A/N: Realised that there was no disclaimer so here we go: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS I JUST USE THEM FOR THE PURPOSE OF CREATING HOPEFULLY ENTERTAINING MATERIAL

Beta: The wonderful Prince Nemui has been kind and wonderful enough to beta read for me. Thank you so much dear!

Book 1: Rising from the Ashes

The first thing that came to her mind when thinking about death, was that is was completely anticlimactic.

Really.

After all… there was no white light, no flashback, no creepy death reaper… nothing.

Even now, dead as she was, nothing was happening. It was just the impenetrable darkness… which rendered her unable to see a bloody thing and left her completely bored.

'If this is how I'm going to be spending eternity,' she thought, 'then I will certainly go crazy… and jump the first deity that would finally deign to visit me and demand an explanation.'

She was dead, so what did it matter if she attacked a god?

Then, a thought crossed her mind: 'What if I'm wrong? What if I'm not in limbo or whatever, but hell? It would explain everything…torture by boredom!' Yup, she was going crazy.

She really didn't think that she had been so bad in her previous life, not enough to deserve this.

Sure, she had been lazy, but she really just blamed her parents for that.

"Don't run, you will hurt yourself," were her father's favourite words. "Stop acting like that. You're a lady," her mother would nag. Till eventually, she just gave up, and wasted time reading and watching anime. With the occasional thought of 'I should maybe revise,'.

Of course, she knew that in the end if she was really dissatisfied with her life, she should have worked to change it. However, she also had no motivation, so after finishing university she went on living her unassuming life.

Even so, surely that sort of lifestyle was not worthy of a one-way ticket to Tartarus.

'No matter,' she thought, 'surely something will happen at some point. I'll just have to continue… existing, 'till then.'

Plus, she still had access to her memory, thus she could still indulge in imaginary fanfiction.

Yes, it would have to do for now.

-Some time later-

It hurt…a lot.

Her head, that is. And she was pretty sure that her soul did as well, if that was possible.

The girl was correct in her assumption that something would eventually happen.

What?

She was not certain. It felt like she was violently sucked from wherever she was previously, and then left in this new location.

Where is this place?

She had no idea, however it was still dark, and…wet? 'The actual hell?'

When suddenly a terrifying thought, —born from having read excessive amounts of fanfiction— crossed her mind, causing her to squirm. It only served to build up her dread when she realised that she wasn't in full control of her body.

…

No.

Nada, nope, nu.

'This is not, happening,' she vehemently refused.

She didn't want to entertain the possibility of her theory to be true…though…she was the kind of person who believed in possibilities, however improbable they might be.

Or at the very least she gave them some thought before completely refuting them.

And if this was indeed what she thought it was…. 'I'm so screwed.'

-8 months later-

It was happening.

She spent a long time attempting to find alternative explanations for what she was experiencing but her mind hit a blank each time she tried.

She was reborn.

To be more exact, she was being reborn…

right,

now.

Ha! All those people who adamantly believed reincarnation is a very real possibility? That, there was life after death?

They were all correct.

Every. Single. One of them.

Only now, she had the unpleasant honour of knowing that.

She was pretty sure that peoples' souls needed to have their memories wiped before being reborn. A fresh start, a blank slate and all that. After all, behaviourist psychology was big on the belief that everyone is born a tabula rasa* and all that. But of course, she just had to go ruin that and remember her old life, 'Yippie me.'

Not that she hated her previous life or anything, but if she was going to be reborn it might as well be to a completely new life, without the weight of a previous one at the back of her mind.

Turning her attention back to the present, the girl noted that her mother was a screamer.

Not that she was one to talk, since she was doing her fair share of screaming as well. Really, she felt bad for causing the woman this much pain. 'At least it was a fast birth,' she thought.

When the birth was eventually over, frantic hands were cleaning her and she eventually found herself in the arms of who must be her mother.

She couldn't distinguish the woman's features, all that she could see was a big, moving…blob, 'Isn't baby vision wonderful,' she thought dryly, still a bit miffed at having to actually know that she had to be born, again.

And be aware of it.

Sleep attempted to claim her, and she was desperately fighting to stay awake. Maybe gain some clue about where she was. But everyone around her was talking, their voices blending together making it impossible for the girl to attempt and figure out what they were saying.

Add that to the fact that her newborn body was exhausted after the ordeal it went through… it was no wonder that sleep won.

-5 months later-

Being a baby sucked, big time.

Her coordination was appalling, and she could only make vague gurgling sounds most of the time.

At last she could finally stand up on her own! Kind of. She tired easily, and crawling took far less energy.

She was also rather proud when she began understanding bits of what her family was saying. They were speaking Japanese, a language which she attempted to learn, but only got the hang of the basic vocabulary. However, it was enough for her to be certain that they were indeed speaking said language.

'Well, I guess that I will at least be able to learn it properly this time around,' she thought.

She had also learnt that her new name was Michiko. It proved to be a never ending source of amusement to her family when she tried, and epically failed, to pronounce her own name.

Seriously, her tongue was useless, and her vocal cords were crap.

Her family was nice and small. Consisting of her mother, a slender woman, with ridiculously long hair that she kept in a high ponytail —it still reached her ankles— and really dark blue eyes. Her name, from what she heard the others calling her, was Natsumi. The woman was certainly kind, spending hours playing with Michiko and keeping her somewhat entertained, and like everyone else, she would take the time to point at objects and say their name.

It was for those moments that she thanked whatever deity was meant to look after her that she didn't know the language. It kept her busy and entertained trying to learn it.

Her father was a strongly built man that had to be at least three heads taller than her mother. He was a giant! But despite his build he gave off the aura of a cuddly teddy, with his wide smiles and bright green eyes. Takeshi was his name, and like her mother he had long hair —no where near her mother's ridiculous length— that he kept in a high braid and ended at his shoulder blades. Michiko could also see and feel the muscles he had, nothing like the body builders she remembered seeing occasionally in magazines. No, her father was more on the lean side, with a very defined face, he reminded her a bit of a fairy tale prince —if she was being completely honest.

And finally, her grandmother, a kind old woman who would always try and teach her things, and who Michiko decided must have divine patience because she took her sweet time trying to learn certain things.

'Ah, the disadvantage of having another language already hard-wired into your brain,' she thought.

The woman, she believed, was called Ayaka. She was the same height as her mother, meaning that her father was the uncontested giant of the house, and the same dark blue eyes. However her face was more oval than her mother's round one, and her nose was slightly longer, whilst her mom had a small button nose. Ayaka also had shorter hair, how short she wasn't certain as she woman kept hers in a braided bun.

She loved her new family, really.

And that, was an interesting concept. Not that she felt love, but, that she had become so deeply attached to them already. Already, Michiko couldn't even image not knowing these people.

They were family. They were safe, and they were so warm.

It did make a small part of her feel guilty. For moving on so fast from her old loved ones. But it was only a small part, and she ignored it.

This was her life now, this was her family, and nothing. Absolutely nothing, would make her feel guilty for loving her family.

Although, Michiko noted that there was something... odd about her family, or their genetics at least.

They all had red hair.

And not the ginger kind either.

No, they all had solid red hair, like…tomatoes.

Well, maybe that wasn't quite right.

Her father had really dark red hair, while it was her mother that had the bright, in your face, red, which her grandmother shared, although hers was showing signs of fading.

'Huh, I wonder if my hair is red too,' she wondered.

-1 year later-

Her first clue should have really been the hair.

Though, in her own defence, basing an assumption simply on hair colour would have been ridiculous, even for her.

Instead, Michiko's first, proper clue, came from her grandmother, Ayaka, who with a map spread out before them, showed her their location and which countries they shared a border with.

Apparently she was born in Yu no Kuni (The Land of Hotsprings), their neighbours were: Shimo no Kuni (The Land of Frost), Ta no Kuni (The Land of Rice), and finally Hi no Kuni (The Land of Fire), one of the largest countries displayed on the map. Further up, towards the north-east side was another giant, Kaminari no Kuni (The Land of Lightning). And as she explored the map with her eyes, Michiko could feel the beginning of a headache.

There was something about this map, and those names, that felt so familiar… but for the life of her she couldn't fathom why. And it frustrated her to no end.

And yes, she realised that this was not Japan. Or even her previous world for that matter. The geography presented on the map was vastly different from the one she remembered her old world to have had.

Michiko's second clue, the one that really nailed her metaphorical "coffin" shut, was learning her surname,

Uzumaki.

'I am so painfully screwed it's not even funny,' she thought, still slightly dazed by the information.

In this life she was Uzumaki Michiko, from the clan renowned over their mastery of fūinjutsu, long live spans, massive chakra reserves and red hair.

And did she learn this from her family? Pff, no. It was all information from her previous life. In which this amazing clan belonged to one manga artist, Kishimoto.

'I got born in the bloody Narutoverse… I'm so dead,' she thought pitifully.

-2 years later-

Almost 4 years old and she was the pride and joy of her family. "A prodigy in the making," Takeshi, sighed one day.

'Not true,' she thought. After all, she had the advantage of retaining her former knowledge, not that she planned on telling anyone that.

It wasn't really her speech that prompted her father to say that, but rather her high cognitive abilities.

She only lived with her family, so it was not like it would endanger her to act smarter than her physical age would normally dictate. Being a child was bad enough. Compromising her intelligence would have been too much.

It wasn't like she was debating philosophy with them, her vocabulary not quite there yet for that. But rather that Michiko would not hide when she understood something. It would be meaningless to waste time, having something constantly explained when she understood it, or knew it beforehand.

Imagine all the things she could learn with all that extra time!

Hence why her parents stopped protesting when Ayaka wanted to up her studying. Which was fine with Michiko, she loved learning. Especially if it involved the history of this world, or her clan's.

Her clan, it was still an odd thought. She hadn't met any other Uzumaki, yet…she felt connected to them. To people she hadn't even heard of before, but, that shared her blood.

When she finally pressured her family to talk about their clan, Michiko was only slightly surprised by what she learnt.

Apparently she was born approximately four years after the destruction of Uzushiogakure. Which led to her finding out that her family was not particularly fond of Konoha —hence why they didn't seek refuge there— as they did not come to their aid when requested, despite them always doing their best to help said village and honour the treaty made between the Senju and Uzumaki all those years ago.

Takeshi also explained that as a result of that incident, the clan —whoever survived— was scattered across the lands, either seeking refuge or hiding. As they were still being hunted for their bloodline and fūinjutsu knowledge.

It did explain why they lived on the outskirts of the country, in a forest.

Michiko also learnt that both her parents were ninja and that when they ventured outside it was to do odd jobs or hunt small bounties nearby to earn money.

When she asked to go exploring the surrounding forest, Michiko was met with a resounding no, that left her partially surprised till Natsumi explained that with the war going on, it would be far too dangerous for her to be on her own.

It definitely confirmed her suspicion about being born during the third shinobi world war. It made sense, but she was glad to be able to confirm it.

Though, it most definitely made her fear for their safety even more, whenever they went out.

Food itself wasn't much of an issue, they had a small garden where they grew vegetables and herbs, and as for meat…Takeshi was well versed in hunting, and set up several traps around the forest.

Albeit, Michiko had her doubts about whether or not all the traps set up were for catching game.

A/N: Well there we go. My first go at a SI story. I have one more SI that I am writing and hoping to post soon as well as just another story with a regular OC in it. Seriously I know I shouldn't be starting so many stories, especially with my other ongoing one and my limited time. But I really need to get these ideas out of my head or I will go crazy.

Please tell me where and what I need to improve and your general opinion on this story?

What kind of vibe does it give you?

Right, so I am very bad at spotting mistakes since I type fast and english is not my first language. I know, I know not a good enough reason but it's the truth. And I swear that I do proofread them! So what I am trying to say is...if you spot any obvious or really annoying grammar/spelling errors would you mind telling me?

I am not the kind that takes offence from that, if anything I will thank you for helping me improve this little project of mine.

Anyway, enjoy reading!