[Chapter 4: Once More, The Nostalgia of a Show]

"Hey, hey, Ashley!" I hummed at the energetic boy's voice, turning to him. Naruto raised an object in one hand. "What's this?"

My eyes widened. "What do you...!" I let out a gasp, hastily grabbing it away from his hand. That's my laptop! "What are you doing?! What if you dropped it?!" I hissed out, cradling it tightly with both hands. My heart pounded in sheer panic. I spend so much for this shit!

I heard Sasuke shift in his seat on the couch. "We're ninja. We wouldn't drop something like that." Aah... I sort of miss his dumb remarks as of the moment.

"Aha." My laugh was dry, so dry. But then I sighed, settling down on the conch next to him. It was the third day of being back here, believe it or not. Yesterday, Tae-young and I decided that it was best to just adjust and research on our own time— considering that I had to monitor team 7. He had came earlier to drop clothes for the boys but now... I didn't know what to do.

"Anyways, Naruto," I huffed as the blond sheepishly turned at me. "Since ya so curious, might as well show you." The boy made a loud noise of excitement, rushing over to the kitchen to call over Sakura and Kakashi. I was a bit skeptical— how did we not get a noise complaint? But then again, I'm pretty sure most people would've gone home...

My lips pushed together. Home...

I shook my head and opened up my laptop. I need to find a solution to get back— soon. I ignored the dark-haired male's not-so-subtle staring as I pushed down on the power button. Within seconds, the electronic board lit up, shoving me with the question for the password. It was practically muscle memory when my fingers danced against the plastic keyboard, pressing enter with my index finger.

"Come on, come on!" I heard Naruto come back, dragging along Sakura and Kakashi with a grin.

"Cha, whatever." The pinkette said with a groan, slightly glaring at him. But then she relaxed her shoulders. "So what was it you wanted to show us?"

I turned my laptop around, smiling as it showed Google. Man, never would I have thought that I would be so happy to see the logo of a greedy and terrible company. "This," I pointed at the screen. "Is a laptop. A device that's connected to..." I rolled my eyes to the ceiling, searching for a way for them to understand. "Multiple digital intel networks."

Like a fuse, their expressions contorted into ones of shock. With small gasps of awes heard, the teens all crowded around the device like it was a messiah while their teacher only placed a hand under his chin. "Multiple digital intel networks? That... very handy."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, while you guys focused on your magic— chakra— whatever, we improved on mainly technology." Everything else? Not really, unfortunately. I then rose a brow in sudden thought. "You guys do realize there is no chakra in this world, right?"

They all whipped their heads at me. Blink. Blink.

Naruto's the first to break the silence with a shout, hunching his shoulder up. He was immediately smacked by the kunoichi. The other two just contained staring with wide eyes.

I rolled my shoulders for better comfort, lifting a finger. "Yep, why do you think nobody's been..." I placed a hand under my chin. "What's the word? Uh... setting houses on fire?"

"Not that."

"Thanks, Sasuke." I resolved, tilting my head with half-lidded eyes.

My ears picked up a slightly muffled huff from the scarecrow. "No wonder this place feels so different." He then raised a hand, going back and forth with clenching and unclenching it. "And do you know why it's so... stuffy?"

I furrowed my brows in confusion. Stuffy? I sniffed. It's not really— "Oooooh...!" I let out, clapping my hands together in realization. "Yeah, yeah, I forgot you gotta sensitive nose." I pushed a lock behind my ear. Okay... sadly, I don't know if I could spare buying a humidifier.

"Wait, wait, wait— go back!" Naruto pushed a hand out, looking like he was having some sort of— okay, maybe he was having an essential crisis. "You guys don't have Chakra?! How does that— does that mean you can't do super cool jutsu?!"

"Is that seriously the thing you're so concerned about?"

I reeled back at how close he's gotten, letting out a nervous laugh. "Uh, yeah— that's kinda how it works." As if he was still in fiction, his back slouched in a cartoon-like manner. I sighed, motioning back onto our initial focus. "Anyways, this laptop can do a lot of things!" If I was rich, I would've slapped it. But alas, I am poor. "Go ahead, type anything."

"What is 'UwU Yaoi AMSR Kyaaaa~'?"

I fucking shook the laptop in my direction before Sakura could inspect it further. My heart goddamn pounded— and not in the fluffy, doki-doki way this time. Holy fuck I forgot I had that folder.

"Ahahhahahahhaaahaha...." There was nothing fucking funny about this. My entire nonexistent reputation is on the line! "You— you know what? How about I type it? Mhm— it's not like you guys are good at typing! Ehehehe... heh."

I swear, when I find out who put us in this, it's on sight. It is on

"Oo— what about the series I'm the main character of!" Naruto suggested, totally not because it had his existence in it.

I rose a brow, shuffling in my seat with my hands resting on the device. "Are you sure? I know you're curious but I'd rather not let you know of the future."

Sasuke scowled. "Why not?" Ah, I wasn't really that surprised that he was the first to respond. I mean— who wouldn't want to know whether or not they succeeded in their life goal?

"Because, what if you try to change it and it ends up being worse?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes. "Don't worry, the story has a happy ending for you all." That's right. I told myself— this story is already has a happy ending. There's no need for me or Hiro or anyone else to tamper with it.

And yet—

We just had to be selfish, didn't we?

I pushed those thoughts away, letting myself perk up at yet another idea. "Well, I guess I can show you one thing..."

"Hey, look— that's me, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed with a wide grin, pointing at the screen while cuddling with a pillow. What was playing on the small screen was the very first episode of the show, as the animated Naruto was running away from a prank.

"How is he able to run away from them?" Sakura raised a brow, tilting her head in puzzlement. "They're at least high-ranked genin!"

Sasuke let out a noise. "I don't even bother to question it anymore. Just assume it's due to his dumb luck."

"Hey!"

I just let out a hum, wrapping my knees with my arms and proofing my chin on them, zipping my mouth. I gotta say, it was pretty damn nostalgic to watch this. Heck— this was the first time in years that I watched a single anime episode! I held in a sigh. God... I missed this.

Everything went as normal as the episode continued.

"Kya~! Did you see that, Sasuke-kun?!"

"Ugh..." The pink-haired girl shivered as she heard her younger self squeal like a banshee. She placed a hand over her forehead. Her head moved slightly toward the Uchiha's direction. "I'm so sorry you had to endure that."

The boy let a huff, looking away. "It's fine— you're over it now." Oh look, character development at its finest.

Kakashi, who decided to sit next to me, laughed. "Nice to see you guys have grown."

I shot him a glance. No thanks to you, lol.

"Naruto!" Sakura shot her head at the said shinobi when a certain scene came up. Her mouth had clamped open. "You stole the scroll of forbidden jutsu?!"

The blond dared to just tilt his head innocently at her. "Yeah. Didn't I tell you?"

"Dobe— this isn't just something you can just say, idiot." Sasuke spitted out, earning a loud shout back. I shook out a laugh. Ha, it's only the first episode too. Leaning forward, I stretched out my arm, poking a key to pause the episode.

Kakashi glanced at me with a quizzical expression. "Why did you stop it?" The screen was frozen just as Mizuki appeared to reveal his super evil plan. "Something you don't want to show us?"

I just shrugged, grabbing the laptop. "Not really me. More of just Naruto." The main character's head perked up by the sound of his name, looking away from his bickering. I cocked my head to the side. "I feel like the next parts are a bit too... personal, right?"

"What do you..." His sentence trailed off as he fully processed my words. Within a second, he tended, flashing us a very strained smile. "Yeah! It's— it's super personal! No lookie, dattebayo!"

I noticed how everyone, Kakashi was a bit more knowledgeable, gave off expressions of confusion but decided to not say anything. Well, there is the Kyuubi secret. But then again, is it really something hidden at this point?

Ah, well, I guess that was the end of episode one.

"Wanna watch the next episodes? It has Naruto and Sasuke kis—"

"Oh no."

"Oh yeah, I wanted to ask," I pointed my fork toward the team, who all looked back at me. "Why the hell were you cats?"

"And a dog."

"And a dog." I corrected myself, watching as then all lowered their utensils. Yet another dinner— which means I spent another day in this damn body. Believe it or not, I had quickly adjusted to this lifestyle.

...I didn't like it.

"We don't really know." My kunoichi friend was the first to reply, setting her fork down. Okay, we should really get more food. We can't just eat instant cup noodles forever, whether Naruto wants to or not. "When we woke up, we were already like that." She glanced at the boys. "Have any ideas?"

"Maah..." Kakashi sighed, leaning back nonchalantly. "It most likely has to do with Chakra. It would explain why we're not dead."

The blond flinched at the sound of that, clutched at the fabric of his shirt. "Crap... if we didn't, we would—"

"Yeah," Sasuke interrupted with a... slightly somber look? "And then— and then I wouldn't get to do what I needed to do." To find your answers, right? I finished in my head. I narrowed my eyes with a small hum. Well, at least it's better than the original. Good job, Megumi!

Naruto shook his head, not wanting to be in a negative mood again. "Oh! What if cars— that's what they're called, right?" I nodded in confirmation before he continued. "Were spiritual or something? Like, like toads, dattebayo!"

The medic-nin raised a brow, slightly reeling back. "Toads?" She mumbled under her breath, though I'm pretty sure everyone heard. "No, even if that was the case, why did we turn into cats?"

"And a dog."

"And a dog."

Everyone else couldn't find the will to answer. No— they couldn't answer. So all that was met was an uncomfortable silence.

I sighed, leaning my chest against the table. "Great, no progress at all." If only the information I had didn't come from fricking I ran a hand through my hair. "Oh well, it's— it's fine. We just need to do some research."

"Why are you helping us?" I blinked, looking over to meet the cold stare of Sasuke. He had crossed his arms as he stared down at me. "What do you benefit from helping us?" A lot, actually. I wanted to say but bit it down.

Sakura and Naruto looked like they wanted to say something but Kakashi shushed them. I could understand, I was practically a stranger to them, no matter if that hurt my heart or not.

I took a deep breath, "Well," I shrugged, rolling my eyes towards the ceiling for a second. "First, I'd rather not have to continue sheltering you guys, no offense." I let out a small laugh as both Sakura and Naruto looked away in bashfulness. "And, there's also the fact that..." I gulped, looking away. "I'd... I'd want to be a good person. I want to help you guys."

I let out yet another sigh, feeling the mask overwrite my facial features. "It could be because you guys are some really special fictional characters but, I can't help but care about you."

Even though I hid some stuff, my words were true: I did care about them. So much. So much that I was terrified of them finding out about-- about Ashley.

They all stayed silent, mulling over my words. But I was fine with that. I picked up my fork and stabbed my cup. "Come on guys, I'm pretty sure the noodles are already cold."

I didn't wait for their response to take another bite.