Jada Schmidt.
It all happened so fast—the accusations, his claims, the explosion—and now the village was plunged into chaos.
Arthur, the quiet guy. He was the one who was always mysterious. He never made her feel guilty about her own lack of stellar skills, and he was the perfect audience for her rants.
To her, he seemed genuinely interesting. He was the only one out of the others who came into this world without any knowledge of it.
Yet there he was, defying the Hokage himself.
Jada winced, feeling the guilt settle in.
Arthur, the supposed villain, the one who got stuck with the worst character during the selection phase, ended up being the one who wished to destroy the world?
The irony was almost painful.
Despite the conflicting emotions brewing, Jada looked around at the panicked faces in the crowd. A thrill shot through her.
Here, she was Jada Uchiha, a Genin of the Leaf Village, a part of something bigger than herself. Here, she could be brave and strong and use all the knowledge she had crammed into her head to actually make a difference.
This world had its flaws, sure, but being a part of it was exhilarating. And even though things had gone sideways with Arthur, maybe, just maybe, there was still a way to make everything right.
Jasper Reza.
The acrid smell of smoke stung Jasper's nostrils as the Hokage barked orders to scramble the ninjas.
Arthur, a weakling, had managed to pull off a Houdini act right in front of everyone. But that was fine with Jasper. Or rather, he didn't care. To him, weaklings deserve weak endings.
He glanced at the scattering citizens.
This whole situation was turning into a colossal waste of Jasper's time. He was here for one reason and one reason only: to secure a place as the Reza Group's future.
He had every advantage, even knowing beforehand what world he was going to be venturing in. That's right: he faked stupidity.
Upon figuring things out, he watched and learned everything that had to do with Naruto. And according to Jasper, Naruto was a stupid series to begin with. =
The pacing had issues; there were too many filler episodes that made up a significant portion of the series; the power levels of the characters escalated too quickly; and there were too many bogus inspirational speeches to defeat the antagonists.
At least now things seemed to be picking up better than he expected since Orochimaru, that snake bastard, had decided to crash the party. And Arthur, the pathetic excuse for a ninja, had actually become the unexpected catalyst.
Jasper let out a sardonic chuckle. "Talk about irony."
He didn't care if Arthur wanted to play the villain or not. Villains were just strong people with negative PR. What mattered was that Arthur had become a wild card, a potential complication in Jasper's planned trajectory.
And if Arthur, the bumbling fool Jasper believed him to be, decided to play that role, well, Jasper would gladly kill Arthur if they ever met again.
Alice.
The embers scattered across the arena mimicked the war Alice felt within herself.
'Arthur,' she thought. 'How self-important can you…? Ugh!'
All she had heard were his pronouncements with a melodramatic flair. And when she remembered how he looked—the glint in his eyes during that speech, the way his voice hardened—she knew he was serious.
Could he truly be capable of such darkness? No, surely not Arthur the Christian. He would never dare to hurt her, Jasper, or any of the others. Right?
Alice felt uncertain now.
This entire situation was ridiculous. Here she was, a former Black Ops spy turned reluctant anime character, hired for a mission so bizarre it felt like a fever dream. Her days tailing corrupt CEOs and infiltrating drug cartels were replaced by a secret assignment to venture into a world about a boy with sunshine-blond hair.
As she bounced from seat to seat, she noticed Jasper suddenly vanish from her sensing range.
'Jasper…' she sighed. She couldn't deny it anymore; she was smitten. 'He'll be fine. I know he will.'
To her, Jasper was strong, kind, and had a moral compass that rivaled a gyroscope—everything other men in her life weren't.
Yet something worried her because of how Arthur had managed to fool her and everyone else. And if he was willing to play the villain, she would hope that Jasper and him wouldn't get into a fight.
Squaring her shoulders, she scanned the area. This whole thing really was a mess, but at least it was an exciting kind of mess.
William Rodriguez.
William stared up at the smoke-filled sky as the sounds of multiple citizens panicked to find shelter.
'Arthur really declared himself a villain?'
It was almost laughable. Almost.
Sure, Arthur wasn't the strongest. But during his taijutsu stint, the way he'd managed to dodge and counter Jasper's attacks—there was a spark there. And when he defeated Chōji with just one punch? He had earned William's respect.
Could he honestly take Arthur on himself? Or rather, did Arthur really want to play the villain? How could anyone want that after reading what was bound to happen to every antagonist in this world?
To William, only some of the villains were cool.
Orochimaru was into boys' eyes, Nagato and Obito were being manipulated after a tragic past, Madara was a walking cheat code, and Kaguya was a failed princess.
'I'm starting to see why Arthur wanted to become a villain, but I just don't get why he'd kill Ino and Shikamaru.' While William was still very naïve, he would never side with Arthur's ambitions.
"I… I can't let him hurt anyone else."
William swallowed the thought of another ninja dying. He may not be the strongest, but that didn't mean he didn't have the potential to be. He'd stand with them, fight with them, and protect everyone he cared about even if it meant going against those from earth.
After all, that's what heroes do.
Margaret Campbell.
Margaret crossed her arms and leaned casually against a wall, not at all bothered by the clatter of weapons racing through the sky.
Arthur, that overgrown toddler. Declaring himself a villain in front of the Hokage? It was enough to make her want to stuff him in a carpet and roll him down a hill.
Margaret couldn't help but smirk. There was a certain undeniable coolness to what he had said to Hiruzen.
Still, that didn't erase the anger simmering beneath. He'd tricked everyone and broken the trust she'd so naively extended.
Margaret honestly didn't care about his villainous tantrums so long as he didn't kill anyone important.
What she knew was that the Leaf Village had a running streak of trusting others so easily. It all started with Madara, then moved down to Orochimaru and lesser characters like Mizuki.
'I guess I gotta be the one to stop him,' she thought to herself after pushing off the wall. 'But where even is he now?'
Boom!
When she looked, there was a huge snake trying to battle Hiruzen on the platform. That meant Orochimaru was making his move.
Margaret pondered for a moment.
Who was more dangerous? Arthur or a Sannin? She believed the latter.
'Maybe I could get Jiraiya to fight alongside me,' she thought. 'Na! Screw him. I can take Oro myself!'
At that, her hair began to get moist as red liquid gradually dripped down from her follicles. Then black markings snaked their way from her temples to her eyes.
"Slug Sage Mode!"
Alexander Costa.
Alex activated his Byakugan to see through the smoke. He was shocked to watch Arthur's body suddenly turn into vapour.
Then nothing; Arthur just vanished.
Alex felt various emotions swirling inside him because Arthur had just done something no one could: he surprised him.
Alex now had goosebumps.
For some time, he had been getting bored. He'd been hoping for some real excitement when he signed up for this whole "new world" business.
Since he'd landed in with the others, it had mostly been fetching missions while doing training exercises.
This world lacked something, something to help make it more challenging.
As things had progressed all the way to the preliminaries, Alex was about ready to end this whole thing. That is until Arthur dropped an unexpected bombshell on everyone.
Because of him, the world didn't look so dull anymore. Now there was a sense of unpredictability. A real villain meant real consequences, and for the first time since being pulled into this world, Alex felt genuine excitement.
This unexpected twist was exactly what he'd been craving because Arthur had chased away the boredom.
But what did Alex think of the others?
To him, Jasper was a predetermined pawn. Margaret was just a teenager. Alice was too mysterious. William was a fanboy. And Jada was too stupid.
Alex wanted someone to play with, someone worthy of being called a rival. And what made Arthur the perfect rival was because he was only one whom Alex had underestimated.
'Christians are so interesting!'
A woman registered in his memories. Her face was obscured by shadows, but her voice was all too recognizable.
"Remember, Alexander, this isn't just a game," she coldly declared. "You have a significant role to play."
"I understand, mother…"
"Good," she said, turning with an unimpressed look. "There's a lot at stake here, so don't disappoint me any further."
A sharp voice cut through his musings.
"Alex, why're ya just standing there?!"
"Huh?" he looked. "Oh. Alice, sorry. I got a tad sidetracked after Arthur's stunt."
"Yeah, we all did. So what's the plan now?"
Alex honestly just wanted to track Arthur down. But even he knew something like that wasn't going to be easy. Or rather, going after this early would ruin the fun.
"Alex, are you listening?!"
"I am," he answered, forcing his thoughts away from Arthur. "First things first, let's help out the Jōnin take down the Sound Ninja."
At that command, the two sprang into action.
To think all of this was happening so suddenly.
Everyone had their own goals for being in the ninja world. But collectively, they were all wondering the same thing: where was Arthur Bennett?