I always thought I was quite ordinary, average, a dime a dozen. To be fair, for most of my life, I truly was. Not dumb, but not a genius either. I managed to graduate high school, attend a good university, finish my degree, and secure a job. However, after all that time, my luck ran out.
One day, I woke up to discover that my body was still lying in bed, unmoving, pale, and unresponsive. It took two whole weeks for someone to find me. Apparently, my friends were worried since I hadn't answered their texts. Let's just say the following months were very awkward for me. After all, who else can say they went to their own funeral?
Eventually, the sadness and awkwardness transformed into boredom and depression. There were no other ghosts to talk to, no friends to have fun with, no new food to try, and no sleep to pass the time. The only things I carried with me were loneliness and a complete void of feeling.
Not long after my funeral, I began to experiment with my new existence. After all, ghosts are supposed to haunt abandoned buildings, so I figured I must have some special powers.
Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy. I could sense some form of energy, but accessing it was a different story. Imagine trying to move a limb you never knew was there.
Thankfully, meditation exercises helped me move that energy around my body. The question of what I could do with it motivated me. At first, the answer was "not much." However, once I learned to direct it properly, I discovered I could touch objects as long as I channeled this power.
My saving grace turned out to be teleportation. It wasn't instant; it took a few seconds for each jump, but it was easy to use. With this ability, I traveled the world, searching for others like me and seeking new knowledge.
Finding other ghosts proved to be the most challenging task. Three months had passed since my death, over a month after my funeral, and I still hadn't encountered anyone.
None could see or hear me, and worse, I felt an unsettling sensation, a constant, nibbling feeling, like a sixth sense had sprung to life.
Something was watching me. Was it close? Far away? Or was it just my imagination? These questions raced through my mind, but so far, nothing happened.
It was cold, colder than I remembered since my death. Oddly enough, I was in a subtropical environment, and I had never experienced such a temperature fluctuation before. The feeling of being watched returned, practically screaming at me that danger was near. I looked around, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
I decided to fly up to get a better view. As I ascended, the feeling intensified, and then I noticed it, a disturbance in the air, small and almost imperceptible.
Without my enhanced vision, I would have never caught it. I concentrated, channeling more power into my eyes to see clearly.
"Show yourself!" I shouted, my voice booming. The disturbance grew in size, slowly taking shape. The creature fixed its many gleaming eyes on me, aware that it had been spotted. The stalking was over; now the hunt begins.
For a few seconds, we stared at each other, but suddenly as a cat, it lunged. I barely dodged the wild pounce, flying away and towards a city below.
"I need a weapon, fast." As this thought went through my head, the creature was almost upon me again. I flared my power outwards, creating a barrier of sorts, stopping it dead in its tracks but the feedback was immense, so powerful was the charge I was flung backward.
Making sure I could pass through the wall, I flew into a house, searching for something to arm myself with.
I dashed through a wall into another room, finding myself in a living room of sorts, but there was nothing I could use. I kept running, channeling more power into my eyes, desperately trying to find anything.
My vision shifted drastically; walls became almost see-through, revealing blurry objects and people behind them, and the creature was hot on my heels again.
I ran into another house, but the creature stopped.
"Hopefully, it means it can't go through walls like I can," I murmured under my breath, taking a moment to look further.
"Hiding is all good, but I don't think this creature is going anywhere," I thought. "On top of that, I noticed it by sheer dumb luck." Another depressing thought crossed my mind: I needed to fight it now or risk another ambush.
Once more, I focused, straining my eyes, but my effort bore fruit.
"Four houses away; hopefully, it's real and not a cheap replica," I said to myself, plotting the fastest route there. The moment I burst out of the protective walls, the creature followed, attacking whenever it could.
Its six powerful legs propelled it closer and closer to me. I panicked; it was almost close enough to bite me, and the nearest wall was still far away.
Suddenly, the beast was impaled by a tendril of silvery energy. It was stunned and angry but not hurt, at least not enough.
I continued running, approaching the momentary safety of the house, but as I moved, the tendril moved with me, coming out from the beast and allowing it to move again.
I walked toward my weapon of choice: a British cavalry saber mounted proudly on the wall.
"Lady luck smiles at me for once," I sighed with relief. The saber was real, sharp, and well-made, even slightly decorated around the knuckle guard. The steel and gilded knuckle guard glimmered in the dim light. It was time to fight.
"Let's go; I can do this!" I breathed out, hyping myself up.
Thankfully, while running through the houses, I had some time to analyze the beast. It had a feline build, similar to that of a tiger, but its jaws protruded forward, almost like a crocodile's.
It had six crimson eyes, and while it had six legs ready to pounce, only four seemed made for locomotion. The front paws were larger than the hind ones, with claws like no animal I had ever heard of, clearly designed for downing and holding its prey.
On its back, a small pair of protrusions resembled tiny jet engines. It loomed over me like I was just a snack, ready for another round.
"No time like the present," I sigh, stepping outside with my saber, charged with my power and ready to fight. The moment I exit the house, the beast is upon me.
"How I wish it was a spear… or a hunting rifle," I complain, bracing myself and channeling more energy into the blade. However, this time, something is different.
The beast releases an aura similar to mine, yet distinct, if my aura is a controlled current, the beast's is a raging storm.
A small hurricane of black whips shoots towards me as the creature slows its charge, now choosing to advance more cautiously.
I swing my blade, unleashing a wave of silver wisps to counter the beast's attack. I don't stop moving, dashing out of the way of its assault, just in case. The wisps collide in a flashy display, cancelling each other out with a bright flash. Now it's my turn to attack.
I swing the saber again, focusing intently on the desired effect. I grunt in exertion as a wave of brilliant light shoots from the blade, advancing toward my enemy.
The beast tries to dodge, but the alley we're fighting in is too narrow for it to avoid the attack completely. A black, tar-like substance splashes as the beast is finally wounded.
Unholy noise fills the area as the injured beast lunges into melee, but this time I am ready.
There's no need to try something new; I already know how to stop its charge. A bright wall of power forms in my vision, solidifying into a shield on my right arm. I brace for impact, lowering my stance and tilting the shield upwards as the beast slams into it, its momentum forcing it to roll over the shield and past me.
Without hesitation, I swing my left arm upward, slashing at the beast's legs. A flicker of silver light flashes as I sever its hind left leg.
However, there's no time to celebrate. The beast crashes to the ground and into a nearby wall, letting out that horrible sound again.
My right arm feels like it was hit by a train, dull pain surging through it.
"For the first time since my death, I feel something!" I grin, dashing toward the downed beast and bringing my saber down on its neck. With one last silver spark, I sever its head, black tar oozing from the corpse and onto my boots.
"Thank the Lord for historical fencing," I chuckle. "Maybe the next thing I encounter will be friendly," I mumble, trying to stay positive but not getting my hopes up.
Almost six months had gone by without further complications. Aside from spending much more time training with my abilities, there was really nothing else to occupy me.
The fight against the beast had been enlightening; it opened my eyes to new possibilities and compelled me to strengthen the combat aspect of my powers. As a result, I focused on that training.
I now had the ability to create small spherical bullets and long, sharp needles to launch at potential targets, and even my bootleg version of Getsuga Tensho had improved dramatically.
However, the most significant improvement was my speed. In an open space, I would never have been able to outrun or fight the beast effectively; what had won me that battle was my strategic choice of the battlefield. I knew that next time, I might not be so fortunate.
That's why I trained to enhance my teleportation ability. This new version only worked within my line of sight but was nearly instantaneous, just a mental command and a whoosh sound. Combined with my near-perfect 360 vision, it became quite deadly.
I ducked under yet another attack. I had already taken down two beasts, but five more were still attacking me.
I teleported above one of them and impaled it with as many needles as I could conjure. It cried out in pain as it was skewered and pinned to the ground below. I kept moving, but another beast was upon me almost immediately. It approached from the left, and I could sense another beast closing in behind me.
I activated my silvery shield to block the closer beast and redirected it, causing it to crash into the other.
Once again, I teleported, unleashing a razor-sharp wave of energy at the two downed beasts from the side. With one out, three were dead, leaving three remaining.
"This is getting really repetitive," I thought aloud.
The surviving beasts regrouped, freed the shackled one, and charged toward me, surrounded by a whirlwind of black energy.
I waited, and at the last moment, I vanished, reappearing in the center of their triangular formation, and with a surge of power, I unleashed a flurry of needle-like spikes.
Each beast was impaled by no less than ten needles. As the last of the three collapsed lifeless on the ground, I surveyed the scene around me.
What had been a simple parking lot was now littered with the corpses of beasts that no one would ever see.
These last six months have been hellish. More beasts have started to appear. At first, they came one by one, like the first one. Soon, however, they began to hunt me in packs, coordinated teams of three, then four, and even more.
In my fight against the first beast, I felt pain for the first time since my death, but now I only feel exhaustion; the attacks never cease for more than a few days.
"Why?" I kept asking myself. "Why are they coming for me? Am I supposed to be here? Why didn't I pass on?" Those questions gnawed at my mental health more and more each day.
After defeating another pack of beasts, I sat atop a lonely skyscraper in the city where I currently resided, watching the sunset with my legs dangling over the edge. "It's been over a year and a half since I died," I murmured, wondering how much longer I could go on before madness took me.
"You know, sitting on the edge like that is dangerous," a soft voice said suddenly from behind me, startling me. I jumped up, channeling power into my eyes, and turned swiftly around. There stood a woman who looked to be in her twenties, dressed in clothes that would fit right in at a punk concert, an amused expression on her face.
"You are not supposed to be here," she said, sounding perplexed and seemingly unconcerned about the saber pointed in her direction. My eyes narrowed.
"Where am I supposed to be then?" I asked, lowering my blade slightly. "As far as I know, there is nowhere for me to be but here," I clarified, noticing her raised eyebrows.
She studied me as if she were peering through my entire life and death, frowning slightly.
"It should be impossible for a soul to stay behind like this," she said quietly, almost in a whisper. "But somehow you are here, slaying my delivery beasts with ease." Her voice took on a more accusatory tone.
"Delivery beasts? What are they supposed to deliver? My disembodied corpse?" I asked rapidly.
"Can I even die again? Would I be, like, deader than I am now?" I continued, looking at her with mild confusion. I already had a strong suspicion about what she might be.
She sighed. "They deliver lost souls to me in their stomachs. And no, you can't die twice." She sounded slightly exasperated, but at least she stopped staring at me. "You must be quite skilled; a single bite from them and your soul would be eaten and delivered to me-"
"I had no choice. Getting torn apart didn't seem like a good way to go, you seriously need better delivery boys." I said with a hint of snark in my voice.
"What took you so long? I've been dead for a while." My question hung in the air for a few moments.
"You're special," she said, looking me over again.
"At first, I believed you were one of those rare displaced souls, forced into a new world. They tend to cause more trouble than they solve, but some minor deities find them 'fun' to observe." Her face momentarily wore a small frown, but it quickly dissipated.
"However, it turns out that for the first time in history, a soul was left behind, unprocessed and never to enter my domain on its own." She looked saddened by that, or perhaps intrigued. Then, her expression brightened as if she remembered something.
"Oh, where are my manners? You can call me Marzanna. I believe that's a name you should be familiar with." She chose a name from the culture closest to me, a Slavic goddess of death and winter. I thought it quite fitting.
"What now? Are you here to take me beyond?" I asked, hopeful that this isolating nightmare was coming to an end.
"I can't," she said, shattering the last bit of hope I held. "Your soul is too strong for my beasts to take now, and since you never entered the afterlife, your soul is not mine yet." I slumped down against a small shed nearby.
"There must be something you can do. I can't go on like this!" Despair filled my voice.
"You would have to live and die again for me to claim your soul. That much should be doable, but not here. Your life here is over." She spoke as if commanding reality itself to make it so.
I looked up at her again.
"Not here, you say? Would that make me one of those displaced souls you mentioned?" I asked, my voice shaky.
"Unfortunately, yes," she replied, sounding unhappy about it. "There are some rules for this, so let's make it interesting for you." A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes, and I wasn't sure I liked that look. She gazed into nothingness as if searching for something, then grinned.
"This should be good, a doomed timeline and a world you should be familiar with. What do you say?" But it felt like an offer I couldn't refuse. I nodded.
"What world? Doomed timeline? What do you mean?" I probed for more information, sensing that she didn't have to answer.
"The world of ninjas and mystical powers," she explained. "The supposed main character died with his parents on the day he was born." She continued,
"You will be reborn into a new family in this world, and no, you do not get to choose which family." Her voice became harsh during the last part of the explanation. I thought for a moment.
"Well, at least I know where I'm heading. Is there something I can choose?" I asked, feeling hopeful.
"You can choose the ninja village to be born into," she paused for a moment. "I will also allow you to pick one elemental Bloodline that is not the Wood Release, and three special talents." The look in her eyes made it clear this was her final offer.
"Thank you. Please make Konoha my new home," I said, feeling truly relieved.
"I will take the Crystal Release as my Bloodline." I paused, thinking. "As for my talents, I will choose perfect chakra control, a talent for Senjutsu, and Fuinjutsu." Marzanna looked pleased.
"I'm glad you understand where you're going. Your soul has some inherent advantages already. You should be able to manifest your willpower into a potent weapon, for example." She looked thoughtful for a moment
"As your exact case has never happened before, I have no idea what other inherent advantages you may receive. But careful, you will still start out as a baby." She warned me, but I was undeterred.
"If this world's Naruto is dead, does that mean it's up to me to try and save it?" I asked, wondering what was expected of me.
"Do whatever you want. If you impress me, I might even make you my subordinate," Marzanna cheered, almost giddy.
"Well, that's not concerning at all," I murmured. "Thank you, Lady Marzanna, truly. I will do my best in my new life," I managed to stammer, standing back up.
Marzanna stepped closer to me and gently touched my chest, where my heart should be, then she pushed me. I fell backward, and my vision blurred and started to fade.
Before I could hit the ground, my sight failed completely; I heard no sound, and I felt no impact.
For what felt like months in complete darkness, I was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. But eventually, after what felt like an eternity, I saw light.