Chapter Text
I wasn't sure how I passed. Maybe I was hit by a truck? Maybe I was murdered? Maybe my passing wasn't so dramatic and I died peacefully in my sleep. Regardless of how I had died, I knew I was dead.
Before I died, my life was pretty average. I attended school and graduated, I had plenty of friends, a brother, loving parents, the whole shabang. I was about to go to university, something I was excited for. It was a shame.
Where was I now, you may ask? I didn’t know. For a while after I died, everything was blank. I couldn't think, I couldn't see, I couldn't smell. I could only feel. I felt warmth, like something was wrapped around me, like I was buried in a very warm and wet blanket. That’s all I could feel for what felt like another lifetime, and yet that 'lifetime' flashed in the blink of an eye. The reality I'd known, my peaceful slumber, had quickly become a bright, screaming world with cold air and lots of pain.
That was how I was born, utterly confused, cold, in pain and with a hell of a lot of sensory overload. Who knew that being born sucked so bad? I now know why babies cry when they're born, my second birth included. I cried and cried and I kept crying all night. And I mean, who wouldn’t cry after waking up to giant, scary hands hauling you around right after your entire world changes in a blink of an eye. I couldn’t process a thing- and at the time I couldn’t remember my past life at all, as you might expect from someone with a newborn brain.
It took me a year to fully regain my memories, and during this time, I learned about what was going on around me. As memories slowly trickled into my developing brain, I found out about a few things. First of all, the fact that I was an infant again. I eventually registered that I’d been reincarnated. I may not have fully recovered my memories at the time, but I did deduce that I had a past life after a few months. It wasn’t just memories that came in - the wisdom and knowledge from my past life had also come to me, and for some reason everyone was speaking Japanese to me.
At first I thought that I’d been reborn in Japan. It was certainly a possibility. If I was reincarnated, It wouldn't be a stretch to be reborn as a snotty little Japanese kid, there are only so many places around the world. And through listening to my parents speak, I found out that my name is Daisuke, a Japanese name.
Speaking of my parents, I was learning about my mom and my dad, or I suppose my kaa-san and my tou-san. I didn't want to forget about my parents in my past life. Kaa-san, who’s name turned is Hazuki, was a kind-hearted and nurturing woman, she had an energetic and air-headed personality similar to my old life's mother. She had straight black hair and eyes as black as a void, though the color never downplayed the light in her eyes. While I stopped crying as much as I used to since regaining my memories, she always comforted me with a smooth, warm voice.
Tou-san's name is Kichiro. He has curly brown hair and blue eyes. He, much like my kaa-san, is also kind and gentle, and they say opposites attract. I highly doubt that saying considering how similar my new parents were. Tou-san is just as kind as kaa-san, except he is more reserved and seemingly more mature. I have fond memories of him holding me on his lap while reading books to me during cozy evenings. Though I miss my old parents, I quickly decided that I love my new parents. I loved the way they stared at me in wonder as if I were the most interesting thing in the world, I loved their gentle words. I loved Kaa-san’s food and Tou-san’s beard scratching my face whenever he picked me up.
They were everything I could’ve ever asked for in a parent.
Interestingly enough, they both looked rather young. Honestly, they still resembled teenagers to me, looks-wise at least, they seemed closer to the age group of 18 to 20. They must have had me pretty early on. I wonder if that came with any drama…
I was born with similar features to both of my parents. I retained kaa-san’s black hair, but instead of it being straight like hers, I inherited curly and messy hair from tou-san. My eye color was the same as Tou-san’s – blue like the sky. These features seemed awfully rare, I mean, how many dark haired people do you know, especially Asian, with blue eyes?
“Daisuke-chan!” A voice called out to me lovingly, drawing my attention from the wall I’d been absent-mindedly staring at.
It was a normal day. I’d been woken up and had breakfast with my family and I was currently sitting on the floor playing, as a kid should.
Despite my technically more mature mind from my memories, something about this body made me feel more childlike. Things like playing with toys and acting goofy became more natural, and my imagination worked like it did when I was a kid.
“Wha-, Kaa-chan?” I called back, trying to get used to this body’s clumsy motor functions. My tongue was stupidly large and hard to control. My prior years of life experience did not help me overcome the lack of a developed body.
I looked up at her expectantly, peering curiously at her jet black eyes. In contrast to their color, they glinted with excitement.
“You look bored, Daisuke-chan! Do you wanna go out?” she asked in a pushy tone. Was she the bored one here? This wall over here is pretty entertaining. “We can go anywhere together! Just mother and son!” she added, widening her grin.
I wasn't really bored, but going somewhere with kaa-san certainly beat wall-staring. “Park?”, I asked, still trying to remember the newly-learned Japanese word.
“Great idea, sweetie!”, kaa-san beamed at me, lifting me into her arms with ease before she started dressing me so we could go to the park. It’s still kind of weird to be hauled around like this, but less work for me, right? “Tou-chan?” I asked, wondering if he would come as well.
“Tou-chan can’t come with us today, he’s still at work.” She frowned a little before smiling again. “You can see him at dinner and talk all about our day when he’s home!”, she said, attempting to console me. I nodded cheerfully in response.
We got outside and as we walked to the park, kaa-san was giving me a talk about how to be safe and to be nice to other kids. I mostly tuned this out. I heard this kind of talk enough for one lifetime. I can behave just fine, thank you very much!
We eventually reached the park. “Kaa-chan! I play! Bye!” I said, waving clumsily at her before crawling as fast as I could to the playground. I went to the sandpit to indulge all of my childhood whims. Ah, I’d almost forgotten how it’s like to be a kid. I still considered myself an overgrown child at age 19, especially considering I was still studying off of my parents’ money. The only thing stopping me from acting genuinely childish was the fact that it was a bit embarrassing to climb around a playground in public. I used to climb on those spider web thingies even as a teenager, so long as nobody was looking, except for my friends or family.
Time flew quickly and I spent my time building sand castles, which were just ugly piles of sand. The sun dried out all of the sand and it wasn’t wet enough to hold any real shape. Crawling around the playground and getting covered in sand was basically a rite of passage, and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity. Being a child again was a bit frustrating, yet it was very nice to not have a care in the world.
As the sun was falling, kaa-san called me back with a gentle smile. “Daisuke-chan! We need to go home soon or tou-chan won’t have any dinner to eat!” I looked up at her with a dumb look before crawling to her, “Okay!” I shouted before being picked up.
“You make the cutest little faces, Daisuke-chan! Did you have fun?” she asked brightly, I wiggled around energetically in her arms. “Yah! Suuuper fun!” I answered. Her grin widened, “The state of your clothes clued me in.”
As we were getting ready to leave the playground, someone unfamiliar approached us with a smile on her face. “Uchiha-san. It’s nice to see you. Is that your son?”, she questioned, giving me a curious look.
My eyes widened. Uchiha-san? What kind of name is that? Doesn’t that come from Naruto? It’s not far-fetched that the name Uchiha actually exists in Japan, though. I wonder if I’m gonna get bullied for having this kind of name. It certainly won’t be a challenge to pick on me for it.
“Ah, Natsuki-san!” she greeted, smiling placatingly at her. “Yes, this is my son Daisuke. He’s just so cute, isn’t he?” she responded, catching up to this Natsuki-san.
It turns out that Natsuki-san, or Natsuki Fubuki is the landlord for the apartment we live in.
“Natsuki-san, it’s been too long since we caught up. Would you care to join us for dinner?” kaa-san asked, sending Natsuki-san a pleading look. “I would love to join you for dinner, but I am busy this evening. Perhaps another time?” she responded, looking slightly guilty. “Of course! Come anytime!” kaa-san responded.
Classic friendly Kaa-san.
“I will have to take you up on that sometime soon, Uchiha-san. I haven’t seen Toyama-san in a long time. Well, I must get going. See you soon.” Natsuki-san finished, waving as she walked away. “Come on, use your manners, Daisuke-chan!” kaa-san whispered to me, before I snapped to attention and nodded before waving at Natsuki-san with kaa-san. “Byebye!” we both said, waving her away. She seems like a nice lady.
Afterwards, kaa-san and I stopped by the market to find the ingredients that kaa-san would need to make dinner. I noticed that while I have reincarnated in Japan, it looks like I was reincarnated into the past? There was still electricity and television, but I saw no sign of a telephone, cellphone, flat screen, computer, or anything past the technology of the 70’s. At least there IS electricity… As we entered a part of the market that I hadn’t seen before, kaa-san pointed up to the bright horizon.
The silverlining is that if Naruto hasn’t been released yet, maybe I won’t get bullied at school.
“Look, Daisuke-chan!” she urged me cheerfully, sounding very excited. She was pointing all jittery towards a mountain.
I looked up to where she was pointing, blinded slightly by the light shining in my eyes from the sun on the horizon. There I saw it. A monument that looked kind of like Mount Rushmore. 3 faces were planted on it. “Whas’ dat?” I asked kaa-san, since I really didn’t know what it was. I never heard of a Japanese monument like this.
“Daisuke-chan, that’s the Hokage monument! It shows the faces of the Hokage of Konohagakure! Our great leaders who work hard to protect us all!” she exclaimed.
The Hokage monument? Konohagakure? Was I not in Japan, but in the Naruto world?
“Eh?” I choked out, frozen in shock.