Disclaimer: I don't own NARUTO or Katanagatari. Let's be honest. If I owned either of these two works, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction right now.
Summary: As she died, Nanami Yasuri believed that her suffering was coming to an end. Unfortunately, the karmic debt on her soul was too heavy for her to pass on as she wished. She is reborn as Nanami Uzumaki, the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi, and the daughter of yet another man hailed as a hero. Will she repent for the numerous sins she committed in her search for death at her brother's hand, or will she lose herself to despair?
Mutsu no Sekai
Prologue: Reincarnation
The Hindu religion dictates that the slot one's given when reincarnated, is a direct consequence of the karma – good or bad – that one's collected throughout their life. This concept was adopted by the Shinto religion, which a majority of the people of Japan practiced.
Nanami Yasuri was no exception to this; at the behest of her mother, she learned the practices and beliefs of the older woman's religion. Up until the woman's untimely death and the subsequent exile of the Yasuri family to the uninhabited island in the small island country of Tamba. Nanami had upheld the values of the Shinto religion fervently, especially with the hand that fate had given her at birth.
However, living the life of an unwanted sword hadn't allowed Nanami to continue to let such concerns like religion to plague her mind long after her father's body was buried in below the earth of their old home some years after their exile.
The only thing she cared about was making sure that he brother would uphold their father's craft, the Kyotōryū – a sword style that uses no sword, and requires the practitioner to turn their hands and legs into "blades" with enough strength to steel with no problem. Once that was done, Nanami's focus then shifted towards fulfilling the wish of her late parents as well as her own desperate desire: to die.
As she stood in that temple before her brother and his chosen master, Bita – one of the twelve Deviant Blades – lodged in her chest. Unimaginable pain wracking her body despite the energy from the blade sustaining her body. Nanami felt nothing but excitement at the prospect of ending her life at the hand of her younger brother.
While at first he was reluctant. After all, she had been the one to raise him and for all intents and purposes that made her his mother. Nanami however, wouldn't allow herself to be denied. Attacking his master, severing the white locks that the self-proclaimed strategist seemed to proud of. It seemed was all it took for him to discard any reservations he had in fighting her.
As his hand pierced through her chest, dislodging Bita from her body, a small smile had bloomed on her bloodstained lips. She hoped that despite her last words, seemingly cruel as they were, had managed to reach him. That he had understood what she had actually wanted to say.
Thank you.
As darkness rushed forward to consume her vision, she released one final breath while resting her head upon her brother's chest. Peace; a feeling she hadn't the opportunity to ever feel during her life, had come to her. For a split second, she had felt the calmness that came with death and relished it.
However, like all good things, it swiftly came to an end.
Gasping, Nanami found herself suddenly being brought back into the world. Opening her eyes, she looked out onto the world with blurred eyes. For a moment, she had no idea what to do.
Questions raced through her mind, all ending as reality set in.
She was alive. Not dead as she wished, or being granted the peace that she was desired. Anger filled her at the thought that her brother had failed to kill her, but these feelings were soon washed away as an overwhelming sense of sorrow engulfed her.
The woman, who had lived her life as an unwanted sword couldn't hold back the tears that ran down her cheeks. Nor could she stop the sobs that escaped from her throat.
So deep was she in her own despair that she didn't seem to realize the lack of control she had of her own body. That she no longer was in her own body; the body that had been ravaged by a constant haze of pain. Though later, she would realize that this could be blamed on her long since having grown accustomed to shutting the pain out. It was only as she felt herself drifting off that she heard the pained yet hopeful words from the red and gold blurs above her.
"Nanami-chan, from now on, you're going to face lots of pain and hardship…but be true to yourself…have a dream and have the confidence to make that dream come true….there's so much…oh, so much more that I want to pass on to you…I wish that I could stay with you longer…I love you."
If Nanami had been in her right mind, she may have found herself moved by the sheer emotion in those words. That is, if she had experienced true love and not the twisted love that only those of the Yasuri clan knew. However, after years of dealing with her parents wishing for her death, she would later chalk these words up to unexpected wishful thinking.
After all, not once had her parents shown true, healthy, love towards her. As a result, she could not truly recognize love directed towards herself.
There had been only one person, who shown a semblance of love towards her and that had been her younger brother. Even then, she believed it was more of respect towards her as his older sister and attachment to the person who had raised him following their father's death.
His master, Togame, was the one who held his supposed love as proved by his action following the white-haired strategian's unexpected haircut at Nanami's hand.
As she fell into oblivion, Nanami mourned her lost chance at peace and lamented over the cruelty of the kami in denying her – one so loathed by those who should lover her and herself – death once more.
You failed Shichika…it seems he really was too weak in the end.
Before losing consciousness, Nanami made a small mental note to punish her foolish little brother when she woke up.
End of Prologue
Well this is the new and improved version of Chapter 1 of Mutsu no Sekai. It has been a while since I've honestly looked at this story, or any story here on this site to be honest. Hopefully those who have read it before, and those who are reading it for the first time enjoy this.
