1 A New World

Y'know being a baby isn't all bad. You get free food, don't need to pay for stuff and you can just lay there… But after a while you get sick of being a baby. That's if you have the awareness of an average human. And I happen to be a dude stuffed into the body of a child. Wow, that sounded morbid. It sucks, one moment I was going to sleep in my bed and the next I wake up with the uncontrollable urge to cry.

And cry I did, loudly in fact. And to my tears a kindly old woman came to the rescue and rushed to my side with a warm bottle that she put into my mouth after checking my diaper and finding nothing. Now that I think of it, I was feeling kinda hungry. Don't feel quite fond of crying for food though.

After that making sure I was satisfied and wouldn't go back to crying once again she burped me which felt… weird to say the least. She then put me back into the crib where I just layed there. And I enjoyed the peace and quiet for a long while. Until I got bored and wanted to do something that is. However seeing as I am once again a baby that unfortunately is cognizant for this with no possessions, I can't very well reach for my phone as babies don't get one as far as I'm aware so I get bored very easily.

God, Kami, Buddha, R.O.B, someone... why? Just why? I don't mind the new game plus you gave me, but did it really have to be with me so young? Heck you could either have made me a somewhat older child or given me something to occupy myself to keep from going bored. I swear, the only thing that this experience will give me is unlimited patience which I already did have a good amount of patience. Being the eldest sibling with three younger siblings does that to you. Guess it's time for me to try and fail to stand for a long while.

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"Ma, wead this two me pwease?" After the very, very, long few years went by I was finally able to slowly but surely stand once again. It was a frustrating process as I already know how to stand, but since I am starting from zero I just can't seem to be able to easily! Same with the speaking. Well I would have a better time at that if everyone didn't speak Japanese! Why couldn't I have been born somewhere with a familiar language? Like Spanish or English. I had to learn a new language, and while tiring and frustrating, I was able to do that slightly quicker than walking. Which came in handy many times once I was able to just yell "FOOD!" when I was hungry and such. It never ceases to make me laugh when I thought to the times I just yelled that.

I had to hold back a flinch to my pathetic attempt to talk properly while holding out a little book to the Matron of the Orphanage/Daycare, still not sure on that quite yet. However, I have been here long enough to start walking and talking so either I am being taken care of in a daycare due to neglectful parents, or I am just an orphan.

The kindly old woman regards me with a kind smile and takes the book and walks over to the rocking chair that is reserved for story time, it is a serious affair of course. I walk over there with my pudgy little legs and clambered up to her lap. I liked to think that she gave me no help at all.

"Ah such a good story choice, good job Ren." Yep, my new name is Ren, which I have no clue what it means, at least it doesn't sound ridiculous or something like that. "Thanks Ma." The matron has us all call her Ma, probably so that we are more comfortable with her.

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"There was once a man who could control all the metals of the world with just a flick of his finger. The place in which he lived reflected how he used his metals, finely grained and more numerous than the stars in the sky. One day he had a vision made known unto him, it was one of him leading a prosperous village of shinobi.

So to make this a reality he honed his ability, making it so none could deny this vision he sought to make reality. He eventually set out to gather all those who dwelled within the desert. He first encountered a family of healers, who wished to accompany him and fulfill his vision after seeing his prowess. Although they were but humble healers they were not to be trifled with as they were also well versed in the sealing arts, capable of many feats any normal man would mistake as something much greater.

He readily agreed to that, knowing they would make a great ally rather than a formidable foe. The now bigger group traveled for many days until they encountered a clan of puppet wielders who also recognized the greatness of the man's vision and believed he could make it a reality.

Together, they united multitudes of people in the country of the wind and created a great village hidden within the sand. To do this they brought together those who could move the earth and bad them congregate together a large structure in which they could dwell within, with no threats of invaders. The great man following this became the leader and took upon the name of the wind shadow to pass onto his family and lead the village to prosperity just as he had envisioned long ago. The end"

Ma closed the book and set me down on the floor to go to what previous activity she needed to attend to. I thought of how some parts seem familiar to something, especially the part of a shinobi village and it being hidden in the sand. I suppose after a while many things will be similar to another thing, this is a kids story book. Eh, the story was interesting but seriously why would people use puppets for combat that sounds kinda lame they could have put something else, but oh no matter.

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So apparently the place I've been growing up in so far is functionally both a daycare and orphanage. How do I know this? First common sense. I've been here long enough to learn how to walk and talk. I have also been able to see some people drop off some kids here to leave and never come back. But sometimes they come back their child and go back on their merry way. Those are rare though. I think that's how I think I got here, just dropped off and left here. That's fine actually, it would be hard to just accept two people as my new parents.

I walk over to the book cabinet to look at more of the picture books that have words to help with correlation. I kind of need it so I can be able to read again. I just want to read regular books gosh dangit.

I got to reading right then and started to notice that there were a large amount of ninja stuff. Shuriken, kunai, and other things. I know when people think of Japan they think of anime, ninjas, and samurai but I don't think they need to take it so literally. Also, aren't kunai historically used for digging? I remember watching a video on that, heh using a shovel for fighting. How silly.

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Instead of individual birthdays, here we celebrate one big one for everyone. We all get one present each that is more than likely something handmade or something else small if we ask nicely, and one "wish" in which if it's nothing ridiculous we can request anything. I'm not really sure how old I am at this point but I've seen a few but I can't base it off of those because I could be older than that. I won't really waste my request for something like that as I can just ask later on. With a meager amount of money that I had asked for my present in the raccoon pouch that I got last year which was in my pocket, I went up to Ma with my "wish" for this year, hoping to make the most of it for the day.

"Ma, I have my wish!" I tug at the matron's long dress to bring attention to myself and I pull out the big guns straight away, my incredibly dashing smile. "

Oh! Ren what is your birthday wish hmm?" I gestured her down to me and I whispered into her ear "I want to explore outside!"

She looks at me with a soft smile. "Ok, but be sure to get back before it gets dark."

"No promises!" I yell as I rush to the door to enjoy the most of the day and not to prolong the inevitability of Ma being cross with me. As I walk through the streets I take in my environment. Clay buildings, people garbed in clothing for desert wear and sand, sand everywhere. I believe I may be in a desert, y'know just a hunch. Which strikes me as odd, why would we be in a desert? I don't remember hearing about any in Japan, so how come everyone speaks Japanese? If it were somewhere else in the world, at the very least there would be other languages present from other people.

No matter, I am here to enjoy the outside. Why? Well, the matron doesn't really let us go outside at all, only the older kids and I just want to get out of there. I got tired of being cooped up in there for what felt like forever.

Now… where was I? Ah yes, having fun and exploring this place.

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Lost...

I'm lost.

I don't know how I did it but I got lost. Sure all the buildings might look the same, and sure everyone dresses very similarly, and sure lots of people have similar hair but it shouldn't be that hard. As I finally give up and got to an adult to ask where the orphanage is and hope for the best, I hear children screaming and a child yelling "Don't leave me alone!"

Promptly after that everyone flees in fear, why? Let's go find out shall I? I turn to the source and walked over there only for my brain to just go into overdrive at what I'm seeing and just what it means.

A small red haired boy surrounded by sand shifting around him with a ball in his hand. He- He looks a lot like a certain character from a certain show. He looks just like him but younger and without that weird thing he had on his head. The fact he has sand moving around him like in a movie just reaffirms this fact into my mind.

But it can't be right? I just got a heat stroke and I'm hallucinating right? There is no possible way I am in something that is merely a show, the machinations of one individual that got very widespread and popular.

But as he turns to me and sees me standing there and not fleeing he widens his eyes and starts to walk towards me.

And to that I could only say one very logical thing in that very moment…

"Fuck…"