'How did I end up here?' the preteen wondered to their self. One moment they are surrounded by ice mirrors and the next they are in this dark place. 'What. A. Drag." they groaned.
"Who—who are you?" vaguely familiar sounding voices echoed from the void.
"Who?"
"Who?"
"Who?" the voices chanted causing the preteen to cover their ears against the assault.
'Who am I?' they thought. 'Where am I?'
"Who—are—you," the voices repeated louder. The overlapping of voices brought back memories of people asking that exact question. Faces blurred as they flashed before their mind's eye in a a kaleidoscope of images.
"I don't know! I don't know who I am!" the child shouted causing the voices to fall silent for a moment. Before the preteen could ask the voices were back whispers echoing within the shadows. Suddenly the memories came flooding back like a water jutsu overpowered with chakra.
Flashes of lives lived and lost. 'Itama senju is that me?' the boy wondered as the face of a young boy smiling at his older brother before embarking on one last mission—shaking his head confused. 'No, not anymore,' they concluded. 'Himara Hyuga?' 'Imari Yamamaka?' 'Ayame Uchiha?' 'Chiara Uzumaki?' 'Kuro Akabane?' 'Angel Grayson?' 'Gideon Prewett?' 'Denki Hikaru?' Hundreds of names and faces from the ninja world and beyond flashed within his mind as he wondered how it could be possible to be all these people, but none at the same time. 'You—' a familiar sounding voice of a familiar girl whispered at the back of his mind, "we are the shinobi reborn in the shadows," Alice explained appearing behind him. "We have lived by many names and we have died many deaths, but we have come back time after time—world after world. And this time—this life is our last chance to finally be able to stand beside our precious people until they reach their goals."
"How? Didn't you fade?" The preteen asked his voice grew shrill as he finally came to a realization.
"The anime that this world was when we were me is now a reality."
"I'm you?" he said as ghostly figures began to take shape behind the girl. Faces became clearer until suddenly he remembered. The girl—Alice's face grew grim.
"You understand now. You understand that we are all you, or at least who you used to be," the girl announces as the figures began to merge with the boy.
"Who?" the voices asked one last time as the memories solidified within his being.
"Who? I am Shikaoi Nara, son of Shikaku Nara and Yoshino Nara. Twin brother of Shikamaru. Best friend and teammate to Sasuke and Naruto!" Shikaoi shouted into the void. He remembered jumping in front of the senbon aimed at his teammates, and he remembers their mission. Shikaoi also remembers his dream and he refuses to die again before fulfilling them.
An: Sorry about the long wait. It has been a rough time for me; especially with quarantine and school. This is my third time rewriting this chapter, so I hope it doesn't disappoint. If you are confused as to what happened Shikaoi jumped in front of Haku's attack instead of Sasuke. He is remembering his past lives, so it might have not made much sense, but hopefully I'll be able to clear things up next chapter. The names mentioned are made up, and there is no reason to remember them, also if they are actual characters I apologize, because they weren't supposed to be. I will try to update more frequently, but I'm not sure. Thank you everyone who reviewed, liked, followed, sent me a PM and read my story. You all motivated me to not give up writing, so thank you.(◠‿◠✿)Take care and Happy reading everyone! ✫(◠‿◠)✫