Chapter Text
She feels floaty.
Her back didn't meet her soft bed. In fact none of her body parts touched anything solid.
The world is pitch-dark, it feels like she didn't even open her eyes.She touches around her eyes with her palm, making sure her eyes are wide open. It is.
Is she dreaming? She remembers being tucked into bed by her parents, then she's out like a light.
Is she being kidnapped? Why can’t she feel anything?
She flails around, trying to reach for something, anything. Hands blindly grasping at the dark.
After a couple of minutes of fruitless labor, she gives up and curls in on herself.
‘What would they do?’
In the corner of her vision, she notices traces of light.
‘Light?’
She swims toward the scarce glow, hoping whatever anti-gravity stuff is happening around her works like water.
Her lungs protest, breath shortening as sweat beads along her skin from the exertion.
“Just… a little… more!”
She reaches out. Her hand feels warm.
Blinding light engulfs her body. Eyes squeezed shut against her will from the brightness.
All of a sudden she can feel ground again.
She opened her eyes to see endless blue.
Not even the blue of the space and the ground has any seams.
“Where…”
Before she can explore further, a dome of mirrors rises surrounding her.
Panic rises as her reflection mirrors her every movement.
Well, almost her reflection.
“That's…not me?” Tilting her head, she realizes she doesn’t remember being that tall.
Or wearing that ugly outfit.
Instead of her long red qipao, the reflection wears a long sleeved mocha top that has slits on both sides, paired with plain brown pants and boots.
Her eyes snap to the reflection’s hair, hands flying to touch her own. “My hair! No, my beautiful long hair!" She cries.
Ding!
The sound startles her. A floating, blue translucent plank-like object appears in front of her.
—
[First Quest!]
Objective: Create Your Avatar
Warning!!!
Choices made during avatar creation will permanently affect all future progression.
—
She takes a step back, brows knitting together. "Huh? Avatar?”
‘Maybe my reflection is the avatar? But how do I change it?’
After mulling it over, she decided to try her luck.
She hesitates, “Make the hair…longer?" Like a voice command, the reflection’s hair lengthens to her hips.
"Woah! Cool!” She exclaims loudly, "Naruto would've loved this,” she chuckles.
She messes around for a while before finally feeling satisfied with the reflection.
“Can't I change the clothes tho? Not even my father wears that." She raised one perfectly trimmed eyebrow critically.
—
[Confirm Avatar]
This action cannot be undone.
[YES] [NO]
—
“Yes!” she says loudly.
…
“Eh? Nothing's happening?” She scratched her head bashfully, looking around to make sure no one sees her.
Well, she's alone.
"Do I press this then?" She taps the YES button.
A new pop-up appears in front of her face.
—
[Enter Nickname]
—
She stares blankly at the floating panel.
“Such a weird dream…” Then she grins widely. “Can’t wait to tell Dads!”
—
[Confirm Nickname]
This action cannot be undone.
[YES] [NO]
—
After she presses YES, a massive gust of wind blows her away. Her body disintegrated like dust.
She opens her eyes to a green clearing.
The grass reaches her ankles, with towering trees surrounding the wide open space.
“Finally, a familiar setting" she sighed.
Not that familiar though. It's a green clearing, but one she has never seen in Konoha.
A strong breeze lifts her black-silver peekaboo waist-length hair, scattering it like the wind itself. Her pale green eyes shine with mirth under her black-silver eyelash as she grasps her new hair.
“It really did work! I have my dads hair!” She jumps happily. Above her head, glowing softly, her nickname floats.
‘Dog Favorite’
She'll get teased for choosing this name, but a dream is a dream.
‘I wonder when this dream will end’
She looks around with a big smile, couldn't contain the pleasing sensation from bubbling out. Her body did feel heavier, like the avatar really did become one with her instead of a weird dream.
People teleported around the clearing, almost like they used hiraishin. Some faces feel familiar. Others are completely new.
‘Isn’t that the bakery owner's son? Why's he in my dream?’
There's this bakery that sells the best sweets in Konoha. She becomes one of the store regulars that even the lady behind the register already has her order before she opens the door.
She scratches her pale cheek. It has become a problem when she wants to buy something new but they already have her usuals…
Usually she just takes her usual and asks Naruto or Sasuke to buy her the other one.
‘Do Naruto and Sasuke have the same dream too?’
She tilts her head, heart pounding against her chest.
‘Maybe we're sharing the same dream!’
There's a circular barrier in the ground that prevents her from going outside of her circle. The other seems to have the same circle.
She hummed as she looked around, “It would be awesome if we have the same dream" she mumbles.
As if on cue,the circle that trapped them vanishes. Everyone began running around, searching for a way out.
This one guy ran far enough, only to knock into an invisible wall. "W-what?”
She hummed, a dome with at least thousands of people inside under a bright cloudless sky.
‘What kind of dream-’
Her train of thought interrupted by a shadow loomed from behind.
“Kura-chan?" He called her despite her change of appearance and nickname?
She turns and faces a big burly man with red unruly hair that almost touches his ankle. Despite his manic grin, Sakura couldn't help but sweat at his height.
She's tall in her opinion, but somehow she's only about as tall as his chest.
There's only one stupid person she knows that would want to look like this.
"Naruto?”
The man laughed boisterously, "That's me!” Before he could finish, she jumped into his height and landed her fist to his jaw.
Unfortunately, with their physical difference, she can't send him flying. His cry of pain will have to make do for now.
"What was that for?” He cried out while holding his bruised cheek, keeping his distance from her.
She smiles like her dad when father does something stupid, "What kind of ninja chooses a very big physique and bright color when given the chance to alter their appearance?”
The big man, Naruto, cower like a mouse under her stare. “W-well-"
She cut him off, "Are you a bullseye that I need to strike with my fist?" Veins bulging along the side of her face.
The previously blond boy cried out in fear despite their blatant height difference.
“I swear I didn't know! I just wanna know how it feels to have mom's hair, dattebayo!" He ducks from her kick.
She huffed, "Why's your eyes yellow? Don't bāchan and jīchan have blue eyes?”
Naruto scratches his hair, “Well I need to put my dad's hair somewhere right?"
Apparently, he didn't know he could get dual colors for his hair.
‘Classic Naruto’
She rolls her eyes. His nickname catches her eyes. She can't see it because he's so tall before.
Now that he's hunched over from the kick, she can finally read it.
She frowned as she read his nickname, “What the hell is ramen heir? Not even any of the first letters are capital!" her hair floats around as she walks closer to him.
“Your name is literally Dog Favorite! You got nothing on me!” Naruto closed his stupid mouth, colors draining from his face.
Unfortunately Sakura is already advancing towards him.
In panic, Naruto blubbers anything in his brain and shuts his eyes, preparing for impacts. “Y-your hair is real nice, Kura-chan!"
Sakura stopped in her tracks, pale hand waved her new hair around while huffing with a smile. "I know.”
“Save!" Naruto whisper-yelled from the background.
She noticed a certain avatar had been walking around them for some time now. Well many people walked around them, it seems they have gained some attention from the screaming and kicking.
True blood
She cocked her head and raised one eyebrow, mouth tugged in a teasing smile. "Seems like I found our last teammate.”
The man noticed her eyes on him and resigned to his fate. Better now than getting dragged on the ground later.
Sasuke looks almost the same. Black hair, dark eyes, sharp jaws, the way he’d always been.
The only thing different was his hair. It reached his back, tied neatly.
‘Maybe he didn't change anything?’
But when he turned his head, when the light hit just right, his build was softer around the eyes than she remembered.
His hair framed it in a way that tugged at something familiar.
For a second, she had the strange thought that she was looking at more than one person at once.
Naruto points at him, "It's Itachi-nii!” he stopped himself before continuing with doubt, "But…not?”
Her mouth curved into a teasing smile, "it's Tachi-nii hair with bāchan face right?"
His face became redder than his favorite fruit. “Shut up." But Naruto’s already laughing to the ground.
She hummed mischievously, "it seems like you also took on jīsan body structures.”
Sasuke was ready to attack her before another panel popped in front of their faces.
—
[Awakening Quest]
Clear Condition: Defeat 100 Slimes (0/100)
Time Limit: Six Hours
Rewards: Awakening
Penalty for Failure: Barred from the scenario
—
“Kura-chan, what's a slime?" She shook her head.
“I don't know. More than that, did you notice the amount changed from ten to one hundred?"
“Oh, yeah! I thought my eyes played a trick on me! What the hell is that?" Naruto fumed.
She noticed Sasuke hasn't uttered anything, even to Naruto stupid remarks. She put a hand on his shoulder, “Anything wrong?"
He looks pale. Well, paler than he already are. “That…I can't use my Sharingan.”
“What?" Both friends exclaimed. The clearings became more scarce of people as they made their ways to the woods.
Meanwhile team 7 stays rooted on their spot.
“Maybe because it's a dreamscape?" He exhaled, eyes glazing. So he didn't want to know why yet, comforting then.
“It'll be back, Sasuke. Don't worry about it." She tried to muster a reassuring smile, which was broken by Naruto's loud scream.
“What now?" She almost hurled him through the tree if not for the face of terror on him.
"I can't hear Kurama at all!” He cried out, "What do I do, Kura-chan?” His big hand tugged at her shirt like a baby, almost ripping her shirt in half.
"Calm down, maybe he's sleeping too. It's night and all.” She sure hopes so. Now she got two upset boys in her arms.
This dream is starting to become a headache.
She needs to get their attention somewhere else, “It looks like the big barrier is lifted. Let's look around the woods for this slime and wake up quickly."
She herds her unmotivated boys to the woods. It takes some dragging, but they finally found something. Naruto brightened up a bit after they found this slime.
Turns out, it's this gooey creature with no eyes or anything. Just a blob of liquid with something inside it.
‘like, a prize for killing it?’
Naruto literally stepped on the thing and his kill count increased.
“Ughh, I don't want that on my shoes." She looks at Naruto's boot, covered in sticky green goo.
“Look! A dagger!" Naruto shows off his new item. So the thing inside its body is a weapon, maybe they can get their gear from this creature.
She shares this with the boys, both nodding simultaneously.
Naruto put his arm on his hips with that big smile of his. “Man, thank god we're here together!"
"Can you give the dagger to Sasuke?” She continues before he could interrupt her, "Dagger didn't suit you. You can get the next weapon, after all you can always use your big physique to overwhelm them.” She finishes off with a compliment, or a treat as her dad likes to say.
“Here you go, bastard! I didn't need it anyway." He raised his nose smugly.
She holds Sasuke's shoulder back before they start another fight.
Killing is easy, finding it is the hardest part. Without Sasuke Sharingan, they need to trust their instincts which they spent the next hour doing.
Lady luck seems to be on their side, as they found the nest of those slimes inside a cave.
After many useless items, they managed to finally get Sakura and Naruto their own sword.
They spend the next half hour beating hordes of slimes with what weapons they have. As far as she looked, none gave them kunai or shuriken.
Which is very weird, considering it's one of the most commonly used weapons.
Other than weapons, the slime also stores many wearables.
They come out of the cave, adorned with armors and whatever they deem fit.
She makes Naruto change his boots to metal shoes they just found. That way he can protect his legs and not make a mess.
She found one slime carrying a hooded cape, running away from the cave.
“Not so fast!" She dashed to the entrance, body a bit heavier than the one she used to, slowing her down.
Before it managed to escape, she slashed the slime into cubes, being careful not to cut the cape inside.
She exhaled, not used to running. She tossed the cape to Sasuke, who caught it with one hand.
"A present!” She beamed off. "Black cape suits your whole current persona anyway” she snickers.
He nodded in thanks, eyeing the cape critically.
Naruto whined beside a huge blob of slime corpses. "Where's MY gift, Kura-chann?”
She clicked her tongue, “I gave you that shoes, didn't I?”
"Oh, yeah.” He scratched his head, “sorry!"
Honestly, the weapons and armory here have so many fancy looking artwork with no actual uses.
Naruto is now adorned with fancy gold boots-armor that also protect his knee, a matching hip armor, and a violet gauntlet that glows gold. She didn't know why he refused any upper body armor.
Although his ripped figure might give her a clue. She does see him flex a few times near bodies of water.
Sasuke, ever the good shinobi he is, covers his entire body with black breathable wear. Completele with black silent boots and a flexible armor that covers his vital areas.
The black cape she got him blended well with the cave shadows. His new twin dagger is the only shiny thing about his whole outfit.
She hasn't found her preferable weapons yet, choosing a sword because it's the closest thing to a katana.
She takes some armour, like a chest plate and a more sturdy boots. Still she mostly prefers to move freely.
Sasuke also carved her a cute hair stick to tie her hair, it even has a little flower engraved at the end side of it.
"Kura-chan!” She snapped out of her reverie. Naruto and Sasuke seem to be crowding around a cane of some kind.
She walks closer to them, the cave is too dark for her to make out of anything on the ground. "What is it?”
Sasuke straightens up, hands folding in front of his chest. "We found this bō, the color somehow matches dobe’s glove and my daggers."
“Bō? It looks more like a shakujō.” True to Sasuke, it has this Violet metal that shines gold when you look at it from some angles. The same material as the glove and daggers.
It looks like a shakujō with many intricate details. Instead of bells, it got a big violet crystal with gold dust protected by the vines like a cocoon as the main head piece.
“Well it has no bells! Maybe the bō just had a unique design? Like my glove!" Naruto raises his glove.
It was definitely made to fight in, if the metal on the knuckles were any giveaway. The design was overdramatized, with the same violet-gold dust running through the glove like veins.
She shrugged, "Why not? We could match now!” Her grins were met with Naruto's big one and Sasuke's small smirk.
She reached for the staff, energy flooded her senses when her hands met the metal. She tilted her head.
“Did you also feel that when you pick the bō?"
Sasuke became alert, "feel what?”
"There's like, some kind of energy when I take the bō" she looks at the cane suspiciously.
"What? But we held it before and nothing happened!” Naruto scratched his hair.
She hummed, “Oh, well. My gut tells me nothing dangerous."
She shrugged, “How many slimes do you have left?" She asked as she checked her own window.
“I'm already finished!"
“Hn" he nods.
“Well, same here. Looks like I even went past the required kill."
“Me too, dattebayo! We're really badass aren't we?” He jumped around.
"Stop it, you idiot! Your big body creating earthquake!"
"You wanna go, bastard?!"
Ah, the boys were at it again.
"Anyway, why isn't anything happens yet?" She voiced out.
“Don't tell me we have to wait until the timer runs out" said Sasuke as he push Naruto head to the ground with his feet.
Silence passes by like the winds.
“We still got four more hours. Wanna search for another nest?"
The trio then spent the next hours massacring slimes. By the time the timers were up, each of them had got seven to eight times more than the needed quotas.
Ding!
—
[System Update]
Time limit reached.
Awakening Quest has been completed.
Rewards Distributed.
—
“You guys got the announcement?" She and sasuke nodded.
“Finally."
Ding!
—
[Reward For Completing Awakening Quest]
You've got Awakening Stone
[USE] [STORE]
—
"Man, a stone?” Naruto deflated from the reward.
"It says awakening stone. It must be of some uses, dobe!” She nodded along.
"Seems like a one time use, should we use it now?”
"Of course, dattebayo!” Naruto taps his screen without hesitation.
She and Sasuke follow along.
—-
[Congratulations]
You've awakened as an S-class Mage
Basic skills will be put onto your status window
—
Sakura feels sweat run down her temple, “What's a mage?"
“I don't know, but I'm an S-class barbarian!" He punched his fist into the air.
Sasuke looked at his male teammate with disdain. A barbarian basically means he got all brawn and no brain. “I'm an S-class assassin."
"Well that's unfair.” her eyebrows twitching, "Both of you got ninja class, why am I stuck with this useless class?"
Naruto patted her shoulder, the size of his hand, easily over taking her back. "It's okay, Kura-chan! This is only a dream!"
He nods, “when we wake up, we'll still be ninja. Stop your senseless worrying."
She sighed, remembering Sasuke Sharingan and Naruto Tailed-beast. "Guess you're right.”
Naruto grins, "of course I am! Anyway It says something about basic skills, what's that? I didn't finish reading it"
Sasuke's face scrunched up, “So you press the button without actually reading it?" The blond laughed weakly.
“They say it'll be put on our status window?"
Ding!
Suddenly a new window pops out.
—
[Status Window]
Name : Sakura Haruno
Race : Human
Nickname : Dog Favorite
Level : 12
Class : Mage (S)
Strength 5 [+]
Intelligence 16 [+]
Agility 7 [+]
Luck 5 [+]
Remaining Points 12
Mana Manipulation (S)
Arcane Sense (F)
Magic Barrier (F)
Mana Bolt (F)
Ice Shards (F)
—
The boys noticed a new pop up in front of her, likewise they can't read each other pop up.
“What is that Kura-chan?"
“Its longer than the usuan one. How did you spawn it?"
“Try calling status window" she waved her hand at them, eyes glued to her window.
‘What the hell is mana? Did I just become a magician? Can I do tricks now?’
She opened up her palm, inspecting it.
“Sweet! I'm Level 14!"
“Me too"
That got her attention, “What? Why am I the only one at level 12?"
"It must have something about the slimes we killed.”
She hummed depressingly, "I did kill less cause the sword's uncomfortable.”
“It's okay, Kura-chan! We'll help you level up!" The red head tried so much to cheer her up.
“Hn, you also found that bō now." He cringed at the display of affection and quickly changed the subject, "Check your stat in the window. The remaining stats point must mean we can divide our level up point here."
Sasuke points to his own window. Although it's blank in her eyes, he must've meant the plus sign with random numbers on it.
“We should think carefully-"
“I put everything on luck! Now I have 22!"
They beat Naruto up and continue their discussion.
“What do you think, Sasuke?"
“My class is assassin, so I think I'll put mine on agility and some strength. That should balance things out”
She frowned, “We don't know anything about mage. Should I increase my strength too?"
He hummed, “I think you should balance your lowest stats and invest in intelligence. You are the smartest one on this team. We could balance it out.”
" Thanks! So much for the smartest tho." She scratches her chin, her face grown warm. “What do you think about luck? The fact that it can be raised is tempting.”
"It is, but relying on luck never a good call. Better save it for now.”
—
[Status Window]
Name : Sakura Haruno
Race : Human
Nickname : Dog Favorite
Level : 12
Class : Mage (S)
Strength 8 [+]
Intelligence 21 [+]
Agility 8 [+]
Luck 8 [+]
Remaining Points 0
Mana Manipulation (S)
Arcane Sense (F)
Magic Barrier (F)
Mana Bolt (F)
Ice Shards (F)
—
“Done, what about you?" He nods.
She just notices another window beside her
—
[Reward For Being Ranked #3]
You've got Poseidon Cloak
[EQUIP] [STORE]
—
“Did you guys get another reward? This one for being ranked in something"
The others immediately notice their own abandoned windows.
Sasuke hummed in delight, “Hn, I'm ranked second."
“Hell yeah! I'm first! I've got a…Seusu… Thunder?" The name sounds wrong, but who could blame him? They never heard of this names before!
“It seems I've got Hadesu chariot" even Sasuke is not sure with his. She decided to omit the name altogether.
She tapped the STORE and closed her window. “Yeah, I got a cloak. I stored it though. I'm really tired." She could feel her body grow sluggish.
Naruto fell down to the rocky ground. “Me too…who knows dreaming together could be so tiring.”
Ding!
“Oh for fuck sake,what is it now?" She opens her window.
—
[Divine Authority Detected]
[Three Relics Resonating at a Dark Crossroad]
[Group Scenario Initiated: Three Crossroads]
—
Ding!
—
[Hidden - Quest]
Clear Condition:
At the place where paths divide, the goddess once stood with three flames.
One to guide.
One to reveal.
One to judge.
But the final light never burned.
“Complete the crossroads.”
Time Limit: Six Days
Rewards: Stone of Heritage
Penalty for Failure: Death
—
"Did I read that right or the penalty for failure is death?” Sweat pooled on her forehead.
"The condition's very vague, what did they expect us to do?” Sasuke massages his head.
Naruto laying on the ground like a dying starfish, his tears flowing like waterfall. "What should we do…I wanna go home…”