Welcome to the World

Prologue

Just want to share what I managed to write before sleeping AFTER my spotify decided to play one of the series' songs. Stupid idea kept popping out like crazy just when I decide to stop writing for a while.

Update 11/11/24:

Chapter re-edited! 

Disclaimer, I do not own Naruto or .hack series, one of the best games/anime/manga I've known in my whole life.

BREAK

March 24th, 2016.

Uzumaki Naruto, a young man with blond hair, whisker-like birthmarks, and piercing blue eyes, sat with growing anticipation in front of his PC. He glanced at the screen.

"99%... Almost there..." He licked his lips, his eyes glued to the loading bar, counting down the last few moments.

Nine years. That's how long he'd waited for this day. Nine fucking years! While everyone else got to experience The World as soon as it launched, Naruto was tangled in studies and personal matters, postponing his own chance to dive into the virtual universe.

The World R:2, the sequel to the widely acclaimed MMORPG, The World, was developed by CyberConnect Corporation and ran exclusively on the Altimit Mine OS, an upgrade from AltimitOS, the only operating system still trusted after the global network crisis known as Pluto's Kiss eleven years ago.

He'd been at the heart of that crisis, unwittingly responsible for plunging the world into chaos. Back then, he was just a curious kid, an orphan, cobbling together a security program that would wipe his laptop's contents if someone tampered with it. But what started as a personal project turned into an international catastrophe. The program crashed every device connected to the internet, shut down networked control systems worldwide, and sparked widespread accidents and confusion. In the U.S., military systems malfunctioned, bringing the nation to the brink of crisis. It took seventy-seven tense minutes for the global network to recover, but the fallout included armed nuclear defense systems, grounded aircraft, and more.

Naruto sighed, reaching for his journal. He still remembered the fear that gripped him as news of the incident spread. He'd realized too late the scale of his mistake. After Pluto's Kiss, only one operating system, AltimitOS, had survived, and it rose to dominate the market. Ironically, some of his unintended coding quirks had strengthened the OS's security, making it nearly unbreakable. CyberConnect's The World was AltimitOS's star app, and now, The World R:2 and Altimit Mine OS were their successor.

He opened his journal and chuckled as he flipped through his life's strangest milestones:

December 24, 2005 – Pluto's Kiss happened. Ten-year-old Naruto had just finished his security program at an internet café. Eager to test it, he ran the program, triggering a massive, unexpected shutdown of not only the café's network but every internet-connected device worldwide, causing a ripple of traffic accidents and chaos.

December 25, 2005 – WNC (World Network Commission) declared the internet off-limits for all non-critical use. The period known as the Twilight of the New Gods starts. As his "Christmas present," Naruto was quietly taken in by the government from the orphanage and placed in a protection program, his identity carefully concealed from the public.

January 2006 – In a political shakeup, the 44th U.S. President resigned, his administration heavily criticized for failing to prevent the chaos of Pluto's Kiss.

Summer 2006 – AltimitOS surged as the world's go-to operating system. A handful of its developers left to establish CyberConnect Corporation, setting the stage for innovations to come.