"-ey! Hey! HEY!! WAKE UP!!"
I woke with a start, my eyes snapping open. What I saw sent shockwaves through my body: it was no longer winter, the sun was shining high in the sky, dappled between the leaves of a large green forest, the soft light warming my pale skin. There was a slight breeze dancing delicately through the otherwise still and peaceful air , causing my hair to flutter into my line of vision. What I saw shocked me even more than my previous revelation : my hair was no longer the dull, muddy brown it once was, it was red! RED! Rushing to sit upright as fast as possible – I was lying flat on the forest floor – I remembered the voice that awakened me. There was a boy kneeling next to me on the forest floor.He appeared to be around the age of nine or ten and had bright yellow hair that was all spiky (but with long-ish bits at the front) and bright, sparkling blue eyes.
"Finally! I thought you were never going to wake up!" The boy grinned at me, then proceeded to introduce himself.
"My name's Namikaze Minato! What's your name?" He looked at me expectantly.
Just as I was about to open my mouth, and tell him what my name was, I realised that I could give him any name, and he wouldn't ever know it was anything different. This was my chance! I could start a new life, a new existence entirely. Practically my whole life I had felt like a prisoner in my body, that I didn't belong. I had assumed that the only way to stop feeling like that was to stop living, but this was an opportunity I couldn't pass on.
Remembering I was in the prescence of another person, I decided to blurt out the first name that I could come up with: I had recently become quite obsessed with Japanese culture, and thought their names were beautiful, so decided that I would use one of them. I spent a moment, choosing the right name: Chiaki. It meant "a thousand Autumns", and Autumn had always been my favourite season (A/N, That's Fall for all you Americans!). I looked up – I had been gazing at my lap whilst my mind had wandered – and saw Minato looking at me with the same expectant look as he had moments ago.
"M-my name is C- Chiaki" I choked out, cursing at myself for stuttering. It seemed even in this country – or wherever the hell I was – my speech impediment wouldn't leave me alone. To be fair to me though,it was also a pretty terrifying situation. I was convinced that I had finally succeeded at ending my misery but woke up in a completely new place, that didn't appear to be Heaven or Hell.
"Nice to meet you Chiaki" Minato smiled again, but more polite than the childish grin from when I woke up. "But what are you doing out in the forest all alone?"
"I-I don't know." I replied. "T-the last t-thing I remember doing is going f-for a walk i-in the forest, then w-waking up here."
I decided not to mention the fact that I should be dead right now. I mean, I could hardly say "Oh! Well, I was in an entirely different country, possibly even WORLD, and I wanted to die so I took a walk off a cliff!"Yeah... I'm sure that would go down well...NOT!
"Oh" Minato looked slightly crestfallen. I had no idea why, as it wasn't like he was the one who tried to kill himself then woke up in an entirely different place, and was still alive. A familiar wave of self-pity washed over my senses as I remembered the reasons why I was trying to get away from life. Obviously taking on a new identity wouldn't help straight away, and I had always criticised myself, I guess old habits do die hard. I snapped out of my trance of self-hatred as a twig snapped nearby. Startled, I looked up, only to realise that it was just Minato standing up. As if sensing my unease, he started talking.
"Relax, it's only me standing up! Now, c'mon, I know what to do about this!" He smiled, as if proud of his recent enlightenment as to what to do about my "situation". Minato reached out his hand towards me, but I opted to stand up myself: I was wearing some kind of long-sleeve shirt and wasn't sure if the scars and cuts on my arms were still there. I didn't want to risk him seeing them and asking questions if my sleeve had slipped up. He flinched a little at my dismissal, but pulled his pleased expression back across his light features: if he was hurt, he was trying not to show it.
"I'm going to take you to see the Hokage! He'll know what to do!" Minato exclaimed,smiling brightly. I, however, was at a loss. What on Earth was a "Hokage"? When I voiced this question aloud (with it turning out sounding something more like this: "W-what o-on Earth is a H-Hokage?" Yeah... Curse that stupid stutter!) Minato gave me an incredulous "Are-You-Being-Serious?" look. When I responded with a small nod, Minato proceeded to state that the Hokage was "Only the strongest ninja in the whole of Konoha" and that he was "the leader of the village". After this response, I thought it would be wise not to question what "Konoha" was.
After walking for about ten minutes, we reached a set of large, green gates, in the centre of the tallest wall I had ever seen. Minato, taking in my look of awe at the village entrance, decided to speak:
"Welcome to Konohagakure: the Village Hidden in the Leaves! The largest, and most powerful, village in the Land of Fire!"
