text; un: 🍥🍜

[acknowledgement]

(≡ ｀ｗ´≡)/
hey everyone!
i'm Uzumaki Naruto
um in my world we give family name first
so you can just call me Naruto!

listen…
i have an important question that i'd like to hear your opinions on

some people doubt this place is really the afterlife
and if we’re actually dead

but let’s say there’s a chance we can all return to our own dimensions, alive
…would you want to?
or would you prefer to stay here instead, permanently?

it’s kinda personal, so i get it if you wanna use the
uh
anonymous
thingy
just don’t ask me how to switch it on
because idk (that means i don’t know)

oh also
if anyone needs help with anything
or wants to tackle some missions together
i'm your shinobi!

[Sorry, Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto forgot the “keep our profession/backgrounds a secret” rule. (And already broke the rule several times over.)]

Comments

@harukaze

[janescayre]

[While this guy's coming off a few noodles short of a bowl, he's the first one to openly touch on her current theory. That alone is enough for Fukawa to drag her sorry carcass in here.]

I'm glad someone else is suspicious of this place. It's the crappiest afterlife ever conceived. Why are we still using the bathroom and able to die?

[HIERARCHY EXPLAIN]

And please, who wouldn't rather go back? Even hell on earth is better than hell in practice.

[acknowledgement]

[Unfamiliar with the username, Naruto responds without realizing her identity (well, one of her identities).]

hehehehe
crappiest
using the bathroom
i'd clap if i had two hands

but that’s how i feel too
my friend from home is a doctor
and she hasn’t found evidence that we’re dead
medically i mean

not to mention this afterlife isn’t anything like what’s been described to us
at least not from our dimension

see i thought the same thing at first
about everyone wanting to go back home
except my doctor friend helped me realize
some people might have it even worse there
i need to hear from them, if they’re willing to talk to me

cuz i haven’t mentioned this to anyone yet but
what if the way home reverses things for EVERYONE?
and we can’t just pick and choose who gets to stay
and who gets to go home?
idk it’s just something i've been thinking about…

[janescayre]

[bless you naruto

For her own part, Fukawa is too busy wringing hands over the people she knows who chimed in on Syo's antics than the few she doesn't. Let us revel in ignorance.]

Seriously? What happened to you? This better not be a joke about one hand being too busy.

It's definitely not like any afterlife I've heard of. At least not from most religions or myths. Maybe from a dull fantasy novel. I just think it's criminal that we're being charged for things, especially with coins infused with literal souls.

I couldn't have written a more ham-fisted critique about eternal greed if I tried.

I know some people might want to stay, but I don't agree that they should. Even if your home is an inhospitable wasteland, or all your peers hate you, or there's madmen out for your blood, giving up on it to cling to this half-assed existence is cowardly.

No one should have to live through incredible suffering. I know the world can be a litany of cruelties but giving up on hope for the future and hiding in a hole isn't a solution. It just allows that same misery to continue for someone else.

I don't want to give into that kind of despair. I'd rather go back and fight it off.

[acknowledgement]

i lost half my right arm a year ago!
it's no joke but it's also not a big deal
i'm pretty used to it now

ARGH!!!!!!!! the coin thing really PISSES ME OFF
i can't believe people just trade souls around like it's nothing here!
it's messed up! those coins SCREAM
there's gotta be a way we can do something about it
i'm gonna look more into it soon

honestly i agree with you about staying here
but at the same time it's not really our choice
(unless it's an all or nothing scenario like i described...)
and tbf (that means to be fair)
it's kind of arrogant for us to assume people's personal situations are all solvable in their worlds
ya know?

that aside i'm glad you'd rather fight!

[janescayre]

What the hell? How did you do that? Does that mean you weren't joking about being a shinobi?

I know, it's disgusting to think that it could have been a person once. It's like using human bones for money. I'd rather starve on the street than put my hands on it. I was almost taken to the Forges when I woke, and there were boats with chained Restless sailing for it as well. Everyone knows what's happening but there doesn't seem to be any effort to stop it. And for what? Making worthless trash last longer? It's repulsive.

I'd say it's just as arrogant to assume change is impossible. It gives you an excuse to stop looking for an answer, and implies that anyone else who tries is just a hopeless idiot.

I'm glad you agree. I'm not always good at this stuff, but it's better to keep moving than fold up on the floor and cry.

What do you think so far? What's the best bet for finding a way back?

[acknowledgement]

i was totally joking about being a shinobi!!
hehehehehehehe losing my arm was just some random freak accident!
my best friend and i were playing a game
and then lightning struck our arms
and blasted them clean off!

yeah i'll never use that shit either!
i've been trying to find a way home but i want to look into the soul forging thing too before we leave

[Even now, Naruto remains so confident that they will leave.]

it can't continue on

hehehe you've got me there!

i don't know yet...
i've been exploring every inch of this place that i can
but it's dangerous and my abilities don't work reliably

[Already broke character. So much for convincing everyone that the shinobi comment was a joke.]

i'm starting to wonder if maybe i'm approaching it wrong though
i'm working off of dimensional travel in my own world
so i keep looking for a portal or something similar
but maybe i should be questioning the people here instead
this Hierarchy guy

[Okay, there's more than just one "guy" making up the Hierarchy, but—]

he's gotta know something big
right?

[janescayre]

[Deadeyes]

That's not how lightning works.

[She is very much ready to write him off as a delusional dimwit. Aren't Shinobi supposed to be smart?

But then he goes on about his abilities, and judging from some of his other responses here she has to imagine that maybe, just maybe, there was some bleeding heart of a sensei who took the village idiot under wing.

Heaven help us all.]

I have no doubt they're withholding information. People in power always do. If you get a chance to ask him anything or uncover any secrets, be sure to tell people in person. Not online. They were the ones who gave us these devices, they're probably monitoring them.

Just don't do anything too stupid.

[acknowledgement]

[Heaven is silent, Fukawa.]

you're right
this definitely isn't a secure form of communication
i wouldn't know how to encrypt messages on this thing...

hehehehehe
me? stupid?
no promises

[janescayre]

At least aim for moronic instead of blistering imbecile.