Ch.01: Life, Death, and Rebirth

Her name was Yae Nara (奈良八重). Wife to Shonosuke Nara (奈良ショウノスケ), a branch family member of the Konoha's famed Nara clan. Like most members of her clan, she too is a shinobi and reside in the shinobi village of Konohagakure, the Hidden Leaf Village. However, she was not always a Nara, nor was she a shinobi. Her story is one of many pain and sadness.

She was born to the head of the Yamamoto (山本) clan. Yamamoto clan was a powerful clan situated in Fire country during the warring states period; equal in strength to that of Senju and Uchiha. Yet, unlike them, this clan was not of shinobi, but of samurai. However, ever since the formation of the shinobi villages, samurai clans all across the continent, including the Yamamoto clan, began to dwindle. What drove the final nail into the coffin for the Yamamoto clan was the First Ninja World War. Daimyo of the Fire country took notice of the power of shinobi, instead of the destruction they brought. Slowly, the funding from the Daimyo lessened, and without their support, samurais were reduced from noble warriors to simple bandits. It was during this dark time that she was born.

Tragedy struck her even before she was born. Her mother died during childbirth, before she was still in her womb; meaning that she had to be cut out. Her father, instead of being relieved that at least his daughter survived, was bitter that his beloved wife died and the cause was not even a son. It was not unheard of a woman becoming the head of a clan, yet because of her father's bitterness and hatred towards her, he chose to let the clan die rather than training her to become the next head. She spent the next ten years, the entirety of her childhood, being verbally abused and/or neglected by her father. Perhaps, it was the natural order of things, or because of her father's brainwashing, it wasn't long at all until she began to believe that she can never be happy and that she shouldn't become happy. During that time, she went on numerous suicidal missions for her dying clan, perhaps wanting to rid herself from the cruel life she was forced to lead. One of these missions, was the infiltration and sabotage of Konohagakure. At that time, she could never have imagined that this ridiculous mission will put an end to her suicidal tendencies, and completely shatters her belief that she could never attain happiness. This was when she met Shonosuke.

Time flew by fast. By the time she realized, already a decade has passed. She had completely abandoned her mission, happily married, and was a shinobi of the village she was sent to destroy. She had freed herself from the bond of her clan, yet the road to finding happiness was not so easy. First few months after she arrived at the village, she was in 'custody' of the T&I, the Konoha Torture and Investigation Force. They of course, tortured her for information. But, the physical pain was nothing compared to years of abuse she endured from her father. Once they realized that she was unaffected by pain, they took a different approach. Even if they are the T&I, they are still Konoha, and in their infinite kindness, or perhaps naiveness, they decided to give her therapy. She was confused at first, not having experienced such kindness in her life. She thought that no interrogation or torture could ever get her to reveal any information. Yet, there she was, talking until she was hoarse, craving this new found kindness.

Once the T&I was sure that she was sufficiently Konohafied, she was allowed to live within Konoha as a civilian, with certain travel restrictions. This way, even if she was still loyal to her clan, she would not be able to send information back. She remained under constant surveillance from the Anbu, the Special Assassination and Tactical Squad, even after she was released, and probably will remain under surveillance for a long time.

Getting married was not an easy process either. Even if Shonosuke was of the branch family, he was still of the prestigious Nara clan. When he announced that he will be taking Yae as a wife, he was met with fierce resistance. The verbal argument between him and the clan continued for several weeks, and it heated to the point that there was a talk of expelling him out of the clan. In the end, seeing that Nara clan's infighting could weaken Konoha, it was the Third Hokage who ended the fight; with simple words of wisdom.

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

It needed not be said that she had to work hard, to gain the trust of the clan. Once she became a Nara, she was taught to use ninjutsu. She chose to mainly focus on iryo-ninjutsu, medical technique, and fuin-jutsu, sealing technique. Mostly to avoid any more suspicion by learning any offensive techniques, thinking that this also may cause trouble for Shonosuke as well.

The thought of childbirth terrified her. Part of the reason was that she didn't want to be like her mother, not being able to spend time with her child. But, what terrified her more was the thought of Shonosuke becoming like her father. She also imagined about all the things she couldn't do with her mother. To ease the pain, she thought about many things; some happy, some dark. The pain was overwhelming, but she was happy. Soon, she would be a mother.

Sound of crying filled the room, as the sensation of pain was replaced by an overflowing joy. Followed by a voice of a nurse announcing it to be a boy. But, as always, life was cruel to her. At that moment, the nurse's eyes widened and blood dripping out from the mouth. The cause, quite visible, as it pierced through the nurse and the baby she was holding.

"Traitor."

A deep voice, full of hatred, echoed through the room.

"NO! No." Yae cried.

Shonosuke, who only a moment ago was holding his beloved wife's hand, jumped out to engage the assailant. His kunai, clashed against a sword. No, not just any sword, it was a katana. There was no doubt, the assailant was a samurai, one capable of infiltrating all the way to the Konoha Central Hospital. He knew instinctively, that this enemy was strong, most likely stronger than him.

He was angry. The happiness he had built within Yae over numerous years, this samurai shattered it in a second. But, he couldn't let his anger consume him. He was a Nara, he had to stay calm during battle, and ensure victory. A simple strategy came to his mind. Drive him as far away from Yae as possible, all the while making as much commotion as possible. As soon as he finished brainstorming, he put the plan into action.

Yae rolled off the bed, and crawled towards her now soundless, motionless baby. Up until now, she was afraid that she might not make it through the childbirth, but she never imagined that it was the baby that would die.

"Why…" She cried. She crawled desperately, yet at every step of the way, pool of blood hindered her advance. Her hands slipped, unable to get a good grip to propel her forward. It took about a minute for her to reach the baby; though for her, it felt like hours.

Once she got a clear sight of her lifeless baby lying in front of her, all energy and strength she had until a moment ago, seemed to dissipate right out of her. She simply sat there; defeat, dejection, hopelessness, all apparent in her expression.

No, she refused. She refused to be the one to be left behind, again. Anger finally flared. She would not simply sit there and let her father and his clan win. She won't let him cause her any more suffering. She won't let him cause Shonosuke any more trouble. There was still a chance. A chance to 'heal' Shonosuke and her's happiness.

During her study of fuin-jutsu, she came across a certain forbidden jutsu, created by the Second Hokage. She knew the Konoha's reputation of being kind and she had experienced it first hand, so she naturally assumed the Second to be as kind. Which piqued her curiosity, as to what made this jutsu was forbidden. Given her status as an outsider, simply peeking at a forbidden jutsu can land her right back in T&I, but she simply couldn't resist the urge. Saying that she was horrified was an understatement. The technique was of pure evil and immorality, incomplete but seemingly flawless. Her instinct told her to ignore its existence and forget that she ever laid her eyes on it. But, her logical side saw the potential. She studied in secret, learned to cast it, and modified it.

She quickly formed the seal, putting all of her chakra into it. She was afraid. This was the first time she tried to cast the jutsu. She didn't know whether it would work; it might work and she could die, it might not work at all and she could die. But, none of that mattered. She neither bothered to think about the future, nor did she care; she may have been married to one, but she wasn't a Nara.

"Please come back, Shinji (シンジ)." She placed her hands onto the baby and cast the jutsu.

"Meido Tensei (冥土転生, Otherworld/Underworld Reincarnation)"


His name was Shinji Kato (加藤真志). It was a nice sunny morning of March. He was walking down the street with a batch of comic books in each of his hands. He was happy and sad at the same time, it was truly an odd feeling for him.

He was happy, because he has just finished the grueling exam wars (AN: For those who are unfamiliar with Japanese or Eastern culture, 'exam war' is a struggle of graduating student to enter into a prestigious establishment.) and he was victorious. Starting April, he will be an university student. He will finally be able to cast away the shackles of high school and, in the eyes of society, can be recognized as an adult. What made it even better was the fact that his crush will also be attending the same university.

He was sad, because the university was far away from his house and he had to move into a dorm. Which meant that he couldn't bring every little childhood memories with him. Why? His parent's were strict, they now saw him as an independent adult and had no intention of playing storage keeper. So, here he was, carrying all volumes of Naruto, heading towards a secondhand bookshop to sell his treasure.

It happened so fast. He saw his crush walking across a crosswalk with some friends. He also saw a truck in the background, heading towards the crosswalk. Something was wrong, the signal for the traffic was red, yet the truck showed no sign of slowing down. He dropped the books and dashed. He had confidence in his sprinting ability, and surely enough, he made it just in time. He slammed into the group, with his arms extended, pushing them out of the path of the speeding truck. He realized the moment he made contact. He screwed up.

He never would have imagined that binge reading his treasured manga through the night could come back to bite him like this. He misjudged, miscalculated, his momentum, his strength. He didn't take into account the degradation of muscles that had been occurring for the last half year, as he had spent every waking moment sitting in front of a desk, waging war. He could have realized this. If he had just properly slept. He could have chose to tackle them, instead of choosing to cushion the impact with his arms. If only his mind was clear…

Alas, it was too late now.

It hurt. She wasn't expecting to be suddenly shoved so forcefully, especially in the middle of a crosswalk. She had hit the ground hard. Not only that, but because the forward momentum of the push was hard, she slid as she made contact with the ground, scraping her, hands and knees. She was surprised to see that it wasn't only her, but her friends had also been pushed. She decided to face their assailant. For all she knew, the assailant could attack again, if not, at least she could get a look at the assailant's face. She was surprised. It was Shinji. She knew him, she knew that he liked her, she knew that he was kind, which was all the more reason to be surprised. She had to admit that she was playing 'hard to get', but for him to lash out like this, she was disappointed and angry. Whatever his intentions were, she wasn't about to take this violence lying down. She made sure that her anger showed and was about to reprimand him. She thought he may retaliate, but he simply stood there, smiling at her, with a hint of sadness. Then, she saw it, the reason why. Guilt gripped her, regret followed. Oh, how wrong she was. He was always gentle and kind, there was no way he would resort to violence for such a petty thing. She reached out to him, but he was gone; where he was a second ago, there was only row of tires.

He instinctively knew that his mistake would be fatal. At least he was able to see her before he would die. He saw her beautiful face, and the expression of surprise she wore. He saw the injury she sustained from his action and saw her expression turn to anger. He understood; under any other circumstances, he would simply look like a creep that can't express affection properly. He smiled; he wanted to give her a happy last impression, he did not want her to remember him as a bloody and crippled corpse that he will soon be. He saw her expression change, into that of sheer horror. Then, he felt it. The unforgiving force that shattered his arm, broke his ribs, and cracked his skull. He was knocked off his feet, squished against the front of the truck, gravity tugged him and sucked him beneath the truck, clothes and skin ripped and shredded by the asphalt pavement, and finally freed from the truck and the remaining momentum rolled him for several more meters.

He saw a single white and puffy cloud floating in the clear blue morning sky. The pain coursed through his body. New and exciting university life awaited him, there was still goals he hadn't achieved, he had dreams and ambitions, he still had so much to live for. Yet, he felt no grief, no regret. 'At least it was me, and not her.' He thought. He saw something obscure the sky. Oddly enough, he recognized it, more oddly 'it' was very much fictional. He wanted to observe it more closely, but the injury never gave him the chance. He slowly fell into unconsciousness.

'It' loomed over his still, unmoving body. It had a scowling face resembling that of an oni (Japanese demon). It's fierce eyes unrelentingly bore into him, scanning him. It's translucent arms, covered in black marking of dots, lines, and tomoe, extended towards him.


The samurai was indeed strong. The difference in equipment didn't help either. Shonosuke was only armed with a kunai and several shurikens. The samurai on the other hand, was armed with one meter long katana, not to mention the thick yoroi (samurai armor) he wore. Only advantage Shonosuke had over the samurai was his ninjutsu. However, that required time to form hand seals, which the samurai had no intention of giving. Fortunately, Nara ninjutsu needs only one seal. He made a jump backwards, consecutively throwing the kunai to halt the samurai from advancing. As soon as he touched the ground, he formed the rat seal. Shadow shot out to capture the samurai. The samurai noticed the jutsu, but being in a corridor prevented him from dodging. Shadows connected, yet before Shonosuke could act, the samurai pumped his chakra into the katana. The katana glowed as chakra covered it; then it flashed and sparked. The intense light emitted from the lightning affinity chakra disrupted the shadow, releasing the samurai. Shonosuke immediately threw his shurikens. Which turned out to be a mistake, as the shurikens bounced harmlessly off the samurai's armor, leaving Shonosuke unarmed. The samurai charged.

"Kage-Kubishibari no Jutsu (shadow-neck binding technique)."

A young yet commanding voice rang throughout the hallway.

Shonosuke looked over the samurai. There, with one knee on the ground and hands forming the rat seal, was the main family's prodigy, Shikaku Nara. His plan worked. While letting his kunai clash against the samurai's katana, he made sure to make as much noise as possible. Behind Shikaku, he also spotted the couple of Anbu units, which he knew as Yae's surveillance.

Shadows in the form of hands stopped the samurai's movement, wrapping around and up one of his legs, continuing up to the torso, where it split into two. One of which wrapped around his right arm to disarm him, the other proceeding up to the neck. In response, the samurai began to feed chakra into his katana again, making it glow.

"Not happening."

The light surrounding the katana abruptly dissipated, as it fell to the floor, together with a severed arm. The Anbu units that appeared with Shikaku were able to observe how Shonosuke's Kagemane no jutsu (影真似の術, Shadow Mimicry Technique) had been dispelled and thus were able to anticipate the move. When the sword began to illuminate, they shunshin-ed (瞬身の術, Body Flicker Technique) themselves right next to the samurai. One of which unsheathed the tanto (短刀, short samurai sword commonly utilized by ninjas), and proceeded to cut off the flow of samurai's chakra to the katana. The other jabbed a karate chop into the back of samurai's neck, knocking him out. As expected of the Anbu, the speed in which the criminal was apprehended, was quite fast. Seeing that the samurai was subdued, Shonosuke quickly made his way back to the room.

He came into the room at full speed, slamming open the sliding door. He was worried. He knew that Yae was physically strong enough that childbirth won't have any ill effect. But, her mental health was a completely different story. Knowing her life, he worried that losing the baby would break her. This is why the sound he heard surprised and confused him. Cries of an infant was filling the room. As he entered the room, Yae looked up to meet his gaze. In her arms was the crying baby, seemingly unhurt. It was odd, she was not familiar with medical ninjutsu, especially not the kid that can fix an piercing wound. But he didn't want to question it. He was just relieved; and more importantly, Yae seemed happy. That's all he cared about.

"Look, Shinji's fine…" Yae spoke weakly, seeming from a chakra exhaustion.

"Shinji, hmm. Good name." Shonosuke responded, making sure to sound reassuring.

A moment later, Shikaku came into the room followed by couple of medic-nins.

The samurai was apprehended by the Anbu and was sent to the T&I. Shonosuke hoped that one good thing will come out of this ordeal and Yae would be cleared from surveillance.


This is the story of how the 'boy out of world' came to be and how he will learn to live in this new world, to survive and become the one feared as the 'Reaper'. Let the journey begin.