NOVEL NEXT Chapter 5: A New Reality
I don't own solo levelling or Naruto
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You're still too weak…
…you don't have enough hate.
And you know something?
You never will!
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Sasuke straightened out of his bed, his breathing frantic and desperate. He gingerly rubbed the back of neck as he surveyed the white room around him. Wiping the sheen of sweat that had accumulated upon his forehead he noticed the many machines and tubes sticking into his body, the smell of anaesthetic being a telltale sign about his current situation. He was in the hospital.
'How did I get here?'
Just as those thoughts trickled into his mind, memories of the past blasted him unforgivingly. So he had defeated Ivar and his lackey, but he wasn't able to do much further after being poisoned by his blade. His body was weak and tired, but the painful muscle spasms that he experienced from the poison were non-existent. It seemed his wounds had been treated.
'Wait...' Sasuke's mind suddenly went blank as fear stabbed his heart. This was bad.
If he was in a hospital then that meant he was in Konoha and if he was in Konoha then it meant he had been tracked down. But how? He was sure that he crossed the Valley of the End, it being the border of the Land of Fire. So how did Leaf ninja track him down? Regardless of whether he was in Konoha or not, he was definitely somewhere and he needed to get out.
He needed to get his bearings.
Ripping off the various wires and tubes stuck to him with those words repeating like a mantra in his head. He stumbled out of his bed towards the closed window ahead of him. It was probably a bad idea to leave through the window with how disoriented he was, but he was desperate to get out of this damned place.
"~€~~€¥~~¥~"
Sasuke heard a voice call out from behind him. He didn't want to turn, but this energy that he sensed gave off similar vibes to Ivar and that had given him pause. Was he found by someone native to this strange place?
In a red striped business suit and square rimmed glasses that framed his face perfectly, Sasuke saw a strange man with this sly smirk that he knew would get on his nerves if he were to be around the man for too long.
The man spoke once again, but it registered as unintelligible gibberish to his ears. Was he really that disoriented? Deciding that calming down was his best bet, he moved away from the window and faced the stranger. His thoughts were now less frazzled when he heard the man speak, but once again it registered as gibberish to him.
"What?" he uttered unknowingly. The man must have been speaking a totally different language, because he couldn't get a lick of what he was saying. Which was strange...
However, it was clear from the strangers presence that he wasn't from Konoha. It was dense and unfocused, similar to Ivar but this man's energy was less nightmarish. But the biggest indication was the huge amount of aura this man committed just by being in his vicinity. It was almost suffocating.
'He's leagues above Ivar, it's not even a contest…'
"Uh,What…is your name? My… Choi Jong-In." the man, Choi Jong-In, introduced himself, the words, scarily, unfamiliar on his tongue. Choi offered a hand for him to shake, but Sasuke just rose a brow. "Uchiha Sasuke."
Choi nodded, pulling his hand away and smiling awkwardly, that sly smirk having long since vanished. He cleared his throat, "Sas…uh, Uchiha… I have…a questions for you," he said, the words being difficult for him to get out as if he's never spoken this language before and he probably hadn't.
"What questions?"
Sasuke saw the man make a gesture before digging into his pocket pulling out a thin, black block. He switched it on and watched as Choi pressed on it a few times before speaking into it.
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The thin black block turned out to be some kind of communications device that was able to bridge the language barrier between them. Even if the translation were a bit rough and inconsistent Sasuke was still able to tell roughly what the man was asking of him.
Apparently, he had been asleep for six days now and was at a hospital in the Metropolitan area of Seoul. Whatever that meant? This definitely threw out the idea that he was captured by Konoha, which only begged another question.
Just where the hell was he?
«Do you know anything about what happened to my recruits?» Choi asked, the communication device translating unfamiliar words to something Sasuke could comprehend.
"Recruits?" Sasuke wondered.
«Yes, the other hunters that were inside the dungeon we found you in. We discovered their bodies a few kilometres from where we found you.»
Oh, he must have been talking about those strangely dressed individuals next to the serpent he had killed.
"I know just about as much as you do. They were killed when I got there," Sasuke replied after a moment, scratching the inch that had built up on his head.
«You weren't with them?» Choi raised a brow, causing Sasuke to do the same. "Why would I be with them?" Choi just murmured something to himself before clearing his throat.
«So how did you end up inside the dungeon with my recruits if you weren't with them?»
"I don't know myself. All I know is that I was walking through a forest and just ended up stumbling upon your recruits. Does it have something to do with that red portal I saw?" Sasuke questioned. Before passing out he remembered it turning blue right after he had killed Ivar and thinking back on it hard enough, even though the sudden memory was hazy. He had seen multiple oddly dressed individuals walking out of the, then, blue portal.
«Yes, that was the entire reason we weren't able to send in reinforcements after we discovered the gate was misranked.» Choi said, his face briefly turning into a visage of distaste.
"Gates? Dungeons? Your words are unfamiliar to me." Sasuke said honestly, wanting to know what the man was on about half the time. He had done his best to keep up with him but the more and more they discussed the more felt confused about what was happening. It was almost as if he had dropped into a completely different world.
Choi Jong-In was more than a little surprised, judging from his facial expression. However, that sly smirk returned to his face and he spoke into the device.
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Over eight years ago, rips within space-time began littering the world and with them came monsters from another dimension, a parallel universe. These rips were called Gates. All modern military weapons and tactics were useless against the monsters that ran rampt from the gates and they ravaged the land, but just when all hope seemed lost, people with extraordinary abilities and strength appeared and fought these beasts back. These people were known as hunters.
The reason they were able to do this was because they could harness a mysterious energy that emerged from the gates called Mana. From that point on the world's governments realised that the gates were here to stay and constructed policies to prevent magic beasts from entering their world and instead decided to meet them head on in their world, the Dungeons.
At least that's the gist of everything Sasuke got from Choi Jong-In. A really interesting history lesson, but this all but confirmed his worst fears and that was the fact that he was in a whole new world. Probably dimensions away from his ultimate goal in life... His life purpose.
Once Choi had left, done with his questions and history lesson, Sasuke couldn't help but let a few tears fall at the realisation that would never be able to achieve his goals. Questions raged in his mind ranging from, 'How did I end up here?' and, 'Why me? Why not someone else?' to 'What am I going to do now?'
This was the lowest point he has ever been in. He didn't even have the energy to be angry anymore, all that was left was this hollow emptiness within his heart knowing he couldn't do anything about his circumstances.
Once you've obtained these same eyes…
…come back and face me!
No. He wouldn't wallow in pity and despair, he would fight, he would kill that bastard no matter what. He was an avenger and through heaven and hell, fire or rain, he was going to avenge his family.
"They deserve that much…" the tomoe in his sharingan spinning and swirling with renewed purpose and hatred.
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AN: Also posting on Fanfiction. Net