Through Dimensions...? (On Hold)

Meeting the silver-haired idiot

***Chapter Four***

Meeting the silver-haired idiot

~~~

 “So,” The old man grunted, “Your full name is Ashleigh Rosa Chiora, and you say you are from ‘Edinburgh’?” He finished, looking over a sheet of paper as I stood in front of his desk.

I nodded, a smile on my face. “That’s right,” I replied cheerfully.

The nurses had finally let me out of that stuffy old hospital, and the first thing I had done, was see the Hokage. I was hoping he’d give me a place to stay for the time being. Then, maybe I could find a decent map, and maybe a route to get back home.

The old man let out a puff of breath. “I can’t say I know where any of these places are, Ash-chan,” He sighed, “But, here.” He threw me a set of black keys, which I caught quickly.

The Hokage eyed me for a minute. I raised an eyebrow. “What?”

He lifted his pipe, and took a puff. “You have…fast reflexes,” He stated. “Ash-chan…have you thought about being a ninja?”

I looked at him like he’d grown three heads.  “A…ninja…?”

I started to giggle. My mouth flew up to my hand, and my shoulders started shaking. My giggle turned into a full-grown bellowing laughter, and I was sure the nurses all the way at the hospital could hear me. I was in hysterics – seriously, tears were running down my face!

The Hokage, being the patient soul he was, waited for me to stop laughing.

“Finished?” He asked rather dryly.

I blushed a little. “Ah-hah, yeah, sorry old man,” I coughed awkwardly. “It’s just, that was kinda funny what you said.”

“What was?” He asked, curious. “That I asked if you wanted to be a ninja of the Leaf?”

I giggled. “Yeah, that. Ninjas don’t really exist,” I snorted, waving a hand in dismissal. “They’re just stories. Myths.”

The Hokage raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Well, Ash-chan,” He said, “Here, ninjas are very much real.”

My eyes widened a little, not sure if he was pulling my leg. “Uh…what?”

“There are three classes: Genin, which is the lowest rank. Genin tend to only do D - rank missions, which involve doing chores and manual tasks around the village,” He said, “The second class is Chuunin: they have slightly harder missions, like C or B - rank missions. And the last class is Jonin,” He sighed, “They do the hardest missions, like A - rank missions, or even S- rank missions. They sometimes take on a team of Genin to teach.”

My eyes were as wide as saucers by now. The Hokage, however, continued his explaining. “There are also Anbu. Anbu aren’t really a rank, so to speak, but they tend to hide their identities, by wearing masks. They take on assassination missions.”

I wasn’t really sure what to make of it. I mean, come on…ninjas! Ninjas didn’t really exist! There was no, bloody, freaking hell that they actually –

My thoughts were cut off when somebody poofed right next to me. And I mean poofed, like, literally. A man just appeared in a puff of white smoke! Next to me! I rubbed my eyes, and stared in disbelief at this guy.

He stared back at me, and I could tell his emotions were a mix of amusement and surprise. He had spiky, silver, gravity-defying hair. He was wearing a headband with a metal piece attached to it, and a funny circle shape was engraved on it. His headband was sloping downwards, covering his left eye for some reason, leaving the only visible part of his face his right eye and ear – because he was also wearing a black mask, covering the bottom half of his face. He was also wearing the same uniform I’d seen other people wear, except he had metal-plated fingerless gloves on.