Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series.

A/N: Criticisms are fine. Don't like, don't read. I apologize for any mistakes in advance.

Beta: VivyPotter (She beta-ed the first part, the short stories have yet to be checked)

~Chapter 1: Living and Dying~

He wasn't sure when it had started. When the darkness faded and the next time he opened his eyes, he was looking at life another way. He was human, but not always. When sleep came, he was greeted by, not dreams or peace, but another life, through another pair of eyes.

The first time it happened, he remembered clearly.

He had just finished nursing, like the baby he was supposed to be and when he dozed off, all he knew was that he was in a small warm place- that was just warm, so warm that he never wanted to wake up again. But he did when something started pushing him, urging him to go, out of the warmth and comfort and into the world.

He protested, and struggled as he left the cavern with a loud yelp as if signaling his arrival. He felt something rough licking him and cleaning him. It was also then he noticed some changes. His eyes would no longer open, nor would his ears. Something grabbed his neck and he was placed in a place of comfort. Following instincts, he went forward and sucked. Warmth went down his throat and he fell back to sleep.

Only to wake back up as Naruto- the baby no one wanted. He didn't understand anything back then. No baby that was fresh to the world would, but he understood more as he grew, living many, many lives.

His first life besides Naruto was a dog. He was born from one of the Inuzuka dogs. He played, he wrestled and most of all, he was happy. He grew faster and matured faster, which also affected the way he thought when he was Naruto. As one of the clan dogs, he was named Shinku but died earlier due to an illness. He perished when he was only five years old.

But five years was enough for a dog to understand many things, and more importantly, for Naruto to learn. At five, he was different than the others and slept far too much since the life of being Shinku was better than being Naruto. He often stayed as Shinku by resisting sleep so he was moved to the hospital since they were worried he had poor health due to his frequent coma-like sleeps.

Immediately after that, he opened his eyes to another world. The sky, where freedom was known to exist the most. He cracked himself out, chirping and chirping as his parents flew down, waiting for this day. The other lives he would have would always be preferred to the one where he was known as Naruto.

xxxxx

Hiruzen worried. He worried a lot these days, especially about Naruto. He watched the child sleep, wondering what was wrong. The doctor said he had no health problems, and there shouldn't be a reason for his sleeping so much. He woke up less and less, and always with a gloomy sigh as if he wished he could continue sleeping forever.

But he did wake up more once in a while after a desperate Hiruzen cried and wept while he clung to the child, begging him to not go any deeper than he was going, if only to be the small sunshine in his life and a reminder of old memories. So the child woke up at least once a day, if not to eat and talk with the old man.

xxxxx

Iruka hated the Kyubi like most people and he hated the Jinchuuriki that held the Kyubi until he met him. So frail and small, just lying in the hospital bed sleeping without a care in the world, like he wasn't a cold-blooded murderer. He hesitated and froze when a small voice peeked out and asked him:

"Do you hate me too? Do you want my life too? If only to end his?"

He knew what he was asking and he immediately felt self-hatred. For a child to ask such a question so calmly, as if he was nothing but the trash on the side. Was the Kyubi the child? No, but then why did they blame him? Because it was easier to lose themselves in anger to stop grieving?

"No. I used to, by now I understand what a fool I have been." Tears appeared in the corners of his eyes as he apologized to the small child that was sacrificed for the greater good. But the child only smiled sadly and bitterly as his eyes closed and he drifted back to sleep with Iruka by him. His new guardian.

So he would take him out every day, if only to give him some fresh air and take in the sights he could never see behind the hospital doors. He taught him things and told him many stories.

"Ne, I think you would make a good teacher."

And he was given a sunny smile as a smile also slipped onto his own face.

"A teacher... I could try."

And so he became one and found he loved the job, even though the kids left much to desire, but it was fun. Teaching the new generation, but he was sad that Naruto wouldn't be part of it with the way he was confined to the hospital in his weakened state. But he still wanted to help him, so he also taught him the knowledge he gave to others when he was awake, of course.

xxxxx

A wolf howled, and a child ran. He ran as fast as he could from the devastation behind him, only to slip and fall onto the icy earth. He cried and curled up into a ball before something nudged him and he backed away from it as fast as he could once he noticed what. A huge Arctic wolf, but clearly one that was still young, but no less dangerous.

He whimpered as the wolf came nearer and closed his eyes, waiting for death. When the pain did not come, but instead a gentle warmth, he was surprised. The wolf had curled up around him and he could see a bit underneath the fur. It was a female.

"I'm Haku." he greeted timidly and the wolf flicked an ear in response. "Can I call you Fuyu?" the wolf only gazed at him so he assumed it was fine. He gave a big smile, stretching his face so much that it almost looked painful. "Nice to meet you, Fuyu!"

The wolf only nudged him into her fur further and he fell into the darkness known as dreams.

xxxxx

"Naruto?" Hiruzen reminded the child kindly for him to eat, since he needed all the food he could get due to his state of constant sleeping.

He looked up into the old wrinkled-filled face and asked, "How do you know when you've made a friend?" He was not given an answer, only a soft pat on the head and a sad smile that seems to say: "You'll know."

But how? He felt himself being pulled away since the other side was calling him. And so he let the question go, the next time his eyes opening as Naruto, he would already have his answer.

xxxxx

"Fuyu! Fuyu!" Haku cried desperately as he clung onto the fur of the wolf that had kindly taken care of him for the past few months.

Naruto, in this life known as 'Fuyu' could already feel his life slipping away, having experienced death many, many times. But this time, his death had more meaning since he was defending his first friend from a ninja that was a blood-line hater. He nudged the ice-user with his nose.

"Fuyu?" the she-wolf only gave a small smile through her eyes before looking past his shoulders into the eyes of another. He turned around and clung harder onto the wolf. "Who are you?!"

The mummy-like ninja stared into the dying wolf's eyes, getting some kind of message before her eyes flickered to Haku's face, and she died with a peaceful mind. Her eyes, forever as blue as the winter ice with fur just a white as snow and beautiful even in death, closed- and with that, Fuyu left the world.

"Fuyu!" Haku cried and cried, and the ninja waited for him to finish, silently giving his own form of respect to the wolf that managed to bring down a high B-ranked ninja without any training of the ninja kind.

"Come on, kid. We're leaving and take the wolf. We need to dig a grave."

Haku followed silently, trying to bring Fuyu's corpse, only for the man to pick her up for him because of his lack of strength.

"Thank you."

No more words were needed as they left the small clearing, the snow coming down gently as they left. The winter would forever be a reminder for Haku, for the wolf was named after the cold harsh winter that was sometimes also gentle and warm.

xxxxx

With gentle thin wings, he soared through the sky. The sun, bright and blazing set his wings in a flurry of dashing colors as he blended in with the field below him. Small antennas waved with equally small legs as he enjoyed his transformation from a caterpillar into a beautiful Monarch butterfly.

A single old man lay in the fields, a mask covering his face with wild black hair spread out around him. He landed on him, ever so gently and softly before fluttering away again.

"This world... peace shall only come through illusions..." and the man disappeared as if he never there before.

But Naruto flew on by, hearing the words and found himself agreeing with it, if only a bit. Living many lives, he understood life was about conflicts. The strong will live, while the weak will die. Humans just demonstrate this in a crueler way than the natural environment.

Always so greedy, always so hungry for more.

The time for peace for human only happens after much bloodshed.

But afterward, the same cycle shall only repeat because only the old understand while the new need to experience the pain themselves to truly value peace, if only for a short time before it will be shattered by the next generations. And so it goes on, and on.

~Side Story 1: Waking Up Too Early in the Process~

He had been reborn many, many times; and often woke up at different parts of his other life. He sometimes woke up in the womb, where he felt the safest; and other times, when his mother was in the process of birthing him or he was already born and was seeking for the safety of his new mother. But the oddest time for him was when he wasn't even ready.

A time when he was a sperm.

A very interesting event that he would rather not experience again, but this was only found out after he went through the entire process.

All he knew at the time was that he was awake and swimming somewhere. Where, was the answer he did not know; just that it was his duty to keep swimming with the many others that swam with him until he ran out of energy and died. Or like some of the others, died when they finally arrived after all their hard work due to some fathomless reason. He himself made it with energy to spare, and was quite happy that he was not instantly killed when he squeezed through the huge bob that he now knows was an egg.

It was the size that an ant would see when looking at the planet. That was just how tiny he was in comparison and he silently thanked him mother who provided most of his body. But while he was successful, he watched with a rather pitying mind as others bravely moved forward to fertilize their own chosen eggs, only to die upon reaching it. Others were more successful and he knew he would soon have siblings.

And based on the numbers, many, many siblings.

The times after that where the cell went to work with the genetic sorting and all the boring stuff of creating his body was spent away as Naruto. He tried as much as it was humanly possible to resist sleep and slept once every three days. This was so uncharacteristic of him that they were starting to worry about him. Now instead of trying to keep him awake, they were trying to get him to sleep. Ah, such was his life.

He was later born as a tiny mouse, thankfully not a lab one.

~Side Story 2: A Grudge from Fish Days and Rabbits~

Naruto has a small grudge against Kakashi. It was a perfectly fine and legal grudge since the man caused him to die. Twice.

Once in his apartment, in his tank from food poisoning. And the other from being eaten.

That time, he was reborn as a small Koi, and was very lively and loved in his pond. The pond owner was probably an acquaintance of Kakashi's and gave him one of his precious Koi - which was Naruto - as a gift. The silver haired ninja had been clueless on what to do with the fish and left him in his bag for several days before getting a small tank for him to live in... With nothing in it! He almost died from staying in the bag for extended time as well.

Still, it was one of the most boring time in his life and he was tempted to jump out many times to see if suicide could help get rid of the boredom. But before he could even do that, his stomach had gone bad on him and he died from that. It must be because the man gave him something a fish shouldn't be eating: Spicy Yakisoba.

The second time could not be entirely counted against Kakashi since he was eaten and killed due to him being a rabbit. But both his life as a fish and rabbit were rather short, not even ranging for more than a month or two before getting killed by the same person in a row. So no one could blame his for his grudge.

He would had wanted to enjoyed life as a rabbit a bit more before he died, but alas alas. It was part of the ecosystem where animals die to be fed to another. He was just one of many.

But truly, getting killed twice in a row by the same person pissed him off.

"Kakashi, you need to take care of your fishes better." he could at least hold a grudge over that, and he wheeled himself away from the confused man.

'How did he know I had a fish before?'

A/N: Odd, I know. I don't think I was entirely sane when I wrote this. Maybe this was because I was in biology when I wrote this... So it is accurate at least.