Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or its characters.


My favorite kind of fictional characters growing up were the ones willing to sacrifice themselves; the heroes who were willing to die for the greater good.

Harry Potter. Obi-Wan Kenobi. Jack Shepard. Neji Hyūga.

I never realized how much these characters would come to screw me over until it was too late.

I had gone through the life with the sense of invincibility reminiscent of all youth. Why wouldn't I? I had gotten to an exclusive Liberal Arts College despite my many fuck ups in life. I had a loving mom that accepted me for being gay. I had a large number of friends that were drawn to my kind personality. I was considered intelligent by many of my peers. All of these factors led me to make a decision that cost me my life.

It was a regular day at my college. I woke up, went to breakfast, and hung out with my friends at my dorm.

It started then.

A buzz from all around the room. The campus text messaging system regarding emergencies on campus. It read "THIS IS NOT A DRILL. THERE IS AN ACTIVE SHOOTER ON CAMPUS. SHOOTER HAS BEEN SPOTTED IN WESTERN PARKING LOT. DO NOT LET ANYONE INTO THE DORMS."

There was a silence around the room. Of course, our dorm was the closest dorm to the Western Parking Lot. There was a nervous chuckle around the room. Someone suggested we barricade the doors. Others suggested we all go back to our rooms. Within minutes of these suggestions, the door to our room creaked open.

He was a kid that I had seen around the campus. He was quiet and unassuming. I never thought twice about him, but looking back at it now, I had never seen him actually talk to other students. Maybe he had been lonely all this time. Maybe something in him had snapped, but whatever it was caused him to take it out on us.

He walked in with a slouch, and both of his hands in the pockets of his oversized coat. His eyes were firmly planted on the ground as if looking at something we couldn't see. It was the same quiet and unassuming walk that I come to associate with him from the periphery of my vision as I walked through campus.

"Hey-" I began. But, I was quickly cut off as he brought one bloodshot eye to look at me. He eyes slid away and looked across the room from person to person. His eyes finally stopped on my roommate, Toby.

I had known Toby for less then a year. But I already knew he was going to do great things. He was the kind of kid that refused to be just ordinary. He had once told me that if he was going to major in a subject, he wanted to be one of the best at his subject. And it showed. Despite taking a hard course load, Toby had a 4.0 at a school known for its grade deflation. Besides this, Toby had been the perfect roommate. He gave me space, yet always found time to visit my side of the room. We had become good enough friends to the point where we had been discussing rooming together the following year.

The room had been quiet this whole time. Everyone was afraid to voice the fear we shared. This silence made the rustle from the intruder all the more poignant. The intruder dug through his pockets slowly pulling out something that was black and metallic. All while doing this, he continued to stare at Toby from across the room.

Obviously, the object he drew was a gun.

And obviously, I reacted.

I had always told myself that I would die for my friends. It was sort of an unhealthy thought, but it was the thought that I had as I hung out with my friends. These people had brought me such joy and were such amazing people. I was willing to make the sacrifice because I knew the world needed them the same way I did.

There was a loud BANG as I slammed into the intruder. I attacked him with an animalistic rage that I never knew I possessed. A sharp pain blossomed in my chest, but I pushed through it and continued to slam my hands frantically against intruder.

How dare he attempt to kill my friends? How dare he attempt to kill Toby, a kid with one of the brightest futures at this college!

The kid laid purple and bruised below me and clearly unconsciousness. I felt a surge of triumph, but the pain my chest became unbearable. I looked down at my chest and there was a scarlet color across my white shirt. I smiled weakly and collapsed next to the in the intruder. I closed my eyes because suddenly sleep seemed like an incredible idea.

I heard arguing around me and people frantically saying my name. I peaked my eyes open. Toby and several of my other friends were standing above me with anxious looks. One person behind them was on the phone, and it looked like they were crying. Why were they crying? Everyone who was important survived.

"Toby?" I rasped.

"Yes?" He replied softly.

"Tell my mom that I'm sorry." I said as my vision began to fade. It was a bit of a cliché, but she needed to know.

I closed my eyes for the last time and breathed my final breath.

Goodbye everyone.


I woke up to what felt like large hands grabbing my bare torso.

When I say large, I mean GINORMOUS.

One finger felt like it could stretch all the way across my body. I started to panic and thrash round. I tried to cast my gaze at the giant, but everything seemed like dimly lit blobs.

Why couldn't I see? Why can't I move? Where I am? Why is everyone so big?

All these questions raced through my mind as I felt these giants lift me.

One of the giant blobs-I still couldn't see clearly- pulled me close to their chest. They leaned their head down and brushed their head against my cheek. I attempted to pull away, but this caused them to brush their soft lips harder against my forehead.

Wait, Lips?

I heard then a whisper. A voice so soft that I probably would have missed it if their lips weren't so close to my face.

"Don't cry, Neji-chan. Mother will protect you" A soft yet strong voice whispered gently to me in Japanese.

It started to occur to me then why everything was the way it was. Why I was so small, and why I couldn't see and where I was.

I had been reborn as a baby to a couple that might have watched too much Naruto.

I had never been the religious sort of person in my first life. I guess that was why it took so long to realize that I wasn't in a hospital because I survived the gunshot wound.

In retrospect, I logically knew that I had died. I had felt a cold feeling creeping up my body as soon as I was shot. I also knew that the nearest hospital from my dorm was over half an hour away. But, would your first instinct be to think that you were reincarnated?

Probably not.

I spent the next 30 minutes being passed around and cooed at. The whole time I refused to say a word. My silence was sort of suspicious, but no one commented on it. I was just lost in the realization that I had died. The idea of the perceived invincibility of youth was a bit played out, and I had logically knew that I could die. But every time I had done something stupid in my life, it had always paid off. I had always been lucky in that regard.

'I guess this would be considered lucky then.' I thought gloomily.

In all intents and purposes, this should be impossible. If reincarnation was real, then I would assume that people don't usually keep their memories or else people wouldn't doubt its existence. I was even born in a situation where I could get fluent in Japanese, a goal of mine that I had never had time to work on. I had taken courses in Japanese for over 5 years which is why I had been able to understand the voice earlier. I was nowhere near fluent, however. One of my goals in life had been to fluent so I could converse with my mother in her native tongue.

'Oh shit, Mom.' A sense of guilt of me washed over me as I remembered my mom. I had loved my mom with all my heart. I was not ashamed to be called a Mama's boy. She had done everything for me, and one of my biggest goals in life was to reward my mom for everything done. College had been the start of a road to a doctorate and well-paying job so I could finally give my mother the lifestyle she deserved. This could never happen now that I was here.

All of these depressing thoughts ended up tiring my newborn body, and I quickly fell asleep.


I spent the next month in a daze. The feelings of guilt I had felt earlier refused to leave. Why had I been chosen to live again? You could argue that what I did was selfless, but I just couldn't see it that way. I left my mom alone. My father had died the year before me, and it had just been my mother and I. I left her alone. After all she had done for me, she would get the news that her son stepped in front of a gun for kids he had known for less than a year rather then stay alive for a person that loved him for his entire life. My mom didn't have much friends, she had been much too busy with her job and paying my for education to have that time. I could only pray that she wouldn't be alone during this time.

These thoughts kept me in a constant state of melancholy. I would often lay in my crib and sob. It wasn't the kind of loud, obnoxious crying babies did; it was the kind of pathetic weeping that I had done particularly well in my previously life when I was upset.

My new parents noticed my peculiar behavior, and it frightened them. The second time they caught me doing this, they brought me to the doctor because they were afraid that I was in pain. After the check-up, the doctors concluded that there was nothing wrong, I was just sad.

Of course. no parents knows what to do with this.

The next time I cried, my new mom picked me up and brought me close to her chest. I sniffled and looked up into her face. My eyesight was still pretty bad, but I could tell she was smiling.

"Neji-chan" She spoke gently, "Mother will always be there for you,". I felt a warmth expand through my chest with these words. Yet, my heart still ached for my old mom. I began to cry even harder. She rocked me gently again and continued to whisper these sweet things into my ears.

A cycle began. Every time I cried, my new Mother would be there for me. It's said that mother and children release hormones that help the mother and child bonding process. I don't know if this was the reason, or if I was enamored by her kind nature and persistence, but I became utterly devoted to her. She became my new everything, Life had given me a chance to be the best son to a new mom, and I refused to let her down the same way that I did my first.

Soon my eyes began to develop, and I started to notice the little details that I had missed earlier. Mother and my new father had pupils eyes the color of white opals. Despite my initial thought that my parents must like really Naruto if they named me Neji, there was little technology in the house outside of an oven and other kitchen appliances. What really sold me was the feeling that I could feel inside of myself.

No, I didn't mean the feelings of grief and guilt I had mentioned earlier. No, I meant this moving flow of energy I could feel in me.

It flowed through me like a blood, but unlike blood I could shape and change it.

'Is this Chakra?' I realized with a jolt.

I hadn't just been reborn.

I had been reborn in the anime Naruto as the character Neji Hyūga .

There was also the thought I wanted to ignore but couldn't. A thought that sent fear down my spine as I dared to think it.

Does this mean I'm meant to die at the age of 18 again?


Author's Note: After years on this website, I thought I tried to write something