Second Chance at Life [A Naruto Fic]

Who is an Assassin?

It is a person who kills an important or influential person in exchange for money or for political reasons.

They are expected to do their job perfectly in exchange for money. They should be an emotionless killing machine.

Werdan, too, lived a life full of danger and intrigue as an elite assassin for the notorious criminal organization known as Black Hand.

Regarded as one of the strongest and most feared groups in the underworld, Black Hand was notorious for its ruthless tactics and its ability to get the job done no matter what.

Werdan was their top assassin, a skilled and deadly operative who could eliminate targets with ease and precision. He lived his life on the fringes of society, constantly on the move and always looking over his shoulder, knowing that at any moment, he could be targeted by rival gangs or law enforcement agencies.

On a fine evening in August, Werdan sat in a park near his temporary house, talking to another member of the Black Hand.

"Here," Werdan said, handing his fellow Black Hand member two different files. "These are the documents the higher-ups wanted, and they serve as proof that the minister's wife was killed."

"What about the orphanage that was to be blasted?" The man questioned.

Werdan's gaze shifted to a group of children playing in the nearby park, and he felt a pang of guilt and remorse wash over him. "I may be an assassin," he said, his voice heavy with emotion, "but I have some morals. I could never raise my hands against innocent children. I may have caused many tears in my line of work, but that does not mean I would ever harm a child."

"You know that there might be repercussions for what you did, right?" The man asked.

"Of course I do. I have worked in the association for over 13 years. I think that it will be alright. I am retiring now and it was approved by the higher-ups, a little miss on my part should be fine. I have accumulated enough bad karma by now, a little good shall be fine for me, haha."

"I wish that for you," the man said with a small smile. "Anyway, it's time for me to leave, but before I go, a goodbye hug?" He stood up and walked over to where Werdan was sitting.

"Haha, of course. You were my first friend in the association. I hope we meet sometime again on this journey to find peace in my turbulent life..." Werdan said as he stood up and extended his arms to hug his only friend, Barock with a bright smile on his face.

As Werdan hugged, he felt something hard poking Werdan near his stomach.

"Barock, you- What is this?" Werdan hurriedly asked. He wanted to leave the association peacefully and had no intentions to report them to the police after leaving either.

He was about to push Barock away, but Barock tightened his arms and slowly whispered, "Please don't do it, Werdan. The association is watching us. If I don't…do this, Black Hand will kill Maria and Sam. Your godchildren. Please, I beg of you, Werdan." Barock said.

As he spoke, Barock's eyes teared up. His voice started breaking. He did not wish to be his friend's murderer, but there was no other choice for him and Werdan, too, understood this.

Werdan looked up at the dark clouds which suddenly appeared in the clear white sky. While looking up, Werdan said, " Hah! I guess this really is the karma I accumulated... They always wanted me dead, eh. Take good care of my godchildren otherwise, I will come back as a ghost for you."

Barock said nothing and just rested his head on Werdan's shoulder while sobbing.

"Then, just do it," Werdan said and patted Barock's back.

As soon as the first drop of rain fell from the dark clouds, Barock pulled the trigger of the pistol in his hand.

The bullet went through Werdan's body and red blood slowly trickled out of his mouth.

"Take....care, friend," Werdan said as he smiled and finally closed his dying eyes. He could not bear seeing the tears and pain in Barock's eyes for killing him.

At the moment, Werdan had no regrets. He had no family of his own. He never saw his parents and had no siblings.

His whole life had not been good for anyone, neither himself nor the families of the people he met as an assassin but Werdan was glad that at least his death helped someone.

Werdan saw all his life's memories within moments. The good and bad memories all came to him at once. That is life. Good and Bad.

'I guess my bad part outweighs the good one haha' Werdan thought as he felt his consciousness slowly disappearing.

.

.

It had now been a long time since Werdan was shot by Barock in the children's park and Werdan felt the same too.

He felt like his body had been floating in a pool for a very long while but he could not move any of his limbs at all.

Werdan forcefully tried to open his eyes and as always, he saw nothing but his body.

'Wait a minute! My body?' Werdan exclaimed in his mind as he saw his body lying in front of his eyes.

It lay in a sea of white clouds and around it were also white clouds. When Werdan tried to look in the distance he saw…white clouds.

"Bwahaha, damn this was nice." Werdan heard a strange echoing voice in the distance as he moved his eyes to look towards it.

All Werdan could see were a huge chair and some hard-cover books lying beside it but no creature or device to produce the voice he heard just now.

'That's weird. Wait, what even is this plac–' While Werdan was talking to himself, he felt a strong force of attraction pulling him towards his body lying in the clouds.

As Werdan's consciousness merged with his body, his eyes involuntarily shut. A moment later, as he slowly opened them again, he found himself lying in a vast sea of clouds. The soft, billowy formations stretched out in all directions, and the gentle breeze carried a hint of cool mist.

"Haha, that's nice. But, really, Jinwoo does look- Oh my, look who's finally awake. I've been waiting for 195 years." A figure with bright white light radiating from its body said as it looked at Werdan, who had just regained consciousness.

"W-Who are you?" Werdan took a few steps back while assuming a combat posture to defend himself from the unknown figure.

The figure chuckled, its bright aura intensifying for a moment before settling back to its original radiance. "No need to be alarmed, Werdan," they said, their voice sounding soothing and reassuring. "I am Kronos, the Keeper of Souls, the one who watches over the departed and guides them to their final resting place, be it heaven or hell."

Werdan did not exit his combat posture and questioned Kronos further. "I don't understand," he said, his confusion evident in his voice. "Why am I here? I died. Why is my soul here? Why were you waiting for me?"

"It's complicated. You are a special case, Werdan. I can send you to hell because that woman is praying for it to happen. You killed her husband…"

"Then send me to hell," Werdan answered with a smile. He had not expected much anyways. Tranquillity was not in his destiny, even after death.

"Let me finish. I can send you to hell, but there is this child too, who is praying for you to live long and reach heaven after death. You paid his medical bills anonymously after his parnts committed suicide." Kronos finished.

"So, what now?" Werdan asked.

"What now? Now, you live once again. Somewhere where you can meet both these kinds of people again. Your second life would decide whether you go to heaven or hell." Kronos answered. He walked to his seat and brought back an orb.

"Take this. Whenever a person holds this, it will change colours. If it turns white, the person is someone who has accumulated a lot of good karma and will go to heaven, if it turns black…pretty self-explanatory I guess. Come on, hold this once." Kronos said as he handed the small orb to Werdan.

Werdan, who was very confused about the situation he was currently in, took the orb from Kronos' hands. Right now, he did not have many options anyways. What could be the worst?

As Werdan held the orb, some coloured gas moved inside while shifting its colours. It went from bright white to dark black and ended up grey.

"And this colour must be the result for people like me?" Werdan asked while he continued holding the orb.

"Yes. That's it. Now, bye-bye." Kronos said as he snapped his fingers once and Werdan's body turned into dust and disappeared from the sea of clouds.

"What will the shadow monarch do next? Will he come to Jeju island?" Kronos rushed back to his chair while rubbing his hands and picking up the book lying upside down on it.

As Kronos moved a few things, he noticed another orb which looked similar to the one he just gave to Werdan.

"Wait, no. Holy fuck, I messed up." Kronos held his head with both his hands while yelling about his mistake just now.

.

.

While Kronos was yelling about his mistake like a madman in the sea of clouds, Werdan reached the world where he would live his second life.

Werdan's soul was still travelling from the sea of clouds to the next world. He was able to do nothing other than think and talk with himself in the meantime.

'I'm curious about this second life of mine but, wherever it is, I want to live in peace this time. No killing, no slashing, no violence at all.

It would be good if I find a woman in this life and settle down. A kid or two would be good too.

Ah, maybe, if it's not too much, I mean, hey dear god, I never asked for anything before but, this life, give me parents too.' Werdan imagined himself smiling and joining his hands as he suddenly felt a familiar feeling.

It was the same as what he had felt back when his consciousness had entered his body in the sea of clouds.

Werdan opened his eyes again and, this time, instead of the sea of clouds, he was lying on a thick mattress as a light hung on the roof above him.

Werdan sat up quickly and observed his surroundings. He was lying in a normal-looking room from the old times.

There were thick green straw mats beneath him, sliding doors and several other things including a body-sized mirror.

"What do I look like, by the way?" Werdan spoke out of curiosity as he jumped up and rushed to the mirror.

He removed the upper part of the kimono he was wearing and stood while only covering his lower body.

'Hmm, looking at my face, I should be 11-12. These hands look soft so I am probably not training in any kind of fighting skills. My body is skinny. I'm not malnourished but just skinny.' Werdan moved and turned, observing his body from every angle. After a while of observation, he picked up his kimono and covered his body again.

He was so indulged in the excitement of his new and peaceful life that he did not notice the door on his right open up.

"B-Brother?" A polite and young voice came from behind him. Werdan quickly turned around to look at who opened the door.

He saw that there stood a cute little girl, holding a tray in her hands. She had prominent red hair and violet eyes and wore a kimono, just like Werdan.

'She called me brother so…'

"Brother Kazuha, you're up." The young girl said as she ran in Werdan's direction and hugged him.

Although it was a hug from such a young girl, Werdan felt a sharp pain in his abdomen when the girl hugged him…well, tackled him and he spit blood from his mouth.

"W-What are you–" Werdan was about to ask her why she was doing this but stopped when he saw the girl stand in front of him while hugging him tightly and looking at his face with puffy eyes. Although Werdan was mostly emotionless, he still had a soft spot for children.

"You know what–" Werdan was interrupted again. This time, by the sound of footsteps of people.

"Stand behind me," Werdan said as he pushed his sister behind him and once again assumed a posture for combat.

Werdan, who had been an assassin in his previous life, was sharp enough to realize that this little girl was his younger sister or, at least someone who knew him closely. He could not ask her questions like, 'who are you?' or other common questions about himself.

According to him, he was some time in the Sengoku period in Japan. People at that time were intelligent and according to him, the excuse of losing his memory would not work here.

Moreover, saying this might lead to him dying by being accused of being in the possession of a 'spirit' or 'Seishin'.

He looked around and prepared a battle plan in his mind quickly, ready for any kind of situation to protect the child. Since he was in the Sengoku period, those people coming might be assassins.

As he looked at the door, a man and a woman hurriedly came into his sight.

"What happened, Kushina? There was a–" The woman was asking but as soon as she saw Werdan standing in front of her, both, she and the man entered the room.

'Here goes my life of non-violence.'

Although he was unsure if these two were assassins, it did not matter. Being an assassin did not have any eligibility criteria.

Assuming that the two were assassins, Werdan rushed to grab the vase beside him but before he could, the woman bent on her knees to match Werdan's height and hugged him tightly.

The woman hugged him from the front while the little girl hugged him from behind but both of them wept while hugging him.

"You're finally up, my son. I knew you would wake up soon." The man said while patting Werdan's shoulder.

'Son?...Then…my father? But…I feel nothing?' Werdan thought in his mind. Werdan's expression had gotten lively after the little girl came into the room but he felt nervous and anxious as his expressions vanished when the man called him 'son'.

Even as the world's best assassin, he had some flaws.

Not much later, seeing the minute drop of blood on Werdan's lips, the man shouted at the top of his voice, "Call the doctor right now."

As his voice fell, several footsteps sounded through the whole building, like pandemonium.

"Come on, Kushina. Let's sleep now and let brother rest."

"But mommy…"

The woman got up while wearing a worried expression, pulled the little girl from behind Werdan and left the room hurriedly.

"Lie down, Kazuha. Mother will take Kushina away for now. I will stay with you. You know that she's young so seeing blood flowing out of your mouth might–" As the man was talking while holding Werdan's hand, Werdan stopped him and said," I understand."

The man made a surprised expression but did not dwell on it for long and yelled for the doctor to come faster. He then took out a quilt and made Werdan lie down again where his body was lying before Werdan took its possession.

.

.

-1 Day later-

Werdan, now Kazuha, sat in the room at night, looking at the bright stars twinkling in the dark sky from the window of his room.

'Hah…I have indeed gathered a little information in this one day. If it was the old me, I could've gotten more but, whatever. Let's recall it all once.

I am Uzumaki Kazuha. I'm 11 years old. My sister is 8 years old and her name is Uzumaki Kushina. My father's name is Uzumaki Yamato and my mother's name is Uzumaki Miyazu.

I live in the Uzumaki clan. We are super-strong and famous across the world. There are ninjas in this world and there is this thing called chakra too…I have to learn more about these things now.'

As Werdan continued looking out of the window, he saw his father and mother walk out of the building. They were laughing and talking with each other while holding hands.

'They do look good together but…I still don't feel any kind of emotion. Why so? They are my parents so why don't I already love them? Don't people say that a son loves his mother from birth…' Kazuha quickly drew the curtains of his room, blew off the lights and slept in the quilt. He was, after all, completely new to the concept of emotions like love.

Kazuha had felt no emotion in his previous life other than hate. He did not even grow up in an orphanage but on the road. He would sleep anywhere he could find space to stretch his legs and a newspaper to provide him warmth.

People would just come and kick him. Some would do it because they were drunk, some did it to relieve their anger and some just found it fun. Things like this emotionally scarred Werdan at a young age, making him lose his mind.

This was also the reason why he was called 'Insane' during his first years as an assassin. It was not until he met Barock and learnt from him how to control himself.

But, even after controlling himself, he felt no emotion. He just felt like he was a puppet. When he finally found out what he wanted, he was blackmailed and killed off by the Black hand, the association to which he dedicated most of his life.

He wanted to change that feeling of being a puppet in this life. He wanted to live like a normal person and die like a normal person.