When I died, reincarnation was the last thing I could have expected for me. I thought that maybe I would just fade from existence. Maybe my friend would take care of me in purgatory, and then drag my ass to heaven like he promised. Maybe I would burn in hell for some minor sin I probably forgot about and never properly atoned for.

Never in my wildest dreams would I wake up hearing a child scream straight into my eardrums.

"What the hell bro?!"

I yell out from the shock of it. With my eyes now open I take a proper glance over my own surroundings. I didn't think I would see that clearly ever again, but the colors and sights were so vibrant.

Well, as vibrant as a hospital room with a teal flooring and beige walls could be. For a few seconds I thought that maybe a miracle occured and I was saved from my predicament. But the boy at my right along with the doctor made me realize something was off.

I wasn't as tall as I should be, and the doctor was wearing a strange headband wrapped with a metal plate on the front. A symbol was carved onto it for all to see, just like the ones in Naruto. Wait, now that I take a closer look, the design is definitely from Naruto.

"I told you he was going to be perfectly okay, Doc!" the childish voice spoke again. "I just needed to wake him up!"

The doctor looks at me with a face of total incredulity. This went from a little strange to incredibly confusing. I looked down to see my arms not only restrained on the bed with thin leather cuffs, but far more fit and small than they were before. I turn to face the doctor.

"Um, what village is this?" If my suspicions are correct, this should be a question that needs no answer.

The doctor writes something down on a clipboard he was carrying. "We are in the Hidden Leaf Village," he says to me. "Do you remember your name?" Wait, my name? What was I supposed to say? If I say my name they will surely find it way too foreign. But something does pop in my mind. A name, one that isn't mine. "I believe it's Yura, sir," I say to him. Hopefully I got the pronunciation right. He gives me a small smile, and writes a little more. I don't think things are going in my favor.

But the doctor only fell into silence, he gave a scroll to the child and he started writing more and more.

But the doctor only fell into silence. He gave a scroll to the child and started writing on his clipboard more and more. Total silence followed for nearly an hour with only my thoughts to help quench my anxiety. In that time I noticed two great things. One is that the whole conversation I just had was told in what seemed to be Japanese. And two, that boy is surely way too smart. Even though he seemed to be just a seven year old, he had read the scroll the doctor gave him without issue. I knew the language, and even I couldn't understand a single bit of it.

But before I knew it, someone entered the room where I was. It wasn't until now that I realized there were no windows in the room, my only possible escape to the outside being only one door leading elsewhere. Why was I confined to this place? For all their show of confidentiality, they let a child enter here. Maybe the kid is in on this too?

Just then, an old man enters the room. He has a gaunter face, with lines coming down the corners of his eyes till they reach his cheeks.

He wore red and white robes with the Kanji for Fire on the back and on his hat. But something was clearly different about him. It wasn't that he was no longer a two dimensional drawing.

But the fact that when he entered the room I could barely breathe. It took a few seconds of him looking directly for me to want to book it past the door he stood at leading to what looks like a normal hospital corridor. I wanted to run away from it all just to end this sensation, this atmospheric pressure falling upon me.

But I didn't. That was a stupid idea. The only option I had was to sit and wait. But as quickly as it came, that pressure disappeared.

The immense fear that started to get a hold of me faded away as if it never existed.

"What, what was that?" I said in complete confusion. At that, the two chuckled amongst themselves. No doubt I must have said something stupidly obvious again. Of all the mistakes I made in my life, to think not watching that damn show would be one of them.

"Don't worry Yura, everything is okay. You're safe here," the man in the robes said.

"First things first, let me reintroduce myself. I'm Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, the leader of this village. Understand?"

"Y-Yeah, I think I do."

"Good, good. Now, why don't we start by telling us what you do remember. Please, anything you know is fine. Leave no stone unturned."

Just moments ago his gaze was that of a lance piercing through me. Now he looks at me with the relaxed gaze of a gentle grandfather. I don't know what to say. But this can only be a joke right? There is no way this is real. Oh who am I kidding, of course this is real. The air in my lungs, the bed I'm lying on, not even lucid dreams could replicate the awareness that comes with reality. This is undoubtedly real, at least as far as my senses tell me. I take a single deep breath.

"I don't have a single memory of the Village of the Leaf," I say, "but I do possess memories of other things and places."

I said that with as much conviction as I could muster, which to be honest wasn't a lot. The Hokage though, didn't seem surprised in the slightest about what I said. He merely thoughtfully stroked his short white beard at my response.

"Don't worry about the details, I only needed to confirm your collaboration." His voice was calm and sure, as expected of a village head.

This is surely not what I was expecting. None of this was.

"Collaboration? What do you actually mean?" I ask him, my confusion clear as day.

"I think an explanation is in order. Mr. Yamanaka would you be kind enough to get out of here?" The doctor bowed and went outside in an easy gesture. But the kid remained sitting down, still absorbed in the scroll that the man passed to him. Must be a pretty advanced scroll, because I couldn't decipher the contents.

"Aren't you going to ask him to leave too? He seems smart for his age, but he's still just a kid. Is he your grandson or something?" The kid perked up, his face showed some measure of sadness but he still gave a gentle smile and spoke up.

"What do you mean Yu? I'm your brother, of course I am gonna to be here!" Instantly, I began to piece together what was happening. My sudden death, my awakening in a whole other place, that suspicious doctor, and now this kid who calls himself my brother. I almost didn't want to hear the truth myself, but…

"Your brother is dead, Kaito. His body has been restored, but the soul is long gone. And in its place was this man." The Hokage said it with total solemnity, one that I don't think I could muster. He wasn't just stating a fact, he was offering his condolences. The kid was silent at this, drooping his head and wiping his tears as they began to form. But then he perked up again, and said something I didn't expect.

"Then I guess introductions are in place. My brother may be dead, but now I have to take responsibility," he rose up and looked at me. "Good evening, my name is Kashin Kaito! From now on, consider me your new brother!"