Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Author's note: Thank you to all the people who followed me, read my stories and especially those who wrote reviews. You don't know how happy it made me and how much your reviews mean to me. Thank you very much.

Btw this is my first long story and there probably will be many mistakes, sorry.

Hope you like it ^_^ 3

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Chapter 1

Chie ran with all her might, pumping chakra into her legs. She knew they would eventually come for her, but she wasn't expecting it to happen so soon. Not when… Not when…glancing back at the bundle on her back, tears sprang to her eyes. Not when her baby was in danger. Suddenly feeling four rapidly approaching signatures made her run even faster, but it was futile, she was running out of chakra and there was no way she would get to the village in time. Chie thought crossing the borders would have stopped them, but it looked like her eyes were too valuable to let go. She scowled, always this cursed bloodline, first the clan and now he-

"Mama, I-I am afraid."

She looked at the sobbing child in her arms. Her eyes trailed the outline of the child's nose, mouth, eyes as if trying to forever remember her face.

"It's okay sweetie, Mama's going to protect you."

Liarliarliar

"You just have to remember what Mama told you and everything is going to be alright… everything's going to be alright."

She repeated once more, not knowing if she was assuring Rika or herself. The signatures were closing in, she had little time left.

Deathdeathdeath

"Remember Sweetie, if anything happens you go straight to the village, your goal is to get to the village, understand?" Chie added fiercely.

Wide, tear-filled eyes looked up at her.

"Y-yes, get t-to the village a-and n-never-"

"Never, no matter what, reveal your family name. You have to remember that, okay sweetie? And…"

She started descending, seeing a small hiding place inside a big oak tree. This was the end, it was over. Jumping down she gently placed Rika on her feet.

"Always, always remember that Mama loves you and no matter what happens, I will always be watching over you."

With a farewell kiss on the forehead, which broke Chie's heart into thousand pieces, she pushed the shaking girl into her hiding place, cloaking it over with the best Genjustsu she knew.

Assured that enemies wouldn't find the tree, she pumped chakra into her feet, ready to spring into the other direction.

"And Rika…Live"

Livelivesurviveexist

Then Chie was gone, jumping into her last battle, punching and ducking, throwing kunai and defending her girl.

Sensing traces of a powerful Genjustsu ahead, ANBU dog paused slightly. He had just finished his solo mission to the land of Lightning and was quite tired and depleted of chakra, but he also couldn't ignore a potential threat this near to Konoha, so with a tired sigh he took out Kunai and ran towards the direction where the chakra was coming from.

After several minutes he stopped near a big oak, which emitted pulses of chakra, having a Genjutsu covered over it. He was about to dispel it, when a slight breeze blew by. It was filled with smell of blood. Quickly springing into action he ran following the smell. Soon trees ended and he found himself at the edge of a small clearing. Well, a bloodbath would have been a better word, really. Land was covered in blood and human parts; there was a horrible smell of intestines and human waste in the air. He had never seen anything like this; some bodies were twisted beyond recognition, while others had small holes all over them.

Bump

A chakra signature. Someone was still alive. There, in the middle of the carnage, lay a body of a woman. He couldn't really distinguish her features because of all the blood on her. He looked around for her forehead protector, but found none. She obviously wasn't from Konoha, so that meant she was from another village, maybe even an enemy village. Dog ANBU was about to dispose of her, when suddenly her eyes fluttered open. He paused. Taking a shaky breath she turned her blurry eyes towards him.

"p-pr….p-prot….ect … "

With all of her strength, she opened her shaking palm. There in the middle of it was a necklace with a red crystal hanging from it. Getting the point Dog took it from her, placing it inside his pouch.

"G-Gi…ve…..R-r…i-ika"

She looked at him expecting something and when he finally nodded, she smiled at him and her eyes glazed over. It looked like he didn't need to dirty his hands anymore. He turned around, glancing at the body one final time and ran back towards the tree. As he got there, instead of finding a very good genjutsu, he found something entirely different.

Now, ANBU dog was a respected and experienced ninja who had survived war and had seen many… unique things. He had readied himself to find anything- a scroll, an ambush, a device of some sort. What he didn't expect was to find a small girl who looked like she was way beyond terrified.

Everyone at least once has asked themselves – what is death? Death and dying are all shrouded in mystery, cloaked in darkness and surrounded by fear and apprehension. Some believe in holy judgment and paradise, others say that life and death are a never-ending cycle- you are born from nothing and you are then reduced to nothing. There are many opinions surrounding this controversial subject, but one thing is for sure- the word "Death" is associated with the ending of life, of earthly pleasures, and nobody wants that. That is why, even though people know that death is inevitable, they are reluctant to think about it.

Personally, I had never thought about death. I was just a teenager, full of life, excited to see the world. I didn't bother thinking about dying or afterlife- my life was just beginning, and for me the end of this joyous journey, was far, far away. Unfortunately life passes in just a blink of an eye. It's full of surprises and you never know what's coming next.

For me, life was like a labyrinth- it was full of twists and turns, dead ends and false trails, but in the end every road lead to one main point – death. Some people take a long road, experiencing the beauties of life, getting to know new people, learning new things and by the time they get to the finish line, they are ready, ready to face the ultimate "enemy"- death. Others are more unlucky and are left with the short road, crossing the complicated labyrinth of life quickly, unknowing what awaits them at the end.

I fell in the category of the latter group. I was careless in my voyage, ignoring the signs and dead ends- marching straight, not looking around. It is ironic, how a person always wants to "grow up" faster, to reach the end of the labyrinth and they fail to appreciate the beauty of the road. And so as I took the wrong turn, I watched my "ending" coming closer and closer, tires screeching, driver honking and the only think that stuck in my head was- What is death?

"Death's got an Invisibility Cloak?" Harry interrupted again.
"So he can sneak up on people," said Ron. "Sometimes he gets bored of running at them, flapping his arms and shrieking..."

Death, for many, means the end, the final destination, but in reality it is just a like a bus stop, halting for a few minutes and then continuing on the longest road ever, making all the small breaks along the way. Life passes in a blink of an eye, but it's not the end- well at least for me it wasn't, and truthfully, how many people can say for sure there is no life after death? Or that we hadn't already passed thousands of small "breaks" before this one? No one, because no matter how much we want it, dead people don't talk.

I had been a Christian, but had been quite interested in other religions, after studying the topic at school, and so I knew Buddhism sufficiently, if I might say so myself. Buddhism teaches that when a person dies they are reborn and the process of death and rebirth continues until Nirvana is attained. Most religions say that the core of a person is the soul, the non-material, mental part that goes to either paradise or hell. Buddhists on the other hand, believe that the person, their core, is made up of their feelings, thoughts and perceptions that after death, change the body, and this mental energy is re-established in a new person.

So, in theory, I knew from the beginning that there was a chance, that a person could be reincarnated still maintaining their memories, although the possibility had never entered my mind. It all lingered somewhere in the depth of my memories, never too serious for me to sit and think about it throughout.

But, knowing something and actually believing it are two very different things. If you ask me- I would say it was a horrible, horrible mistake. I should never have remembered those things, hell I don't even know what triggered this memory recovery.

The only thing I can say surely is that suddenly "waking up" in a strange forest, with a man in a mask, a military uniform and a sharp knife can be quite scary.

"To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."

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Authors note: This is only the first chapter and it might not be that interesting, so sorry for that. (( Also i'm new at writing fan-fiction, so there probably will be grammar mistakes and OOC behavior from characters.

So, knowing all this i am open to all criticism and remarks, but only the ones that will help me write better.

I don't care about haters who use internet and say bad stuff just for fun.