Title: What Are The Chances

Summary: If, against all odds, you were born and if you died on the same date, the same time, and the same manner as a soul from another world, you were given a chance to live that soul's life instead. What are the chances of a girl from our world finding herself reborn in Sunagakure? An SI from a newbie fanfiction writer.

A/N: This is my first ever piece of fanfiction and it's inspired by Silver Queen's amazing Dreaming of Sunshine. When I first read that, I was surprised at how good it was, especially since SI was not a theme I really enjoyed in the past. That was sufficient reason for me to try my hand at writing an SI fic as well. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own nor make profit from Naruto.

PROLOGUE

They wouldn't let go of my bag.

It seems like such a stupid thing, in hindsight, but in the moment, all I could think of was how precious my bag and its belongings were to me. Inside was my wallet, two books that I had been planning on reading, my phone, my planner. In a way, those possessions symbolized memories that I did not want to let go of. My life was surely worth more than that, but as the theft was happening, I did not, could not think of any reason why I should let go.

Then the knife slid into my skin smoothly, slipping through my ribs in a manner that spoke of experience in this sort of thing. The last thing I saw was the look of horrified surprise on my best friend's face before everything turned dark.

I didn't expect to wake up, but I did. My eyes opened to an unfamiliar place. At first, everything was hazy and nothing made sense, but as my eyes focused, strings of white light came into sharp relief. Where was I?

I stood up slowly, a phantom pain in my chest throbbing before disappearing completely. The last thing I remembered was walking along a shady street with my friend, then a sudden jerk as my handbag was snatched from me. A scuffle began when I would not let go, even if I was outmatched by three older men. Then…what happened?

Didn't I get stabbed?

If I did, then how come I was here in a void of black that stretched endlessly across my field of vision? Where was the hospital I was supposed to wake up in? Why did my body feel so healthy, my health too perfect? I looked down at my feet, surprise registering when I noticed that I was standing on a translucent strip of light. What was going on?

Too many questions ran through my head as I looked around. Other than the luminescent path I was standing on, there were countless strings made of the same light emerging from the void I found myself in. Along these strings, brighter pinpricks of light traveled at various speeds. The strings were all around, emerging from above, below, across, and beside me. I squinted at the view and tried to look at the strings more closely. Their origins seemed unfathomable, but one glance showed that they all connected to the same place – a star-like ball so bright that it burned.

There was nothing else to do but to walk forward and see what that ball was and what the strings led to. At the very least, this was a dream and I was going to wake up any second. Reassured by this thought, I resolved to at least enjoy myself in this dream. It was rare that I had lucid dreams anyway! The faint feeling of security I got from this place told me that nothing bad will happen to me here. Anything that could hurt me was in the past now, and this was the place for moving on. Rebirth.

Where had that thought come from?

Eventually, my steps led me to the bright ball of light, which was revealed to be a circular platform about two meters in diameter. It was empty, though at first glance, it seemed that the little pinpricks of light emerged from one string and hopped on to another, but when I blinked, that disappeared.

One second, I was staring blankly into the strange view I had, and the next, my eyes were drawn to the only other thing on the platform with me. It appeared to be a human. A gasp escaped my throat as I looked at the girl standing right across me. She wasn't there a second ago but seeing someone else came as some sort of relief. Surprise showed in her face too, as well as a slight degree of wariness. Good to know I wasn't the only one feeling confused here.

We didn't speak at first, taking the time to look at each other quietly. If I had my wits about me, I would have noticed that this was not my normal was of interacting with people, but it had felt so natural then. The stranger looked like she was of the same age as me, though she stood a little taller. Where my black hair was short and uneven, her red hair was long and smooth. My black eyes searched her blue ones for some sort of recognition, but nothing came. We did not know each other.

Her attire was strange as well. A long-sleeved mesh shirt covered most of her frame, her modesty only kept in place by a black sleeveless tank on top of it. Her pants were bulky, ending between her knee and ankles, but even if that seemed normal, the bandages wrapped around her leg begged to disagree. Was she injured or something? The pouch on her hip and the other one on her left thigh were strange, and the open-toed sandals she wore were also of a design that I hadn't seen before. Offhandedly, I wondered if I presented as strange a sight to her as she did to me. In contrast to her clothing, I had a loose white t-shirt on and black shorts. My flipflops seemed fragile compared to her footwear, and of course, my bag was nowhere to be found.

The silence was broken when she finally opened her mouth to speak. "Hello?" she said a little uncertainly, a slight lilt coloring her tone. As the word came out of her mouth, she looked surprised and quickly slapped a hand over her lips.

I had no idea what was wrong and instead replied, saying "Hi!" The word came out strangely. My intention had been to speak English, but the sound came out differently from what I had expected. It was then that I understood her surprise. Really, what was going on here!

A flutter of black, darker than the void that surrounded us, brought our weird greetings to a standstill. We watched as it slowly coalesced into a freakishly big shape. It features refined into the visage of a grinning armored demon with horns. The other girl tensed, her hand drawing near the pouch on her thigh, but I only stared with a gaping mouth. As quickly as it appeared though, its shape changed into a tall hooded figure holding a deadly scythe, then a blighted darkspawn reeking of death, then a godly man dressed in Greek clothes and holding a two-pronged spear, then finally, into another girl.

Her hair was black but shapeless, contrasting with her pale white skin. An ankh rested on her chest, hanging from a silver necklace. Her clothes were black as well – a tank top, skinny pants, and boots. A faint niggling voice at the back of my mind told me that she should be familiar, but I could not for the life of me remember where I had seen her before. "Who are you?", I asked before I could stop myself, cringing at the strange sensation speaking here brought about.

She laughed, though her smile was less an expression of joy than the mere baring of teeth. Her skin did not crease as she continued, the pale flesh appearing like smooth, impersonal bone. Her voice was sweet though. Musical in a way that fits this void my dream was taking place in. "Welcome to the crossroads, Maza," she said, peering at me with dark eyes that seemed to pierce into my very soul. "It's good to see that you've met Kiyoko already!"

The strange redhead started, bewildered as I was with the knowledge that a stranger would know our names. "Do I know you?" she – Kiyoko – asked.

Again, the laughter and the smooth smile. "I've been with you all your life, Kiyo-chan." She winked, the action appearing both natural and freakish on her face. "You may have heard me called Hades, or the Grim Reaper, or the Shinigami, or Yamraj…" The names were familiar. Pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fall into place. "But, simply put, you might know me better was Death."

In a span of a few minutes, the girl claiming to be Death began speaking of my personal life and Kiyoko's, as if trying to prove the veracity of her claim. She told us that we were there because of an anomaly in her plans. "The both of you, Maza and Kiyoko, were born at the exact same date, at the exact same time, in the exact same manner. Your deaths happened at the exact same date, at the exact same time, in the exact same manner as well," she had said. This, she claimed, brought about a phenomenon that had only happened twice before.

"You, my dears, will be given a chance afforded only to those who are so lucky." She twirled on the platform, dancing dangerously close to the edge. "If both of you so desire, you may exchange lives." I looked at her with a disbelieving expression. You have got to be kidding me… "You are dead, so there's really no other logical choice, is there?" she continued as I spluttered indignantly. On the other side of the platform, Kiyoko scratched her head confusedly. "Exchange lives and live." Death made it sound so easy.

Without giving us the chance to speak, she spoke again, her voice taking on a serious tone. "Of course, you would have nothing to do with your former life, though the memories you have of your old one will remain. This will be a challenge. You, Kiyoko, are an orphan shinobi living in Sunagakure. You, Maza, are a student with four siblings and both parents still alive. Different lives will prove a challenge, but eh, you can't have everything." Death shrugged elegantly.

Sunagakure sounded familiar to me. It was in an anime that I had followed religiously over the course of my childhood. Naruto. It was named after its protagonist, a blonde and boisterous boy, and set in a fantastic world full of ninja and hidden villages and jutsu. In spite of myself, I began to get curious.

"What happens if we don't agree?" Kiyoko asked softly, giving voice to a question I had been too scared to ask. Another shrug, another smooth smile.

"Then you both remain dead, and your souls are shuffled off into another new life without memories. A blank slate once more."

When she said that, my first thought was of my family. How would they feel with a dead daughter? What about my closest friend, who had been with me when I died? She would be devastated when she realized that she watched me get killed. They should be spared from the pain… And living in a world that I had a modicum of knowledge of, was that not better? Though I could not read her thoughts, Kiyoko had been thinking of the chance to have a family as well. As an orphan, she had not known what it was like to have parents and siblings of her own. The idea, it appeared to us, had some merit.

Still, if this was a lucid dream, I should be able to affect what was happening here. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on imagining a white-walled room with blue curtains. A bed was on the far corner, and a desk was located right across the door. As perfectly as I could, I visualized my bedroom, willing my surroundings to change into a more familiar place. But when I slowly opened my eyes, it was still the same view. Death and Kiyoko and the black void. One last desperate thought consumed my head, eager to escape this nightmare. I pinched my arm, pressing hard until it began to hurt.

"It's useless," Kiyoko said, bringing up the palm of her left hand for me to see. A bright red slash was there, carved in place by the kunai in her other hand.

"So this is not a dream…" I whispered faintly, still in disbelief. This was all real and happening to us then. What else was there to do? "I accept." My face was grim as I considered the pros and cons of the choice I had made, but as Death had said, nothing else seemed logical. We had nothing to bribe Death with, and there was no way we could ask the immortal embodiment of an idea to change her mind.

"And so do I," Kiyoko said as she shrugged.

"Well then! I'm glad to hear that." A twinkle in her eyes told me that she was happier than she seemed about our decision. "The previous Death twins had not liked the proposition at all, and I had to give them a couple of lifetimes as fruit flies to make myself feel better!" A drop of sweat slid down Kiyoko's face as I watched Death with incredulity. Was the personification of Death really this childish, or was this just the persona she chose to show us? Nevertheless, the decision was made. "All you have to do now is to walk along each other's path, and you'll be inserted into each other's body! Such a simple way to reincarnate. A genius idea, if I do say so myself!"

Kiyoko and I exchanged twin looks of mock despair as we listened to Death's praise for herself. As one, we moved to the center of the platform and shook hands. "Take care of my family, please," I said, regret and profound sadness making my voice shake. "Take care of my best friend and my rabbit, and…be good." There was no point in saying these things, but I could not help myself. I could not make sure that the kunoichi soul inhabiting my former body would follow what I said, but saying it made me feel better anyway.

The answering smile on her face reassured me slightly. "I will, Maza-san. Thank you for this opportunity…and take care of yourself."

Formal words. Will I have to learn to speak like that?

She gripped my hand tight as she spoke then released it, walking along the path I had just vacated without looking back. She was just a bright speck of light in the distance when I finally stepped on the path to Kiyoko's life. Before I continued, I glanced back at Death, who had been watching with a pleased expression on her face. I had to know… "Is all of this happening to Kiyoko and I because of a mistake?"

The answering grin did nothing to make me feel better. I still held out hope that this was just a dream and that I would wake up to find that the robbery and this conversation had all happened in my head. "A mistake? I guess you could call it that…" She placed a hand on her chin, mimicking a thinking pose before continuing. "It's less of a mistake though and more of an…experiment." With that, she walked towards my stunned figure and roughly pushed me towards Kiyoko's life. The last thing I remember was a peal of bright laughter and an eye-scorching flash of light.

A/N: Thank you for taking the time to read the first fanfic I ever wrote! This prologue was basically written to give the reason behind the SI appearing in the Naruto world, which is an approach I haven't read before. I had not wanted the SI to suddenly wake up in there with no explanation. Sunagakure was also the village I chose for her because it seemed like a new perspective (i.e. not Konohagakure) would be good. Hopefully, it works and is interesting enough to keep your attention! Bonus points if Death seems familiar to you.

Since this is my first piece of work, I'd appreciate ideas, comments, suggestions, and constructive criticism. Please review!