Shut In's Nightmare.
Julie, an introvert, near shut in nerd is wacked over the head, dragged into an alley and loses track of things.
She wakes up in another alley but unable to understand the language spoken except for a word or two picked up from anime binges. Everyone spoke too quickly and her primary school Japanese wasn't really up for translating even the signs.
She wasn't hurt... at least she didn't think so but she had NO idea what was going on... or where she was... or how she got here.
She was very, very lost.
She had her wallet but her phone was missing and there didn't seem to be any public phones around.
As a sufferer of Social Anxiety thanks to a rather crappy foster home, being outside like this was one of her worst nightmares compounded by not being able to understand a thing.
She promptly went into shock.
It was days later before she came out of her fugue state and it seemed she'd spent most of it huddling in the alley she'd arrived in, eating out of the rubbish and curling up behind the bins.
She felt disgusting. She'd obviously been wearing the same clothes for days.
She had no idea where the little blond kid came from but if they had kids as young as this on the street, it couldn't be a good area.
All she wanted to do was hide...
At least she hadn't lost her glasses.
She didn't remember much between finding herself in the alley and freaking out but she thought the kids name was maybe Naru?
He was three or maybe four she thought and as dirty as she likely was.
She would... she would likely need to go out there and... where was her medication. She needed her medication and some water.
Three or four months later she had found several little nooks she could hide in.
She and the little blondy scavenged in the rubbish, keeping out of the way of the actual street people, who were tough, self serving and vicious, unlike the two of them who were simply displaced or homeless and just wanted to get on with living as best they could without doing harm to anyone.
Little blondy was able to get into some crazy small places and they were fearless when it came to heights, willing to scamper up and down walls or dive into dark places and, since she was one of the few people who didn’t seem to hate the kid on sight, was willing to bring her with him.
Their nooks were well padded out with off cuts and thrown away clothing, burned mats and so on.
Neither of them really cared if the stuff was in the best of condition, so long as they were still usable.
Julie knew how to sew well enough to patch what needed patching and good at reusing available materials. Rag rungs from bread bags anyone?
Creeping down to the river to bathe gave her the heaving shudders though she hated being dirty just as much.
The two conflicting urges often drove her into immobility but she was managing to force herself to do things to help her little stray...
She was trying to learn the language from the kid but he was so little he didn't really know it. He was learning more English from her than she was this near Japanese like language she was hearing from the people on the streets.
She couldn't speak or often understand but she could mime and she could draw which let her in the back door to some of the brothels where she sewed up some of their outfits for a chance to bathe properly and something small to eat even if she couldn't stay long without getting panicky.
It was little enough but it meant she had something to bring back for blondy to share.
When the people in masks turned up she froze in terror unable to understand them but they weren't taking no for an answer. Her mind went away again.
Someone or something very powerful near by jolted her back.
They’d taken her to someone who looked like an old man but he was very powerful.
He also seemed very familiar and she couldn't place why.
She also couldn't communicate with him outside of drawing a picture.
Trying to explain she only knew a tiny bit from what she'd watched on TV was nearly impossible with just pictures.
Then a pretty man with blond hair and eyes that had no pupils came in and was suddenly in her head.
He rifled through her brain like someone exploring an attic or junk room but, at the end, she could at least under a bit more, even if she still couldn't read it.
About then someone jumped in the window in a full outfit and it clicked.
Naruto.
She hadn't watched much of it for the same reasons she hadn't watched much of Dragon Ball Z.
It took forever to get to the point, the plot was moderately ridiculous (and the man screams were just irritating) and the various abuses of people had made her skin crawl.
The way Konoha had treated the boy had made her just want to nuke the place from orbit. And the things DANZO did. Shudder.
Naruto hadn't been too bright but then, he hadn't really been given a chance, had he. Kids didn't usually do well having to raise themselves and she had personal experience with it.
(Her foster home had been... fraught.
The house mother had collected the kids due to their names.
Each had ended in a 'ie' sound.
Kylie, Shandie, Ashley, Lily, Casey- male, Kerry- male, Mary, Jenny, Mandy, Kelly- male, Kasady -male, Jerry, Jimmy, Jonny, Jackie- fem, Jeremy, Candy and herself, Julie. Not all at once of course.
She didn’t seem to like Asian kids much and moved them on pretty fast. Hispanic got a little more tolerance. Oddly, she didn’t seem to mind dark skinned kids to go along with her pale skinned ones.
Twins, Hikari and Hisashi lasted the longest but eventually their Asianess had her moving them to another home.
The woman didn't really care for them beyond making sure there was food on the table twice a day and that didn't kill each other outright. They were near feral and she sent them to the local public schools, where they got in trouble regularly because of how things worked in the house.
They were allowed to fight for anything they wanted despite being assigned four to a room on double bunks.
For a weak, shy sort with health issues it had been hell.
Eventually, she'd just claimed the cupboard under the stairs and hidden there.
At least she could lock herself in to feel safe.)
It had struck a little too close to home.
(She hadn't watched KHR for similar reasons. If not for plot armour the heavily abused Tsuna would have been dead dozens of times over.
MHA too. She hated bullies. LOATHED them. Perverts too and with Mineta and Bakugo part of Class 1-A…)
Julie didn't have any super powers.
She couldn't be a ninja and she just wanted to go home to her nice safe house and not leave again... From what she'd read on the boards, things had gone to utter shite for Konoha and it was mostly the fault of some ass called Danzo.
Another called Madara and some plant guy who was two people?
She didn't really get it but figured it was like the soap operas.
If you hadn't watched it for a couple of days you had no idea what was going on anymore... from the sound of it, the creator didn't cross reference and fact check at all often so there were contradictions all over and he liked to kill off characters.
All of this flashed through her mind in moments.
She didn’t like the looks on their faces and she’d dissociated for a bit longer, the power of the old guy, the fucking HOKAGE, wasn’t enough to hold her present against her sheer distress.
.
(VIOLATION. He was INSIDE HER HEAD. THIS was MIND RAPE and she was FREAKING THE FUCK OUT!)
When she came back to herself she was being stared at but at least she didn’t think they were going to kill her anymore.
They cut her a deal. If she looked after the little blondy, they'd give her a place to live and help her work on her issues. She'd get a stipend and someone to tutor her for the duration. Supposedly.
She’d take it only because she wanted to be far a fucking way from here, from him, from EVERYONE.
Only, the old man kept forgetting.
Most did.
Forgot her that is.
Only the mind reader remembered her properly and she couldn’t be anywhere near him without dissasociating again.
The old man remembered her while she was there but the moment she was out of sight...
At least the money arrived regularly even if she was forced to go shopping.
It was easier just to garden and little Naru seemed to like doing that too.
Mind reader guy sent a lazy looking guy twice a week since he was now a trigger for her and they needed her at least sort of fuctional.
Finally, after the sixth time mentioning it, the Mind Reader fixed up a tutor for her. The silver haired guy was a douche... he was trying though and so was she.
She’s running from some more creepy masks in the woods, only these on have something on them and she’s terrified.
Falls down a hidden hole in the woods.
Unable to get out easily, she follows the passage to a portal. It leads back to her world which seems to have gone a little made.
Hardly anyone on the streets.
She doesn't even know how long it's been.
Even so, she and Naru might be better off here...
She is unsure.
Can she even get back?
She can.
She finds a paper.
She's been gone months but there is a pandemic.
Everyone is encouraged to stay home.
Those out on the streets without obvious reason are being questioned.
She can't do that. She just... can't.
Instead, she keeps to the back alleys and finds the dumpsters of tailoring shop.
So many off cuts that she can use and she helps herself.
Theres also some manuals in English and she takes those too.
She goes back through the Portal, dumps her haul at home and goes looking for the only person she can think of to tell.
The one who arranged for her to have this little abandoned house at the base of a mountain. Not the one with all the carved heads but one of the lesser ones.
She went looking for her therapist, an outclan born member of that mind reading Clan. He doesn’t trigger her being small, dark and Asian, rather than tall, blond and blue eyed… even if he’s got the same lack of pupil.
(She was pretty sure he'd put something in there to make her want to come back... or something but it was worth it not to freeze in panic at the thought of being outside, near people and so on.
She couldn't even bring herself to care that he'd mucked with her head and that he may have implanted these impulses as well.
She was USED to not trusting what he head was telling her.
It was actually helping even if it came with the care of a tiny blond as the price tag.)
She should tell someone but she didn't know many people here and she trusted even fewer.
She still couldn't speak the language though she was slowly getting the gist of it.
Letting him read stuff out of her head was so much easier.
Finding something to make a living off in this strange place was difficult.
She couldn't make a living gaming here but she still didn't like people, interacting with them or being involved with them and the thought of doing so still made her want to freeze and slink away.
Who knew.
Apparently, one of their traitors had been ducking back and forth through the Portal for years.
She was only one in a long string of kidnap victims according to what they found in the underground place.
They couldn't see the portal though.
Only she, and apparently this 'Orochimaru' person, could see.
She'd not noticed all the side corridors being terrified out of her wits but still drawn straight to the Portal.
She has to actually lead them through it and she's nervous.
Germs were a thing and, even after coming out of her shock, she'd been sick as a dog shortly after she was picked up.
They come out in near empty streets.
Everyone is hurrying and wearing face masks.
They’ve given her back her phone so she’s able to connect and check the news.
O-kay… apparently there’s an epidemic. Something called ‘covid’.
Her phone is a security device and she’s so, SO glad to have it back.
Not just for the photos but because it lets her keep track of the world when she can’t people that day.
She has no food and a quick check of her accounts show that her payments have continued so she’s got money.
She’ll need to food shop. She doesn’t WANT too.
Fuck it. Click and deliver it is.
Her little house is still there. Mostly untouched.
She’s home… she safe… except, she’s not because she has bunch of ninja with her.
It was so EASY to believe this was all a dream.
Their Chakra shit doesn’t work here… There’s nothing wrong with their Taijutsu skills though and she couldn’t fight them even if she wanted too.
She’s NOT going back though. She’s NOT.
Naruto verse is compacted trauma and stupidity. You can tell the writer essentially pulled the story line out of their arse and it’s something she really, REALLY wants NO part of.
Why can’t someone Edo Tensie Minato or Kushina to care for their kid? No one’s going to try and attack a zombie Hokage.
She has no reason to keep secrets so she hands them her laptop and another her tablet and… She takes her tablet back, finds Naruto, opens it and hands it to a random Nin.
Still, she hands her phone to a third and switches the languages to Japanese.
Then she tells them to ask Ciri whatever it is they want to know. It will call up the data that matches their requests.
She shows them how to click, tap, whatever and then she goes to her room, pulls out her blanket, wraps herself in it and stuffs herself in her safe nook under the bed.
It’s dusty but cozy and safe.
Later, she’ll go and make herself soothing tea and maybe have a hot bath.
She’s home.
She doesn’t give a fuck anymore.
She’s sorry for Naruto but that’s not on her. That’s on the shit heads in Konoha.
Seriously, would it be that hard to make a tag or seal to alter the kids appearance and place him with a retired shinbi who doesn’t hate him?
She falls asleep there, blanket burrito ing in her fluffy.
She wakes to the smell of cooking and it takes her fuzzy brain a while to click to what’s happening.
She has NINJA in her home. Fucking Ninja.
She wants, so very, very much to boot them all out and let them feel what she felt, dumped into an alien culture and country where they couldn’t speak the language and half their skills were useless…
That was a pipe dream though. They were still stronger and they could force her. (Not inside her head again. No. No. FUCKING NO. Not again. Never!)
It looks like they pulled an all nighter.
They didn’t have to.
The information isn’t going anywhere and neither is Google.
She nods, turns away and shuffles into the shower. This is HER fucking house.
If they don’t like it, they can go somewhere else. She doesn’t HAVE to house them. They can just deal!
She plugs her devices into the various chargers and turns the T.V. on.
In the kitchen she turns on the radio too.
It’s SO good to have familiar sounds… and tunes. The dried food is still good though anything in the fridge is probably developing sentient life.
It all goes out into the compost bin.
Most of the stuff in the freezer is probably dubious as well.
From the state of her Magnums the house has probably lost power a couple of times so anything with meat or dairy was probably suspect as well.
She went through the freezer, tossing anything dubious into an old esky and asked one of the nin to empty the packets into a marked bin outside.
She had powdered milk. (She liked to use it as a snack sometimes)
Egg powder too and some tins of fish and veggies.
That should be enough to keep the Nin fed with whatever they brought with them while she did a big shop.
They can go out and explore or whatever. She doesn’t care. She’s home and she’s staying here.
Wherever they go. Whatever they do. She no longer cares.
She’s not leaving her house again… EVER.
She says as much. If they want her out of here, they’ll have to drag her kicking and screaming. If they want her taking care of Naru kun… they can bring the kid here.
She’s sorry… but she’s not going back. Not now. Not ever.
If they want to know why, read the damn Manga!
Or… you know, the Wiki.
Yeah, the Wiki would probably be better. It got to the point faster.
She opens the Wiki pages and lets them read the translated version.
They can chase their tails down the proverbial rabbit hole.
She needs to touch bases with her psychologist and those few people she keeps in sporadic touch with.
She needs a doctor's appointment too since she’s been off her meds…
And to get more of her meds.
A peek out the back showed that her little kitchen/ herb garden is overgrown and struggling. She’ll get one of the nin to do it.
She can’t outside right now.
She’s not safe.
ITS not safe.
She can’t…
She can't.
Shecan’t
Shecan’t.
Shecan’t.
Shecan’tshecan’tshecan’tshecan’tcan’tcan’tcan’tCAN’T!
Just thinking of it makes her feel violently sick.
It makes her skin crawl.
She’ll get the meds delivered. Something is better than nothing right? Right?
The anxiety is back in full force and she can barely stand to have the Nin in her house. Her house is her safe place and with them in it… she's not.
The conditioning they did to her is holding… just but the longer they’re here…
She grabs the nearest one and says as much.
She doesn’t care if they come back again or camp in her little wooded copse but she is getting more and more rapidly done with EVERYTHING. Them included.
She shows them how to copy and paste pages and then to print them out. They can take all the info they want, call the books they want but she’s NOT going back.
They have a crap ton of documents and information to take back with them and they’re welcome to it.
They’re gone inside of a day and she couldn’t be happier…
And then Naru kun is on her doorstep less than a week later.
O-kay?
Well, whatever.
No one could deny he’d be safer here and his Bidju would definitely NOT wake up.
It was entirely possible the old man would forget about them.
She was all for that.
It might screw their world over but eh, it was a shithole anyway. He’d be safer and happier here.
From the notes, she learns later, that Orochimaru person has been going back and forth for years, learning all he can from her world.
The internet makes it entirely too easy to learn information and they find out that Orochimaru has several university courses and several more Tafe Courses.
Orochimaru actually has Masters's degrees in genetics, biology and so on.
That's… sort of terrifying actually. At least he’s being productive rather than committing further atrocities on children?