*Hanabi's POV*
The clock struck noon, and my stomach was quick to remind me it was time for lunch. Fortunately, Pakura was leading the way to the employee cafeteria.
I had to admit, "Umbrella Corp" offered a far better lunch than even the Hyūga clan.
We found a table and loaded up our trays. As we sat, Pakura used her chopsticks to slide a glazed piece of sweet and sour pork rib into my bowl.
"So," she began, her tone easy and calm. "How have you been settling in? Is there anything you need?"
I poked at my rice with my chopsticks, considering her question.
"It's... fine. Really. It's just..." I trailed off, searching for the right word. "It feels unreal, you know?"
And it truly did. If not for the tangy-sweet taste of the sauce on the pork, or the subtle scent of Pakura's perfume, I would have been convinced this was all an incredibly detailed genjutsu.
The Land of Waves. Back home, it was a punchline—a soggy, impoverished little island nobody cared about.
But here? It was like I'd stepped into the future. Buildings that scraped the sky, elevators, those incredible computers on every desk, and mobile phones that let you talk to anyone, anywhere. It was technology we hadn't even known existed.
And Pakura claimed it was all because of one man: their leader, Hayashi Yuto.
Apparently, he had not only built this nation from the ground up but had also told the Five Great Shinobi Villages to get lost when they tried to invade. And won.
A man like that should have been a legend. Everyone should know his name. But in my world? Nothing. It was the strangest blank spot.
And that wasn't even the weirdest part. This place was crawling with people I knew. Or, people I should know. Like seeing Lady Kushina walking around, alive and well, probably on her way to give a presentation on quarterly earnings.
It was a complete head-trip. She was supposed to be a hero of the past, a story. Not someone you might bump into at the water cooler.
Was it brainwashing? It didn't feel like it. They all seemed so… normal. Content, even. It just made my head hurt trying to reconcile it all.
"Unreal is a good place to start," Pakura said, pulling me from my thoughts. She offered a warm smile. "Don't force it. Just take it day by day. And we are working on a way to get you home. I promise."
"Thanks," I said, feeling a blush creep up my neck. I suddenly found my rice intensely interesting.
"Eat," she insisted, and then her chopsticks became a blur, piling more vegetables and another piece of chicken onto my already-full plate. "You're too skinny. A growing kunoichi needs fuel."
I laughed softly, my embarrassment fading.
"Okay, okay! I'm eating!" I took a big bite before she could add anything else. After swallowing, I decided to be direct. "Can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead."
"Everyone here is so... nice," I started, choosing my words carefully. "So why is there so much tension with the other villages? Why not just, I don't know, talk it out?"
Pakura's smile turned wistful and knowing. "We're nice to you, Hanabi. But to the Kage sitting in their offices, we're a threat. Some problems can't be negotiated away."
"What kind of problem is that big?"
She set her chopsticks down. "Our end goal. The very reason this country exists. We want to eliminate the shinobi."
I almost choked. I could only stare at her, stunned.
Eliminate the shinobi? It sounded like the kind of doom-laden rhetoric you'd hear from a villain monologuing about achieving world peace through pain.
"Whoa, hang on," I managed to sputter. "That sounds—"
"No different from the monster from your world?" she finished for me, reading my mind perfectly. "It is different. We don't want to kill anyone. We want to make the profession of 'shinobi' obsolete. We want to break the tool itself."
"The tool?"
"Shinobi are a weapon, Hanabi. A very expensive and sharp knife. And who can afford the best knives? The nobles, the merchants. The rich. The common people never can. So that knife is only ever used on them. We want to get rid of the knife altogether."
I opened my mouth to protest, to defend my world, my family's legacy… but no words came. Because she was right.
I had seen it myself on enough C-rank missions. The village would get paid by a wealthy merchant or daimyo to intimidate poor farmers off their land. The system was designed to protect the powerful.
It was an unspoken truth.
"The Land of Waves isn't fighting for territory," Pakura said softly, stirring her soup. "We're fighting for an idea. And that idea scare people in power far more than any army ever could."
"Yeah," I said quietly, the immense weight of her words settling on my shoulders. "I get it."
The conflict now made a horrible, perfect sense. Neither side could ever back down. So why did I feel so conflicted? This wasn't my fight. This wasn't even my world.
My internal crisis was interrupted by a voice I would recognize anywhere.
"Boss Black Zetsu! This one's on me!"
My head snapped around so fast, I nearly got whiplash.
There he was. Spiky blond hair, those distinctive whisker marks on his cheeks. It was Uzumaki Naruto. The boy my sister never stopped talking about. The future Hokage. The hero of Konoha.
And he was wearing the dorky uniform of a Land of Waves elementary school student.
He was talking to a small, shadowy figure seated across from him. A figure I recognized from every worst-case-scenario briefing ever held in the Hyūga compound.
Black Zetsu.
The ancient, evil mastermind behind literally every major catastrophe in shinobi history. The puppet master who wanted to end the world.
And Naruto was… buying him lunch?
"Hmph. You're just now remembering who's in charge?" Black Zetsu crossed his little nub-arms, his voice a squeaky sneer. "The chicken today looks acceptable. I require a drumstick."
"Right! On it, Boss!" Naruto scrambled for his meal tickets.
"And two sodas."
"You got it! Two sodas! You're the best, thinking of me—"
"They are both for me."
Naruto's face fell. "...Oh."
"Unless you don't want me to carry you through your Gold ranked placements tonight..."
"I'M ON IT!"
I watched, my jaw practically on the table, as Konoha's number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja ran off to fetch lunch and a double order of sodas for the literal embodiment of all evil.
I slowly turned back to Pakura, my eyes surely as wide as saucers.
"Is… is Black Zetsu… someone with high status here?"
"In the Land of Waves, no one's status is inherently higher than anyone else's," Pakura stated, not even bothering to glance over. She took a serene sip of her tea, unfazed. "As for Black Zetsu, he was originally a prisoner. The Leader granted him special permission for a chance to reform himself, but he hasn't even obtained his citizenship yet."
"Then, if that's the case, why…"
Pakura finally looked at me, her expression matter-of-fact.
"Didn't you hear? Black Zetsu can help Naruto rank up (in the game)."
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