Be My Own Hero

Chapter 1

"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." -Christopher Reeve

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! or any characters that appear within my story those belong to kishimoto-san.

When shit hit the fan I wish I could say that I didn't lose my head and made it through, but in reality I literally lost my head. When death came I wasn't brave I didn't say 'Not today' I didn't even realize it happened until I noticed that the people around me were screaming at me, anyway this is how it went down. The day was an ordinary saturday morning,mother dearest had wanted to go to the mall to buy some shit for the cats so they would stop shitting on the floor. Which I didn't understand since she's not one picking up after the little bastards.

She dragged me along because ever since her back injury two years ago, I've been stuck carrying all the wonderful things we get that's over ten pounds, which was basically everything. It was around lunch when we got there so we decided to get a bite to eat at the food court before we started shopping, everything was going fine the only problem being was the soya sauce that stained mom's new white shirt.

It was around the time we were leaving that things started to go awry. Apparently the mall thought they looked too bland so they started to put large pieces of 'art' throughout it. We were walking past one of many pieces of 'art' when it happened, one of the wires holding together the big lump of metal snapped and whipped the disc it was holding around. The first thing I did upon noticing the flying weapon of death was push my mom into the exhibit of pillows in the store we were walking past receiving an indignant squawk from her. It was just when I was about to dive into the fluffiness too when it happened, the slicing through the air and then nothing…

Well not really, did you know that when the heart stops beating you have about ten seconds of brain activity left? with hearing the last thing to go. Well I heard it alright, the screams of everyone around me, the sound of someone vomiting and my mom screaming like a banshee. What a lovely way to die….I feel bad for the mortician that's going to have to clean up the taco bell I had for lunch… were my last audible thoughts before everything went black.

There was no stairway to heaven or highway to hell, just a big vast thing of nothingness. Yup just me, myself and I for company, if I was still living I would've killed myself by now because I am horrible company when bored. It was a time for self reflection I guess, seeing as the last moments of my life I didn't see my 'life' flash before my eyes.

I was a decent human coming from the family I came from I turned out alright, just having crappy attendance my grades were good, I helped people when they needed it. Maybe I cursed more than average, and said some awful things to my mom when we argued but I don't really regret it. I mean what kid doesn't argue with their parents?

Maybe God and Satan thought I was too insignificant and just left me here to drift? Whatever this self reflection is tiring, ugh if reincarnation is real I want to be a cat those fuckers are set for life.

I don't know how long I was there for it felt like fucking years though when I saw a light start to glow into existence you sure as hell can bet that I chased it. It wasn't exactly a tunnel but when I felt myself being fully submerged in it it was like everything went blank. Before the ligth came it was like I was drifting through time

In the first few months everything was just a big blur with colors hear and there but the one that stuck out the most was red, I was basically in a state of hibernation until it was like I woke up with a big splash of cold water. It made the lady feeding me a go into a panic because I was in the midst of swallowing the gunk when I was starting to come to consciousness and with that came shock which basically made me start choking on the food. Yeah after just finding out I died and that reincarnation is real, and almost dying from choking was definitely not one of my best moments.

Have you ever met a depressed baby? Not the pouting one or tantrum throwing one but the quiet one that never makes a noise and never giggles the one that people avoid. Yeah well that was me for the first couple of months, it was easy to tell that my new mom was disturbed by me, which didn't bother me as it should seeing as though I couldn't understand the gibberish she spewed.

In those months I thought about my old life and how things would be going on with the loved ones I left behind. My mom probably started drinking again, Dad probably lost his job because he would be at home walking around in a zombie-like state, and my distant 'friends' would be posting how much they'll miss me and how much of a good friend I was. Looking back at my life was depressing in itself, I didn't do anything- at all my life was just me going through it day by day and that was what kept me in that state for so long.

The best part of this whole ordeal was that I had to learn how to speak a new language, fricken japanese is a bitch to learn but it helped that I was somewhat of an otaku before I died and knew some. The woma- mom was really patient with me. She had the prettiest red hair I've ever seen, her name was Tamiko, Tamiko Uzumaki.

I found this out when we were outside one day and a man with dark hair came (whether he was my father or not I didn't know),crashing through our door shouting for her to run . I was old enough to sit on my own so I got to see him come in, shout something to my mom that made her get into a frenzy grabbing a bag putting as much of our belongings in its as she we were running, she was a civilian so there wasn't any tree jumping or anything like that, the man running beside us was becoming annoyed at our pace because the next thing I know we're flying, not really but it felt like it from the speed we were going.

The man had thrown my mother on his back and had me cradled against his chest, the drastic change of speed did not agree with my stomach because I find myself throwing up the mashed carrots I j had ate onto his vest. The man gave a grunt of disgust and I can hear my mom giving a sheepish apology from his back, sorry man couldn't help it. This went on for awhile probably two hours We stopped when it seemed the man was running out of stamina, Sliding off his back my mom takes me from his arms and starts to check me, seeing that I was alright she smiled at me " You've been very brave for me my daughter, just a little longer please and everything will be fine" she says to me soothingly.

The man observes our interaction it looks like he's about to say something but he just shakes his head almost to rid himself of the thought. He looks down at me then trying to decipher what's bothering him " She's a quiet one aint she? I'm surprised she hasn't cried yet". Looking up at him processing him what he just said she nods her head and furrows her brow while adjusting me in her arms.

"Karin has always been a quiet baby, I suppose some people would take that as a blessing but uzumaki children are known for being loud and it worries me" she says softly.

Now I feel like a brat, here's this single young mother raising her child to the best as she can and i'm being a brat worrying her. I guess I can smile mor- wait did she just say what i think she said!?... KARIN FUCKING UZUMAKI?! What the hell! How am I finding out about this now? Why Karin? Of all the fucking universes and characters in Naruto why am I suddenly the creepy fangirl that tries to rape sasuke!? Is this what i get for hitting that duck with my car! Cmon it had it coming for him! why?!.

While my inner dramatic dialogue was going on I happened to burst out screaming my head off, startling the two adults above me "Eh Karin whats wrong?!" I cry until I exhaust myself, I was screaming till I was red in the face and while my mother was busy trying to calm me down that man had the audacity to make a comment that didn't help at all. " Heh she looks like a tomato"...Fuck my life...