The world returned to Enji in scattered fragments. First came the monotonous mechanical beeping, then came the sharp smell of medicine and anti septic.His chest ached, he could feel his limbs and joints aching, he tried to move his body but couldn't muster any strength.
He slowly opened his eyes, the bright light forcing him to squint,then his vision cleared.He saw an unfamiliar white cieling. He shifted his gaze sideways to see a curtain that separated his bed from the surroundings.
He could hear someone rapidly shuffling and giving instructions along with some painful groans and sobbing.
Once he got used to the environment, he struggled to sit upright and found himself wrapped in bandages that reeked of medicine, bound tightly like a mummy.
His body was in a far better condition than when he was buried in the rubble.
He was confused for a moment until the memories started pouring in, huge nine tailed orange monster that wrecked havoc, pain , fear and most importantly the second set of memories that flashed through during his sufferings. He was surprised to find out that his mind was recalling everything with absolute clarity.
His surprise only grew as he started shifting through the second set of memories . He sat still as those memories played in his mind.He could recall his name, Enji, same as his original name,his appearance,his family ,his friends and even his death .
He knew he was a soldier as his missions and his training were as clear in his mind as he had done it yesterday.
Then came the memories of a show called Naruto that he watched during his childhood.
He was dumbfounded astounded and horrified, he thought he was going mad from all these events, but the memories were so detailed and clear in his mind that he couldn't write it off as mere hallucinations.
He sat reviewing these memories as he sat there trying to come to terms with his situation.
He was not sure what had occured. He had two hypothesis:
one ,he had replaced the soul of a poor child near death,
Second,he had awakened dormant memories of his past life that had been sealed deep within his soul.
He could recall the life of 'Enji the kid' in detail , so for his peace of mind and sanity ,he chose to believe the second one,that is,his dormant memories had awakened rather than him snatching the body of a kid.
After coming to terms with the two set of memories and organising his thoughts he began to check upon his body. He tried to move his arms and legs, even though it was painful it was a lot better than he remembered. He also felt his senses were far more sharper than ever before.He could hear the hospital staff constantly buzzing around to care for the wounded, the groans and grunts from the injured,even the reconstruction of the village happening outside. His vision too had improved vastly, he could see the individual leaves of a tree that was a distance away in incredible detail ,through the window near him. He also observed the birds and their movements. When he concentrated he could see the movements of their wings,every twitch of their muscles and each movement in slow motion. As he was soaking up his surroundings ,feeling his enhanced senses he heard the sound of shifting curtains and saw a lady with white lab coat on, with a konoha head protector,holding a file, most likely containing his data, moving towards him.She motioned him to lie back down and measured his vitals; her brow shot up in surprise as the evaluation progressed . She checked everything once again and turned to face him.
" You are getting better sooner than we expected,kid. At this rate you can be discharged by tomorrow. The rest of the treatment like wound dressing can be done at home or you can visit the hospital when needed. No need to stay at the hospital .
Enji had expected this as he found the changes in his body, and indeed his body felt stronger than before. The doctor continued " Let me inform your gaurdian and you can be discharged tomorrow as soon as possible"
It was then that Enji realised that he was still 7 years old and was a child even by the standards of this messed up world. This brought back memories of his mother , he had not seen her since the nine tails rampage, he did not know how to face her or whether she would notice his change and what would be the consequences of it.
He was immersed in his thoughts when the doctor coughed interrupting him, rechecked her files and with a sympathetic look informed him of his mother's demise.His mother had rushed to the streets,disregarding the danger, to find him during the attack and had lost her life in the commotion.
He felt his heart tighten, his breath stagnate as he processed the information. After his memories merged,his combined age of two lifetimes was more than his mother's . He knew her only for 7 years,less than one fourth of the time he had lived, but the memories,the feelings everything had been genuine. He was jolted awake by the soft call from the doctor, he regained his bearings and felt tears rolling down his cheeks.
He was not a child, he had met with situations of separation and death ,plenty of times in his past life.
He knew he could not wallow in grief. Life has to move on.He had once heard a wise man say ' the dead lives on through the memories of the living' .His mother would not want him to live like this. He would live his life to the fullest like she would have wished.
The doctor was surprised to see him come to terms with it, she thought that he was too young to understand the weight of death.
She reviewed the files, consoled him and asked him to rest a bit more and left to contact his guardians.
Enji laid back on his bed, his eyelids felt heavy, this day had been exhausting. He was drained mentally and as he fell into sleep, memories of his family resurfaced.
His mother had been an active shinobi,when she met his father, a special jounin from the sarutobi clan. They had fallen in love during their missions as a team and decided to marry and settle down. His mother retired from active duty and became a housewife. Couple of years after their marriage, Enji was born.
When Enji was 3 his father was killed during a mission and his mother had been taking care of him since then. His father had inherited a smithy from the clan and this was the only income source for the family after his father had passed way.
The family had moved out from tha clan grounds and they had a small but cozy home near the civilian section of the village.
Enji did not know who would be his future gaurdians, nor did he want to think more about these troublesome things. He slowly drifted to sleep as he immersed himself in sweet memories that he had of his family, as this was the only thing he could give back to his mother; keeping her alive through his memories.