids had been rusted together.
After a few moments of gaining my bearings I immediately realized something was off. Not only am I not in a bed, but my body doesn't look like my body. If that were all that were wrong it'd be enough, But no. Instead I realize I'm in some kind of tube. My claustrophobia begins to act up.
I begin to freak out. I'm attempting to find a door but I can't find one. I realize I shouldn't be able to breathe and that's when I find the face mask around the lower half of my jaw.
As I begin to pull it off I take one huge gulp of air and rip it from my face. I decided since there is no door I'd have to make one. Praying I don't cut my hand too badly I begin punching the glass surrounding me.
Once.
Twice.
Three times. Now I'm losing the ability to hold my breath. This makes my heart beat faster and faster, pushing adrenaline and something foreign into my viens.
On the fourth hit the glass shatters on my hand. I fall to the ground and realize I should be much much taller than I am.
After taking a really good look at my legs and body, I can only assume I'm a child. Probably no more than 13. I look down toward the liquid that used to be around me in that glass container, more like a test tube. I see a few things wrong with this picture.
The first thing is my face/eyes/hair are all different. Nothing like the face and hair I remember. Looking back at me is snake like yellow eyes, silvery blueish hair, and skin so pale it looks unnatural.
I stumble back away from the shattered reflection staring back at me and try to think on my feet. Looking around I don't recognize anything, I grab what can be called pants, though their age make them more akin to tattered rags. They're close enough to my size to do so I decided not to worry about it.
I ran through a doorway with no door attached to it. Outside to both my right and left are long hallways that are barely lit by some seemingly magical flame. They'd have to be, the dust on my pants and around the very few bits of furniture in my room, a desk and a chair, speaks of nothing disturbing them for a long time.
I ran and ran and ran trying to keep my breathing at a decent volume if somehow there's someone in here with me. I crouch low as I see daylight up a flight of stairs.
I finally smile. My entire time since becoming conscious had been a whirlwind of confusion and terror. But seeing the sun, something not different in this unfamiliar world I find myself in, gives me a hope I'd not had for the last 15 minutes.
In what seemed like a few leaps I'd reached the top of the staircase that I can now see leads underground. Something in me felt strange, but I'd figure that out after I got somewhere else. I knew this place wasn't safe.
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Scene change: walking through the Forrest
That's how I ended up here, trying to find my way through this Forrest. I still hadn't been able to understand what I felt in me. It was odd. Like blood you could feel? I truly don't know how else to describe it.
It seemed to start in my gut and work it's way around all my body, kind of like the heart. I slowly but surely began to get the hand of bringing it forward and put into my body with ease.
I don't find this weird. I'd lived 17 years in my life. I'd done things most people would never do. Which means I knew what a human body should and shouldn't feel like. This was definitely different. So, as such, identifying and controlling this energy was easy. I just went to the part I knew wasn't normal and guided it along its pathway, slowly touching my fingers and toes each before I brought it back toward the pseudo engine in my naval region.
My tired body began to feel reinvigorated. Soon I was jogging again, trying to make sure I kept my eyes and ears out for anything, animal or human.
Soon I saw the sun was going to set. I'd made fires before, but it's been a while and I always had proper prepared tools. Just as I'm about to hunker down under a tree I hear a loud sound. What an explosion sounds like.
I look toward the setting sun and see smoke rise up from the trees about 200 yards in front of me.
I slowly run toward the scene to try and get any kind of idea where I am. 'That strange energy!' I remember trying to concentrate the flow into my legs above all other parts of my body and I literally saw my world blur in front of me.
In a moment I stopped on a dime without breathing hard at all, 'what is this stuff?' I think to myself as I slowly approach the smell of burning wood.
What I see as I reach the clearing though sends my brain into a complete different mode, RUN
That thought goes through my head because standing in the clearing are 3 men, 2 of them are garbed in sand colored outfits. They look like middle age armor clothing. Like a bulletproof vest. Those two were facing away from me.
But it was the one looking my direction that I became truly terrifyed. Because if this was real and not some fever dream, my life just got so complicated, that the word complicated doesn't even begin to describe it. FUBAR would be a better adjective.
For in the clearing was someone I'd seen as I grew up. Big spikey white hair, a red open kimono complemented by sage green tunic and pants, last but not least he has a headband with the symbol of oil on his head.
I knew this man. That plus the 'strange energy,' I'd been feeling and controlling made it perfectly clear. The man facing the two others was Jiraiya, the legendary pervert and lover of peace. His talk no Justu was almost as good as Naruto's.
That's right. Naruto. The world of shinobi. The strange energy being chakra.
I didn't waste anytime using my newfound ability to control chakra to do an about-face and explode out of there. I felt the ground crack beneath me, a testament to the fear coursing through my heart.
Forget the reincarnations of Indra and Asura, I'll have to deal with shinobi in general. That's not something I'm ready to handle yet.
After another few minutes of running a bit back toward my original awakening place, I double back to the south just a ways further east than I'd originally gone and run into Jiraiya of all people.
It was dark now, and I began looking for a place to stay after my heart rate had calmed from both the physical exertion and the mental strain of the day.
Right as I was getting comfortable beside a rock face I heard a voice from above me, "where ya going little one?" A voice I recognized instantly.
Looking up my eyes confirm my suspicions. Jiraiya the toad sage steps out into the moonlight while the one above me becomes smoke.
'Damn shadow clones,' I thought to myself. A premonition hit me that I'll probably be thinking that a lot in the future.
I don't get a second more to think when I feel Jiraiya's hand on my shoulder and a blurring sensation. When my bearings come back I see I'm in front of a campfire. On top of it was some meat roasting.
I looked skeptically at the meat. Anyone in the shinobi world would be hesitant to eat anything from someone unknown. Jiraiya in the anime and the one sitting before me could be two completely different people for all I know. He could've inherited orochimaru's traits and vice verse.
'WAIT!' An inner voice of mine spoke to me at the mention of the snake Sannin. I remembered the dinky, old, abandoned lair I'd awoken in. My mind connects it to the snake instantly. Nobody but him or Kara have labs like that.
That brings an entire new crisis to me but before I can be overwhelmed by it he speaks again. "It's okay. I promise I've done nothing to it." He says taking a bite of it himself.
I barely hold in a scoff. 'Like you could've have the antidote for whatever ruffy you put in that meat.' I keep my posture rigid. Ready to bold the moment he goes to sleep. I also won't eat anything. Better to get ready for escape. Can't do that if I get hit with a ruffy.
I sit down to at least seem ready to cooperate with this man who looks like a real version of one of my favorite anime characters ever. "Don't try to run, kid. We both know I can catch you. I just want a few of my questions answered."
I nod. He's right. If the man I'm sitting beside is even half as good as the one I watched growing up, I have no shot of getting away from him.
He speaks after my nod, "good. Now, what is your name?"
I don't think my old name would sound right. So I used the one I always imagined my own anime character would be named, "my name is hiro," I say to him.
He smiles, similar to the Jiraiya I remembered. "Good. I'm Jiraiya the toad sage. Now hiro, where are you from?"
That was a difficult answer to give. "Well," I began nervously, "I woke up on some test tube in this underground base about a mile or so back." I say truthfully.
I see recognition light up in his eyes. That alone give me all the confirmation I need to know who's responsible for my being here.
He looks at me closer, seeming to find something he'd not seen before and his eyes became distant. That quickly stopped and he continued speaking.
"Do you have any parents?" I instantly shake my head. They're long gone. So long I don't even understand it.
His lips thinned, making his own assumptions about my answer before speaking again, "then I'd like you to come with me. I can take you somewhere safe."
I look at him. I knew exactly where he was talking about. The question really was, would I be able to hold my nerve in there. The village hidden in the leaves?
Then I nod. I decided if I was to be in any village it's Konoha. It's the one I feel will be the easiest to navigate as certain plot points will help guide me as to where I am in the story.
Jiraiya talks a little more about this place he wants to take me but I can't really listen to him. I'm too caught up in looking at the starry night sky, so different from the smog filled air I'm used to. A small smile appeared on my face. Even if I'm in a world of carnage and death, it's still so beautiful.
Maybe, just maybe everything will be okay.
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Jiraiya
Watching the young exhausted kid fall asleep I begin to asses him without those ghost eyes staring back at me. So reminiscent of ones I knew so long ago.
After some time checking I confirm my theory's, he has immense chakra. Even more than I had at my the same age. I feel another chakra fluctuating and see a golden diamond appear on each of his palms.
Out of all the things I've observed about this boy, Hiro, those two seals are the most important. I can feel it.
With that I make a shadow clone to set traps and stand guard until I eventually fall asleep and dispel him. Sleep comes surprisingly easy, with darkness slowly but surely creeping in. I fall into the land of dreams completely oblivious to the two golden eyes that opened across from me.
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Authors note: Like it or don't 🤷 sorry. See ya.