I knew I wasn't in the same place from the very first words my mother had spoken to me. As she held me moments after I was born, murmuring words that I did not understand. They sounded familiar, but it was not the English I was used to. The intent behind the words was still clear though. They were the comforting words of a mother to her child.

As she quietly spoke to me, I noticed her grip getting weaker. Her breaths were coming out in strained huffs of air. Her eyes grew glassy and dim. I had seen this look all too often in my first life. I had seen it on my many roommates, and I am sure I had that very look on my face in the minutes before my death. As soon as I noticed what was going on, I tried my best to understand her. I had been in this world for less than a hour, and I was already losing my new mother. I was desperate to hold onto anything she gave me, even if it was words of comfort in a language I did not know. In the end, the only word I was able to understand was my new name.

Mai.

It ended up being the only name she gave me. As my mothers words grew soft, and I knew her time was almost done, I tried to give her a parting gift. I smiled for my mother, as a thank you for bringing me into this new world. Her last breath seeped out of her, and I was taken from her arms by someone new. Swaddled in warmth, and already tired from the events since my birth, I started to fall asleep.

Drifting in slumber, I was vaguely aware of being scared. Sleeping was too familiar, too similar to how I drifted after my death. I dreamed of the void I had floated in. The warm waters were no longer comforting, they rocked me like a boat in a storm. I was scared, I had a new life now. I had something to go back too, and I didn't want to be stuck in this hell again.

The sound of a infant crying brought me out of my sleep. The person who had been carrying me, the same one that had taken me from my mothers arms, had brought me to a place. This was no longer the room I had been born in, probably not even the same building. I was brought into a room full of other infants. The person carrying me set me down in a crib, one in a line of many. I came to the slow realization that I was in a orphanage. I guess my mother had been my only family.

Settling down into my crib, I faintly noticed the person who had carried me here was leaning over me. I tried to study their face, only to be stuck on a single feature. They were wearing a konaha hitai-ate. I was not only reborn, I had been reborn into the Naruto world. I had a second chance at life in the place I had dreamed of through out most of my first life. I didn't even notice the person leaving. I was too caught up in thoughts of what the hell was going on.

I felt myself getting overwhelmed, too many thoughts crashing down on me. Closing my eyes, I started to make a mental list of the things I knew. I need to have some sort of plan if I was to survive this. I started with the list of things that I knew at this moment.

I had been reborn.

I had been reborn into a fictional universe that I had spent a good portion of my previous life learning about.

I was presumably a orphan.

Breathing in deeply, which was not much with my tiny lungs, I tried to think about what I had dreamed of doing in this world. If I was in this story, I needed to know when I had been placed. I also had to figure out what exactly I planned on doing. Do I change anything? Would my presence here set off some twisted butterfly effect? Taking another calming breath, I began to list the things I knew I wanted to do.

1. I want to make my favorite people happy, if it's even possible

Thinking of my favorite characters, and the awful pain they went through, I knew I wanted to ease that somehow. My first life had been filled with both physical and emotional pain, and in this world I knew I had a chance to change it for them. I had felt naruto's pain of a lonely childhood. I knew what it felt like to not have my family with me, I knew how alone sasuke felt. I felt kakashi's pain, of having everyone you love leave you. Making friends in hospice care never ended well for me.

2. I want to go to the Academy.

I knew that I was in a unique position. Depending on where in the timeline I had been placed, I had a good amount of knowledge on the events to come. If I were to become a ninja, I had a chance that I could influence the future to make it somewhat happier. I could try to prevent the worst from happening. If I changed too much, it could all go wrong though. I would have to be careful.

3. I want to become a medic-nin.

In my time before, I had love the idea of medical ninjustu. The idea that somehow, almost injury or sickness could be helped, or even cured. Spending most of my life with cystic fibrosis, the thought that it could be magically fixed made my heart ache. I never wanted another person to have that sort of life, and if I could change that, I knew I would take that chance.

But before I could do anything in this new world, I would have to grow. Closing my eyes, I drifted off to the sound of the other orphans around me. A infant can't change much, but eventually, I will change this world. I have a second chance, and I'm not going to waste it.