I didn't know what I expected in death. Maybe some complete ending of all thought, or an endless abyss to which I'd spend eternity staring into. If I was lucky, then hopefully a random omniscient being would grant me superpowers and tell me to save the world or something. Actually, I think that last one is brought on by my incessant reading of light novels. Probably a fact that wouldn't serve me well in death. Well, the problem with the unknowns of death was that it is an unknown. I had no idea what I needed to know when I died. There was also no way of knowing that when I closed my eyes for the last time I hadn't counted on opening them once more. On the topic, let me tell you something about baby vision: it's shit. Or at least I thought it was baby vision. I actually had no idea what was going on really. There were blurry shapes darting in and out of my sight as I tried to zero in on what exactly was going on. I felt like I was being tossed around by a madman, and pleaded that that wasn't my parents. There's also the possibility that I've been abducted by playful giants. There was screaming nearby, too. Maybe my own, but really, I felt like I was being hoisted around by humongous beings, what else was I going to do? I had no power over what was going on around me, and as the screaming, my screaming, calmed down I realized that I was being rocked back slowly. The tossing had stopped, and I was finally able to get a grip on where I was. A woman, or someone I thought was a woman, was cooing noises at me. I could barely understand the warble that was the speech of the giant, too. My vision was still blurry, so all I could even point out about her features was long crimson hair. My attention then shot to the place where there was suddenly a person, or giant. I didn't think it would affect my blurry vision too much, but the sudden appearance of a stranger was startling. I swear up and down that I did not cry out. Nope. Never. Okay, maybe a tiny bit. Anyways, the person, giant, guy, whatever that appeared from thin air spoke noises to the woman holding me. He, I really hope genders are similar here, was speaking too fast for me to lock down on any noise, but I felt that, if I was a baby, I would have plenty of time to figure out whatever language that was the norm here. Then there were screams and explosions. Let me tell you, screams and explosions are much more terrifying when you're a small organism being smothered by giants. I take no shame in admitting that I might have possibly needed a diaper change then and there. The man, I noticed he had blonde hair that seemed to fizzle out into blurry spikes, spoke again, pulled my small body into a hug, and placed me back into the red hair's arms. He was gone before in a sudden blink, as if he had never even been here. In the silence his absence left I wondered if he was a superhero. Teleportation? Super speed? Both seemed like viable methods for his achievement of being an annoying human shaped strobe light. The red haired woman was holding me held me tight, her heart beating so fast. I let out a warble to try and calm her. To my surprise, it worked fairly well. That just cemented the thought that I was indeed a baby. Great. I really wasn't looking forward to puberty. Though, with all the screams and explosions around here, I probably wouldn't have to worry about that. Maybe I'd get superpowers too? The thought helped ease my panic of what was going on. I was understandably hiding my breakdown in lieu of not scaring my new mother. And that was a weird thought. I had a new mother. Would I even be able to call her that when I still remembered my real mother's everything. It was a slightly sobering thought that cut me from the reality that I was reincarnated. Luckily, my internal struggle of self was put aside as attention was dragged to the sudden space occupied by person. The blonde man was back, but this time there was something different. He was smiling at me. It wasn't malicious or anything, but exactly the opposite, full of love and adoration. His pearly white teeth broke through my blurry baby vision. It was what perfection would look like if someone had said smile. And that smile seemed so very sad. He spoke in hushed whispers to the red haired woman. I couldn't tell if there was a reason for it, but it didn't stop her from yelling at him. I'm fairly sure she called him some very nasty words too. Was he a bad guy? I had certainly pinned him for my father, but considering the rage in my new mother's words maybe something was going on? An affair? My thoughts were cut off when my new mother leaped up off her hospital bed, bounded over to him with me in her arms, and spoke harshly back to him. I blinked at the display. Did this woman really just give birth? She seems like she could run a marathon now. Is my new mother some kind of superhero too? Regeneration, perhaps? A sort of energy boost, or burst of strength, maybe? Could just be a very high pain tolerance and simple unstoppable willpower. I filed these away for possible later questions. Answers to if they were, in fact, married or in some sort of relationship was when they kissed. I couldn't really make out the details due to everything still being annoyingly blurry, but I could tell that that kiss was a desperate one. It was one that had so many emotions tied to it that I couldn't be too sure of what was happening. Love was definitely there, though. I did take the time to note that this man was probably my new dad. It would fit with, well, it would just fit. Then all three of us were gone the next second. I didn't even notice him use his teleportation. I marveled at the instantaneous transition to somewhere else. There didn't seem to be any discomfort or side effects to the ability, but going from white, enclosed walls to sudden forests was slightly disorientating. The roaring nearby didn't help at all, either. It was around now that I was thanking my blurry vision. I had no idea what dark orange abomination was nearby, but I was glad that I could only see it in blurry snapshots. Though I was certainly not liking where this plot line was going. The fact that he suddenly summoned something that looked like a very comfortable alter to my blurry vision didn't held either. You do not sacrifice newborns to unholy monstrosities! I warbled angrily to support my displeasure as I was placed on the soft alter until I saw my new dad throwing things at the monster. Was he trying to kill it? Why did you bring a newborn here? I question your dubious tactical prowess, new father! Instead of warbling my incomprehensible speech, I could only watch as he darted around the thing with inordinate speed and his instant teleportation thingy. It really didn't look like he was doing much, and it looked like he was rapidly slowing down. Some sort of injury? Whatever he was doing, it was outstripped when my new mother shot me a smile of her own, and suddenly numerous golden chains burst out of her. I cried out in alarm as the chains flew from her and began to wrap around the dark orange monster like powerful, intelligent snakes seeking to constrict a new prey. Calming down as I realized that the chains didn't harm her, I watched as my super parents slowly brought the monster to heel. However, that luxury was slowly becoming moot as the beast thrashed. The chains were holding it down, but it looked like it would break free and continue its rampage soon. My new dad looked exhausted, and my new mom looked like she didn't have much more energy left to give. Even the chains began to flicker. My new dad turned to us, and I briefly caught him doing something with his hands. The monster was being held back by my new mother, and she screamed something at my new dad. I could see twinkling of tears in her eyes as I saw my new dad smiling. It looked very apologetic from even my blurry baby eyes. Then something rose up behind him. A specter. It was clearly something that wasn't supposed to exist here. Somehow, I knew that it was keenly staring at me, interest clear in its lifeless eyes. The most terrifying thing was that I could see it clearly despite my vision still being blurry. Its features seemed to be a twisted approximation of a human's, but it knew it was not human and accentuated everything that made itself even more hideous. Disorganized fangs extended from its mouth and wrapped around a small, single bladed knife with what seemed like Japanese inscriptions along its hilt. Dull, lifeless, black eyes bored into me as I too stared at its pale, translucent purple skin that pulled taut over its skeletal frame. Long white hair hung over its shoulders with two straight, red horns peeking over the fringe of uncontrolled white. It wore a long flowing gown to match the color of its hair that separated at its chest to reveal ribs through its thin skin. A gnarled hand rose and pointed to me before taking out the knife held tight in its hands. I tensed at the gesture, knowing full well I couldn't evade any attack as but a newborn. Instead, I tried to grab my new parent's attention. My new mom was too busy yelling at my dad to notice anything, and my dad seemed to be focusing on his hands. Father I said not to sacrifice your newborn to terrifying beings! We're trying to get rid of one monstrosity, why would you summon another that looks clearly hungry for my supple baby flesh! Sadly, my mental message was not heard as he was saying something that I didn't really have the heart to pay attention to. My focus was on the specter that took its knife, and then threw it at me. I cried out in fear as the invisible knife entered me without a a disturbance, and disappeared with something that sounded like a droplet of water falling into a still pond. My new parents didn't have the chance to see if anything changed as the terrifying specter reached down its cloak to pull another knife. One gnarled finger rose up to its inhuman lips in a gesture for silence, and its fearsome mouth curled into a maniacal smile. Don't worry terrifying creature of unknown power, I will keep whatever secret you want safe. Please don't eat me when my new father of dubious tactics does something wrong! There was little I could do but shiver in fear as the specter reached out to the orange monstrosity. It gestured something, reached for its knife and the orange monster split in two. It was so fast I had no idea what had even happened. I blinked rapidly as half of the monster had suddenly flown to my new dad and seemed to enter him. The specter then cut something above my new dad while at the same time returning to stare at me. New father, I never doubted you for a second. I didn't know what to say as the specter fizzled out of existence, but not before it pointed to me, then at its stomach and shook its head with a new smile on its disturbing features. My new dad coughed blood as it left, and I wondered what exactly just happened. Though, I figured that that terrifying scenario was a perfect interlude to my new life. Everything went worse when suddenly the smaller orange monstrosity lunged at the three of us. The large golden chains that held up the beast no longer helped as it slipped through with its decreased size. It definitely was faster as one second it was held by chains and the next was was basically right next to us. My new mom reacted fast as the chains shrunk and began wrapping around the approaching beast. Finally, it jerked forward as the chains held it back from proceeding to rip us apart. Go, new mom! Honestly, new father-of-dubious-tactical-skill learn from new mother. Sadly, simply holding back the beast didn't stop it from sending a human like arm shooting towards us. It's blurry hand-paw was tipped with human-adult-sized talons that lanced toward me like a murderous ballistic missile. I closed my eyes, deciding I had enough of crying out today. Barely a few hours into my new life, and suddenly killed via giant claw from an unholy monstrosity. If I hadn't died earlier I would've laughed at how depressing some other baby in my position would be. When I felt neither the presence of pain or the release of death, I opened my eyes again. Instead, I felt something warm dripping on me. Blearily, I expected to be reincarnated again in a place that hopefully wasn't out to kill me. What I saw fit nothing of what I expected. The claw that had been bound for me was instead held back by my new parents. However, it had bore through them and just barely hovered above my squishy baby body. The warmth was their blood that trickled down the length of the claw that was held away from my belly. They smiled through bloody teeth as if the inordinately large nail wasn't even there. Now, I think I really did cry. I never expected myself to actually cry for people I hadn't even known, but something broke within me when I saw how happy they were for me to be safe. They were my new par- no, they were my parents. Parents whose love I don't think I deserved. I didn't see anything but their blurry smiling faces, and I hadn't despised my lack of clear vision till now. I cursed how I couldn't see so much that it hurt. Warmth filled my face as tears began to trail down my cheeks. I desperately wanted to know what they looked like. I wanted to see the parents who loved me so much as to not hesitate to die for me. I didn't even see as the monster disappeared, and both of them slumped briefly by lack of support. Through sheer willpower, they stood tall despite the facts that they had a new gaping hole in their chests. I tried to reach up, yell out something, tell them somehow that they shouldn't have done that. Father, I take it back! You have wonderful tactics! Mother, pull some superpower out of thin air! You did it with the chains, and the hospital earlier! That's right, regeneration. Use that, use something, don't go out like this! Please, don't go! Not like this... However, my words were only in my head, tears and cries were the only thing that came out. They grasped my tiny body in their bloodied hands, and I couldn't help but curl into them, trying not to inevitably lose them. I didn't even care if blood got on me. I had to hold on to something. My dad spoke low suddenly. I couldn't understand a word, but I held onto everything he said. I repeated everything in my head, trying in vain to decipher something. Anything. I felt their breathing slow as I continued to cry and try to figure out my dad's last words. It sounded similar to Japanese. Why hadn't I taken to learning Japanese! Lamenting at the fact that I couldn't understand a language I had only hours to put together, I held onto one word that stuck out to me. There was little else I could understand other than it being my name. Naruto. That was my name. I repeated it in my mind, afraid I might lose the only connection to my parents. In the back of my mind, I had never expected that when I opened my eyes after I had first died that I would find myself in the loving arms of two martyrs, repeating my name in their cold arms till I had run out of tears and sleep finally took hold.