He felt his head bounce off the metal wall. He wasn't sure, but the odd heat coming out of his skull could imply that he was already bleeding. His breathing was intense and very agitated, which could be a symptom of the adrenaline that ran through his veins, or of the general intensity of the whole situation.

He looked around and saw that most of the people had already abandoned their seats. The bus appeared to be almost completely empty. The only ones who remained inside were him, the driver and the three thieves who had tried to threaten all the passengers.

He felt the pounding of his heart in his head. Or maybe it was the pulse of his blood. Whatever it was, his head was pounding. So much so that he felt dizzy.

He felt something come out of his abdomen. Immediately, his brain told him to put his hand right there. It was wet, but he didn't want to look down. In fact, he looked up.

The thieves were unkempt and dirty. Clearly they did not look like that out of pleasure or by choice. The situation had gotten out of hand, and the terror and nervousness on the faces of those young people simply confirmed it. As soon as one of them put the knife-its blade painted with a red liquid-in his pocket, they all ran away.

The bus driver was unable to stop them and instead dedicated himself to attending to him, the injured boy. He got down on his knees and removed the trash that had been accumulated in the hallway. There lay the boy, holding his hand over the wound that had been inflicted on his abdomen. His gaze still showed concern and a certain disorientation.

"You're going to be fine. I've already called the police." The middle-aged man assured. He was known in the city for being one of the friendliest and most cheerful bus drivers, but by that time, even his smile had collapsed.

The boy shook his head. It was of no use to him to have false hopes. If he didn't feel pain, it was because he had little left on that plane of existence.

"My sister..." He was barely able to speak, gasping loudly with each word. "Where...?"

The man understood almost immediately and nodded his head. "She ran away with the rest of the group, I think they were your friends. Actually, you saved all the passengers."

He sighed. He sighed in relief that his intentions had been successful. He sighed because, despite the fact that he was slumped in the aisle of a bus, dying, he had managed to save many people from criminals who could've committed a tragedy.

He smiled with relief. He smiled because his sister would be coming home that night. He smiled because although he would never see her again, he left her a great example.

Even if he had wanted to, it was not possible for him to say anything else. With his eyes narrowed, he felt the adrenaline in his body subside. He felt his consciousness slowly fade, while his senses became unintelligible.

Then, darkness fell. And so it remained all around until suddenly there was a small hint of light. That flash flickered several times, among which he could swear that he saw a kind of wheel spinning without end.

Whatever the case, he appeared out of nowhere in the middle of what looked to be an endless green bridge. That structure, made of a material similar to wood, had a red railing that prevented those who traveled that road from falling into the golden clouds that completely covered whatever was below.

The bridge led directly to a temple, which had a Sino-Japanese architectural style. Its roofs were green, while the pillars and windows were the same red as the railings of the bridge, and the concrete walls were white. That was the unmistakable image of a Pure Land; a common belief in East Asia, where Buddhism was most popular.

He wanted to swallow hard, but he was unable to. He had been very shocked by the fact that he had come across that scene, and not the golden gates of heaven, with an old bearded man holding the keys.

He soon realized that the reason he was so far from the temple was because there was a huge line in front of him. What surprised him more was that it was not people or anything alive that was lining up, but a kind of white clouds, almost like steam floating in a round volume that did not disperse.

But what scared him the most was realizing that his current form was identical to those. Is this how souls looked?

He couldn't scream or jump or anything, because he was just a strange white cloud floating around. He could only think, and that was very abstract compared to what the word normally describes.

That was the afterlife. At least, that was the logical conclusion, in his opinion.

The line was endless, at first, but it moved much faster than he imagined. In a matter of about five minutes, although it was difficult to perceive time, he was already in front of the main entrance to the temple.

It had no doors, it was wide open. Inside was a simple office, although the furniture was too large. Behind the desk was a red-skinned giant with a thick black beard. He wore a purple suit with a red tie, as well as a purple hat with two holes so that his horns protruded comfortably.

"Hmmm." The imposing giant was busy reading a document, so he had a pair of glasses on. After a few seconds, he put the paper back on his desk and placed his gaze on the cloud of steam that was right in front of him.

"Having analyzed your trajectory, it seems fair to me that you transcend the cycle." His deep voice only added to his already imposing aura. He snapped his fingers and returned his body to that soul.

He appeared to be a monk, wearing yellow and red robes. In addition to the shaved head, of course. A golden halo appeared above the monk's head, who bowed in gratitude. The giant nodded his head and gave another snap, making the man disappear completely. The only thing left in place was a small explosion of smoke that quickly dissipated

"Next." He ordered in a neutral tone of voice. All this was routine for the giant.

The most curious thing about that red giant is that he knew its name. Enma Daio, the guardian of the afterlife in the universe of...

"Next!" Shouted the giant, whose voice resounded throughout the temple.

It was his turn, so he floated into the office as fast as he could. He placed himself right where the monk had been before, over a beautiful red carpet.

Enma gave him a look of annoyance before reading the same document. It immediately became apparent that something was wrong, for the giant frowned and narrowed his eyes. He read at least three pages before dropping his little book.

He looked at him again and raised an eyebrow.

"You're not from here."

"Huh?" That was all he could think of. Well, of course he wasn't from there, he had never been dead before, or so he thought.

The giant put his hands over his face, clearly annoyed. Then, he sighed and opened the drawer under his desk. From there he took out another little book and began to read it.

He could only watch intently as all this unfolded, for he had no idea what was going on.

"Damn it." He said before giving his desk a little slap. "These things always happen to me."

He raised his hand and picked up the blue phone that was in the corner of his desk. He waited patiently until someone answered. In the meantime, he played with the landline cord.

"Yes, Enma Daio." He began. "Yes, it happened again. Can it be returned or do we have to proceed with compensation? Mm... Mhm... Hmmmm... Well, I understand. Do we have spare bodies left? Ok, perfect. I've already spent a lot of time on this. Goodbye."

He put the phone back in its place and got up from his chair. He walked to a corner of the room. In addition to the carpet and desk, it was empty. But then, with a simple snap, a gigantic closet appeared out of nowhere.

Enma searched for something inside with his hands, until he finally seemed to find it. He took it, but when he put his hand out, he wasn't holding anything. He snapped his fingers again and that closet disappeared, leaving the corner empty as if nothing had ever been there in the first place.

He sat down again and cracked his neck. He snapped his fingers once again and then he left his soul form.

Suddenly, he felt that he had a physical form again. He looked down and saw his own arms. They were tanned, similar to his own but with a slightly lighter skin tone. The next thing he noticed was that he was completely naked, so he covered himself as much as he could with just his hands.

"Well. Since you haven't said a single word, I assume you have no idea what's going on, so I'll quickly explain." Enma said in his characteristic deep voice. "It seems that there was a mistake and they transported your soul here, even though you were entitled to another Pure Land. Things like this usually happen more or less very occasionally, but usually the soul is simply returned to its place and the cycle runs its course. You, on the other hand, were one of the rare cases in which the soul becomes incompatible and cannot return. So, there is no choice but to proceed with the compensation protocol."

Still covering his private parts with his hands, he looked up at the giant.

"Compensation?" As he spoke, he noticed that his voice was different, a little deeper if anything.

"Yes. In these cases, back then the souls were sent to the next plane of existence or to hell as appropriate, but now it has been reformed and they are simply reincarnated, if they deserve it, of course. Evil souls are purified before such a thing." He continued, while playing with a pen. "So, I gave you one of the backup bodies we have stored and I will send you to the planet most similar to your home that is in the realm that corresponds to me. I know it will be weird to get used to another body, but that's pretty much what happens to all babies after reincarnating. Believe me, this is better than being sent to hell."

The ogre smiled a little, which surprised the boy.

"Anyway, let's see which place looks like your home." He opened another small notebook and began to read. He let out a yawn.

"So I died?"

Enma laughed. "Of course. What else would you do in a Pure Land?"

The boy blinked in surprise. He was dead. He really was dead.

"Ah, the Earth. They look almost identical!" The giant said with some satisfaction. "Well, I guess there you go. Sorry if it's very sudden, but I don't have much time to deal with these things."

"Wait!"

Enma snapped his fingers at the exact moment the boy spoke.

"Goodbye and good luck!"

And so it begins...

A few notes before continuing though. If you wanna go in fully blind, feel free to skip this!

This mostly begins as a DB story, you'll see, but the Naruto stuff comes into play starting more or less in chapter 6, if anyone was curious about that. Later on, in 2 arcs or so, there might be a third fandom (well, Fifth if you consider the other Toriyama IPs) added to the crossover as well. Though while that is mostly decided, I won't be closed to the possibility of in the end deciding against it if I find that it isn't convenient.