Chapter beat'ed by emily4498

My parents always told me that if you believed in God and prayed, then all of your wishes would come true, but it was a lie. No matter how many times I prayed and begged for something, if the Divinity didn't want to, he didn't grant me my wish. All of these lies I'd been fed since birth, they're just there because the elders want to believe there's someone out there who would look upon us and protect us. At least, that's what I thought until now.

"Hurry up! You're walking too slowly!" I didn't walk any faster as he pointed the gun in my direction. That's exactly what I wanted.

"E-Eryn…" I send a smile at the little boy who was crunched near the wall with the other kids and Pablo then looked at the seven-years-old girl who was held by the man. She had a nasty bruise on her cheek and was on the verge of collapsing. That bastard.

As soon as I was near him, I kicked his shoulder which allowed me to retrieve the girl and I quickly did a foot sweep kick. "Pablo, get the kids out of here!" My sparring partner didn't hesitate and picked up the injured girl before leading the other kids out.

"You're going nowhere!" His voice was followed by a gunshot.

I don't quite remember what happened after that. There were a lot of screams, I think I even heard my name being shouted before I felt an immense pain on the right side of my abdomen. I remember having the gun in my hand, the trigger being pulled and the sound of a gunshot. And I watched Pablo hold my body while crying, I watched the man lying in his own blood, I watched as the police came inside and that's when I finally closed my eyes and smiled.

After seventeen years, the Divinity decided to finally grant me my wish.

I wished to die.

/

"Ume Haruka" Those were the first words I heard before I opened my eyes and realized that my wish hadn't been granted. I wanted to rest in peace, not be reborn.

/

Not even a week after I was reborn, I realized exactly where I was and I smiled. After all, in this world of shinobi, chakra and Jinchûriki, one didn't live long. All I had to do was to be patient.

/

At six months old, my parents knew that their child wasn't like the others. I was more attentive, I grasped things easily and rapidly. I started meditating.

At one year old, I was labeled as a prodigy and they – my parents – did their best to hide me. They didn't want me taken away to the academy for the battlefield.

At two, I mastered the concept of chakra and could easily stick a leaf to my forehead.

At three, my father was killed in the war and my mother went into depression. There was nothing to restrain me anymore so I started going out and training outside, hoping someone would see me and send me to the academy. I did catch someone's attention, but not the one I would have liked.

Not even two months after the death of my father, my mother was also killed on the battlefield.

A week after, I was recruited into ROOT.

/

ROOT was a…strange place, no one cared about others and cared even less about themselves. Everything they did was for the sake of Konoha. I understood why the moment I was placed between the other orphans.

"In ROOT, you have no name. You have no feelings. You have no past. You have no future. There is only the mission."

Brainwashing kids is relatively easy. They're children after all. If you repeat the same thing enough time, they'll believe that they don't have name, feelings, past or future. They'll become tools for Konoha–no, for Danzo. Brainwashing like that wouldn't work on me, but they didn't even have to try because if they wanted me to be a tool, I'd gladly become one.

That's how, at four, I had my first kill. Or should I say second kill? I had my first kill in my previous life.

I have no past.

It didn't matter anymore.

I meet Ao the same day. He was the one to supervise the mission. If I didn't succeed, he was charged to finish the target. He didn't show any emotion – not like I could see with those masks – but he did pat my head when I was done.

After that, I would often see him but we didn't exchange any words or glances. We acted like we didn't see each other but we knew, we acknowledged each other's presence in our own way. Soon, he became my sparring partner. He taught me all about Ninjutsu and most of the technique he showed me were water and lightning based.

I knew that I was growing attached to him, I knew I had to stop before it went too far but I couldn't.

At five, I killed my most cherished person and I didn't show any emotions. I was the perfect tool for Danzo.

/

"Aya-chan"

He never called me Aya-chan.

"Promise me one thing…"

No, I didn't want to. Why did you have to jump in front of it? Why did you let my blade pierce you? I wasn't even trying to wound you, you could have easily won so why!?

"Thank you for everything Aya-chan…" He smiled for the first and last time.

That day, I sat there, with Ao's body in my arms, in a daze. I stayed there for hours.

/

You killed him.

Yes, I did.

Don't you have any emotions?

We don't have… emotions. We're just tools.

Do you still want to die?

I do.

But you can't die unless you fulfill your promise.

I… know.

/

His death was like a slap in my face. I don't know what I've been doing all this time but I couldn't just sit here anymore. I had to do something.

At six, I started to plan and tried to remember everything in order. Obito was going to 'die' soon but I couldn't help him. I didn't have enough power. There was also the matter with Hanzō. I needed a way to contact Jiraiya if I wanted to prevent the death of Yahiko and for that, I need a mission far away from Konoha.

After weeks and weeks of searching and planning, I finally found a way to contact Jiraiya and managed to get my hands on the forbidden technique I was looking for.

At seven, I saved Rin's life with said technique and left the rest in the hands of the Yondaime Hokage.

At eight, a month before Naruto's birth, I send a warning to the Yondaime, as well as the remaining two Sannin.

On October 13th, three days after the attack, I caught wind of the fact that Minato and Kushina were alive as well as Naruto. The two Sannin were still in the village.

At nine, Danzo grew suspicious of the number of missions I was taking alone despite them all being successful and ordered Fū to watch me.

Fū Yamanaka, one of the top two members along with Torune Aburame.

Two months later, when I saved his life from an enemy shinobi during one of my missions, I told him that he didn't need to follow me in the shadows when we were away from Konoha. It went on for a year until Danzo summoned me to his office and made me team captain. Not only was he giving me more power but he was also limiting my freedom. I couldn't make as many detours during missions, not unless I was alone.

At eleven, I decided it was enough. When one of Orochimaru's subjects attacked me, I didn't defend myself. That was supposed to be the end. But I opened my eyes five hours later and found myself face to face with Torune.

The Divinity is definitely against me resting in peace.

Sooooo, here I am again with another edit and with a beta! She really is an amazing person and she knows so much that it literally leaves me speechless. She's been a great help so far and I really thank her for accepting to beta my fanfic!

Moving on, this chapter is really different from the previous version... And, hmmm... Well, I hope you're not too dissapointed with the changes ^^"

As for the hostage scene, just a warning: Do not, I repeat, do not go and act all heroic if you ever find yourself in a similar situation 'cause real life and films/fics/stories situations are different. (Thank you again emily for telling me all this)

Anyway, the title as well as the summary are going to be changed so 'Reason to Live' will officialy become 'Collected Covenants'. (Thanks again to my fabulous beta for that as well)

Sur ce,

Kami-sama